Very often we are asked by clients to book a recording studio ourselves (or to recommend one) and although the cost of hiring a recording studio can vary enormously, we always try to keep within a sensible budget to maintain cost effective recordings. It is sometimes hard to accurately estimate how long it can take to record strings in a studio as things may run very smoothly with the recording being finished surprisingly quickly, or hiccups can arise which slow things down. With session musicians and studio engineers usually paid on an hourly rate, it’s important to make every minute in the studio productive. From the players point of view, any professional will make sure they turn up a little early, with their instrument ready to play and any tricky parts to the music already prepared. A studio can organise things beforehand too - with chairs set out, microphones in place and everything set up ready to record straight away.
But what are some of the factors which (in our experience) can improve the efficiency of studio work?
Firstly, it’s absolutely essential that any string parts which are to be recorded are composed or arranged and agreed with the client beforehand, ideally when other instruments and vocals are already in place so that strings can be written to enhance the rest of the track. Turning up at the studio and being asked to improvise or collaborate is likely to waste time whilst players agree on how and what to play, and it’s always a risk that the client might not like the results, having envisaged it sounding entirely different. A properly prepared score can save literally hours of time in the studio.
Likewise, if strings are to be added to a track with other instruments and vocals already recorded, it’s important that no ‘last minute changes’ are made to this after the string arrangement has been done - because the score the string arranger has prepared may well differ meaning the string parts don’t line up with the rest of the track. This can cause confusion and delay as the players try and work out how the score needs to be amended before recording can resume.
A string arranger can make the score very detailed with bowings, articulations, dynamics and other subtleties written in so that players can simply go in and play the music right at first reading. Sadly this is not always the case and can be a major bugbear of session musicians. Even in the case of top film and television soundtrack recordings if an orchestrator or arranger has not been very detailed in their scoring, much time can be wasted in the studio.
So when seeking a quotation or estimate for session musicians, so much can depend on the quality of preparation done beforehand and this is the responsibility of the client as well as the orchestrator / arranger. Poorly written parts can take literally double the time to record and although many bands or songwriters think that money can be saved by doing it themselves, it can often be a false economy.
Thanks very much to Leigh for uploading this video of the various musicians who contributed to ‘My Favourite Time of Year’ - by the Florin Street Band. It has little snippets of the strings in action and gives a good idea of the studio processes involved in making a pop record.
Back in the summer, we were approached to take part in a very exciting project - to record the strings for a song by composer Leigh Haggerwood. Leigh (who has recently become known as his Victorian alter ego ‘Travis Shenanigans’!) had the idea of writing a proper Christmas song, with festive lyrics and a real ‘feel good’ melody and as soon as we heard it, the players on the session realised it was extremely catchy and likely to do very well indeed. In these days of large record company promotions, the X factor and various facebook campaigns to download silence or novelty songs, it’s a refreshing change to hear a proper old fashioned Christmas Song that actually makes you feel… well…. Christmassy! The song is called ‘My Favourite Time of Year’ by the Florin Street Band and is well worth a listen over Christmas. Because the project was entirely self funded without record company backing, it’s down to the general public to support it and get it into the Christmas charts. If initial response from everyone who has heard it so far is anything to go by, it should do really well as it is far more original than anything else released over Christmas.
The string parts were quickly notated and we went into Sarm Studios to record them in the same week as Leigh had gathered the English Chamber Choir and a whole host of other talented British musicians including James Ryan on drums to appear on the song.
By autumn, it was time to record the video which was filmed overnight at Blists Hill Victorian Town in Ironbridge Gorge and it was a real pleasure to appear in the film, playing a busking violinist in period costume - re-creating the violin solos and string parts that we had recorded back in August.
When I was at music college, I did quite a bit of busking to make ends meet, so although I’d never busked in a top hat before, I felt very at home in the role!
Today, the Florin Street Band website is now up and running and the video and song can be enjoyed online - the band also have a facebook page where people who like the song can keep up to date with all the latest news.
