Dragon Racing

[jamieboo]

... I mean here's a thing I'm working on at the moment. Kind of swashbuckly in an old-school way.

https://soundcloud.com/jamie-treache...thing5/s-5qkiS

This is early work so there's no real dynamic shaping yet, and of course it just fizzles at the end of its incomplete state, but I still feel the clarity could be much better.
In terms of EQ and panning are there any very obvious things that leap out to your better honed ears here that I could improve?

Thanks

[Jdiggity]

Originally Posted by jamieboo

Thanks for explaining Jdiggity, although I still feel slightly in the dark!
So using Hollywood Diamond in Cubase, I can just use the Combined Panner to narrow the 'bar' keeping it central, and that will respect the 'already panned' quality of the samples?
Also, how do you just narrow it? When I interact with it with the mouse it's difficult to select a point where just narrowing happens - sometimes I was accidentally grabbing either the left or right extreme and modifying those ends. I want to keep left/right as is, and just narrow it.
When you do this is it a very involved process? Or do you just go through each instrument and narrow the same amount? And for a Williamsy symphonic sound, how much would you narrow each instrument?
I've had Hollywood for years now and I'm still baffled by all this stuff!
Just the other day I was thinking of switching everything to Close Mics and upping the reverb in Spaces to try and give a bit more definition - is that worth trying? (Always a bit of an arduous task as there's no way you can switch all mics with just one click)

Sorry for such a late response!
To simply narrow the panner, click and drag UP from the middle, not from the sides. You can also click and enter the values manually.
Alternatively, Cubase has a plugin called VST MultiPanner, which also allows for control of the stereo width. Similar to the Waves S1 plugin.

As for the values, I wasn't too precious about them. Even reducing the width slightly made a big difference to my ears. Some instruments such as woodwinds were made narrower than others (and panned off to the side). I'll attach a screenshot to give you a better idea how it was used for this particular mockup.

Regarding a Close Mic approach, that comes down to personal taste.
Listening to several different film scores, you notice that they all sound different in terms of mix. Some are panned to the extreme, some are drier than others, some are more processed, some are more natural, etc.
One method is to use only Close mics, and then create the space entirely with EQ, panning, and reverbs. Another method is to create a mic mix, usually using primarily some tree or surround mics to establish space, with just a touch of close mic for definition.
I've played around with a number of approaches, and honestly I'd be happy with any of them. It comes down to the purpose of the score.
The approach i took here was purely because I was using the Main mics (Hollywood Orch Gold). Had I been using other mic positions, I would have mixed differently.

Oh and great piece by the way! Nothing wrong with that mix. The top priority is musicality, and that definitely shines through in your piece.