This is literally the worst news many viewers could receive. They want to believe they can buy their way to success. It's a lot harder, and takes much longer, to actually learn the fundamentals of composition and orchestration. Thanks for showcasing this point; a lot of people need to hear it.
You haven’t offended anyone. This aspiring composer appreciates the points you’re making about practicing craft and learning to work with what you can afford. Taste is the single most important factor in any creative endeavor. As a musician/composer who came of age in the 70’s and 80’s I can say without hesitation that I would have sawed off a leg for the tools, sounds and instruments that come free in GarageBand when I was growing up (recording on my 4 track Tascam cassette recorder). There is no excuse that can support being prevented from creating great music when music making has never been easier, cheaper and with more free and cheap tools available. We (me included) must fight the urge to get the shiny things and get to work. Thank you for your insight and expertise.
coming of age in the 70ies and 70ies... raises hand. And yes to the rest of your comment as well. I'll never forget how psyched I was when discovering on my then 2008 MacBook Pro that Garageband had everything I needed for a recording I was supposed to send to a new musician friend I had made on MySpace and we later continued our collaboration on Facebook and had an online only thing going. Like you I was pining over access to a studio and its technology and today we can have much of that on a laptop and a few pieces of software, isn't it amazing? 😀❤️
You speak like a real human, to us as if we're real humans. Most of us probably are. Point is, you do not come across as someone "putting on a personality." We get the right amount of levity and casual nature that makes your content very approachable, a major factor of a great educator.
Yes x 1000! When it comes down to real-world output, I think most tools/sound libraries/hardware these days are more than adequate to create something that connects with the intended audience, especially when skilfully used. And yes, working with limited gear really does shift the focus on developing your skills. Thanks for this video!
Thank you so much for this - I've been feeling this for years and now I have someone else (with credibility) saying the same thing? And I still use EW!!
Great discussion, awesome presentation!! It fully reminds me that there are those of us that know about the best strings from way back in the mid 90s are now still among the best or most useful for p to mp range and even forte in the upper octaves. Not from EW. Those that know, know. But 25 years later still using them in the template. Also similarly for me, I use a very old piece of hardware as physical faders. Completely "obsolete " and completely affordable an absolutely the best feel still. It's like CAMERAS and photography. Lots of new bells and whistles, yet SLRs and DSLRs and lenses from years ago still took those incredible photos we admired back then. What works, still works! Such a great point made Anne-Kathrin!
9:26 Close, Stage and Surround... from the manual: "Each instrument sample contains high-resolution components recorded from microphone groups placed to achieve close, full, and ambient sound. Setups are modeled after traditional Decca setups having front omnidirectional microphones for full string sound, a directional center tree to focus woodwinds and brass and a number of stereo pair accents for solo and close up work. Instruments are placed on stage where they usually perform so that signals from these microphone groups can be mixed and have the general technical feel and acoustic properties of a live session. Soloists can be brought forward, other instruments can be accented yet remain back or in the orchestra, and off stage effects can be produced, all with correct acoustic perspective."
You haven’t offended me : ) I loved these last few videos, and especially your courage in calling out some of the elitism in the academic world. I did tons of films and TV shows in the late 80s with a midi module called Proteus 2. You’re right, while I am grateful for all the new libraries that I have now, it is about how creative one is in the composing and your technical skills and mixing more than anything else. Keep being yourself it’s great!
Interesting you mention the Proteus 2...I still have my Proteus 3 (World) and was blown away the first time I watched the TV show "Northern Exposure". It sounded very familiar, then I realized the entire original opening theme was done with just a Proteus 3. Thanks for the comment, and thanks for your videos Anne-Kathrin. They're always helpful and inspiring! And entertaining. 🙂
@@anonagain Ha! The Proteus 3 was great, I still have a Korg M3r module (Korg M1 rack mount) that I still just love the fretless bass from! Take care, looking forward to whatever you create next.
@@MrDarwinNE that’s great I know a modern classical and film composer up here in Canada who did film music with live musicians and did commission’s for local groups and he mocked up all his mock ups on a proteus 2! I know that now it probably would be simpler to just get one of those small sample libraries and just do a quick mock up. But I guess it just shows that there are many ways to do this and the old gear still might be very very useful eh? Good luck with your composing!
...so you chose to upload this two hours after I pulled the trigger on JXL Brass. Salt, meet wound. Anyway, great video as always! Needless to say the mockup is great as well.
Your take is spot on and important. As for location, EastWest Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra (usually and mercifully just abbreviated EWQLSO) was recorded in Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony in Seattle, Washington. Doug Rogers of EastWest confirmed in a post on Gearspace back in 2009 that he had to sign a contract that prevented them from disclosing the hall at the time. I got the platinum edition back in 2006. It was pricey. I still use parts of it to this day and it has a place in my orchestral template. Good library, though I use the Opus player for it these days, which is a big improvement over Play.
I can't agree more. EW has been my go to library for a long time. I keep trying to make it sound better. When my mockups suck (most of the time!) I know it's on me, not on EW. The same way I use Cubase stock plugins since I am not an engineer and expensive plugin wont make my mixes sound better ... I prefer to invest in training...
Certainly best sound, but for me a lot of trouble that i only find there. Many times i just go to some simple alternatives that are good, like Alpine Woodwinds . I use Goliath a lot, even having all EW instruments, only God explains…. Yesterday Opus crashed again, while pressing „reveal in library“ , because the instrument was irresponsibe. What a hell when composing
@@audiowork6015 i know this hell. Considering that this is the “best” and expensive I find ridiculous how EW is not humble about it. Notice their updates, and how they communicate about crashes and bugs
Regarding samples the only problem i see is with inconsistence in timbre/velocity and also unwanted noise, that gives trouble later when compressed. Another thing that I don´t experience with some other libraries..But doubtless - as sound -it is a go to orchestra when it comes to professional work.
I love this so much. You are actually my most favourite composition TH-camr by now. I love listening to you. You seem so chill about everything, i absolutely adore it. Wishing you only the best.
I just found this video and I am enjoying your reminiscing; “the good old days”! It reminds me of how fascinated we were at the invention of “stereo” and LP albums with 12 songs on two sides. Oh! And color TV! Ah, children of today will probably reminisce over their Dad’s first electric flying car and laugh at how bulky AR goggles were. Thanks for bringing me back to the past. Your an amazing artist and composer and a real down to earth human being. ❤❤❤
Spot on. The prize is the imagination, not the gear. Of course gear and software are nice, but that's not what makes the music. It's the ears and what's between them that make the difference. At 77 I still try to learn something new every day. I've heard it said that creativity is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration. There's a lot of truth in that. You are a breath of fresh air!
THANK YOU!!! And for $29 a month you can have one of the top libraries in the world. Opus is a hell of a lot more stable. I don't know what I would have done without East-West!!!
