How To Make A Cinematic String Section - Sound Design Tutorial

Continuing the sound design series by creating a synthesized string section that can be used standalone or blended into various music styles.

• Works well with long sustained chords for cinematic feel • Can be customized with grit for electronic sound • Versatile across different musical genres

Using the free Vital synthesizer with preset included in the free version called 'my string section'.

• First: settings and configuration needed • Then: customization and optimization techniques

• Leave first oscillator on default sawtooth wave • Add seven voices of unison with seven percent detuning • Set both panning and phase spread to zero to avoid clicks and pops

• Turn on Filter One set to analog, 12 dB per octave (6 dB alternative if available) • Set resonance to zero and cutoff to approximately 450 hertz • Increase drive slightly for saturation

• Attack: approximately 1.5 seconds • Decay: approximately 5 seconds • Sustain: 0.7 or 70 percent • Release: approximately 2 seconds

Creates a warm, sustained cinematic string tone with natural volume shaping.

Set velocity to 100 so soft playing produces quiet sound and harder key strikes produce louder volume, mimicking actual string player dynamics.

Increase voices to approximately 24 to ensure no notes cut each other off when playing multiple notes simultaneously.

• Use Envelope 2 to gently open the filter cutoff • Simulates how string players vary brightness during bowing motion • Makes the sound more natural and less static

• Attack: 0.5-0.6 seconds with rounded curve • Decay: 4-5 seconds • Sustain: 0.2-0.3 or 20-30 percent • Release: 0.1 seconds • Link to filter cutoff with range of approximately 15

• Use LFO1 to modulate unison detune amount instead of overall tuning • Set LFO1 frequency to 1 second • Pull LFO1 amount down to 0.06 for subtle effect

Unison detuning oscillates between 7% and 10-11%, simulating multiple string players performing subtle vibrato simultaneously.

• Use LFO2 with ramp shape set to 4-5 seconds • LFO2 controls the frequency of LFO1 through the matrix • Creates varying vibrato from slow to fast and back

Vibrato starts slowly when a key is pressed, accelerates rapidly, then returns to slow speed, creating realistic player expression and blending the saw waves together.

• Add low-cut to remove rumble at the lowest end • Remove slight amount of top end to reduce fizzy electronic sound

• Use high mix value to glue the sound together • Increase reverb size to 4-5 seconds or more • Creates spacious, realistic room ambience

• Add quarter-note delay in mono with feedback pulled down • Increases space around the sound • Apply soft clipping distortion at the end with drive increased but mix reduced to 20-30 percent

Distortion can be placed at the end of the chain or earlier if you want reverb to carry the distorted sound.

• Link Macro 1 to distortion drive amount • Link Macro 2 to reverb mix amount • Allows effect adjustment without diving into effects chain

Use one macro to control multiple effects simultaneously, such as reverb and delay together, for more dramatic tonal changes.

Macros enable effect control from any tab without needing to navigate to the effects chain for adjustments.

These macro assignments are implemented in the author's vital sound bank presets for easy real-time control.

• Add second oscillator with seven voices of unison at ten percent detuning • Route through Filter One to cut top end • Set to FM mode from Oscillator 1

Set FM amount to approximately 30-35 to blend saw waves pleasantly without sounding overly synthetic or bad.

FM modulation changes timbre from electronic pad sound to more orchestral or string section character.

Adjusting Envelope 1 attack time on FM oscillator from short (immediate, powerful) to 2-4 seconds (gradual growth) significantly affects the sound character.

• Synthesizer uses minimal disk space compared to sample libraries at tens or hundreds of gigabytes • Synth uses almost no RAM while sample libraries demand significant memory allocation

• Synth loads in seconds versus slow sample library loading even with solid state drives • Projects recall quickly without lengthy loading times

Vital synthesizer is completely free while few or no good sample libraries are truly free.

• Learning to create realistic sounds on synthesizers provides unique problem-solving challenges • Synthesizer approach gets you 95 percent of the way to realistic results • Forces creative thinking and different use of skill set

Synthesizer approach works well for most uses, though sample instruments are needed when meticulous detailed sound is required.

• Check out other sound design videos on the channel • Explore the author's sound banks with additional presets and sounds

The 'my string section' preset is included in Vital's free version and available in the author's sound bank.

Thank you for watching, with invitation to check the description for links and additional resources.