Tips for Strings?

dewhitt

dewhitt

Dave DeWhitt
Hey All,

Does anyone have any super cool secret tips and tricks for recording keyboard-generated string parts that sound really nice? I'm not necessarily talking about particular samples or patches that are preferred, but more about techniques. For example, I read somewhere on this forum at one time a post where someone mentioned tracking the same part over and over again to get a nice, layered/chorus effect that is natural sounding (sorry to the poster, but I can't remember where I saw that). Any other tips? Things like maybe how you like to apply effects, verb, etc?

Thanks!

Dave DeWhitt
davedewhitt's sounds on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free
 
Well...I like just a smidge (tiny tiny!) of reverb and then some chorus to fatten them up. Strings can be one of those fickle instruments that are pretty hard to get right sometimes, which seems weird because they're so simple if it's from a keyboard :D Layering can be useful, although I never really use more 2 tracks of strings. Panning the reverb also helps too :)

I'm not gonna lie though, I can count the number of songs I've recorded that had strings in them on one hand. :p I'm sure there's others here who are much more qualified to answer your question!
 
I find most synth/sampled strings are too hyped, too much reverb, to much edginess.
It's nothing unusual, since most samples are made for their own, individual sound with no "mix" involved.

So, I like to try and "soften" them up some with EQ and/or tape...remove all the reverb if it is coming from the synth/sampler and just get the dry sound, and then see how they fit with the rest of the mix. Sometimes you need to try several different samples to find the one that works for your sound.

I was just doing that for some strings a couple of days ago. Tried a bunch of samples, finally settled on a set from my old AKAI S1000HD, then I did some editing of the sample, since each string sound is actually made up of multiple samples...so I find the voicing that works best for me, then go from there, adjusting further as needed. I usually take the stereo samples and only track one side, because in stereo they are just too huge. They sound great alone, but in the mix it's too much.
 
guitaristic said:
Strings can be one of those fickle instruments that are pretty hard to get right sometimes
Click to expand...

Absolutely! It seems like it should be a no-brainer, because they are so pre-packaged and perfect sounding when you play a string patch on most samplers, etc. But man...

Miroslav, I think you are right - they are just too hyped and too perfect or something. I have a simple song I'm playing around with that is just piano and voice, and I have been fooling around with some string parts, but I can't tell if it's making the overall impact of the song better or worse :(

I appreciate your thoughts, guys...this is helpful info. I'll play around with simplifying and going for tasteful and subtle instead of the over-the-top, hollywood, cinematic string section that I currently have going on :D

Very Best,

Dave
 
dewhitt said:
Absolutely! It seems like it should be a no-brainer, because they are so pre-packaged and perfect sounding when you play a string patch on most samplers, etc. But man...

Miroslav, I think you are right - they are just too hyped and too perfect or something. I have a simple song I'm playing around with that is just piano and voice, and I have been fooling around with some string parts, but I can't tell if it's making the overall impact of the song better or worse :(

I appreciate your thoughts, guys...this is helpful info. I'll play around with simplifying and going for tasteful and subtle instead of the over-the-top, hollywood, cinematic string section that I currently have going on :D

Very Best,

Dave
Click to expand...

Yeah, like Miro said, most strings are too overproduced to be very mold-able in a mix. Sure they sound good live, but they have a hard time fitting in a mix. Make sure to go for the ones that have the least amount of effects on them. that way you can mold em how you want em! Plus they fit way better ;)
 
One of the important thing in getting strings to sound realistic, is to arrange your preformence as if you would have written it for a real string quartet,
This means learning the harmony of you song, and choosing either polyphonic styled arranged or homophonic styled,
You'd generally choose homophonic without thinking of it, but using polypohny is a very effectable thing.
If however you choose homophony, you will should get yourself into simple rules of harmony so it will sound great with string sounds.

The rules are very easy, just pratice your chording and use a very good amount of open style chords.
 
+1 to all who have gone before.

I find that say I'm doing 4 part strings, it's easier and better sounding to do four separate instrument tracks and write the four parts separately.
It also means I can use separate patches for cello, viola, violin etc instead of just a generic strings patch for the whole lot.
I keep them as dry as possible and pan them all where they'd be if I stereo miced a live performance.

Then i treat them as one group, so they all go to the same reverb aux if that's what i want.

Sounds much more like a real group, plus I can eq separate instruments if that's needed.
 
These are excellent suggestions, and exactly what I was hoping for...I'm glad I asked :)

I especially like the idea of separate parts, tracks, and patches for cello, viola, violin, etc - all properly arranged. I was about ready to just scrap the strings idea for this song altogether, but that actually sounds like it would be a fun exercise, so I'm going to give it another go.

Thanks, guys - I'll post up my end result in a bit, and hopefully it won't be too bad.

