Novatlan Sound RSS

2014 Site Update

Tobias Escher — 2014-02-23T16:33:34+01:00

Long time, no update. Originally scheduled for Autumn 2013, finally the new face of Novatlan Sound is online. It is true what people say - „He who is really busy shall have no time for updating his website“. I would never have imagined this taking so long :) But better late than never.
The redesigned V7 of novatlan-sound.de brings a network bar at the top with links to my other projects, as well as social media icons and lots of other goodies.
The Studio section has been completely revamped with updated equipment and library lists, etc. This was sorely needed as I switched my rig from OSX and Logic to Windows 8.1 and Cubase/Nuendo last year. A new huge orchestral template spread over three machines now ensures a great workflow - I could not be happier.

Logic Pro and VE Pro 5 Tutorial 2.0 released!

Tobias Escher — 2012-05-10T15:48:08+02:00

When first discovering Vienna Ensemble Pro some time back, I would never have imagined how important this software would become for me. Not only in my work as composer, as I rely daily on my templates hosted by VE Pro, but also with my VE Pro tutorial. Over the course of the last two years, I have had tremendous feedback to the tutorial, released several new versions and help a ton of people setting up their templates.

Vienna Ensemble Pro 5 brought a host of new features, so an update was due. Without further ado, I present to you the brand new and updated version 2.0 of Orchestral Templates with VE Pro 5! Offering updated screenshots, information about the new features and a completely revised text, I think you will like this new version.

2.0 also marks two special new „features“, so to speak:
- On www.orchestraltemplates.com, you will not only find the tutorial, but also additional information about this part of my work.
- You asked, I deliver: Now there is an ePub version of the tutorial available for you enjoyment. It works on basically any reading device and has chapter markings, a nice cover image and all the other goodies we have come to expect of eBooks.

Download Orchestral Templates with VE Pro 5 now on its brand-new website, www.orchestraltemplates.com!

Concert: Premiere of my Magnificat on April 29th

Tobias Escher — 2012-04-18T21:18:07+02:00

I am very happy to announce that a Magnificat composed by me will be premiered by the Vokalensemble Bingen, together with a brass quartet and an organist on April 29th.
My piece, which is sort of a fusion between late romantic English sacred music and harmonically free writing, will be performed alongside two works by Benjamin Britten. Great to be played alongside one of my favourite composers!

This concert is particularly exciting: Not only does it mark the Ensemble’s first concert of a contemporary work, but also this will be the very first premiere of the piece itself.
The concert will take place on April 29th, 5pm at the Basilika Bingen am Rhein. Please see the official concert flyer for more information.

So if you want to hear some great people singing and playing a (hopefully) great piece, please come and listen!

You can listen now to the recording made of the performance:

Interview at Radio Rheinwelle

Tobias Escher — 2012-03-26T21:45:15+02:00

On March 11th, 2012 I was invited to the studios of Radio Rheinwelle, a local radio station for the area I’m living at for an interview. We talked about my work as a composer and about the premiere of a Magnificat composed by me, which will take place on April 29th in Bingen (More about that very soon in another post). It was great fun and I hope the listeners found my ramblings interesting as well.

If you speak German, have a listen:

VSL Solo Strings & VI Pro articles at SCOREcastOnline.com

Tobias Escher — 2012-03-22T19:19:34+01:00

Since joining the team of SCOREcastOnline a few months back, I have had the joy to work with some incredibly talented composers and developers.

With our technology team, we have begun a series of Solo String library reviews - with good reason, because quite a number of such libraries have materialized in the last months.
After a detailed look at Spitfire Solo Strings as well as LASS First Chair, I am pleased to announce the second review in this series. VSL Solo Strings is a heavyweight in the work of solo string libraries. The „oldest“ of the libraries reviewed, it has time and again proven to be a versatile tool for composers. The review tells you why and also gives you some nice audio examples.

On a related note, if you sometimes feel a bit daunted by the sheer power of the Vienna Instruments Pro sampler, SCOREcast also has an article for you that explains the interface and general concept.

Music section reworked

Tobias Escher — 2012-02-23T14:16:45+01:00

If you like my music (or if you don’t, you should), you might want to stop by my redesigned Music page.
You will find a large selection of audio examples straight from my Soundcloud page, neatly organized in stylistic categories. New tracks are added regularly, so check back soon!
Also if you want to stay informed about everything important I do, including tutorials (updated VE Pro tutorial soon!) and reviews, like my Facebook page.

Happy New Year 2012!

Tobias Escher — 2012-01-01T16:56:41+01:00

Welcome, 2012!
While we are all sorry for the loss of the old year, which we have grown to love over the course of its lifetime, we are sure you will be more than up for the task :)

So I wish everyone a Happy New Year 2012, hopefully a good one for health, success and a fair share of great people your way.
I have lots of exciting projects in the pipeline for 2012, including a bunch of Sibelius seminars, the wonderful world of SCOREcast, and many many more!

Take care!

IAAM 1404 V2 is out!

Tobias Escher — 2011-11-22T16:22:10+01:00

I.A.A.M. 1404 V2 has now been out in the wild for a few days to a great reception.
I’m very pleased to hear that my music is liked across the board; here’s a short comment from the official Ubisoft forums (translated by me):

„Just downloaded and started it. The intro video is just so great ... ... and the music ... ... This for me is Anno“

So if you own the game and would like to add a host of new gameplay features to it, head over to the I.A.A.M. 1404 site and download the new version!

Writing free rhythm in Sibelius at macProVideo.com

Tobias Escher — 2011-11-07T21:21:37+01:00

Sibelius 7 has been out for some time now and the one question I still get asked most when giving demos is „How can I notate free rhythm in Sibelius?“. There is even the rumour that it is not possible, which of course is not true. It is. And it is pretty easy.

