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This week we had the opportunity to work with a string quartet, adding strings to one of our original tracks. I was both super excited and slightly overwhelmed about this as I'd never worked with strings before - or even considered including them on my tracks at all. My initial ideas were to:
a) use 'beautiful sins' for the workshop and
b) for the strings to mimic the vocal motifs that repeat throughout the track.

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After some thought and discussion with my tutor Kieron, I had the idea of there being either a two-part or three-part harmony between the 2x violins/ viola. I thought this would not only sound great, but would also add depth to the song and help to create that lofi-spacey vibe I was trying to achieve in my DAW recorded version of the track. I liked the idea of the cello copying the bassline, keeping things simple and sliding between notes to add attitude and groove. Then towards the chorus I imagined for there to be this big build, opening everything up on 'regret' to create this moment of space and release.

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Above is a partial voice recording of my discussion with Andrew, a violinist from the string quartet. We listened to my track and talked through some ideas as to how I could best utilise the opportunity.

The main points were:

1. To expand on the bass with the cello, having it really sliding between notes.

2. Having the violins/ violas plucking the vocal motifs in the verse sections (pizzicato).

3. Including little riffs/ lines between phrases and little rises in and out of each section.

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1. Using a MIDI keyboard in Logic I worked out the notes of the vocal motifs.

2. I then experimented with the studio strings pre-sets, picking the sound I wanted and recorded them in. I recorded a part for each of the strings, with the violins/ violas harmonising throughout and the cello mostly mimicking the bassline.

3. Once recorded, I quantised and colour coded everything so the string quartet could more easily differentiate their parts.

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The MIDI file I sent to the Andrew from the string quartet ahead of my LPW session.

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The outline I sent to the string quartet alongside the MIDI file ahead of my LPW. I wanted for them to have a rough idea of the energy of the track above all. However, had I have given myself more time to prepare I would have typed this out neatly, giving them clearer instruction by specifying the time signature/ key and would have provided them with a proper chord chart.

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I really enjoyed this week, it was a real learning curve. As mentioned I feel there could definitely be some improvements made through keeping things more simple. Going forward I'd really like to include strings on the final track, definitely recorded live rather than programmed ones as otherwise I fear it would loose all sense of tone/ intonation. I'm thinking some high suspended strings that sit behind the chorus would sound great and really help to open everything up.

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A voice memo of me rehearsing to the track + completed MIDI strings. This helped me to get a feel for how it was going to sound with the string quartet and allowed me to start imagining how I want to perform the song. I thought about my stage presence and where I could add movement to add interest/ emphasis and practiced this in front of a mirror. I unconsciously made slight adjustments to the melody here as I was rehearsing and decided to stick with them as I liked the inflection of my lyrics better.

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Record second verse/ bridge.

Re-think bassline.

Add layers.

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My run through with the string quartet in my LPW. Overall I was really happy with how it went, I left feeling super proud of myself. I think there could definitely have been some adjustments - listening back I feel it sounded a little clashy at times. This could have been down to the harmonies not quite working as well as I had imagined, but also they mentioned it was quite hard to really achieve that swung-groove and slide between the notes with the complexity of the motifs I had given them to play. So, next time I'll keep things a bit more simple. But despite that, it was a really amazing experience and I absolutely loved working on this!