Recording strings

roachello · Post by **roachello** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:46 am

What do you guys suggest someone use if they want to record cello or violin but can't get the real thing? Keyboards, synth, or another program?

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:48 am

pinky on the volume knob

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:22 am

If you want the sound of one cello, make friends with a cellist. And then make sure you use a nice large diaphram microphone on it. (Make friends with somebody who has a studio)

But really, having the real thing is way cooler than any modeled sound can do. I wish I could have had real piano on all of my tracks.

Post by **Doog** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:42 am

Get handy with yer E-Bow would be another option-o.

You could always programme it in MIDI if your track is to a click, providing your MIDI sounds don't sound as ASS as the ones on my PC's internal soundcard do..

While it can sound very mechanical, it'll give you a LOT of control over accents, note lengths and that, so with a bit of patience, can get you fairly close to the real thing.

Post by **Mike** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:44 am

Synth all the way. if you're not looking for a lead line and just some augmentation it will be fine.

vivadeluxxe · Post by **vivadeluxxe** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:28 am

You could use string samples if you wanted a really realistic string sound, but they'd be hard to program fluently for a complicated part with a lot of notes, fine for one note stuff tho...

James · Post by **James** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:41 am

Ian wrote:If you want the sound of one cello, make friends with a cellist. And then make sure you use a nice large diaphram microphone on it.

Why a large diaphragm?

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:45 pm

The Reason Orkester sound bank in conjunction with the built-in sampler thing works ok. As long as your hasing it in teh background or supporting the song and not having it a featured instrument, it'll be ok.

joshua · Post by **joshua** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:30 pm

Mike wrote:Synth all the way. if you're not looking for a lead line and just some augmentation it will be fine.

aen · Post by **aen** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 3:33 pm

Sloan wrote:The Reason Orkester sound bank in conjunction with the built-in sampler thing works ok. As long as your hasing it in teh background or supporting the song and not having it a featured instrument, it'll be ok.

+1

Actually, if you have Reason, I programmed a pretty fucking sweet cello patch on Subtractor, mostly by luck, Im not liek a whiz or anything, but it sounds really real, for liek long bowed stuff.

BUt whatever synth setup youre working with, Id spend some serious time programming a resonable facsimile, or osmething cool enough to substitute and be interesting, rather than exact.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 3:35 pm

+ 1 to reason. it's quality for supplemental strings.

i can't get a decent piano out of it though, it always sounds a bit thin.

Post by **Mike** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 3:57 pm

joshua wrote:
Mike wrote:Synth all the way. if you're not looking for a lead line and just some augmentation it will be fine.

Bloody hell that's a 10 month bump.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 4:00 pm

woah i thought this was new.

a ten month bump, to say precisely NOTHING AT ALL.

to say this has been a bumpy start would be akin to saying hitler had a slight problem with jewish people.

JamesSmann · Post by **JamesSmann** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 7:04 pm

i use reason...a "borrowed" copy and i buy their sound library upgrades when they go on MEGASAYLE a musicians friend. i recently got some kick ass folk sounds for it...the slide guitar is just epic. and the double-bowed fiddles are fantastic.

i think those sounds are pretty authentic. but i rarely do much more than half and whole note swells with the strins...i'm working on my pizzicato and super twirly-whirly string accomps. it's hard with keyboards and such when you're not really a "keyboard player" per se.

william · Post by **william** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:40 pm

its interesting that you guys use reason. i always found it really limited, but i dont think i was quite understanding its strong points. always seemed like i was playing canned instruments, i never felt like there was much "me" there.

sorry, im no help with this. depending on how natural you need the strings to sound, you could try sampling and cutting up strings from other recordings. aphex twin did this to great effect. and venetian snares, too.

there are some synths that people say are good for strings, but i think they mean good for synthy strings, like youd hear in a dubstep track or something. still, that can be a neat sound.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 3:06 am

what were you using sampler/synth wise? reason takes quite a bit of tweaking to get sounding a bit real.

william · Post by **william** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 4:37 am

Zaphod wrote:what were you using sampler/synth wise? reason takes quite a bit of tweaking to get sounding a bit real.

i dont remember now, frankly. its been a few years now.

i had reason 3, i think. i much prefered reaktor for synthy fun and beatmaking, which i also stole had somehow at the time.

JamesSmann · Post by **JamesSmann** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:00 pm

Zaphod wrote:what were you using sampler/synth wise? reason takes quite a bit of tweaking to get sounding a bit real.

i don't remember offhand which version of reason i "borrowed" but it seems fairly new. i'm using its NN-XT sampler with the orkester pack, the omnisoundz and the folk pack. i totally LOVE reason for doing what sloan said, and backing tracks with orchestration. i'm still getting the hang of "mixing in" the synths so they are present without being over-powering. i've been using a LOT of strings and shit on our stuff lately...and i loves it.

Reece · Post by **Reece** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:05 pm

woah.

i've never even look at the orkester sound bank! hahaha i'm gonna have to have a play about.

JamesSmann · Post by **JamesSmann** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 5:13 pm

Zaphod wrote:woah.

i've never even look at the orkester sound bank! hahaha i'm gonna have to have a play about.

yeah dude, the NN-XT is also a key component for me as well, because i'm not a harcore patch/loop programmer. so the nn-xt does it all for you, you just choose the patch you want. maybe if i get some time today or tomorrow i'll post up some samples of stuff i've done with it.