I have never wished I had not given up on my violin lessons as a boy. Such a beautiful sound.

DK: “So this is a little piece I’ve composed. It’s very simple and pretty short.” Me: it’s beautiful and better than anything I have ever written for strings. From others I might be depressed, but from you, you just inspire. Thanks for sharing with us!

Very nice, calm, gentleman-style presentation, enjoyable to watch. The content is very useful, thanks.

Small tip: When in the midi editor (it has to be in focus), you can hit the "a" key to summon the automation window on the bottom. Upon clicking inside this window, you can cycle through your automation parameters (that you have already recorded) by using the shortcut "cmd+y".

Another well presented master class in production, thank you.

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing your process.

Brilliant video Dan !! This is super cool !!!!

Back in the 2” tape days, I used to use that trick on vocals to get three singers to sound like a small choir. I still use a variant of it in Pro Tools sometimes to allow me to use my tenor voice to mock up a bass part. Logic appears to make it much easier, though. With a tape machine, you have to do the math. In PT, you have to use Elastic on each track, which is glitchy. Logic, naturally, you type the amount and go. Makes me want to get a Mac. Nice job! Now, if only I could rewind my life 55 years and take up viola.

Really loving your videos 👌

Keep up the great work. I really enjoy your soft string spurs and extras and have used them in several projects.

much better than i expected. very cool.

Thanks for sharing dan! you're the man!

Brilliant technique!

Wow what a great discovery! And the presentation is phenomenal as well. Instant sub!

Dan, this is outstanding! Thank you for sharing with us! Beautiful string piece too! Love how it all sounds at the end! Cheers!

It is a real pleasure to watch your videos. Cozy atmosphere and quality music.

Beautiful. Loved your sliding feel.

Really incredible. Thank you and hope you make it big

Excellent!

Very useful tips on your channel. As someone who does orchestral covers, your videos really help me in my channel. Thank you

Thank you!!! thank you for doing more than the basics.

So touching ❤❤

Great video. I learned a lot.

Thank you for the varispeed tip. I had tried so many things for my string ensembles (I even have a viola with big fat strings tuned down an octave) but this is gold.

That was absolutely nuts. When you first played back all those live takes I had no idea it would sound that good. I'm getting a viola and hopefully I can teach myself in an afternoon.

You’re a master Dan. So inspiring and clean in everything.

This is really helpful, thanks!

This is literally perfect for me! I’m also a viola player looking to simulate an orchestra sound by recording myself. Thanks for making this video!

Awesome!

Thank you Dan, you're great!

Pretty slick stuff

Super useful and interesting as well! thank you...

Sounds Very Realistic and Melancholic...Loved it Dan ;-)

Wow Amazing ! 🤩🤩

Beautiful! Violin is an amazing instrument, maybe next life I will learn it. Nice piece and arragements, is just few seconds but feels so nice.

Great work ! Your "real viola" in the track makes the difference...like it very much ! Thanx also for all the mixing inspiration ! Best, Jojo

This was absolutely brilliant, and the track is lovely as well - simple, evocative. Nice one, Dan!

Wonderful. Thank you. Liked and Subscribed.

Very nice!

Really enjoyed this video and the track! I’ve recorded my violin as a cello, but never thought to try my viola. :)

Very nice one, Dan, thanks ever so much! 👍 Just subscribed. 🙂

great tutorial

Thank you!

Really nice. I tried out varispeed in Logic many years ago but it was glitchy at the time. It never really matched up to tape varispeed so I never gave it another thought. Having seen your video you’ve inspired me to give it another go on guitars!

Wasn't sure it was going to be pulled off, but it turned out rather well, I'd say. Also - love the aesthetic of your setup and video production.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Dan. I'm a keen amateur and I really enjoy watching you create these wonderful pieces.

Absolutely genius idea also that virtual sound stage 😦

lovely

This is amazing. I do this all the time when it’s just me and I want to get a full sounding “choir effect”! (Quick tip: Record at a low varispeed with falsetto and you get amazing sounding sopranos) But never thought to do this for an instrument! Great video Dan!

Very Nice Cool and Calm

thank you so much!! your videos are GREAT!!!!

Very convincing sound! Bassoonist with 30 yrs of playing in professional orchestras, therefore with a greater appreciation of the viola than others might have 🤔 but the cello really worked for me.

It's times like this I wish I'd kept up the violin lessons as a kid, nice seeing you play your viola Dan.

Is a great tip 🤙🏼

Superb video Dan .. one slight snag .. I can't play viola :-) The sound of the DK String section was fab to my ears .. bet CH will love this!

Your piece is off to a nice start. Reminds me a bit of Barber’s Adagio for Strings. I don’t think I entirely understand what you did with Varispeed, but it’s quite innovative. Thank you.

Man, you're making me wanna go back to Logic haha. Didn't know it has that varispeed function. Super useful.

You are amazing

That’s a nice sound Dan, makes me wish I carried on with viola, which was my second instrument at sat music college.

