Welcome to the next part of this series.
All previous parts are available HERE.
As usual, the audio file and score sheet are attached at the bottom of the page.
We're still ...
2020-07-27 07:48:28 +0000 UTC View PostDepending on where your musical roots are, you might have stumbled across these three types of chords quite early on. Of course, they are most prominently used in Jazz music but depending on genre and era they are or were very present in orchestral scoring as well.
2020-07-24 08:17:14 +0000 UTC
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In the previous parts of this series, I was talking about specific locations in the world where you can record orchestras and my personal quality ranking of these.
In t...
2020-07-22 08:13:50 +0000 UTC View PostProbably one of my biggest revelations when learning to compose was understanding a concept that I at that time already had heard before and read about as well. But I couldn't really grasp the impact this simple yet strikingly important concept has on music before.
It is the concept of the ...
2020-07-20 06:51:01 +0000 UTC View PostTrills and tremolos on string instruments can create fantastic shimmery effects or create a feeling of tension and unease. Both are of course part of the most fundamental playing techniques for these instruments and every string sample library nowadays includes them.
However, when making th...
2020-07-17 08:02:25 +0000 UTC View PostThe job of being an orchestrator for media music has changed fundamentally over the last decades.
While the job until the early 2000s was mainly blowing up handwritten sketches to full score or in some cases do some additional arrangement work, the overwhelming part of the job today i...
2020-07-15 08:02:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Welcome to this new composition walkthrough series! As the poll I did a few months back was split between Hero and Gazing at the Night Sky, I decided to go for both. Also, I feel it might losen up things a bit more to alternate between two different pieces instead of plowing through Hero in proba...
2020-07-13 07:31:18 +0000 UTC View PostThe media world can be an incredibly rough and unfriendly business. The competition is fierce and hire and fire mentality is extremely common. For people coming new into this world, it can be quite brutal and particularly when you are young and inexperienced (and unfortunately still true: female)...
2020-07-09 19:29:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's the next Multitrack Session for download from my score for Pastry Party. In case you missed it, I already spoke extensively about the recording situation and philosophy of this score in my last post about it.&nb...
2020-07-08 07:38:54 +0000 UTC View PostThe last ten parts of this series we spent discussing voicings from a purely theoretical standpoint that excluded writing these voicings for actual (combinations of) instruments in an orchestral context. However, this of course is an extremely important part of whether a voicing will sound good o...
2020-07-06 08:04:57 +0000 UTC View PostOne of my personal pet peeves are Youtube videos that are titled something like "8 steps to write like John Williams" or "10 Top Orchestration Tips" etc. Unfortunately, this approach has even spread towards more serious educational online outlets that claim to be crash courses in film scoring etc...
2020-07-03 07:59:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Welcome to the next part of this series. Without further ado, let's dive right into where we left off last time. As always, the recording and score sheet of the cue is attached at the bottom of this post, the entire film with music can be watched above and here is the scene we're talking about wi...
2020-07-01 07:41:44 +0000 UTC View PostWith June coming to an end, it is time again to look back at the past month as well as give an outlook on what is going to come in the next few weeks.
At least in the part of the world where I live things are slowly coming back to normality. Concert venues and live events are still in Coron...
2020-06-30 08:13:31 +0000 UTC View PostIf you have been briefly following the composer's community on the internet over the last few weeks, you will have heard about the Westworld Scoring Competition that Spitfire Audio started. If not: a scene from the series Westworld was chosen to be scored with hardly any limitation with the first...
2020-06-29 07:20:11 +0000 UTC View Post
After my recent post about work process streamlining I got a few comments and messages asking about my personal work setup so I thought it might be a good idea to cover this in a dedicated post.
This place is a constant work in progress so it might look very different already in a few...
2020-06-26 07:48:47 +0000 UTC View PostIn the last two parts of this tutorial we were looking at different ways how to make the dominant side of a V-I cadence musically more interesting employing several strategies to substitute or harmonically enrich the dominant chord. In this part however, we're going to have a look at what ways th...
