Jonas Petersen - 24 Violins

You deserve a real orchestra!

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354 Reviews (340 Verified)
Jonas Petersen - 24 Violins on SoundBetter

I arrange and record a STRING ORCHESTRA for your music production. REAL, UNIQUE, AFFORDABLE. Within 24 hours. Unlimited revisions. More than 20 years experience, credits range from Hollywood-movies like Sherlock Holmes, Madagascar 3, and companies like Sony, Disney, Hulu, Warner Bros, DreamWorks to major labels, producers, and up-and-coming artists

Looking for that MAGIC STRING SOUND?

You deserve the sound of a real orchestra, with REAL MUSICIANS PLAYING and FEELING your music!

NO SHEET MUSIC REQUIRED. I'll work from your MIDI, or arrange from scratch.

24 hour turnaround.

I have worked as a RECORDING & MIXING ENGINEER and string player for decades, obsessively chasing that PERFECT STRING SOUND. For you.

CLIO-AWARD (OSCAR for advertising) WINNER - Best Music/Disney Commercial

HOW IT WORKS:
In the studio, an orchestra can be created by just a few musicians, or even just one, using different instruments at different positions in the room. The mix of a passionate, emotional performance with world-class microphones, high-end preamps, analog saturation-magic and attention to detail makes all the difference.

Your music deserves to shine, let's get started!

SETUP OPTIONS:
String quartet: 2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello
String orchestra: 16 violins, 6 violas, 3 cellos
Solo: violin / viola / cello

DELIVERY:
- Mix
- Stems
- Multitrack
- Reverb prints

Everything is delivered both in stereo and 7.1.4 for Dolby Atmos

Mixing, editing and tuning included
Unlimited Revisions

GEAR HIGHLIGHTS:
Preamps: Neve 1073, AEA RPQ3
Microphones: Royer SF-12 (Ribbon), Neumann KM184, Sennheiser MKH50, FLEA47
Analog saturation magic: Audioscape Opto, AS78
Antelope converters

Send me an email through 'Contact' button above and I'll get back to you asap.

354 Reviews - 77 Repeat Clients

Endorse Jonas Petersen - 24 Violins
  1. Review by Tim James
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    An amazing experience from start to finish, Jonas runs a very professional, friendly service. A beautifully performed and recorded full string section on your track within days? - I’ll never take that for granted!

  2. Review by Jay Lazaroff
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    Jonas is awesome! Great value, Fast turnaround.
    Definitely will work with him again.

  3. Review by James W.
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    Jonas continues to provide excellent work. There is no better person to go to for getting that high-quality orchestral string sound. He really brings out the emotion in my songs through the warmth of the strings. This is my third collaboration with Jonas and will continue to work with him. Highly highly recommend him.

  4. Review by Greg Johnson
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    Jonas was a pro! Great job and speedy turnaround. Would highly recommend!

  5. Review by Scott M.
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    Jonas deserves every 5 star review he gets. Incredibly professional, patient and helpful. His string work is immaculate. Can’t recommend Jonas highly enough! Look forward to working with him again.

  6. Review by Amanda Dean
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    Jonas has recorded strings for me a few times now. I'm always very happy with his work. He has done it again with my new song and knocked it out of the park! Not only did he replicate my ideas exactly, he added his own parts which are fantastic! I highly recommend Jonas if you need real strings!

  7. Review by Lisa M.
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    Jonas is AMAZING!!!! He is SO talented and passionate about what he does. His talents elevated my project, taking it to a whole new level. I am in awe at how professional he is and that he delivered the project well before when I was expecting. It was a pleasure to work with Jonas who is knowledgeable, experienced and has an "I can" attitude. What a gem! I can't wait to work together again soon!

  8. Review by Kathy V.
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    Jonas is talented, enthusiastic, professional, and quick to respond. I would highly recommend working with Jonas for your projects.

  9. Review by david l.
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    Jonas is quick and professional, as far as a one-man orchestra goes, he’s as good as it gets. He’s also a quick clear communicator, which, when doing things remotely makes a massive difference. I would definitely recommend him.

  10. Review by Manuel V.
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    Jonas is incredible. A gifted strings arranger, performer, and mixer. And a total pro. He worked with me over several iterations to get arrangement just right, to honor the song, and he then delivered clean, organized files containing real-string recordings of his arrangement, plus his own mix of the strings. Highly, highly recommend. Jonas took my song to the next level.

  11. Review by Marco P.
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    Always a pleasure to work with Jonas. Top quality recordings and super professional.

  12. Review by Michael Badal
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    Jonas went above and beyond to bring my film score to life. I absolutely recommend him and will be back again!

