I checked in a month or so ago about how on my most recent scoring project, I was asked to stay away from acoustic instrumentation and so I spent countless hours going through all the material (samples, synths, etc.) I had amassed. I had already been overwhelmed with material to go through. But I found the 'sounds' I wanted and delivered the score.
Now with the holidays around us and with some funds thanks to some generous holiday gifts, I decided to 'modernize' my sounds - some of my samples were 20 years old (and grew up in the 'gigastudio' era). Now at the beginning of the pandemic I took my first stimulus check and purchased EWQL and 2 TB SSD to put it on (I needed an external device otherwise I would have had to upgrade my SSDs on both my laptop and desktop). I never used it though and while I might someday, I am not a big fan of the iLok I had to purchase to use EWQL (not to mention tying up 2 USB ports).
So as I have been using Kontakt as my primary sampler and had purchased some of the Abbey Road drum sets and have been happy, I have decided to try out Komplete 13 Ultimate ($999 upgrade). I will begin looking at the acoustic instruments. I believe that my main goal is to look at and then assimilate a bit at a time so as not to get overwhelmed.
So my first set of questions here for 2022 are:
1. For those of you who have used Komplete 13 Ultimate (or the Collectors edition), which things have you found most useful and how do you know of those things you have not yet looked at, what should you consider next for your work.
2. For the rest of you, with the dozens if not hundreds of synths, samples, etc. that you may already have, how do you know what to look at for your next project (especially of those that you have not yet tried/considered)? How do you choose without being overwhelmed? What do you do when you are time constrained to start?
Mmm... I feel like your title is a set up LOL
I don't have Komplete Ultimate precisely for the reason you mentioned! Like you I have various EW things which were my first libraries, then bits of Spitfire, Heavyocity, etc.
The key to not getting overwhelmed is, IMO, to be very selective about what you buy, and only purchase things that really fill a hole in your sounds. There should never be a point where you have libraries you haven't really tried yet, unless you're gradually and thoroughly working through them like you mention! I spent ages looking at the SF sale at the end of last year, trying to figure out if there was anything available I didn't already have covered, and eventually decided there wasn't- so instead I bought a nice delay as that was something I didn't have and regularly need.
In terms of knowing what instruments/plugins to look at for a project; that's where thinking time (even just for an hour) before you being scoring is so important, as you've had time to mull over your choices and you have an idea of where you want to go. Giving yourself that time to think pre-scoring pays dividends down the line as you can sit in front of your DAW and have an outline rather than sitting down with a blank session and no idea what you might want to do, which is where the doom scrolling through presets can start.
If you're time constrained, one thing you can do is either build a template that you can use for multiple projects (which can be dangerous ground as you can end up just repeating yourself/very much limiting your colour palette- I personally don't do this unless for a specific reason e.g. making an album which needs approximately similar sounds throughout), or opening up a previous file with a similar palette to what you're looking for, save it as a new file, and add/subtract sounds for the new project as needed.
Joanna - thanks for the feedback. "Historically", I have started out my projects by copying all the files from the previous project. Of course, 'we know' that means that the 'sound' will be similar from project to project. I'm actually OK with that and that has how I've been marketing myself for the last 8 years. I may work across many arrangements and genres but I do not purport to have representation from all sounds.
On my last film project, I was asked by the filmmaker/director, to minimize the acoustic sound I usually use and to give more emphasis on the synth sound. This was before I purchased Native Instruments (NI) Komplete. So I first, having seen the film and had an idea of the 'feelings' needing support decided to emphasize some of the synth sounds I already had along with a 'classic' set of choral samples I also had. One of the reasons I took on the last project is to get out of my comfort zone and begin working and learning non-acoustic instrumentation.
I have not gone to school to learn how to actually write cues. I have learnt through listening to soundtracks and studying scores. One of my weakest areas has been the use and integration of percussion. I started with writing material with drum sets. Perhaps I should have taken drum lessons, but I have been in a few bands (rock, jazz big band, and jazz ensemble) and I have watched my drummer friends. Perhaps some day I'll try some lessons. My work with drum sets has given me a real sensitivity for working with single hits using all four limbs. My work with the Abbey Road sets and the drumset notation mapping provided by the 'soundsetproject' for Sibelius, has given me a solid introduction to playing and using drumsets.
I purchased Komplete initially to provide me with practice on the next step on the road of learning percussion: (1) using non-drumset percussive hits in a rhythmic pattern, (2) learn how to integrate percussive sequences and fills both by themselves and in conjunction with other non-percussive instrumentation and (3) gain some basic recognition of non-orchestral regional instrumentation (both pitched and unpitched) such as latin, middle east, indian, asian, etc.)
My other main motivation for Komplete was to gain a composing orientation to the basic use of sound design tools and instruments. I want to come from the orientation using non-acoustic sounds for cues and not for hip-hop or electronica.
My bottom line is that either I'm gig-ing or learning. I may never use much of Komplete for my future scores but I want to stretch my line from pure acoustic scoring and find out what it can do to evolve my sound.
Hello,
1. Massive, Massive X and Reactor are for me ones of the best synth on the market, they are simple to use and have unlimited resources. In the collector pack I also like some colors of the symphonic strings, sometimes I layer them just because they have a character that I haven't hear yet on other libraries.
2. Choosing the sounds is one of the most important phases of the creativity for me, and it is a special phase because once i fix the palette of sounds I try to work with it the entire project, it help to have a sort of unity, but, most of the time, after some debriefs I find my self modifying that palette and restart coloring the entire projects.
When I have free time I test all the instruments and I try to understand how they works. Yes there are too many but I really appreciate the approach of Native Instruments, they really created virtual instruments.
Try the Transient audio add-on too, you will not regret it :)
Cancel Save Delete Are you sure?Can only answer the second question as am a screenwriter. If I am overwhelmed and do not know what to work on... I sit quietly and empty my mind or go for a walk... I wait for inspiration or a sign then act on it.
Joel Irwin good for you starting into non-acoustic instrumentation! It's a rich and fulfilling world. Komplete is a very reputable library so even if you're just using it to explore, it's a great resource.
About the drum kit thing; I'm not sure lessons would help if you've done all that work already. Like you, I didn't ever study how to write film music academically, but for many years I did study violin performance practice. All that study does help me write realistic string parts now, but 90% of the time I'm not writing for real strings, just virtual, which need to be approached in a different way to live string parts. If you've done your research into natural styled playing, and know your VIs and how to get a good sound out of them, actually learning the instrument may not add that much unless you move to working with live drummers.
I feel like sometimes I have too many choices when searching for sounds and ideas. I too started out with EW. Moved into VSL (which I still really like) Then 8Dio, Heavyocity, Sample Logic, U-He, Spitfire Audio, LASS, Orchestra Tools and Arturia. Many more. Too many to list them all. See what I mean. So my solution is to always start with one of 5 templates I built for scoring. Each has there own sound sets, etc. And the best thing I can do is start with the smallest template. And force myself to stay with that to sketch with. Then maybe add other instances to fill in the blanks. I used Protools and Digital Performer for a long time. Until a colleague of mine in Austin was using Nuendo (Steinberg). Went to their site and immediately bought Cubase Pro 8 (Now on V.11) Hands down the best DAW for scoring. Sounds so much better than the two previous DAW's I mentioned. Works well for sound editing and design too.
RE: Drums as in a VI? I have used Toontrack (Superior Dummer and Easy Drummer) for years. I started out in music playing drums. And I'm very critical of any samples on the market. Toontrack works really well if I'm demoing a piece of score. Then I hire a real player if I can. Film Percussion? Damage 2
In addition to getting more familiar with percussion and non-western instrumentation, I realized yesterday that I had purchased EW Diamond back in April 2020 (first stimulus check :) and never used it. Even purchased an external 2TB Samsung SSD and a iLok3 so I can can use it on a desktop and laptop. So I looked at the current state of that setup and discovered that yesterday as the last day to upgrade to EW Opus Diamond ($249 instead of $395). So I did. So I think I'm now "overcooked" on instruments, synths, effects. I have up to date, Cinesamples, NI Komplete, and EW Opus Diamond (not to mention all the stuff I have been using for the last 20 years :) ). I have a few weeks until my next film score project gets started. So as a 3rd personal initiative (after percussion and non-western instrument learning), I am going to look at my need for a versatile string section to replace my 20 year old Miroslov which has been my goto string section. I started by using a real score for "Love - Like a Hero" ( https://soundcloud.com/joelirwin/love-like-a-hero ). So far, I have been able to 'match' the sound with Komplete. I already know Cinesamples Strings are designed for an 'in your face' cinematic sound and so they won't be versatile enough to do things like smooth lite legato.
In fact, Cinesamples support sent me an email which included this: "Good question! Our CineSymphony libraries recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage are intended to capture an epic, in-your-face orchestral sound characteristic of the blockbuster Hollywood film scores recorded in that space. It is not necessarily well-suited for the more delicate, romantic sound, because of what that stage does well based on how it was constructed."
For the next 3 days, I'm going to try out EW Opus on that string segment. I suspect very good things from it.
Spitfire Audio Albion 1
https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/albion-one/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeofqKnnPcg
And BBCSO: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/bbcso/v