Chapter 2: EWQL Symphonic Choirs, An Overview

Recording Notes

EWQLSC is a sample library that can produce full multi-channel sound like that from a good recording session in a concert hall. The user can manipulate multi-channel files within each sample to move a section of the choir, create fully diffused or highly focused sound, as well as offstage effects that have the same acoustic character as having microphones on stage and mixing them. Each choir sample contains high-resolution components recorded in a state of the art concert hall from microphone groups placed to achieve close, full, and ambient sound. Microphone placement is modeled after traditional Decca setups. The choir and soloists are placed on stage as they would perform, so that signals from these microphone groups can be mixed and have the general technical feel and acoustic properties of a live session. In addition, the placement of the choir correlates with the orchestral instruments recorded for EastWest/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra, achieving a unified choral and orchestral mix when the two libraries are used together. Consistent microphone placement for the two sets of samples allows them to work together perfectly whether building stereo or surround sound recordings.
edis an arrangement of three microphones originally designed at the English Decca Records, and still used for orchestra recordings, especially when recording movie scores. The mics are arranged as in the diagram at the right. Because of the 2-meter spacing between the left and right mics, the audio provides the intensity cues necessary for detailed stereo imaging while including sufficient phase information to produce an open and spacious sound. In addition, the middle microphone generates a solid central image. Much post-production work and active DSP is mandatory to align the multiple timephase paths from all of the sample groups. In addition, a large concert space was required to avoid claustrophobic wall sounds and to capture the choir sound we hear at an appropriate distance. These ultimately achieve overall mix clarity. To provide process headroom for this work, a super resolution recording chain was used. FM microphone responses extended to at least 26 kHz, all signal paths had minimal discrete circuit electronics, and conversions and files were at least 24-bit, 88.2kHz. (We also recorded everything at 176.4kHz for future updates). Hence the Gigabytes of data needed to access the sounds of instruments from different angles, placements and distances. The six-channel high-resolution files containing close, full and reverberant feeds can produce a real 3D orchestral sense like that from a good recording. To do this,

WordBuilder

This software tool is the primary interface for constructing a choral performance. It is here that the composer or recording engineer literally spells out the words that the choir sings and specifies the fine details of the performance. The user is given complete control over how long the choir holds each consonant and vowel as well as the constantly changing dynamics that can give a choral track added realism (if thats the goal). Or the user can accept the default settings and get less polished but faster results, perhaps for a preliminary mock-up. When setting English words, one has a choice of typing the text with any of the following alphabets: standard spelling an easy-to-learn phonetic alphabet Votox, a phonetic alphabet that EastWest/Quantum Leap created specifically to match WordBuilders sung speech capabilities WordBuilder includes a 100,000-word dictionary (from CMU) for translating American English spelling to a phonetic spelling. When typing with one of the phonetic alphabets listed in the second or third items above, the symbols are listed on the screen to assist the memory. When setting text in languages other than English, or with pseudo-words, like be-bop-a-doo, one must specify the sounds in one of the two phonetic alphabets listed above. WordBuilder runs in either of two modes. As a plug-in it is hosted in another program, usually a sequencer. As a stand-alone module it runs on its own, having equal status with the other programs with which it communicates. The choice of which mode to use depends on factors discussed later in this manual.

Whats Included

This EastWest/Quantum Leap Symphonic Choirs Virtual Instrument you purchased includes all the following: a complete set of sample-based instruments, enumerated later in this manual approximately 38.5 Gigabytes of 24-bit, 44.1 kHz samples the EastWest PLAY Advanced Sample Engine the unique authorization code that identifies the license you bought manuals in Adobe Acrobat format for both the EastWest PLAY System and the EastWest/Quantum Leap Symphonic Choirs Virtual Instrument an installation program to set up the library, software, and documentation on your computer an Authorization Wizard for registering your license in an online database One required item not usually included is an iLok security key. If you already have one from an earlier purchase of software, you can use it. Otherwise, you need to acquire one. They are available from many retailers that sell EastWest and Quantum Leap products, or you can buy one online at www.soundsonline.com.

