@jasensmith said:
Paul,
First of all I have to compliment you on taking something like this on. It's courageous because everybody has their favorite recording of this work and they tend to compare what you're doing with samples to what they are used to hearing instead of treating this as just another interpretation of a classic.
Overall, very nicely done. I thought the tempo was perfect. I often hear real orchestras play this too fast and it annoys me.
I listened to it in my car stereo twice and I though the strings might have sounded a bit blurry to me during the fast passages. Not sure if you layered the strings but I find myself automating the volume of the solo strings a few DB's higher during fast passages to get a little sharper sound but it might just be my ears.
Also, the lows and mid lows sounded a bit muddy in my speakers but again I was listening in my car while driving so that may have had something to do with that
Everything else sounded splendid to me though.
Thank you so very much for listening and providing feedback. That means a lot to me. Thank you.
I wish I could take credit for the tempos, but I very closely followed the tempos used by the LSO conducted by Istvan Kertesz. It is fascinating to me how much tempo interpretations vary in classical music and even for a single piece depending on the conductor.
The blurring in the strings in fast passages was intentional, and perhaps a bad decision on my part, I always second guess myself. I used CC automation in Cubase to increase the humanization setting during fast passages, then bring down the humanization setting when the speed decreased.
The strings are layered, mainly Sychron Strings and Spitfire Orchestral Strings in close to equal amounts. I also layered in at a lower volume level VSL Chamber Strings and VSL Orchestral Strings. I did use CC7 volume automation to change the mix between libraries depending on the orchestration, and thus make more prominent the library that had the best sound for a particular passage. The strings were an enormous amount of work.
Thank you for telling me about the muddiness in the mix. I will do some research on the issue. I knew absolutely nothing about mixing two years ago and still find it a difficult challenge. But I think I am getting a little better at it. So I will for sure look at this issue. Thank you again,
Paul