String Arrangement

[K.C.]

I am new in this forum. Just wonder how you guys arrange string ensemble for a song. I usually divide single notes in to 4 channels. Every channel using different string sound. Normally I arrange the middle parts first which is moving regularly and melodious. The highest part and the lowest part are usually consists of long notes.

 

I've done this many times and really sick of it. Hope anyone of you can give me some fresh idea. Thanks.

[Jamus]

What kind of sequencer are you using? That will probably affect your process a bit. Did you mean you just RECORD the middle parts first or you actually COMPOSE them first? I would definately suggest COMPOSING the outside parts first since they are going to be heard more than the middle ones. Decide where your strings parts are going to go melodically. Will you put a counter melody in the violin (top part) or the cello (lower part). Then you can build the other parts around those to fill out the chords. This is just one approach.

I, also, like to separate the parts on different tracks. It means you have to write everything out pretty carefully ahead of time but the flexibility you have later is worth it. Trying to edit two different violin parts that you played together onto one track is HELL!

One thing I like to do is just to keep playing in tracks over other ones and sort of guess at what might sound good as you play each track. I am often surprised at voicings that sound very sofisticated and complex that I might not have thought to actually write down. You also get a lot of crap sometimes, but you edit that out obviously.

Mostly, I would suggest (if you haven't yet) that you get some books on basic classical harmony. It can be boring at first because all the rules seem so ridiculous but once you know 'em all you can break 'em and that's where it gets fun. An intimate knowledge of voice-leading and counter-point (a much more complex subject) will bring all other facets of your music alive!!!

Good luck!

J.

[K.C.]

I used cakewalk.. I actually decide the melodic line by recording them..but most the melodic line is at the middle .. thanks Jamus for your idea of having counter part. Can you recommend any classical theory books which you think is more helpful tells a lot about voice-leading and counter-point

[Steve44]

Then again.. knowing a lot of music theory doesn't make you a good composer for strings. It helps a lot to know what voice leading and counterpoint are about, but writing for strings (knowing what kinds of music fits well onto the instruments) is another matter entirely and is very difficult to learn.

 

Even more important, however is how you record them on a synthesizer. It's very difficult to make strings sound realistic (have you ever heard a decent string quartet using midi instruments?) because of the tremendous variety of attacks and realtime changes to the tone made by the bow. Most film composers get around this by having large sample libraries that have strings for every attack they would use.. While this may work to some extent, it still sounds a bit canned because, well, it is. To improve the situation, you can drastically improve the musicality of the sounds of strings by varying the filter according to either the dynamics, the pitch scaling (high/low) or the melodic contour, or combinations of each. This allows the sound to grow and decay in a very different way from the sample and the amplitude envelopes, often making it much more believable.

 

It was once said that sample-playback synthesis made more realistic string ensemble sounds, but lost the intimacy of analog synths that could do individual parts better. This is mostly because of creative filtering and starting off with a much richer waveform that doesn't concentrate on the sound of several strings playing at once.

[Guest]

I agree with Jamus regarding keeping different parts on different tracks. You have enormous editing flexibility doing this. Once you have written your melody and counter melody in one or two tracks you are pretty well screwed when it comes to editing one voice later on.

 

Also keep in mind that your effects need to be slightly different in each voice of your string section to add to the presence of your piece as well as the pan settings. Contrary to popular belief intrumentalists do not set on each others laps. Stay away from hard quantization of your tracks. The more tracks (each instrument/voice being on a separate track) the more dequantization is needed. The idea here is to replicate the actual attack and release of each note as it would be played by live musicians. And as you know they don't all bow in perfect unison.

 

The idea that midi originated strings or any other midi instrument not sounding realistic is nonsense. With the proper use of the dymamics of the instrument and the use of effects realism is very attainable.

 

This does come a price though. You must have an extensive library of instruments to achieve true instrument dynamics. Some libraries have different bowings at various bpm and at different pitches and velocities. These libraries are not cheap! But the benefits are priceless. The results are well worth the money. Plus there are numerous libraries for other intrumentation as well. The learing curve can be steep...but like all things if it were easy then everyone would be a composer, right?