One of the big MIDI mock-up questions issues today is effectively mixing L.A. Scoring Strings (LASS) and Symphobia 1 & 2 since both were recorded in two different stages in two different countries. In the video below, Dan outlines his procedure for mixing both libraries. Below the YouTube video is our exclusive interview.

SCTV: Why did you select ArtsAcoustic over a convolution reverb like Altiverb or Space Designer in Logic or the new Vienna Suite Convolution reverb?
Daniel: When I first started out in film scoring I made the conscious decision to mix my own material. The main reason was because of my style of writing, with all its sound design and manipulation, the mixing process actually becomes part of the composition process. So I started looking at forum topics and reviews for a good sounding reverb. Initially I wanted to use convolution reverb, after seeing many composers I respect praising them on message boards, but the problem I ran into was my computer at the time (A Macbook to be more precise) would have struggled with the way I like to use reverb. So I set out looking for an algorithmic one.

ArtsAcoustic jumped out at me for two reasons, the first of which was the UI (Ed.: user interface). It was all laid out very neatly and just from screen shots I could see in my head how I would achieve certain effects I may want to try with regards to sound design. The second reason was, of course, the most important of all and that was the sound. ArtsAcoustic offer a demo on their site and after I had it installed I tried out some of the presets by which time I was sold. I did of course try out some of the other algorithmic plug-ins out there and although the sound of a few were similar to that of ArtsAcoustic’s, it felt like a lot more work to create the spaces I had in mind.

SCTV: The sound you’ve achieved for the whole orchestral setting was just with ArtsAcoustic with one instance assigned to each orchestral section. Is that correct?
Daniel: That is indeed correct. In my setup I have a bus for each section, i.e., Strings, Brass, Percussion, etc. Each bus has its own individual instance of ArtsAcoustic reverb which I tweak to make that section sound good within context of the particular track I am working on. For example, let’s say I was working on a track and I needed the brass section to sound fuller and more upfront. I could give just the brass a larger room or perhaps even make the room smaller to make them feel more in your face. On the flip side, if I wanted the brass to sit in the back a little more, I could lower the dry level and tweak the room size until they ‘feel right’

SCTV: In your video, you said that you started with an ArtsAcoustic preset. Is that Full Strings Generic 01?
Daniel: Yes. On my strings channel I start with the Full Strings Generic 01 and the battle is half won before I even start composing, of course every project gets its own tweaks. The presets in ArtsAcoustic are phenomenal and get me close to the sound I want every time, it is also extremely helpful that they took the time to create presets for most orchestral instruments and room types.

SCTV: About the Room Design section. It has four sections to it: Room Size, Room Width, Diffusion and Density. The video is a little hard to read. Could you describe briefly these four settings and the role they play in shaping the string sound?
Daniel: This question is much better answered in the manual if you want the technical description of what each of these parameters do. However I can explain how I use them and what they mean to me.

So firstly, Room Size. To me the room size slider is affecting how ‘deep’ the reverb is in front and behind you, kind of like the distance to a far wall if you are looking forward. The room width is how wide the room is left to right, you can think of this as almost like a stereo setting, with 0% sounding mono. Diffusion is kind of tricky to explain, at its lowest setting its as if the sound is hitting a flat wall where as 100% is shouting at a wall the has lots of jagged edges which send the sound waves out into many different directions so the sound doesn’t sound like its hitting the wall and coming right back at you. Finally, the Density Dial is basically how many different reflections you hear from the diffusion setting. As the manual explains, in the real world the density would be infinite however that room might not sound perfect for your needs, so this dial, to me, is one of those ones you play with till it sounds good.

SCTV: For readers who struggle with EQ, could you explain briefly the difference between grouping the string tracks and applying a standard EQ vs. changing the EQ in the ArtsAcoustic reverb?
Daniel: The main thing here is striking the best balance for the sound you are aiming to achieve. When I talk about doing EQ within ArtsAcoustic, you have to remember that the EQ I am changing within the plug-in is only going to effect the reverb. So, therefore, the EQ will only affect the sound depending on how dry and wet the signal is.

