Across the Great Plains - recorded with a 100 piece orchestra and made with Dorico

Dorico
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Hello everybody,

I wanted to share my composition that I recently had the pleasure of recording with a 100 piece orchestra which was a lot of fun.

Dorico made it a breeze to create and lay out all the parts for the orchestra. In case you’re interested, here’s also a synced up version of the recording running along in Dorico.

Robin

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Really fantastic. Congratulations.

One question: What type of mix is being sent to the orchestra members headphones? Are they monitoring themselves, the section or a something else?

Thanks

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Typically just the click track (UREI or MPC click, not accented). Perhaps prelay tracks that are not recorded by the orchestra (such as guitar), but not always even them, as it suffices to monitor the full mix in the control room.

One question: What type of mix is being sent to the orchestra members headphones? Are they monitoring themselves, the section or a something else?

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Thank you! Indeed, they are only fed the click tracks to their headphones.

Robin

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Fantastic piece, thank you for sharing.

May I ask you about your compositional workflow? You indicated you create the parts in Dorico-so you are inputting the instruments one by one into the template you created, yes?

My workflow when creating arrangements is to first create the composition or arrangement in my DAW–MOTU Digital Performer 11–and then export the parts as a MusicXML file into Dorico for final editing and adding all the performance elements necessary for orchestral performance. Digital Performer has only basic notation features, but is super-easy to record and edit MIDI for export.

I’ve never explored creating parts in Dorico–though I’ve inserted notes here and there. Dorico is unequaled in its feature set and ease of use–once the process is understood.

Would love some more details on your workflow as you create!

Greg Giacona
Austin TX USA–
Worldwide Music Production

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Thank you Greg! Much appreciated!

I work the opposite way of what you do. I always work straight into notation as most of what I write eventually is being played by live musicians. And as rough demo, NotePerformer output is good enough. Only if I need a proper mock-up, I will export MIDI from Dorico into DAW and do it there.

I have set up a pretty elaborate template in Dorico that is streamlined toward the work I mostly do (film scoring, orchestration etc.) and I find it way easier to write and keep a vertical overview over the music in notation than in a DAW.

Robin

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Thanks Robin–great info—my MusicXML imports from DP into Dorico are meant for live orchestra as well–I just have an easier time creating in DP-I know Dorico provides a sound palette as well for listening as you create-I need to explore that.

I am able to view notation in DP via its Quickscribe view so I can confirm everything is going down correctly. I have 35 years in DP so I can fly around pretty quickly there. Once I have everything fairly close to how I want it to be for live players, I do the MusicXML export into Dorico for touch-up and PDF creation.

I want to try your workflow to see how it may improve my product. What soundest(s) are you using within Dorico to hear back parts? I know Halion is included–is that the sound engine you are using? Greg

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If I read Robin’s post correctly, he is mentioning:

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I always feel like notation view in DAW is missing essential information like dynamics and correct articulations. Also, all the layering and optimization for playback that is necessary in a DAW to create a proper mockup clutters notation in DAW. So I much more prefer relying on “proper” notation to keep an overview and transport my ideas. But I can see that this is down to what you “grow up” with. I’m considerably faster writing my ideas in notation than in DAW.

As @k_b mentioned, I’m using Noteperformer to create demos, sometimes using NPPE but quite often just the default sounds.

Robin

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I need to look at that–obviously NotePerformer is the included Dorico playback engine-sorry!

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No it is not included. It is a separate product and when you want to use the NotePerformer Playback Engines, you need to buy the sample libraries as well as the Engines for them separately.

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Right–I’m inputting all the dynamics/articulations/text in Dorico–I’m simply creating MIDI note data in MOTU DP and then exporting.

I can control, down to the tick, exact note durations and placement in DP–so when I import the MusicXML into Dorico it’s darn close note-wise. Just needs all the above-mentioned things to make it print-ready!

I do want to explore inputting directly into Dorico to see how I may get on with that chosen workflow–TY

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Oh I see–well then it sort of makes sense for me to create in DP–I have TONS of wonderful orchestral playback sound sources that I use in DP–Musio/EastWest Platinum Orchestra-Opus mainly.

I wonder if Dorico can load those as playback engines? I need to explore-!

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Yeah there’s the problem. Notation doesn’t always match MIDI data. You need to write the music in a certain way so musicians will understand and interpret your intention and this is not necessarily how the MIDI data looks like.

You can use Musio as playback engine for Noteperformer Playback Engines

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Is that a recorder?!
Wow! This is incredible!

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Excellent work Robin, very impressive! Was this an independent project?

Care to explain in more detail what you mean by the “elaborate” part of your template in Dorico?

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Having a recorder versus this massive “hollywood orchestra” is a brilliant idea. It somehow pictures an individual creature in an overwhelming world.

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Congratulations with this achievement. I liked how I was able to follow the music with the score.
The discussion here about using a DAW first and then export to Dorico would be superfluous if they finally managed to integrate Cubase and Dorico in a way that changes made in Cubase would be reflected in Dorico and vice versa. Now I create in Cubase and then export to Dorico which has its problems.
I had a problem that using the same instrument in Dorico and Cubase with the same settings, it sounded different. Cubase sounded better so I will keep on using Cubase for audio exports.

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I set up a lot of custom things in my template, like custom symbols, custom playing techniques, custom lines, custom instruments, page templates, note heads, fonts etc. I also went through basically every single setting and optimized it for my use and it is still an ongoing process. All with the target of setting up a template that allows me to get to results as quickly as possible without much manual interference.

As I don’t use Cubase (and also don’t want to use it), I personally would prefer way more if Dorico added more DAW features in itself rather than trying to set up some interoperability with any DAW. Also, I personally feel like people are overestimating the benefit that you would get from this link.

As I said above MIDI Data does not equal Notation and vice versa if you want the same interpretation. So there would still be a need to manually massage the MIDI data (or Notation, depending on where you come from) in order to get to usable results on both ends.

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Robin, your music is wonderful. I wish I had half your talent. Are you currently accepting new students?

Mike

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