Hi Wayne,

I'm really enjoying your your music and it's great to hear some of your older pieces being brought to life with the new VSL touch. Congratulations on this and your other works.

Regards,

      Tom

Hi Philippe,

I think this sounds great. The clarity of your mix is superb and I can't help but wonder if there's something about science fiction as a genre that makes it easier for the mind to be open to new things - in particular music. I remember these programmes too and at the time I took the music very much for granted for most films/TV shows etc and it is only now that I can really start to appreciate how great they were/are.

Congratulations on a great job!

Regards,

      Tom

Great stuff as always William,

I think the "non-notated tweaks of tempo and dynamics and grand pauses" make all the difference in the world to the musicality of your rendering.

Regards,

   Tom

Hi Ghoststrat,

I also found these Mike Verta video's helpful on this subject also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OktpoOztRvQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77mXAWr1QN8

Hope they're useful.

Regards,

    Tom

Hi Dominique,

I really enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing. The pace and pulse of the composition I found very relaxing.

Regards,

   Tom

Hi Grey,

      great job on the music and the mix. I hadn't listened to your music for quite a while now so I had a quick listen this afternoon and I really enjoyed the "Wolfzeit, Studie" piece. Excellent work! Is this also the Bb VSL clarinet ? Sounds fantastic.

Regards,

    Tom

Thanks so much Grey,

my email is tom(at)tommcelvogue.com

Regards,

    Tom

Hi Grey,

thanks for reassuring me on Beat's credentials! I have been a big supporter of Beat also for a long time and indeed use many of his presets. My frustration and questioning is not directed at Beat (or anyone in particular) as I understand he is really trying to help - which is much appreciated.

I had a quick look this morning at the VSL expression maps in Cubase and they don't allow selection of the diminuendo articulations that Beat suggested so I am guessing that I will need to give up on the expression map route and go back to what I had done previously on other projects whereby I have to build my own matrices and populate them with the particular patches and then add the keyswitches into the midi tracks. I had just hoped that in the four years or more since I first started using the VSL products that there may be a more streamlined way of getting a good finished product without having to add all the keyswitching directly into the midi track.

I quickly looked into customizing the expression map however when the next upgrade of these are released, I will be back to square one so I'm thinking the safest way is to go back and start building custom matrices again.

Thanks again and I'd welcome any other suggestions in terms of workflow that might offer an improvement in terms of not having to re-invent the wheel each time.

Regards,

   Tom

Thanks again Beat,

I don't want to give up and I'll take your suggestions on board and work again at this tomorrow night! For the moment I'll put the sunglasses on and enjoy the sunshine tomorrow!

Thank you,

     Tom

Thanks Beat,

I understand your points about more switching of articulations however I'm not sure this is possible using the expression maps in Cubase but I could be wrong. I'll experiment further as I'd really like to see if there's a more human, musical and logical way to acheive good results without what seems to be a random selection of patches for each and every project. It all seems so bizarre that VSL I'm sure go to a huge amount of effort to categorise and name each of the samples in a musical and logical manner and unfortunately, in order to get anything musical, one has to abandon the musically logical choices in favour of selecting random samples until one works. It's so time consuming and perhaps this may just be something I will never grasp. Thanks for your response which is much appreciated - I just wish there were an easier and repeatable way to approach this. At the moment I'm finding it a little futile trying to learn a "way" of acheiving anything close to realism and the frustrating thing for me is that if I were to start another project tomorrow - it seems that whatever I "learned" from the current project is now worthless as it's all really down to random selections until the appropriate sample is found? Am I the only person experiencing this frustration ? Is this really the best approach ?

Regards,

 Tom

Hi Grey,

thanks for listening! I was using this composition to try out (albeit a little belatedly) the Cubase expression maps with Solo Strings. Mostly it is switching between legato/non-legato patches and then also "con vib", "molto vib" and "senza vib" articulations from the expression maps. I tried the "slide" articulation within the expression map on a couple of places too.