At the age of retirement, your speech was mesmorizing, along with a wake up call of "Hey stupid.....wake up and smell the coffee!" I've always played on keys with onboard sounds. Now at being over 70, I'm venturing into DAW's, VST's, midi controllers, and the whole virtual world.......maybe a day late, and a dollar short, but your words more or less slapped the shit out of me, telling me to take one step at a time, and use what you have, regardless whether it's old or not. Thanks Anne-Kathrin for a job well done!
The picture in the SoS article is Benaroya Hall (same organ, same seating etc.), which fits with the 2500 capacity, and the "construction cost of 125 million dollars" claim on Crypton (.jp, use any translator), though Crypton also states the location as somwhere in NY, which might just be a mistake or something.
I knew some of the people who worked for EW at the time and it was always my understanding that Benaroya Hall was where the recordings were made. I also just found an old online discussion about this library and saw this quote: "About the reverb, Symphonic Orchestra was recorded way back in the days over the course of two years' recording in the Seattle symphony hall. Since all the samples were recorded live, you have the natural beautiful reverb."
~6:38 ". . . the vast majority of people, I would argue, cannot hear the difference" Good advice from someone who actually knows whereof she speaks. Thanks, A-KD (btw, to a certain extent, this also applies to hardware--decades ago, Chick Corea had a column about this very issue in Keyboard)
This definitely applies to hardware. There are blind tests where people that consider themselves experts couldn't tell the difference between analog hardware and software VST.
For the under 30 demographic, “Keyboard” is a reeeeeally reeeeally old magazine about keyboard instruments. A “magazine” is.a form of a reeeeally reeeally old thing called a book. A “book” is a reeeally reeeally old thing made of paper. “Paper” is a... Ahh F it...
Had a real good laugh at the start of this. Great stuff. There's a lot of truth to what you are saying, especially with how many places keep cranking out new libraries.
I COMPLETELY agree 🙂 I have an album coming out in December and most of the plugins I'm using are from the early/mid 00s - mostly electric pianos and organs, and a good few of them are beta versions as I prefer the sounds to the final product.. For orchestra stuff I use the Miroslav plugin which is now well over a decade old and uses samples that started life as a hardware sample library, with all the restrictions that that brought. But I'm really happy with the sound of all of them, I know intimately how they work, how they respond, how to get the best out of them. I still use the freeware MDA plugins too, the epiano is STILL one of the loveliest tine pianos about, even 20 years and countless sample libraries later.. What a luvly video, thank you for speaking up!
If this library was recorded in the space shown on the product box, then that is the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX. Home of the Dallas symphony orchestra!
I don’t know what brought me to this channel but it is a gem! I am a sixty year old guitar player who is currently beefing up on harmonization theory.What you say about the gear fomo is actually 10 x the case for a large fraction of the guitar community. There is an endless sea of gear available, especially in the electric department, with new more shit popping up every minute. When I started with guitar by the age of 15 I started with a classical nylon string. I was happy! Of course I wanted an electric like my rock heroes and I got it a year later. I was in heaven. I got my first distortion/ reverb device at the age of 18, I almost cried for happiness. Everything after this was just cool, nice to have and in the end often a huge distraction from playing. I got so fed up with fiddling with my gear and chasing sounds that I stopped playing electric altogether for a couple of years and just played my Spanish guitar.
A friend of mine put me onto this video. Thank you, very relevant comments and I think useful to a lot of people. I began in about 2008 with Garritan, and shortly afterwards acquired EW Gold. Like you, I feel that it gave me a start on my journey. I also have all four of the others you mentioned (Ra, Silk, VoP and Stormdrums). It's what everyone was buying at the time :) I would still use them if I thought the sound was right.
Anne-Kathrin: You are so intelligent, talented and funny!!! Is always a pleasure to watch your videos , learn from you and hear your very particular opinion and interesting perspective of your observations. I loved your mock-up, but had not recognized that was such an old library :-) !! Agree 100% on your points. Keep the good work and congratulation for the growing channel!!!
East West is truly excellent about helping out students and aspiring composers. I was in high school when they first introduced Composer Cloud, with a great education discount. That was truly a game changer for me, that I as a high school student working as a dishwasher could afford such a huge array of quality libraries. Sure, a lot of them show their age and don't have the same amount of features that modern libraries do, but they still sound great and are more than usable. Composer Cloud is pretty much responsible for me getting into Berklee, and for me now living in LA just starting to work as a composers assistant! You are so right too about focusing more on developing skills rather than blaming it on needing newer tools. It is something I try and tell those starting out too - sure you do need at the very least some sort of decent orchestral library to start with, but money would be better spent on orchestration/arranging/production/mixing books and courses than more tools you don't know how to use yet. Knowledge is power!
I am so inspired by your videos. I'm a 63 year old professional keyboardist and I'm studying orchestral mock ups and film scoring at home through books and videos like yours. I agree even as a keyboardist, I dont chase the latest technology when it comes to gear. I look for stuff i can learn quickly and apply on gigs and I stick with what works. I have BBCSO and Abbey Road and a few other libraries and i just have 16 gig of ram. And with that I can make a decent cue which of course still need to be fininshed and mastered. I treat it all as my hobby when I'm not gigging in Vegas doing live shows. I want to compose and do what you do from my home studio when or before I get into my 70' or 80's and just perform when i want to and licence my music. That is my dream goal Thank you for your videos and know that you give me hope amd inspiration on the regular. I am a happy subscriber to your channel. Keep doing whacha doin' !!!! Always, 😎 Mike Clark
Thank you, thank you. I’ve been watching your videos and love them, not only because they’re great, but because of your humanism. I’m learning orchestration and arranging and I’m 76 years young and have one iMac (2015😢) and One library: Hollywood EastWest Opus Edition. Going to follow your guidance or wisdom to learn to use what I have and save up and learn more. Christopher Sui has been helpful and I think he’s worked with you, but that doesn’t matter because I wanted, like everyone else doing composing to have the best gear, but knowledge is better than having gear and not knowing what to do. Thanks again🙏🏾
Over the last year, I've listened to a lot of Anne's videos and got around to building a full on orchestral template with VEPro. As a test, I loaded up a MIDI version of Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D, and it was absolute proof that what she says about knowledge beating gear is spot on. The overall sound was so good, even just using sustain patches (for woodwinds) and not messing around too much with legatos, etc. So there it is, if you know what you're doing (Beethoven certainly did) you don't have to mess around so much with slow or fast legatos, older or newer libraries (I'm using older EastWest libraries for the most part myself), or all the latest and greatest this or that. I have spent a lot of time fiddling and tweaking, and have realized a good part of that time was spent fussing over things what it was really just lack of knowledge and experience. "Knowledge beats gear, every time."
