I needed something quick for monday so I got Garritan bigband anyway. It's... okay. Definitely on the mellow side, just like GPO. I guess they just prefer a mellow sound. It's always the attack that sounds too weak. Like the trumpets.. they "sort of" have a screaming quality, but because their attack is mellow, the whole thing sounds mellow. It's a good jazzy sound.. but not really screaming bigband. Though like with any Garritan product, its easy to play and control, so I really like that. I hate having 15 different articulations as different instruments and having to mess with MIDI half a day to get 1 track to sound right. Some people love that stuff, I don't have the time for it.
After writing this, I said to myself, "my lord, this sounds like sex and the city!" and it was true. Theoretically, I just wanted to do a simple phrase going down the minor II-V, but heh, I guess my thinking was too simple. Aaaaanyway...
Garritan bigband in action
-
kensuguro
- Posts: 4434
- Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: BPM 60 to somewhere around 150
- Contact:
Garritan bigband in action
- Attachments
-
[The extension mp3 has been deactivated and can no longer be displayed.]
Re: Garritan bigband in action
That's one of the better sound demos of Garritan.
Maybe you could just by with the Screaming Trumpet Pro.
It makes other libraries sound more realistic.
Nice Job Chief..
Maybe you could just by with the Screaming Trumpet Pro.
It makes other libraries sound more realistic.
Nice Job Chief..
Re: Garritan bigband in action
It is true, very difficult to do anything authentic with samples.kensuguro wrote: I hate having 15 different articulations as different instruments and having to mess with MIDI half a day to get 1 track to sound right. Some people love that stuff, I don't have the time for it.
The best fake brass I ever heard was from my old Ensoniq Mirage keyboard. But it was good sounding 8-bit fake brass. I think it's impossible to fake a real brass section - like a videogame football team versus a real one with individuals and the sweaty funk of makin' it work together for the crowd.
Jimmy V pulls it off in his live shows, righteously, but you know he'd have a fat brass section if the management would pay the cats
An alternative is to find one brass player to put a few tracks down, and fill it out with samples, so you get some of those infinite articulations in there
Re: Garritan bigband in action
Right on Wayne!
It is admirable the effort trying to get samples to feel authentic! I tryed so hard when I was younger getting realistic drum rythyms with samples. But as soon as a live drummer got involved, all bets were off! Now I just prefer to get real musicians in to track!
It is admirable the effort trying to get samples to feel authentic! I tryed so hard when I was younger getting realistic drum rythyms with samples. But as soon as a live drummer got involved, all bets were off! Now I just prefer to get real musicians in to track!
Stuart.
-
kensuguro
- Posts: 4434
- Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: BPM 60 to somewhere around 150
- Contact:
Re: Garritan bigband in action
I do agree with the samples limitation. But with time and budget constraints, digital alternatives are very practical. Though with the realism most libraries provide, it's sadly barely justifiable.
Added a little more to leave room for a fadeout. For the later sections, I tried to do an actual 4, 5 part arrangement for sax and horns. I'm used to 4 parts for strings, but 5 is extremely challenging! It's like running around a small room with a bunch of people and trying not to step on anyone's toes! But I really like the horizontal line building of jazz harmony because you can diverge quite a bit from the actual chord being played for that particular measure just to make the horizontal line sound cool. Much closer to how I build chorus parts for voice.
But boy is it challenging. It took me 3 hours to write just 32 measures, or just 19 seconds!
Added a little more to leave room for a fadeout. For the later sections, I tried to do an actual 4, 5 part arrangement for sax and horns. I'm used to 4 parts for strings, but 5 is extremely challenging! It's like running around a small room with a bunch of people and trying not to step on anyone's toes! But I really like the horizontal line building of jazz harmony because you can diverge quite a bit from the actual chord being played for that particular measure just to make the horizontal line sound cool. Much closer to how I build chorus parts for voice.
But boy is it challenging. It took me 3 hours to write just 32 measures, or just 19 seconds!
- Attachments
-
[The extension mp3 has been deactivated and can no longer be displayed.]
Re: Garritan bigband in action
it's a really good job on the arrangement (imho), but the tone s*cks indeed... (way too clean) which is not your fault... 
I'd route it (as a kind of FX bus) through a guitar amp sim with very(!) mild settings, then add a tiny bit of ambience (or use the speaker sim of the plugin).
Possibly with slightly different settings per section - my guess would be a 10-20% FX level relative to the original signal.
This does the trick on the ultra-synthetic-sterile iPad, so it will do with Garritan.
cheers, Tom
I'd route it (as a kind of FX bus) through a guitar amp sim with very(!) mild settings, then add a tiny bit of ambience (or use the speaker sim of the plugin).
Possibly with slightly different settings per section - my guess would be a 10-20% FX level relative to the original signal.
This does the trick on the ultra-synthetic-sterile iPad, so it will do with Garritan.
cheers, Tom
-
kensuguro
- Posts: 4434
- Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: BPM 60 to somewhere around 150
- Contact:
Re: Garritan bigband in action
what the hell are you using the ipad for?
anyway, will check out the amp sim route.. you mean slight nonlinearity in general + a bit of air right, so it's not like a pristine anachoeic chamber recording.
anyway, will check out the amp sim route.. you mean slight nonlinearity in general + a bit of air right, so it's not like a pristine anachoeic chamber recording.
Re: Garritan bigband in action
right, anechoic hits it - sounds so damn unnatural ...
here's a few seconds of the real thing at the end of the example for a U47 sound
dunno if that's just crosstalk from the band... but it's fun to listen anyway.
well, I got at least 1 idea for a track from the pad (way too few time), but love that fake Fairlight CMI...
http://soundcloud.com/anshoragg/fairlight-cmipad/
cheers, Tom
here's a few seconds of the real thing at the end of the example for a U47 sound
dunno if that's just crosstalk from the band... but it's fun to listen anyway.
well, I got at least 1 idea for a track from the pad (way too few time), but love that fake Fairlight CMI...
http://soundcloud.com/anshoragg/fairlight-cmipad/
cheers, Tom