Well, a few of us have - VSL, SWAM, Spitfire (the cello in ASS), even me and Bigcat have released celli with only a close dry mic. But you're somewhat right - close mics will often work, and most orchestral libraries have them.brainzistor wrote:You are completely misguided by their presentation. Basically every single library out there has close mic, dry sound, dry as powder.
The whole point is that nobody out there is gonna present you for example cello with absolutely dry, dumb, sound.
But another reason why big orchestral stuff isn't right for pop is not just being recorded in a concert hall, but also section size. Classic pop stuff, whether Motown or Nick Drake, would usually have a few string players, often overdubbed, and even bigger-budget stuff would usually have less than 20 players. Sections of 3-6 violins and violas, maybe 2-4 celli... I find that kind of thing very helpful in getting a pop sound, or even for metal. With brass and woodwinds it's not a big deal because solo instruments will generally be all you need, unless you're doing Latin or big band and need multiple trumpets etc.
There's also technique - symphonic and Hollywood stuff will often have a big lush vibrato which often isn't what you want, and also muted strings. With horns, you'll probably want falls and trumpet shakes and other articulations which aren't really used in classical music.
So the problem with the nice orchestral libraries isn't so much that they won't work for pop, but that if you're not gonna get much use out of the big sections or distant mics, so you're paying for a whole lot of samples but won't use most of them. So, getting stuff that's more pop-appropriate (poproppriate?) will mean more bang for the buck, and also more bang for each GB of diskspace.
