* Tally Ho! March *

OK guys, here's the final mix on that British march I've been talking about... remember, the team needed a minute-long tune that could be looped, and they wanted a "typical march" that sounded "British, not American". In the midst of many other projects, I had very, very little time to work on this. But hey -- that's the way the job goes as a commercial composer. Here's how my time broke down on this project:

composing time = about 3.5 hours

That's how much time I spent with a keyboard coming up with the melodies, accompaniment, the structure, the harmonization, etc. On a regular concert band piece, I spend that much time sharpening pencils.

orchestrating time = about 5-6 hours

This was scattered over two days, interruptions, phone calls, etc. -- and also involved creating a synth mock-up of the tune for the producer, so he could decide if he liked what I'd come up with (which he did -- on the first try! Too cool)

copying parts = 2 hours

This was a total blitzkrieg. I converted my Digital Performer mockup into a standard MIDI file, transferred it over to Sibelius, and started slashing and hacking it up into something playable and readable. Note: this NEVER would have worked on Finale... God bless Sibelius!!!

recording live musicians = 5 hours

I created a temp mix of the instruments I couldn't have performed live (oboe, bassoon, french horns, trombones, tuba, percussion), added a click track, and then recorded:

Rob Berry -- snare drums (3 tracks, on two different drums)
Mike Connelly -- trumpets (9 tracks, with different mouthpieces, etc.)
Eric Pryzby -- clarinets (3 tracks), tenor sax, piccolo
Steve Zoloto -- flutes (4 tracks), alto saxes (2 tracks), bari sax

This left me with 24 individual tracks to mix down. That's alot of tracks! But wait, there's more...

final synthestration = 2 hours

OK gear-heads, here are the sample libraries I used: for the flute & piccolo flourishes, as well as the oboe and bassoon, I used Miroslav Vitous Orchestra. The french horns, trombones, and tuba were all Vienna Orchestra Platinum (that library RULES!!!). The piatti and rolled cymbals were from the Roland Orchestral collection, and the gran cassa and glockenspiel were from the Roland Orchestral Expansion card (the only synth sounds in the entire mix!). Now I've got 33 tracks to mix together [I miscounted yesterday...].

final mixing and mastering = 4 hours

I submixed all this down to woodwinds, saxes, trumpets, low brass, and percussion. Aside from a generous slathering of reverb, I did very little processing to the original tracks -- a little compression on the trumpets, a little EQ on the bari sax, and that was about it. The secret to this mix? It's all about mic placement and PANNING. I really tried to get what I wanted with the microphones, and in the end, I think it really paid off.

total project time = about 23 hours

Do I wish I could've spent more time making it better? Of course! But all things considered, I think it turned out pretty well for my first march...