How we helped Jonathan jazz-up his vinyl release with live strings [Client case study]

Producer’s corner: When pressed for a vinyl album release, Jonathan Greer, a seasoned music producer working from Austin, TX, decided to make no compromise on the sound quality and record live strings. As always, we went an extra mile to make sure Jonathan got the string tracks he was hoping for at the rate he could afford.

Here’s what Jonathan has to say about our collaboration.

Jonathan, you’ve entered the music world when you were quite young. What was your experience ever since?

Started piano when I was 10 and started composing pretty much at the same time.  Absolutely knew what I wanted to do with my life then… and I fell in love with film scores. Graduated with a BA in Film Scoring from Berklee in Boston in 2001. Taught piano lessons and worked in churches for a few years before I moved to Austin, TX, and became a full-time freelance composer.  I’ve written for a lot of music libraries and video games.  I also play with the Austin Piazzolla Quintet and do short tours with them throughout the year.

What problem were you trying to solve when you got in touch with us?

I really wanted a live group string ensemble sound for this particular piece.  I have a little home studio but didn’t feel like I quite had the capacity to pull it off on my own here.

How was this problem affecting your work? Surprisingly, with such experience, you’ve decided to outsource your strings recordings. Glad that you’ve given us your trust.

I’m working on this vinyl and I just want to do everything at as high a level as I can.  Didn’t want to skimp on quality!

Makes sense. Did you consider other solutions as well? 

I considered creating a really nice MIDI mockup and just overdubbing violin, viola, cello, and bass individually.  I’ve done this before for some video game soundtracks and it has worked very well.  But since this particular piece was ONLY string ensemble with nothing else to hide behind or blend with I really wanted to be authentic with it.

Jonathan, what was the reason you decided to choose SupremeTracks?

I visited a few different websites and looked at prices and listened to samples and honestly, you guys just had the best sounding samples by a pretty good margin to my ears!

Thanks for the kind words. We try to present at least a piece of our work on our website.

What would have happened we hadn’t collaborated?

I would’ve used the method described above. Getting MIDI to sound as good as I can then overdubbing string players one at a time to blend into the mix.

What risks did you consider regarding working with SupremeTracks? It was your first-time online collaboration like this, you must’ve had doubts.

Honestly, I didn’t feel like I was taking a risk.  The price was really great and I loved the samples on your site… and my piece was pretty simple/straightforward.

And what about some reservations?

None really.

Did working with us on your project help you improve your music career? Any measurable results worth mentioning?

Hehe, too early to tell!  I’m planning on releasing the vinyl late this year or early next year.  We’ll see! 🙂  I am very happy with the work you guys did though and will definitely hire you in the future if needed.

Good luck! 

Do you have a project that needs live strings?

We specialize in creating big strings sound from small set-ups. To do this, we record quartet or quintet and use advanced overdubbing techniques to achieve big and thick orchestra-like sound.

Small recording set-ups, along with our innovative business model, help us to keep production costs low and within your project’s budget. There’s no compromise on the quality, however. Take a listen to a few examples of our productions here.

So, do you have a project that needs live strings?

Schedule a FREE 15-minute consultation call with our production team TODAY.