James Horner's synths
I've been on a Horner binge lately and I've noticed several cues contain sampled strings, woodwinds, and harps amidst an otherwise fully acoustic orchestral recording. A few that come to mind are Braveheart, Bicentennial Man, and Karate Kid. Some cues will have a totally live orchestra and others will have their sampled counterparts. To me it doesn't sound like these choices were made for 'color' reasons, it sounds more like not enough budget or super-late rewrites. Anyone have any thoughts
Success! I was able to ask Simon Franglen this question and he graciously provided some really interesting insights into their/James' process. He said the vast majority of cues where sampled instruments (like strings, woodwinds, harps, etc) stayed was because there was always a point in the process where certain cues worked emotionally in their virtual form and everyone was happy and satisfied. They felt no need to recreate it live and therefore would move on to the next cue (time pressures be