Think of the EQ on the reverb as which sound frequencies are bouncing around the room. For example, if you had a room with acoustic treatment to stop all of the bass frequencies, that would be the equivalent of lowering the bass EQ in ArtsAcoustic.

If there are bad sounding frequencies in the sound before it even entered the reverb, I would EQ that first because like I say, the EQ within the reverb is designed for sculpting the sound of the reverb (which is only the wet signal).

One bit of advice I would offer here, if I may, is that you should always approach things like EQ by using your ears, rather than using frequency charts of where instruments should be. If it sounds good to you, then it is good.

SCTV: When you made your EQ change in ArtsAcoustic, it’s in the Damping section. Could you briefly touch on their 3-band damping concept?
Daniel: Like I mentioned in a previous question, the best way to think about the dampening section is to think of it as the type of acoustic treatment of the room. Like those foam like acoustic tiles you have for your studio, some are designed to stop bass frequencies and others are designed to stop high frequencies. You tweak this EQ (dampening) to create the type of room you want by placing those virtual tiles on the wall.

SCTV: Have you tried other software reverbs to see if they’re capable of achieving the same results you achieved with ArtsAcoustic? If so, what did you find?
Daniel: As mentioned above, I did try other types of reverb but I found them either too limiting, processor heavy or simply I found it took to long to achieve the types of sounds I wanted. ArtsAcoustic sounds great to me and has all the parameters I want laid out in a nice clean fashion.

SCTV: LASS and Symphobia come with their own onboard EQs courtesy Kontakt. Did you use any of these settings or did you turn EQ off and use as is?
Daniel: With LASS and Symphobia, I tend to leave those EQ’s on. They never sounded bad to me. So I went with the, “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” mentality. I would just like to clarify that in my last sentence the key word was ‘bad’ and not ‘real’. My aim when mixing or composing is to make things sound good as opposed to real, which, of course, is a very big personal opinion topic for another time.

SCTV: Some have complained that the LASS Violins 1 are a little harsh. How did you get around that? Did you use the full Violins 1 ensemble or one of the others? Or Violins 2?
Daniel: I personally have never found them sounding too harsh but the two things I normally do to get around problems like these are as follows. My first way is to simply dial back the dry signal on the reverb until the harshness goes away (as shown in the video). My second method goes back to my statement in the previous question where I aim for a good sound over a real sound. What I would do is dial back the velocity on the MIDI notes as softer dynamics tend to have less harsh frequencies and then just turn the volume of the patch up to compensate for the gain lost. The pitfall of my second method is if I am planning to have lots of dynamics within the violin line, in which case I would use my first method.

SCTV: Thank you, Daniel.
Daniel: You’re welcome!

http://alexanderpublishing.com/studyhall.aspx

Narrated by Peter Lawrence Alexander, author of the Professional Orchestration™ Series, the audio seminar covers what string divisi is, how it’s created, and how it applies to the new string sample libraries offering it as a feature. Alexander is a graduate of Richard Bland College of the College of William and Mary, and Berklee College of Music in Boston. His books on orchestration and harmony have been endorsed by winners of the Academy®, Grammy®, Emmy,® BAFTA, and G.A.N.G. Awards. He’s Film Music Magazine’s award winning journalist and the host of Sonic Control’s DAW School webisode series.

OVERALL PROGRAM DESIGN
I really like the graphic layout of the processors. They’re very straightforward and easy to use. The metering system is very accurate, and the placement of the meters allows you to reference them very quickly, without interrupting your workflow.

The style of Phase Meter lends itself greatly to a “give it a glance and continue working” type of monitoring. Being able to see your effects chain gives you a realistic studio kind of visualization, which makes it more practical for those who are used to working with analog equipment.

I’m not a fan of having dozens of knobs on a virtual plugin because it makes the interface hard to manage, and the bigger picture of the processing hard to see. So I think IK Multimedia did a really good job in keeping the interface uncluttered, and really smooth (especially with the combination of dark and radiant colors). As such, the T-RackS plugins are very attractive with a to-the-point look and feel.