Yesterday evening we worked with a talented vocalist and composer who had written his own string parts to compliment a song he is releasing as a demo. I had assisted by notating the music a few weeks ago and therefore when we started working in the studio, he was eager to resolve some timing issues which were difficult to notate as they were to do with ‘feel’ in certain phrases and were therefore a little too subtle to have discerned from the original midi strings. The string parts had been scored for viola, violin 2 and violin 1 so we laid down one track of each from my notation so that the composer could then easily identify which parts needed a different emphasis with timing and bar numbers as a reference point. Once we found the small phrases which needed to be changed, he was able to sing the phrase as required and easily convey what he intended - I quickly notated this on manuscript and we were then able to proceed without a hitch.
This was a very good example of how written notation sometimes needs to be augmented by verbal instructions. The convention among orchestrators is to write an Italian phrase underneath the stave which clearly tells the musician what the composer would like - the alternative is for the composer to be present in the recording studio and to instruct the session musicians of the ‘feel’ of certain passages.
On Friday, we had the pleasure of recording some violin and viola parts for a composer who had already recorded the cello parts himself. As he hadn’t heard his composition performed on real instruments before, it was a pleasure to hear the music unfolding - one layer at a time.
One of the skills require in overlayering parts to an existing track is keeping a very accurate rhythm. It would only require one part to be rhythmically unstable for the whole track to sound uneven, so it is vital to make sure that every take is absolutely perfect. In a real ensemble situation, players have lots of subtle non-verbal cues between them and when these are missing in a studio situation, it is a matter of remembering exactly where the phrasing and speed alter in the minutest detail.
In the case of this composition, there were accelerandos which occurred over several bars as well as many changes of tempo. It is possible to record by stopping at each tempo change and editing but as we only had an allotted time of two hours, working swiftly was of the essence and therefore we did each individual layer in a single take. This meant that the changes of tempo had to be smooth and precise.
Due to extraneous noise around the recording studio caused by some building work in the vicinity (which nobody could have predicted!) the whole project did run over time a little, but the composer was absolutely delighted with the end result - which hopefully brought his composition to life.
This weekend, we were asked to record the strings on two songs for a talented singer songwriter who is producing her own album of melodic ballads. As over the previous two weeks I had been arranging the strings on both tracks in collaboration with the artist, I was really looking forward to recording them and hearing how they would sound on live strings. Although the Sibelius software that I use for arranging can give me a pretty good idea of how the parts will sound, it can’t really add any of the feeling and sensitivity that we do when we’re playing on acoustic instruments.
The arranging had been done to a brief and a couple of Sibelius versions had gone back and forward via email until our client was happy. One of the tracks required intricate writing with a view to having an 8 piece string ensemble (like a string quartet but thickened to two players per part). The other song already had synthesised strings in the mid range which needed to be replaced with the real thing and expanded to really open the song out. In this second song, it was important for the string parts to really enhance the track without getting in the way of the melody or other instrumentation, so as I was writing for a 48 piece string orchestra, the arranging had to have a very light touch with the ability to have richness and power where necessary.
We started the recording session at 4pm and didn’t finish until after midnight! Although the session had taken longer than anticipated, the results sounded stunning and we’re very much looking forward to hearing the final mix.
This weekend was quite full with two separate recording sessions of a contrasting nature. In the first, I had been given the brief of arranging and notating some string parts for a dance track and on Sunday we went into the studio to record these. The track itself had a strong and catchy riff and some very contemporary sounding vocals, all superbly mixed and produced, so my job was to add strings which would be complimentary and supportive, without in any way detracting from what was already in the mix. All together there were 10 parts to be added for various stringed instruments and as such, the range of writing covered overall about four octaves (although not simultaneously!). Sometimes, the strings lay beneath the track adding a rich body of sound and expanded near the end of the track, allowing the music to naturally open out and reach a climax with a catchy hook in the strings - this adds a completely different dimension to a track which is hard to achieve by electronic means.
Earlier this week, we received a phone call from a music production company who specialise in writing music for television advertisements and films. Having recorded the piece with synthesised strings, they were looking to replace the majority of them with live musicians so we were booked to go in today to record at Air Edel studios in London.
