Writing for Strings - Top Tips Part 1

hello everybody today we're talking about writing for Strings and I'm going to show you one approach to keeping organized when you're improvising into a door because it's a very different thing just sort of making it up as you go along when you're playing straight into Cubase or logic logic in this particular case um than it is working it out on paper and trying to get it to sound coherent as though you know what you're doing takes a bit of doing I have a particular approach to this and I'm going to share that with you at the same time I'm going to be using this Library it's called soaring strings and it comes from a company called musical sampling and a lot of in the no composers I've been saying nice things about musical sampling for a while so I thought I'd check it out soaring strings is exactly what you'd expect does what it says on the tin it's soars it's mostly Legato line it just has legatos and sustains and that's it so we've got loaded up here and the full normal lineup violin one violin 2 Viola cello so oh don't get sued again well actually worse than that the mafia will come around no okay so look here's my Approach um if we we got an ensemble patch down here called Full strings [Music] what I tend to do is I get the basic chord progression worked out using an ensemble string patch actually more than the basic chord progression patch I mean let's just have a go see what comes out [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] okay I quite like that there's one or two places in there [Music] so I need to change that F to a g where is it simple little edit there and I think it'll now make it sound better let's see how that goes foreign [Applause] [Music] now if you're able to improvise like that that makes life a lot simpler for you um if you you know what I'm what I'm what I've sort of learned to do over the years is to be able to improvise in piece of string writing like that so you've got Fifth and you've got the third there then I'm just walking that c down to the B flat there so that forms first inversion of G minor so you've got B flat G and D [Music] then I go to a first inversion of F major and then I slide this a down to give it the F minor then back to the C again E flat [Music] F and then back to G major now um when we come to over on this side you'll see we've got all these um ah where they're gone so we've got all our our tracks there this is where it can go so horribly wrong you start playing in one line after another and you have no idea what's going on so what I'm going to do and I suspect he's going to speed this up aren't you here is we're going to put markers in one for each um chord and so up there we will not be in any doubt what uh where we are harmonically during any of this so now let's do it so I've done it um I've just put chord names in um but if you want to use Roman numerals or any other notation you want about it obviously whatever makes the most sense to you when you're playing things in now that's really helpful because we've now got um a sort of a reference as we play through as to where we are harmonically in any one part of the piece now the other thing I would do is listen to the Top Line and say are we happy with this [Music] thank you yes so I'm going to play that [Music] and we're going to play that in on the first violins ah epic fail epic fail so that was just rehearsal oh I started silly old me one two three four [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] okay that was a good practice do it again okay there's uh a lot of oh a lot of mob wheel action going on in here let's see if we can get it all up at once it's gonna be oh no there we go so now you can see everything at once here we go [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay now that's sounding a bit better I can now go through and take the top line off because I don't need it anymore so bit by bit we're going to replace the um these strings at the bottom so that's a line [Music] now I do the bottom line so I'm going to put the chili on there's going to come a point where we're going to do the um those strings in octaves but that's not we're not there yet so how does the cello line go let me just have a little look um or listen indeed I could sort of copy it off but you can't really because it's just played differently so you're better off doing it again [Music] right it's very simple um but then we can always elaborate on that as we go forward so we'll start [Music] um right let's play this cello line in at um here we go right so one two three four [Music] [Applause] yay because I'm going to F major now down to the a flat foreign okay now I'm going to put in the inner parts now what I might do is ignore what I've done there go to the viola part okay so where are we starting that's not the viola big Legato violins you've got to be having a joke mate you're going to be laughing at me that's better [Music] this this is where it starts to get tricky one two three four [Music] [Applause] thank you [Music] so we're starting on the bottom there so I need to okay this is because the inner part of what makes string writing interesting I turn the replacing thing on I prefer the replacing thing to the mergy thing frankly not always but I do it right now right so we're gonna go two with C minor so I need the G stay on that g [Music] [Applause] thank you what I'm doing is I'm sort of improvising an inner part which is hard but if you keep going bits of it will suddenly work and those are the bits you keep so one two three four [Applause] trying a little sort of suspension there that didn't work try again three four stay with you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] know again [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] nearly I quite like some of that so we're going to do it again two three four [Applause] that's better right and now that's where I'm going wrong I like that little suspension in there that went well and now I've just got to work out what I've actually got going on here so let's have a look um ah come on select them both let's have a little look where do we start [Music] so that starts on the E flat and then it goes uh c g c okay so if it starts on the flat uh so there's room for G I can just do something as simple as that um now I can do one or two things here I can either drop in or I can to start with I'm going to produce a second line of this so that I don't have to um mess with it and then I can combine them later so so we're going to try this ready [Music] [Applause] no that didn't work at all [Music] so good [Music] all right [Music] foreign 's weird but it might work [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I'll