Midi Composing with the Spitfire Audio Studio Series

Run thru of the complete Spitfire Audio Studio Series. Featuring a track I wrote and a breakdown with each section of the orchestra.
Featuring:
Spitfire Studio Series Brass, Spitfire Studio Series Winds, Spitfire Studio Series Strings. Spitfire Percussion, Spitfire Harp, Celeste/Harp and Ivory German Grand.
Composed in Pro Tools.
#SpitfireAudio #MidiComposing #OrchestralComposing
for more info: www.petecalandramusic.com

[@omed7635]

Thank you ..

[@VK-tb5vc]

Inspirational stuff. Especially with the sun coming up in the morning! Thank you!

[@PeteCalandra]

Vasilis Karbouris thanks for the kind words!

[@Markrspooner]

What a wonderful track Pete! Spitfire Audio Studio Brass is part of “The Ton” this year and lots of questions about how good or bad this library is, in your hands it sounds fantastic.

[@PeteCalandra]

Thank you again Marc!

[@CybreSmee]

Proberbly the best arrangement I've head for Studio Strings. I think its a very harsh library with little character, sounds dead and lifeless usually. Well done.

[@PeteCalandra]

Thanks for the kind words and for watching.

[@AnayaMusic]

Loved Pete. Thamks for sharing. Anaya

[@PeteCalandra]

Thank you Anaya!

[@marciawatsonbendo6852]

Excellent presentation of the library and your template. Great composition... love the soaring brass and low strings.

[@PeteCalandra]

Thank you Marcia~

[@lunao19]

amazing programming skills! After seeing a lot of mixed oppinions about the studio series, it is great to see such an amazing sound coming from this series.

[@PeteCalandra]

Thanks for the comment and for watching! my fav part of the library is the amount of variation in the strings. Section sizes and articulations.

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

I love the studio serie... With a good reverb, they sound gorgeous...

[@zaharishtonov]

Lovely cue! Thank you so much for presenting the Studio Series! I own the whole orchestra and this was a great demo of what it can do! Blessings to you!

[@PeteCalandra]

Thanks again for watching!

[@GwcMuso]

Pete, class video!! Apart from demoing the sounds/Instruments etc, I like how you dug into using divisi and building section sizes. Some great tips for the use of this library. Oh, and yeah...a lovely composition.👍😊

[@PeteCalandra]

Thanks so much for commenting and watching,...

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

Hello Pete ! I hope you're doing well. I finally bought the full Studio Library. Could you please check if you can load the Violins 2 (6) (Stereo) patch ? On my computer, no samples are loaded... I jst want to be sure before contacting Spitfire support. It's my third bug in the studio series... (I already contact them for problems on the Horn solo 2)... Best regards

[@PeteCalandra]

Hi Cyril. I usually don't use the stereo mixes. I just loaded in the patch you mentioned and I have the same issue. For the price they really need to fix that and I'd bet that you are not the only one who has noticed this.

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@PeteCalandra Dear Pete, I've checked with Spitfire. They have a lot of problem with the Strings Stereo patches. They already prepared corrective patches. It will be permanently fixed in a coming update. Feel to contact Andrew at Spitfire support. I will send you them. Best regards.

[@mrmindstorms]

Hey Pete! Just found your channel and really like it! You're such a good composer and teacher and tonight you're really helping me keeping mind mind straight during the US election (I'm Swedish, don't know why I'm stressing out about that...??) Anyway, keep on!

[@PeteCalandra]

Hi, Thanks for the kind comment. It's a roller coaster ride here as well. More content to follow!

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

Other point... I love the strings, the woodwinds and most of the brass (horns, trombone, tuba). My main cons is for the trumpets, and specially in the upper range...I can't obtain a realistic sound. 8Dio century Brass 2.0 give me more satisfaction for trumpets... Best Regards.

[@PeteCalandra]

I use Berlin Brass for most of my brass. I believe I also have the 8DIO as well.

