Orchestrating Chris Sligh's CD

American Idol contestant Chris Sligh's former band, Half Past Forever, has just released their new recording Take a Chance on Something Beautiful. Chris and I were both raised on classical music and we both like orchestra stuff, so Chris asked me to add some of my trademarked fake orchestra to his tracks. If this bores you, just scroll down to my previous posts about my visit to the American Idol show : )

When I was a little boy I saw my first synthesizer at the Knoxville World's Fair. It was a Synclavier, one of the first super [and super expensive] synths, and I was absolutely enthralled by it. Since then I've always been obsessed with synthesizers and have especially loved re-creating symphonic textures.

What's wonderful about being alive today is that you can literally have an entire orchestra at your fingertips. A typical software orchestra library will cost far less than a synth module would have a few years ago. I can remember pining away for a $2000 Roland module about 10 years ago, and the Garritan Personal Orchestra today costs $199. The technology is amazing - wouldn't Bach have flipped!

Here's how I orchestrated Chris's music. Chris gave me a CD of the songs which I ripped and loaded into Sonar. Then I improvised around with the Garritan Personal Orchestra until I came up with something I liked. If my noodling flowers into complexity I'll shift into composer mode and actually write it out.

Once the part is composed to my satisfaction I'll play it into Sonar, performing the part right along with the song, playing in violin, viola, cello and bass parts separately.

The nice thing about the Garritan library is that I can control volume with my keyboard's expression wheel. The part isn't just a static sample but a living, breathing, musical part. This is very important for realism. If I have a soaring string line I may double or triple it with different string samples to thicken the sound.

Once mixed, strings are sometimes felt and not heard, except for choruses where you hear the soaring string lines. Strings really add a professional, epic, big-production feel.

I added strings to:

Know: This is Chris's big pop hit. My favorite part is the jumpy string part on the intro and midtros - I can envision an orchestra bowing away one day behind Chris at the Grammys! Listen to an MP3 excerpt from the 2nd verse.

In a Moment: Chris calls this his "Edwin McCain" song. My friend Cliff predicts it will end up in a movie soundtrack.

Need: I made great use of the Garritan tremolo patch on this song. On the intro, Chris asked me to double the guitar lick with strings. I love the sound of electric guitar and strings. Hear a clip.

Sometimes it helps to visually picture a mini-movie in your head. In this case, I envisioned someone reaching out, stretching their arms, and tried to mimic that in the string line that struggles upward. The lyrics tell the story: "Don't let go, don't let go of love, don't let go, it's everything that you need." Hear a clip.

Cry Tonight: We thought we were done, and Chris played the final mixes for me as we drove around town in my new Tribeca. When Cry Tonight came on, I said "Oh no, I hear strings!" Chris had wanted strings on this one but time was running out so we skipped it. I went home and whipped some up, and they turned out to be my favorite arrangements on the recording.

You might hear artists say things like "I'm hearing such and such..." and you might wonder what that means. For me it's kinda weird. When Chris played the stringless track for Cry Tonight I actually heard strings - my mind fills in what it wants to hear.

Chris also wanted a little orchestral intro so I created one based on the chord progression of the intro. The beautiful french horn sound is from the EastWest Symphonic Orchestra library. If you turn it up and listen closely you can hear a slight "gurgle" in the french horn when it reaches the top of the melodic line and takes a "breath." French horns are not the easiest instruments to play and you would hear a little gurgle like this on a difficult high note. The realism of this sample is amazing. Hear a clip.

We were finally done. Unfortunately I was just starting to get on this synth orchestration kick and felt the strange urge to create an orchestral interlude based on Cry Tonight. I orchestrated part of the second verse of the song, going into the chorus. This lyric is the title of the CD: "Is this just romance, or will we take a chance on something beautiful..."

I turned this part of the song into a movie score. To add even more realism to the string I blended the Garritan strings with a violin patch from the EastWest library - if you close your eyes you can hear the violinists playing with vibrato on some notes - very realistic. Chris and Adam loved it. Since it was in the same key as How Long, they used it as an instrumental intro, making a perfect ending to the perfect album.

Here's a clip from the 2nd verse of the recording.

Here's my orchestration of that clip. I really like the string line in the chorus and use it in the orchestrated version.