Various drafts of the advert were recorded so that the client and advertisement director could liaise and choose the most suitable version. All in all there were 8 different versions, varying in length between 30 and 40 seconds.
Having received the call on the Monday, I had to book the other players, exchange contracts, do a little bit of notation of parts (so that when we walked into the studio we could make best use of every minute), so that we were all ready to go this morning. In fixing session musicians, a lot of work can be exactly like this - of a ‘last minute’ nature, so the ability to deal swiftly with enquiries, work on the score and in booking players is vitally important. As we have a pool of strong players, we can always confidently book musicians that we know and trust, assured that they are not only reliable, but that their playing is of a high quality which will shine in a recording.
We look forward to hearing and seeing the final advert when it’s aired on television within the next few weeks.
Although Stringsection really are a group of string players (the clue is in the title I suppose!), occasionally we are asked by clients to source or recommend session musicians who play other instruments. In the past, we’ve been asked to find a cor anglais player, a flautist, oboist, harpist, French horn player and pianist to work on the same recordings that we were booked for.
On the surface, this should seem easy because as musicians we have lots of colleagues and contacts through orchestras and ensembles who play virtually any instrument, or it’s simply a case of ‘phone a friend’ to get a good recommendation. What takes a little thought is finding players who are 100% ‘rock-solid reliable’ and temperamentally suited to studio work as well as orchestral playing. As woodwind and brass players are often required to perform quite exposed solo’s in symphonic pieces, they will usually have no trouble sight reading and playing difficult stuff really well. Because tuning issues on wind instruments can be even more affected by humidity than with strings, studio conditions can have quite an effect, particularly in smaller booths. Also in smaller rooms, it may take a little longer for the engineer to set up the microphones and levels for e.g a French Horn as the volume of sound is potentially larger than a violin and the direction of sound needs to be carefully catered for - in this case, patience among the session musicians is a virtue!
Essentially when we are asked to fix another player, they would not only need to be a very capable musician with excellent tuning, but a patient and punctual person who can pay a great deal of attention to detail, be pleasant to work with and not develop an attack of nerves when the red light goes on! In the same way that not every musician is temperamentally suited to studio work, there are also those who absolutely thrive in a recording situation with some of their best work done in the studio.
So far, the only request for another instrumentalist that has completely stumped us was someone looking for a bluegrass style banjo player but happily the client found someone very good via the internet.
One of the challenges involved in playing a stringed instrument is the ability to cope with different climates and the corresponding changes that these can bring about in the instrument. As violins, violas, cellos and double basses are all made from what were once living, breathing pieces of wood, they are all subject to slight expansions and contractions. From a player’s point of view, this can make an instrument seem ‘tight’ or the strings feel harsh as well as creating a few whistles or making them go quickly out of tune.
In such conditions, performers across the world are still able to give of their best and as this article is written in temperate England, it has to be said that we have very little to complain about! We don’t have to contend with excessive humidity that players may experience in say Florida or Bangkok, nor the dryness of a high altitude I experienced when playing in Aspen, Colorado. Perhaps we all need to develop the versatility to play well, even when our strings are out of tune - in fact it is good to occasionally practice on an instrument slightly detuned as we’ll certainly have to cope with that when it happens in the middle of a concert.
We also need to be able to respond to different climates (hot, cold, dry or damp) and rapidly adjust our playing if a string somehow feels different, or our left hand fingers seem ’sticky’ on the strings, making gliding between positions less easy. In such circumstances, the player has to try even harder to connect with the music in every moment, hopefully transcending moisture and heat.
When it comes to recording in the studio, especially in the summer when hard work and a closed room can cause players to perspire more, humidity can become a real issue. A couple of years ago I remember recording 3 days of demanding music in a very enclosed room without the benefit of air conditioning. As the hours wore on, strings became increasingly difficult to play on and the bow seemed to slip across the string a little. In this circumstance, we just had to try harder and put even more of ourselves into the music, with regular breaks to go outside with our instruments and take in some much needed fresh air!