Very Best,

Dave
 
Steenamaroo said:
+1 to all who have gone before.

I find that say I'm doing 4 part strings, it's easier and better sounding to do four separate instrument tracks and write the four parts separately.
It also means I can use separate patches for cello, viola, violin etc instead of just a generic strings patch for the whole lot.
I keep them as dry as possible and pan them all where they'd be if I stereo miced a live performance.

Then i treat them as one group, so they all go to the same reverb aux if that's what i want.

Sounds much more like a real group, plus I can eq separate instruments if that's needed.
Click to expand...

Curses! This is brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?! :D
 
Started doing it cos i wanted pizz one time, and jazz style double bass another time, but sweeping strings with it too.

Sorta became habit since.


Sidenote:
Anyone else thinking JJP has a bit of an Alan Rickman thing going on in the Waves signature ads??
 
Steenamaroo said:
+1 to all who have gone before.

I find that say I'm doing 4 part strings, it's easier and better sounding to do four separate instrument tracks and write the four parts separately.
It also means I can use separate patches for cello, viola, violin etc instead of just a generic strings patch for the whole lot.
I keep them as dry as possible and pan them all where they'd be if I stereo miced a live performance.

Then i treat them as one group, so they all go to the same reverb aux if that's what i want.

Sounds much more like a real group, plus I can eq separate instruments if that's needed.
Click to expand...

Well, wasn't that just obvious? ;)
 
Steenamaroo said:
See,,,now i don't know if you're being sarcastic or not..

Does everyone do this?
Click to expand...

Just note yourself,
Everyone in this forum are ALWAYS sarcastic ;)


(By the way, it wasn't obvious, but from what I said it kinda deserves to get a tretment for each voice seperatly)
 
I never did it :D

I spent some time this morning playing around with the string arrangement. I ended up using a BUNCH of tracks for this, but that's probably just because I never know when to stop with this stuff. Here's a rough mix of the song...the intent is that it's going to be a simple version of the first track on my album, which is highly produced, but then this will be the reprise. I'm torn between keeping it super simple with just piano and voice, or prettying it up a bit with strings. Anyway, this mix is probably shit, but at least it will let you hear what I did with the strings.

SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads

So...is it close? It's funny, but to me it almost ends up sounding like a patch on a synth...lol. I used four tracks of cello - a duplicate part, which I played four separate times, four tracks of viola - also duplicated but played separate, and then 8 tracks of violin, four + four of different harmonies - also duplicated and played separately.

Curious to see what you guys think...

Very Best,

Dave
 
dewhitt said:
I never did it :D

I spent some time this morning playing around with the string arrangement. I ended up using a BUNCH of tracks for this, but that's probably just because I never know when to stop with this stuff. Here's a rough mix of the song...the intent is that it's going to be a simple version of the first track on my album, which is highly produced, but then this will be the reprise. I'm torn between keeping it super simple with just piano and voice, or prettying it up a bit with strings. Anyway, this mix is probably shit, but at least it will let you hear what I did with the strings.

SoundClick artist: Dave DeWhitt - page with MP3 music downloads

So...is it close? It's funny, but to me it almost ends up sounding like a patch on a synth...lol. I used four tracks of cello - a duplicate part, which I played four separate times, four tracks of viola - also duplicated but played separate, and then 8 tracks of violin, four + four of different harmonies - also duplicated and played separately.

Curious to see what you guys think...

Very Best,

Dave
Click to expand...

It only gets as far as 20 seconds, without any strings yet...

(By the way, look for a real piano to record with, it just screams in my head when I hear a very poorly sampled piano)
 
Heading out just now, so I'll have to listen later, but i forgot to say,

I never use the same patch and melody on two different tracks.
That has no advantage cos they're digitally identical.


Separate tracks always have a different instrument patch, different melody, or both for me.
 
OK, heared it in lo-fi(wow that's lo-fi), becuase that the hi-fi stopped after 20 seconds.
I can't tell for sure, but it seems fine, just try and keep it a bit more backgrounded in the mix, so it will blend better.

(My opinion)
 
It's weird that it's only playing for 20 seconds...I'm not sure why that is...?

The strings come in only in the choruses, so it's a bit later in the song.

I totally agree about the real piano, but unfortunately I don't have one at my disposal for recording. To me, the sound of this piano is ok, but where it's really different is in the sustain and the phrasing that's possible on a real one that you just can't duplicate on a software instrument.

Best,

Dave
 
I just went back and took a look at the soundclick site and realized that I have all my songs there set for streaming only, and since I saved that .mp3 as 320kbps, I'm wondering if that's the problem. I changed it to allow mp3 downloads, so hopefully that will help.

Best,

Dave
 
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