What Makes A String Arrangement Great?

I ve played many arrangements with award-winning producers at top studios in Argentina only to hear the strings mixed away in the background. Sometimes people do notice the strings, only to ask what sample library was used...

Today, I want to focus on the converse situation - arrangements so good that they work even without real string instruments. The year is 1979, the band Supertramp, and the song in question, logically, The Logical Song . Although sharing co-writing credits with Rick Davis, this song was written by Roger Hodgson. The song starts with a sound that is the backbone of so many Supertramp tunes: the Wurlitzer piano, in this case recorded through a chorus processor. We reach the B section - maybe we can call it a Chorus - and in come the violins, only it s actually an Elka Rhapsody string machine. Then it s joined by a lovely cello line played on a Oberheim Four-voice synthesizer. Both sounds also processed through a chorus.

The arrangement itself is simple but poignant, with the descending harmony embellished by the violins and a gorgeous counter-melody by the cello . Actually, the melody was so well liked by Davis, that he came up with the idea of singing along to that counter-melody just before they finished recording the track.