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Recording Services

SLIDER-RECORDING

Welcome to the section of the website that deals with recording.

What’s on offer?

Option 1
– Simply hiring Matt to record pre-written bowed string parts for your production. This is an easy and popular choice for many people working in the recording industry due to its conventionality and ease of use. Thanks to the modern technology of secure online file transfers, you can send Matt your scored string parts and have them recorded and ready to insert back into your project all in the same day and from anywhere in the world.

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A short excerpt from a track that I worked on for producer Aimee Newsome-Stone. She sent me the string part score, and about 4 hours later, I returned a full and balanced 8-part string ensemble. They were perfectly ready to drop into the mix so that she could finish it in time for a tight deadline the following day.

NB. This track was never actually released but gives a basic but very pleasing example of the quality of my string ensemble work and the speed that which it can be created.

Option 2
– Hire Matt to apply his skills as an experienced strings arranger and/or improviser to your production. Matt will undertake the task of listening to each of your tracks closely and will quickly come up with original, innovative, and musical ideas that he feels ‘work’ with what you already have in mind. He then sends it back for your approval and/or tweaking so that you are happy with the final product.

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This track only required a viola section, as Robin wasn’t happy with the sound quality of the viola samples that he was using. He posted in a Facebook group for Propellerhead Reason Users, looking for better quality samples and I offered to demonstrate how a real viola should sound. Once he heard the real thing, that was it and he had his viola parts within 24 hours.

There was no score for this work, it was done purely by ear. The viola section comes in at about 26 seconds into this excerpt.

Or,

Maybe you’d like your first track with solo classical style violin in the middle eight but you’d also like to hear it towards the end as an outro? Anything is possible when it comes to arrangements, the only barrier is your own creativity!

Track 2 has quartet-style string parts on it that you’d love to hear on track 3 too? Absolutely! Why settle for bowed parts?

Want Matt to write a quick tune with a Celtic or Gypsy feel for track 3? Not a problem, Matt can advise how this can best be achieved, even with that quartet-style string part that you loved in track 2…

You can choose.

Option 3
– Finally, work in ‘collaboration’ on a special project. This is slightly different than the first two choices and far more wide-ranging in its possibilities and outcomes.
It could be anything from hiring Matt to write, arrange and mix the string parts on a project to engaging Matt to record voiceovers or even writing and recording an audio track for a short film that you are making.

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A track that was created for an eminent local artist, Sarah Hough exhibiting in 2013, called Interrogating Landscapes.
She had recorded about 6 hours of material based on her early morning walks, where she would sketch various parts of her local surrounding landscapes.

We condensed it into a short 5-minute storyline, to give the listener an immersive experience of what she was doing.

Technical details

The hardware used:

Slate ML1 condenser microphone, normally set to Neumann U67, brings out the best depth of tone. Sontronics Sigma ribbon condenser microphone when appropriate, and a Slate ML2 pencil condenser for accuracy. All of my microphones are chosen to best capture all of the nuances and different tonal characters of each instrument, as best possible, for each specified job.

RME Babyface Pro audio interface, Adam Audio A3X nearfield monitors linked via an Adam Sub 7 sub. Beyerdynamic DT770 Headphones (80 Ohm) for recording and Slate VSX 2 headphones for mixing. Clean and clear sounding, using high-end industry-standard gear that always gives the best-sounding results.

PreSonus Studio One 5 Professional, of which Matt is an expert-level user.

High-end software plug-ins: Izotope Advanced and Fabfilter ProQ 3, and also some of the best analogue emulations in the world made by Slate Digital.

Matt uses 3 violins, one of which is very unusual and highly sought after due to its exceptional depth and breadth of tone. The 2 others are both rewardingly unique and differing in their tonal characters. to maintain the integrity of his ensemble recordings, a high-quality viola.

All of my work is normally recorded at 24-bit depth and 48KHz bitrate unless otherwise specified. These parameters can currently be increased to 192KHz.

This is all run on a system that was co-designed and built by audio PC specialists Inta Audio. Also exists in a fully-mobile format, that can easily be transported anywhere.

All of my work is safely stored on private servers and a secure cloud server.

Disclaimer: Unless involved in the final mix process of production, Matt cannot be held responsible for the overall quality of the end product. On the creation of a contract between parties, Matt undertakes to create the best quality recordings possible to ensure that all aspects of the final mix can be achieved for the finished product.

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