How do you emulate the classic string arrangements of 60s and 70s Motown records, essentially extracting a defining ingredient of that studio-slicked soul and R&B? And how do you record and process those strings in such a way that the samples sound authentic, like they were swiped from a Marvin Gaye studio session? These are the challenges we faced, and we solved them by calling in reinforcements. We assembled the Splice Quartet (Aya Terki - cello, Josh Henderson and Sarah Goldfeather - violins, Elise Frawley - viola) at Aura Studio in Brooklyn. They played through every soulful arrangement we could make, from sparkling melodies with notes that nosedive to plucky interludes that tiptoe and tumble. We recorded them simply, using some AKG 414s through Avedis MA5 preamps, a signal chain optimized for high-end clarity and warm compression. Incredibly, the loops and one-shots on Motown Strings sound like they were recorded in the same room as Diana Ross or the Isley Brothers. Use them to add orchestral emotion to soul, R&B, and the tracks of your tears.
Motown Strings with the Splice String Quartet
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Motown Strings makes arrangements
Companion Packs
Disco Strings Vol 2
Bring some elegant drama to your latest track with these energetic and refined string arrangements from violist and violinist Will Marshall. For this follow-up to his success...
Soulful Strings with The Splice String Quartet
The Splice String Quartet returned to the studio to perform soulful strings in the classic 1970s soul style. For this edition, we focused on creating string loops that would ...
Trap Strings
The Splice String Quartet returns to bring the fire with bouncing, haunting melodies composed specifically for hip hop and trap productions. If John Carpenter and Metro Boomi...
Elegant Strings
Stylistically, Splice Originals: Elegant Strings takes a chamber pop approach, incorporating elements of baroque vocals and classical figures—all under the backdrop of modern...
Disco Strings
Dramatic at their core, these disco strings could find a home on the dancefloor, woven into a lush soundscape, or as the centerpiece of a French indie film score. As the late...
Cello Explorations with Hadas Kleinman
Critically acclaimed cellist Hadas Kleinman records a collection of traditional and electric cello arrangements, resulting in an incredibly emotive library of one-shots and ...