Introduction to composer/music producer/astrophotographer Jerry Gerber

[Jerry Gerber]

Hey all!

 

I stumbled upon this site tonight, thought I'd give it a shot..

 

I am 73 years old, I've spent my entire adult life composing and producing music for albums, games, TV, animation, industrial films, documentaries and dance.  Late in life I resurrected two childhood passions, astronomy and photography   I found myself integrating music, photography and astronomy and have begun creating a series of astro music videos.   I hope you enjoy these works!  

 

Feel free to ask me any questions about music composition, virtual orchestration or astrophotography, I am also a teacher. 

 

Jerry

 

Website

You Tube Channel

Edited June 29 by Jerry Gerber

[Peggy]

Welcome to Songstuff, Jerry! Nice to have you join in with us.

[john]

Hey there Jerry!

 

Welcome to Songstuff

[MisterB]

Nice stuff Jerry.  What are you using for strings? 

 

You've inspired me to dig out some of my older stuff. I work exclusively on vocal songs these days, but I used to do some orchestral based stuff (mostly in the MIDI domain), and did a media scoring diploma. Most of my stuff consisted of short pieces, and underdeveloped themes. LOL. I have one lonely IMDB credit, but I have done idents for local TV and radio in the past too.

 

I also work as a photographer (though not astro). I used to work as a Music Tech at the university I have worked at for 24 years, and switched gears to become the university photographer almost 7 years ago. Its funny how there seems to be this crossover between working with music, and working as a photographer, that's more common than it has a right to be.

[Jerry Gerber]

15 hours ago, MisterB said:

Nice stuff Jerry.  What are you using for strings? 

 

You've inspired me to dig out some of my older stuff. I work exclusively on vocal songs these days, but I used to do some orchestral based stuff (mostly in the MIDI domain), and did a media scoring diploma. Most of my stuff consisted of short pieces, and underdeveloped themes. LOL. I have one lonely IMDB credit, but I have done idents for local TV and radio in the past too.

 

I also work as a photographer (though not astro). I used to work as a Music Tech at the university I have worked at for 24 years, and switched gears to become the university photographer almost 7 years ago. Its funny how there seems to be this crossover between working with music, and working as a photographer, that's more common than it has a right to be.

 

Hello Mr. B,

I've used the VSL Orchestral Cube for about a decade.   I know the library well and the VI Player is superb.  I also use the solo strings, chamber strings, appassionata strings--all VSL. 

 

Glad any time my music inspires!  

 

Best,

Jerry

[Jerry Gerber]

On 6/29/2024 at 9:18 AM, john said:

Hey there Jerry!

 

Welcome to Songstuff

Thanks John.

[Jerry Gerber]

On 6/29/2024 at 8:48 AM, Peggy said:

Welcome to Songstuff, Jerry! Nice to have you join in with us.

Nice to be here, thanks Peggy!

[MisterB]

7 hours ago, Jerry Gerber said:

 

Hello Mr. B,

I've used the VSL Orchestral Cube for about a decade.   I know the library well and the VI Player is superb.  I also use the solo strings, chamber strings, appassionata strings--all VSL. 

 

Glad any time my music inspires!  

 

Best,

Jerry

 

 

They have a really nice bite to them.

 

 

[Jerry Gerber]

On 7/1/2024 at 4:35 AM, MisterB said:

 

 

They have a really nice bite to them.

 

 

 

I've been very happy with the VSL Cube.  There's a lot of libraries on the market today, but other than subjective responses to each library, it's hard to say one is "better" than the other.   The advantage of sticking with one library is that you can really get to know it, I still discover samples I've never used before and the VSL VI player and VE Pro are superb pieces of software.   I can afford to buy numerous other libraries but what I can't afford is the time I'd have to spend learning, configuring, backing up, etc.  all the samples and the software interface.  That's time away from music!

 

[MisterB]

On 7/2/2024 at 6:06 PM, Jerry Gerber said:

 

I've been very happy with the VSL Cube.  There's a lot of libraries on the market today, but other than subjective responses to each library, it's hard to say one is "better" than the other.   The advantage of sticking with one library is that you can really get to know it, I still discover samples I've never used before and the VSL VI player and VE Pro are superb pieces of software.   I can afford to buy numerous other libraries but what I can't afford is the time I'd have to spend learning, configuring, backing up, etc.  all the samples and the software interface.  That's time away from music!

 

Definitely a lot to be said for sticking with what you choose. I went through string libraries like they were comic books years back, then decided that was stupid, bought LA Scoring Strings, and haven't bought a string library since (other than the upgrade to LASS3). I'm a bit rusty with it these days since I don't use strings a whole lot any more, but back then, knew it's strengths and weaknesses and worked with them in mind to get the best results my abilities allowed.

 

 

[GregB]

Welcome, Jerry.

 

I've only ever done one purely 'orchestral' piece.  But I use strings quite often in my acoustic songs/instrumentals, e.g. violins for texture or a single cello for emotion (or just instead of bass guitar), though I doubt whether my implementation is as good as you could do. 

 

My library is Garritan Personal Orchestra https://www.garritan.com/products/personal-orchestra-5/... the ‘GPO 5 Compilation’ example track in the link sold me AND (at $149) it was not only good quality but also 5-10 times cheaper than alternatives (East-West, Hollywood, etc.). It was a further 30% cheaper at www.Sweetwater.com at the time.

 

Other times I use pure synth instruments because they cut through the mix, or else stack the synth with the 'real' to get the best of both worlds.

 

I'm currently in the foothills of doing a cover of the Beatles' recent "Now and Then".

Do you know what BOWING technique is used for the short violin stabs starting here ... ?

 

 

The options available to me are:

 

 

Cheers,

Greg B

 

 

 

[Jerry Gerber]

No, sorry, I do not.  They're too buried in the mix for me to hear exactly what the string players are doing.  My guess it's some type of off-the string staccato, sforzando, or something similar.

 

 

[VoiceEx]

I see that you have great taste when it comes to libraries! VSL is fantastic! 👍 Welcome to Songstuff @Jerry Gerber!
 

I agree with what you said to @MisterB about the advantages of sticking to your guns, library wise. It takes years to learn how to utilize a complex tool to its fullest potential. Let alone, a large collection of tools. And 'time' is that one important 'currency' that none of us will ever get back.

 

That's not to suggest that experimenting with different libraries is a bad thing. Far from it. I think that experimentation is paramount to evolving as a musician, regardless of how long a person has been making music. Not to mention, I've never met a musician that only uses one library 😅

 

That being said, when it comes to producing results on a schedule, I find that, in most cases, the difference between a Jack of all trades, and between someone whose mastered what they excel at, is like night and day.

 

Just my of opinion, of course 👍

Edited July 20 by VoiceEx