Thank you Jean, thank you William.
I do the composition with 4 instruments (2 violins, 1 alto and 1 cello) and when I am happy with it I copy the tracks to build up the orchestra. Each track gets variations in the articulations; I exagerate the intension of the phrase. For example, for the first note, the violin I 1 has a legato with somewhat slow attack, and then, the violin I 2 has a crescendo; if the effect is too obvious, then the violin I 3 will have a simple legato to melt in. After doing this with the 8 players available, the overall dynamic is just right. fp articulation is very useful for getting a little more bowing in a legato phrase. And so on, the possibilities are limiteless.
Following a very good advise from this forum, I did some acoustic treatment in my room. It dramatically improved the accuracy of my monitors, and helped me make good decisions about the mix. The best decision was to remove all the EQ's and retain the gorgeous sound of MIR. To be honnest, I just put a very slight high shelf in the room EQ to give some "moelleux" (what is the english word ?), and I added just a little bit of "liquid" over all by mean of a nice Lexicon lx480 emulation plugin.
The harmonies are a melting of strictly tonal obliged movements and constant modulation to any tonality. The few simple motives keep the unicity of the composition. Sorry for my poor english.
As stated before, VSL is a true blessing for composers like me who (curiously) don't get very often the opportunity to be played by a live orchestra. Thanks again to the fabulous team behind all this.
Stephane.