Tips from the pros: Recording a horn section

Bored with sampled sounds on your demos? Inject some soul with the impact and excitement of a powerful horn section. Keith Gemmell provides tips on planning the session, scoring the parts and getting them on record.

There’s nothing like a punchy horn section to add an extra dimension to a great rhythm track (I’m biased, of course!). Can you imagine such classics as Sam and Dave’s Hold On I’m Coming or Wilson Picket’s Knock On Wood without those driving horn lines? Of course you can’t; they just wouldn’t be the same. Maybe you’ve an unfinished track of your own that needs a lift. Well, instead of yet another synth pad, why not write and record some horn parts? I’m serious; you don’t require a large studio with dozens of mics; and the writing, if kept simple, needn’t be too difficult either.

This feature first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 05
Filed under General Features

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