My newest article at macProVideo.com will tell you how to notate free rhythm in Sibelius 7. So please go to the macProVideo.com Hub and read for yourself!

IAAM 1404 V2 - Main Theme exclusive sneak peek

Tobias Escher — 2011-10-31T22:03:14+01:00

Works on IAAM 1404 V2, a modification for the award-winning city building game ANNO 1404 / 1404 A.D. are going at high speed.

IAAM adds a huge number of great features to the core game, even letting you build all architectural styles only available to the AI in the core game. You also get additional production chains and tons of new buildings. IAAM V2 is a continuation of the very successful first version of the modification and will transform the ANNO experience, just like its predecessor (and the DEAP mod for Anno 1701, again with music by me) did.

To whet your appetite, here’s the new Main Theme for the game, composed by yours truly. I hope you like it and eases the wait for the release :)

I.A.A.M. 1404 V2 - Venedig - Main Theme by Novatlan Sound

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Tobias Escher — 2011-10-06T06:38:37+02:00

I usually do not post private thoughts here, but today I feel compelled to do so.

The world has lost a great mind, a one-of-a-kind visionary and a man, whose influence cannot be expressed by mere words. Never in my life I have been this quickly full awake as this morning, when my iMac woke from sleep, started playing my favorite radio program me in iTunes and transmitted the audio via an Airport Express to the loudspeakers in my room. The announcer read the news of the loss; I immediately grabbed my iPad sitting on the table beside me and called up the news. When I got up I marched past a cupboard full of books about Pixar, with all the DVDs, soundtrack releases and other memorabilia. As I came out, my MacPro had already booted and Steve’s words „Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love“ from his 2005 Stanford address greeted me as the wallpaper for my usual „pre-breakfast writing session“. To say that the man’s work has influenced my life would be an understatement.

I (like most people I suppose) have never had the chance to meet Mr. Jobs - I do not want to go into debates about his alleged tantrums and way of dealing with his employees. I would have preferred to hear and see both sides; it (still) being my wish to work for Apple and having been so since I switched to a humble mac mini in 2005. Jobs’ work at Apple and at Pixar have both tremendously influenced my life and made it richer. His work has allowed me to pursue both my professional and private ambitions. His keynotes have been an integral part of my training routine for my own presentations and demos. His talks and speeches have brought me many insights and to a very large extent defined my view of the world.

I am glad that we, the world, were able to partake in his genius for so many years. It is sad that a man such as him had to battle terminal illness instead of putting his immense gifts to use for his companies. I do not share his religious beliefs; nevertheless, I have the utmost respect for the belief of every person, so I sincerely hope and believe he has made progress on his way. You never know - we may see him again some day and actually I am sure we will. My condolences go out to his family and friends, who have had to share far too brief a life with the workload of more than one big company and, in his last year, with a terminal illness.

His legacy will remain and so will his vision. I am grateful for him teaching me to always follow my vision and pursue my dreams and I wish him and his family all the best they can possibly have.

Piano Sonata published at Loosmann Musikverlag

Tobias Escher — 2011-09-20T12:30:49+02:00

I am very very happy to announce that one of my works, a Piano Sonata in three movements oriented on traditional musical forms, but with a distinct modern tonal language, has been published at Loosmann Publishing as a part of their new-founded edition "Komponisten-Atelier".
This edition, the first volume of which for solo piano was just released, unites works of young composers from the composing class of Prof. Gerhard Fischer-Münster at the Peter Cornelius-Conservatoire Mainz. Having the joy to study with Fischer-Münster for several years now, I was very excited about this opportunity.
Please find more information, press releases and details after the jump!

Sibelius Control now Windows compatible!

Tobias Escher — 2011-08-20T21:18:40+02:00

Thanks again for all the great feedback!
Sibelius users on Windows rejoice! Sibelius Control R3 now works with Windows. Included in the download are keymaps for both OSX and Windows. Other than Windows compatibility there ar no new features in this release, but tons of stuff are planned for future releases.
Head over to the Sibelius Control site and download your copy! If you like Sibelius Control, please consider to donate! Your donations keep me motivated to develop the layout further.

Sibelius Control Release 2

Tobias Escher — 2011-08-06T07:28:44+02:00

The Feedback for Sibelius Control was absolutely overwhelming! I am happy to do my part in making the best notation software in the world even easier to use :)
Today I have released a new version of the keypad layout with some added features, all based on user feedback. Visit the Sibelius Control website and give it a go. The new version installs as a separate layout, so version 1 will not be overwritten.

And if you like the layout, please consider donating on the website. Your support gurartees further development - there are tons of things in the pipeline already!

Sibelius Control layout for iPad

Tobias Escher — 2011-08-01T07:01:40+02:00

From the first day of using the iPad, I was fascinated by its capabilities and usefulness as a control surface. When I discovered the brilliant Custom Keypad app, I felt a burning desire to free the world of all evil... sorry, wrong film - to make a nice control layout for Sibelius.

This is what it looks like (click on the image for a larger version):

So without further ado, here is Sibelius Control for iPad. If you have an iPad, get Custom Keypad, download the layout and tell me what you think! Currently the layout is Mac-only, but a Windows-compatible version is in the works. I am open to any feedback and looking for Windows testers :)

Logic Pro and VE Pro Tutorial 1.3 Update

Tobias Escher — 2011-06-12T16:12:33+02:00

Using Vienna Ensemble Pro for setting up my composing rig has proven again and again to be one of the best decisions I ever made.
With my VE Pro Orchestral Template Tutorial, featured on the VSL website, I have had the chance to help lots of people use this software for their business. Helping people set VE Pro up and building their templates has become an important and fulfilling part of my work. With great pleasure I present version 1.3, an updated version of the tutorial.
The new version is live on the VSL website as well as on my Tutorials site.

