Need to mix a little orchestral piece. Any advice about EQ and saturation/compression?

[Daniele Nasuti]

For an orchestral mixing how would you use EQ and saturation?
My idea is to do 4 groups (strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion) and to mix them with effects. (I did some pop songs mixing but never done orchestra mix). I need for a short piece for film music

I think my first problem is EQ because I don't know what EQ curves orchestral instruments generally need, so can you give me some advices on how to EQ those 4 groups?

And would you choose parallel compression or saturation on the master bus? To me these 2 effects seems very similar and don't know what of them is better for orchestra.

[jamcat]

No EQ.
Definitely no compression.
Hell no, no saturation what are you even talking about!?

Decca Tree mic configuration (or something emulating it.) All instruments together on one buss in one take. Levels come from placement of players on the stage and performance dynamics.

If you're doing this all ITB with samples, a good library already has everything properly placed on the soundstage, miked from a location for ideal sonics and room tone. All you need to do is add MIDI.

If it's not a good library, or you're using physically modeled instruments or you somehow close miked each instrument of an orchestra yourself, use something like Virtual Sound Stage 2 to place the instruments and the room mics. It even has a Decca Tree mic configuration.

[BertKoor]

No EQ.
Definitely no compression.
Hell no, no saturation what are you even talking about!?

One minor point: you might need a bit of EQ to correct the sound of the mike (plus positioning and whatever) to make it sound natural and unprocessed again.

[Daniele Nasuti]

I can have only my DAW stock sound for this piece, so I need lot of processin mixing I think.

yeah, reverb and EQ are a must here and maybe some saturation too

[jamcat]

It looks like you're using Logic's included Studio Strings and Versilion Chamber Orchestra 2.
The results sound extremely synthetic and "MIDI Muzak."

I think your problem originates at the source, and no amount of processing or EQ is going to resolve it. You need better, more realistic sounds.

Download the free Spitfire Audio BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover.
https://www.spitfireaudio.com/bbc-symph ... a-discover

I guarantee you will not need EQ or compression—or for heaven's sake, saturation—with these instruments.

[TheMaestro]

All instruments together on one buss in one take.

Hi. Can you please explain this one?

[jamcat]

All instruments together on one buss in one take.

Hi. Can you please explain this one?

Sure. The entire orchestra is recorded together on a stage in one take, with a few mics positioned to capture a natural stereo field. So even if you're creating a performance from samples or modeled instruments, you still want to recreate a live, unified performance to reflect that.

I said "buss" to leave it somewhat open, because of course with sample sources, they are going to initially be on their own channels. Or in the case of a multi-mic configuration, each mic will be on its own channel. But they are going to come together on a stereo buss eventually, which is where you should be working with the whole orchestra as a single live event.

If you are using Virtual Sound Stage 2 or something similar for placement on a stage, each instrument will get its own instance on the source channel, of course.

[TheMaestro]

All instruments together on one buss in one take.

Hi. Can you please explain this one?

Sure. The entire orchestra is recorded together on a stage in one take, with a few mics positioned to capture a natural stereo field. So even if you're creating a performance from samples or modeled instruments, you still want to recreate a live, unified performance to reflect that.

I said "buss" to leave it somewhat open, because of course with sample sources, they are going to initially be on their own channels. Or in the case of a multi-mic configuration, each mic will be on its own channel. But they are going to come together on a stereo buss eventually, which is where you should be working with the whole orchestra as a single live event.

If you are using Virtual Sound Stage 2 or something similar for placement on a stage, each instrument will get its own instance on the source channel, of course.

Ok. Thanks. But everything comes together on a master buss if you're working with stereo/mono only.
And unless you capture everything perfectly balanced etc, you'll be working on the individual channels too.

[jamcat]

Ok. Thanks. But everything comes together on a master buss if you're working with stereo/mono only.
And unless you capture everything perfectly balanced etc, you'll be working on the individual channels too.

The assumption is that it’s being mixed for stereo. But even if you’re doing surround sound, you would just use multiple pairs of stereo mics at various distances from the sound stage. So each stereo pair would still be treated individually the same as a single stereo instance.

And, if you’ve recorded everything with a stereo pair of mics or a Decca Tree, then you don’t have individual instrument tracks. Just a stereo or 3 mic capture.

If you’re using a well-made sample library, it was already captured in a way to emulate the above. So again there is no need to work on individual tracks, and treating them separately will actually diminish the illusion of a live stereo recording.

If you’re working with Virtual Sound Stage 2, you’re placing each individual instrument in its own unique position within a carefully calibrated stereo image of a particular sound stage. But aside from one VSS2 plugin instance per track, there will be no need to work directly with the individual tracks beyond that. And as before, it’s once again preferential not to, for the reason stated above.

[AsPeeXXXVIII]

A little orchestral mixing tip I heard once: it's mostly EQ, compression is to be avoided like the plague.

I know I'm more or less repeating what's already been said, but...

[Daniele Nasuti]

Ok so this is the little orchestral piece I was doing. I tried some of your advices and this is the result. What you think about? I know I started with very bad sounds but you think I can do something to improve it next time?
Basically this was a demo I did for a feature film about some crazy people adventure on a desert, so it’s supposed to be funny. That’s the reason I called it “Crazy People Adventure”

https://youtu.be/i9wzq7PMRoU