Posts Tagged ‘session string players’
Sunday, December 13th, 2009
On Sunday the 6th December, we were booked as a string quartet comprising two violins, a viola and cello to record at the ‘Engine Room’ (part of the group of Miloko Studios in London). We were required to add simple string parts to seven tracks for an independent band - as these weren’t string arrangements that we had been asked to write, we simply had to turn up and play the music given to us on the day. The bands style favoured irregular time signatures which kept us on our toes with large sections being done in a single take to capture a live feeling of spontaneity. The end product certainly enhanced the sound with the tracks gaining richness and depth as a result of including live strings. In a couple of tracks, the producer discussed the possibility of using the tracks laid down by the four session musicians to add a top layer to existing sampled strings - this technique is becoming increasingly popular where there are many different sounds in the mix and can certainly help the strings to sound more convincing than only using samples.
Tags: Adding string parts, chords for strings, Live strings, Miloko Studios, sampled strings, session string players, session strings, string accompaniment, studio musicians, studio strings, The Engine Room studios
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Thursday, October 29th, 2009
On Sunday, we recorded a wonderful suite of pieces by the talented composer Philip Henderson. Assembled in MBJ studios were myself on violin, one violist, a cellist and double bassist to record (with the use of accurate overdubbing), works written for the combination of 10 solo strings. One of the challenges of the day was to try and judge how much music we could record whilst maintaining the very highest level of playing which would do the pieces justice. On one hand, we needed to best utilise having four musicians together to cover the maximum amount of music (potentially 5 tracks, amounting to over 30 minutes of music), but it was vital to maintain an excellent quality of playing.
It was an enormous help to have the composer present as he could give us a very clear idea of how he wanted certain passages to sound and bring out the qualities he was looking for. With quite a lot of subtle shifts in tempo and phrasing and some quite tricky passages, we had all anticipated that the whole suite might even take a further day to complete - however it soon became clear that with the super efficient recording work by engineer Ben Jones, our motivation to get as much recorded as possible and crucially the input from Philip, all five tracks were able to be recorded.
We began by recording violin 5 with viola 2, cello 2 and double bass - and found that it took around 3 hours of recording before the double bass parts were complete. A further three hours and violin 4, viola 1 and cello 1 parts were complete. Then 3 more hours were needed to record the violins 3,2 and 1 parts for the first 3 movements of the work. The process consisted of building up from the bottom so that we could keep a tight rein on tuning as well as making the foundation for each track rhythmically perfect.
Any rhythmic untidiness will only become exaggerated with each overdub so there is a real skill in recording this way. We are all looking forward to hearing the end result as Philip Henderson has created some music of real scope which had quite a moving effect on all the musicians involved.
Tags: Ben Jones engineer, MBJ, new classical music for strings, overdubbing strings, Philip Henderson, recording chamber music, session double bass, session musicians, session string players, session violinist, String orchestra, string section, studio musicians, studio strings
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Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Yesterday we were booked to provide a large string sound for a dance track being produced by someone studying recording technology in Oxford. As the rest of the track was just drums and vocals, it gave us plenty of scope to add some inventive strings, scored for violin, viola and cello parts - the final arrangement ended up being scored for cello, viola, violin 2, violin 1 and an additional violin part which repeated the opening hook to help the cohesion of the track. Because the track was in the key of F minor, (with four flats), tuning had to be really precise. The session ran smoothly and the final track sounded powerful and detailed - all that remains is for it to be mixed and mastered!
Tags: Adding string parts, adding strings to a dance track, arranging for violin, Large string sound, Orchestrating for strings, SAE, session musicians, session string players, studio musicians, studio strings, writing for string orchestra, writing for string section
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Tuesday, September 8th, 2009
Yesterday we were asked to add some single viola and cello parts to a track by the acoustic band ‘Shy June’ (Stuart Denney and Gareth Edler) who are currently recording new material after releasing ‘Drive’ earlier this year.
Although the viola is a beautiful instrument, it is not always the obvious first choice (people more commonly think of adding a violin), so it was a real pleasure to be able to bring the rich, mellow qualities of a viola to this track (and also the soulful sound of Julia’s cello).
We wish Stuart and Gareth every success with their forthcoming release!
Tags: adding a cello to a track, Adding string parts, qualities of the viola, session string players, Shy June, studio musicians, studio strings, viola
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Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
Recently we were approached to provide a strong violin solo on a large scale work - it was an elaborate solo over a multi-layered backdrop at the beginning of the piece and lasting approximately 2 minutes. As the composer had already written it for a midi file, all that was needed was a quick transcription to written notation, so that it was all set for the studio.