2020-06-24 08:11:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's another track by one of you guys that I reviewed this month. Dave Gottlieb sent over a wonderful track that shows a lot of expertise and refined craftmanship. It was great fun having a look at that piece and diving deeper into it. Dave was kind enough to allow me to make the exchange that ...
2020-06-22 07:47:21 +0000 UTC View PostFor quite a few people it is unclear what is the difference between staccato and spiccato on string instruments. Even some sample developers aren't getting this right naming spiccato samples "staccato" and vice versa.
Both playing techniques describe short notes but have a fundamental diffe...
2020-06-19 08:02:57 +0000 UTC View PostIn a previous parts of this series, I was writing about about the intervallic approach to chord voicings, structuring them based on the consonance or dissonance degree of the inherent intervals. Through that strategy you can control the impression and also emotional impact of a chord quite specif...
2020-06-17 07:39:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's the next Multitrack Session of my Score for Pastry Party. The score sheet and Midi File for this track are attached at the bottom of the post. The multitrack session is the unedited penultimate take of this track that we made.
As I mentioned already several times, I'm a big fan of mu...
2020-06-15 07:52:43 +0000 UTC View PostWorking in a competetive creative field means to work as efficient as possible.
When budgets are tight and competition is fierce you need to find ways to make your working processes as streamlined as possible in order to still generate some profit from such projects.
But of cour...
2020-06-12 07:42:59 +0000 UTC View PostRecording orchestras in Eastern European countries has become an increasingly popular alternative in recent years to the "usual" recording locations. In fact, the exodus of recording in LA (and London) has a lot to do with productions recording more in such locations while also shooting movies ha...
2020-06-10 08:00:37 +0000 UTC View Post
In the following parts of this series I'm gonna walk you through the scoring of the short film and its individual cues, trying to explain my reasoning of musical as well as scenic choices.
The first cue "M1 - Shoot Him!" opens the movie and lasts for about two minutes.
Here's a versio...
2020-06-08 07:54:21 +0000 UTC View PostThe sound and esthetics of current film and game music has led to a common misconception with inexperienced composers and orchestrators about what is possible to expect when working with acoustic instruments. Particularly the bass register is often overestimated and leads to orchestration decisio...
2020-06-05 08:08:43 +0000 UTC View PostIn the last part of this tutorial, I deliberately left out a concept that is commonly known as tritone substitution of dominants. Many people have a general understading of how to use it but the musical background on t...
2020-06-03 07:33:52 +0000 UTC View Post
As you might know, the higher tiers of my Patreon come with a monthly written feedback on one of your pieces.
This month, Benjamin Goldman was so kind to allow me to share his piece and the dialogue we had about it.
You can download the MIDI and mp3 file for the track below.
... 2020-06-01 08:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAgain, I think the first and most important thing this month is that I'm hoping that you and your loved ones are all safe and healthy.
As we all were anticipating when all this started, the creative industry (among many other branches) took a big hit worldwide over the last months. I keep r...
2020-05-31 08:02:00 +0000 UTC View PostAs mentioned in my Wrap-Up, I feel there is a lot of online education available for beginners, however there is in my opinion a gap of more advanced content for musicians and composers who already know the basics and want to sharpen their skillset where I personally feel this Patreon page fits in...
2020-05-31 08:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostIn the last parts we were already dissolving the common concept of stacking thirds in order to get a chord. In the last part we were having a look at intervals larger than a third so it seems consequent to look at intervals smaller than a third, which, effectively are only minor and major seconds...
2020-05-29 07:43:18 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm happy to announce that my score for Pastry Party now also made it to all your favourite streaming platforms:
https://album.link/qdqTtNDkM2qVm
Give it a listen!
2020-05-28 09:00:42 +0000 UTC View Post