Pads and strings carry harmony in long, sustained sounds. They fill space, create atmosphere, and glue an arrangement together. They can also swamp a mix faster than anything else.
Pads
A pad is a soft, sustained synth sound, usually with a slow attack and a long release.
- Role - harmonic bed and atmosphere, behind everything else.
- Voicing - spread the notes. A pad playing a close-voiced chord in the middle of the keyboard sits right where the vocal lives. Open voicings with notes above and below the vocal range leave it room.
- Movement - a static pad sounds dead. Slow filter movement, gentle modulation and subtle automation keep it alive.
- Frequency - high-pass pads so they do not fight the bass and kick. Often they can lose everything below 150-200 Hz.
Voice leading
When chords change, move each note of the pad as little as possible to the nearest note in the next chord. C-E-G to F-A-C becomes C-E-G to C-F-A: C stays, E moves up a semitone to F, G moves up a tone to A.
Good voice leading makes chord changes sound smooth and inevitable. Without it, every change sounds like a block of notes being swapped for another block.
The string section
A string section has four main members, each with a range and a typical role:
- Violins (often split into first and second violins) - the highest voices. Melodies, high harmonies, shimmering sustains.
- Violas - the middle voice. Inner harmonies, filling between violins and cellos.
- Cellos - tenor and bass register. Warm melodies, harmonic foundation, countermelodies.
- Double basses - the bottom. Usually doubling the cellos an octave lower or reinforcing the bass.
Write for strings as separate lines, not as a keyboard chord on a "strings" patch. Each section should have its own part that moves sensibly.
Articulations
How a string note is played changes everything:
- Legato - smooth, connected notes. Melodies and slow harmonies.
- Sustain - long held notes. Pads and beds.
- Staccato and spiccato - short, detached notes. Rhythmic energy - the disco string riff.
- Pizzicato - plucked. Light, playful, percussive.
- Tremolo - rapid repeated bowing. Tension, drama, shimmer.
- Swells - a note that grows from nothing. Builds and transitions.
Good string libraries offer all of these, usually switched by keyswitches or separate patches.
Making sampled strings sound real
- Use the expression controller. Most libraries use the modulation wheel (CC1) or expression (CC11) for dynamics. Ride it constantly - real players never hold a note at one level.
- Respect ranges. Write within each instrument's real range.
- Overlap for legato. In legato patches, slightly overlapping notes trigger the transition sound between them.
- Breathe. String players change bow direction and phrase like singers. Leave tiny gaps.
- Do not double everything. A full orchestra playing every note of every chord sounds like a preset.
Strings in pop and dance music
Strings have a long history in popular music: the disco string section, the soul ballad, the cinematic pop chorus. In these styles they often play:
- Sustained chords under a chorus, for lift.
- Rhythmic stabs and staccato 8ths for drive.
- Counter-melodies answering the vocal.
- Rising lines and swells into a new section.
Do this now
- Write a four-chord pad part with smooth voice leading - no note moves more than two semitones.
- Arrange the same progression for a string section: violins, violas, cellos and basses, each with its own line.
- Add a staccato violin figure in the chorus and a swell into it.
- Ride the expression controller on every sustained note.