from 1 to 999. The default value is set by EastWest for each instrument and can vary by library and instrument. Setting the Voice Limit too low causes notes to end too soon when PLAY is forced to stop already playing notes in order to start a new note. If you hear notes being clipped, check to see whether you need to raise this setting (as described in the previous paragraph). Setting the Voice Limit too high reserves unnecessary data buffers in RAM. The total number of voice buffers that can be reserved is limited by the amount of computer memory (RAM). The larger the project, the more likely it is you will run out of RAM; in such cases, you may want to check the Voice Limit of each instrument to determine whether you can reduce the value. The image at the left shows the Voice Limit spin control in the PLAY user interface set to 32 simultaneous voices. It is also possible to modify this value in the Current Instrument Properties dialog box, which can be opened from the main menu and selecting Current Instrument > Advanced Properties. The image at the right shows part of that dialog with the Voice Limit set to 40.

Articulations Control

This control is much larger and more prominent than in some other EastWest and Quantum Leap virtual instruments. Where others show a maximum of 4 articulations at a time, EWQLSC shows up to 16 at once. The first 3 columns within the Articulations control allow you to do the following tasks: Activate and De-activate an articulation: Click in the first column; a visible check mark means that the articulation will sound when played. Load and Unload samples: Click in the second column to release the samples from computer memory and click again to reload them into memory. Use this facility to unload any samples you will not be using to save CPU resources. A visible check means the samples are loaded. Change the loudness of the individual articulations: Click and drag up or down to make that articulation louder or softer (without affecting the other articulations). The fourth column lists the name of the articulations or other components of the playback, such as release trails. Be sure to read the discussion on page 90 about using the Articulations control to manage the release trails.

Note that changing the keyswitch note for any given slot in the list does not change the name in the list. For example, if you change the D#0 keyswitch to F1, a D#0- will still appear in the name. The only way to know the currently assigned keyswitch note is to open the context menu and see which note is checked. If you use this feature often, you might consider creating your own detailed mapping of what notes have been moved and to where. And you might want to save the.ewi file under a new name so you can recall your customized mapping for this and future projects.
The Graphical Representation of the Envelope and the Curve Knob
The Envelope Controls are described in the main PLAY System manual because they are common to all PLAY System libraries. Only some libraries include the graph, as shown here, so it is included in the manuals for those libraries only. The Envelope has an extra knob compared to the same control in the UIs of other libraries: the Curve knob. It affects the curve of the attack (but is not displayed in the graph just above). Turn the knob to the left (toward 0%) to have the attack start slowly, with most of the rise late; turn it to the right (toward 100%) to have most of the rise in volume near the beginning. This difference can be heard most distinctly with longer, slower attacks. Note that the total width of the graph represents the total length of all phases of the envelope. Therefore, when you change something in one part of the graph, for example, the decay, you may see the slopes of other components, the attack and the release, change as well because those phases become a larger or smaller percent of the whole; this is as expected.

The Browser View

The Browser behaves identically among all PLAY System libraries. Read the main PLAY System manual for information about how to use that view.
4. A Quick Tour of WordBuilder
40 Choirs and Voices Voice Settings The Text Modes The Time Editor The Tools
Click on this text to open the Master Navigation Document 32
A Quick Tour of WordBuilder
This chapter introduces a few of the important concepts about WordBuilder by briefly describing the user interface, and how to perform some basic operations. Each of the topics in this overview is covered in much more detail later in the manual.

Choirs and Voices

When started as a stand-alone module, WordBuilder opens Voice windows. When started on a Windows PC, all the windows open inside a frame, allowing you to work on several voice files at once within the same program. The image at the right shows two voices (First Sopranos and Second Sopranos) as part of a single choir. When started on a Mac, each window opens on the desktop, seemingly independent of the other. The image below shows the same two Wordbuilder voices open on a Macintosh.
Each voice requires a setup in the Options dialog, like what is described on page 74. Each voice within the choir uses its own MIDI ports for both input and output. For example, if First Sopranos and Second Sopranos each have their own tracks in the sequencer, then each is set to a different MIDI port, and those same two ports are assigned to the two voices in WordBuilder. In contrast, when opened in a host program, you can insert as many instances of WordBuilder as your computer resources allow. Each instance is its own voice and is programmed individually. The set of all voices open at once is called a choir. For example, a choir might have two Soprano voices and two Alto voices (SSAA). When you choose Save, all the voices are

When you place the cursor in the Text Editor, information about the selected word, syllable, and letter appears in the three controls across the middle of the window, as shown on the previous page, where the word English word with was selected. At the same time, in the lower left corner the Phonetics and Votox symbols are stacked one above the other, creating lanes (in this case 3 symbols, 3 lanes). Because WordBuilder uses the Votox layer when dividing a syllable into its sung sounds, its the Votox symbols that are mapped to the colored bands to the right of the letters; each band represent the duration of a sampled sound. The user controls in this section of the interface are discussed in much more detail starting on page 59.