leave the F minor [Applause] [Music] that works well it worked for me now here's why I put it on separate lines look you see these these all these um what's the zoom even where there we go do you see how all the controller lines here are completely out of whack with the controller lines there so when we combine the two together um which we're just about to do uh where's my glue tool glue to glue tool uh such a key such a logic new but right um let's just have a look you can see in the background there that's you what you don't want um is the uh uh controllers doing this leaping around all over the shop so you've got to smooth all that out that's the most important thing and that's why sometimes just dropping in doesn't work there we go see if that works see that how that sounds [Music] all of that needs to come home forward a bit [Music] now let's set the second violins are going in foreign [Music] what we're going to do is put them there and whack them up an octave where do I want them to come in I don't want them in from the start sounds nice but it's good [Music] that's starting to sound alright and the same point I bring the second violins in I'm going to bring the bases in R but I can't just copy the bases straight over um sorry so let me just run that through again because I don't think you were watching the right bit we or let me just line this up so you do rock to the right bit okay here we go right thank you actually um I need that note in I need that note which comes in just before doo doo because that's I don't want them and also I need to get my little pencil thing out there we go and just Edge that off so it Peak so it comes in you want to avoid little choppy things like that because that makes it sound really weird it needs to be smoothed off is better okay let's go again now we can add the bases in now um a lot of the time bases follow the uh the cello line or the line as I've misspelled it today um but in this case because we've got we've got look we've got it doing a fifth and an octave in the Telly we're gonna [Music] see which of those two sounds better [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a very deep one doesn't sound as good so what I'm going to do is I'm going to go I'm going to go rather than starting down there which would mean um on a on a real acoustic on a real basis that's the extension because actually uh the bass only goes down to the E so if you want to double it down the octave you're going to have to use a five string bass or the one with the extension and actually I'm going to go like this and then only go to the bottom octave final note okay get ready [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay now this is starting to sound alright um let's see where we are I mean to be honest you could play with this four days let's just have a little [Music] my name is Davison put another little line in there I might do which is the bit where I felt there was a room for something else [Music] foreign [Music] ER C minor so whoops what have I done oh muted [Music] what happens if I might change that line [Music] um [Music] [Music] thank you how did I do this for I'm getting lost [Music] hmm there's something not quite right going on here so what I'm going to do actually I'm just going to mute that that little bit and then play a different line on another track so that I can just see what's going on too [Music] so it's starting in on the F minor or the C minor [Music] thank you something else is on that c ah the E flat is in the in the lead so that's why and doubling up and doesn't sound very good I like this maybe maybe [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] something along these lines is going to work I'm just trying to work suspensions are great but they're sometimes getting you into trouble if you lose track of where you [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] I think we've probably done enough to show you the the gist of what this is about and what I've got going on here is exactly what I said I should avoid that Clashing of the um here we go Let's uh yes clashing uh controller lines so let's glue them together oh sorry select both then glue them together now go in and have a good look at my can where is it [Music] nearly something not quite right about the very beginning [Music] there's something not quite right about that but it works after that it so maybe I just have to foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] displeasing that it's simpler and it seems to fit this is the kind of thing which if you've got it played by real players would sound bloody wonderful oh oh hang on what have I done here I want to you can see I don't really know yet logic but we give it a go split short and keep I'll keep I don't know I'll keep now I'm going to glue it together yep I am going to glue it together now let's see what this sounds like does it sound to you foreign [Music] now we do need to go through and make sure all these notes overlap because if they don't overlap you're not going to get the Legato effect that's how you trigger Legato so it's really easy not to let them do their thing now that will sound better should we just solo that track out so that we can hear it properly okay [Music] okay I think I've given you the idea now so let's listen to this Epic [Music] there you go so um that's one approach to playing if you're playing in how you do it um an awful lot of you would screaming him just get out dorica we're doing your paper because it'd be so much uh and that is true um to a large extent but when you're in the middle of a thing and you to be honest when normally when I'm if I've got a piece like this which I want to work through I do do it on paper because it's easier but if you're just doing it into the door for me this is the way which works best so look um I found that useful if you did always think of subscribing and uh or taking one of our short courses like this one see you again very soon how to write music is my online course that takes you through every step of the process how to get going chord progressions tune writing developing and arranging your music six hours of exclusive video tutorials a course text packed with tips and a supportive online community get more out of your music and sign up today [Music]

Channel: Guy Michelmore

Views: 32,385

Keywords: thinkspace, education, music, film, scoring, games, television, composition, composer, guy michelmore, guy, michelmore, thinkspace education, string writing, string writing techniques, sample mockup, logic pro x, logic pro tutorial, writing for strings

Id: -g3tqnN-cxk

Length: 30min 43sec (1843 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 14 2023