Beautiful :)

Just discovered your channel, i really like your Content!

First video, and I’m inspired!

You're the author of the soft strings spurs samples! All my congratulations, you did a excellent job, these sounds are in my patches library and I used them a lot. Realy inspiring, great great work. Regarding the delay I personnaly also use the old trick to send a short delay with no feed back to the main reverb in order to move the sound further back in the audio space.

You seem kind. I'll tell you a secret, by using Townsend L22 microphone you can emulate different microphones digitally. This creates even more of an illusion of an orchestra when there's the characters of U87, AKG 414 & U47. By blending different mics you get different sounds out of violin. Also the mic has two capsules for stereo recording and can emulate two mics simultaneously. Godspeed my friend.

Ok... this is *really* interesting! By way of background... I grew up in a musical household and I later attended junior RAM studying the oboe. I started this year at Guildford school of Acting on their BA Theatre Production specialising in sound (both engineering and design). I always try to include something live in every mix and design to bring a sense of realism (CH's IN9 "How to make a string quartet sound massive" is a great watch on this topic), so if there is something melodic that I can play in on the oboe, of something warm and harmonic that I can play in on the cor anglais, I will. If not I'll see if I can get something in on the piano, but I'm a terrible pianist so that's a last resort! I think for the 5% of the time that you will spend putting something live in, it adds at least 30% 'more better' to your mix; be it something musical, or in a design case some kind of wildcard recording that is specific and has an emotive connection to the track in hand. So a question back to you, Dan. In my very limited experience with professional orchestral samples, I have found that strings and pianos give the most realistic reproduction of being a 'real' instrument, and woodwinds don't always sound as convincing (or at least require more effort on the engineer's part to make them sound convincing). My thinking is that wind instruments, and woodwinds more so than brass, have a much more complex waveform than instruments with strings. Any thoughts on working with winds? Or is it perhaps that as an oboist I know how it should 'feel' as well as sound, and maybe you think the same way about string samples as a viola player? I know that your octave-faked cello is much more convincing than my octave-faked bassoon so I'm presuming that the complex nature of these instruments just simply does not take well to being pitch shifted. I have adopted the Seb Skelly approach for playing instruments that I can't play hence far, but will definitely be experimenting with varispeed! Using the vocal transformer, I can definitely get something bassoon-like that can work deep in a mix, and it works ok on saxophones, but I've never gotten anything as successful as with strings or brass. I've found it to be much more successful pitching down than up though - along the lines of CH's speeding samples down video. I have made soprano saxophones out of tenors and it was just about acceptable in the situation! I would highly recommend giving this a watch (and a subscribe!): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b9l0ndWfqpu8d5c.html

Another great video Dan... shifting time again. Marty McFly or Doctor Who...convinced you're a time lord! Cheers for sharing your wisdom and insights...

Best mike i have used for strings (i.e. mostly my violin) is a coles 4038 ribbon. Spaced about 40-50 cms above, from the body of the violin. Also works superbly with violas and cellos too, a little further away, but approx. perpendicular to the body of the instrument. Never tried it on a double bass. Re VArispeed... i tried, and got interesting results with a slightly different technique. When tracking the same violin part several times, it just sounds "false" somehow. Like a double tracking effect. What i do is varispeed by a variable small amount, less than 50 cents, for each overdub, and retune the violin on each pass. That way my vibrato is slightly different for each track, and the violin resonances are slightly different. Then when mixed to getherm, it doesn't sound like one violin(ist) multitracking. You get more of an ensemble sound that way. Do it enough times, and it really can sound like a group of different players all together. Would also be an idea to use two different violins, again to get different resonances and timbres. Try it, and see!

Great job,great content, so hard to find good content on KZfaq so thank you very much 🔥 Can you make video with piano (eq,reverb and mixing with strings) ?

hey dan loved the video. I was wondering if you can do a video on orchestrating and how to make mock-ups that have orchestral “bursts” like star wars batman dark knight etc. Thanks stay safe.

I did similar experiments and noticed harsch combfilter effects if not varying the mic-angle and changing bows and changing violins and recording speed. Ended up using five different violins and three bows etc managing to make 60 overdubs. Cello was a failure because mic angle matters less with low frequences.

So if I wanted to start playing a string instrument to do this, which one should I choose? I do have a musical background so in terms of theory there’s no problem I’d just have to learn the technique. Great video 🙌🏻

That’s freakin beautiful man

Hello new friend thank you for sharing beautifu video, music,here Alread givingsy support,see u Around keep.safe

One or more 'real' instruments layered correctly, absolutely lifts a production to a new level. Very nice demo, perfectly explained. Thank you, Dan, and for Christian who sent me here.

Beautiful! In only wish there was a comparison between only samples and final version at the end of the video

Hi Dan! I'm Glenn. I'm very pleased to meet you. Lovely work here. I'm a 30-year Digital Performer user and never could stand the editing in Logic, BUT I'm a chronic user of tape-deck pitch-wheels, and I horribly miss the ease of that functionality in all of my DAWs. Varispeed right in the main transport of Logic is going to make me take yet another look at that DAW.

