My Big Fat Guide to using a Virtual Orchestra

This is a video I've been wanting to do for about a year as it's consistently the most requested thing I've had in emails and comments, so here it is!

I've tried to make it as forensic and as in-depth as possible so that it covers everything, which means it's wound up being almost an hour long. But if you're looking for hints and tips on making realistic orchestral recordings with virtual instruments, the hour of your time should hopefully be worth it.

If you've got any specific comments or questions, put them in the comments and I'll come back to you when I can.

I'm aware of a couple of issues - my capture software has stopped capturing the cursor for some reason and I can't get it back. Apologies, but just had to go with it. Also, the way I had to capture audio for the screen capture without ASIO meant I had some mic level issues, which means there's plosives here and there. Hopefully it doesn't bother anyone.

Timings:

Step 5 - Putting it down:

Some other questions you might have that I didn't mention:

Q. Do you play the parts in or draw them?

A. I play some of the parts in and draw some of them depending upon the difficulty.

Q. Do you master your mixes?

A. Yes, as a separate stage. I use T-racks for mastering EQ, compression and limiting but you can use any number of plugins for the job.

Q. How long do the remakes take you?

A. Depends wildly upon how complicated the piece is. I usually do them in segments late at night over several weeks, but probably something like 16 hours if I totaled it.

Q. Do you work this out by ear or use scores?

A. Mainly work from scores, but sometimes have reduced scores and have to work out the individual parts by ear.

Q. Where do you find the scores?

A. I have some that I've bought over the years, I borrowed others from music libraries and there's a lot lurking on Scribd. A lot of film scores aren't released publicly.

Links to the remakes I mentioned:

James Bond remake

Back to the Future remake

Alien remake

Vertigo remake

My computer is a 1950s orchestra / A Canadian in Mayfair remake

Developers mentioned and/or demonstrated:

Spitfire Audio

Orchestral Tools

Project Sam

Cinematic Studio Series

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