  13. Review by James W.
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    Jonas delivered high quality strings again. It’s hard to find someone willing do get the orchestra sound and easy to work with. I will continue to use Jonas for future projects because he exceeds expectations.

  14. Review by Wladimir S.
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    Working with Jonas was a fantastic experience! He delivered high-quality music recordings quickly and efficiently. I will definitely collaborate with him on future projects

  15. Review by Gordon L.
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    Jonas is a one person orchestra! He recorded two arrangements I did and they sound beautiful. I highly recommend Jonas for your string needs.

  16. Review by Vladimir
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    Another fantastic job by Jonas - quick, spot-on, professional. Will definitely work again.

  17. Review by Wyatt S.
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    100% worth every penny. Jonas elevated my song with strings that I didn't think were achievable without a major studio. Thank you Jonas!

  18. Review by Cindy Zhang
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    Jonas delivered beautifully recorded and arranged string tracks for my song. He was also really fast at making revisions and taking in my references. Really happy to have him and his string section on my song!

  19. Review by Simon A.
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    Extremely professional and high quality recordings that will make it sound like you have an ensemble or orchestra in your song. Also extremely fast turnaround. Would highly recommend

  20. Review by Marco P.
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    A fast turnaround and a perfectly played session from Jonas.

Interview with Jonas Petersen - 24 Violins

  1. Q: What are you working on at the moment?

  2. A: BecauseI am ready for you within 24 hours but not every day is full of bookings, I always have other exciting projects going on. Currently in the works: a comprehensive online-course about string arranging, recording, and the business side of it. Excited to share this with the world soon!

  3. Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

  4. A: 1. How much does it cost to have a full string orchestra on my track? Answer: $690, if you already have some string arrangement ideas, otherwise $740 if it needs to be arranged as well. 2. I can't afford that, is there a cheaper option? I might have more songs in the future as well. Yes not a problem, just ask. Send me your song and we can decide together and work with your budget. There is always a solution. A very common solution is to have a smaller ensemble or record a few solo voices instead of a full orchestra. Or do two songs for the price of one if there are not too many too complicated string parts in each song.

  5. Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

  6. A: I started playing violin as a 10 year old kid. Too late to become a serious classical musician. So I went the other direction and got into engineering/producing/mixing, mostly pop and rock music. That has been my career for the past 20 years. Throughout these years, I have been fortunate to work alongside the best musicians and producers in the business. For many years, I was working as an assistant and engineer for one of Europe's most accomplished solo violinists who regularly works on multi million dollar Hollywood blockbusters. That's where I really learned the in and outs of how to arrange, record and eventually perform actual real strings. Sometimes just with one player, playing a whole orchestra. It works, and I learned how to do it, from the best in the world. So, besides some smaller movies, I ended up working on Madagascar 3 and Sherlock Holmes 2, definitely the highlights of my career as a professional sound engineer. I tracked almost all the solo violins for Madagascar 3 (you can hear them very prominently above the orchestra throughout the whole movie). On Sherlock Holmes 3, I worked closely with composer/violinist Aleksey Igudesman and Hans Zimmer scoring the famous waltz scene at the end. Also I am very proud of having spent some time in the studio with Hollywoods most sought after composer, mostly trying to look confident, getting out of the way, making coffee, helping wherever I could.

  7. Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

  8. A: The styles of music that I have been fortunate to contribute to with 24violins range from all different forms of pop songs to Hip Hop, Soul, Dance, Film Music, Epic orchestral Intro's, Heavy Metal, Singer-Songwriter, Classical... pretty much anything you can think of. If you would like to hear an example of 24violins work on a track in your style just ask for it, chances are high that I have already done it.

  9. Q: What's your strongest skill?

  10. A: My strongest skill personally is mixing music, especially string music. Arranging for strings comes naturally, because I love good string arrangements and I have learned how to do it, but the strength of 24violins definitely lies in a good mix. There are many great string arrangers and players out there that do a fantastic job, but the files you get usually need to be mixed by a professional mixing engineer. That can be quite a challenge with a full orchestra and hundreds of Tracks to mix together. I deliver everything mixed and mastered (always in separate stems as well, to give you flexibility to change things in the mix), ready to go.

  11. Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

  12. A: I would love to tell you about all the expensive microphones, preamps and other professional tools I use to get the strings to sound the way you like them, but, honestly does it really matter? I have never been hired for the fancy equipment I use. People hire me because they like what they hear and trust me in selecting the right gear for the job. Okay, I can't resist. Here are a few highlights: Neumann KM184 and Sennhsier MKH50 microphones, Antelope converters. All signals are recorded through Neve 1073 preamps+EQs, so your recordings are on par with the worlds top studios such as Abbey Road, Air Studios etc. who all swear on Neve for a soft, creamy, lush string sound.