Funny thing... someone on VI-Control started a thread about purchasing burnout... reading the OP's comment, I knew I was going to post a comment and it was going to start with, "Buying shit..." I scroll down, the very next comment is linking this vid and all I see is "Buying Shit." You are spot-on. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a hundred times: "EWQL Orchestra Gold is the greatest/most revolutionary sample library ever... just wish that they would go back and update it." I have never been more inspired as I was in 2005 when I purchased this library. Great video.
dear youtube algorithm, Please make this one go viral. This video will make the world a better place. Also Anne, I usually just lurk but I'd like to thank you for the high quality content. I appreciate you doing the hard work making it despite youtube probably not being a big (enough) avenue for business for you.
Great video!!! Thanks for sharing. Funnily enough, i have very recently purchased this library at a huge discount and part of a bundle with a choir library! So, having seen your video now, i am going to have fun with getting to grips with this library!! Thanks again, Best Regards
OMG! I stopped at 1:30 and listened to this performance twice more before moving on. And then THE REVEAL! Well done, nice the way you panned nice and slow. I took away some ear training while watching the first 2:20 seconds! And now, to continue...
Really nice video! You are absolutely right. There is a video of a guy pairing two mock ups and a real recording of Waltz of the Flowers. One mockup was Spitfire BBCSO pro and the other one Noteperformer 3, with a nice hall reverb, well done panning and eq. Well, you can guess the results...
Absolutely agree..!! congrats for you steemed Anne for enlightening that much to many of us constantly in what really matters about creation, music and the actual need to respect the real talent of some people, not the gear budget everyone could have. Thank you so much for sharing these so valuables videos. Grettings from Chile .
I'm a composer and pro sounddesigner. And I must say: you don't need much stuff!! In theses days the onboard stuff in modern daws are also very very good. Same goes for synths: when you bypass all the fx, eq, arpeggiators, etc., the sound is very simple! you can build your own HiEnd VSTis with onboard synth like (Cubase e.g.) Padshop or Retrologue plus adding effects and midi plugins! And with sampling you can create your own "Omnisphere clone!" sounds! (tip: record noises outdoor, sample chords, vstis stacks+patches, pitch, stretch, add effects.. sample again... and so on...(and exactly this is what Eric Pershing does with Omnisphere content) ... millions of millions possibilities...all this without buying new expensive stuff! ♥️
Well Said. Well done. You just saved me from myself! I've always been suspicious regard libraries that market the hall sound. I also realized that I didn't need to worry too much about mixing different librarys. When recorded together I can't hear the difference mostly. I just concentrate on getting better at orchestration (practice) and that ususally takes care of lousy sound. You are the best! I am forever gratefull for your posts!
I'm not even a film-composer, but i feel blessed to have realised that EWQL's old library is actually still very good, even kinda "un-mixed" (check out my metal mix Red Alert as the example, alltho i added my own lowend fake synths to thicken it up a bit. I just bounced it down to a wave and automated the volume a bit cause the project was crashing cpu spikes and stuff, ha ha. I think Dimmu Borgir used Ewqlso on an album aswell. You can tell that it's a "fake orchestra" but once the guitars and drums kick in it works really well. I also used it just as a subtle textures in my future love ballad classic 'Stick It In' and it totally adds a lot of athmosphere to the mix yet it's 20years old, crazy
Couldn’t agree more with this! I use Spitfire but that’s because I’ve always used them because I was lucky to have started when LABS and BBC Discover was released. I got used to how to write with their libraries, their quarks and all that so I’ve just stayed with them. I have others now as they’ve offered stuff I liked and needed for various things. I’ll admit I LOVE to purchase new stuff 😂😂😂 but the ones I use the MOST are the ones I’ve had for a few years now. Use what’s inspiring to you, comfortable for you to use and write and go with it!! I’m so on board on not caring about the sample argument!!
I am using 2003 EWQL still to this day lol. As they say, "he's gonna take you back to the past". I would argue that VSL sounds so good for me that I'd always be able to differentiate that.
great video! It´s funny, i got my first film job using the old cheap Steinberg orchestra library. When i started out scoring i was pretty much broke and i got a student discount on that library. There are pretty much no round robins at all in it, but I did my best to get the most out of it. And since i didn´t have much money to buy sample libaries i started to record my own samples and create my own instruments. Now i have over 20 gig of my own samples to play around with. And those are my sounds wich no one else have access to.
I'm guessing that many of those who incorrectly identified the library are probably the same people who complain on Vi-Control about libraries sounding "old and synthy."
The fact that most people can't even recognize an older library by its sound speaks a lot. I guess it's also because most of them are probably younger so didn't have to work with the old libraries. As you say, knowing your gear and trying to get the most out of it before going to get the next shiny overexpansive shit because of... Reasons... Is the most important here. I started back in 2009 and worked my ass off with the Complete Composer Collection from East West, a big fat investment I made back then and I NEEDED to know how to make it sound good. Even today when I listen to some of my older mockups, I believe it's still decent and kinda relevant even if I can get WAYYYYYYY better mockups today with my current knowledge on how to create a proper mockup, orchestrating, programming and mixing skills(which are still not where I want to be. Especially when it comes to mixing). I think that all the subscription bullshit is practical for younger composers but also leads to more laziness. Investing a good amount of money always forces you to work more in depth on this investment. It goes that way with cheap courses(or torrents for example), cheap subscription models with way too many products etc... Very interesting video as usual!
Absolutely nailed the topic, thank you! 🙏 A lot of aspiring composers/orchestrators need to hear this. Even if it feels self-evident that it is the know-how and not the tool so much, the temptation to go on a continuous shopping spree is lucrative but distracting for the process.
hey Anne, i'm new to your channel, i find the tips and tricks you show a great addition to all the other channels i'm fan of, as a music hobbyist i have accuired a lot of sample libraries, also the one you showcased here (symphonic orchestra) my latest addition is musio altough i have most of the cinesamples libraries in kontakt format, just went nuts when updating to kontakt 7 when the GUI from certain libraries are completely unreadable on one of my two machines,i have contacted NI tough, they say they will get in touch, have a nice day Anne
Never seen one of your videos before... just randomly had this one in my feed ND thought the title was interesting. Only 30 seconds in and already diggin the vibe 😁
Is binge-watching a sin? If so, then you've made me a (worse) sinner. What a fascinating channel, and so beautifully presented. Humbling and inspiring at the same time. I guess I'm a fan!
You did not offend. Quite the contrary, you've voiced a stance on gear I find myself highly agreeing with. And 'learn your tools' should really find it's way into every composer's schedule.
Loving the points being made in this video. You often say the stuff that lots of people need to hear. I have a massive grievance with computing in the early to mid 2000s though, particularly with audio: those were the dark ages for us composers, but due mostly to inane incompetence on the software side. The hardware was already fabulous, CPUs were Pentiums and they were fast, RAM was with 1 to 2gb, hard drives were already kinda big. Computers were massively more powerful than hardware samplers, and yet they were just shit at streaming or loading audio files and playing them, which in terms of computer science is fucking TRIVIAL. Anyone remember GigaStudio and it never working, or taking MINUTES to loads a couple of hundred megabytes of data, sometimes only 32mb? Anyone remember that some AMD computers were just physically incompatible with popular soundcards or DAWs because of some version of the chipset? The transition to win98 to XP/NT was so painful and lasted for years... The craft of recording and editing those samples was top notch, but the software skills behind the curtains were massively below par compared to other industries, and the shitty OSes didn't help. It is a painful time to remember for me. Wooof, rant over. Thanks for coming!