Typing English

When English words are typed into the Text Editor, they are color coded to indicate their status. medium blue: the word was found in the dictionary dark blue: the word has more than one entry in the dictionary; this happens when the word can be pronounced in two or more ways dark red: the word was not found in the dictionary; if it is misspelled, correct it; or if it is not a common word, you will need to enter the word phonetically light blue: the word was entered in the Phonetics or Votox layer, and is displayed here phonetically, even in the English layer dark red: there is an error in syllable separation, or WordBuilder cannot find the word in the dictionary. For example, if you separate an English word into syllables, WordBuilder may have to set the word in red to indicate it cannot make good automatic phonetic separations. In this case, make the syllable separations in the Phonetics layer. gray: a comment; the number sign, #, and all text after it on a line are considered comments and not sung
The following screen shot shows many of these colors. If youre reading this in black and white only, then try typing it yourself. The proper name Gerri is not in the dictionary, so its in dark red. The words must fly and me were found, so theyre in medium blue. When WordBuilder looked for with in the dictionary, it found two possible pronunciations. Although
the word is usually pronounced with the same th sound as in thigh, in certain phonotactic situations, it can be pronounced with the th sound in thy. Decide how you want it to sound in your piece, and make your choice by right-clicking (in Windows) or control-clicking (on a Mac). Youll see the context menu you see here. The choices at the bottom are the two possible pronunciations: wid! for the th-sound in thy wit! for the th-sound in thigh If the one with the check is not the one you want, click on another choice. Because the scat syllables she-bop are not in the dictionary, they were entered by changing to the Phonetics layer and typing them in phonetically. Returning to the English layer, they appear in light blue, as in the image above. When writing in languages other than English, all text is entered this way. Finally, the text # sung at entrance is a comment. It is not sung. It appears in gray. Note that you can also insert the #-symbol to remove text temporarily from whats being sung. Then delete the # and WordBuilder will sing that text again. The effect of the # ends at the end of the current line, i.e., until the next carriage return (which may be different from where the phrase automatically wraps to the next line). The last color you might see is bright red for soloed words (described on page 62). The image below shows the word fly soloed.

Inside Sonar, insert the play_VST module in the Synth Rack (either from the Insert menu or from within the Synth Rack window). Then load play_VST into the MIDI Out port of the track you want to hold the MIDI data. Assign 1 to the MIDI Channel.
To install WordBuilder, right-click in the Effects Bin of a MIDI track (if you dont see the MIDI Effects bin, click on the All tab all the way at the bottom). If WordBuilder has been installed correctly, then it should appear in the context menu, so select it. The picture at the right shows the play_VST 1 already in the MIDI Out port and WordBuilder [MFX PLAY] being inserted into the FX Bin.
Enter notes into the track, as shown in the first image above, and words into WordBuilders Text Editor. When you play the track, you should hear Sonar sing the words you typed.
WordBuilder Running Standalone with Logic
These steps start by opening a Sopranos voice type as an example, but you can choose any voice type you like as long as you are consistent through all the steps. 1. Launch WordBuilder (PLAY) from your Applications > East West folder. Set the voice type to Sopranos (for this example). Set the MIDI IN Port to EASTWEST Virtual Wordbuilder 1, and set the MIDI OUT Port to EASTWEST Virtual Wordbuilder 2. (Leave the channels set to 1.) In the main Wordbuilder window, type some words in, or load a phrase. 2. Open a new project in Logic. Create a new Software Instrument. Instantiate PLAY onto this Instrument track, and rename the track itself to PLAY. Open the PLAY plug-in and within the Browser view select a Sopranos multi (.ewi file) from the EWQL Choirs Instruments > Multis folder. 3. Go to the Window menu and select the Environment window. Select the Clicks & Ports environment page. There you will see the physical and virtual ports available on the system (including the 4 WordBuilder virtual ports). You will also see here a Sum cable from the Physical Input ports going to a series of objects which lead eventually to an object called Sequencer Input. Remove this virtual cable from the environment by clicking on the cable to highlight it and hit the Delete key. (Not doing this step causes a MIDI loop.)
4. Create a new cable from your Master Keyboards port (usually port 1 or 2) in the Physical Input object, and connect to the Input Notes objectit looks like a keyboardor where the Sum cable was before you deleted it.
5. Create an Instrument from the New menu in this Environment window, and name it Sopranos (or whatever), as in the image at the right. Go to the arrange page and create a new track. Control+click on it and reassign it to Clicks & Ports > Sopranos, as shown below. With this track selected, you see the track information on the left side of the Arrange window. (You may need to click on the small arrow next to Sopranos to dropdown this information). Set the port to WordBuilder 1, channel 1.