Because the violin part was to be the main focus, at the forefront of the mix, the sound had to be really strong with plenty of shading and a high level of accuracy. As such, we did 4 or 5 full length takes and chose the best one. In this way, we were able to capture a ‘live’ feel with all the spontaneity of an improvised solo. It’s important to try to vary the sound and style of playing according to the style of music - as this was a rock track the violin needed to sound bold and prominent with a little bit of ‘edge’. The playing on the track was certainly a completely different sound than I would produce for a folk piece of pop ballad - and experienced session musicians have the ability to vary their playing to really suit the mood and style of the track they are recording for.
Tags: hire session musicians, hire string players, hire violinist, notation, session musicians, session string players, solo violinist, soloist, strings for rock track, studio musicians, violin solo, violinist
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Monday, July 6th, 2009
Although we’re often hired to create string arrangements or write string parts, also we’re booked by clients who already have their music scored and just want to hire some reliable session musicians.
Of course, one of the first considerations is how much this is going to cost - and we always stress that the more prepared and organised a studio is, the quicker we can get in and get the work done. Arriving at a studio and finding that the microphones are already set up, the engineer is ready to record and simple things like chairs are in place can all mean that we can simply sit down and record straight away - saving the client time. Time is money and we often arrive early just to make sure everything is set up so that the time we charge for is actually spent playing. From the initial enquiry, if a score (and if possible mp3) can be given to the musicians beforehand, it’s possible to give an accurate estimate of how much time the recording should take, and also to spend a few minutes looking at the score to spot any potential tricky areas that might take more time.
Sometimes - in particular when other instruments are going to be recorded at the same time - it’s hard to estimate how long a recording might take. As we charge a set amount of time per musician for the first two hours (with a reduced hourly rate thereafter), it can be much more economical to get strings added to several tracks on one day. It’s always good to leave the day open - ended without any pressing evening engagements so that if the recording session does over-run it’s all fine.
Once in the studio, one of the musicians will usually keep popping into the booth just to hear back what’s just been recorded and check for any tiny imperfections - things that a string player would pick up on - just in case the producer and engineer may not have heard it - it’s far better to quickly fix any small adjustments in tuning, tone or phrasing at the earliest stage possible, before any post production work has been done.
With developed ears for recording work and experience of how to get the best string tone in front of a microphone, the best session players are able to adjust the tone quality of their instruments to fit in with the ‘feel’ of each individual track.
Tags: hiring professional musicians, recording musicians, Recording studios, session musicians, session string players, studio musicians, studio strings
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Monday, June 29th, 2009
Many of the jobs that we’ve worked on have been for clients who have sent us string parts they’ve written themselves from a midi file. Scoring from midi requires no knowledge of music theory or written notation and often involves the composer playing parts into a keyboard and then printing off the results.
Whilst this is a useful tool in many situations, it rarely produces results that sound convincing for string players once we’re in the studio. Here’s an example: If the composer has little knowledge of the different musical clefs then a cello part can be printed off in a treble clef. As the range of the cello extends lower than the treble clef can accommodate, we’ve been handed parts with about 10 ledger lines at the bottom of the stave, the notes overlapping the stave below - almost impossible to read. The other problem with playing chords in via a keyboard is that it ends up quite ‘fixed’ with no ‘feel’ and the inner parts don’t have a satisfying musical line - therefore so much of the potential from using live strings is lost.
Writing for any collection of instruments is all about the individual line of each instrument. If the parts are moving in chords, each part sounds best when it is playing a melody that harmonises with the rest of the parts in the piece or track.
Very often, expensive studio time can be wasted whilst session musicians sit around re-writing scored midi parts until they are both readable and playable, so as a matter of course we now do ask clients to send through midi-created parts so that we can tidy them up before the session, and save everyone time and money. We charge a nominal fee of £40 per hour for this - the same fee as for string arranging from the original track in the first place.
Although it might seem cheaper to create parts using a midi, it can be just as quick and economical to hire a string arranger to score the parts properly for strings in the first place - and results will be more effective with creative harmonies and melodic lines written in to add richness. As an example, paying a string arranger £40 per hour to spend a couple of hours correctly notating and orchestrating will potentially save hours in the studio and the musicians will be able to go in and just play everything right first time from a properly written score, using each instrument to it’s full potential.