I also love to rant. Part of the difficulty was SSE and CH10. In the meantime the initial Pentium release was the target platform. I do think they should have at least used SSE - but marketing probably would have opposed it and technical support would get calls like - why the bleep will it not work on just a Pentium. Intel kept adding to the instruction set to address these problems. M-Audio from IBM tried to address some of this. It died. End of response rant.
THANK YOU!!! I am 60 and just trying to break into trailer music. My only orchestral libraries at the time are BBCSO Discover, Nucleus Lite and the Symphony Essentials in Komplete 13 Ultimate. I have actually been drooling over the CineSamples libraries for a while, but you have lit a new fire under me. THANK YOU!!!!
Hey Jay - I’m 60 too and passionate about music production. I have friends making music for TV and movies. It’s very competitive and key to have contacts. Good luck!
@@JeffyG fortunately I do this for the love of making music. I am retired, and no longer play on stage so I have been looking for a motivation (you know how we get). If I make it, great! If I don't, I have tried something new and learned something. All things considered, it is a win as far as I am concerned. I know there are a LOT more composers than large projects, but I know a few indie film producers that I might get some projects from. Who knows...
And there it is kids at 3:17 in the biggest golden words of advice “Skill beats gear every time !! “ Hi Anne.. I’m a uk based theatre sound designer and engineer and Love watching your informative content.. ✌🏼😎
So refreshing to hear these home truths coming from an accomplished professional. There is definitely something to be said for working with a limited set of tools that you know intimately. Back in the early 2000s my only means of realising full orchestral arrangements was with nothing more than a Roland JV-1080 (with occasional help from a U-220). Listening back to those early efforts now, I'm not sure that I could have done a significantly more effective job with my modern arsenal of mega-GB sample libraries. Sure, the JV-1080 is a decidedly blunt instrument compared to CSS, CSB, CSW and their ilk - but if you know it well, it's surprising what you can get it to do. Even now, I still use some of the old Roland S-series sample libraries (from the 1990s) in Kontakt - they may be crude by modern standards (maximum of two dynamics, no round robins, etc etc), but sometimes a simple sound does the job so much better.
A popular phrase here in the UK is "All of the gear but no idea". Applies equally to photography, fishing, cycling, music...whatever. Another great video replete with wisdom, thanks!
Thank you! I hold my money in the pocket. There is so much on the market and we become all lazy for training with the stuff we have. The hope, we become better with new libraries is an illusion.
I love your point about lower complexity leading to better quality, and how EWSO doesn't need any fiddling with delay to make things work. EWSO Silver was my first library, and back then I wasn't even using a "big" DAW but rather a tracker with VST support. Overlapping MIDI events weren't even a thing there. But when I recently listened to one of my pieces from back then I was amazed by how good the "legato" sounded, without any micro-fiddling I'd have to do with modern libraries to get it just right (and me screaming at the screen for it to just do what I want FFS). Pizzicatos in the bass? Yep, right in time with the sustains, even when played at the exact same millisecond. I didn't even know that class of problems even existed. It had been a long time since then until I ever got that "YES, it's doing exactly what I want" feeling again, and incidently it was with the Infinite series, which is pretty much the epitome of getting the most out of a low amount of samples. Making music with a smile on your face is so much easier if you command the library and not the other way around.
With this video you brought back some very fond memories for me... I purchased the EW Symphonic Orchestra for Kontakt back in 2005 for 1000$ and listening to it again in 2022 in a mockup done by a millenium is fantastic! I still have the paper manual but the recording hall and the orchestra used to produce this library is not mentioned and still remain a mystery even to this day, maybe you can connect to Nick Phoenix and Doug Rogers in LA to find out ;-) Regarding the microphone set up used, I am quoting directly from the manual: "Each instrument sample contains high-resolution components recorded in a good concert hall from microphone groups placed to achieve close, full and ambient sound. Setups are modeled after traditional DECCA setups having front omnidirectional microphones for full string sound, a directional center tree to focus woodwinds and brass and a number of stereo pair accents for solo and close up work. Instruments are placed on stage, as they would perform so that signals from these microphone groups can be mixed and have the general technical feel and acoustic properties of a live session. Soloists can be brought forward, other instruments can be accented yet remain back or in the orchestra, off stage effects can be produced all with correct acoustic perspective". Another aspect to note is this, I am quoting directly from the manual: "All of the recording equipment used in the project was either hand-built or extensively modified by Prof. Keith O. Johnson to optimize fidelity". In those days this library was a big deal and the major competitor to East West was VSL... Best regards and blessings, MaxT
This is literally the worst news many viewers could receive. They want to believe they can buy their way to success. It's a lot harder, and takes much longer, to actually learn the fundamentals of composition and orchestration. Thanks for showcasing this point; a lot of people need to hear it.
You haven’t offended anyone. This aspiring composer appreciates the points you’re making about practicing craft and learning to work with what you can afford. Taste is the single most important factor in any creative endeavor. As a musician/composer who came of age in the 70’s and 80’s I can say without hesitation that I would have sawed off a leg for the tools, sounds and instruments that come free in GarageBand when I was growing up (recording on my 4 track Tascam cassette recorder). There is no excuse that can support being prevented from creating great music when music making has never been easier, cheaper and with more free and cheap tools available. We (me included) must fight the urge to get the shiny things and get to work. Thank you for your insight and expertise.
coming of age in the 70ies and 70ies... raises hand. And yes to the rest of your comment as well. I'll never forget how psyched I was when discovering on my then 2008 MacBook Pro that Garageband had everything I needed for a recording I was supposed to send to a new musician friend I had made on MySpace and we later continued our collaboration on Facebook and had an online only thing going. Like you I was pining over access to a studio and its technology and today we can have much of that on a laptop and a few pieces of software, isn't it amazing? 😀❤️
Preach it sister 🙌 👏🏾 🙏🏾
You speak like a real human, to us as if we're real humans. Most of us probably are. Point is, you do not come across as someone "putting on a personality." We get the right amount of levity and casual nature that makes your content very approachable, a major factor of a great educator.
Yours is very probably my favourite TH-cam channel right now... Your calm and down-to-earth demeanor is inspiring and infectious. Fantastic.
9:02 Benaroya Hall in Seattle
Yes x 1000! When it comes down to real-world output, I think most tools/sound libraries/hardware these days are more than adequate to create something that connects with the intended audience, especially when skilfully used. And yes, working with limited gear really does shift the focus on developing your skills. Thanks for this video!