There are two ways to specify articulations: in a dialog box, or directly in the Text Editor.
Advanced: Actually, there is a third way, more consistent with other PLAY libraries: You
can send the keyswitch notes directly, instead of having WordBuilder translate your instructions into MIDI note events. The note numbers are 24, 25, 26, and 27 respectively, note names C0 to D#0.
To open the dialog, select the letter whose articulation you want to specify. This is done in the same way as in the previous section on Velocities. Then click on the 3 dots (ellipsis) to the right of ks: in the Letter control at the right of the WordBuilder user interface. In the image at the right, you can see its the same dialog box as for velocities, but here we use the bottom half. That means you can change both parameters at once, if you choose to. There are 5 options available for keyswitches. Based on what you choose here, WordBuilder will send the appropriate keyswitch automatically and at the right time. The choices are: [Text Syntax], use symbols in the text to specify the articulation of this segment. This is the default. (Look for more on this option below.) Normal Attack, the natural articulation of sung speech Legato, smoothly connected to the following syllable Staccato, disconnected from the following segment Slurred, Sliding Legato, a transition between segments in which the voices slide upward into the note Click OK to save your selection. When the articulation in the dialog is set to [Text Syntax], which is the default, WordBuilder looks to symbols in the Text Editor to know which articulation to use. There are 4 symbols that can be typed anywhere in the text to affect the transitions:

TRANSITIONS

Symbol = ( > < Articulation Normal Legato Staccato Slurred, Sliding
Here is an example of text whose articulation is specified with the Text Syntax symbols: >the why and (where-fore >of the <mer-ry =day And the image below shows the same phrase in the Text Editor, but using the Votox letters.
As with all keyswitches, remember that each one continues to affect all notes (or, in this case, all segments) until a new keyswitch overrides the previous one.
Adding New Words and New Pronunciations
If an English word is not found in the dictionary, and you intend to use it again, then you can add the word and its phonetic spelling so that next time it will get translated automatically. When a word is shown in red inside the Text Editor (meaning that it is not found in the dictionary), rightclick on the word (in Windows) or control-click (on a Mac) to open the context menu, then select Add to Dictionary. A dialog appears that lets you enter the Phonetics layer for the word (not Votox). Do not type in hyphens to separate syllables. The same facility can be used to add new pronunciations of existing words. This way, you can even teach your choir to sing in regional accents. Although, you need to be careful not to overwrite a traditional phonetic spelling if you may need the traditional pronunciation again. You might consider making up your own English spelling of words in a specific dialog and then provide the phonetic spelling for WordBuilder to use. This facility can also be used to some degree to teach the WordBuilder program some words from other languages, but be aware that only English phonemes are available, so you will have to use approximations for many non-English sounds.

In this example, the syllable is sung on a dotted eighth note with a sixteenth note rest before the next note. The tempo is 90 bpm. (If you do the sleep no more. math, youll see that the duration of a dotted eighth at 90 bpm is 500 ms, which agrees with the image.) The staff at the left shows this configuration. Setting the words to quarter notes with no rests between the notes would yield similar but not identicalresults. Here the p that closes the syllable occurs during the rest. With no rest between notes, all the phonetic segments happen within the duration of the note itself (or might intentionally overlap the start of the next note by a small amount). When writing a score for real singers to read, simplicity of the notation is important, but in WordBuilder and Symphonic Choirs fine-tuning the duration of the MIDI notes by 10 or 20 ticks can have an impact on the sound of the syllables. When trying to fix a syllable that doesnt sound quite right, ask yourself whether lengthening or shortening the rests between notes can improve the result. Click on each word in the Text Editor to see how WordBuilder has modified the timings of all the segments to match the music to which the phrase will be sung. Once WordBuilder has learned the note-on and note-off events of a musical line, you can manually tweak the timings to fine-tune the performance. If you change the tempo or the note durations, you may want to rerun the Learn feature to conform the phonetic segments to the shape of the new melodic line. Changing pitches does not require rerunning Learn.

