Linked below you will find my mockup of an excerpt from my favorite string quartet by Maurice Ravel. I mocked this up this week and the sampled instruments you hear are from @SpitfireAudio’s Studio Strings Professional library.

*scroll down for session specs

I purchased SSP a while back and wanted to practice automating some MIDI CC data for added realism. This particular library is touted as being quite versatile and I found that to be true. For instance, having not one, but two close mic positions was incredibly useful in providing a bit of added detail. The legato patches were wonderfully responsive to expression and vibrato CC rides. Some string libraries I’ve used are a bit roomy which can be quite flattering at times, but SSP is quite clean and dry allowing for the crispness I needed for mocking up this intimate quartet piece. And it didn’t hurt that the samples played nicely with reverb.

One resource I found especially helpful in making the performance sound idiomatic was Paul Thomson’s video on using MIDI CC data with strings. VIEW HERE

SESSION SPECS

Ensemble:
8 Vln I
6 Vln II
6 Vla
6 Clo
4 Bs
Library: Spitfire Audio’s Studio Strings Professional
Articulations: Tremolo, Pizz, Legato, Trill
EQ: Pro Q3 (FabFilter) + Pultec EQP-1A (Avid)
Saturation: Decapitator (Soundtoys) 2 instances with light sploshes of N & E
Verb 1: EW Spaces II Bright Plate ST 0.6s
Verb 2: EW Spaces II GRM 12 ST 0.9s
Limiter: Pro Limiter (Avid) with very nominal settings.

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