You are great Dan ! It reminds me a bit Nick Drake ;)

When recording a sax section with one sax. I use alterboy. I'm going to try this

Great video for a noob like me, just a quick question about the Virtual Sound Stage: if I understand correctly it pans the instruments as if they are on that location on stage, so why pan them before using the plug-in? Great job as always! Keep ‘em coming! 😀

Hi Dan, awesome video! I was wondering if you could tell me what camera and lens you use? Also, do you know if it has unlimited recorded time or is it called at 30 mins per video?

Being able to record the Viola like that with varispeed gives you a huge advantage over non string playing mock up composers! Also now wishing I could play at least one bowed string instrument without sounding like a dying cat! I actually preferred the sound of your strings over the Spitfire ones, even before you’d placed them in the mix! Theres a tangible realness to them that gives them the edge over the software. Those strings definitely sounded different enough to work as well! Theres similar techniques in rock and metal, where electric guitars would be recorded on old reel to reels faster or slower than intended playback, for some added grainy dirt and distortion. Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Mansons producers were big proponents of the technique. I’ve never used varispeed in logic before, and I’ve never heard of anyone using this kind of concept to make multiple recordings of the same instrument sound suitably different from one another. Is this technique in the context you’re using it something you have come across online, or something you’ve come up with yourself? I’d love to read up as much as I could on it. I know it sounds like hyperbowl, but this is one of the most exciting production tricks I’ve come across online in a really really long time! 100% going to be trying this on my own live instrument recordings as soon as I get the chance! ...Also wondering how this technique would fare on brass and reed instruments?!

Good job :)

Thank you Dan. I actually think you sound better than the virtual violins. I wonder if you could perhaps double a bit more, mess a little more with the sound, and skip the virtual instrument entirely, or perhaps just subtly add them where needed, perhaps the cello? I'm not a violin player, but I am bit allergic to virtual violins when you here it is virtual, and at the same time loving it when it sounds good. But, next to the real thing it almost always pales in comparison. Cheers!

Perhaps moving the mics to different distances for differing purposed instruments, especially the 'cello', might help to give more sense of place to the recorded instruments. If I could play a string instrument, yea, I'd try it. :) Dammit.

Hey Dan! Do you think this will turn out good when you do this with a cello? I want to incorporate a "quintet sound" into my compositions but stringwise i just play the cello and the double bass.

Hi Dan, thanks for the video.. A little left field, but have you worked in Atmos at all? I'd be interested in hearing if you have any thoughts or experiences..

Hi Dan, I've seen you using a Behringer controller. Does it work with Apple M1 ? which budget controller you suggest?

What's your reverb/ambience setting on the individual Spitfire Strings on your Kontakt player?

You re amazing! Though I tried to download it but it's not working... I clicked on free download but nothing happens

7:04 What shortcuts are you using for fade in and fade out??? Please

You are insane

If i earn enough with my music to buy such 200$ finesse plug in like the virtual sound stage I am possibly not searching for an explanation on how to improve the mock up ;) I watch all these content from Spitfire people and Co. with good will, but still skeptical about videos with too much external plug ins showing things Logic Pro can do alone. For example, setting the multi sampler correctly will allow you to quite any sound on the strings. If you need some special articulation, you can record a new sample from the internet or from the violinf of a friend. The virtual sound of 200$ stage looks awesome, but you can use Logic surround as well, and set different reverbs for each track. The Varispeed technique is always very good to remember, however here your music is already slow my dear ;) But is a very good thing to remember regarding automation; it will allow you to do fine automation with the mouse or track pad, perfect for vibrato. Mixing the midi with a real audio from viola is also a great idea. And some plug-ins like this especial reverb are good to know even when not buying them, because then you can maybe imitate it as well, using other techniques.

Hi Dan, you changed not tempo but only pitch using Varispeed, didnt you? and for playing violin tracks you need to transpose the notes you played compare to original midi tracks. correct?

7:54

When using VariSpeed, I sometimes find that it messes with the pitches of the other midi tracks. Ever have that problem?

As a not-logic user (Reaper fam here); what is varispeed? As a musician and producer; I love this video and also goddamned I need to learn to play bowed instruments.

Which piano was used in this? Spitfire Felt? Beautiful track!

⚜️x🤘🏻x⚜️

Hello everyone! I am encountering a persistently irritating problem in Logic X and would like to see if someone here can help me. I have been trying to use my mod-wheel to pitch bend in logic's sampler and LABS. Back when I used logic 9, the value of the pitch bend was 2 whole-tones. I could pitch bend from say an F to an A. Now it only goes from an F to a G. So, for Logic X it only moves 1 whole step. How do I change the value of the pitch bend while using the mod wheel of my midi keyboard? I have looked on all forums and cannot find an answer. Please help! thanks in advance!

Which DAW is this? Logic Pro?