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  • solo strings and live performance

    S
    S

    Hi community.

    I followed the good advice from Dietz and Beat : I started with decoupling my Genelec monitors from my desk, then reducing the wet slider in Mir, trying all mic setups, and finally sweeping a negative bell EQ through the reverb tail.  So far, here are my results.  It seems way better than it used to be, while I'm still not 100% satisfied.  The remaining problem being that, when playing loud, the sound becomes harsh (which is not the case when I play Daft Punk on the same system).

    So here is a live performance (cello, piano and soprano saxophone) together with solo and dimension strings and zero-G prima voices.  All the outro is vsl only, mixed with Mariastrassengel a little enhanced with a lexicon emulation.

    I hope you'll enjoy and keep the good advice coming up (it is so nice to learn from each other).

    https://soundcloud.com/st-phane-collin/concert-juillet-mix

    Thanks.
  • J
    J

    Hi Stéphane,

    First, I have to say I love the piece.

    I tried it quite loud on my system but I don't get the harsh sound you mentionned.

    I am curious, in what kind of environnement you recorded the live instrument?

    Because, I know it is a challenge to insert it in a virtual setup afterward.

    It's sounds realy good (particularly the cello).  Well, I'm a bit biais toward the cello...

    With that kind of mood, the MariaStr... does an amazing job.

    I just recorded Arvo Part   Spiegel im spiegel and it sound very good in that church.

    Jean Roy
  • S
    S

    Hello Jean.

    Thank you for the kind words.

    The live instruments were recorded in my living room.  I had hung some thick curtains all around and had hired a mobile studio equipped with Neumann TLM 102 microphones, feeding some custom made preamps.  All mics were doubled by ribbon mics, but I didn't use them in the mix, feeling they were not "true" to the real sound.

    Curiously, while I truly adore MIR (especially Maria Strassengel church) certainly for vocals (unbeatable in my world : unrivalled sense of space and cristal clear airy ambiance), I can't seem to get it right for strings.  This mix results from MIR early reflections (space positionning) and help from algorythmic tail (like Vienna hybrid reverb, or third party plug ins).  As I said in previous posts, in some part of the spectrum, with strings (particularly Dimension strings) I get harsh response, obligeing me to reduce the wet and/or EQing lots more than what I can stay happy with.  Strange enough, I can't hear any trace of this in the (very) good demos in the demo zone.  I did some basic acoustic treatment of my mixing room, which helped me alot, but still, demos sound way better than my stuff if I stick to MIR.

    So I understood that you are cellist ?  Great !  You can see my (beloved) favourite cellist at work here : (still my living room...)



    And yes, the voices are mixed with Maria Strassengel MIR room.

    Best regards.

    Stephane.
  • W
    W

     Finally listened to this - it sounds beautiful!  Great work all around.  Also that other link to youtube is a wonderful piece and performance. 

  • S
    S

    Thank you so much, William.  Much appreciated, certainly from a musician like you.

    Stéphane.
  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on