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live vs sampled strings
I've wanted to do this for absolutely ages - a direct comparison between live and sampled strings.
About a year ago I commissioned an online mixer from a genius Flash developer (Chris Savage) and it's taken me another year to organise a suitable example and get my butt into gear to set it up.
The piece of music is a short cue by Aaron Sapp who has kindly allowed me to stream his composition. I recorded the live version of the cue with 5 players and he programmed the samples - LASS I think.
I guess when I started out thinking about this, I was fighting the corner for live strings but it's turned into an appreciation of what live + sampled creates. The live stuff provides the flesh and blood, the emotion, whilst the samples add weight and body. The combination works well I feel as I'm not recording a big section of live players.
I did a longer blog post about it on my site at realstrings.com but if you click on the link below, it will open the mixer. This is just 2 tracks - a stereo mix of live and another of samples.
I dug a little deeper too and separated out 6 stems - live and sampled for high, mid and low strings, as the live strings I record are all done as separate lines, rather than the traditional ensemble.
This takes a bit longer to load all 6 tracks.
About a year ago I commissioned an online mixer from a genius Flash developer (Chris Savage) and it's taken me another year to organise a suitable example and get my butt into gear to set it up.
The piece of music is a short cue by Aaron Sapp who has kindly allowed me to stream his composition. I recorded the live version of the cue with 5 players and he programmed the samples - LASS I think.
I guess when I started out thinking about this, I was fighting the corner for live strings but it's turned into an appreciation of what live + sampled creates. The live stuff provides the flesh and blood, the emotion, whilst the samples add weight and body. The combination works well I feel as I'm not recording a big section of live players.
I did a longer blog post about it on my site at realstrings.com but if you click on the link below, it will open the mixer. This is just 2 tracks - a stereo mix of live and another of samples.
I dug a little deeper too and separated out 6 stems - live and sampled for high, mid and low strings, as the live strings I record are all done as separate lines, rather than the traditional ensemble.
This takes a bit longer to load all 6 tracks.
Comment
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Comment by pete whitfield on January 4, 2011 at 10:13am -
Thanks for checking it out! I found recently that Mike Patti is doing some interesting comparisons between samples and live at www.wherestheorchestra.com
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Comment by Jason Bush on January 3, 2011 at 2:03pm -
I have used this technique for years. 1) to save money on live players & 2) the blend, if mixed properly is so effective the process can barely be detected. - Very NIce STring Cue !!!!!
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Comment by Leslie Quarcoopome on December 13, 2010 at 5:25pm -
Great blog post. It's incredible how just mixing a few live players in with samples just lifts the overall performance of sample libraries.
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Comment by pete whitfield on September 27, 2010 at 6:48am
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Thanks James. It is lovely string writing from Aaron. It wasn't composed with the intention of using it for this demo, I just thought it was such beautiful string writing that it was ideal to see what the live and sampled stuff added to the piece. So, frankly, I begged him to let me use it! I should add that the LASS programming was done with the intention of working with the live tracks, not as a stand alone piece.
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Comment by James Semple on September 27, 2010 at 6:35am
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Fantastic article and really impressive demo. Great writing and mockup from Aaron Sapp as well!
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