Orchestral mix

jaffa · 23rd September 2008

You may think this is mad but I'm going to try and mix a track, a male/female vocal duet recorded with full string orchestra on Protools HD, on my home M-Powered, projectmix system. Stems for the strings and drums have already been mixed. I have some outboard gear and lots of plugs (MCDSP/SSL/Oxford) and intend to keep it ITB as much as possible but I want and need advice on a few things.

I'm thinking of hiring a 460 for the strings. Good or bad idea? Also, how easy will it interface with my system (using ADAT out through Rosetta)

The vocals, we have been told, need to be quite dry and up front so I'm thinking my PCM 70 would do the job for any space needed there. I have used the Manley vari mu on voice before and loved it so I'm thinking of hiring one for this job, it is quite a laid back track (think Josh Groban).

I send the stems out to a Speck rack mixer and mix through a Lavry AD10. What compressor across the mix would you think suits an orchestral style? I may even be tempted with a Thermionic culture Phoenix for the warmth but any suggestions would be welcome.

Steve

Lynn Fuston · 24th September 2008

If you've got the talent, the hardware shouldn't hold you back.

staudio · 24th September 2008

For orchestral music with a large dynamic range I generally use parallel compression on the mix bus and then limit by 1 or 2 dB (soft knee). Sometimes I will add a little gentle compression (~2dB gain reduction, low ratio) before the limiter in addition to the parallel compression. If you are sending this out to be mastered forget the limiter.

Good luck.

23rd September 2008	#1
jaffa Gear addict Joined: Feb 2006 Posts: 300 Thread Starter	Orchestral mix You may think this is mad but I'm going to try and mix a track, a male/female vocal duet recorded with full string orchestra on Protools HD, on my home M-Powered, projectmix system. Stems for the strings and drums have already been mixed. I have some outboard gear and lots of plugs (MCDSP/SSL/Oxford) and intend to keep it ITB as much as possible but I want and need advice on a few things. I'm thinking of hiring a 460 for the strings. Good or bad idea? Also, how easy will it interface with my system (using ADAT out through Rosetta) The vocals, we have been told, need to be quite dry and up front so I'm thinking my PCM 70 would do the job for any space needed there. I have used the Manley vari mu on voice before and loved it so I'm thinking of hiring one for this job, it is quite a laid back track (think Josh Groban). I send the stems out to a Speck rack mixer and mix through a Lavry AD10. What compressor across the mix would you think suits an orchestral style? I may even be tempted with a Thermionic culture Phoenix for the warmth but any suggestions would be welcome. Steve

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24th September 2008	#2
Lynn Fuston Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2002 Location: Spring Hill, TN, USA Posts: 2,244	If you've got the talent, the hardware shouldn't hold you back.

24th September 2008	#3
staudio Lives for gear Joined: Oct 2005 Location: New York City Posts: 1,333	For orchestral music with a large dynamic range I generally use parallel compression on the mix bus and then limit by 1 or 2 dB (soft knee). Sometimes I will add a little gentle compression (~2dB gain reduction, low ratio) before the limiter in addition to the parallel compression. If you are sending this out to be mastered forget the limiter. Good luck.