Recording - September 2010 - 48

RECORDING'S
audiobro LA Scoring Strings
By Gary Eskow
Despite the many string libraries already on the market, and with the experience of having built an earlier such project himself, film composer Andrew Keresztes still felt that the existing products didn’t allow for a score with the most expressive string performances. So he set out to produce such a library. The mission, therefore, was simple: Hire the best section players in LA, go into a great room, and direct them to shmaltz it up—I mean, track them playing “molto espressivo” with portamento and glissandi takes that any of the late Romantic composers would tear up over. Then, throw in a couple of tricks and hope that your target audience—film and record composers looking to add emotion to orchestral mockups—will bite. Ambitious. How’d he do? As it comes Installing the five-DVD package initially requires 40 GB of disk space—for both the 16- and 24-bit versions, then you can delete one or the other after the install (why can’t we choose before the install?). The 16-bit sounds great by itself, but you’re more likely to hear the difference and benefit from the 24-bit on scores with lots of tracks. Both were tracked and edited in Steinberg Nuendo, and dithered in WaveLab. LA Scoring Strings (LASS) uses the Native Instruments Kontakt player engine (always download the latest version); there’s a serial number and activation code for two installs.

SHOWCASE OF SOUNDS

What’s different? Keresztes asked the musicians to play with (nearly) exaggerated portamento; you can scale it back with a MIDI slider assigned to Continuous Controller 83, or by drawing a curve into a MIDI lane in your sequencer. Keresztes had another very interesting idea: Each section was recorded with three separate groups of players, wittily named A, B and C. The A sections deliver LA’s first-call players to your fingertips, but don’t think that the B and C sections are losers... they’re not, they’re also outstanding musicians. In general, I found the A sections to have a slightly more pointed sound, but the real idea here is that on three separate days, three groups played the same scores. As a result, layering two or three of these divisi sections together yields more than an increase in the aggregate sound. It brings more humanness to your score. This experiment proved highly successful, but I do wish that it was possible to increase vibrato—even on a single, held tone—at your discretion. Keresztes had each first-chair player record the same material. Now you can do things like layering parts (by copying a track or—probably better—by playing the part again on a new track), assigning the solo player to one track and an ensemble section to the copy, and dialing in differing amounts of portamento, probably less for the section and more for the soloist, then mix to taste. Wow, that sounds really good! Control All of the instruments are panned to their normal orchestral positions, but you might want to rotate the first violin a bit to the center. Touch response is great: You have the option to join two notes together quickly, which yields a smooth legato, play a bit slower and get portamento, or play even more slowly, which yields the more romantic glissando effect. The website has good definitions and demos to explain the terms in more detail—suffice it to say that glissandos are defined within this app as the slower, more exaggerated effect. If you own a product that includes a fully mature keyswitch app like VSL’s Performance Tool (which

48

RECORDING SEPTEMBER 2010



Recording - September 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - September 2010

Recording - September 2010
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
Ten Steps To Better Mixes
Summit Audio Everest
Mixing in Pro Tools: A 10-Step Program To Get The Job Done
FXpansion DCAM: Synth Squad
Miking and Mixing a SymphonyOrchestra
Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP
Mackie Onyx-i Series Mixers
Zoom G2.1Nu
ADK Microphones Berlin 47 Au and Cremona 251 Au
Sanyo Xacti Sound Recorder
Recording’s Showcase of Sounds
iZotope Alloy
It’s Your Money—Know Your Rights. Chapter 6: Income Earned By Songs—Part 1.
Readers' Tapes
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - September 2010 - Recording - September 2010
Recording - September 2010 - Cover2
Recording - September 2010 - 1
Recording - September 2010 - Fade In
Recording - September 2010 - 3
Recording - September 2010 - Contents
Recording - September 2010 - 5
Recording - September 2010 - Talkback
Recording - September 2010 - 7
Recording - September 2010 - Fast Forward
Recording - September 2010 - 9
Recording - September 2010 - Ten Steps To Better Mixes
Recording - September 2010 - 11
Recording - September 2010 - Summit Audio Everest
Recording - September 2010 - 13
Recording - September 2010 - 14
Recording - September 2010 - 15
Recording - September 2010 - Mixing in Pro Tools: A 10-Step Program To Get The Job Done
Recording - September 2010 - 17
Recording - September 2010 - 18
Recording - September 2010 - 19
Recording - September 2010 - FXpansion DCAM: Synth Squad
Recording - September 2010 - 21
Recording - September 2010 - 22
Recording - September 2010 - 23
Recording - September 2010 - Miking and Mixing a SymphonyOrchestra
Recording - September 2010 - 25
Recording - September 2010 - Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP
Recording - September 2010 - 27
Recording - September 2010 - 28
Recording - September 2010 - 29
Recording - September 2010 - Mackie Onyx-i Series Mixers
Recording - September 2010 - 31
Recording - September 2010 - 32
Recording - September 2010 - 33
Recording - September 2010 - Zoom G2.1Nu
Recording - September 2010 - 35
Recording - September 2010 - 36
Recording - September 2010 - 37
Recording - September 2010 - ADK Microphones Berlin 47 Au and Cremona 251 Au
Recording - September 2010 - 39
Recording - September 2010 - 40
Recording - September 2010 - 41
Recording - September 2010 - 42
Recording - September 2010 - 43
Recording - September 2010 - 44
Recording - September 2010 - 45
Recording - September 2010 - Sanyo Xacti Sound Recorder
Recording - September 2010 - 47
Recording - September 2010 - Recording’s Showcase of Sounds
Recording - September 2010 - 49
Recording - September 2010 - iZotope Alloy
Recording - September 2010 - 51
Recording - September 2010 - 52
Recording - September 2010 - 53
Recording - September 2010 - It’s Your Money—Know Your Rights. Chapter 6: Income Earned By Songs—Part 1.
Recording - September 2010 - 55
Recording - September 2010 - Readers' Tapes
Recording - September 2010 - Advertiser Index
Recording - September 2010 - 58
Recording - September 2010 - 59
Recording - September 2010 - 60
Recording - September 2010 - 61
Recording - September 2010 - 62
Recording - September 2010 - 63
Recording - September 2010 - Fade Out
Recording - September 2010 - Cover3
Recording - September 2010 - Cover4
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