THE LINEAR PHASE EQ
A Linear Phase EQ is an equalizer that lets you make changes to frequencies without affecting the other bands around an adjusted band. It’s known for its clean sound, precision and transparency. The T-RackS Linear Phase is very user friendly and straightforward with four parametric bands, plus two others that can be used for pass or parametric filters. Your entire frequency range is more than covered. Their use of large circled numbers lets you see your band points very clearly. This EQ has a very transparent and crisp sound which for me makes it a favorite when mastering with T-RackS. Click the graphic to see a full picture.

THE OPTO COMPRESSOR
The Opto Compressor is a standard dynamic controlling compressor plugin that’s modeled after a hardware compressor. The thing that really suprised me about this plugin, is that even when pushed hard, and set to a very agressive setting, the audio quality wasn’t totally destroyed. Even after experimenting with a level 10 compression and a 9:1 ratio, you still couldn’t hear an annoying pumping sound!!

The Opto Compressor is transparent.

At first, I had to get used to having a compression knob which is different from most compressors. I really just had to figure out what effect it had in the chain of knobs. One of the best ways to use the Opto Compressor is to use it in succession with another instance of the plugin afterward to divide the compression duties between the two. Since the Opto Compressor is so transparent, having two compressors to compress lightly has a really natural effect on the audio. I really think that the Opto Compressor is a very accurate plugin. Click the graphic to see a full picture.

THE MULTI BAND LIMITER
A Limiter is a device which allows an audio signal to go up to a certain amount of decibels before being forced to stay below a manually set volume called a threshold.

T-RackS Multi Band Limiter works well with fine tuning certain frequency ranges as far as compression. I’d prefer an interface similar to the Linear Phase EQ to really see the bands that you are working with though. With this plugin you’re really imagining the range in your mind while tweaking it. It’s good at narrowing down ranges to compress, and has a nice overload knob which lets you both drive the plugin more and add color to the output of the sound. Click the graphic to see a full picture.

THE BRICK WALL LIMITER
This limiter is called a Brick Wall Limiter, because it deals really well with catching peaks in audio before crossing the manually set threshold. It lets you boost the perceived level of your recordings without squashing the dynamics out of your audio. I really liked the effect of this limiter. On the test recording, it really boosted the sound well while still remaining transparent. Click the graphic to see a full picture.

STYLE PRESETS
Another added feature is the style presets which give you some different colors to experiment with. And you just might come up with something that you weren’t expecting which you really like. It adds a twist to the standard limit-and-move-on approach.

MY OPINION FOR WORKING WITH T-TrackS INSIDE THE RECORDING STUDIO:
Overall, I think that these processors and the T-RackS Suite as a whole are a valuable asset and an excellent next step for those mostly working with the plugins that come with their sequencing program, especially for the colors each plugin offers. If T-RackS is the first out-of-the-box collection an engineer buys, I think they’ll be quite happy with the results they’ll achieve, especially when you consider what you get for the price. I know I would.

TEST PIECE
This is a before and after piece done in light Gospel/Jazz format.

Before T-RackS
Gospel Jazz – Light MP3, Copyright 2009 Aaron Hill All Rights Reserved
holy-w-out-tracks

With T-RackS
Gospel Jazz – Light MP3, Copyright 2009 Aaron Hill All Rights Reserved
holy-with-t-racks

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
Post below!

Aaron Hill produces and engineers for his company, Fruition Music. Hear more of Aaron’s work at MySpace.com/FruitionMusic.

ABOUT ADK PRO AUDIO
ADK (Advanced Design Kentucky) is a privately held company located just outside of Cincinnati, OH. Founded in 1998, the company has established itself as a leading developer of computer workstations for both digital audio and video. The company is also an authorized Macintosh reseller and so is able to offer professionals complete production studios on either or both platforms.

Read about ADK Pro Audio’s system building and warranty plans.

