A: I was 6 years old started with violin, then piano at 9 and Bass at 14. I was already playing gigs at the age of 14 in Prague and outside of the city and country as well. We had a trio with Jan Hammer and my brother which was extremely creative and high quality, even we where 14 years old.
Q: Your original Miroslav Vitous Symphonic Orchestra sample library was the first high end collection of a complete orchestra and set the standard for years to come. Please tell us why you chose to create such a library.
A: I needed realistic sounds of high quality for my compositions and there was none available. I had to do it myself.
Q: Why did you choose the Dvorak Symphony Hall in Prague as the venue for these recording/sampling sessions.
A: This has been the cultural center of Czech music for decades and one of the best halls in the world.
Q: One of the techniques in the recording process was to capture the instruments and ensembles in their proper acoustic space of a real orchestra. Please tell us more about this and why you did it this way.
A: I wanted to have them in the same space as the orchestra sounds live, for the most realistic picture panorama. The beauty of the acoustics and the miking that we used gave it a realism that you would find in the best classical and film scoring recording sessions. This combined with how I work with musicians, to get emotion and feeling from their performance, is one of the secrets to its success.
Q: Have you used the Dvorak Symphony Hall or this group of orchestral players before on any musical projects? Are there any classical recordings or soundtracks that this orchestra is known for?
A: Yes I have played there and seen lots of projects there. This is the home of Czech Philharmonic, where they have recorded a whole catalog of classical recordings in the span of 25 years.
Q: Many people don't know that you had actually recorded a lot of the material with the highest digital resolutions even from the beginning. We understand that even the first orchestral samples were recorded in 20 bit. What machine sort of microphones, mic pres and digital recorders did you use?
A: I used Yamaha DMR 8, mostly Neumann mics, some Schepps for the woodwinds as well. Some of the other instruments’ sessions and the choirs were recorded in 24 bit. We used the same high end equipment one would use for a top quality orchestral recording session for classical music.
Q: Why did you choose Sonic Reality and IK Multimedia as the people to pass the torch to for taking your orchestral and choir archives to the next stage? How do you feel about this evolution?
A: I approached Dave Kerzner because I know that he is very active in the sampling world and these days I am not. I am too busy working on my music. So, I explained that I have recorded much more than has ever been released before and that the new samplers are capable of getting more quality out of this material. I just haven't the time to do it myself. I look forward to seeing this material worked on further and plan to use the Philharmonik plugin myself.
Q: Since you have left the sound development business, what do you spend most of your time on these days? We assume you are making lots of music? What are your current musical projects?
A: I am currently finishing album Universal Syncopations II and working on a classical/creative force project. I am putting together the classical forms with creative force improvisation as one music (not 4 bars of Jazz - 4 bars of Classical) I think for the first time (as many has been trying for years) this is now working, only thanks to my educational knowledge of both worlds and musicians ready to fulfill their places.