I left the first part as solo violin and solo cello to see how my rendition worked when these instruments were very exposed with no hiding place. All of the expression is drawn in and while I tried using the velocity x-fade as suggested on various posts, I didn't really find the sound I was trying for using this method. I also decided to abandon MIR for this as I also struggled to get what I was after with MIR.

I deliberately tried to keep the velocity/expression in the lower ranges in an attempt to emphasize some sense of fragility in the compisition. I found it difficult in a number of places where the volume would un-explainedly jump and really sit out against a particular phrase. I have assumed so far (perhaps wrongly) that this is where a particular patch is switched to the next highest velocity layer. I'd appreciate if anyone with more expertise/experience could confirm or comment on whether this assumption is correct as it would be good to understand if I'm doing something wrong or whether this is by design within the VSL Solo Strings.

I decided to use this piece as a learning exercise at acheiving a more realistic sound for my compositions after my last effort failed and the corrective action was quite considerable. I therefore picked a shorter piece to learn on as I figured this would be more fitting to try with before returning to my earlier composition.

I've tried to acheive the sense of bowing/phrasing and I hope this is improved over previous works however I'm not the expert on this by any means so I'd happily welcome all and any feedback on that front as I'm not a string player and in comparison to many on this forum I am also a rank novice in the use of VSL/Midi.

Thanks again for your post and I hope some of the information above answers your question.

Regards,

     Tom

Hi,

I've uploaded a newish composition of mine to soundcloud and I'd appreciate any suggestions/feedback on whether the mix/realisation is ok. I'm really struggling with my ears and my computer setup this last while and I'm not sure if it's me or my computer so it would be great to hear from others much more qualified as to whether the sound acheived here sounds ok.

https://soundcloud.com/mcelvogue/slow-air-lament-for-a-lost-friend

Regards,

    Tom

Hi Stephane, MassMover,

taking both your suggestions and advice I've rewritten and reworked the first 1:30 seconds so far and uploaded again. Thank you for your assistance and all I can say is that you were both right! I've tried to provide more separation between the 1st and second violin and also between the 2nd Violin and viola in terms of writing. I didn't get a chance to write in the double bass however I'm not convinced it needs a double bass at the start but I could be wrong. I haven't had time to work on the remainder of the composition yet so I've left from 1 minute 30 as it was originally however I will complete this re-write over the coming weeks/months as I found the learning process fantastic for the first section.

Thanks you again,

Tom

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback so far. I think I may have realised what/where I have been going wrong thanks to the two repsondants so I need to carry out some testing to prove/disprove what I think I've done incorrectly. I think it is a combination of not using velocity cross fades correctly and also using vibrato patches when I needed a mix of non-vibrato and vibrato patches - especially on the strings. It may take me a while to re-edit so thanks again for the advice.

Regards,

     Tom

Hi MassMover,

This may sound dumb but I hadn't really considered this relationship between the first and second violins in the way you have suggested. I'll certainly review how I've written the string parts to see if I can acheive greater clarity.

Thanks for listening and for the feedback.

Regards,

      Tom

Thanks Stephane,

I'll start re-working this tonight! Your question really made my heart sink as I had simply neglected this part (and a few others) in preference of working on some of my variations whereas it's actually a vital part of the composition as many listeners will simply turn away before the end of the opening presentation given the poor dynamics and "mechnical" strings which were absolutely not intentional.

Thanks for the advice and taking the time to listen.

Regards,

      Tom

Hi Stephane,

     I really struggle with the dynamics on strings in particular and whilst I had tried a number of ways to achieve what I was searching for in the later sections I must admit I probably negelected this opening presentation of the melody. I know my limitations in terms of realism and whilst I can only aspire to some of the standards demonstrated by other composers/musicians, at the moment my priority has been to improve my writing, orchestration and understanding of tonal harmony.

I'd rather not have the mechanical mood as you described it if at all possible but I must admit I was not sure how/where to start on this first section and therefore probably spent more effort on the middle and later sections of the piece where I was presenting my own interepretations rather than presenting a melody written by another composer which was learned by ear rather than from notation where dynamic markings would be a rarity in this genre of music.

Therefore, all help and suggestions for improving the first section in terms of dynamics would be most welcome.

