Live Musicians
Used for higher budget projects, musical recordings made using live orchestra and session musicians, are first written and scored using advanced electronic sample libraries and techniques. Then, providing that the client is happy with the score, it is translated into sheet music and recorded using the best sound stages, rooms, microphones and world class performers
Sampled Sounds
The use of sampled instruments has become today's standard for most film and television projects, for 2 main reasons.
- Time constraints. Although music is one of the most important aspects of any project, most producers tend to leave it until the last minute to have their score written, relying on temp music for the editing process. Recording with Sampled Sounds cuts down the music production time substantially, allowing the producer more freedom to change and perfect the music even on a tight schedule.
- Budget. Time is money. In the early days of sampled sound libraries, producers would take this route purely to save money, but the end result was usually a very 'B grade' sounding score.
With the way that technology has advanced even in the past few years, (and with the correct techniques), sampled sounds can now be used in such a way that it is very difficult if not impossible to distinguish between a score recorded with sampled sounds, and a score recorded with live orchestra or musicians. Sampled sounds also tend to have a warmer and richer sound. We use the most advanced sound libraries and techniques available, so we can say with confidence that you will be pleased with your score.
Mixture of both Live Musicians and Sampled Sounds
This option in my opinion is by far the best route to take. Sampled sounds on their own sound great, but can sometimes fall a little short because they tend to lack some of the 'human touch' of live recorded musicians. By using a combination of both, we are able to achieve the subtle nuances of live musicians, and still keep the warm, full sound that sampled sounds give. It is also more cost efficient than using only live musicians, but even composers who usually have very large budgets (Hans Zimmer, Randy Edelman, James Horner to name a few) use this method frequently. Expensive is not always best.