Without all of you this tutorial would not be what it is today, so please keep the feedback coming! An extensive rewrite of the VE Pro setup process is already planned for the next version, so stay tuned!

Avid Scorch for iPad review

Tobias Escher — 2011-06-09T20:17:27+02:00

With great pleasure my sore eyes this morning saw the arrival of Avid Scorch for iPad on the App Store.
Avid Scorch (formerly Sibelius Scorch) originated as a web browser plugin for watching and listening to Sibelius scores and has now extended to iOS devices.
This app is a great addition to the market and a must-have for any musician and music educator.

Read on after the jump what the app can do for you.

Völsungakviða en nýja - Suite Live Recording

Tobias Escher — 2011-05-19T17:02:40+02:00

On 6th May, 2011 I had the joy of hearing a piece of mine performed by large symphonic orchestra as part of the 22nd Orchestral Workshop Halberstadt.
The Völsungakviða en nýja - Suite, which is based on „The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun“ by J.R.R. Tolkien, was performed by the Orchestra of the Nordharzer Städtebundtheater under the baton of MD Johannes Rieger in public concert.

It was a great experience to hear one’s own piece played by real people and reminded me that nothing can beat the real thing :) I liked the interpretation by the orchestra very much, so I am glad a recording has been made which I gladly share with you on Soundcloud.

Völsungakviða en nýja - Suite (live orchestra) by Novatlan Sound

Music page updated

Tobias Escher — 2011-04-28T07:02:54+02:00

I have updated the music page with a bunch of tracks from the past weeks, hope you like it :)

I am also working on a new version of my Logic Pro and VE Pro tutorial. If there’s something missing in there, this would be a good time to tell me. I will do my best to address your questions in the new version.

BWV 1057 for Brass - Deutscher Musikschulkongress

Tobias Escher — 2011-04-26T12:42:22+02:00

If you are a music teacher living in a German-speaking country, chances are high that you will attend the „Deutscher Musikschulkongress“ in May, which is held in Mainz, this year.

At the final concert on the 22nd May at the Congress Centrum Mainz, the chamber ensemble of the conservatoire Mainz will play J.S. Bach’s Cembalo Concerto BWV 1057 in a version for Brass. I was asked to adapt the string section to a brass quintet so suit the lineup of the ensemble. The concert is open to anybody, so if you like Bach (and lots of other great works), drop by! I am very much looking forward to the concert. You can find more information on the website of the Musikschulkongress.

Quantum Leap Spaces review

Tobias Escher — 2011-04-20T20:23:36+02:00

When the folks at East West first announced they were working on a Reverb Plugin, I was intrigued. You can never have too many great reverbs and from what one could gather from the announcement, this one was to be a biggie.

It indeed is. A few weeks ago I finally got my copy on Quantum Leap Spaces and have since then put it through its paces. Read after the jump what I think of it.

Unknown Horizons - New version 2011.1

Tobias Escher — 2011-04-19T09:23:30+02:00

The team of Unknown Horizons have released a new version of the game with lots of new features, including new ingame music composed by me.
You can listen to the new tracks in the Soundcloud player, but they are even nicer ingame :)

To quote from the release post:
- Increment 3: Settlers with a lot of new buildings
- Mountains and tools production chain
- Fish resource
- Three new gameplay soundtracks
- New unit graphics
- New translations of interface and tutorial
- New build preview
- Tons of bug fixes, polishing and balancing

So head over to the Unknown Horizons site and download the game.

Bistumsfest Mainz 2011

Tobias Escher — 2011-04-08T12:14:51+02:00

If you are from the area of Mainz, you will know that Cardinal Lehmann, bishop of our diocese, is immensily popular here.

On the 22nd May, 2011, his 75th birthday will be celebrated with a big festival in and around Mainz Cathedral.
At 10am there will be service in front of the cathedral with a huge choir, the MMM (MainzerMiniMusic, about 30 young altar servers forming a band) and a symphonic wind band. The whole event will be broadcast live on public radio and TV.
This will be a big thing and if you are in the area - go there!

I am glad that I could do my part in making this big birthday possibly by adapting and creating the parts for the symphonic wind band. The arrangements are by composer Thomas Gabriel, one of the greats in the field of sacred music in our diocese.

We will hope that „our“ Cardinal will continue to serve as our Bishop for a long time to come and wish him all the best!

Musikmesse 2011

Tobias Escher — 2011-04-04T13:52:01+02:00

I will be at Musikmesse this year at the booth of SoundFactory Tonstudio, where I have the pleasure to be working right now. I think Musikmesse is a great venue to talk to fellow artists and to find out what’s new on the table.
You can find me on the showfloor Thursday and possibly Friday, too.
See you there!

Regular Captivating Bits - now live!

Tobias Escher — 2011-03-27T17:20:42+02:00

The previously announced „Regular Captivating Bits“ section is now live!
There I post tips, tricks and lots of other things about composition, orchestration, arrangement and many more topics. I quote myself from the announcement: For me, helping each other is an important thing. I believe in learning by doing and I think that you should never stop learning new things. I regularly help people out with quick tips which - according to them - have made their life easier. So why not share all this with you! There are lots of little tips and tricks that can make you a better composer or artist.

I hope you like it. The page will be updated very frequently. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed to stay up-to-date.

Toy Story 3 DVD Review in Nautilus 85

Tobias Escher — 2011-03-24T13:46:37+01:00

If you like Pixar movies as much as I do, you have probably seen them all a thousand times and have the DVD/BluRay of Toy Story 3 in your collection. If not, you should check out my review of said DVD in the current issue 85 of German Nautilus magazine. Nautilus deals with all things fantasy and is the only monthly German fantasy magazine. I tremdously liked the fiilm. I think it is one of those rare sequels that live up to their predecessor(s). That’s why I am looking forward to Cars 2 this summer. I’m one of the few people who actually liked the first film and I have full confidence in Pixar to make a kick-ass sequel.