  13. Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

  14. A: The whole idea of 24violins is to make it possible to get an incredible sounding string orchestra with real strings for an affordable budget. Accessible to everyone, no advanced musical preparation needed. I have started 24violins over 10 years ago. What I do is provide everything that you need to get a really good sounding real orchestra sound within a day. Over the years I have developed a system that is quicker and more efficient than a typical orchestra session. But most importantly: It is easy to do and specifically designed for pop, hiphop, rock, dance etc. music. No elitist classical musicians who try to understand pop music. Most of my accomplishments are as a producer, engineer and mixer in pop, rock, electronic and film music, for the past 20 years, in Europe and Los Angeles.

  15. Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

  16. A: 24violins brings you a realistic sounding orchestra sound that is played 100% by real musicians, using no samples or any other kind of fake strings. That being said, unless my bookings exceed a certain number per day, we don't actually have a full orchestra in the studio. Instead, there will be a few musicians overdubbing as many takes needed to get to a full orchestra sound. So, depending on the amount of bookings per day, there could be 32 people playing your song once or 1 person playing your song 32 times or anything in between. You won't notice the difference, I promise!

  17. Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

  18. A: 1. 24violins will always be 100% real strings 2. My highest priority is to make my clients happy, so I will try everything to do just that. If you really don't like the results you will get all your money back, no questions asked.

  19. Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

  20. A: The first string arrangement I have ever done was for one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard, written by singer/songwriter Agnes Milewski. That was 12 years ago. She recently told me that she started to cry when she first heard my strings and it inspired her to write more beautiful music, to this day.

  21. Q: What do you like most about your job?

  22. A: Hearing a real orchestra come to life. That is the most exciting thing for me, every day.

  23. Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

  24. A: The first thing I do is ask you to send me your song so I can listen to it and decide what other questions to ask.

  25. Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

  26. A: Just ask, even if you don't "talk music". The whole point of 24violins is to make a real high quality string orchestra sound accessible to everyone, especially beginners and hobby music producers.

  27. Q: What do you bring to a song?

  28. A: If you send me your song as an mp3 and attach a Midi-File of whatever string ideas you have, I will load these into Pro Tools and split them up for the different orchestra sections; essentially, the first violins will play the highest notes, the second violins the second highest, the violas the second lowest and the cellos the lowest notes, roughly. If you just have one melody idea in your strings (even if it is just doubling the vocal lines) we will add the rest on the spot, without extra charge. If you don't have string ideas, or a midi track, or you don't even know what MIDI is, not a problem! Just send me your mp3, that's really all I need.

  29. Q: How would you describe your style?

  30. A: lush, romantic, big strings.

  31. Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

  32. A: You. Honestly. I have worked with the biggest names in the business but at this point I care more about you.

  33. Q: Can you share one music production tip?

  34. A: This is the most important tip in writing and arranging for any kind of strings or orchestral instruments. 1. Divide your section (stringsection, brasssection, horn-section, woodwinds etc.) into 3 or 4 parts, ranging from low to hi. For strings this would be: 1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos. 2. now treat each one of these parts as it's own instrument that has to play a melody that makes sense on it's own and doesn't jump constantly.

  35. Q: What's your typical work process?

  36. A: 24violins is all about eliminating old antiquated processes for recording orchestral music to make it available within 24 hours and affordable for everyone. There is no conductor, no librarian and no sheet music. I am the center of the puzzle, overlooking the session as an engineer and arranger, feeding notes and instructions via Pro Tools directly to the musicians, in real-time. The recordings are being edited and finalized on the spot. Working with the newest software technology available to date makes the session fast and efficient.

  37. Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

  38. A: Inspiration goes a long way. I grew up listening particularly to non-classical orchestral music, the great big pop ballads and film scores of the 80's, 90's and 00's. Just to name a few who have influenced practically everything I do: Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings), John Williams (Star Wars and many other soundtracks !), Hans Zimmer (Gladiator and many other soundtracks), James Horner (Braveheart, Titanic), George Martin (The Beatles - Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby etc.). I absolutely adore scoring mixer Alan Meyerson and the work he does for Hans Zimmer.

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I was the Arranger, Recording Engineer and String Producer in this production

Terms Of Service

string quartet recording: $100 per minute of strings | string orchestra recording: $150 per minute of strings | arrangement: $100 per minute of track | Lower rates over 5min

GenresSounds Like
  • George Martin
  • Howard Shore
  • Hans Zimmer
Gear Highlights
  • A unique performance
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