The ADK Client List

THE VIENNA INSTRUMENTS
The Vienna Instruments are high quality 24-bit orchestral samples for each orchestral instrument housed in the proprietary Vienna Player. With the Vienna Instrument, there is only one learning curve because once you’ve learned it, it works the same for all the other instruments in the family. Click the picture once for a larger view of the Vienna Player.

The Vienna Instruments cover all the instruments of the orchestra along with additional libraries like the Appassionata Strings 1 and 2, Special Brass, Special Woodwinds, Soprano voices, Saxophones and others.

You can read about them here.

The Vienna Ensemble
The Vienna Ensemble is a proprietary virtual mixing board designed today for the Vienna Instruments. On the ADK Vienna System, the Vienna Ensemble 3 has been installed. With the VE3, you can stream both audio and MIDI from the Vienna System into your main digital audio workstation, whether Mac or PC. Sometime in 2009, Vienna has announced that the Vienna Ensemble 3 will also work with virtual instruments from other companies. Click on the picture once to bring it to full size. Click a second time for an expanded detailed view.

The Vienna Suite
The Vienna Suite is more aptly named the Vienna Effects Suite because it comes with eight high quality plug-ins that can be used on either the Mac or PC. In 2009, a ninth plug-in will be added, Reverb. Once the ADK Vienna System is setup and running, we’ll add the Vienna Effects Suite to both the Vienna System and our Mac System using Logic 8 since the Vienna Suite will work with any sequencing or digital audio program on the Mac and PC. Click on the picture once to bring it to full size. Click a second time for an expanded detailed view.

Vienna Suite currently includes eight plug-ins:

Equalizer – for silky smooth highs and deep and powerful lows – includes an integrated 120 band spectrum analyzer. Extremely low CPU usage.

Master Equalizer – provides 3 filter types on 5 bands and additional high and low shelf filters with 2 filter types. The use of 4x oversampling makes internal calculations extremely precise. The weapon of choice for delicate sonic mastering tasks.

Limiter – with real-time input/output waveform display and auto-mode for transparent maximization.

Compressor – featuring modern and vintage algorithms and a real-time input/output waveform display.

Multiband Limiter – offering 4 bands with transparent crossover filters and an additional full-range brickwall limiter at the final output stage.

PowerPan – for powerful stage positioning of instruments, featuring real-time audio angular analysis.

Exciter – offering 4x oversampling, tone-color sliders for mixing odd and even harmonics, and a high frequency FFT spectrum analyzer.

Analyzer – featuring a 120 band analog modeled spectrum analyzer, a fast and accurate display of bass frequencies, an auto mode for automatic range management, and a loudest frequency note display.

Source: www.vsl.co.at -> Forums –>Vienna Instruments->First Vienna Stress Tests Results on PC
First Vienna Instruments Stress Test Results on PC

We have tested the Vienna Instruments on various computers and doublechecked on similar machines. All computers are fully equipped DAW´s that are used in everyday studio work, no additional tuning.

More tests are in the works, with different processors and hosts. Our tests with Sonar, FX Teleport, Chainer, Plogue Bidule, Forte showed the same results, the Vienna Instruments behave the same way as in Steinberg Cubase SX or Vstack.

The test results for Audio Units on Apple will follow as soon as possible.

Please bear in mind, that the RAM available is also used by the hosts (around 300 MB) and Windows (another 300 MB), which is why the limit of RAM usage is 1.3-1.5 GB for the Vienna Instruments in a computer equipped with 2 GB RAM.

The testing routine: Play a (really stressy!) stress test song with different loading options (more instruments, less RAM, and the other way around). All instruments are playing all the time, using all kinds of matrices and patches, and of course including additional MIDI data like ModWheel and different assigned sliders.

You always see the maximum Vienna Instruments possible in the given setup without any sonic trouble.