You can find it in every book shop, more information on the website of the publisher, Abenteuermedien.

Stay tuned for more reviews and other articles by me there :)

Using several notation applications for mockups at macProVideo.com

Tobias Escher — 2011-03-16T10:34:33+01:00

New tutorial up at macProVideo!

Quite often when time is flying, it is necessary to create audio demos from your scores very quickly. You just don’t have the time to do a proper mockup in Logic or Cubase.
I have found combining exports of several notation applications to be a good compromise between speed and quality. See for yourself at macProVideo.com!

Regular Captivating Bits - Starting Soon!

Tobias Escher — 2011-03-06T19:19:21+01:00

For me, helping each other is an important thing. I believe in learning by doing and I think that you should never stop learning new things. I regularly help people out with quick tips which - according to them - have made their life easier. So why not share all this with you! There are lots of little tips and tricks that can make you a better composer or artist.

Soon I will start a new section on the tutorials page called „Regular Captivating Bits“, where you will find all sorts of quick tips, hints and lots of other stuff. Basically, this will be the place for everything I want to tell you which does not fit on this blog. This page will be updated quite often, with the tips coming from every aspect of music production you can imagine: composition, orchestration, arrangement, business, software tips, links to great resources and many, many more things!

Watch this space so you don’t miss it when the „Regular Captivating Bits“ go live!

Of getting new toys and preserving the magic

Tobias Escher — 2011-02-27T16:59:49+01:00

I recently read an interview with composer and SCOREcastOnline founder Deane Odgen, where he said something very important to me: „You aren’t in the music business, you’re in the magic business.“. He says that this is what he tells his students in lectures. Besides the fact that I would wish for more teachers like him, I have the impression that some of us (us meaning creative people, or rather people in the ceative industry, since sometimes we are not creative at all) have either never heard or this or have forgotten a long time ago. Sadly, I am not speaking of people who have been in the trade for a long time, but mostly of music students and other young people I see daily. Reading Odgen’s interview made me think long and hard, which is why I write this post - something personal this time :)

New Server - Everything should work again :)

Tobias Escher — 2011-02-21T19:09:48+01:00

The site has now migrated to the new server, so everything should work fine again.

Please note that this site can also be accessed at www.tobias-escher.com from now on. I was told that novatlan-sound.de was slightly hard to remember. I totally do not understand this. It is such an easy name :)
Emails should work again, too. If I owe anyone an email and haven’t responded yet, give me a gentle bump.

Big site update - Tutorials and Lessons page

Tobias Escher — 2011-02-21T15:28:00+01:00

Right on the heels of the last one, here’s another site update.
Updated layout of most pages, revised texts everywhere aaaaand - finally - a tutorials page! Here you can find the Vienna Ensemble Pro tutorial, as well as all the tutorials for macProVideo.com and more.
If you are interested in composition, orchestration or arrangement lessons, there is a new section on this page for you, too. The same applies for help with setting up studio gear, I’ve developed quite a Mother Theresa-syndrome over the last year in this respect :)
Hope you like it and take care!

Site update - Sibelius Page

Tobias Escher — 2011-02-13T13:41:21+01:00

Here’s a long overdue site update.
I updated the services page, there are a few new tracks on the music page and little bits here and there over the whole site.
It should also display better now on portable devices. Call it spring-cleaning if you like.

I was pretty happy on how my Sibelius seminar end of January went. I think everyone benefited from it, I learned a lot in the process, too. I’ve updated the site about the Seminar a bit and will announce any new seminars there, so check back from time to time! If you subscribe to updates, either via the blog RSS feed or use the contact form on the Sibelius site, you’ll be notified of any seminars immediately.

Hope you like the changes and have a nice spring!

VE Pro and Logic tutorial at the VSL website

Tobias Escher — 2011-01-29T21:10:46+01:00

I told you there would be exciting news on the tutorial front in early 2011: I’m happy to announce that my tutorial about Setting up an Orchestral Template with VE Pro and Logic Pro 9 is now also available on the VSL website.
VSL product manager Paul Steinbauer was so kind to put it up there for anyones benefit. I’m at work on a new update to the tutorial, so there’s a lot to come.
I will continue to host the tutorial on my site, too and provide regular updates both here and on the VSL site.

And this is just the start! There is tons of new stuff in the pipeline, so stay stuned.

Reinstalling OSX made easy at macProVideo.com

Tobias Escher — 2011-01-24T14:54:57+01:00

As my post on good backups at macProVideo.com seemed to be quite useful to a lot of people, I want on writing a sequel.
The new tutorial, which has just been published is about the day when you need to reinstall OSX and how this process can be made as painless as possible.
So have a look at it at macProVideo.com!

Here's to 2011!

Tobias Escher — 2011-01-01T08:30:44+01:00

Now we have 2011.

Farewell, 2010! We had a lot of fun, now we’ll see how your successor does.
A big thanks to all of you for your support. 2010 has had some exciting projects and there’s a lot in the pipeline already for 2011, so stay tuned.
I hope all of you had no problems going over to the new year, most notably slippery surfaces due to frozen liquids on the street or alcoholic liquids in your blood circle. Or both.

Take care!

Backup tips at macProVideo.com

Tobias Escher — 2010-12-24T12:15:58+01:00

The christmas elves are never sleeping... a present for you:
Right on Christmas Eve, here’s another tutorial at the macProVideo blog. This time, I’ll help you set up backups and find out where all those Logic files are located on your system.
Head over to the macProVideo blog and check it out.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tobias Escher — 2010-12-24T10:29:09+01:00

Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year 2011!

