Tips To Get Realistic Sounding MIDI Strings

Technology in the audio industry is forever developing and changing, as a producer and engineer, it’s essential for us to keep up with technology and have the knowledge and also the adaptability to quickly learn and acquire the skills to become familiar with new pieces of technology whether it be software of hardware. Because of the rapid developments with new pieces of hardware and software coming out almost every year, I find it extremely helpful to keep up to date with manufacturers’ news and articles discussing the current and latest updates in the audio industry that most internationally successful producers/engineers would be getting their hands on to try out for themselves and keep up to date in the industry. Being a student studying to become a part of the industry, through my studies I’ve come across some useful articles by The Pro Audio Files which is an online community where audio professionals from around the world share articles and videos on recording mixing, mastering and producing music (Theproaudiofilescom, 2017).

Article by Casey Van Wensem (Casey van Wensem is a freelance composer, musician, and writer living in Kelowna, B.C., Canada. You can hear his musical work at birdscompanionmusic.com and read his written work at caseyvanwensemwriting.com) (Casey van wensem, 2017) discusses 5 tips for making more realistic sounding MIDI strings, which to me is one of the most important elements that should be implemented in electronic music production. In a lot of hip-hop, strings sections add that extra element and emotion to the mix which is why to me it’s imperative to understand what the instruments sound like when it’s played by a person or a group of people. When recreating this with a MIDI keyboard from a sample pack, we lose something special what Van Wensem calls ‘human touch’, I like to call it human error. The small errors or timing and feel is to me, what makes strings sections that much more powerful and full of emotion. Having fully quantized strings with no human error can sometimes create a very tacky and emotionless string section because even to the average listener, it doesn’t sound right and in my opinion, it’s too clean and has no flow.

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1. Van Wensem brings up a very import fact that just because your MIDI can play any note on any instrument doesn’t mean you should use those notes, that is if you want them sound realistic. Therefore, we have to understand the specific instrument's range, a great suggestion is to print out a chart which shows each instrument's range and refer to when you want to add a strings section. Another great point mentioned is the fact that you must understand each instrument's idiosyncrasies when played by a musician. For example, Van Wensem explains that you may be able to play a low C2 with vibrato on a cello using a string library but in actuality, it’s impossible because it’s the lowest open string on a cello so obviously you can’t play with vibrato on an open string.

2. If we do choose to recreate an orchestral feel we can add another element of realism by placing each instrument in their own space, panning each instrument to where they might sit in a symphony orchestra layout.

3. Depending on the sample library you have, some of the more expensive libraries like Native Instruments ‘Session Strings’ have many parameters that you can use within the plugin to humanise the MIDI strings however not many starting out producers are going to have the money to spend on a $400 sound library but even if you have access to a sound library you should still follow these tips to create realistic sounding MIDI strings. Van Wensem talks about automated humanism which comes from careful automation of parameters like volume, velocity and expression. Also to the average listener, you can notice that at the beginnings and endings of phrases the sounds seem to have a very quick sharp attack as opposed to a more natural slower attack which can be adjusted with velocity sensitivity of your MIDI and also parameters within the plugin. At the end of the phrase, notes tend to sound like they cut off and don’t sound nice and rounded, some reverb and sustain can help round out the sounds as well as automating the velocity and volume.

4. Like discussed before, the best part of listening to live strings are the imperfections, the human errors, the swing or the expressions heard that makes us connected to the musician as they feel what they are playing. Van Wensem suggests listening to orchestral music or string quartets to hear the imperfection and notice that not all players will play in perfect sync. He also describes that violinists may play slightly sharp to bring out melody lines or a cellist might play slightly ahead of the beat to create a sense of anticipation which is something I’ve never noticed but find very interesting and willing to incorporate this into my next production.

5. If you’re still struggling to make your sampled strings sound realistic, you can always add a layer of live recorded strings. If you have access to a studio or some equipment, you can record a musician playing some strings and layer that underneath the sampled strings, blending it with the MIDI strings to make it sound cohesive. To do this Van Wensem suggest that even if you only are recording one person, you can create separation between each section, this can be done by using a different brand or instrument, changing mic placement, using different preamps, using some EQ or combining all of these to emphasise the personality of each instrument.

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As far as my musical knowledge goes, I found that many hip-hop productions use sampled strings which are fairly simple in compositions, usually adding on from a sample or chopping up existing strings in a sample, however, in conscious rap/hip-hop of today, live strings have been recorded to add to that element of complexity which is common in conscious hip-hop, creating pieces that evoke strong feelings and emotions that are harder to capture when using MIDI instruments, it all depends on the style you’re going for. For something more pop style, usually, some staccato MIDI strings will be enough to add that layer of interest whereas something more personal or story heavy would usually need something that goes hand in hand with the strong lyrical content and supporting the emotions. This would be discussed with the vocalist on what they are trying to achieve overall and act accordingly.

References:

Recording session image: Youtubecom. (2017). YouTube. Retrieved, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azC7-tBI6gw

Theproaudiofilescom. (2017). The Pro Audio Files. Retrieved, from https://theproaudiofiles.com

Casey van wensem. (2017). The Pro Audio Files. Retrieved, from https://theproaudiofiles.com/5-tips-realistic-sounding-midi-strings/