Tags: Adding string parts, chords for strings, cost of a string arranger, creating a score from midi, midi strings, notation fees, Orchestrating for strings, orchestration fees, orchestrator, scoring from midi, session musicians, session string players, string accompaniment, string arrangement costs, string arranger, string arranger fees, String Arranging, studio musicians, studio strings, writing for string section, Writing for stringed instruments
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Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
One of the most wide ranging techniques on a bowed stringed instrument is what is commonly referred to as staccato. In essence, staccato is where the notes are short and spiky - this can be achieved in different ways. The Martele (pronounced mart -el-lay) bow stroke is where the bow is gently pressed to the string and released rapidly to create a little ‘kick’ or accent at the beginning of each note. It can be played rapidly or slowly and there is generally a small gap between each note. Whereas this would be rarely applied for a commercial string session on a pop or rock track, it could be used in a more classical sound - perhaps for a film soundtrack or television production.
The spiccato bow stroke is what is commonly referred to as ‘off the string bowing’ because the bow leaves the string at the end of each stroke. This gives the music a distinctive sound which can be used in a variety of different context as it’s so versatile. Spiccato bowing is great for rapid scales and will create a ‘brilliant’ effect (as in bright) or could be applied in a slower and heavier passage to add drama.
Adding variety with spiccato and martele bowings can accentuate the strings by using the whole section, or just one group of instruments (for example, only violas) and both are widely used ways of adding interest or energy when orchestrating for strings.
Tags: Adding string parts, dramatic string parts, martele bowing, Orchestrating for strings, orchestration, orchestrator, session musicians, session string players, spiccato bowing, spiky string parts, string arranger, String Arranging, studio strings, violinist, writing for string section, Writing for stringed instruments
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Friday, June 5th, 2009
This week we contributed to two contrasting recording projects - one for some final year students at SAE in Oxford where the studio was absolutely state of the art and the particular studio we were in used a lot of analogue recording equipment including an old analogue valve mixing desk. The recording was part of an assignment for the students and their brief was to record 4 acoustic instruments on top of guitars / drums etc, with three tracks all in all. The session involved some music which was already scored and some which we were asked to improvise in order to fulfill the assignment brief.
On Monday we were asked for something totally different - working with a talented singer songwriting partnership who needed string quartet parts adding to some tracks which were almost finished. As I’d been asked to arrange the strings for two of the tracks, we’d been working together all week via email with small adjustments to get the strings sounding as close to the composers ideas as possible - this is a process which requires patience as often several revisions are needed before the song is ‘just right’. It’s always gratifying to get into the studio and finally record the parts - and after all the careful arranging work, we laid down the strings at the Dairy Studios in Brixton. The session ran smoothly and we recorded three songs with very few ’second takes’ needed. Although the majority of the music was scored for string quartet, there were a few bars where the sound needed to be thickened up with an extra violin or viola part, so I stayed on and carefully overdubbed a few phrases at the end to give a larger string sound.
Tags: Adding string parts, adding strings to a song, Dairy Studios, Improvising session musicians, Orchestrating for strings, orchestrator, Recording studios, SAE, session musicians, session string players, string arranger, String Arranging, String quartet, studio musicians, studio strings, writing for string section, Writing for stringed instruments
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Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
Pizzicato is simply a technique where the strings are plucked rather than bowed (arco). It is a great tool to add variety to a piece and can enhance the rhythmic vitality of a section. As the tension of violin strings is higher than that on guitars, plucked notes tend to give an immediate response with a slightly ‘tight’ sound and a rapid decay.
When used in a full string section, pizzicato can cut through other textures without sounding abrasive, but can also be used to add a touch of humour or quirkiness to a song. Often single notes can be picked out or plucked as part of a counter melody, or if a single chord needs to be struck, 2, 3 or even 4 notes can be simultaneously plucked. In this instance, a knowledge of the tuning of stringed instruments is needed as the spacing of the chord is unique to the string family (being tuned in fifths). A string arranger has to take into account that on a given chord, there is a big spread of notes and it’s important to know which finger takes each string so that the chord ends up being playable by your session musicians.
When writing for stringed instruments, it’s always important to keep in mind how the four strings are tuned unless the lines are very simple. If the parts have been written on a keyboard, they may not necessarily be playable on a violin, viola or cello so unless the composer is a professional string arranger, having a string player check them through is advisable before entering the studio.
Although usually used sparingly, adding some pizzicato effects can be a great way to bring some bounce and life to a string arrangement. Plucked strings can be soft and subtle or really dramatic.
Tags: Adding string parts, appropriate string parts, arranging for violin, composer, orchestrating, Orchestrating for strings, orchestrator, Pizzicato, plucked strings, session musicians, session string players, string arranger, String Arranging, String orchestra, studio musicians, studio strings, violinist, writing for string section, Writing for stringed instruments
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