Simply awesome piece of work Samuel. I have not seen anyone else do what you just did on on TH-cam and break down the process like you did. And, it was so refreshing to watch you get into it like you did on the final playthrough. I kind of wish there might have been a previous video showing how created this piece in the first place.... I always look forward for you new videos...
Thanks for sharing your mixing journey! Always valuable to learn from others approaches. I like your Dusty/Distant piece! To my ears it has a bit of "Mafia Movie" in the spaghetti western sauce. Sounds great!
Thank You again Samuel for explaining this in a way I can understand. So GREAT to get inspired to try this myself! Please keep these fantastic videos coming. !! Cheers from Santa Rosa CA !!
Thank you! There is a general lack of content on mixing orchestral/cinematic content, especially from pro MIXING ENGINEERS. There’s a lot stuff from them on other genres. Then there’s stuff from other composer/producers that mostly amounts to “balance you template and set up reverb sends”, do some eq and it mixes itself. Thanks again!
Very informative Samuel and terrific composition. Great that you are working in Studio One as just really starting my journey with all this and that's my DAW of choice. Learning so much about that DAW as well as composing watching your channel. Bit of a noobie question, why is it common practice to export everything to audio stems rather than mix with just MIDI tracks and so nothing is fixed and could be easily revisited/reworked in future? What are the benefits for doing that, apart from probably reducing load on your computer once adding in effects? Cheers
Good question. First of all, everybody has their own workflow - and you have to figure out what works for you. I have two reasons to export everything to audio before going to the proper mixing. First: While in the "midi" stage, so to say, I focus on getting the best possible individual midi lines and that the sections are as balanced as can be just from the midi information. The strong separation of composing/arranging and mixing allows me to think like a conductor during the first stage, and think like a sound engineer during the second. Second: Midi is heavy on the memory, most audio plugins are heavy on the CPU. Thus, my audio interface seetings are also different during mixing. I don't care about input lag and such, but need my CPU to be able to handle all the processing. And although I have a quite poweful PC (both, wrt memory and cpu), optimizing the DAW settings for specific workflows and working with audio makes a noticable difference for me. Thirs bonus reason: The barrier to go back and fix stuff in the midi is high. Which in turn means I won't start mixing as long as I'm not happy with the midi.
Very intersting video Samuel. Thank you. I'm always sceptical when I see people dealing with separate tracks for long and short note. When you record a real orchestra, you don't ask them to record short notes and long notes separately. I undestand that it can be easier to deal with reverb with separated track. But also, I think that it can act as a brake to your creativity if you always have to jump from track to another when your are comopsing a melody. Maybe I'm wrong. In my opinion, as a composer (amateur), I prefer thinking as a composer and dealing with keyswitches than thinknig as a sound engineer (which I'm definitly not).
Good point. I see what you mean. And honestly, by now I've seen many different opinions and workflows. One issue I have with key-switching too much is: a) I lack the ability to control faders AND key-switches; b) much more important: Many libraries I have are inconsistent between short patches and long patches, both, in volume/timbre and in delay. I am on the side of "if it works for me, it's great" and "if it sounds good, it is good". So, all I can say is: This is my workflow. Everybody needs to find their own. Seeing how others work was, for me, very useful to find my own workflow. So, that is why I share. So, even if you don't agree with everything... maybe it's useful to see my personal workflow/struggle ;)
@@SamuFL Yeah, delay is a bit of a problem if you quantize a lot. If you play your library on the keyboard, then you realize that you don't really feel the problem because you tend to play the note naturaly in advance? I use mainly the sound variations on Studio One Pro 6.
Simply awesome piece of work Samuel. I have not seen anyone else do what you just did on on TH-cam and break down the process like you did. And, it was so refreshing to watch you get into it like you did on the final playthrough. I kind of wish there might have been a previous video showing how created this piece in the first place.... I always look forward for you new videos...
Thanks for sharing your mixing journey! Always valuable to learn from others approaches. I like your Dusty/Distant piece! To my ears it has a bit of "Mafia Movie" in the spaghetti western sauce. Sounds great!
Thank You again Samuel for explaining this in a way I can understand.
So GREAT to get inspired to try this myself!
Please keep these fantastic videos coming.
!! Cheers from Santa Rosa CA !!
I will keep them coming for sure! Thank you for the feedback -- and cheers from lovely Vienna, Austria :D
This is a Tango 😁 Nice
Yes, indeed. I am not sure why, but the Tango felt kind of right 😅
Great video, Samuel! Very informative.
Thank you! Glad it's useful 😅
Thank you! There is a general lack of content on mixing orchestral/cinematic content, especially from pro MIXING ENGINEERS. There’s a lot stuff from them on other genres. Then there’s stuff from other composer/producers that mostly amounts to “balance you template and set up reverb sends”, do some eq and it mixes itself. Thanks again!
Highly welcome. I share whatever little knowledge and experience I have :D
Very informative Samuel and terrific composition. Great that you are working in Studio One as just really starting my journey with all this and that's my DAW of choice. Learning so much about that DAW as well as composing watching your channel.
Bit of a noobie question, why is it common practice to export everything to audio stems rather than mix with just MIDI tracks and so nothing is fixed and could be easily revisited/reworked in future? What are the benefits for doing that, apart from probably reducing load on your computer once adding in effects?
Cheers
Good question. First of all, everybody has their own workflow - and you have to figure out what works for you. I have two reasons to export everything to audio before going to the proper mixing. First: While in the "midi" stage, so to say, I focus on getting the best possible individual midi lines and that the sections are as balanced as can be just from the midi information. The strong separation of composing/arranging and mixing allows me to think like a conductor during the first stage, and think like a sound engineer during the second. Second: Midi is heavy on the memory, most audio plugins are heavy on the CPU. Thus, my audio interface seetings are also different during mixing. I don't care about input lag and such, but need my CPU to be able to handle all the processing. And although I have a quite poweful PC (both, wrt memory and cpu), optimizing the DAW settings for specific workflows and working with audio makes a noticable difference for me. Thirs bonus reason: The barrier to go back and fix stuff in the midi is high. Which in turn means I won't start mixing as long as I'm not happy with the midi.
Very intersting video Samuel. Thank you.
I'm always sceptical when I see people dealing with separate tracks for long and short note. When you record a real orchestra, you don't ask them to record short notes and long notes separately.
I undestand that it can be easier to deal with reverb with separated track. But also, I think that it can act as a brake to your creativity if you always have to jump from track to another when your are comopsing a melody. Maybe I'm wrong. In my opinion, as a composer (amateur), I prefer thinking as a composer and dealing with keyswitches than thinknig as a sound engineer (which I'm definitly not).
Good point. I see what you mean. And honestly, by now I've seen many different opinions and workflows. One issue I have with key-switching too much is: a) I lack the ability to control faders AND key-switches; b) much more important: Many libraries I have are inconsistent between short patches and long patches, both, in volume/timbre and in delay.
I am on the side of "if it works for me, it's great" and "if it sounds good, it is good". So, all I can say is: This is my workflow. Everybody needs to find their own. Seeing how others work was, for me, very useful to find my own workflow. So, that is why I share. So, even if you don't agree with everything... maybe it's useful to see my personal workflow/struggle ;)
@@SamuFL Yeah, delay is a bit of a problem if you quantize a lot. If you play your library on the keyboard, then you realize that you don't really feel the problem because you tend to play the note naturaly in advance? I use mainly the sound variations on Studio One Pro 6.