Regards,

      Tom

Hi,

I've decided to park where I'm at with this latest composition and I'd appreciate any feedback if you have the time!

This is a learning exercise for me and a development of an Irish reel composed by Eddie Kelly arranged for chamber strings and woodwinds - flute/oboe/clarinet/bassoon).

The original 4/4 binary form dance piece presented here in the first 1min 30 seconds is usually played much faster and by solo instrument (reference the second tune played in this video - from 1:07 until 2:56).

The section from 1:30 to 2:12 is intended to be a struggle to move to the new melody in 6/8 timing and I’ve tried to represent this by the offset and overlapping conversation between the winds and strings before presenting a hopefully coherent new melody in B part variation at 2:11. The original A and B part melodies are subsequently re-interpreted as my own personal exercise in musical development of a "traditional" irish dance piece into something different.

Starting from 3:46 I have taken the first few bars of the first variation of the A part and departed harmonically from the original melody with two further variations leading into what I imagined to be a bridge section to reset the listener in preparation for the variations on the B part (from 5:26) which again deviate harmonically (probably only slightly) until the original variation is brought back into focus at 6:41 before modulating back to the tonic key of the piece and closing with a re-presentation of the original A and B part variations.

The dialogue between the strings and winds is continued throughout the piece as they each present their variations on the melodic material supported by the other until the last presentation of the original variation where both strings and winds play mostly in unison which I hope doesn't distract too much and isn't too simplistic an approach.

I hope by adding my intent and understanding of what I was aiming for it may be easier to listen/critique. If it helps to see the score of the music I can also send this on via email if anyone is interested.

https://soundcloud.com/mcelvogue/eddiekellys-work-in-progress

Regards,

      Tom

Hi Alan,

congratulations on this - your other works. I enjoyed it and a number of the other works on your website. It may take a while to get through it all however so I wish you good luck and thank you for making these available. If it's ok to mention it, I particularly enjoyed the open letter on your website to aspiring composers. So much truth and wisdom in there.

Regards,

          Tom

Congratulations Jerry,

I enjoyed the music and look forward to hearing more as the movements as completed. It takes my ears a while to get into your sonic world of synths and orchestra but I do enjoy it.

All the best,

Tom

Hi Darius,

I really enjoyed these. I couldn't get the first one as I kept getting page not found? I like the clarity in the arrangement so far. Congratulations.

Tom

Thanks grey,

I did have some flute, clarinet and oboe lines in an earlier version I was working on. I couldn't work out how or what I wanted them to do so I left them out for the moment. I'm sure I will re-introduce them in my next version. Based on this one, that'll be in another 8 months! This started out as a stylistic copy whilst learning 18th century counterpoint and to that end, I was trying to be careful not to do anything out of context. Over time, I relaxed on that as can be seen from this version but I really wanted to close it out so I could then review and re-write based upon feedback and also allowing some time for myself to forget it and look again with fresh eyes and ears.

Regards,

       Tom

Hi Jerry,

congratulations on your 32nd movement! I enjoyed this and look forward to the remaining movements being realised. I just bought and listened to your 3rd symphony to try and get my head into your style of writing/music. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I have to admit I was a little apprehensive at first as to what was going to happen sonically after hearing some of your previous works which didn't grab me as much as they seem to now. Maybe I was in the wrong headspace to listen objectively?

Anyhow, I think the 1st movement sounds great and look forward to hearing the finished symphony.

Regards,

      Tom

Hi Pavol,

Great work. I really liked the track and especially the clarity and space achieved in the mix. The vocals are also incredibly clear and refreshing. I've listened several times over a number of days before posting in an effort to reset my ears from a listening perspective. I wish I knew what was being sung but it doesn't take away from my appreciation of the track and vocal melody intermixed with the instrumental work.

I also listened to your other tracks on soundcloud. Great stuff.

Regards,

    Tom

Hi Michael,

it sounds very good to me. I had listened previously only on soundcloud and was very put off by lots of audio artefacts and thankfully I downloaded the new version and listened properly. I think you've done a very good job on this piece of beautiful music.

Regards,

       Tom