# Affordable Live Strings via remote, with Christian Howes Strings



## christianhowes (Jul 24, 2012)

Greetings to everyone in the vi-control community from the production team at Christian Howes Strings!

For composers intent on realizing your vision efficiently and affordably with high-quality production values, we offer an alternative solution to virtual instruments, at a competitive cost.

It's our pleasure to introduce you to our production house, Christian Howes Strings, and to tell you about the wide-ranging services we offer (including more than just live string parts!!!).

Our specialty is providing composers and producers with string sections (and solos) recorded via remote.
   
Our team is comprised of players who are experienced and musically sensitive, and who have the flexibility and the chops to perform in any number of styles. In other words, we're not limited to performances in the classical vein; we do those, and we also do things that are entirely different - bluegrass, jazz, you name it. Regardless of the genre in which you're working - and regardless of whether you're in the music, video game, commercial, or movie and TV world - we'll provide you with performances and/or arrangements which are both stylish and stylistically appropriate, with a no-risk guarantee! (In other words, we're asking you to give us a shot - if you're not happy, you won't pay a dime!).

Our performances are recorded and engineered in-house. We work with our carefully selected string players remotely - as soon as we get their parts out to them, they can record what they've been given and get it back to us. This means that the final recording can reach you very promptly - sometimes even with same-day turnaround, depending on your needs. It also means that you're hiring everyone you need - arranger, musicians, and engineer - in one fell swoop, and in doing so significantly consolidating your costs. Since we do this every day, we're very sensitive to the challenges of overdubbing and working remotely, and we think we're able to overcome all of the reasonable concerns about this production methodology, both saving you LOTS of money and delivering the highest quality result.

We're proud of our team and proud of the product we have to offer. And we don't consider our work finished until we know that you, our client, are totally happy with the outcome!

Examples of our work are available at http://christianhowes.com/christian-how ... ensembles/

We look forward to talking more with you!
The team at christianhowes.com


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## MaestroRage (Jul 24, 2012)

My friend has used this service, and I will be using the service soon myself. My friend is absolutely 100% happy with it and the rates are reasonable. We're not talking thousands of dollars here.

Good work Chris, looking forward to having you on some of my projects soon.


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## zacnelson (Jul 25, 2012)

Wow, what a brilliant concept! I just spend a while reading every page on that website, such a well-presented and marketed service. I think it's incredible the opportunities that are open to us now that internet speeds and data allowances are so high, and it is so affordable to have home studios. 

Lately the singer I'm working with has been recording takes at his studio and sending to me in dropbox, it's brilliant! We both have small children and it's hard to find times where we can both commit.

I am interested in using Christian Howes strings sometime in the future for a section in a pop song about 30 seconds long, with cello viola and violin, probably getting the parts all layered a few times for an ensemble effect. Any idea what it would cost?


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## studioj (Jul 25, 2012)

I use these guys all the time, they are the bomb! fast, reliable, great sounds... very musical!

j


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## chimuelo (Jul 26, 2012)

Weren't you the crew from Vegas that got all of the jingles and scores..?
You must be making more somewhere else as I haven;t seen you guys for over a year.
Glad you're still making things happen.


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## christianhowes (Jul 29, 2012)

Thanks for the kind words, studioj and MaestroRage. We do hope to work with you guys again, and really look forward to doing so. 

Chimuelo, we aren't located in Las Vegas, but we have worked with clients based there. We also frequently do work with high-end production houses in NY and L.A.


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## chimuelo (Jul 29, 2012)

I love NYC and really miss the Village and SoHo, Screw Park Avenue and Lawnguyland.
Bloody Lucky You.............


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## Dominik Raab (Jul 29, 2012)

Hello Christian,

thank you for sharing this service with us! The audio demos sound amazing and the service seems to be quite affordable and easy.
Forgive me if I ask something that's already explained on your website, but I'm a horrible skim reader and (don't take this the wrong way) the very colourful background of your homepage doesn't make it easier 
It would be great if you could give us some more insight about the process of arranging in particular. Some other services only request a mock-up and the MIDI files; they do everything else. Does this work with you or do you need any kind of prepared "note view" sheets?

If you've got time, I'd also be happy to conduct a written interview with you for a German online magazine about audio production to give our readers an idea of your service. If you're open to this kind of (free! ) promotion, just give me your okay and I'll drop you a PM with the details. Would be much appreciated!

Best luck with your endeavours and keep helping us composers getting a step closer to realism!

- Dom


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