Thank you so much for this - I've been feeling this for years and now I have someone else (with credibility) saying the same thing? And I still use EW!!
Great discussion, awesome presentation!! It fully reminds me that there are those of us that know about the best strings from way back in the mid 90s are now still among the best or most useful for p to mp range and even forte in the upper octaves. Not from EW. Those that know, know. But 25 years later still using them in the template. Also similarly for me, I use a very old piece of hardware as physical faders. Completely "obsolete " and completely affordable an absolutely the best feel still. It's like CAMERAS and photography. Lots of new bells and whistles, yet SLRs and DSLRs and lenses from years ago still took those incredible photos we admired back then. What works, still works! Such a great point made Anne-Kathrin!
Miroslav?
9:26 Close, Stage and Surround...
from the manual:
"Each instrument sample contains high-resolution components recorded from microphone groups placed to achieve close, full, and ambient sound.
Setups are modeled after traditional Decca setups having front omnidirectional microphones for full string sound, a directional center tree to focus woodwinds and brass and a number of stereo pair accents for solo and close up work.
Instruments are placed on stage where they usually perform so that signals from these microphone groups can be mixed and have the general technical feel and acoustic properties of a live session. Soloists can be brought forward, other instruments can be accented yet remain back or in the orchestra, and off stage effects can be produced, all with correct acoustic perspective."
You haven’t offended me : ) I loved these last few videos, and especially your courage in calling out some of the elitism in the academic world. I did tons of films and TV shows in the late 80s with a midi module called Proteus 2. You’re right, while I am grateful for all the new libraries that I have now, it is about how creative one is in the composing and your technical skills and mixing more than anything else. Keep being yourself it’s great!
Interesting you mention the Proteus 2...I still have my Proteus 3 (World) and was blown away the first time I watched the TV show "Northern Exposure". It sounded very familiar, then I realized the entire original opening theme was done with just a Proteus 3. Thanks for the comment, and thanks for your videos Anne-Kathrin. They're always helpful and inspiring! And entertaining. 🙂
@@anonagain Ha! The Proteus 3 was great, I still have a Korg M3r module (Korg M1 rack mount) that I still just love the fretless bass from! Take care, looking forward to whatever you create next.
I still have my Proteus 2. I recently started using it again, I really like it!
@@MrDarwinNE that’s great I know a modern classical and film composer up here in Canada who did film music with live musicians and did commission’s for local groups and he mocked up all his mock ups on a proteus 2! I know that now it probably would be simpler to just get one of those small sample libraries and just do a quick mock up. But I guess it just shows that there are many ways to do this and the old gear still might be very very useful eh? Good luck with your composing!
@@mikevirtualteacher Thank you! Indeed, the Proteus/2 is still an amazing instrument, I really like it.
...so you chose to upload this two hours after I pulled the trigger on JXL Brass.
Salt, meet wound.
Anyway, great video as always! Needless to say the mockup is great as well.
Yeah, but that Brass tho.
JXL Brass is phenomenal! You will definitley hear the difference. Have fun with it 🎺
@@Canqwertz1 That's great to hear - thanks! :)
JXL brass is an absolutely incredible library! Especially the low brass
Your take is spot on and important. As for location, EastWest Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra (usually and mercifully just abbreviated EWQLSO) was recorded in Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony in Seattle, Washington. Doug Rogers of EastWest confirmed in a post on Gearspace back in 2009 that he had to sign a contract that prevented them from disclosing the hall at the time. I got the platinum edition back in 2006. It was pricey. I still use parts of it to this day and it has a place in my orchestral template. Good library, though I use the Opus player for it these days, which is a big improvement over Play.
I can't agree more. EW has been my go to library for a long time. I keep trying to make it sound better. When my mockups suck (most of the time!) I know it's on me, not on EW. The same way I use Cubase stock plugins since I am not an engineer and expensive plugin wont make my mixes sound better ... I prefer to invest in training...
@@audiowork6015 You're right, those 3rd party plugins usually kill the CPU while stock plugins don't ... No latency and no crash :)
Certainly best sound, but for me a lot of trouble that i only find there. Many times i just go to some simple alternatives that are good, like
Alpine Woodwinds . I use Goliath a lot, even having all EW instruments, only God explains…. Yesterday Opus crashed again, while pressing „reveal in library“ , because the instrument was irresponsibe. What a hell when composing
@@audiowork6015 i know this hell. Considering that this is the “best” and expensive I find ridiculous how EW is not humble about it. Notice their updates, and how they communicate about crashes and bugs
Regarding samples the only problem i see is with inconsistence in timbre/velocity and also unwanted noise, that gives trouble later when compressed. Another thing that I don´t experience with some other libraries..But doubtless - as sound -it is a go to orchestra when it comes to professional work.
I love this so much. You are actually my most favourite composition TH-camr by now. I love listening to you. You seem so chill about everything, i absolutely adore it.
Wishing you only the best.
I just found this video and I am enjoying your reminiscing; “the good old days”!
It reminds me of how fascinated we were at the invention of “stereo” and LP albums with 12 songs on two sides.
Oh! And color TV! Ah, children of today will probably reminisce over their Dad’s first electric flying car and laugh at how bulky AR goggles were.
Thanks for bringing me back to the past. Your an amazing artist and composer and a real down to earth human being. ❤❤❤
Spot on. The prize is the imagination, not the gear. Of course gear and software are nice, but that's not what makes the music. It's the ears and what's between them that make the difference. At 77 I still try to learn something new every day. I've heard it said that creativity is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration. There's a lot of truth in that. You are a breath of fresh air!
THANK YOU!!! And for $29 a month you can have one of the top libraries in the world. Opus is a hell of a lot more stable. I don't know what I would have done without East-West!!!
encouraging definitely, thanks.
At the age of retirement, your speech was mesmorizing, along with a wake up call of "Hey stupid.....wake up and smell the coffee!" I've always played on keys with onboard sounds. Now at being over 70, I'm venturing into DAW's, VST's, midi controllers, and the whole virtual world.......maybe a day late, and a dollar short, but your words more or less slapped the shit out of me, telling me to take one step at a time, and use what you have, regardless whether it's old or not. Thanks Anne-Kathrin for a job well done!
The picture in the SoS article is Benaroya Hall (same organ, same seating etc.), which fits with the 2500 capacity, and the "construction cost of 125 million dollars" claim on Crypton (.jp, use any translator), though Crypton also states the location as somwhere in NY, which might just be a mistake or something.
I knew some of the people who worked for EW at the time and it was always my understanding that Benaroya Hall was where the recordings were made. I also just found an old online discussion about this library and saw this quote: "About the reverb, Symphonic Orchestra was recorded way back in the days over the course of two years' recording in the Seattle symphony hall. Since all the samples were recorded live, you have the natural beautiful reverb."
