Moseph

Is there supplemental material that we should submit? Track comments, artist bios, etc?

My tracks are both done, and I'm either never doing symphonic metal ever again, or I'm never doing anything but symphonic metal ever again. It's too early to tell which.

Will do. I'll try to have finalized versions for both by then.

Do you have specific things in mind regarding coordination? As far as mix progress goes, The Earth is basically done and I'm finishing up on Last Decisive Battle, which will hopefully be done within a week or so. I can send you current WIPS for both if you want.

Quick question about final WAV delivery -- are the final files I send going to be used as-is or will someone be doing additional tweaking (mastering for level balance across the whole project, etc.)? In other words, should I master for optimum loudness on my own, or should I leave headroom/dynamic range so someone else has more to work with?

A small mixer -- probably whatever inexpensive thing you can find will do, as long as it has the correct inputs and a headphone output. A few examples from quickly trawling Amazon (none of which I've personally used): Rolls MX51S Mini Mix 2 Behringer Xenyx 502 Gemini MM1

Chant notation, which is what this plugin looks like it does, isn't quite the same thing as GSO is looking for. You can achieve the example in the OP just by customizing the note display in Finale. Sibelius can probably do something similar. I doubt you'd even really need to do that for an early music ensemble, as anyone who can read early notation can certainly also read standard notation.

I own a TEControl breath controller and like it. I'd recommend them if you're looking for something on the less expensive side that doesn't require knowing/learning wind instrument fingerings. It needs to be paired with a keyboard, though -- it doesn't have any note input of its own.

Choir pad is the simplest description of it. It's not an uncommon synth sound; most general synth preset banks will have something that resembles it, and you should be able to find tutorials for creating your own version pretty easily if you're so inclined.

Whatever you end up getting, I recommend looking into Sonarworks Reference 3, which is a VST plugin that corrects frequency imbalances for headphone mixing based on your headphone model. I use it with my AKG K702s and like it a lot -- K702s are skewed toward mids and highs, and it evens things out in a way that makes getting balanced mixes noticeably easier. (FWIW, Sonarworks supports the DT 880 Pro and the Sony MDR 7506 but not the Sennheiser HD 569.)

NI's The Finger can do this. If you have a not-ancient version of Komplete, you already have it.

EWQL SO Platinum is recorded in orchestra position in a concert hall, so you should be able to get decent results by simply running it through Spaces without changing the panning. It's dry libraries such as VSL that require more finesse with reverb. Very interesting to revisit my old reverb chain via timaeus's post. My current approach is to match dry sounds to the EWQL Hollywood series with Spat. But for the Hollywood series itself, which is recorded in position with multiple mics like EWQL SO, I basically just run it through Spaces unless I need some sort of special sound.

Some differences between VSL SE and the Kontakt VSL: VSL SE uses real legato -- that is, the transitions between notes have actually been sampled and those samples are triggered when you overlap notes into subsequent notes. Legato based purely on scripting doesn't sound as good. VSL SE has a better/more full-featured sampler interface than what's included in the Kontakt version. It has the ability to do things such as program custom articulations, apply filters, manage crossfade behavior, program articulation selection methods other than keyswitch, and so forth. VSL SE has slightly more articulations if you just look at Vol. 1, and many more articulations if you look at Vol. 1 PLUS. I suggest you use the Kontakt version until you feel limited by it, then look into upgrading.

For convolution, Reverberate 2 ($110) is good.

If you're looking for an approach to understanding/creating this sort of music, there are two big things you'll have to engage with: 1) Orchestration. In order to write orchestra music effectively, you need to understand how all the instruments in the orchestra function. There are various books available on the topic (and the Rimsky-Korsakov book is public domain). If you don't know how to read standard music notation, it would be a good idea to start learning it -- most of the worthwhile instructional material on orchestration makes frequent reference to musical scores. If you already know how to read music, then start studying scores. IMSLP has a ton of stuff available, and you can find recordings of most things either on YouTube or with a Spotify/Napster/etc. subscription. 2) Virtual instruments. You might think that money is the key aspect here, and it is indeed an important aspect, but you also need to understand how to use whatever it is that you buy. Part of this is orchestration knowledge, and part of it is general knowledge about digital music production and sample libraries. In order to create sampled orchestra music, it is important to be familiar with what an actual orchestra sounds like so you have a mental reference point for your work. Listen to orchestras, both recorded and (if possible) live. Think critically about the sounds of the orchestra and have some idea of what any given passage ought to sound like before you attempt to program it with samples. Don't rely on the samples for knowledge of an orchestra's sound; rather, attempt to use the samples to create what you know an orchestra should sound like. You may note that I've left music theory completely out of this list. This is because it's entirely possible to compose orchestral music with no more knowledge of music theory than it takes to write a pop song. If you want to write like Brahms or Williams, yeah, you'll need to know some music theory, but the examples you've linked really aren't all that complicated from a theoretical perspective.