Well here I am again with another remix/remaster project I’m looking for feedback on. So this time, I did some rearranging and then remixed and remastered a couple of pieces I did for some of @Mikael’s contests here on the forum; a cover of John William’s Jurassic Park main theme (with my own original bits added) and a Star Trek tribute piece.
Basically, I redid some of the dynamic markings and orchestration choices in the actual score itself, but the big changes are in the mixing process. My personal favorite style is that Hollywood Golden Age film score music, of which John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith can be considered part of, and so I’m always looking to make my pieces of this style sound like they were performed/recorded in the studios that some of these great classic films were.
Spitfire’s Abbey Road One sample library was made for just such a sound, but it’s not a complete library as far as instruments and articulation—but the sound is absolutely classic. So, to give my other libraries and my notation software samples a similar sound, I’ve tried to recreate that sound using a number of Waves, Abbey Road plugins in my mixing. In particular, Abbey Road Plates for reverb, and the J37 tape emulator.
So basically I run the finished audio through the reverb, then EQ the reverb with a hi/low pass of 300Hz and 4KHz. that is then run through the J37 (I won’t explain the settings on that) add a tiny bit of comp if needed, then that goes to the master through Ozone 9 where I roll back the low mids, ~250Hz by -.5 to -1db and finally, add a limiter at -.10. I think the result is actually quite good. Not perfect but it seemes to have brought out some instruments that got hidden in the original mix and the J37 just added the right amount of saturation to give the whole mix that classic warm, full sound. There might be better settings to get this sound, but what do you think?
I really like the overall sound and mix here! Great size and depth in the reverb, without losing focus and clarity.
If anything, the strings sound a bit too… “decisive” and exact at some points - but that’s quite expected with samples (legatos in particular), as expression and vibrato does not automatically follow the phrasing in a natural way. One might compensate a bit for it by tweaking the expression curves to breathe more life in the transitions. The sound is certainly amazing, though…!
Thanks for the feedback David. I probably should have mentioned that these two pieces were done with my scoring software, Dorico Pro and playback with Noteperformer, so the samples are a bit less realistic and a bit MIDI sounding compared to some better samples like Spitfire or Orchestral Tools. But, I like to use Dorico for these types of pieces, because it has realistic orchestration and the expression at the end of phrases where the dynamic rolls back just a bit is naturally input in the AI playback and sounds quite a bit more natural to me than me messing with modulation and expression curves in my DAW
If I could just figure how to add Spitfire or a better sample library as the playback option in Dorico…
These were fascinating recreations. The clarity was amazing. You definitely could hear every note and phrase played by all the instruments. I agree with you that if you could get Spitfire samples to work with your system it would ad the weight that I think these pieces need to become fully realized. A fun listen Matt. Thanks.
Who else was a little disappointed to come in here and not find them remixed together into one song? Star Trassic Park? I would pay serious money to see that movie…
You did a great job on them, but I felt like Departing Starbase 1 was a little heavy handed at points. Star Trek music usually has a buttery flow to it, hearing the brass come at you sharp, raw and “in your face” is a little jarring at points - made me feel like I was being stalked by a rogue hungry Orchestral Brass Section waiting to pounce on me and steal my sandwich.
But you still hit everything in it and it is Starbase 1 which is awesome. And if making it more bold was the goal then mission accomplished. Both are a job well done sir.
Thanks for checking it out Ian! I wasn’t trying to write something that sounded like it was from Star Trek so much as just writing an original piece that had some space adventure, Trek-y elements to it and I could weave that iconic theme into as tribute. maybe at some point I’ll study more of Jerry Goldsmith’s work and try to write something in his style.
Really nice! I enjoyed listening to both pieces and sensed that you put a lot of work and effort into them. I am a sucker for strings and brass combos! I think the Starbase 1 tribute string melody lines could have done with more legato treatment. The notes sound a bit stop/start and need a little bit more flow/phrasing and longer tails (through more reverb?). But that’s just my ears/brain telling me what I prefer. The overall mixes sound polished, with great clarity through my small monitors.
Well done!
Adrian
You know that moment when you are listening to an orchestral-based track and it’s really dry, and you are thinking “hmmmm this sounds great!”, and those other times when you hear an orchestral-based track that is swimming in reverb and you are thinking “hmmmm this sounds great!”?? Yeah, I never ‘get it’ either!
maybe at some point I’ll study more of Jerry Goldsmith’s work and try to write something in his style.