~6:38 ". . . the vast majority of people, I would argue, cannot hear the difference"
Good advice from someone who actually knows whereof she speaks. Thanks, A-KD
(btw, to a certain extent, this also applies to hardware--decades ago, Chick Corea had a column about this very issue in Keyboard)
This definitely applies to hardware. There are blind tests where people that consider themselves experts couldn't tell the difference between analog hardware and software VST.
For the under 30 demographic, “Keyboard” is a reeeeeally reeeeally old magazine about keyboard instruments.
A “magazine” is.a form of a reeeeally reeeally old thing called a book.
A “book” is a reeeally reeeally old thing made of paper.
“Paper” is a...
Ahh F it...
Really precious content! Thank you so much!
such an incredible nice person you are,anne...thanks for all..really
Thanks for being so transparent but also must say your mock up of that wonderful theme was great!
Had a real good laugh at the start of this. Great stuff. There's a lot of truth to what you are saying, especially with how many places keep cranking out new libraries.
16:40 to 19:10 is the best part of this video
As usual Ms. Dern, spot on! Your true fans are not offended, but encouraged. Thanks!!
its 2022 and YES! I still use East West Orchestra to this day also!
Brilliant content Anne! you ROCKS!
Dear girl. We Love you. Beauty, wisdom and resilience. Thanks for the honest input on this.
I COMPLETELY agree 🙂
I have an album coming out in December and most of the plugins I'm using are from the early/mid 00s - mostly electric pianos and organs, and a good few of them are beta versions as I prefer the sounds to the final product.. For orchestra stuff I use the Miroslav plugin which is now well over a decade old and uses samples that started life as a hardware sample library, with all the restrictions that that brought.
But I'm really happy with the sound of all of them, I know intimately how they work, how they respond, how to get the best out of them. I still use the freeware MDA plugins too, the epiano is STILL one of the loveliest tine pianos about, even 20 years and countless sample libraries later..
What a luvly video, thank you for speaking up!
Your point is spot on. We'll said and done!
Your friend explained a lot to you about camera settings and Resolve. It's working for you. Good topic.
If this library was recorded in the space shown on the product box, then that is the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX. Home of the Dallas symphony orchestra!
I don’t know what brought me to this channel but it is a gem!
I am a sixty year old guitar player who is currently beefing up on harmonization theory.What you say about the gear fomo is actually 10 x the case for a large fraction of the guitar community. There is an endless sea of gear available, especially in the electric department, with new more shit popping up every minute. When I started with guitar by the age of 15 I started with a classical nylon string. I was happy! Of course I wanted an electric like my rock heroes and I got it a year later. I was in heaven. I got my first distortion/ reverb device at the age of 18, I almost cried for happiness. Everything after this was just cool, nice to have and in the end often a huge distraction from playing. I got so fed up with fiddling with my gear and chasing sounds that I stopped playing electric altogether for a couple of years and just played my Spanish guitar.
Thank you, thank you and Thank you. 👍 👍 and 👍
A friend of mine put me onto this video. Thank you, very relevant comments and I think useful to a lot of people. I began in about 2008 with Garritan, and shortly afterwards acquired EW Gold. Like you, I feel that it gave me a start on my journey. I also have all four of the others you mentioned (Ra, Silk, VoP and Stormdrums). It's what everyone was buying at the time :) I would still use them if I thought the sound was right.
Anne-Kathrin: You are so intelligent, talented and funny!!! Is always a pleasure to watch your videos , learn from you and hear your very particular opinion and interesting perspective of your observations. I loved your mock-up, but had not recognized that was such an old library :-) !! Agree 100% on your points. Keep the good work and congratulation for the growing channel!!!
East West is truly excellent about helping out students and aspiring composers. I was in high school when they first introduced Composer Cloud, with a great education discount. That was truly a game changer for me, that I as a high school student working as a dishwasher could afford such a huge array of quality libraries. Sure, a lot of them show their age and don't have the same amount of features that modern libraries do, but they still sound great and are more than usable. Composer Cloud is pretty much responsible for me getting into Berklee, and for me now living in LA just starting to work as a composers assistant!
You are so right too about focusing more on developing skills rather than blaming it on needing newer tools. It is something I try and tell those starting out too - sure you do need at the very least some sort of decent orchestral library to start with, but money would be better spent on orchestration/arranging/production/mixing books and courses than more tools you don't know how to use yet. Knowledge is power!
My first orchestral library was EWQL Orchestra Silver in the kompakt player. Yeah that old. But got my first TV placements with that library.
I am so inspired by your videos. I'm a 63 year old professional keyboardist and I'm studying orchestral mock ups and film scoring at home through books and videos like yours. I agree even as a keyboardist, I dont chase the latest technology when it comes to gear. I look for stuff i can learn quickly and apply on gigs and I stick with what works.
I have BBCSO and Abbey Road and a few other libraries and i just have 16 gig of ram. And with that I can make a decent cue which of course still need to be fininshed and mastered.
I treat it all as my hobby when I'm not gigging in Vegas doing live shows.
I want to compose and do what you do from my home studio when or before I get into my 70' or 80's and just perform when i want to and licence my music.
That is my dream goal
Thank you for your videos and know that you give me hope amd inspiration on the regular. I am a happy subscriber to your channel.
Keep doing whacha doin' !!!!
Always,
😎 Mike Clark
Thank you, thank you. I’ve been watching your videos and love them, not only because they’re great, but because of your humanism. I’m learning orchestration and arranging and I’m 76 years young and have one iMac (2015😢) and One library: Hollywood EastWest Opus Edition. Going to follow your guidance or wisdom to learn to use what I have and save up and learn more. Christopher Sui has been helpful and I think he’s worked with you, but that doesn’t matter because I wanted, like everyone else doing composing to have the best gear, but knowledge is better than having gear and not knowing what to do. Thanks again🙏🏾
Another great video with loads of valuable insights! I learn so much from you. Thanks a million!
Beautiful. Lovely. Thank you.
Thank you for these really valuable words!
Anne, thanks for this video and many others. As beginner composer, I find your videos are very inspiring. Have a great day!
Thanks for being human and honest with us. Kudos
Over the last year, I've listened to a lot of Anne's videos and got around to building a full on orchestral template with VEPro. As a test, I loaded up a MIDI version of Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D, and it was absolute proof that what she says about knowledge beating gear is spot on. The overall sound was so good, even just using sustain patches (for woodwinds) and not messing around too much with legatos, etc. So there it is, if you know what you're doing (Beethoven certainly did) you don't have to mess around so much with slow or fast legatos, older or newer libraries (I'm using older EastWest libraries for the most part myself), or all the latest and greatest this or that. I have spent a lot of time fiddling and tweaking, and have realized a good part of that time was spent fussing over things what it was really just lack of knowledge and experience.
"Knowledge beats gear, every time."
Super encouraging and helpful video. Absolutely love this. Thanks for posting!
