Tips for Making EWQLSO sound more realistic - see demo inside

[DarkDjinn]

I bought EWQLSO Gold a few months back after lusting after it for months, and then was too intimidated to try to use it. A couple of days ago I decided to sit down and give it a solid effort to really learn the ins and outs, and I'm in the very beginning stages. However, if anyone has experience using it and would be willing to share some tips, please do! I'm looking to get as realistic of an orchestra sound as I can out of this. Please see the link below for a very brief demo of what I've been practicing with:

https://soundcloud.com/brad-charles/hes-a-pirate-practice

I looked for the score for "He's a Pirate" but couldn't find it, so I just did a piece of it by ear. Don't shoot me if you hear a wrong note, that's not the kind of feedback I'm looking for. I'm looking for glaringly obvious things that could be fixed to make it sound more realistic. It's not as easy as I thought it was going to be. Thanks in advance!

[zircon]

You probably want to use even shorter articulations. Spiccatos I believe are the shortest ones available. You probably also need richer orchestration, i.e. it doesn't sound like you have the full chords there from the original piece - plus, it won't sound as full unless you have the rest of the orch too.

[timaeus222]

I've never heard that song before, but yeah, I would add some tubas or contra bass spiccatos underneath to emphasize each measure.

[DarkDjinn]

zircon and timaeus - thanks both for the tips. I only have cellos and trumpets in there because it's been so time consuming just to do that part.The articulations are the part that's a real pain to do - I don't play any bowed strings, so I don't know much about how they work. I do play trumpet, but it's still difficult to make it sound natural. I'll work on it some more and seek guidance again. Thanks!

[DarkDjinn]

I've never heard that song before, but yeah, I would add some tubas or contra bass spiccatos underneath to emphasize each measure.

And that song is from Pirates of the Caribbean. I chose it because I know it well enough that I could at least sing/hum the entire thing and I thought that would make it easier to mess around with when practicing stuff like articulations.

[ebuch]

If it'd help you manage articulations easier, check out the Keyswitch patches for various instruments. These patches will have many articulations combined into one patch (so you can have all articulations on one MIDI track). As the name implies, you can switch to different articulations very quickly by activating one of the switches, which will be MIDI notes that are out of the instrument's range.

Something to try out and see if it works for you!

[DarkDjinn]

If it'd help you manage articulations easier, check out the Keyswitch patches for various instruments. These patches will have many articulations combined into one patch (so you can have all articulations on one MIDI track). As the name implies, you can switch to different articulations very quickly by activating one of the switches, which will be MIDI notes that are out of the instrument's range.

Something to try out and see if it works for you!

I am using the keyswitches already, and my world became brighter when I figured that out (by watching a video on it). Thanks!

[ShrackAttack]

You might want to try layering more as well. Use multiple cello patches to make the sound fuller and adjust volume accordingly. Maybe have a Cello Marcato patch hit on certain parts to give emphasis, etc.

[mickomoo]

I am using the keyswitches already, and my world became brighter when I figured that out (by watching a video on it). Thanks!

I actually improved when I stopped using keyswitches. It forced me to think about articulations I wanted to use beforehand. Also you can save memory by avoiding keyswitch patches. I don't know if you had this problem but I did: I didn't explore the full set of articulations per instrument and stuck exclusively to key switches. Key switches are good for quick mockups but realism requires becoming familiar with everything EWQL has. For example, your cross-fading patches allow you to blend samples of various velocities. These are good for swells and sustains especially long sustains). Mike Verta has several tutorials on this:

http://mikeverta.com/wordpress/podcastsandtutorials/tutorials/videocast-v-i-techniques/

http://mikeverta.com/wordpress/podcastsandtutorials/tutorials/videocast-composing-live/

You can probably find some more that also include tips specific to your DAW and VSTs. If you find anything cool don't hesitate to send it my way.

Also, one of the best things to do is to first consider the size of your ensemble and selecting the ensemble patches closest to the ratio you want for each section. Next is to consider your options for panning, which should generally be informed by orchestral seating charts. A lot of midi composers have panning + reverb charts that illustrate how to emulate this. This isn't an exact science, and honestly depending on the vibe I'm going for I deviate from this sometimes or synthesize multiple charts positions.

Your stuff sounds pretty decent actually, and in terms of the sample you posted it's fine. The major thing we can really do to enhance realism is improve our arrangements and usage of articulations and maybe use some nice reverb/panning. Out of the box EWQL sounds okay and shouldn't require supermassive amounts of tweeking unless there's a very very particular style or something that you're going for.

I'm using EWQL and still learning too, so let me know how things go for you!

Edited August 30, 2014 by mickomoo