String Sessions From Anywhere: Nathalie Bonin on a Versatile Violin Career (Episode 106)

Make Music Your Business.

Nathalie Bonin is a violinist and composer who splits her time between Los Angeles, New York and Montreal. She studied violin performance at McGill University, earned a Master Certificate in Orchestration for Film and Television from Berklee, and has collected a long list of composition awards and fellowships. She has also played with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and she built her own aerial violin act.

Nomad met her when they shared a desk in an orchestration class at the musicians' union in LA. In Episode 106 of The Career Musician, she talks about the year that made her choose music for herself, breaking out of the classical box, and how she records professional string sessions from anywhere. Find her at nathalieboninmusic.com.

Make it your own decision

Nathalie started violin at four and grew up in classical music. At 11, her parents took a sabbatical and homeschooled her in New York, where she studied with top teachers and played Carnegie Hall with a youth orchestra at barely 12. Then came McGill and a bachelor's degree. And then, doubt.

She was dating a doctor. He was saving lives every day while she spent four hours on a two-measure passage. So she did her pre-med courses and got accepted into medical school. Before committing, she spent a summer in Italy and gave music one more chance to prove itself. Playing Bach in centuries-old churches, she rediscovered music in her own way. She came back transformed and dropped med school.

"It might not save lives, but it heals in a different way."

Nathalie Bonin, 11:56

Nomad's take: we might not be saving lives, but hopefully we are enriching them. And the lesson underneath her story is about owning your path. Until Italy, she said, she had been following a direction set by her teachers, her parents and her upbringing. Finding your voice sometimes means stepping outside your old self.

Teachers leave a mark, so choose yours

Nathalie had great teachers and a few hard ones, including one who made it clear he didn't think she would make it. When she came back from Italy and played for her last teacher, he told her he had never heard her play so well. She thanked him and never took another lesson with him. She had learned what she needed from that teacher and it was time to move on.

Nomad related. He studied privately with more than a dozen teachers, including one who was flat-out mean. Different perspectives matter, and so does knowing when a chapter is done.

From black sheep to the one everyone asks about

After Italy, Nathalie opened up to improvisation, jazz, world music, tango and fusion. When a bandleader asked if she had improvised before, she said yes. A week later he figured out she hadn't. She practiced ten hours a day to catch up.

At the time, classical players looked down on jazz gigs. She was a regular sub in a major Montreal orchestra and had to hide her other life. She even got in trouble when the contractor found out. For a few years she was the black sheep. Then the albums and tours with real pop stars started, and the same colleagues began rushing over to hear about her travels.

That path led to touring with saxophonist Ted Nash's jazz quintet, which led to performing and recording with Jazz at Lincoln Center. Her honest reason for doing so much? She gets bored easily. Nomad's answer: that's what a career musician is. Diversify or Die.

Keep learning, and trust your instinct

Composition came out of improvising. On a long pop tour through Russia and Europe, she used the downtime on buses and planes to take online orchestration classes, which led to her master's certificate and to winning pitches for TV. She still tries to take a course every year. You read a book differently at 10 than at 40, she said, and theory is the same.

Her first series as a composer was a 20-episode show with more than a hundred short sketches to score in every style, almost no dialogue, two or three sketches due a day.

"Trust my instinct. There's no time for doubt."

Nathalie Bonin, 32:18

Her daily routine is built around goals, not the clock. She makes a task list, often the night before, tackles the most important things early, and adapts to her energy. Inspiration doesn't always show up at 7 a.m. Sometimes you go take a hike and come back. That's Objectivity about how you actually work best.

Pro-level string sessions from anywhere

Much of Nathalie's work is remote tracking for other composers, and she shared her setup. Her go-to mic is a DPA 4099 clip-on gooseneck because it doesn't capture much of the room, so clients get a drier track they can put in any reverb, and she can start a project in one place and finish it somewhere else. She runs it through a UAD Apollo Twin with a virtual Neve 88 preamp, which adds warmth without coloring the sound too much. She rarely uses EQ beyond cutting the low end to remove hand noise, and occasionally a resonance.

Nomad's point: it has never been easier to have a professional-quality home setup, and if you don't have one, you are missing work. Luck = preparation + opportunity.

The takeaway

For Nathalie, success is having the courage to do something that seems impossible and making it happen. She wanted to be a gymnast as a kid and was turned away at nine. Years later she called a circus coach twice until he agreed to try, and six months later she was hanging in a harness playing violin on live TV. Look at what inspires you and what scares you, because together they often point the way. Then dive in. When your next session or audition comes, prepare with the free Audition Secrets guide.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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