MIDI Life Crisis wrote:As far as sync points, I get Finale close but the heavy lifting happens in performance or the session. I use a combination of expressions and MIDI data (tempo) inserts to arrive at the right place. Finale also allows you to automatically fit x number of measures into a specific time but I don't use that as fine editing of that data is tedious (if even possible) and a "readout" of what Finale has done to perform this miracle is not available.
Thank you for this.
That's how I remember it... It must be much faster and easier to do all that tempo work in DP, and once all sync points have been established, transfer to Finale and work from there.
The perfect solution for me seems to be that the QuickScribe tool needs an urgent overhaul. Just let us change clefs, add basic articulations and phrase markings. I don't think that's too much to ask from a DAW in 2017...
That way I could do everything in DP, since the score would be only to "conduct myself" while programming the music in DP.
MIDI Life Crisis wrote:
I know, I tend to be a little harsh about this stuff and just refuse to buy into the mindset of hundreds (or even dozens) of tracks trying to make an orchestra.
It's not harshness. It's passion.
But if that's what you need to do, to sound like a real orchestra with VIs, there's
ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER WAY to achieve it.
You need every articulation and CC available to even approximate a decent orchestral sound. There's simply no way around this with VIs.
MIDI Life Crisis wrote:
If my clients and collaborators want an orchestral sound, they pay for the effing orchestra. Then musicians get hired and paid and their families eat. There really is very little (if any) room in my life or work for cheap ass producers nickel and dining the creative team while raking in the profits for themselves. Besides the fact that I basically adore orchestral "recreations" regardless of how authentic they sound.
I wish my clients were like yours. Unfortunately and realistically, this is the new modern reality, whether we like it or not.
Most TV shows don't have budgets to hire entire orchestras, let alone the time to do so with their crazy schedules. No way! I mean, if a hit primetime show like 24 was all done with VIs, what can you expect from productions with a fraction of the budget?
But I understand you, Mike. You have lots of experience with live musicians, and it's normal you feel that way. I mean, I would feel the same way if I were used to woking with huge budgets with great clients and awesome orchestras at my disposal... I'm not there yet. Hopefully soon, as that would be my dream to work with full orchestras!
MIDI Life Crisis wrote:
Music is about musicians playing notes and expressing the human condition. It's not about printed circuits and how well they mimic what great players do when they make music.
Agreed. But one must be flexible if one wants to work.
Also, that is not necessarily the case anymore. Music, for me, is any sound that moves me emotionally, that tells me something like a story, something that will make me angry or cry regardless of the production method. If you can do that by banging a can of beer, or with a first-rate violin player, it makes no difference.
What matters is to move emotions, to say something meaningful, to connect with your audience regardless of the method used to do so. It can be a real or fake orchestra as long as the MUSIC has something to say.
Problem is, it's a bitch to make VIs have something nice to say
And I think it is a WONDER and something marvellous to be able to come so close to the real thing out of our own studios! It's like this art form of making music is beginning to incorporate other aspects that were not necessary before, like the ART of programming a piece of music with a fake VI orchestra. It is an art form all by itself!
And IME, unless you're dealing with FIRST RATE musicians, like a Hollywood orchestra, the results are ALWAYS BETTER using VIs than an amateur or college-level orchestra.
I know this from experience, and there's no comparison. The VIs will ALWAYS be much better (providing one knows what one's doing).
The few times I used amateur orchestras (or sections of it) it was always disappointing and a waste of time and money.
MIDI Life Crisis wrote:
Sure, I make "orchestral simulations" for lower budget projects, but as a paradigm for a "composer" I maintain that, for me at least, it is a complete waste of my time - especially when I can get real, live musicians to play with.
Yes, I understand, but you would have to do as I do if you didn't have the option of using real musicians.
You've earned that privilege during your career, but what would you do if you HAD to use mockups? I bet you'd become great at it and make the VI suckers scream if necessary!