Draw Only Mode

If you choose Draw Only mode when starting the Learn feature, WordBuilder writes the length of notes and rests into the gray, red, and blue regions of the timeline at the top, but does not change the actual lengths of the phonetic letters (the colored bands next to each phonetic letter in the Time Editor). You can manually drag the ends of the bands to achieve the desired effect.
The above screen shot shows the Time Editor for the syllable sleep after running Learn in Draw Only mode. No manual adjustments have been made to individual segments. The 3 colors in the time line have the same meaning as in Change Speed mode. The last two segments are still timed to the Note Off event, as seen by their position in the rightmost pane. If you want them timed to the Note On event, then drag them into the left pane. Their timings will change from negative values to positive ones. Use the bands within the time line so you know where youre placing segments in relation to the end of the current note (beginning of the dark red) and to the start of the next note (end of the dark red).

You can drag nodes with the mouse and create new nodes by double-clicking with the left mouse button. (You can also delete nodes by double clicking with the right mouse button in Windows, or double-clicking with the Command button held down on the Mac.) Add as many nodes as you need to draw in the desired changes.
It is unlikely that you will want to draw complicated curves (like the one above) inside a single phonetic segment (unless the choir is holding the note for a very long time). Instead, you will probably be matching the position of the Mod Wheel as the choir progresses from one note to the next. When dragging a node, a small rectangle, called a tool tip, opens on the screen. The x and y values locate the exact position of the node as it moves. The x-coordinate locates the node in time, measured in milliseconds. In the accompanying screen shot, the xvalue is 224 ms. If you see negative values that only indicates that the time is in the right pane, and so do not signify a time before 0 ms. The y-coordinate specifies the value of CC1 on a scale from 0 to 127. In the screen shot, the node in the upper envelope is being dragged with the mouse (not visible in the image). The Mod Wheel at the third node is at a position of 46, about 36% of the maximum 127. You can use these y-coordinates to match the position of an envelope at the end of one phonetic segment to the position at the start of the next one, if desired. Its also possible that you may want to set the position at a fixed value and leave it there. For example, if you like the sound of the tenors at a Mod Wheel position of 40 in the TENR WB SOFT MOD instrument, then you can set it to that level consistently. But be aware that you will get more realistic results if nothing in a performance remains static for too long. Real choirs never retain an exact dynamic or a consistent level of vibrato over every note in a composition.

Other Envelopes

You can use the techniques described above to create continuous changes in other MIDI parameters as well. Any Control Change can be transmitted, but if the downstream MIDI processors dont respond to that CC, then nothing will happen. Expression, CC11, is the best way to change the short-term dynamics that shape the singers nuanced performance. Small swells within a single vowel or a natural decrescendo at the end of a long-held note can be important in making the final results feel more human and less like computer-assisted composition. Click on a plus sign to open a lane for a new envelope. Click on the minus sign to remove that envelope and its lane.

Note Volume

One envelope that warrants special mention is the one that appears at the top of the drop-down list: x - Note Volume. This parameter affects the given phonetic segment without affecting others. It can be used for fade-in and fade-out effects within a single phonetic letter. It can also be used to achieve cross-fades between phonetic elements. This use of Note Volume can be seen in some of the default Votox spellings.