Funny thing... someone on VI-Control started a thread about purchasing burnout... reading the OP's comment, I knew I was going to post a comment and it was going to start with, "Buying shit..." I scroll down, the very next comment is linking this vid and all I see is "Buying Shit." You are spot-on. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a hundred times: "EWQL Orchestra Gold is the greatest/most revolutionary sample library ever... just wish that they would go back and update it." I have never been more inspired as I was in 2005 when I purchased this library. Great video.
Great video as always
dear youtube algorithm,
Please make this one go viral. This video will make the world a better place.
Also Anne, I usually just lurk but I'd like to thank you for the high quality content. I appreciate you doing the hard work making it despite youtube probably not being a big (enough) avenue for business for you.
Thank you for your words of wisdom, Anne-Kathrin.
YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT...THANK YOU
Great video!!! Thanks for sharing. Funnily enough, i have very recently purchased this library at a huge discount and part of a bundle with a choir library! So, having seen your video now, i am going to have fun with getting to grips with this library!! Thanks again, Best Regards
The amount of libraries I have that I never use and plenty more I use but not well
OMG! I stopped at 1:30 and listened to this performance twice more before moving on. And then THE REVEAL! Well done, nice the way you panned nice and slow. I took away some ear training while watching the first 2:20 seconds! And now, to continue...
My guess when I first heard that mockup was just "old", but I didn't expect it to be THAT old!
Really nice video! You are absolutely right. There is a video of a guy pairing two mock ups and a real recording of Waltz of the Flowers. One mockup was Spitfire BBCSO pro and the other one Noteperformer 3, with a nice hall reverb, well done panning and eq. Well, you can guess the results...
Great vid. Excellent advice! Thank you.
Absolutely agree..!! congrats for you steemed Anne for enlightening that much to many of us constantly in what really matters about creation, music and the actual need to respect the real talent of some people, not the gear budget everyone could have.
Thank you so much for sharing these so valuables videos. Grettings from Chile .
Loving the humour 🤣👍🎶
I'm a composer and pro sounddesigner.
And I must say: you don't need much stuff!! In theses days the onboard stuff in modern daws are also very very good. Same goes for synths: when you bypass all the fx, eq, arpeggiators, etc., the sound is very simple! you can build your own HiEnd VSTis with onboard synth like (Cubase e.g.) Padshop or Retrologue plus adding effects and midi plugins! And with sampling you can create your own "Omnisphere clone!" sounds! (tip: record noises outdoor, sample chords, vstis stacks+patches, pitch, stretch, add effects.. sample again... and so on...(and exactly this is what Eric Pershing does with Omnisphere content) ... millions of millions possibilities...all this without buying new expensive stuff! ♥️
Abgesehen von deiner Expertise die ich sehr schätze, bist du mir einfach grundlegend sympathisch 🙂
Well Said. Well done. You just saved me from myself! I've always been suspicious regard libraries that market the hall sound. I also realized that I didn't need to worry too much about mixing different librarys. When recorded together I can't hear the difference mostly. I just concentrate on getting better at orchestration (practice) and that ususally takes care of lousy sound. You are the best! I am forever gratefull for your posts!
I'm not even a film-composer, but i feel blessed to have realised that EWQL's old library is actually still very good, even kinda "un-mixed" (check out my metal mix Red Alert as the example, alltho i added my own lowend fake synths to thicken it up a bit.
I just bounced it down to a wave and automated the volume a bit cause the project was crashing cpu spikes and stuff, ha ha. I think Dimmu Borgir used Ewqlso on an album aswell. You can tell that it's a "fake orchestra" but once the guitars and drums kick in it works really well. I also used it just as a subtle textures in my future love ballad classic 'Stick It In' and it totally adds a lot of athmosphere to the mix yet it's 20years old, crazy
Couldn’t agree more with this! I use Spitfire but that’s because I’ve always used them because I was lucky to have started when LABS and BBC Discover was released. I got used to how to write with their libraries, their quarks and all that so I’ve just stayed with them. I have others now as they’ve offered stuff I liked and needed for various things. I’ll admit I LOVE to purchase new stuff 😂😂😂 but the ones I use the MOST are the ones I’ve had for a few years now. Use what’s inspiring to you, comfortable for you to use and write and go with it!! I’m so on board on not caring about the sample argument!!
I am using 2003 EWQL still to this day lol. As they say, "he's gonna take you back to the past".
I would argue that VSL sounds so good for me that I'd always be able to differentiate that.
Brilliant Anne!!!
Thank you, great points here.
agree fully! - also as sound engineer - know your stuff! - thanks for your Video! - Did you record also in synchron stage?
Most brilliant admonitory discussion I’ve seen on this subject. Very much appreciated!
great video!
It´s funny, i got my first film job using the old cheap Steinberg orchestra library. When i started out scoring i was pretty much broke and i got a student discount on that library. There are pretty much no round robins at all in it, but I did my best to get the most out of it. And since i didn´t have much money to buy sample libaries i started to record my own samples and create my own instruments. Now i have over 20 gig of my own samples to play around with. And those are my sounds wich no one else have access to.
I'm guessing that many of those who incorrectly identified the library are probably the same people who complain on Vi-Control about libraries sounding "old and synthy."
The fact that most people can't even recognize an older library by its sound speaks a lot. I guess it's also because most of them are probably younger so didn't have to work with the old libraries.
As you say, knowing your gear and trying to get the most out of it before going to get the next shiny overexpansive shit because of... Reasons... Is the most important here.
I started back in 2009 and worked my ass off with the Complete Composer Collection from East West, a big fat investment I made back then and I NEEDED to know how to make it sound good.
Even today when I listen to some of my older mockups, I believe it's still decent and kinda relevant even if I can get WAYYYYYYY better mockups today with my current knowledge on how to create a proper mockup, orchestrating, programming and mixing skills(which are still not where I want to be. Especially when it comes to mixing).
I think that all the subscription bullshit is practical for younger composers but also leads to more laziness.
Investing a good amount of money always forces you to work more in depth on this investment. It goes that way with cheap courses(or torrents for example), cheap subscription models with way too many products etc...
Very interesting video as usual!
I love how note-to-self this video is :)
Hey Ann, the EWQL Symphonic Orchestra was recorded actually in same hall as it is on the picture on he box which is Benaroya Hall in Seattle :)
I happen to know Professor Keith Johnson and they recorded at the Benaroya hall in Seattle.
Absolutely nailed the topic, thank you! 🙏 A lot of aspiring composers/orchestrators need to hear this. Even if it feels self-evident that it is the know-how and not the tool so much, the temptation to go on a continuous shopping spree is lucrative but distracting for the process.
