My first string trios

[Marko]

Here are links to some of my string trio attempts.

I\'ve used the KH Solo Strings for the most part.

I welcome your comments.


http://www.planetcanadice.com/Music/string_theory_by_M_Drost.mp3 (\"http://www.planetcanadice.com/Music/string_theory_by_M_Drost.mp3\")

http://www.planetcanadice.com/Music/string_theory2__by_M_Drost.mp3 (\"http://www.planetcanadice.com/Music/string_theory2__by_M_Drost.mp3\")

http://www.planetcanadice.com/Music/Hallucination_by_M_Drost.mp3 (\"http://www.planetcanadice.com/Music/Hallucination_by_M_Drost.mp3\")

[Jaimo]

Wow.


Let me say it again...Wow!

Really nice Marko. I have a couple of questions and comments.

The fast \"back and forth\" bowing technique heard in the 2nd piece, as well as the beginning of the 3rd piece...What is that?

I just got Kirk\'s Solo Strings, but I\'m importing the sounds into Logic\'s EXS. I don\'t recall hearing anything like that however. Certainly that\'s not the tremolo patches, is it?

From a personal preference, I wouldn\'t mind hearing those pieces with a shorter reverb. It \"swims\" a bit much for me, but as we all know, that\'s a subjective call.

Also, and forgive my ignorance, but it sounded like more players than 3, as in trio. Have I misunderstood? Just curious...

Again....Wow! Very Nice.

[Ned Bouhalassa]

OMG! images/icons/shocked.gif images/icons/shocked.gif images/icons/shocked.gif images/icons/shocked.gif

Incredibly impressive, if you ask me. Kirk Hunter should put these on his web page! Excellent work/writing. It\'s a bit retro for my personal taste (reminds me of Ravel/Debussy), but very well programmed.

My only criticism is that there could be more \'breathing\' (time to turn pages, for eg), maybe some leg/body movement, etc. Sometimes it just sounds edited instead of performed.

Nevertheless: W images/icons/smile.gif W!

[Marko]

Thanks very much for the comments!

Jaimo, the fast back and forth samples you are referring to are the release trigger samples. (They alone are worth the price of the library!) The violin sample is called \'Solo Vln Up/Dwn Spiccato Slow/Fast\'. It is found under the directory Brite Release Trigger. There is a similar sample for the viola and cello too. These spiccato samples are very useful and they have several velocity levels so you can alter between soft, hard, and very loud. The tremolo samples are much softer. I think you\'ll get hooked on these spiccato samples.

My friend joked that these pieces would require a string trio in which each player has three arms. Perhaps I should have called it a \'String Trio for Three-Armed Players\'. I think the fulness is due to the Spiccato release triggers that I use especially in the second and third pieces (StringTheory2 and Hallucination). I don\'t think any of the instruments (except for the cello at one or two points) play more than 2 notes at a time. The fulness may be due to the reverb too.

Ned, about breathing time, I\'m not sure that I understand you. Do you mean I should put a little more space or stretch out the legatos some more? Precisely what do you mean by \"some leg/body movement\"? More pauses? Let me know. The goal of all my editing is to make it sound performed!


I would love to achieve the sound of the Cuarteto LatinAmericano playing the first two Ginastera string quartets!

[Joanne Babunovic]

Nice Marko!

Not clear on whether you used additional reverb on any of these, or recorded/mixed \"out of the box\".

Thanks,

[Alexcremers]

3 lovely pieces, Marko. What other then KH solo strings did you use?


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Alex Cremers

[Ned Bouhalassa]

Marko, sorry if my post was confusing! images/icons/confused.gif

By breathing, I meant slight pauses (more human) in between sections and to simulate the time it takes for musicians to turn a page on a score. And as for leg/body/arm movement, I meant the little, subtle noises that we hear when real musicians are playing in front of us. We don\'t hear those as much when a whole orchestra is playing, but when there\'s a trio, you can usually hear them moving, especially during intense passage. Granted, you probably didn\'t get those samples in the KH Solo Strings, but if you really want to fool people, then you should perhaps record such noises at a university rehearsal, or something like that... images/icons/wink.gif

[88fingers]

Hi Marko,
That is some really good writing . Very inventive and free flowing .
The sound is pretty convincing as a live recording . It just has a very studio perfect recording sound to it, not a live concert hall with ambient noises . The overall expression of the group is very real . Nice interpretation .