I hope you enjoy the Holidays and find time to relax a bit from work.
And then off to 2011. May 2011 be a good year to us all, with lots of exciting things to do, and of course lots of music :)

Merry Christmas!

Shiny new Soundcloud player in the blog

Tobias Escher — 2010-12-21T13:08:55+01:00

I’m busily working away like the bees on a bunch of projects, that’s why I’m so silent right now :)
In case you didn’t notice: There’s a shiny new Soundcloud player at the bottom of all pages. It gives you my most recent tracks from my Soundcloud page while you are browsing my site.

I hope to have some good news regarding the VE Pro Tutorial soon...

Orchestral String Runs Review

Tobias Escher — 2010-12-06T10:22:39+01:00

The world of orchestral sample libraries has seen lots of nice additions over the last year. One of my highlights, besides NI’s very own Session Strings, is a new library produced by OrchestralTools: Their first release, Orchestral String Runs promises exactly that. String Runs. Lots of them.

One could say that String Runs indeed are one of the most underrepresented areas of orchestral sampling, so such an addition is most welcome. But how does the newest kid on the block perform?

Join me on my journey through the library in this review.

Logic Pro Screensets at macProVideo.com Part II

Tobias Escher — 2010-12-02T13:13:56+01:00

Finally, there’s the second part of my Screensets in Logic Pro post up at macProVideo.com

I deal with some more involved screensets for MIDI editing, mixing and post-pro, so you might want to check it out.
Read it on the macProVideo.com blog!

Logic Pro and VE Pro Tutorial 1.2 Update

Tobias Escher — 2010-11-20T21:12:32+01:00

I got great feedback for 1.1 of my VE Pro and Logic tutorial, many thanks to all of you!
Here’s 1.2 with a lot of new things. I revised the whole text, added new information pertaining to updated application versions and incorportated some new parts about track naming and many more things.
I hope you like it and find it useful. Please keep the feedback coming!

So here you go: Setting up an Orchestral Template in Logic Pro 9.

Sibelius 6 Workshop at the PCK Mainz

Tobias Escher — 2010-11-13T07:33:53+01:00

You’ve heard about that strange „Sibelius“ a lot of times, but never really gotten around to check it out?
Or are you a seasoned Sibelius user, but have not (yet) upgraded to Sibelius 6?
Maybe you indeed use Sibelius 6, but have felt there was more?

Wait no longer!
On Saturday, 01/29/2011 from 4 PM, there will be a Sibelius 6 workshop at the Peter Cornelius Conservatoire Mainz, hosted by yours truly.

We will deal with a lot of topics, including:
- Introduction to Sibelius 6 / Sibelius 6 First
- Writing your own scores
- Composing with Sibelius
- Creating scores for ensembles
- Use in education
- Creation of demo recordings
There will also be time for some BYOQ (Bring Your Own Questions).

Admission is free, so please come and see for yourself. You can send me a message via the contact form if you want to attend, and I’ll make sure you have a seat :)
Please register on the Facebook event page.

If you want to know more, please visit the Sibelius Workshop page.

Updated Music site

Tobias Escher — 2010-11-06T10:49:55+01:00

Here’s another update to my website.
I updated the music page. Now there’s a shiny new Soundcloud player. Regularly, I post new tracks on Soundcloud, which are not (yet) on my Demo CD. So now you can listen to these directly on the site, too.
Besides, I updated the studio section, most notably the equipment list.
Have fun :)

Logic Pro and VE Pro Tutorial 1.1 Update

Tobias Escher — 2010-10-12T09:50:09+02:00

The first bigger update to my tutorial about setting up an orchestral template in Logic Pro 9 with Vienna Ensemble Pro is here!

I added some new sections and revised a lot of the content. As usual, feedback is highly appreciated. Tell me what you are missing in the tutorial and I will do my best to incorporate it into the next version! If you use this tutorial, please give me feedback. I don’t do this for me - I do it for you, so you have to work with me (sounding like a cop right now). Reader feedback greatly greatly helped in shaping this new version and I am confident this will be the case for the next version, too.

So here you go: Setting up an Orchestral Template in Logic Pro 9. (Updated 11/20/2010)

Sibelius workflow tips at macProVideo.com

Tobias Escher — 2010-10-09T07:33:04+02:00

In case you use Sibelius, there’s a new blog post of my writing up at macprovideo.com

It’s about some tips to improve your workflow in the application. I show how to quickly input notes, how to deal with voices and how to speed up inputting articulations, dynamics and so on.

Have a look at it over at the macProVideo.com blog and tell me what you think :)

Logic Pro Screensets at macProVideo.com

Tobias Escher — 2010-09-28T07:48:10+02:00

A new post about efficiently using screensets in Logic Pro is now online at the macProVideo.com blog.

I deal with the concept of screensets, how you create them and give some examples of screensets for different workflow situations based on my own screensets in Logic. This is part one of a two part series. If you give me nice feedback, I’ll do my best to incorporate it into the second part :)

So, head over to the macProVideo.com blog and read for yourself!

Deep Percussion Beds Quick Review

Tobias Escher — 2010-09-15T07:00:11+02:00

Creating percussion tracks is one of the most interesting tasks in media music. Unfortunately it also is one of the most time consuming ones. Especially when on a tight deadline, sometimes there is no other choice than to use premade loops. I try to stay clear of these whenever possible, but it isn’t always.

Most of the loop libraries on the market focus on high-energy action percussion. Up to now what was missing was a library with fairly unobtrusive background tracks that nevertheless sit well in the mix and provide a good foundation for all the different things the composer wants to throw on top.

