Drew

Spitfire Abbey Road Soaring High Strings is on sale over the next couple days. I picked this thing up and no joke, I'm thinking about throwing away my string libraries and using this little patch for 90 percent of my high string stuff. It sounds authentic, the legatos are decent, and the spiccatos perform better than many of my string libraries. It sounds so good that honestly, can anyone really tell or care if the violas are missing? If you pick up the Legendary Low Strings too, you can simplify your string writing to just two tracks. https://www.spitfireaudio.com/abbey-road-one-soaring-high-strings

Here is a potentially interesting update to this situation: Muse Group has acquired Hal Leonard. Muse Group owns a self-publishing service and notation software called Musescore. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231204141638/en/Francisco-Partners-Backs-the-Combination-of-Muse-Group-and-Hal-Leonard-Creating-a-Leading-Global-Music-Platform

This is the custom mix I use. Don't take it as being perfect but I like it so far. Spot 1 mic: -10 Spot 2 mic: -5 (This is a vintage mic, so it's very important for it to outshine the other close mics to get that LOTR sound) Leader mic: -10 Tree mic: 0 Outrigger mic: 0 AB mic: 3 Surround mic: 0

I'm leaning more toward Berlin Woodwinds now as the second purchase. I think I can make do with BBCSO and True Strike percussion for now. Cinematic Studio Woodwinds is getting buried in the mix with my Berlin libraries.

I've created a custom mix for Berlin Symphonic Strings that's reminding me of the LOTR scores' string mixes. Good stuff! Custom mixes can sound much better than the demos.

Orchestral Tools' Berlin Series is 50 percent off! First time in two years. I picked up Berlin Symphonic Strings, which I've wanted since it came out three years ago. This is the cheapest it's ever been (around $300 at the exchange rate) It may have some programming quirks, but tonally, it's the best-sounding strings I've ever heard. They sound a bit thin in some of the demos but that's because the demos are not mixed well. The mics provided can give a fabulous wide sound. I think layering this with something like Cinematic Studio Strings would be magic. I also may pick up Berlin Percussion and skip Musio this year. Since my brass sound is rooted in Berlin Brass, it makes sense to have as much as my orchestra as possible be based in the Teldex studio. Anyway, I had projects where I was using wet Berlin Brass (a fabulous sound) and it just drowned out the dry strings like CSS and they were hard to hear. I will no longer have that problem. Some people complain about the SINE Player, but I personally like it. The mic merge feature is amazing. It lets you download as many (or as little) mics as you want. Then when you mix them to your content, it lets you bounce a mix to use as one signal. As in, you can have a fully mixed instrument with the RAM usage of one mic! This is huge for me and it's a shame Spitfire didn't put any of that stuff into their player.

I think they generally have a nice tone, which is why I use them as layering. They have an entire orchestral lineup recorded in the studio that John Williams most often uses.

Apparently you can buy Cinesamples' whole catalog for $300 with their Musio player until December 31. This deal is unbelievable. https://musio.com/

For all of you complaining about the movie, honestly, I've always just been happy to get a new Indiana Jones film from 80-year old Harrison Ford and 90-year-old John Williams. It felt good to genuinely be excited for a movie after whatever Hollywood has been doing to us lately. And the one movie I looked forward to gets an isolated score track? !!!!!

There's not much I can do about this. The foundation of the trumpet sound is Berlin Brass Trumpet 3 mixed with the CineBrass trumpet section (hint hint, that is THE secret to getting JW-like sampled trumpets!). CineBrass is extremely limited with articulations and the half-note articulation doesn't play out for very long. The sustain articulation has a slightly different timbre than the other ones, so it's hard to use it in phrases. I also added a staccatissimo overlay using Spitfire Studio Brass Pro Trumpet 2 to give it some punch. Combine that with Berlin Brass Trumpet 3 and CineBrass trumpet section and it's magic.

Btw, this is the second John Williams orchestral mock-up I’ve ever done.

I kept everything on the grid as a proof of concept that I think tone and mixing are more important than fancy programming.

It’s a combination of 3-4 brass libraries depending on the section. The horns cannot sound any tighter than they do thanks to library limitations. The percussion is a little back in the mix to compensate for most mock-ups putting it in your face and making it sound fake lol

Mockup of the beginning of The Imperial March

Who is the person who said they would do a backflip if John Williams scored Indiana Jones 5? We gotta see it now.

This is now one of my favorite Williams short moments of all time. I almost had goosebumps when it came on in the theater.

Another one from Minority Report. I love this little snippet for some reason. He brings out this slightly comedic emotion out of the trumpets just by having them double-tongue or whatever. His 2002 scores have so many great little moments. Something must've been in the water in 2002.

Yes, I'm sure. They sound very alike. Are you on desktop?

It's pretty obvious that Williams did not compose Falcon Flight or the Rey training cue. They both rip off verbatim quotes from Gordy Haab's Battlefront 2 score.

Are you talking about Clone Wars or Rebels? Clone Wars music has always sounded original.

Ethrawn Musk

Eh, I’m getting tired of Kiner. He has a monopoly on the Dave Filoni stuff. He’s not a bad composer but there’s been a massive drop in quality since his early Clone Wars stuff. I want more “Battle of Christophsis” type cues out of him. And the fact that everyone ignores the nepotism of his two sons ghostwriting a lot of the music is shocking.

Call it "Music Inspired By" and make double the money. Boom.

The lesson here is to ALWAYS release a rejected score at the same time as the OST!