How did The Carpenters record their strings tracks?

[JuanDela]

One of the things I really enjoy about the Carpenters' songs are the strings (pretty much in any song actually).
Recently, I listened to Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft, and I was left with a lot of questions about the strings tracks in their songs.

How did The Carpenters record them?
Exactly, what instruments did they use to get that particular sound?
Did they use real instruments one by one and then mix them together?
Did they hire a whole orchestra to do it?
Are they just synths with pre recorded string sounds?

 

[newvillefan]

How did The Carpenters record them?
Exactly, what instruments did they use to get that particular sound?
Did they use real instruments one by one and then mix them together?
Did they hire a whole orchestra to do it?
Are they just synths with pre recorded string sounds?

Ok let’s break those questions down.

A string section on a recording can be made up of anything from four musicians (cello, viola, two violins) - known as a string quartet - to a symphony orchestra, which might be expanded to include two sections of violins, violas, cellos, double basses, flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, plus additional woodwind and percussion sections. For big numbers like ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’, the arrangement called for a huge orchestra of that size and so the 100+ Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, plus the 50-voice Gregg Smith Singers were assembled on the sound stage at A&M for the recording session (because that was the only place big enough to house them all), and everything was wired through to the mixing desk in Studio D.

Most other tracks over the years featured a smaller group of string session musicians. The size of the orchestras Richard used to bring his arrangements to life really depended on what the track called for - and the limitations of the recording equipment at the time. In the early days, they had only 4 or 8 tracks to play with, so strings would have been recorded on - or bounced onto - one track, leaving room for all the other instruments and vocal tracks. Later, they had 24+ tracks to play with, meaning Richard had more room to accommodate some of his more ambitious arrangements, for example recording violins together on one track, cellos on another and so on, for better stereo separation. To my knowledge, Richard never used synthesised string sounds on any Carpenters recordings (save for one or two very early pre-Carpenters recordings/demos).

However, because the liner notes on most Carpenters albums don’t give individual credits to every single string musician, it’s hard to know how big the string section was on each song and even then, you wouldn’t necessarily know how many of this or that instrument was used, because the master tape legends don’t given it away either. All you’d see is something like “track 5 - violins”, with no reference to how many players took part (as you can see below on the master tape legend for ‘Yesterday Once More’ - courtesy of and ‘The Musical Legacy’ book).



For the the bigger orchestras used in the studio, the various musicians would have still been grouped according to instrument, so cellists would be sat together in one section, violinists in another and so on. Much like you see with live orchestras on stage. (You can also see the musicians laid out like this at Abbey Road studio in the video footage of Richard recording orchestral tracks for the RPO album).

Unless you were recording a single violin or other instrument for the solo instrumental section of a song, you wouldn’t record orchestral parts separately with every single musician because a) orchestras are meant to be heard and recorded together, due to the collective ambient sound they produce, b) there simply weren’t enough tracks on the tape to allow you to do so and c), it would have been incredibly time-consuming and prohibitively expensive to do so.

 

[Chris May]

For the first five albums, it was 10 violins, 3 violas and 3 celli recorded in either Studio B or Studio A (if "B" wasn't available). By late-'74, it was 16 violins, 4 violas and 4 celli, typically recorded in "D" but occasionally "A" for the larger orchestras.

For those early albums, generally violins were sub-mixed to one track, with violas and celli subbed down to another track. For the later albums, all three "sections" were grouped onto three separate tracks, and if an additional violin (for instance) required an overdub (i.e. "I Can't Make Music"), it got placed on yet a separate track where there was space on the multi (usually where other instrumentation or vocals resided, but were not active in that particular section of tape).

All of the strings were usually recorded in a single session, at one time, separate from all of the other instrumentation. That wasn't ALWAYS the case—like for instance with the Portrait sessions and some of the tracks on Passage, but in general, this is the way it was done.

 

[Chris May]

By the way, I explain some of this in the Studio Discography's lede in Carpenters: The Musical Legacy.

 

[BenKlesc]

For the first five albums, it was 10 violins, 3 violas and 3 celli recorded in either Studio B or Studio A (if "B" wasn't available). By late-'74, it was 16 violins, 4 violas and 4 celli, typically recorded in "D" but occasionally "A" for the larger orchestras.

This is so very fascinating. Thanks for answering this question. I was wondering the same thing and just stumbled upon this.

I guess they really liked the sound of Studio B, as Studio A was technically the bigger and better room. I'm not sure if Karen ever tracked vocals in Studio A but I would seriously doubt it as it's such a large space. Perhaps the rhythm section if B was unavailable.

I actually read in Carole's book that when she was making Tapestry in Studio B, the Carpenters were recording the tan album in Studio A.

 

[Nemily]

I actually read in Carole's book that when she was making Tapestry in Studio B, the Carpenters were recording the tan album in Studio A.

The level of creativity that was going on at A&M in January 1971 is almost incomprehensible.

Carole King was recording “Tapestry” at the A&M lot Studio B at the same time Carpenters were recording “Rainy Days and Mondays” for the tan album in Studio A and at the same time, Joni Mitchell was recording “Blue” in Studio C. They must have been tripping over each other.

 

[BenKlesc]

The level of creativity that was going on at A&M in January 1971 is almost incomprehensible.

Carole King was recording “Tapestry” at the A&M lot Studio B at the same time Carpenters were recording “Rainy Days and Mondays” for the tan album in Studio A and at the same time, Joni Mitchell was recording “Blue” in Studio C. They must have been tripping over each other.

I can just imagine! From the Joni Mitchell website.

Joni Mitchell Library - Joni Mitchell Dug Deep to Make Her Dark Masterpiece ‘Blue’: Daily Beast, October 22, 2017

Joni recorded Blue in Studio C. The Carpenters were recording in Studio A. Carole King was recording Tapestry in Studio B. King would write in her memoir, A Natural Woman: "A constant stream of singers, musicians, friends, and family flowed in and out of the recording studios along Sunset Boulevard. At A&M we commuted down the hall. Sometimes we commuted between A&M and Sunset Sound ... When I wasn't working on my own album I drove to Sunset Sound to play as a sideman and sing background on James [Taylor's] songs ... Periodically James came over to A&M to play acoustic guitar and sing background on my record. Physical proximity to me and romantic proximity to James brought Joni's beautiful voice to both James' and my albums. Sometimes it seemed as if James and I were recording one massive album in two different studios.

Joni's instinctual sense added to the lore that would surround Studio C. As Carole King recalled, "Studio C had a reddish wood Steinway piano that everyone said was really special. One morning I was able to slip in and try that piano out. I couldn't help but agree; there really was something extraordinary about it. It felt good to play, and its exceptional sound resonated with Lou [Adler] and [engineer] Hank [Cicalo], as well. Unfortunately, the red Steinway also resonated with Joni and Henry Lewy, which led to Joni and me vying for time in Studio C to record basic tracks. Unknown to me, Hank made several attempts to move the red Steinway into B, but Joni and Henry wouldn't allow it." One evening, King learned that Studio C was available - for three hours - before Joni was coming in. She rushed in with her team and in three takes recorded "I Feel the Earth Move.