This has changed with Cinesamples’ Deep Percussion Beds. The 9GB library features 50 different looped beds in various meters. Every bed has three variations gradually building tension as well as a code. There are two incredibly great things about the library: The different parts of a loop are mapped as stems on different keys. That means you can only have, say, the toms, but not the metal stem. This makes the library far more flexible than most of the competition. The three variations per bed add to the individual touch. The second great thing is the time stretching engine: All loops can be used with almost any tempo, fast or slow. The library automatically adjusts the loops. Even with extreme tempos, the audio quality remains stunning.
A preview patch which has the full mix versions of all 50 loops ready for auditioning makes finding the right bed very easy and convenient.

All in all, Deep Percussion Beds is the first percussion loop library I have used that I feel does not hinder creativity. It provides a firm base and saves countless hours of programming when in a hurry, but still is flexible enough as to not make us all sound the same. I can only recommend this library and hope there will be a sequel.

iTunes Tags for Sorting at macProVideo.com

Tobias Escher — 2010-09-14T12:50:11+02:00

There’s another post online at at macProVideo.com blog. This time it is about how to use the „tags for sorting“ in iTunes.

I discuss some ways in which you can use those tags to make finding your albums in iTunes easier and your library more efficient.
I also briefly touch up on the new iTunes 10, which was recently released.

So head to the macProVideo.com Blog and read on!

Site update

Tobias Escher — 2010-09-13T12:50:06+02:00

The site just got an update with a few new tracks in the music section, updated equipment on the studio page as well as some new things on the blog: Now there are permalinks (finally!), as well as tags to make it easer to find different posts.
There will be another silent update with some new equipment content later this week - I basically wanted to get the blog improvements out :)

Symphobia 2 review

Tobias Escher — 2010-09-11T21:22:25+02:00

When ProjectSAM announced their Symphobia library a few years back, everyone rubbed their eyes at two things: The insanely great concept of the library and the price tag attached to it. Both still stand true today - Symphobia arguably is one of the best tools out there and it still is pricey. But the price is actually very much worth it.

Now our friends in the Netherlands (sorry, inside joke) have released the successor to Symphobia, aptly titled Symphobia 2. I got it the other day and want to give you a brief review on what I think about Symphobia in general and especially the new Symphobia 2.

Blogging at macProVideo.com

Tobias Escher — 2010-09-09T16:48:01+02:00

I am pleased to announce that my first blog post at the macProVideo.com blog just went online.
You will learn about how to use the grouping tag in iTunes. I will continue blogging there about iTunes as well as about other applications, so make sure you drop by and leave a nice comment :)

I am pretty happy to have the chance to blog there - if you haven’t already, also check out their great video tutorials about all things mac.

CD Tip: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto

Tobias Escher — 2010-09-03T21:11:23+02:00

If you are a fan of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, this might be something for you: Acousence Records has just released a recording of exactly this piece, along with the Tallis Fantasia by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

The performance by the Duisburg Philharmonics under the baton of Jonathan Darlington is absolutely superb. For me, violinist Susanna Yoko Henkel’s thrilling interpretation of the Concerto came as a surprise: Countering the all-to-present trend of burying the orchestra under a shiny soloist, Henkel delivers a technically superb performance that bristles with joy, but at the same time allows the orchestra to maintain a firm presence.
The one reason above all why I simply love this recording is its technical aspect: There is much dynamic on the CD, once again countering the current trend of compressing everything to mud. You can literally see the orchestra when listening with eyes closed. The recording nicely adds to Henkel’s interpretation of the Concerto by having the orchestra always very present, yet never burying the stunning violin work of the soloist.

Have a look at the album on the Acousence website. Make sure you read the explanation of what the different formats actually do! Acousence have a very though-out approach to recording which combines the best of both analogue and digital recording technology. They offer high-quality FLAC downloads, so that may just be what you want :)

Full disclaimer: I work for Acousence Records as a translator. Nevertheless, I am paid for translating, not for advertising. I recommend to get this CD simply because I like it and don’t get any revenue from any purchases.

The Facts of Life - Main Theme Evolution

Tobias Escher — 2010-08-26T12:40:52+02:00

One of my newest tracks, a game show main theme turned out to be a nice example on how such a kind of music is created. So I thought: Why not show all people out there how it came to pass!
You will find a number of tracks, each representing a certain stage in the development. Finally, you’ll get the release version.

New design for Novatlan Sound

Tobias Escher — 2010-08-18T13:20:47+02:00

If you are wondering and rubbing your eyes, thinking „What the heck has happened here?!?!“, here’s the answer:
novatlan-sound.de has a new site design!
Now it can safely be revealed: The old design, introduced in May 2010, was only kind of a placeholder until this new site was complete.

There are tons of new things:
- At last, a nice header, it even comes with colour transitions, just to prove that we indeed have the year 2010 :)
- A new footer, where you have all the links to the social networks in one place, the two most recent posts at Twitter and a short biography.
- The home page is completely redesigned!
- I got rid of the Flash slideshow on the studio page. Flash is dying out, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, the player on the music page still requires Flash, but hopefully there will be a replacement soon.
- The studio page now has more information, including comments on a few pieces of gear.
- and many, many more things...

Have a look around. I hope you like the new site!

Tobias

New nice photos and other updates

Tobias Escher — 2010-08-07T10:07:31+02:00

After a recent screen failure and the subsequent acquisition of a new unit (i.e. I bought a new one), it was time to make new nice pictures of the studio. So have a look at them in the Studio section.
While I was at it, I also updated the gear list as there are a few new things there.

If you have not done so, please subscribe to the Twitter feed to always have the total knowledge of everything around here :)

Unknown Horizons - New track

Tobias Escher — 2010-07-18T15:22:31+02:00

A new track for you to listen to:
As previously announced on Twitter, there’s a new track for Unknown Horizons, which is to come out in a new version shortly.
This is a nice opportunity to try out the Soundcloud player. So without further ado...