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@PeteCalandra Ok. A bit expensive to me. Do you think the Berlin brass would fit with Studio Strings ?

[@PeteCalandra]

@@cyrilcalmes4208 I think if you are happy with the 8dio, just use it and see how it goes.

[@CG-ln9gy]

Hi folks, For composing and working with full Midi Orchestrations and VST Which would be better Pro tools or Cubase? Thank You very much!

[@PeteCalandra]

Thanks for the question. I started out with a program called Studio Vision and when that company went out of business, i had been using Pro Tools and did not have the time to learn a new DAW. so i just started using Pro Tools full time. While many people downplay it's MIDI capabilities, PT is actually very good with MIDI. That being said, if i were to start today, i would learn either Cubase or Logic to compose in MIDI, Hope that helps.

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

Excellent, I was about to buy them but wanted to ear first a piece of music like that ! Great moment ! the Brass are a bit tight to me. Really... "Brassy". I prefer the richer sound of 8Dio Century Brass... But the Studio Strings sound awesome !!!

[@PeteCalandra]

Thanks for watching and the comment. The brass are useful but for me Spitfire Strings are their strong suit.

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@PeteCalandra APEX is here !!! Guess who's gonna dive into the Studio Pro Strings ?

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

after few monthes of lock down where I could play a lot with the pro version of this orchestra, I can say that I love woodwinds. The brass are awesome but really demanding in programmation skills. Trumpets can sound very synthetic in the upper range. The game with CC1, CC13 and CC 7 is really subtle. But when you finally find the sweet spot.... OMG !!! I love them. The sound fantastic on a piece like "Fanfare for the common man" (A. Copland). I finally forgot that I had the 8Dio Century Brass 2.0 somewhere on my hard drive. Strings are good. But I really find the short notes a bit to harsh... A good reverb is one of the keypoints. I use Lexicon MPX and Exponential Audio R4. I prefer the Lexicon on brass and Strings. The R4 can really give dreamy sound with the woodwinds... And, as Pete said to me last year... a good orchestration is the first step to a good sound. ;-)

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

A good point is that they blend very well with the BBC SO Core that I just bought. And they add missing elements such as horn rips, English Horn, Bass Clarinet, etc... They also add that bitting sound for Brass. With that team, I'm not sure that I'll upgrade to the BBC SO Pro.

[@PeteCalandra]

Keep writing. It's the best way to learn your libraries!

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@PeteCalandra Actually I'm working on a midi mockup to discover the BBC SO

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

Hello Pete ! Just one question. You say that you use a High pass filter on the reverb... Why ? I'm not sure to understand...

[@PeteCalandra]

Hi Cyril, i put a high pass on the reverb of a dense track to help stop low end build up, especially with samples recorded with room ambience.

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@PeteCalandra so for, for example, you have a bus for strings and a reverb on a send fx track. Theen you put a high pass on the FX track ? before or after the reverb ? I would say before... but not sure ! I love this library and I really want to obtain the best of it, so any tips and tricks are welcome... By the way, I 'm happy to see that you're still safe ;-)

[@PeteCalandra]

Thanks taking precautions with the hope to keep safe! Put the filter After the reverb. Some reverbs have it built in to the software but it’s really easy to just pop one in after. You can also do a low pass if the reverb is too bright. It all depends on the musical situation. P

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@PeteCalandra thank you... I'm actually thinking about upgrading my Phoenix Verb to thr Nimbus Reverb where I can do low or High Pass filter... I should do the job !

[@PeteCalandra]

@@cyrilcalmes4208 JUSt really listen so that you are only remove the frequencies that are the issue. Too much can ruin the sound! To do that, mute the instrument track and make the send "pre fader". This way you can just hear the reverb on it's own.

[@hotz730]

Great video! Thank you for sharing...You said you use UACC protocol. Is it possible you show how to insert CC 32 in pro tools?

[@PeteCalandra]

Hi. You can't really use Midi CC 32 in PT for this.At least i haven't figured it out yet. I manually change the UACC on each patch to CC30 when setting up the session and use that. thanks for watching.

