# Lovely little strings



## Hannes_F (Mar 10, 2010)

Hi gang,

it has been a while since I posted a composition of my own. Reason is that I have run through a lengthy phase where I cared so much about recording and production that there was hardly any time for writing. But I have put my composer's hat back on now and there is more to come.

I have been asked to write some music for a promo video of a corporate website and since it should be lovely and sunny I thought by myself: Why do we always want strings to be BIG? Of course everybody wants BIG strings but honestly, do all of us compose to scenes with BIG masses of people or BIG panorama picture like standing on a BIG mountain or looking on the BIG sea? All the time? How about small, personal and delicate? What about a small ensemble (located in a large room nevertheless), could it be expressive and talking stories?

So this is a little something I wrote and recorded with only 20 strings. I made it deliberately sparse, so most times there are even only 2 or 3 voices. Minimal in a way. Enjoy!

PS.: Samples have been used ... but only for composition in this case. Realisation is all live (everything played by yours truly).

http://www.strings-on-demand.com/demos/ ... trings.mp3


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## Rob (Mar 10, 2010)

really a lovely sound, Hannes...


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## germancomponist (Mar 10, 2010)

Very fine, Hannes!

You are right with this "big" thing.


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## Hannes_F (Mar 10, 2010)

Thanks Roberto and Gunter. Hehe, I _love _big strings too, of course, this was just an experiment for a contrast.

EDIT wow more than 1500 posts, maybe I should write more music and less text ... :twisted: /\~O o/~ o=<


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## Guy Bacos (Mar 10, 2010)

I'm not clear, is what we're hearing here live? Either way, sounds good!


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## Hannes_F (Mar 10, 2010)

Guy Bacos @ Wed Mar 10 said:


> I'm not clear, is what we're hearing here live? Either way, sounds good!



Hi Guy, thanks for commenting. What you hear is all played and recorded by me (live instruments) in overdubbing technique. That is why I wrote 



> Samples have been used ... but only for composition in this case. Realisation is all live (everything played by yours truly).



Sorry if this was confusing.


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## Tanuj Tiku (Mar 10, 2010)

Hannes - Thats so wonderful....!


Beautiful playing and its exactly what the title says - Lovely Little Strings!


Love it!


Tanuj.


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## Ian Dorsch (Mar 10, 2010)

Really charming piece, Hannes, beautifully played and recorded.

It put a big happy smile on my face.


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## stevenson-again (Mar 10, 2010)

fantastic hannes, and wonderful playing.



> I thought by myself: Why do we always want strings to be BIG? Of course everybody wants BIG strings but honestly, do all of us compose to scenes with BIG masses of people or BIG panorama picture like standing on a BIG mountain or looking on the BIG sea? All the time? How about small, personal and delicate? What about a small ensemble (located in a large room nevertheless), could it be expressive and talking stories?



i could not possibly agree more. i have had 2 big projects in the last year. the first one i was desperate for a smaller more intimate string sound, and the second certainly needed something epic big lush string sound. LASS came in between them.

doh.

i needed LASS for the first and only had symphobia, and once i got LASS i needed to beef it up with symphobia.

what you have is here is a fantastic string sound with overdubbing. do you think blending in single lines with lass or any other library might yield some good results as well?


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## dariusofwest (Mar 10, 2010)

Great writing and great playing both make up a really wonderful piece! 
Really great job!


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## Ed (Mar 10, 2010)

this sounds lovelly! 

Im so going to use you for playing stuff in the future


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## Hannes_F (Mar 10, 2010)

Tanuj, thanks for passing by, I see you are going strong! =o 
Ian, thanks and I am glad I can make somebody smile (seriously).

Stevenson, thank you for listening. Regarding your question it does not make sense too much imo to mix single live string lines with sampled sections. If you are going for a big soò ¥   Èe ¥   Èe ¥   Èe ¥   Èe ¥   Èe ¥   Èe ¥   Èe  ¥   Èe! ¥   Èe" ¥   Èe# ¥   Èe$ ¥   Èe% ¥   Èe& ¥   Èe' ¥   Èe( ¥   Èe) ¥   Èe* ¥   Èe+ ¥   Èe, ¥   Èe- ¥   Èe. ¥   Èe/ ¥   Èe0 ¥   Èe1 ¦   Èe2 ¦   Èe3 ¦   Èe4 ¦   Èe5 ¦   Èe6 ¦   Èe7


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## Mahlon (Mar 10, 2010)

Sounds great! You must have a great time overdubbing. I would think that would be very much fun!