Site update

Tobias Escher — 2010-07-09T13:49:35+02:00

novatlan-sound.de grows and grows.

After including social media in the last few weeks, now the redesigned Studio section is online along with a brand-new Services page. There you can have a look at the services offered by Novatlan Sound and see what we can do for you.
All the other pages have been expanded, too, including a far more powerful contact form.

As always, feedback is greatly appreciated.

Soundcloud

Tobias Escher — 2010-07-06T19:02:41+02:00

Some of our tracks now are also on Soundcloud.
We plan to post tracks from from time to time there, starting today with a new gameplay track for Unknown Horizons, a new version of which is nearing release.
All new uploads will also be announced on our Twitter feed, so make sure you keep an eye on it :)

Prenuptial Hostilities - get the sheet music!

Tobias Escher — 2010-07-05T16:18:22+02:00

Today I’ve got something special for you:

Last year after lots of very classically oriented scores, I wanted to do something different. As a passionate western rider, doing something along these lines seemed logical, but for which instrument? As it happens, I’m also an organist, so that’s what it was to be!
A western score for concert organ :)

The piece that came from this was „Prenuptial Hostilities“.
Just imagine a western movie, but without the actual movie.

Because I am so very generous and because the piece is just so much fun to play (and serves for great expressions by people attending any performance), I chose to put the PDF online here. Just click HERE or on the image on the left to download the PDF.
If you perform the work, drop me a line! Have fun playing :)

NI Paranormal Spectrums... way too much fun

Tobias Escher — 2010-07-04T09:48:40+02:00

I recently bought „Paranormal Spectrums“ by Native Instruments. Its one of their many soundpacks for Kore Player and intended for „creepy music“.

While finally finding some time to browse the library, one of my favourite movies immediately came to mind: Forgotten Planet. This classic SciFi flick was the very first with a purely electronic score (credited „electronic tonalities“).
It’s just _way_ too much fun playing with this library, so this is a clear recommendation if you are looking for new sounds!

Here’s a very quick and dirty track right out of Logic:

Twitter in the sidebar

Tobias Escher — 2010-06-24T17:00:40+02:00

We’ve now got a shiny new twitter feed in the blog sidebar that gives you the newest tweets at a glance.
Besides, our name at twitter now is NovatlanSound, so update your bookmarks!

"Apokalyptische Elendstouristen" in Mainz

Tobias Escher — 2010-06-22T10:21:35+02:00

If you are into theatre, here’s a tip for you: The „theater denkplural“ will perform the play „Apokalyptische Elendstouristen“ at the U of Mainz next week.
The play employs lots of medial events, among them a news jingle by your humble blogger :)
So if you have time on 29.06 / 30.06 / 01.07 at 8pm in P1 at the University of Mainz, you can see and hear for yourself.
Admission is 5€/3€.

To whet your appetite, here’s the poster for the play (click for larger version):

And to make you drool for anticipation, the track in question is the first track on the updated music page.

VE Pro and Logic Tutorial

Tobias Escher — 2010-06-08T11:18:48+02:00

Today we are starting off our tutorial series. The plan is to give you detailed instruction on specific topics.

As you might have read, our orchestral template runs with Vienna Ensemble Pro. In this tutorial you will learn how to plan your template, what you need to put it into reality and how you do it in Logic Pro 9. If you are using another sequencer, this tutorial will be beneficial to you, too, as most things also apply to other applications.

Please give us feedback on this! The tutorial is intended to be extended according to your feedback, so keep it coming!

Now, without further ado: Setting up an Orchestral Template in Logic Pro 9.

Independence Pro

Tobias Escher — 2010-06-02T14:11:47+02:00

There is a large number of great software titles out there which seemingly noone has ever heard of.
One of these is Independence Pro by a small German company called YellowTools.

We found this sampler pretty versatile and easy to use with a great factory library, so we’ll give you a short introduction to it.
Maybe it could become the next secret weapon in your arsenal.

Independence Pro is largely unknown among musicians. The sample player with integrated library has a similar scope as Kontakt or Halion, but with a few nice touches.

The sampler itself is both fairly powerful and fairly standard. You can create zones to map your samples, edit instruments and many more things.

The great thing about Independence is it’s factory library, which weighs in at a hefty 70 GB. You get a selection of the Kirk Hunter Symphonic Orchestra (just like Kontakt uses a cut-down version of the VSL) and tons of other instruments. Particularly enjoyable are the guitars and drum kits. The keyboards leave quite a bit to desire, but the rest makes up for it.

Yellowtools have three special products using the Independence Engine: Culture, Majestic and Candy, featuring World Percussion, Basses and Saxophones, respectively. All these three special libraries are contained in Independence Pro! The Saxes are simply outstanding, as are the other libraries.

There is a free version available of the sampler, aptly titled Independence Free, so you can check it out without risk. Just head to Yellowtools and have a look! We really like Independence and can recommend it very much.

Template

Tobias Escher — 2010-05-26T12:51:55+02:00

As mentioned before in Of Masters And Slaves, the main function of VE Pro is to host my large orchestral template. As promised in this blog post, here I will describe the contents of the template and how I work with it. In a future post, I will also post a tutorial how to setup tracks in Logic so that they can control instruments within VE Pro.

Six pieces for your listening pleasure!

Tobias Escher — 2010-05-25T11:18:44+02:00

It’s all about the music. So here’s music.
We have put six brand new pieces from two of our latest projects online so you can have a listen. Some of these pieces will eventually find their way onto the music page, but for now they are "blog-exclusive“.