The Timers Tab

The upper section of this tab, Timers Resolution, provides two slider controls. For Notes, you can set the resolution to any value between 1 and 10 milliseconds. A similar setting can be made for the resolution of Control Changes: any value between 10 and 50 milliseconds. Fine-tuning these two settings allows the user to specify how often the internal engine will convey note and Control Change data through the MIDI output. You should normally leave these settings at the minimum value, but they can be raised when it is necessary to conserve CPU processing or MIDI connection overhead.
Chapter 7: The WordBuilder Options Dialog
For example, when a cross-fade is in progress the ear cannot really hear a small change in dynamics every 10 ms. Therefore, Note Volume (and other CC) data can be sent less often to conserve the processing power in the computer. The Chord Timer, set at the bottom of the tab, permits the user to specify how far apart in time notes can be and still be considered a chord (that is, referring to the same syllable of text). Using this feature is especially helpful when playing melodic lines on a keyboard in real time. If youre not 100% accurate in hitting all the notes of a chord at once, you could end up triggering different syllables for what are supposed to be several voices singing the same syllable. You can turn this feature on and off by clicking on the small checkbox at the left and, when on, you can specify the tolerance in milliseconds. You can turn this feature off if you never use chords in a single choral voice. If you need to leave this feature on, then you may have to experiment to determine the value that works best for your playing style.

The Voices Default Tab

There are three dialog boxes that open from this tab. Each is used to set the defaults that first appear when those dialog boxes are presented. If ever you want to change the values that you have set in these dialog boxes to apply to a specific project, you should do that in the project-specific dialog boxes, not here. Details of this process are presented in the paragraphs below.
Default Voice Properties Dialog Box
This is the same dialog box that appears each time you start WordBuilder in stand-alone mode. If you never set values as the defaults in this dialog, then you will always see the same values as shown on page 50. But lets say you always use your keyboard to play the melodies, and always transmit on MIDI channel 9. Then you can preset those choices (and others) here and not have to reset them every time you start the program. The screen shot at the left shows these values entered into the Default Voice dialog box. And this dialog, filled in the same way, is exactly what then appears each time you start WordBuilder. Important: you must save the current choir file before these choices become the working defaults.

MIDI Control Codes

These MIDI values can be controlled in standalone mode by adjusting the controls (knobs or sliders) on a control surface or MIDI keyboard. When run as a plug-in inside a sequencer or other host, you can create a controller envelope to automatically adjust values during playback. See the documentation from your hardware or software for information about how to change the values of control codes. The following table lists the codes that affect these scripts. Note that the MIDI Control Codes have no effect unless the corresponding script is turned on in the PLAY interface.
Code Portamento Time On/Off Repetition Legato Time On/Off On/Off
The three On/Off control codes all work the same way: a value 64 or higher turns the script on and any other value (063) turns the script off. CC 5 affects the duration of the portamento or legato. The possible values are 0127. The higher the value the longer the effect takes to complete; that is, you should set higher values to make the sound more pronounced. Use your ear to find the right values for each note in the phrase. The image at the left shows two envelopes affecting the Portamento script in a host. The nine white horizontal bars are the notes. The lightgray line that jumps from the top to near the bottom and back to the top is CC 65 that turns the script on and off so that only some notes use portamento. The curving line near the middle is CC 5, setting the effects Portamento time parameter for each note individually. (Note that the middle section, when the CC 65 line is near the bottom, CC 5 actually has no effect because the script is turned off at that point.)

Monophonic Behavior

Both the Portamento and Legato scripts change the instrument (.ewi file) so that it can play only one note at a time whenever the script is turned on. If a note is still playing when a new note starts, the first note will end at that moment. This behavior allows for no ambiguity in how the notes form a phrase. One consequence of this behavior is that if you want two concurrent legato linesor one legato and one non-legato linesung with the same voice, you need to open the same voice type more than once and turn on the Legato script where appropriate. Of course, the same rule holds for the Portamento script.
Release Trails with Legato and Portamento Scripts
When either of these two scripts is turned On, release trails for that articulation are automatically turned off. To leave them on might interfere with the portamento and/or legato effect. Because the release trails will be turned off, you may then want to turn on some reverb; the choice of one of the EW Hall convolution reverbs in the PLAY engine will most closely match the natural reverb of the rest of the library.

During sampling, the simultaneous recordings from all three positions were phase-locked. This attention to detail ensures that the samples can be bounced down to a single audio track without introducing phasing problems. Many composers still work in stereo only. You can mix all three ambiences together without any phasing issues. You will actually hear a lot of dimension in your stereo mixes. Consider this: if you render a close mix, a full mix, and a surround mix of every piece you write, you will have an archive that can be used to create surround mixes in the future. And you know it will workperfectly! This technique also allows you to do quick wetter or drier remixes in the future.
Controlling Ambiance with the 3 Mics
Controlling the natural reverberation of the concert hall can be as easy as adjusting the level of Surround mics, and turning on or off the Close mics. If you require more control, the volume of the release trails can be altered in the Articulations control. The image at the right shows the level of the release trails lowered by 2.5 dB relative to their original loudness. Just be sure to make the same adjustment in all the 6 to 12 instrument files when you load a multi.