Mahlon


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## Przemek K. (Mar 11, 2010)

Hannes, thats just wonderful o/~


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## Hannes_F (Mar 11, 2010)

Mahlon, thanks, and yes I am having a great time with this project. Mucho work and effort (I am in the sixth generation of mic setup now) but the result is rewarding in a way.

Przemek, thanks for listening and passing by  o/~


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## Craig Sharmat (Mar 12, 2010)

Ed @ Wed Mar 10 said:


> this sounds lovelly!
> 
> Im so going to use you for playing stuff in the future



I have used Hannes and it was a great experience, he plays very well and he really really cares.


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## schatzus (Mar 12, 2010)

Ain't nothin' like the real thing! Excellent work Hannes.


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## Hannes_F (Mar 15, 2010)

Thanks steve, Craig, schatzus, Ray and George for listening and leaving a comment. Ray, I was hoping not to be drawn in too much of a samples vs. real discussion here but I feel from a certain level upwards things are almost easier with real strings than with samples, so the work you and others here do is really *remarkeable * :mrgreen: and I have the fullest respect for it.


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## hbuus (Mar 15, 2010)

Hi Hannes,

I can imagine this must have been a quite fun project for you, although clearly also a lot of work.
I think I can relate a little bit to the work; not as far as playing the instruments, but as far as recording and overdubbing.
I've done the same thing in some cover versions I've done of Depeche Mode material.
They have two singers in the band, and they are great at combining their voices.
Anyway...!

What did you use to record this? (mics, preamp)
You did a pretty good job, I think.
It's amazing you can play the instruments.
I'm almost not going to say this next thing, but...your piece actually reminds me of some of the demo mp3s of VSL's Chamber and Solo Strings.
It's the almost cheerful mood of the piece + that it's done so sparse, as you also write, so that one can clearly hear the instruments.

It's interesting to hear your choices in terms of tone handling.
With this I mean for example how you have handled vibrato, where to put it etc.
Also which notes you make the instrument "sing" on. You know?

Best,
Henrik


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## Hannes_F (Mar 15, 2010)

Henrik,



hbuus @ Mon Mar 15 said:


> Hi Hannes,
> 
> I can imagine this must have been a quite fun project for you, although clearly also a lot of work.



To be honest it was quite a journey to get that kind of quality in terms of setup (and playing of course) ... but now this sort of production is very natural to me. 



> What did you use to record this? (mics, preamp)



I am using gear from DPA, Audio-Technica, D.A.V. Broadhurst Gardens, RME. But the room (and placement) trumps it all anyways.



> I'm almost not going to say this next thing, but...your piece actually reminds me of some of the demo mp3s of VSL's Chamber and Solo Strings.



Since the VSL demos are composed by calibres like Guy Bacos or are classics anyway I take that as a compliment composition-wise :mrgreen: 



> It's interesting to hear your choices in terms of tone handling.
> With this I mean for example how you have handled vibrato, where to put it etc.
> Also which notes you make the instrument "sing" on. You know?



Vibrato has an own magnetism and draws the attention to the voice. So for deciding on where to vibrate and how much I need to know the context. That is important anyways ... before I start recording anything for serious I know all the voices ... and while I am recording one voice I also listen to every other voice simultaneously. This way I can weave it together. 

We don't want to compete every voice with elbows for a place in the sun all the times, but every voice has their moments of special attention.

Very often when a note is set it is enough information for the listener to know it is there (harmonically), so I phrase it out (I retent it to the minimum where it is still heard but not much more). However if a longer note needs to say that "it is still there", maybe even after an intermezzo by other voices, the vibrato is very handy to draw the attention back to it.

So for me vibrato is not 'random' or 'a habit' or 'tradition', it is much more and there is a philosophy of interpretation behind it. Hope that helps.


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