My first MP4 video scored in Mixcraft 8

[chibear]

Ya, It's the video of my grandson's & my trip to Gwaii Haanas last year, but provided some interesting challenges.

First of all I decided to go with a chamber ensemble (single woodwinds, 4 horns, 8-8-8-4 in strings with the violins reduced at times to 4&4 and a few percussion. That means you can hear everything, every slip up in balance, MIDI programming, timbre changes in the wrong places, and panning, especially front-back. So a LOT more time spent than I first intended.

Most of it turned out pretty good. Most problematic were the reduced strings which sound fine on headphones or a good system and sound pretty crappy on a 65" TV, so very system dependent for playback.

This was also my first go round with the Chris Hein winds which IMO worked really fine after I figured them out, with the biggest problem getting them to sit far enough back in the mix.

The Haida Singers didn't respond to emails from December to now, so keeping my fingers crossed they don't decide to lodge a complaint, even though IMO I did my due diligence.

There were a few issues with MP4 playback stutters that I filed a ticket for, but nothing insurmountable.

Hope you enjoy.

https://youtu.be/4ptjBO-HfvM

[freightgod]

Wow, very nice.

1:49 sweet horn swell
2:15 nice whatever that effect is coming out of the left momentarily
3:11 wow that looks soooo cushy soft!
4:44ish that violin solo tho!
5:00 nice transition, matched the blue sky perfectly
got lost in the sea life after that lol

Never heard of this place before. Looks like you guys made some awesome memories.

Great job! Thanks for sharing. Did you actually construct the video first then score to it?

[chibear]

Thanks! The video was cobbled together in the Movavi Video Editor.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Can I post it on social media?

Greg

[chibear]

Sure! As I said I couldn't get a reply from the Haida Singers concerning utilizing parts of their tracks, but IMO did my due diligence by contacting them in December and sending them a link to the video last week. I think you'd be in the clear.

[UilleannB]

I really liked it. The orchestration reminds me of many of the classical soundtracks I love so much. I think, Mixcraft is used very often for rock, pop and rap, but seldom for orchestral style music. So this is a nice addition. Chris Hein libraries are great for that. The video is interesting too. What are those little jelly things on the tree trunk that react when you touch them?

My only complaint - and this isn't a fair one - would be, that you use some very pro sample libraries as the Chris Hein Winds along with some not so expensive samples for some of the strings. They lack some features, like a natural vibrato, which gets me out of the mood for a second, because they sound a bit more like "computer music". But maybe that's just me, and I am too strict, because I also always try to find the most realistic sound (and more often than not fall short of it).

[chibear]

Hi, and thanks.

The squishy critters I'm pretty sure are sea amemonies on a rock. It was low tide.

I agree with your comment about the strings. I was trying to go with a chamber sound and in one spot in particular dropped from 8&8 down to 4&4 in the violins. I went through every library I had and while big and luscious was fairly easy, small and intimate wasn't. This was the best compromise which was a combination of Kirk Hunter Concert Strings 2 and 3. The actual 'feeling' only comes across on my good headphones and audiophile system. Any place else it falls pretty flat so not an experiment I would want to repeat in a commercial or competition scenario.

The vibrato issue (totally programable) is my fault in certain areas as I cooled it down because IMO the stock programming sounded a bit too gypsie-like for the subject matter. What I couldn't get around was the tremolo, which does sound fakey to me and I have exhanged emails with Kirk on this a few times.

When finances allow I may look into another solo string library that also allows for multiple voices (CH for one)as opposed to paring what are intended as large libraries down and that may allow for the 'chamber' sound I was going for.