antler

If you have Melodyne, it might be a good idea to deactivate that. Also, maybe any iLok plugins that are authorised to your computer (rather than a dongle)?

Just noting something that might not be obvious: despite its name, Addiction is a subtractive synth

Thanks for listening Tom, and the kind words. Having bought Insolidus in a sale earlier this year, I thought it sounded amazing and was looking for a way to make it a standout part in a project. I subtly played about with the tempo in this project quite a lot, and decided to use a 'fairly big' rallentando just before the choir. At first I didn't have any percussion, but felt that something was missing; it was pretty much a happy accident of trying multiple things. I also had an idea from a SoundIron scoring video that I just so happened to watch, where the composer was describing how he used a sub-rumbling thump to give particular emphasis on certain parts of his track. Having a cinematic thump/whack library, I decided to also give this a go while rolling of the high end, and found that it went really quite well with the drums when used sparingly. I was considering whether I need a new reverb. I already have Overloud's Breverb and Rematrix, though confess that I haven't fully learnt to tweak all parameters. Some of the big-name reverbs do sound really good, but I've so far been trying to stay off iLok plugins (personal choice). Maybe I should try learning to tweak the reverbs I already have before jumping on to something else; this year's Black Friday/Christmas sales have already made me poor. Also, given what I've heard about Arturia's free reverb (haven't downloaded yet), maybe they'll release 3 reverbs that I'll actually use that are really good and reasonably priced.

Thanks Zinc. Glad you enjoyed listening I was trying to show the contrast of something as 'small' as a wish/dream and the 'hugeness' of something happening because of it... that and also because things always seem 'bigger' if you build up a crescendo to it. The idea to occasionally go to solo instruments came partly because I've had some solo instruments for a while that I wanted to let shine, but didn't know in what context to do so; partly because it's difficult to go even 'bigger' while at pretty much full orchestra, so the exact opposite of going solo has IMO almost the same awe-inspiring effect.

Thanks @David Sprouse, @amiller, @congalocke, @Douglas Kirby for both listening and the kind words. I was going for something positive, hopeful, and epic: in the way that in some movies, something as 'small' as a wish in someone's mind might lead to something powerfully positive in some way.

Thanks Bjorn. Glad you liked it. There is a theme that I ended up using four times (i.e. how the song starts), and I was a little worried that it might stick out as a little bit too repetitive; seems like I was maybe a little over-cautious though as it hasn't been mentioned. But now that you mention a recurring theme, I have heard examples before of a theme that gets reused, but not repeated per se. Can't think of one off the top of my head though. 'Magic' brownies? 😜

I once read that this was true of older formats of Word/Excel, but the newer ones (with Office 365) are much more secure (assuming you have a strong password).

KeePass (with DB on a USB stick) for accounts, and I just keep the emails for serial numbers; Outlook does an ok job for searching (account protected using 2FA).

For a time, they also offered MegaBrass as a free library with purchases over a certain amount (can't remember how much); don't know if that offer is still applicable though. Edit: looks like they do, with purchases >= $149 https://impactsoundworks.com/product/megabrass/

on a spend of >= $198, so I don't think Majestica ($148) will qualify

A while back, I was interested in getting more into 3D graphics design and gave Blender a try. It's a very powerful program, but I found the learning curve to be really steep. It also didn't help that most of the documentation was for a previous version where menu items, etc. were in a slightly different place. All in all, it seems like a fantastic program if you know what you're doing; if you're learning, you might find the UI a little user-hostile.

I could be misunderstanding, but I think Emperium is a bundle of two choirs: the Emperium Titan Choir (what you get in Lacrimosa), and a smaller Destiny Chamber Choir. From the Emperium description: and from Lacrimoso:

I've got Insolidus and quite like it. It takes a while to load and it's a little CPU intensive, so I had to write-and-bounce. As far as I can tell, the syllable timings are fixed, but you can do multipart legato with it. Also it sounds best when washed with reverb, but it can sound really good IMO; I used it on my latest tune Wishing on a Falling Star. YMMV

Cost/disk space aside, the deciding factor is probably what sound you're after: Insolidus is a smaller choir with a softer emotional sound; Lacrimosa is a larger choir, probably more suited to massively epic dramatic scores.

Which actually reminds me of the disclaimer on xkcd.com

No, but you need a full version of any of the following (listed in alphabetical order): Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Internet Explorer. Other clients may run the site in demo mode, or not at all

I used a slightly less technical method: I looked at my monitor from the side (my monitor's viewing angle is 'optimum' when looking head on; the darks become lighter when viewed from the side).

Spoke too soon: it looks like they mixed things up. It could change again, but it looks like tomorrows item is Century Ostinato Strings

It can sounds gorgeous IMO; I used it on my latest piece: They might change the freebie to be Hybrid Tools Neo tomorrow.

Do you mean the meter ballistics are off, or that the readouts are just wrong? Are there any good (preferably free) ones that you would recommend?

Up until now, I'd been using Shotcut to do my (albeit simplistic) YouTube videos. This bundle will do very nicely 🙂

Thanks for listening Tom; glad you liked it. A little bit of both for ambience: for most of the instruments, I turned off the library reverb; some I left on because they sounded quite nice, some I had no option. For the tracks where I turned off the reverb, I used a send to a reverb bus with ReMatrix on it. I did end up bussing/gently compressing some groups of instruments, e.g. lead strings, but the reverb sends were from the unbussed tracks. I don't know: maybe I need a more gluey reverb; maybe my mixing skills need more work for larger projects like this; maybe a little of both 🙂 I did use a compressor (Overloud's Comp G) on the master bus for a little more glue, but no reverb.

Thanks for the kind words Gary, and also for the offer of borrowing your voice. This one was originally intended purely as an instrumental, partly to justify me snapping up some of the libraries that I did, partly because I wanted to attempt an epic and emotional score worthy of a matching hypothetical movie scene (I had none in mind, and I don't actually know what exactly I mean by that). The words were something I felt I needed to write for my own release at some point towards the end of the project, and I felt they were somewhat complementary. Glad you enjoyed listening.

Why do bagpipe players walk while playing? They're trying to get away from the noise.

Hi everyone Update: I've tweaked the mix, being a little more generous with a different reverb. Hopefully the instruments sound more to be in the same space For ages I've been wanting to get better at writing for orchestra. I've been working on this one for a while now (around 2.5 months on and off), using some of the various libraries I've snapped up in this year's various sales. I actually tried quite hard with this one: hope you enjoy, and I would love to hear your feedback and thoughts. (and if you enjoyed it, please like/subscribe) … or if you prefer, SoundCloud: