Encountering the Gnome King

Hi folks!

I've been off in California for a week, and now that I am back in the studio, I've finally had time to finalize my new orchestral template

-thumbs up , as always-

I liked this a lot ^_^.

I had to add some effects to my processing chain, which normally makes me cringe

lol naturalist :P Good processing = professional sound. But yeah this mix sounded really good, maybe just a bit dry for my taste.

The piece itself was really cute, fun and humorous. :D

Thanks, guys!

It's good that you mentioned the reverb levels, Max, as that's the part I'm still trying to get the perfect balance for. I initially had more, but it sounded muddy, so I toned it town, and now it's very crisp...I'll try adding just a bit more and seeing how it turns out.

Thank you very much for your thoughts!

How do you configure your reverb? I always use a 480L IR hall reverb, damped at the top end and bit at the mid, with the direct reflections turned off.

Wow, those brass sounds are amazing. This sounds really good.

At around 0:50 are those violins? They sound a bit...I can't place what it is...but it sounds slightly off somehow.

At 1:21 the voice sounds kind of random and compared to the rest of the sounds, sounds fake.

Oh, and love the harp sounds too, those are really good.

Heya!

Max: the verb is setup as an instance of SpaceDesigner on each instrument group (hi/mid/low woods/strings/brass stacc/leg etc etc) with a Bricasti Scoring Stage IR loaded. Initially I had another wash verb on the main output to tie it all together, but it was sounding too muddy so I killed it and tweaked the individual settings. This is a new system for me though, so I will likely play around with more methods and settings before I land on a go-to one. Each track is different, after all.

theOmaster: thank you! The brass is all just EWQL actually, except for the solo trumpet which is VSL and the main horn legatos which are also VSL. At 0:50, it's a violin as well as some high piccolo overtop, with the violas doing that little countering figure....maybe the piccolo is what threw you? I agree with you about the voice actually — it was the part of the mix that I was least happy with, and going back I just realized that it somehow fell out of my processing chain, so that explains why it sticks out like a sore thumb...will fix that. Harp is just the EWQLSO standard, with some help from a celesta and so on. Glad you liked it! :D

Yep, I'd guess it's that piccolo, didn't catch that. Now that you mention it, I can hear it. For some reason I was more thinking it was some sort of effect to mimic harmonics or something, man I should pay more attention (or just get more experience, working on it ;)).

Looks like I need to look into EWQL a bit more. I might also need a higher powered computer...Is EWQL just a sound library or is it a full program? I want to incorporate brass into my mindblight music, but I really don't like garritan's or the random vsts I've found.

harp + celesta = awesome

EWQL is a company actually, their symphonic orchestra is a set of samples — so just a sound library. Although, in a sense it IS a full program since they run on their own proprietary sampler (instead of Kontakt like they used to). Their new engine is called PLAY and it's not too bad...it still runs as a plugin from within your DAW or as a standalone. The downside is that they use the stupid iLok dongle to handle registration, so you have to have an iLok to use the library and it needs to be plugged into the computer whenever you're using the samples.

If you want to avoid the dongle, then see if you can find the original Kontakt versions for sale anywhere. Good sample library in any case.

Awesome work, Marius!

I loved the atmosphere, and the use of samples is some of your best yet, I think ... very dynamic orchestral sound.

Trumpet line at about 1:04 on seemed a little awkward. Nothing big though, just a thought.

Mood struck me as a little bit like 'Jeremy Soule does the Dexter theme' :P

Love the ending :)

Man, at first the iLok thing seems cool...but then it just takes the space of another usb port, which is annoying.

Thanks for the info, will probably put it into use :)