TEST COMPUTER 1
Processor: Pentium 4, 3.2 GHz, Ram: 2 GB Data storage: internal SATA Host application: Cubase SX3 Soundcard: RME HDSP Multiface Latency at 512 Samples (12ms) / 1.2 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 24 (CPU 75%) Maximum polyphony: 200 stereo voices / (CPU 75%) Latency at 256 Samples (6 ms) / 1.3 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 20 (CPU 70%) Maximum polyphony: 200 stereo voices / (CPU 75%)

TEST COMPUTER 2
Processor: Pentium 4, 3 GHz, Ram: 2 GB Data storage: Firewire 400 Host application: Cubase SX2 Soundcard: RME DIGI 9652 Latency at 1024 Samples (24 ms) / 1.3 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 24 (CPU 50%) Maximum polyphony: 200 stereo voices / (CPU 60%) Latency at 512 Samples (12 ms) / 1 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 18 (CPU 50%) Maximum polyphony: 200 stereo voices / (CPU 60%) Latency at 256 Samples (6 ms) / 1.2 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 14 (CPU 60%) Maximum polyphony: 180 stereo voices / (CPU 65%)

TEST COMPUTER 3
Processor: AMD 2.6 GHz, Ram: 2 GB Data storage: Firewire 400 Host application: Cubase SX3 Soundcard: Creamware Pulsar & Luna Latency at 13ms / 1.3 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 20 (CPU 70%) Maximum polyphony: 200 stereo voices / (CPU 70%) Latency at 7 ms / 1.2 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 16 (CPU 65%) Maximum polyphony: 174 stereo voices / (CPU 60%)

TEST COMPUTER 4
Processor: Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz, Ram: 2 GB Data storage: internal SATA Host application: VSTack Soundcard: RME DIGI9632 Latency at 512 Samples (12ms) / 1.4 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 16 (CPU 70%) Maximum polyphony: 180 stereo voices / (CPU 70%) Latency at 256 Samples (6 ms) / 1.4 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 8 (CPU 55%) Maximum polyphony: 160 stereo voices / (CPU 70%)

TEST COMPUTER 5
Processor: Pentium 4, 2.4 GHz, Ram: 1.5 GB Data storage: Firewire 400 Host application: VSTack Soundcard: Steinberg VSL 2020 Latency at 512 Samples (12ms) / 1 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 16 (CPU 60%) Maximum polyphony: 200 stereo voices / (CPU 80%) Latency at 256 Samples (6 ms) / 1 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 14 (CPU 60%) Maximum polyphony: 200 stereo voices / (CPU 80%)

TEST COMPUTER 6
Processor: Laptop Pentium M, 2 GHz, Ram: 2 GB Data storage: Firewire 400 Host application: Cubase SX3 Soundcard: RME HDSP Multiface Latency at 512 Samples (12ms) / 1.2 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 14 (CPU 65%) Maximum polyphony: 160 stereo voices / (CPU 65%) Latency at 256 Samples (6 ms) / 1.1 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 10 (CPU 55%) Maximum polyphony: 150 stereo voices / (CPU 65%)

TEST COMPUTER 7
Processor: Pentium 3, 1 GHz, Ram: 2 GB Data storage: Firewire 400 Host application: VStack Soundcard: RME DIGI 9632 Latency at 512 Samples (12ms) / 0.6 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 5 (CPU 70%) Maximum polyphony: 90 stereo voices / (CPU 65%)

First Vienna Instruments Stress Test results on Mac OS X
So here they are, the first official test results with the new Vienna Instruments as Audio Units on Mac.

As on the PC platform, we have tested the Vienna Instruments on various computers and doublechecked on similar machines. All computers are fully equipped DAW´s that are used in everyday studio work, no additional tuning.

More tests are in the works, with different processors and hosts. Test results for the Quad will be released as well, we expect more Vienna Instruments to be loaded with maximum amount of RAM.
The limit of RAM usage is about 2.8 GB for the Vienna Instruments in a computer equipped with 4 GB RAM, that translates to 47000 samples.

The testing routine: Play a (really stressy!) stress test song with different loading options (more instruments, less RAM, and the other way around). All instruments are playing all the time, using all kinds of matrices and patches, and of course including additional MIDI data like ModWheel and different assigned sliders.

You always see the maximum Vienna Instruments possible in the given setup without any sonic trouble.

