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Those Damn Strings dont sound real at all!!!


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HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

 

Ok...... I have Worked and worked to make my strings sound realistic.... I use a combo of Kirk Hunter strings and the Logic Pro strings..... And I get them to sound pretty good..... But the Tweaking never ends!!!! and in the end im not totally satisfied.....

Usually..... After hours of tweaking... I find the strings hitting (Starting) late.... just not coming through.....And i Tweak some more.....and then they are all out of wack.... Although they seem to impress my music partners.... they are just not good enough for me.....

I have checked around and have yet to find any sort of instruction on the matter.....

 

For an example........ www.dragontheorymusic.com

Then go to the menue at the top of the page and find "TEST CHAMBER" once your there it will be the only song on the page. !

 

Thanks for all your help!

 

e.

Edited by dragontheory
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HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

 

Ok...... I have Worked and worked to make my strings sound realistic.... I use a combo of Kirk Hunter strings and the Logic Pro strings..... And I get them to sound pretty good..... But the Tweaking never ends!!!! and in the end im not totally satisfied.....

Usually..... After hours of tweaking... I find the strings hitting (Starting) late.... just not coming through.....And i Tweak some more.....and then they are all out of wack.... Although they seem to impress my music partners.... they are just not good enough for me.....

I have checked around and have yet to find any sort of instruction on the matter.....

 

For an example........ www.dragontheorymusic.com

Then go to the menue at the top of the page and find "TEST CHAMBER" one your there it will be the only song on the page. !

 

Thanks for all your help!

 

e.

 

They will never sound "real." No library will. At best, they sound "real" until you put them next to the real thing. Don't worry about making them sound real, make them sound good. And no, the two are not necessarily synonymous.

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To me these sound too static, with too much of the same vibrato throughout. Even with a basic EXS string sound like String Ensemble, you could do better. Here's some suggestions.

 

Make the string parts less "in your face", it feels too up front and kind of distracting from the vibe you set up earlier.

 

Use long swells, subtle or otherwise, to create some emotion.

 

If you were using String Ensemble, notice that at lower velocities it has a less intense vibrato. Having different vibrato intensities can help with the "realism".

 

At the onset of notes, sometimes a small ramp in the volume can make it sounds less mechanical. Sometimes a long ramp up to a steady tone works.

 

Since the parts you've come up with are relatively simple, it would be a good idea to load up a variety of string sounds to try out. At least one could be a dedicated "low vibrato" preset. Another could be one that uses the mod wheel to control volume so you could easily build in swells. Experiment with different attacks, some fast, some slow. The mod wheel is your friend!

 

As Ashermusic just pointed out, there is a difference between "real" and "good". But in your situation, I think you could make your parts lean a bit more to the real side by following some of my suggestions.

 

BTW, for some reason, I can't get your song to play more than once, even if I reload your site.

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When recording a sampled string arrangement, it helps to record each instrument separately on different tracks ie.. 1st Violins on one track, 2nd Violins on a different track, Violas on another, Cellos, Basses etc. And panning them in the appropriate space where you would hear them on a virtual stage. Your strings sound too homogenous and therefore like a synthesizer or organ. On your track there are more high strings playing then the low so you could divide these lines between the 1st, 2nd Violins and Violas samples. Using different samples for each instrument choir (violins, violas etc) can help along with open voicings.

B L

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I always hate to recommend other products but have you looked at IK Multimedia's Miroslav Philharmonik at all?

 

It's very European style orchestration but I like the flexibility in the sample engine. The key to getting realistic sounds from any sample library in my experience is the articulation. Like the others here have said, playing with the expression and the modulation really adds that realism to the playing.

 

This is a little track I did with it a while ago. The strings kick in around 0:25

 

October

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I took into consideration everything mentioned....

I have a hard time working to MOD wheel for emotion.... it comes out all choppy.... So I tweeked it by hand and added several new instances of strings...and even a chello....

Give a listen now....

 

www.dragontheorymusic.com

 

Then go to TEST CHAMBER and compair the 2 Burns.....

 

Thanks again for all of your help.....

 

e.

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New burn plays, First burn does not. Both will save 'as quicktime movie' to my desktop.. and plays from there.

 

Anyway, take this with a grain of salt, as I am not orchestrally trained.

 

The strings have a pan alteration (R then L) on the attacks. Might be fine at mid-range distance f/ speakers, but on my monitors is too prononounced and unrealistic. Unless the string section is on 2 separate sides of the stage.

 

Strings are bit too heavy / in ya face - compared to the open feel of rest of instruments. Less volume, more space.

 

Good Work

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Yeah, that's a little off. I don't know about those Logic strings... I'd leave them behind. The Kirk Hunter I thought was supposed to be good though. What version do you have?

 

If you post a MIDI file of the string parts, I'll run them through the Philharmonik, and maybe others will do the same with their libraries. Then I'll FTP you or post here if it's possible to post an Mp3. I think it is, if the file isn't too big.

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Have you tried playing in the part 12 times with solo legato instruments? Your music sounds like 12 robots playing the part.

 

A bowed instrument has subtle variation over each bow stroke, and there are many bowed instruments playing a part. The up stroke gets louder toward the frog end of the bow. The down stroke gets quieter toward the tip.

 

One thing you can try is play the part in. Then transpose a copy up a semi-tone and another copy down a semi-tone. Then use a pitch transformer to correct the pitch for the two transposed parts. You'll get three parts that sound like three different violins playing.

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