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Mike's Template Lab - new 60's Template!

Discussion in 'Tips, Tricks & Talk' started by Mike Verta, Aug 29, 2017.

  1. Not that my template sounds very good - I'm currently mocking up some classical pieces that I transcribed.

    But in my book as well - better take one-two weeks for balancing, EQ and all that and have a template that is right than a shallow balanced one which required endless tuning during the production stage. With the proper template you can focus on composing, and production goes in the background, whereas (in my humble experience) an unbalanced (or badly balanced) template will catch your attention every few minutes and you start to tweak it - which disturbs your workflow.

    Of course, when adding or changing libraries, the whole process has to start almost from scratch - the balance if now off, so you have to rebalance it. e.g. When you add a new Trumpet, you have to rebalance the Brass,and then the whole orchestra to make it sit right in. So yes, it's tedious but I don't see much of an alternative. Maybe also your preferences in sound changed a bit? I find myself sometimes going through a quick rebalancing because I heard something more, my ears got better or whatever which drives me to change the sound for the better.
     
  2. Well I'm a fair way into it, and already I am finding some 'stick out like a sore thumb samples - considering Berlin Woodwinds is considered to be one of the best Woodwind libraries out there and is currently on v 2.1, then I would have thought some got these very obvious issues would have been fixed before now. I suppose it's better than having a lot of soulless perfect tones.

    It does sound really good though - I'm rather taken by it, and will probably get Expansion A - because Contrabassoons that's why....

    Expression maps, however, are starting to look like they can cause issues as well as solve them - such as balancing levels inside the VE Pro Instrument between articulations rather than in the DAW. It seems as if every choice is a compromise. Fortunately I have had some excellent Italian beer to aid my contemplations.

    I have come to the conclusion with building templates that the best method is to do an hour or two, and then smash some boogie out on the piano for a bit to de-stress, rinse and repeat.

    However, when it comes to getting Hollywood Strings Diamond into the template, I shall be abandoning the Italian beer for something rather stronger....
     
  3. #23 Erin McKimm, Sep 4, 2017
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2017
    Hey Mike thanks for your examples, I think they sound great. I've never had much luck with using Haas panning as whenever I check it in mono it has audible phasing Maybe I am making the delay time too short..but I found if I made the delays longer it became really obvious. I checked your examples in mono and they didn't have this issue so I was wondering what delay amounts you are using and is it the same across the board?
     
  4. Hi Mike. I have a question regarding Shawn's Stems. I'm trying some new things and building a new template and decided to revisit those stems to check and match some sounds. Please tell me are all the tracks wchich have "L" or "R" in name suppose to be panned 100 % to left or right to get the original mix ? What about everything else ? Do you pan all spot mics as well before you try to balance and match your template to those stems ? How do you aproach it ?
     
    Sean Gosker likes this.
  5. +1 i'm also interested in balancing my template using these stems, i'm in the process of mocking up parts of the race in order to do so.
     
  6. I don't like making templates. It's a real chore. I find it difficult to stop myself writing a track with what's loaded rather than just finishing the template.
     
  7. #27 Mike Verta, Oct 7, 2017
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2017
    Okay... I am having WAY too much fun with this. I have to do some music that sounds like stuff from the 60's in both aesthetic and sound quality, so I just improv'd a little thing around my favorite 60's stuff, Star Trek. This sound just makes me giddy as a school girl, dunno why!

     
  8. Convincing! Did you completely change libraries or did it just come down to the mix?
     
  9. For this particular project it made more sense to start over, and make it as efficient as possible. I did it in just a couple hours. It's Adventure Brass, Spitfire Perc/Piano/Harp, some Berlin Woods, and additional brass and woods stuff from Symphobia.
     
  10. Sounds good! A bit like star trek flavored with Williams kind of harmony.

    Sounds to me like the very similiar samples but with less highs and sound is more mono and drier.
     
  11. Very cool. The last 10 seconds made me smile.
     
  12. Apart from the obvious compositional elements, I wonder how much of that vintage sound just comes from collapsing the mix down to mono.
     
  13. This much:



    SPOILER: Almost none of it. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: it is NOT the sound that matters, it is the music and the performance. There is no substitution for skill.
     
  14. #34 Jason Tackaberry, Oct 7, 2017
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2017
    That's what I meant by "obvious compositional elements," which undoubtedly get you 95% (or whatever) of the way there. But if reproducing the vibe ended there I imagine you wouldn't have bothered with a new template. So I was mostly interested in that last 5% -- because I already know what I need to do to get that first 95% (because if you've said it once, you've said it a thousand times :)).

    Thanks for sharing the stereo mix. Mono is really just that last little detail, isn't it. I think most of the rest of that 5% comes down to the room sound: relatively dry and small space by today's standards.
     
    Mike Verta likes this.
  15. I redid the template for practical reasons. My usual template takes like 20 minutes to load, and I'm working on multiple projects right now where the workstations get appropriated for different tasks all the time, and I have to seize opportunities when the processors are free. Can't waste time on loading. So I built this one which loads in about 2 minutes. Other than that, yes the dry space is possible when the instrumentation itself is great and interesting, but when much of the product isn't the music, but the production, well then you need...production.
     
  16. Hi Mike, is there meanwhile some more stuff to listen to using your 60s template? I love this kind of sound and arrangement!
     
  17. Fantastic stuff Mike! But I thought you were going to do it with only Woodwinds and Brass - Also could you share maybe a stereo version of the soundtrack? (would be easier to transcribe :D ).
     
  18. Magnificent.
     
  19. Haha, great stuff! Thanks for sharing! The whole picture from style to composition to mockup is incredibly convincing! Ok, the movie... :)
     

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