This is just something I thought I'd add to the sticky entitled "a few tips on how to make your songs sound better." Crispy did a fantastic job with this post--I just thought I'd add something in regards to orchestral soundtracking. Crispy's tips are excellent for a dry mix of a more pop/techno/rock-oriented song. For an orchestral soundtrack, there are a few things that I like to do that tend to make it sound a little more authentic than usual. I usually try NOT to compress my individual tracks in an orchestral song--simply because a slight imperfection can often make a (classically oriented ) song sound more real--generally, some instruments in a live orchestral setting will "pop out" now and then, and that's just the way it is. I will balance my instruments really carefully on the mixer, but then run the whole kaboodle through an advanced reverb or room modeller, set to full wet. This gives a sense that the whole orchestra is in a large stage or hall, being recorded live. If you are running a different reverb setting for each instrument, it will tend to sound pretty fabricated, so I find that using one large, wet verb gives me the best sound. Then, if something still jumps out very badly, I will go back and fix it, but not before creating that full-wet mix. Your workflow depends--sometimes I will work dry and add reverb later, but sometimes it's easier to simply work with what the end result will sound like. I suggest listening to a fully dry version of your song before rendering out though--often the reverb can cover up mistakes. That's all, hope it's helpful.

That is very good advice you have mentioned. I've had the opertunity to record several orchestra performances live and generally what I do is hang several small diaphragm condensor omnis above the orchestra to pick up ambiance as well as use a stereo pair of large diaphragm condensors in an XY configuration to provide a cleaner stereo image. The hanging omi's pick up the same natrual reverb you would obtain when adding reverb to the final mixdown, rather than to each instrument individually.