"Live" recording

JlunmanJlunman
edited August 2017 in User demos
This tune was an experiment in composition, arrangement, and performance/programming, with a little bit of sound design thrown in for fun... because some tunes just sound better when played for a "live audience". (Coincidentally, YouTube is a handy source for a lot of royalty-free crowd sound effects. :-) )



All horns are Sample Modeling (SWAM Tenor & Alto Sax, Trumpet 3). Bass was AmpleSound's ABU2. Piano and drums were stock instruments that came with Cubase 8.



The drums were probably the most time-consuming to program, since I don't like to use pre-made loops or patterns. In a piece like this, I think the drums need to interact tightly with the leads.



Comments

  • MSchnellMSchnell
    edited 3:47PM
    Great ! Really sounds like a live event.



    As you especially mentioned it: the drum programming is just great and feels like a drummer on stage !!! (As is the rest.)



    Only slightly disturbing to me: while the "live club" sound generally works nicely, the drum sound IMHO is too much "studio".



    -Michael
  • JlunmanJlunman
    edited 3:47PM
    Thanks Michael! I agree about the drums sounding a little too "studio" for a live recording. I tried playing with the reverb on those to see if I could improve it but ultimately settled for what you hear. That's the drawback to using the"stock instruments that came with Cubase" - much fewer options. I think my next purchase may very well be a decent drum vst. Anyone have any recommendations? I haven't really researched these much.
  • MSchnellMSchnell
    edited August 2017
    The free "Drummica" by Senheiser (for the free Kontakt player) is a very nice and perfect quality drum sample set.

    Here you can play with different mics and microphone placements, which is what they are demoing with the library. This might be really useful for the said issue.

    -> http://de-de.sennheiser.com/drummica



    -Michael
  • JlunmanJlunman
    edited 3:47PM
    Interesting. I'll have to check that out. Do you know if they have a brush option?



    I've been eyeing Vienna Jazz Drums, although that seems to require a hardware dongle which would be annoying for me, since I often work on my tunes on-the-go.
  • MSchnellMSchnell
    edited August 2017
    Jlunman wrote:
    Do you know if they have a brush option?
    They don't :(



    BTW.: I doubt I would ever buy a plughin that needs a hardware dongle...



    -Michael
  • LHallLHall
    edited 3:47PM
    Outstanding work Jon!! Beautifully done.
  • MSchnellMSchnell
    edited 3:47PM
    Jlunman wrote: I've been eyeing Vienna Jazz Drums,...

    If you need Brushes (I would if I were to get me a Drum plugin), I'd take a look at "Addictive Drumes JazzBrushes" ! -> https://www.xlnaudio.com/products/adpak/modern_jazz_brushes



    In fact I suppose that decent manual programming brushes is extremely hard or close to impossible to do, so Addictive Drums' groove engine might be very helpful.



    -Michael
  • JlunmanJlunman
    edited 3:47PM
    LHall wrote:
    Outstanding work Jon!! Beautifully done.


    Thanks!
  • JlunmanJlunman
    edited 3:47PM
    MSchnell wrote:
    In fact I suppose that decent manual programming brushes is extremely hard or close to impossible to do, so Addictive Drums' groove engine might be very helpful.



    -Michael


    Yeah, I think Vienna Jazz Drums has something similar for generating brush sweeps. And it comes with a bunch of demo midi tracks. But Addictive Drums looks great too, and doesn't require a stupid usb dongle, which I'm sad to say may be a deal-breaker for Vienna, despite how great their product seems. I'll be taking a close look at Addictive Drums and listening to their demos. A cursory glance looks impressive so far.
  • sfikssfiks
    edited 3:47PM
    Jlunman wrote:
    Yeah, I think Vienna Jazz Drums has something similar for generating brush sweeps. And it comes with a bunch of demo midi tracks. But Addictive Drums looks great too, and doesn't require a stupid usb dongle, which I'm sad to say may be a deal-breaker for Vienna, despite how great their product seems. I'll be taking a close look at Addictive Drums and listening to their demos. A cursory glance looks impressive so far.

    Enjoyed your composition!

    I used Addictive Drums brushes and wasn't satisfied with velocity response.

    I had to use additional instance of VST just for sweeps :x !

    (01:08/58)

  • JlunmanJlunman
    edited 3:47PM
    Thanks. I thought the demos sounded decent, but I'll definitely take that into consideration.



    I'm also taking a look at EZDrummer, which has a jazz expansion pack. It includes brushes, but I'm not finding much in the way of demo songs that use them, which really makes me wonder how good they are...
  • MSchnellMSchnell
    edited 3:47PM
    I remembered that I do have a "light" version of EZdrummer I once got as a giveaway with some other product. I loaded the most recent version and installed it.



    In fact at the first sight, I am not impressed at all.



    -Michael
  • frokkafrokka
    edited 3:47PM
    MSchnell wrote:
    In fact I suppose that decent manual programming brushes is extremely hard or close to impossible to do, so Addictive Drums' groove engine might be very helpful.


    Can they be played via normal MIDI, or are they just part of an on/off loop engine?
  • JlunmanJlunman
    edited 3:47PM
    frokka wrote:
    Can they be played via normal MIDI, or are they just part of an on/off loop engine?


    Yeah, all three libraries discussed in this thread so far (Vienna, EZDrummer, Addictive Drums) are MIDI based, where each drum is sampled individually and is controlled by MIDI notes. The preset beats are MIDI patterns, not recorded drum loops.



    If it weren't for the stupid USB dongle, I would buy Vienna Jazz Drums in a heartbeat, as I think it has the nicest overall sound and an amazing level of control. Still evaluating the other two, but leaning toward Addictive Drums.
  • JlunmanJlunman
    edited 3:47PM
    For now, I've increased the reverb on the drums, and updated the track on SoundCloud.



    @MSchnell, please let me know how it sounds to you now.
  • MSchnellMSchnell
    edited 3:47PM
    Seems much more "cohesive" now.



    -Michael

Leave a Comment

Rich Text Editor. To edit a paragraph's style, hit tab to get to the paragraph menu. From there you will be able to pick one style. Nothing defaults to paragraph. An inline formatting menu will show up when you select text. Hit tab to get into that menu. Some elements, such as rich link embeds, images, loading indicators, and error messages may get inserted into the editor. You may navigate to these using the arrow keys inside of the editor and delete them with the delete or backspace key.

Home • User demosComment As ...

© Vanilla Keystone Theme 2025