TEST COMPUTER 1
Processor: G5, 2 x 2.5 GHz, Ram: 4 GB OS 10.4.2 Data storage: Firewire 800 Host application: Logic 7.1.1 Soundcard: RME HDSP MADI with 648 MADI Interface Latency at 512 Samples (12ms) / 2.5 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 24 (CPU 90%) Maximum Samples loaded: 45000 Maximum polyphony: 300 stereo voices / (CPU 70%) Latency at 256 Samples (6 ms) / 1.74 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 23 (CPU 70%) Maximum polyphony: 200 stereo voices / (CPU 75%)

TEST COMPUTER 2
Processor: iMac G5 single, 1.8 GHz, Ram: 2 GB OS 10.4.5 Data storage: Firewire 400 Host application: Logic 7.1 Soundcard: Built in Audio Latency at 512 Samples (12ms) / 1.08 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 11 (CPU 85%) Maximum Samples loaded: 17400 Maximum polyphony: 250 stereo voices / (CPU 80%) Latency at 256 Samples (6 ms) / 1 GB Ram usage Maximum Vienna Instrument instances: 9 (CPU 85%) Maximum polyphony: 160 stereo voices / (CPU 80%)

The first samplers were hardware. The most well known were created by E-MU Systems of Scottsdale, California and Akai. The E4 XT Ultra pictured below is an example of a hardware sampler.

When purchased “fully loaded” the E4 came with an internal drive, and memory could be expanded to 128MB (compared to 32GB or better in a dedicated computer system today). Sound programming took place using a proprietary E-MU operating system (EOS) and software. The E4 also came with various reverb effects and a basic sequencer. The E4 had 8 audio outs on the back and one pair of MIDI connectors. Fully loaded, the E4 could be valued at $4200US. As a comparison, today’s professional PCs with 8GB RAM and with two hard drives and a DVD/RW cost just approximately $2995US with sampler programs having a typical “street” price of $399US.

Unlike synthesizers, the original hardware samplers came with no sounds. This requiring the user to purchase libraries in the format of that sampler.

Today, dedicated software samplers like Native Instruments’ Kontakt 3, come with a full range of sounds giving the user a serious music production package.

These sounds are but a starting point since there are many dedicated libraries created specifically for Kontakt.

The Rise of Sample Players
Because of the complexity involved with samplers, the next step for widespread consumer acceptance was the licensing of the sampler technology to create a sample player. The sample player works like a synthesizer in that it comes with a lot of sounds with basic user programming for editing (also called tweaking). Below is a sample player called Symphonia from Project SAM.

Other sample players are the Vienna Instruments player from the Vienna Symphonic Library, PLAY from EastWest, and ARIA from Garritan.

When music is recorded in tempo or “live” it’s called real time recording.

If a hardware MIDI controller isn’t available, a sequencing program enables the user to literally key punch (data entry) music information into the program. This is called step-time.

Sequencers also give tools to edit and correct performances.

Sequencers are also found in MIDI keyboards and some are still available as separate hardware units.

Modern software sequencers do more than record data. These programs are now complete music production suites which include:

• a sequencer with editing features
• a music notation program
• an audio engine for digital recording
• an internal “virtual” mixing board
• a complete audio effects rack containing reverb, EQ, compressors, chorus, delays, limiters, expanders, flangers, phasers, guitar and bass amp modeling, vocal editing software (de-essers and pitch correction), gain, and more
• fully programmable virtual synthesizers (software versions of hardware MIDI keyboards)
• virtual samplers
• virtual drum machines
• loop patterns

Pricing of these programs ranges from free (GarageBand which is included in every new Mac), to $495US and up.

The main sequencing programs include Cubase (Mac and PC), Digital Performer (Mac only), Logic (Mac only), and Sonar (PC only).

Those wanting sequencing programs with better developed notation capabilities usually consider Cubase or Logic. Those for whom notation is not important often consider Digital Performer or Sonar.

Because modern software sequencing programs are complete music production suites, the learning curve is longer because not only must sequencing be learned, but also MIDI editing, and audio recording. While similar in approach, both are separate disciplines.