My biggest creative problem when sequencing

[Babe]

Is setting the overall dynamic levels. Is my pp to ff too much, too little, or just right? This goes for full orchestra as well as the individual instruments.

[BertW]

It takes time... ;)

Does your controller have a mod wheel?

[MellotronGhost]

i would say for a start: listen closely! do not start by worrying about how the pp of ff should sound, but more how they sound in the flow of the piece in relation to each other.
generally i would start rather a little lower than higher and then work on balancing out the dynamics within the flow before i may decide in the end to boost the overall range somewhat if necessary. again i think the most important thing is the relation of each part to each other within the context of the piece.

[EricWatkins]

I run into the same type of problems. Often, as a piece gets more and more complex as I develop it, I find myself losing track of dynamics between modwheel crossfade patches, cc7, and cc11. Then there's also the audio output channels of the VSTi's. One thing I do is, before I start a big project, I pull all the midi faders in cubase down to about half. It just gives me more room to grow later because otherwise, I end up running out of headroom for a new track that I want to sit ontop of the already written strings, brass, and percusion. Then I have to go back and try to bring the whole rest of the mix down. And then there I am in that disorganized mess I call one of my sequences. Lol. Maybe that would help a little.

Eric

[mtryon]

If you start off composing without knowing where absolute MAXIMUM is, there is no way to know where pp is. Here's my two cents. Work backwards! Most folks start building from the bottom up and run out of dynamic headroom because their pp was not really pp in the first place. (in comparison to their FF). Here is a quick and easy experiment that will get you a LOT closer than the "set the faders half way" and hope method. Quickly write a test passage of the loudest most FF you'd ever want to hear with the full orchestra going bonkers. Then.. leave those levels set. Don't touch a thing. (leave all the velocities, faders, master fader in your DAW, speaker amps....basically anything that is in the chain to your ears) Now, when you bring your instrument velocities/volumes WAY down you just "might" know where pianissimo is! You'll for sure know where your FF is, and having one "known" (FF) is better than two "unknowns" (pp & FF), and that's not a bad start. Hope this helps...

[Babe]

If you start off composing without knowing where absolute MAXIMUM is, there is no way to know where pp is. Here's my two cents. Work backwards! Most folks start building from the bottom up and run out of dynamic headroom because their pp was not really pp in the first place. (in comparison to their FF). Here is a quick and easy experiment that will get you a LOT closer than the "set the faders half way" and hope method. Quickly write a test passage of the loudest most FF you'd ever want to hear with the full orchestra going bonkers. Then.. leave those levels set. Don't touch a thing. (leave all the velocities, faders, master fader in your DAW, speaker amps....basically anything that is in the chain to your ears) Now, when you bring your instrument velocities/volumes WAY down you just "might" know where pianissimo is! You'll for sure know where your FF is, and having one "known" (FF) is better than two "unknowns" (pp & FF), and that's not a bad start. Hope this helps...

This is the way I basically do things. Adjusting one of the two extremes is not difficul. but if you have the ff level, where should the pp be? How do you know that you dynamic range is realistic?

[mtryon]

How do you know if your dynamic range is realistic? Well, if you try the demonstration I've just mentioned in my previous post, you'll be a LOT closer to knowing where pp is based on by reference to the FF FF you have already just set. Besides, I've yet to see any meaningful scientific definitions of the dynamic range we all worry about. I suppose that's why they call it the "art" of composition and not the "science" of same... :D Perhaps someone else more knowledgeable can chime in on this one too...

[Kaatza_Music]

I have been doing a lot of cues lately as an additional composer and the one thing the lead composer is adamant about is always using the right dynamic layer for the performance. You can turn a forte string patch way down low in the mix but it still just sounds like a forte string part with the volume turned down, if you want pianissimo, you need to use a pp or p dynamic layer. It's even worst for brass and percussion parts.

The other thing I can't get away with is having static dynamics, especially with the strings. They always have to be moving: swells, fades and crescendos. The attacks have to be just right. I find that I am doing a lot of tweaking of the ADSR envelopes to get the right shape to the notes. And I am now using almost nothing but dynamic x-fade patches.

[ELP71]

And I am now using almost nothing but dynamic x-fade patches.

+1

[mtryon]

+1!