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  • Universal Studios Theme

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    Hi

    Here is the mockup of Universal Studios Theme by Brian Tyler (original by Jerry Goldsmith).

    I used Special edition 1 plus, Synchronized Special edition 2, Epic orchestra 2

    Universal Studios Fanfare
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    from 0:14 the trumpets should be portato not legato. Overal outstanding achievement with basic soundset.

     

    BTW where you get the score?
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    That performance sounds very good. For some reason I find this fanfare boring, even though I'm a total Jerry Goldsmith fan. I always mute the audio when it's at the beginning of a video, waiting impatiently for the movie to begin. Now this Universal fanfare is really great -

    1940s Universal

    (Did John Williams get some ideas for Superman from this? Hmm...)

    And of course, the greatest of all movie fanfares has got to be the 20th Century Fox with Cinemascope extension

    Sorry to hijack the thread but it is interesting. Anyway, great job on that performance!

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    I ended up using sustain articulation, because legato, was not enough brassy.

    The official score of 100 anniversary isn't available so I combined 2 scores i found online. One was pretty close but, I change it a little. 
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    It's not easy to do a great fanfare like this, I realize.  

    James Horner, whose music I dislike because 90% of what he did he stole from classical music, did a good new Universal fanfare that was more low-key.   Not as bombastic.

    I think my problem with this Goldsmith fanfare is - it is tiresome to wait for his repetiions of the main theme in the horns, because you are also waiting for the MOVIE!  You don;t have to wait at all on those fanfares I listed.

    There should be a competition for VSL Fanfare. I will try that!        
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    In fact

    I suggest doing this - it would be an interesting exercise! 
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    but we will need proper orchestral full score for fanfares....
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    Hello,

    Very good mockup to my ears! Congrats! Would you mind sharing with us your workflow?

    Articulations, effects (EQ, Compression, Mastering), others...

    Thanks!
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    @GilP said:

    Hello,

    Very good mockup to my ears! Congrats! Would you mind sharing with us your workflow?

    Articulations, effects (EQ, Compression, Mastering), others...

    Thanks!

    First I watched this video. Just to know how big was the orchestra for that recording. And also when I did the mock-up, I was always comparing it with the original recording, trying my best to match the sound. 

    String section is from Special Edition Vol. 1 PLUS except the tremolos at the begining (there I used Synchronized Special edition Vol. 2 - Chamber strings). The Strings were quite difficult to program, I tried different articulations for the fast stuff at the beginning. I tried stretching the legato to make it faster, but it didn't sound as in the original recording (staccato and spiccato was too short) so I used detache and short detache (I was switching between these two articulations to avoid repetition). In the last part (where strings play in unison with trumpets) I used legato (switching with sustain to mimic bow changes) and sforzato.

    Brass section is the key of this piece. I used 8 horn ensemble from SSE Vol. 2 and I layered it with the Horn 2 to bring the sound little closer (but it was subtle). As I don't own PLUS edition I didn't have the portato articulation, so for the short notes i used marcato (sustain + staccato). 6 Trumpets ensemble are from Epic orchestra 2 and I layered them with 3 Trumpet ensemble from SE Vol1. Wagner tubas (EO2), Trombones, Tuba (SE Vol1). All Brass mostly use sustain articulation, not legato (to get the "brassy sound"). I also automated Humanize Tuning - higher notes - higher value, because they are harder to play. 

    For woodwinds, I used solo patches. (legato, sustain, sforzato and portato) at the beginning flutes play staccato/repetition staccato.

    I was quite surprised with the percussions. I always though that VSL percussion didn't sound good, but I was very mistaken 😄 the Synchron percussion from SSE Vol2 are great.  It is about the layering. As you can see in the video, there were lot of them. For the one big "bang" you need more than just a single drum (as I thought). According to score I found on musescore it uses Timpani, Bass drum, Concert Tomes and Snare drum (I layered it with snare ensemble from SE Vol1)

    In my template I heavily EQ the strings to make it sound more cinematic. Other than that I use presets from VSL for EQ and Compression. In the mix I took 2dB from Strings, and 4 dB from Wagner Tubas, because in the original recording they are low. On the Master channel I tried to match the EQ to the original recording mostly adding high end.

    Hope that this was helpful. I should add that I don't know if I did it the right way, so any advice to improve would be appreciated.
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    Very good job Erisno. Congrats !

    Philippe
  • PaulP Paul moved this topic from Orchestration & Composition on