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  • What is the best eq setting for warm lush strings?

    I was wondering what is the best eq setting and reverb for the above.......Im using logic plat 6 on osx.Can anyone advise?

  • 40hz, Q=narrow, -9db
    110hz, Q=narrow, +1db,
    205hz, Q=narrow, -1db
    380 hz, Q=wide, +2.5db
    2.6khz, Q=medium/narrow, -0.8db
    4.7Khz, Q=medium/narrow, -1.7db
    7Khz, Q=narrow, -2.5db

    That should do it.

    [:)]

    Evan Evans

    I was a respected mastering engineer for 6 years.

  • ok will try thanks..............What is the best reverb avail on osx? space designer? altiverb? or shall i wait for mir? does sd and alt have mic placement?

  • Altiverb, Concertgebou Cardoids Close, for a classical sound. For a more film music sound you need a brighter, just as dense, shorter more direct sound. I still have yet to find it.

    Evan Evans

  • do you know a good reverb like altiverb , but PC-Compatible ?

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    @Carter said:

    do you know a good reverb like altiverb , but PC-Compatible ?


    http://www.voxengo.com/pspace/ - multichannel convolution for PC, so also supporting stereo-stereo impulse sets, in combination with impulses from

    http://www.numericalsound.com/purespac.html

    This combination will probably get you closest to Altiverb for Mac, although Ernest Cholakis from Numerical Sound does not offer true stereo-stereo sets, and neither does he give any specs as to how he created the impulses. I believe they are "constructed" rather than real acoustic space recordings, but I am not sure... Anyway, very high quality (you should get the 24 bit versions).

    The Pristine Space plugin seems to be better than the Waves IR1 - I have not been able to verify this myself. I only had the IR1 demo for a short time. I bought the Pristine Space, which is very affordable!

    For free impulses, check out http://www.noisevault.com - some excellent impulses from Lexicon reverb units.

    Success,

    Peter
    www.PeterRoos.com

  • Evan - thanks for the quite specific set of eqs for strings... is this a setting that you've been using for quite sometime then after months of experimentation?
    Do you find this works specifically with VSL or can be applied slightly more generally.
    I shall give it a go and see how it feels...

  • It's a subtle setting that can be used anywhere, but I only just thought of it on the spot. I can hear things without them actually sounding. This setting was designed specifically for what was asked for here, on the spot. It is open to tweaking, but it is subtle enough to get the job done.

    Evan Evans

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    @Paw said:

    I was wondering what is the best eq setting and reverb for the above.......Im using logic plat 6 on osx.Can anyone advise?

    Just an organisational sidenote: It's a good idea to ask questions like this in our Mixing/PostPro-forum. Several threads dealt with similar topics alrady. Take a look! :-]

    All the best,


    /Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library
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    @evan evans said:

    40hz, Q=narrow, -9db
    110hz, Q=narrow, +1db,
    205hz, Q=narrow, -1db
    380 hz, Q=wide, +2.5db
    2.6khz, Q=medium/narrow, -0.8db
    4.7Khz, Q=medium/narrow, -1.7db
    7Khz, Q=narrow, -2.5db

    That should do it.

    Evan Evans

    I was a respected mastering engineer for 6 years.

    Greetings, Evan.

    I just came across your posting.

    The question I have is: for what instrument groups? The high frequencies obviously are for the high strings. The problem that arises is the distribution of frequency range of each of the groups if one hase more than the usual 5. E.I., say we have 4 groups of first violins, 4 second violins, two viola, two cello and two bass groups. Now I have a big problem, since they play different melodies and may overlap each other's frequency spans. This is why I end up with harsh sounding mixes and high stray harmonics poking out of the mix, because I don't quite know what frequency ranges to give the different groups (divisi, well sort of, for they're not true divisi, just on different channels/tracks of the same groups, slightly detuned).

    Thank you, John.


  • Hi John,

    Considering the age of the original message (2004!), this has been meant to be used for VSL Orchestral Strings, obviously (.... the violin section, I assume).

    That said, I think it is quite meaningless to "trade EQ settings", as each and every composition / arrangement / programming / mix will need slightly (or even radically) different settings. They can serve as starting point (.... maybe!), but no setup in the world will be able to supply an "instant mix". This would be much like painting by numbers. ;-)

    .... and I write that as the guy who created several thousand factory presets for MIR Pro, MIRx and Vienna Suite during the years. 8-)

    Sidenote: If your programmings are always sounding "to harsh", chances are that you're using ff-velocities too often. Mezzo is the new forte ... ;-D

    Kind regards,


    /Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library
  • I agree with Dietz. Higher velocities contribute to the harshness of the sound. As one famous composer once said (quoting): "If you want things to sound big, make sure you limit your upper dynamic range. All instruments - especially percussion - sound bigger when played relatively softly. You can always turn it up. ...any instrument that is played too loud, they tend to sound only bright and thin and pingy."


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    @Dietz said:

    Hi John,

    Considering the age of the original message (2004!), this has been meant to be used for VSL Orchestral Strings, obviously (.... the violin section, I assume).

    That said, I think it is quite meaningless to "trade EQ settings", as each and every composition / arrangement / programming / mix will need slightly (or even radically) different settings. They can serve as starting point (.... maybe!), but no setup in the world will be able to supply an "instant mix". This would be much like painting by numbers. 😉

    .... and I write that as the guy who created several thousand factory presets for MIR Pro, MIRx and Vienna Suite during the years. 8-)

    Sidenote: If your programmings are always sounding "to harsh", chances are that you're using ff-velocities too often. Mezzo is the new forte ... ;-D

    Kind regards,

    Dietz, Nektarios:

    Agreed as far as packages and not generalizing settings to later editions. I'll try to reset velocities, however, whenever I use tamer setting, say mf or mf/f I get thin, thready, sound and the higher notes will get steely plus the offending very high harmonics.

    Today, I used Evan's settings to violins and violas and things got significantly better, though I modified some. Then I got your input.

    Vielen dank, Dietz.

    John


  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on