Brass FANFARED au gratin with running winds

Used Instruments

  • High Woodwinds

  • Trumpets

  • Low Brass

Downloads and Information

Preparation

When starting from the "original" OrchestrationRecipe midi file the combined brass instruments need to be split

  • Trumpets: 3 Instruments, in the first phrase the top notes are played by Trumpet 1 & Trumpet 2
  • Low Brass: The Lower octave has to be doubled and is played back by Tuba and Bass Trombone
MIDI musical notation showing notes for Trumpet 1, Trumpet 2, Trumpet 3, Tenor Trombone, Bass Trombone, and Tuba arrangements.

High Woodwinds

High woodwind instruments including flutes, clarinets, and oboes on a black background.

Instrument / Preset Selection

  • Piccolo flute, Flute 1, Oboe 1, Clarinet 1 / VelXF sus / Wide

Preparation / Articulation Selection

  • Legato (All notes of the run, except last one)
  • Staccato
    • Pronounced last note with natural decay
    • All notes except Oboe, which stays on Legato (better blending)
Digital audio workstation piano roll displaying Legato and Staccato notes for Piccolo, Flute, and Oboe woodwind instruments.

Basic Phrasing

  • Expression (CC11) and Vel.XF (CC01) at maximum
  • Automated Timbre Adjust (CC8) from ~80% to 100% - clarinet only from ~60% to ~80% (otherwise it would be too prominent)
Digital audio workstation software interface displaying musical notes, velocity, and timbre adjustments for brass instrument sounds.

Finishing Touches

  • Humanize Delay Scale (CC25): Different values around 43

Trumpets

Three shiny brass trumpets, musical instruments listed under Used Instruments.

Instrument / Preset Selection

  • Trumpet 1 / VelXF sus / Wide (For Track Trumpet 1)
  • Trumpet 2 / VelXF sus / Wide (For Track Trumpet 2)
  • Trumpet 1 / VelXF sus / Wide (For Track Trumpet 3)

Preparation / Articulation Selection

  • Staccato
  • Portato agile (Last note of the first 3 phrases)
Digital audio workstation screen displaying a piano roll with green and red midi notes for staccato and portato agile, showing velocity levels for a trumpet instrument.

Basic Phrasing

  • Only Velocity (See picture above)
    • Add random variations (very high levels)
    • Add accents on the last notes of every phrase
    • Increase from high velocity to maximum velocity
  • Expression (CC11) to increase dynamic range (Crescendo from beginning on ~80% to end with 100%)

Finishing Touches

  • Timbre Adjust (CC8) (to tame high frequencies)
    • Trumpet 2: Value 80
    • Trumpet 3: Value 68
    • Trumpet 1: Add curve as in the picture below (values 71 and 90
Digital audio workstation screen displaying a music composition for trumpets, with piano roll notes for E4, F#4, G4, A#4, B4, C5, Velocity, Expression, and Timbre Adjust controls showing dynamic automation for brass fanfare.
  • Humanize Delay Scale between 37 and 47
  • Add dedicated Humanization tuning curves in "EDIT" tab
    • Trumpet 1: In tune random v1
    • Trumpet 2: In tune random v2
    • Trumpet 2: In tune random v3
Screenshot of the SYNCHRON PLAYER software interface, showing trumpet instrument settings with options for articulation, attack type, tuning, stretch, and humanize features, including a dropdown menu for various In tune settings.

1st Low Brass

Brass instruments including a shining trombone and a baritone horn or tuba on a black background.

Instrument / Preset Selection

  • Tenor Trombone / VelXF sus / Classic (Clear positioning left of Tuba)
  • Bass Trombone / VelXF sus / Wide (as all other instruments)
  • Bass Tuba / VelXF sus / Ambience (More reverb for low instrument)

Preparation / Articulation Selection

  • Sforzatissimo for the 3 longer notes (beginning of bars 1, 2, 4)
  • Staccato for all short notes
Digital audio workstation screenshot showing a piano roll editor with notes for tenor trombone, demonstrating staccato and sforzatissimo brass instrument articulations.

Basic Phrasing

  • Vel.XF (CC01) to maximum
  • Minor random variation of velocity for the staccato notes (on very high values)
  • Timbre Adjust (CC08)
    • Add note decay on sforzatissimo patches
    • Slightly reduce for staccato patches
  • Add c with Expression slider (CC11)
Digital audio workstation (DAW) interface displaying MIDI notes for a Tenor Trombone, with visualized controls for Velocity, Timbre Adjust, and Expression. This image demonstrates features for creating orchestral brass instruments and arranging music using digital instruments.

Finishing Touches

  • Humanize Delay Scaler (CC25): between 15 and 30 (with higher values on bass trombone and tuba)
  • Slightly adjust note ends (of all longer notes)

Mixing

Master Volumes

Instrument Value
Piccolo flute 90
Flute 107
Oboe 90
Clarinet 113
Trumpet 1 100
Trumpet 2 98
Trumpet 3 100
Tenor trombone 107
Bass trombone 95
Bass tuba 90

Clarinet

  • Reverb to -4.66 dB
  • Adjust Panning to L 1%
Screenshot of the Synchron Player interface demonstrating articulation selection with Legato highlighted, and a pop-up window for the Close Power Panner showing a 1% left pan setting.

Other Tweaks

  • Add a tempo map with some variation around 113 bpm

Top learnings

  1. Build and balance woodwind runs
  2. Create a new virtual player (Timbre Adjust and dedicated humanization tuning curve)