Some Sound Advice

Generally, in our opinion, the Stage mic has the best overall sound if you will be using only one mic position, but a combination of the three mics usually creates the most impressive sound. Although it may vary with the type of choral music being recorded, the sections often sound best with the Close mics turned down in volume (leaving only enough of the close mics to add definition). Try this: Boost the Close mics up to 6db (bell shape with a fairly wide Q) between 5K and 10K. Then roll off the frequencies below 800Hz so you are down about 10db at 50Hz. Then mix the Close track into the Stage track at a low volume to add clarity and sheen to the stage mics. (Be careful not to use too much of the close mics with this EQ curve.) Other styles may sound just right using an equal blend of all ambiences. The idea is to experiment until you find a combination that works.
Various Ways to Combine the Samples
Using Close and Surround Mics Sparingly
One possible approach when using EWQLSC to create a stereo mix is to use primarily the Stage mics and then blend in just enough of the Close samples to provide more immediacy, plus enough of the Surround samples to create a more natural reverb to the overall sound. Theres no reason to keep the mix constant for the duration of the piece. Maybe youll want to add in a little extra Close mics to a section that has the most important lyrics at the moment. Or give the altos the extra punch to stand out when they carry the melody, or push up the Surround perspective to make the chorus of townspeople sound more distant when they first arrive on the scene. Use your ear and your imagination to find the best mix for both you and the piece youre working on.

ALTO WB DYN MOD ALTO WB HARD MOD ALTO WB SOFT MOD ALTO WB NV ALTO WB VBF ALTO WB VBM 3-way Mod Wheel cross-fade 2-way vibrato Mod Wheel cross-fade 2-way non-vibrato/vibrato Mod Wheel cross-fade non-vibrato vibrato, forte vibrato, medium

TENORs

TENR WB DYN MOD TENR WB HARD MOD TENR WB SOFT MOD TENR WB NV TENR WB VBF TENR WB VBM 3-way Mod Wheel cross-fade 2-way vibrato Mod Wheel cross-fade 2-way non-vibrato/vibrato Mod Wheel cross-fade non-vibrato vibrato, forte vibrato, medium

BASSEs

BASS WB DYN MOD BASS WB HARD MOD BASS WB SOFT MOD BASS WB NV BASS WB VBF BASS WB VBM 3-way Mod Wheel cross-fade 2-way vibrato Mod Wheel cross-fade 2-way non-vibrato/vibrato Mod Wheel cross-fade non-vibrato vibrato, forte vibrato, medium
BOYS WB DYN MOD BOYS WB HARD BOYS WB SOFT 2-way non-vibrato cross-fade non-vibrato, forte non-vibrato, piano
Full Mens and Full Womens Choruses
Symphonic Choirs creates a voice type known as Women by using the Altos samples for the lower half of the range and Sopranos samples for the upper half. If you load this voice type in WordBuilder and PLAY, you have a single voice that can sing notes over a range of F2 to E5, almost 3 octaves. Likewise, a voice type of Men combines Bass and Tenor samples to create a voice that covers the notes from B0 to D4, more than 3 octaves. As you might expect, there is a somewhat discernible change in timbre at the point near the middle of the range where the underlying voice type changes, so evaluate whether this will be a problem for your project before deciding to use either Men or Women as a voice type. EastWest achieves this wider range by using 12 MIDI channels (instead of the 6 channels for the other voice types). And note that Men and Women use special, range-restricted versions of the instruments for Sopranos, Altos, Tenors, and Basses. This small range makes sure that each note in the Mens voice type plays either a Tenor sample or a Bass sample, but not both.
Memory Considerations When Choosing Multis
Note that the DYN MOD multis use a lot of memory and, therefore, require a highpowered computer. Use other multis when dynamic cross-fading from the softest to the loudest is not crucial or when the computers power and/or memory is too low to handle so many samples at once.