1) Advertising:
Three tracks for a series of TV ads. First a slight Italian touch, then we’ve got a French jazz band and finally there’s a very English feel.

2) Racing Game:
Three tracks for a racing game. The tracks are loopable and will loop indefinitely until you stop the player.

We hope you enjoy these short pieces - check back for more music and tips and tricks soon!

Kantele

Tobias Escher — 2010-05-24T08:54:24+02:00

For all of you who are into World Music.
The Sibelius Academy has sponsored a wonderful free sample library of a Kantele.
It comes with three mic positions and just sounds terrific - far better than many a commercial library I’ve heard.
You should definitively check this out at AJATAR Kantele.

Harrison Mixbus

Tobias Escher — 2010-05-10T16:55:21+02:00

Just a very quick software tip for those of you that are interested in mixing.
Harrison Consoles, makers of those large postpro-consoles have recently teamed up with the open source DAW Ardour to make a version of the application with their proprietary mixing engine built in. The application feels really god and allows you to do very organic mixes. So if you are looking for a nice DAW to mix your tracks in, this might be for you.
Check it out on their website.

Pro Tools Rig for Cheap

Tobias Escher — 2010-05-06T10:15:05+02:00

UPDATE:
Since the original post, Avid has released Pro Tools 9, which no longer requires a Digidesign/M-Audio interface! You can now use any audio interface with PT, so some of the information in this post is outdated. The general way of using your slave with a second audio interface still holds true, though, only you can now choose whichever interface you like.

This is sort of an idea for all those monetary challenged people out there (like me), who nonetheless want to have a Pro Tools rig at their disposal.
As you might know, we use Logic Pro as our Main DAW, a choice which we are pretty happy with, but which sometimes leads to format problems, i.e. when we need to work on films for making the soundmix. The industry standard in this area is Pro Tools. But Pro Tools is sooooooooo expensive. No, it isn’t. Pro Tools HD is. But there’s more.

If you have your project ready as a Pro Tools file, with a certain certainty everyone can open it. You might know that there are cut-down versions of PT, namely LE and M-Powered. Besides the name, there is _no_ difference between LE and M-Powered and with Version 8 the differences to Pro Tools HD have shrunk, too. For most projects, an LE or M-Powered rig is absolutely sufficient. LE only runs with Digidesign audio interfaces, M-Powered only runs with M-Audio interfaces (hence the name).

The really cool thing is that LE or M-Powered can open PT HD projects and vice versa! That means, for most projects you can easily use a LE rig (i.e. for sound mixing and film post pro) and then give the whole thing to a large mastering house for the final touch.

LE and M-Powered are both very affordable and are a very good way into the world of Pro Tools. While we firmly believe in Logic for composing and recording, for post-production there’s just nothing better than PT.

Ok, so now we know that PT can be pretty affordable, but it gets even better!
You need a computer to run it on, right? Well, what about a nice slave PC that sits around in the corner if you are not composing with your template right at the moment? Right!!!
We fortunately had an old M-Audio interface lying around unused, so what we did was to hook it up to our Dell Slave which usually hosts our composing template and installed PT M-Powered. That way, when the Slave PC is not used for its slave labour, it serves as a PT rig.

To make this kind of „second DAW“ as pleasant to use as possible, there are a few nice things you can do:
- The PT rig can use the big studio monitors by connecting the audio interface’s SPDIF Out with a SPDIF In of the interface of the main machine. No sound quality is lost and you can additionally use the DSP power of your main machine! And you don’t need any additional gear.
- Master keyboards usually have both an USB output as well as a MIDI output. One of these can be hooked up to the slave = you can use PT to record MIDI data.
- Euphonix Artist controllers can control several workstations at the same time. If your main DAW is a Mac (as in our case) you can use it as a EuCon server, even if your second computer runs Windows. This is undocumented, but it works. Just install the Windows workstation drivers from the Euphonix website and make sure there’s a network connection between the Mac and the PC (there will be automatically one if you are using VE Pro on the slave). Then you can use the controller to control Pro Tools or any other DAW on the PC.
- If you log into the slave with Microsoft Remote Desktop or another RDC client (we use CORD), then you don’t even need a keyboard and mouse on the slave. Just tuck it somewhere safe where it is out of the way and noone will ever see there’s _yet_ another rig there :)

All this gives you a perfect Pro Tools rig, which can use all your studio hardware, including MIDI keyboards and hardware controllers!
And all you need to invest in is an audio interface (if you don’t already have one) and a license for PT.

Hope this helps :)

We are on Twitter!

Tobias Escher — 2010-05-06T06:48:52+02:00

Believe it or not... we have finally managed to arrive in the 21st century!
Which means, we have a Twitter account. Without further ado, here it is.

Sibelius Wiki

Tobias Escher — 2010-05-05T12:16:44+02:00

If you are using Sibelius for your notation work, you might be interested in our very own Unofficial Sibelius Wiki.
There you will find plenty of information, hints and tutorials to all versions of Sibelius. The Wiki is intended as a supplement of the Sibelius Reference and explains things that go beyond it.
Have a look and join our staff of editors!

Of Masters And Slaves

Tobias Escher — 2010-05-04T08:50:13+02:00

The technical side of composing music for media has become ever more complicated. Never before have the options to choose from been so rich.
Music technology allows composers to create very realistic renditions of their tracks that only a few years back would have been plain impossible in this level of quality.
This blog post sets out to explain how here at Novatlan Sound we have set up all this technology to provide for a stable and versatile working environment. In the future, more post like this will follow to explain other aspects of studio work.

Novatlan Sound Version 5 is here!

Tobias Escher — 2010-04-15T09:45:33+02:00

Welcome to our new website!
We did a complete redesign and updated all content. Stay tuned for many exciting things to come...