does this sound like humans?

[Susanstunes]

Hi everyone,
This listing wants human sounding - not obviously Midi-driven orchestral sounds. Do the references sound like humans are playing? I would love some opinions. And also if you think they do sound like humans playing, are these done with very current programs/synthsizers

NEW LISTING -- TRIUMPHANT, INSPIRATIONAL-Sounding ORCHESTRAL INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a really large media company for placements in several projects, including hit cable TV shows, other shows on their own network, and online media.

This rapidly growing industry giant is building its own Exclusive, In-House Music Library and will pay an initial buyout fee of $250 for 100% of the Publisher's share and Master rights. On top of the per track fee, you will also get 100% of the Writer's share of the publishing and make applicable performance income.

They're looking for Original, emotionally compelling compositions in All-Tempos that could be heard on a playlist with composers like Tyler Bates, Steve Jablonsky, Ramin Djawadi, etc., etc., etc. Please listen to the following references to get an idea of the vibe they need for this pitch:

"A Nova Upgrade" by Tyler Bates:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJTK-coj0Og

"Prime" by Steve Jablonsky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhizhXlbEys

"Finale" by Ramin Djawadi:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkFi6iria10

Give them Instrumental Cues with full string sections, triumphant horns, big percussion, and an overall feeling of epic inspiration. Your instrumentation should sound authentic and believable, like a real orchestra played by real humans! Any material that sounds dated, stiff, or obviously MIDI-driven won't work well for this pitch. Your Cues should build quickly, and keep building until they crescendo to an epic finish.



Thanks !!

Susan

http://www.soundcloud.com/susanhillman
http://www.taxi.com/susanhillman

[Joseph]

This is what I found in the iTunes description of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" score:

"Tracks were recorded at the fabled Abbey Road Studios with members of the London Philharmonic; Tyler says his music team toiled 100 hours a week for four months. “At least half the cues in the movie have more than 500 tracks of audio,” he says of the intricately layered mix."

I imagine that most of the big budget films that get referenced are using real musicians. I'm sure they weave in synths and VST's, I see that Steve Jablonsky and Ramin Djawadi are referenced artists on Heavyocity's website so I'm sure they use there fare share of VST's, but these referenced tracks definitely are real performers. I researched the other two refs and found that they do use real orchestras, but I couldn't find out which ones

So to answer your question: Yes, I think they sound like real musicians.

-Joseph

[Susanstunes]

Thanks for doing that. All I can say is "wow..." and I am thinking doesn't that put most of us out of the running on this listing? I don't have the time or $ to go that far to make this recording.... (ha ha ha!)

[Joseph]

Thanks for doing that. All I can say is "wow..." and I am thinking doesn't that put most of us out of the running on this listing? I don't have the time or $ to go that far to make this recording.... (ha ha ha!)

I don't think people with large budgets to record entire orchestras are submitting to listings like these. As long as you work well with the samples you have and can write/orchestrate effectively, you should be fine (i.e., try to find where the samples sound like samples and use other libraries, instruments, or sounds to mask them.) You could also record a few solo musicians and layer that into your pieces to add more realism for little to no cost. I'm actually going to record my niece, an amazing cellist, for a piece I'm currently working on.

-Joseph

[hummingbird]

Joseph makes a good point. It's working with the articulations and velocities, as well as having a couple of 'live' tracks to help the whole thing sound more authentic. However, I do admit, it would take me a great deal of time to compose & produce something like this (full orchestra) effectively, although it would be a labour of love as I adore film scores and trailer music so much. I tend to go for hybrid as it is a bit easier for me to add orchestral elements to electronic sounds.

[Joseph]

http://audiocookbook.org/real-orchestra ... p-part-16/

Also found this. I thought it was interesting.

-Joseph

[Susanstunes]

That is interesting. A lot of information there.... to new equipment and sounds. Thanks!

[andygabrys]

due to the shear cost of hollywood style orchestral recordings (even if performed in cheaper areas like Macedonia or Prague that are non-union "buyout" recordings) that these totally live recordings are not the kinds of recordings they are expecting to get for this listing. Maybe for a non-exclusive listing, but you would have to be a little crazy (or maybe a trust fund baby) to sell away the publishing side and the copyright for one of these recordings for $250. It would cost you far more than what you could hope to earn over the life of the piece ($250 plus whatever royalties you get).

As everybody said above though, there is a middle ground where the finished productions can sound really amazing while still being realized on computer. Its still a pretty high bar, and the costs are high to get a computer that is powerful enough to run a session with many orchestral type instruments, and the software that is used to produce the orchestral sounds is not cheap either. Add to that a lot of skill that is needed to realize a piece with MIDI driven instruments - writing, arranging, mixing.

To get an idea of where that "bar" is I would check out the software demo pieces on any orchestral manufacturers websites. Some that have impressed me in the past:

audiobro.com makers of LA Scoring Strings.
8dio.com makers or a wide range of scoring packages
Native Instruments - especially their newer offerings in their "symphony series"
Cinesamples.com

and the list goes on and on. Consider that most of these tracks on the sites are realized with samples and its pretty impressive.

[andygabrys]

http://audiocookbook.org/real-orchestra ... p-part-16/

Also found this. I thought it was interesting.

-Joseph

that was good.

now imagine if they had cut the second realization (at the bottom of the page) in with the live orchestra recordings. How much closer would it sound?