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String Section
A blog about all aspects of writing for and recording live stringed instruments, includes articles on compositional techniques, music theory, string...
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Little Star Lullabies…..
String Section ― Little Star Lullabies’ – Track 1: The Stars Come Out to Say Goodnight This album of music started life as a single track composed for the recent release entitled ‘Music for Healing, Relaxation and Massage’. On that album, all the tracks were... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted 6 days ago
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Composing New Age Music
String Section ― ‘New Age’ or Relaxation Music, like all music intended as a background ambience, can elicit very mixed responses from different people. Whilst some find the neutrality of the synthesized sounds relaxing (rather like a blank canvas), others have... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted 24 days ago
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The Reason for Rosin…..
String Section ― A few weeks ago a studio engineer (on observing the ritualistic rosining of my bow hair) asked me what rosin was. It suddenly occurred to me that I knew very little about this substance which has aided my violin and viola playing for over 30 years!... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Apr 14th, 2012
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Staggering the Bow…..
String Section ― The term ‘to stagger’ or ‘staggering’ the bow is an orchestral technique which refers to the changing of the bow direction in order to create a seamless, legato sound. In an orchestra or ensemble of stringed instruments (whether violins,... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Apr 6th, 2012
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Recording Session at RAK Studios
String Section ― Yesterday, we popped into RAK Studios in St John’s Wood to record some string quartet parts for a band who wanted to enhance their track with live strings. The string arranger had introduced a “Bollywood” style to the writing, so... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Apr 3rd, 2012
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A real Pianissimo….
String Section ― I remember at college, attending a regular orchestral training class with a well known leader of orchestras. He told us that often when playing in a professional string section he would make a sound he would never have made whilst playing a solo.... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Mar 13th, 2012
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Recording violin parts…
String Section ― Over the last month, we’ve been booked for two quite similar jobs - recordings which were for tracks only requiring a section of violins - as opposed to the more usual situation of a client hiring a string quartet or string section for a... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Mar 8th, 2012
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Bow Markings in Notation for Strings
String Section ― String players often discuss the need for ‘bow markings’ or simply ‘bowings’, but what are they and why do they matter? The basic premise is that the bow travels in two directions (down and up) and whereas a versatile player... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Jan 31st, 2012
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Recording at the Chiller in Surrey
String Section ― Last week, four of us travelled down to a recording studio called ‘The Chiller’ in Thursley, Surrey to record 10 pieces for an indepdendent composer. Each piece was scored for string quartet and generally lasted between 30 seconds and two... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Nov 8th, 2011
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Recording at Black Frog Studios in Thame
String Section ― Last week we were asked to record a string quartet onto a pop song for a producer in Hong Kong. As a deadline was involved and a couple of our regular studios were either fully booked or unavailable, we contacted a local recording facility calledÂ... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Nov 4th, 2011
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Recording Upper Strings for Leigh Haggerwood
String Section ― On Sunday I got together once again with composer Leigh Haggerwood to record some violin and viola parts for some of his new music. Last year, we had worked with Leigh on his Florin Street Band project and it was great to catch up with him. As this... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Aug 26th, 2011
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Recording Live Strings - Surface Noise
String Section ― A few months ago I blogged about composers/producers who are inexperienced with working with real stringed instruments and therefore aim and make them sound more like the sampled strings they work with routinely. This same issue occurred again... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Aug 18th, 2011
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Recording at Fit Dog Studios
String Section ― Last Monday we spent the entire day recording the music by Gareth Dicks, a composer of musicals who is producing an album of his own work. The recording session took place at Fit Dog Studios which is located in the picturesque village of Gayton... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on May 10th, 2011
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Is something missing….?
String Section ― About a year ago I wrote a blog entry called ‘Bring on the Viola‘ which discussed the merits of this sometimes overlooked and under-appreciated instrument of the string family. I thought it worth adding another blog entry as in the... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Apr 19th, 2011
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15
Click Tracks, Help or Hindrance?
String Section ― Much of the recording work we do involves the use of a ‘Click Track’. A click track is an audible metronome which is fed into a set of headphones and enables a musician to play with complete rhythmical accuracy.Generally a click track... (more)
VaughanJones ―
Posted on Apr 16th, 2011
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