[@hotz730]

​ @Pete Calandra Music Thank you for your quick answer: How do you manage that? On the argument there is a different approach on an interesting video kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIe2moiXf6ympdU. But, Peter, thank you again for your superhelpful videos on the real "how to do" music programming with ProTools.

[@cmstandingmusic3002]

Hi Pete Amazing Work, Do u have a video on how to build an Orchestral Template ?

[@PeteCalandra]

Thanks for watching.... Not yet. There are quite a few template videos out there but I am planning on doing more educational videos in the near future and there will be a video on track organization where I talk about my concepts for template building for sure.

[@YeahBan]

0:25

[@photoworld9816]

Hello, are you using the Pro series or not ?

[@PeteCalandra]

Photo World Hi. Thanks for watching. Yes the Pro series. I’ll put that in the description box. Thanks...

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

Hi Pete, I hope you"re doing well. Can you tell me what is the percussion library you're using in this piece of music ? Best Regards. Cyril

[@PeteCalandra]

I believe it was the joby burgess library. I also like the Cinesamples perc library

[@jonathanparham]

I've been writing with this Studio series as well and love the sections AND I compose in Pro Tools as well. May I ask, "Why do you have one instrument/Kontakt/per track? Why not use one instance and multi-out of Kontakt? How does that affect memory?' As always wonderful playing and composition.

[@PeteCalandra]

Thank you Jonathan. At some point in the past (and i don't know i it's still true) I could get many more instruments loaded into Pro Tools using this method. It's a habit i got into because of that and while i have been thinking about reworking some of my work methods, this is also easier for me to do a run thru with as every sound corresponds to the track it's on and i don't have to search to show something with the GUI..... hope that helps!

[@jonathanparham]

@@PeteCalandra that is helpful information. I have 64 gig on my machine and can't load 'every' instrument. Even with my effect plug not 'activated'. BUT the template I've used the last 3 years has relied on a single 'multi output' instance of Kontakt holding 8-16 instruments. I noticed for Spitfire's new BBCSO they have a Pro Tools template that is a single track for each of the instruments. I guess I need to experiment.

[@PeteCalandra]

@@jonathanparham Do you 'purge samples' in Kontakt? that helps altho that can't be done at this point with BBC orch.

[@jonathanparham]

@@PeteCalandra yup. My template is completely purged

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

Dear Pete, I hope you're doing well. I finally sarted with the Spitfire Studio Strings standard. I'll upgrade later. But I really have trouble to make them sound. I never user that kind of dry samples and the result is actually pretty bad. Any advice ?

[@PeteCalandra]

have you written music for strings before?

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@PeteCalandra Ha Ha Ha... I didn't expect that answer, but I think I deserve it. Let's say I'm starting. First, I'm a hobbyist. In the past, worked with EW Symphonic Orchestra Gold. So I worked with samples full of reverb and pre-processed. Making them sound was easy...(That doesn't mean that I wrote good things for strings). I also have the 8Dio Adagio/Anthology Serie. They sound wider and brighter than the Studio Strings. Of course, there are more players in each section and they were recorded in a church, so we can't compare. But it's the kind of sound that I was expected and that I can ear in your demo. Wide and brilliant...

[@PeteCalandra]

@@cyrilcalmes4208 I did not mean that in a nasty way, just trying to trouble shoot. Can you post an mp3 to soundcloud or somewhere and I'll take a listen. FYI my college has gone 100% online distance learning and I'm busy setting up and creating content for my students so if I don't get back to you right away, please have some patience and gently remind me if I've forgotten.

[@cyrilcalmes4208]

@@PeteCalandra Really nice from you Pete. I am not angry after you. You're definitly right. A good sounding piece start by the quality of its writing. I'm still in the process of learning how to write music. I'll try to compose something and come back to you. I should have time since my whole country (France) is lock-down. In between, stay home and keep safe !

[@PeteCalandra]

@@cyrilcalmes4208 thanks. You too!