It sits fine with me and I would have no problem listening to it as a bonafide complete performance.
Nice job !

You have inspired me.

[Marko]

Thank you for the comments.

Joanne,

The KHSS are recorded dry. I added reverb.

Alex,

The violin pizzicato and viola pizzicato are from Dan Dean Solo Strings library. Everything else is KH Solo String library.

Ned,

Thanks again. Your suggestions for realism are right on. The pauses certainly would help. I think my transitions between the different articulations (e.g. from pizzicato to tremolo or pizzicato to spiccato) may seem unnaturally fast. (But when I listen to Cuarteto Americano play Ginastera, I am amazed by their speed!)

Concerning ambient incidental sound, I think I could import some incidental noise samples and have them sit comfortably in the mix. I might get carried away doing this My fear is that the incidental sounds will be more interesting than the music!


88fingers,

Thanks. You are right: I avoided a traditional hall effect because I didn\'t think the panning of the violin and viola would come across clearly.

[MDesigner]

Originally posted by Marko:
Thank you for the comments.
The violin pizzicato and viola pizzicato are from Dan Dean Solo Strings library. Everything else is KH Solo String library.
<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Any reason you chose to use DDSS for the pizzicato instead of KHSS?

[Marko]

Sam,

I used this combination because it sounded better in the mix. On the one hand, the KHSS pizzicato are velocity switching and lend themselves to being played dynamically, but I don\'t think the timbre of the upper notes of the KHSS violin or viola pizzicato sound as good as the DD pizzicato. On the other hand, I don\'t think the DDSS pizzicato have any velocity switching layers to them and so it\'s harder to play dynamically with just those samples. Because the cello pizzicato in KHSS has velocity layers for each note, it lends itself to being played dynamically. The cello pizzicato in DDSS sound very good, but given one level of samples per note, it\'s not as dynamic.


I tried various combinations and settled on this.

[Alexcremers]

The sad thing is that, in my first post, I left out on how good these pizzicatos actually are.


------------
Alex Cremers

[Jaimo]

Jaimo, the fast back and forth samples you are referring to are the release trigger samples. (They alone are worth the price of the library!) The violin sample is called \'Solo Vln Up/Dwn Spiccato Slow/Fast\'. It is found under the directory Brite Release Trigger. There is a similar sample for the viola and cello too. These spiccato samples are very useful and they have several velocity levels so you can alter between soft, hard, and very loud. The tremolo samples are much softer. I think you\'ll get hooked on these spiccato samples. <font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Boy you weren\'t kidding! Those things are fantastic! As I mentioned before, I\'m importing the giga files into Logics EXS, and although a lot of the programming makes the transition just fine, the release samples do not. It was easy enough to fix though. Thanks for bringing those to my attention. You\'re absolutley right in saying those samples are worth the price alone.

And, if I may go off track here for a second...Anyone out there using giga sampler or a format that reads giga files, owes it to themselves to get Kirks Library of Solo Strings. It\'s really quite remarkable, and easy on the checkbook. No, I don\'t work for Kirk, I\'m just a satisfied customer. Markos compositions show how close you can get with these samples.

Again Marko, quite impressive! You\'ve raised the bar...!

[P de Caumette]

Great work. Love the harmonies & textures...

Just put in my order for KHSS. images/icons/grin.gif

[Rob Elliott]

Hi Marko,

Bravo! I love the \'tone\' of this writing. Very impressive. Once I recover from my recent VSL purchase, I have to give this library serious consideration.

I too, would also like to hear this trio in a \'smaller\' more intimate space. If you have nothing else to do run a mix with less verb. The writing certainly is strong enough to be \'exposed\'. It will also give us a \'closer\' look at the library.

Thanks fro sharing.

Rob

[IOComposer]

That\'s great stuff! Thanks for inspiring me images/icons/smile.gif