Anybody ever worked with an orchestra?

Well, you are in for the experience of a lifetime.
If you don't read/write yourself you will need a competent assistant who can.
Sheet music for the "orchestra " comes in about 5or 6 sets. Remember each brass instrument can have a different key with different parts, as well as bass staff and vocalists,
None of them want to see what the other players need.
Most of the instruments are single note pieces and your chords mean nothing to many of the players. In fact they clutter up the sheets.
I recently got invited to play bass with an Orchestra. I got about 100 songs in bass clef. No lyrics, no chords just lines of bars with intro, sign, coda info key and tempo information.

My advice would be to get a good synth which can produce great string, brass, keyboard and anything else you want just by playing your guitar.
To do what you want you will need a good orchestra and they won't come cheap and you will take a long time to get near where you imagine at the outset.

 

I guess our band is considered an Orchestra :


A+!

 

Very cool idea, although it requires lots of work. My band has only two saxophone players, but they each have two different saxes (baritone and tenor - alto and c-melody), one sometimes plays trumpet and both play flute in one tune. Both read music, one of them does the arranging/notation. We are in the beginning of recording our original tunes and I want them to play up to four saxes or two to three saxes and one trumpet on some of the tunes. Both are having their own microphone but will play at the same time to get a good groove when recording.
What I'm trying to say: you need someone to arrange the horns. You can do the recording with maybe two or three saxophone players, one trumpet player and one trombone when they each play two or more tracks. And you should find an engineer you trust to do the mixing. It's an art of its own.

 

Do yourself a favor-- If you have no experience with arranging strings and horns, find a competent arranger to chart the orchestra parts for the strings and horns. It's not impossible to do yourself but it can be extremely time consuming and often ends up being a nightmare for the composer. You need someone with a strong background in working music theory who can listen to your musical ideas and arrange the appropriate parts. Most orchestral players depend heavily on accurate charts, as they are accustomed to traditionally structured performance pieces. In fact, most orchestral groups (even something as small as a traditional string quartet) won't even think of performing a piece without charts.

 

Thanks @Rob_Brindley !

Yes, we do both : original stuff written by our conductors and covers arranged by them (we have 3, shifting from player to conductor). The bands has an average of 25-30 members. We are all amateurs except for 2 of the conductors, which are the Director and one of the Teachers of Music85, our music school.

The band is called Magic 85 Orchestra, and a few videos can be found on youtube :

Below some moments of your 2013 concert edition in Jazz à Vienne :


Here is a cover of "Another Way to Die" from 2015, recorded "correctly" (it took us a full Saturday plus late in the night though) :


Since the C-19 events, absolutely no reharsal nor concerts are allowed for us, so we started some kind of "COVID Sessions" : Our conductor send us a "click" file, then we all record and film our part synchronized, and we return it all for video assembly.

We also unsuccesfully tried to play "live, real-time" online with the free Zoom Video Conferencing. It did not worked, notably because of unbearable and random lagging connections issues, making any real-time synchronisation impossible.

Here is a "To Love Somebody" cover from April 2020, where I play some Lap Steel :


And "Can't Hold us" cover from January 2021 (in a more funny way ) :


A+!

 

There's one thing you haven't mentioned yet---who's paying for this?
Studio time is one (expensive) thing. So are the wages for techs and musicians.
There are myriad problems involved with any large group undertaking, but, the payoff could be seriously impressive. I wish you luck.

 

Interesting thread.
You start by writing about orchestra which I took to be strings, brass, woodwinds etc, then it morphed into a big band. The two don't mix so before you spend money I'd decide which. Think Buble who's worked with both.

Read about The Wrecking Crew (or my own book, The Guitarist, a novel on Amazon, he wrote immodestly) and you'll read that before they emerged (and they're really jazz people) the studio recording players were musos from the NY or LA symphonies moonlighting. Apart from a few - Glen Campbell comes to mind - Wrecking Crew/orchestra/band players are readers and you'll have to provide them charts. If you don't write you'll have to pay an arranger and a copyist. Could begin to get expensive.

In truth, it's going to cost you big, really big to buy fully pro orchestra/band plus studio.

Cheaper options would be student/youth band or orchestra if you're in a big city. If the idea doesn't frighten you, maybe consider a brass band? Many have youth bands attached to them.

If the band/orch is good enough they'll have their own balance. That means you can record with just three good mics on a Decca triangle or whatever they're called these days. I was at the final of the UK's top Brass Band competition many years ago and watched the BBC set up for the broadcast by the champion band - with three mics! If you can afford 80 mics for an 80-piece band then go for it but if the band's good enough you'll be spending unnecessary money and if they're not you'll be spending a fortune in editing time. I've recorded both ways, trust me.

I'd endorse the synth suggestion at least to ensure that your arrangements are right.

What I can tell you doesn't work - 'cos I know the studio engineer in a big Manchester studio who tried it many years ago, the multi-track recording of a violin 20 times doesn't sound like the first violin section, it sounded like... If you can't afford 20 violinists you might try a chorus pedal/machine but seriously why not start with a quartet?

Finally, I know a very talented young musician (trumpeter) who recorded a multipart song for his university finals - all sung a capella - listen at:
https://soundcloud.com/markharrisontrumpet/go-the-distance
Or
https://soundcloud.com/markharrisontrumpet/o-holy-night-m-sync

As always in music, don't give up.

Good luck.

 

A big 6120 with a full orchestra, I love it. I can listen to BS with his all day long.

@Rob_Brindley I hope you do it

 

Thanks @Rob_Brindley !

We have been to Germany several times, but never crossed the Channel...

In Germany, we played and backed (à la Setzer Orchestra) a little Rockabilly band : Lucky13, from Nürtingen. They also came to France to play with us : great moments, cool friends !

A+!

 

I'm a numbers guy. I would set a budget of say $20,000 and see what can be done for that and adjust from there. Being in Las Vegas I have know many orchestra members that were displaced when recorded sound took over the showrooms. It was sad to see live music go.

Sounds like a great project.

 

As @flip suggested, find a local community or youth band. Before the pandemic I was playing bassoon in our local orchestra, "director's choice" in our junior college Concert Band, and trombone in a not-for-profit Big Band (gig fees collected, other than what is needed to pay for charts and equipment, go to music school scholarships). All three groups have members running the gamut from current/former touring or session pros to kids who are just getting started, and everything in between. If you put the word out to your music community you will likely be pleasantly surprised. And many of us amateurs work cheap! In fact, I've never made a dime from playing music, but it sure is good for my soul (though not my wallet).

 

With an orchestra, you'll have a whole new world of musician jokes at your disposal.
You'll also need to mop the floor where the brass section sits.