Recording Strings for Chris Sligh's CD

Super Tuesday 2008 was especially super for me - I was in Nashville recording strings for Chris Sligh's upcoming major label debut with producer Brown Bannister.


One of my favorite things is arranging orchestra for pop music, and usually I just do what is called a "MIDI mockup" - emulating a real orchestra with synthesizer on my computer. I did this on Half Past Forever's "Take a Chance On Something Beautiful" (Chris's band.)

However, with a major label budget, real string players were hired. These days, even major label budgets are tight, so a full string section was not hired. With the fantastic sounds of today's synths, you can achieve quite a beautiful, realistic string sound using synths and only a few players - dubbing them over and mixing in digital strings.


The day of the session Chris and I were like little kids on Christmas morning - it was thrilling to hear some of the finest session players in the world record music that he had written and I had arranged. An added treat was meeting renowned cellist John Catchings (on far right.)

Chris is re-doing a few songs from "Take a Chance On Something Beautiful." The new recording is aimed at the Christian market but has a few secular songs that could cross over. Since I now had the luxury of writing for real strings I amplified my original string parts on these songs, getting a little more adventurous by giving the lines a few more twists and turns. Here's a rundown on the tunes I arranged:

1. In a Moment. Brown has toyed with the dramatic key change at the end. It still changes key but you may not even notice!

2. Know. Similar to the original.

3. Cry Tonight. Brown's genius shines through on this one - I like this new version better than Chris's original - it really grooves.

4. Loaded Gun. A new song you haven't heard - Chris has a pop/rock version of this song, but wanted to try something out of the box for the recording. We collaborated on this one: He played me a new Eleanor Rigbyesque version for me on his keyboard and I took it and ran with it. The arrangement is only a string section with vocal. There's been nothing like it in Christian music. We're not talking lush, lullaby strings, here - it's a throbbing, pulsing arrangement. One word that comes to mind in describing it is "violent!"

5. Vessel. Chris needed a quiet ballad for the recording since most of his tunes are so epic. He dusted off "Vessel" - a song he had written years ago - and asked me to arrange a string quartet over his acoustic guitar track. The string players performed this so beautifully in the studio that I almost choked up! My guess is that the song will be popular in churches across the country.

After the session I took home a DVD of the string recordings, imported them into my computer and spent the next few days mixing them with my digital orchestra to create the perfect blend. Then I emailed sound files back to Brown and Nashville where the final recording will be mixed. The CD will be mastered later this month in LA (mastering is the process that gives the recording the final crispness and punch for the radio.)

Look for the new CD on May 6. If you're a Chris Sligh fan and own "Take a Chance On Something Beautiful" (sold in North America in stores like Best Buy or online at Amazon) you'll enjoy hearing new versions of his catchy songs, plus some new gems.