Thank You! That's True!
hey Anne, i'm new to your channel, i find the tips and tricks you show a great addition to all the other channels i'm fan of, as a music hobbyist i have accuired a lot of sample libraries, also the one you showcased here (symphonic orchestra) my latest addition is musio altough i have most of the cinesamples libraries in kontakt format, just went nuts when updating to kontakt 7 when the GUI from certain libraries are completely unreadable on one of my two machines,i have contacted NI tough, they say they will get in touch, have a nice day Anne
Never seen one of your videos before... just randomly had this one in my feed ND thought the title was interesting. Only 30 seconds in and already diggin the vibe 😁
Is binge-watching a sin? If so, then you've made me a (worse) sinner. What a fascinating channel, and so beautifully presented. Humbling and inspiring at the same time. I guess I'm a fan!
Not offended at all, the best advices comes from you. Thanx.
You did not offend. Quite the contrary, you've voiced a stance on gear I find myself highly agreeing with. And 'learn your tools' should really find it's way into every composer's schedule.
Oh those glorious times ❤
Love the Video. Very motivating i a get you sh.. together way. Nice look back to my youth at well. Good old times.
Happy days, this was my first ever sample library 😊
Couldn't agree more Anne! Knowledge and skills ALWAYS beat gear. Great video and experiment
Awesome video! There’s such a wonderful element of creativity that comes from working with what you’ve got! I love this perspective.
Loving the points being made in this video. You often say the stuff that lots of people need to hear. I have a massive grievance with computing in the early to mid 2000s though, particularly with audio: those were the dark ages for us composers, but due mostly to inane incompetence on the software side. The hardware was already fabulous, CPUs were Pentiums and they were fast, RAM was with 1 to 2gb, hard drives were already kinda big. Computers were massively more powerful than hardware samplers, and yet they were just shit at streaming or loading audio files and playing them, which in terms of computer science is fucking TRIVIAL. Anyone remember GigaStudio and it never working, or taking MINUTES to loads a couple of hundred megabytes of data, sometimes only 32mb? Anyone remember that some AMD computers were just physically incompatible with popular soundcards or DAWs because of some version of the chipset? The transition to win98 to XP/NT was so painful and lasted for years... The craft of recording and editing those samples was top notch, but the software skills behind the curtains were massively below par compared to other industries, and the shitty OSes didn't help. It is a painful time to remember for me. Wooof, rant over. Thanks for coming!
I also love to rant. Part of the difficulty was SSE and CH10. In the meantime the initial Pentium release was the target platform. I do think they should have at least used SSE - but marketing probably would have opposed it and technical support would get calls like - why the bleep will it not work on just a Pentium. Intel kept adding to the instruction set to address these problems. M-Audio from IBM tried to address some of this. It died. End of response rant.
That was definitely another very good one!
Love this, you're so down to earth! Whenever I feel like I shoul buy something I'm gonna get back to this videos
THANK YOU!!! I am 60 and just trying to break into trailer music. My only orchestral libraries at the time are BBCSO Discover, Nucleus Lite and the Symphony Essentials in Komplete 13 Ultimate. I have actually been drooling over the CineSamples libraries for a while, but you have lit a new fire under me. THANK YOU!!!!
Hey Jay - I’m 60 too and passionate about music production. I have friends making music for TV and movies. It’s very competitive and key to have contacts. Good luck!
@@JeffyG fortunately I do this for the love of making music. I am retired, and no longer play on stage so I have been looking for a motivation (you know how we get). If I make it, great! If I don't, I have tried something new and learned something. All things considered, it is a win as far as I am concerned. I know there are a LOT more composers than large projects, but I know a few indie film producers that I might get some projects from. Who knows...
And there it is kids at 3:17 in the biggest golden words of advice
“Skill beats gear every time !! “
Hi Anne.. I’m a uk based theatre sound designer and engineer and Love watching your informative content.. ✌🏼😎
Damn, thanks for the nostalgic walk! Loving this rewind! ... remember buying NI Battery 1 in this big clunky box.
So refreshing to hear these home truths coming from an accomplished professional. There is definitely something to be said for working with a limited set of tools that you know intimately. Back in the early 2000s my only means of realising full orchestral arrangements was with nothing more than a Roland JV-1080 (with occasional help from a U-220). Listening back to those early efforts now, I'm not sure that I could have done a significantly more effective job with my modern arsenal of mega-GB sample libraries. Sure, the JV-1080 is a decidedly blunt instrument compared to CSS, CSB, CSW and their ilk - but if you know it well, it's surprising what you can get it to do. Even now, I still use some of the old Roland S-series sample libraries (from the 1990s) in Kontakt - they may be crude by modern standards (maximum of two dynamics, no round robins, etc etc), but sometimes a simple sound does the job so much better.
A popular phrase here in the UK is "All of the gear but no idea". Applies equally to photography, fishing, cycling, music...whatever. Another great video replete with wisdom, thanks!
Thank you! I hold my money in the pocket. There is so much on the market and we become all lazy for training with the stuff we have. The hope, we become better with new libraries is an illusion.
I love your point about lower complexity leading to better quality, and how EWSO doesn't need any fiddling with delay to make things work. EWSO Silver was my first library, and back then I wasn't even using a "big" DAW but rather a tracker with VST support. Overlapping MIDI events weren't even a thing there. But when I recently listened to one of my pieces from back then I was amazed by how good the "legato" sounded, without any micro-fiddling I'd have to do with modern libraries to get it just right (and me screaming at the screen for it to just do what I want FFS). Pizzicatos in the bass? Yep, right in time with the sustains, even when played at the exact same millisecond. I didn't even know that class of problems even existed.
It had been a long time since then until I ever got that "YES, it's doing exactly what I want" feeling again, and incidently it was with the Infinite series, which is pretty much the epitome of getting the most out of a low amount of samples. Making music with a smile on your face is so much easier if you command the library and not the other way around.
With this video you brought back some very fond memories for me... I purchased the EW Symphonic Orchestra for Kontakt back in 2005 for 1000$ and listening to it again in 2022 in a mockup done by a millenium is fantastic! I still have the paper manual but the recording hall and the orchestra used to produce this library is not mentioned and still remain a mystery even to this day, maybe you can connect to Nick Phoenix and Doug Rogers in LA to find out ;-)
Regarding the microphone set up used, I am quoting directly from the manual: "Each instrument sample contains high-resolution components recorded in a good concert hall from microphone groups placed to achieve close, full and ambient sound. Setups are modeled after traditional DECCA setups having front omnidirectional microphones for full string sound, a directional center tree to focus woodwinds and brass and a number of stereo pair accents for solo and close up work. Instruments are placed on stage, as they would perform so that signals from these microphone groups can be mixed and have the general technical feel and acoustic properties of a live session. Soloists can be brought forward, other instruments can be accented yet remain back or in the orchestra, off stage effects can be produced all with correct acoustic perspective".
Another aspect to note is this, I am quoting directly from the manual: "All of the recording equipment used in the project was either hand-built or extensively modified by Prof. Keith O. Johnson to optimize fidelity".
In those days this library was a big deal and the major competitor to East West was VSL... Best regards and blessings, MaxT