Robin Hoffmann

Orchestral Voicings Part 1: Introduction

Welcome to this multi part tutorial about voicings.

There is an often seen misconception by learning composers and orchestrators to believe that there is a simple set of rules to apply when writing for orchestra. The idea to have a structurized Do's and Don'ts list that you can consult in any context seems like an easy way to writing for orchestra successfully. The problem is the idea "learn to compose for orchestra in 10 easy steps" runs very well with the current "internet mentality" ...

Sending Out Unsolicited Emails

Getting paid jobs in the field of media music is quite tricky, especially when you're just starting out and don't have a large portfolio. On the other hand allows the age of internet to research and contact all sorts of people or companies who could be potential clients.

So the idea to just contact them out of the blue and offer your services or send over demo material might be tempting.

From my own experience and from what I know from colleagues who tried the same thing, chances ...

How many Posts a week do you want to read here?

Being quite new to Patreon, I'm wondering how much to post here as it has been brought to my attention that some people might not be able to catch up if I post too much. So let me know what you think.

Polychords

A pretty common way to create colorful harmonic structures in compositions is to use so-called Polychords. The principle is pretty simple: stacking chords (usually triads) on top of each other.

There are similar principles with different names: Upper Structure Triads and Bitonality so let's maybe first clear up what's the difference.

Upper structure triads also do stack triads on top of each other, however both chords usually follow a scale. For instance a D major triad played on ...

January 2020 Wrap-Up

Welcome to the first monthly Wrap-Up. I'd like to use this series to talk a little bit more personal but also get in touch with you.

First of all, thank you so much for becoming a patron. To be honest, I didn't really know how this would be going and whether people would actually interested in such a thing. But seeing so many of you here already is really great and I'm really grateful to see that so many of you even joined the higher tiers. I wouldn't have expected for this to go so wel...

Low and High Horns in Film Scoring

In spite of the popularity of French Horns in film scoring, many learning composers and orchestrators underestimate how tricky it actually is to play this instrument and overlook things that would make life for your players and your music easier.

Due to the fact that the players constantly need to move between very high harmonics in their overtone series the distance between each harmonic (and the required change of embouchure) becomes really small which makes hitting the right notes on...

The Big Deal With Doubling the Third

It's one of these rules in music that one learns very early in music education (alongside the famous fifth parallel rule): In four part harmony don't double the third of the chord.

I'm not that great at just accepting rules that I have been told without knowing the reason behind them, so I remember asking my first music theory teacher at the age of maybe 10 why I should not double this third. The answer I got was "Because it doesn't sound nice." and "Because it sounds too thick then." 2020-01-30 08:36:47 +0000 UTC View Post

Action Piece - Composition Walkthrough Pt.3 - Bars 1-18

After having talked about the concept and general idea of the piece, I will now have a closer look at the individual sections and point out a few hopefully interesting things :)

The score sheet as PDF is attached at the bottom of this post.

As mentioned in the last part of the series, I wanted to start with an ominous feeling but communicate the "main idea" of the piece very early on.

I chose a texture of low strings, low piano, woodwinds, bass drum+ tam tam and harp. I want...

My Story of Musical Specialization

We all know that the field of media music is highly competetive and massively overcrowded. Every 16 year old with a laptop can produce music and share it via internet with the world. The general devaluation of music (as seen recently by the Discovery "plan") seems to continue and there's no shortage of composers struggling to make a living ou...

Leaving Out the Bass Register

A very effective way to create colourful orchestration and dramatic variety in a piece is to not have the bass registers present all the time. A conscious decision to free up the lower register will create a very dramatic effect once the bass register enters back in.

The passage that is left without bass will ideally create an elevated quality, somehow feeling "suspended in the air" and regaining gravity once the basses enter again,

A classical way to apply this would be to leave ...

Action Piece - Composition Walkthrough Pt.2 - More Concept and Line-Up

After coming up with a harmonic concept, I needed a general idea of how to approach this piece. I wanted  to create an action piece that could be the score for a chase sequence. 

However I didn't want to start out of the blue with the high energy part but create an ominous and threatening atmosphere first that leads into the actual "chase" in order to set the tone for what's about to...

Cue Starts and Cue Ends

Enterning with a musical cue in a film should always have a motivation. Starting out of the blue without any noticeable reason will create a disconnect between the visuals and the music and feel random.

Cues for a musical entrance can be quite diverse. Mostly we use visual cues which could be anything from a scene change, a cut, a movement or other action on screen but also more subtle like change of facial expression or change of light.

More rare are cues on audio events (thunder...

HERO Soundtrack Release

In case you have been following me for a while already you might know about that little short film I scored in 2017. Finally the score is released on all streaming platforms for you to listen. It was performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

If you want to watch the movie, here's a link:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RIIufN6_WA 

Also, I'm considering doing a compos...

Just so you get an idea of what was happening last weekend...

The John Williams Phenomenon

Last weekend I went to Vienna to attend the first concert that John Williams has ever given on continental Europe and the first concert in Europe since 1998. Like no other musician, Williams has shaped the way of my life.

When I was a little boy, my dad bought the VHS of Jurassic Park. As I was too young to watch it officially, I secretly watched it when my parents weren't home one day. Besids ...

Unison Between Two Identical Instruments

Having two identical instruments on the same note can be a very delicate matter and there are a few orchestration guidelines that you should at least know about.

The problem with this is that with two identical instruments, often small differences in intonation will be way more obvious and exposed than with a solo player. If you add a third instrument to it, the intonation differences will start to even out and you will get more of an ensemble sound.

Interestingly, this phenomenon...

Action Piece - Composition Walkthrough Pt.1 - The Concept

Welcome to Part 1 of this series. In the coming articles, I will dissect some parts of this piece and explain my reasoning behind it. I will address all aspects of this production from concept to mockup as well as give you access to audio and midi stems in later articles.

But first things first.

I wrote this piece for no particular project. As I recently changed some things around in my DAW Template (for instance including the new JXL Brass by Orchestral Tools), I wanted to try ou...

Building Towards a Musical Climax

One of the highest goals for every composer should be to gain control over every element of their music. While this is a very simple thing to say, it is incredibly tricky and takes a lot of experience to reach that point.

A great possibility to observe the amount of control a composer has over his/her craft is to check out how they build towards musical climaxes. 

Now we all might agree that in order to create a fulfilling build up we need to raise tension that eventually rel...

Talent, Practice and Musical Education

The discussion whether talent exists or not is probably centuries old. I personally think that the influence of "talent" on creative success is marginal. In my opinion the "divine spark of a unique gift" rather is a predisposition that is a foundation for creative development, not a "state" that you are born in. 

There never is and has been born a creative genius that didn't invest a lot of time into perfecting their art. We love stories of musical prodigies, Mozart, Korngold or in...

We Have to Shake Them Off! - Audio and Score Sheet

Welcome to my new Patreon and thank you so much for supporting my work! 

As a gift for all new Patrons, here is a brand new previously unreleased piece that I wrote including its score sheet made with Dorico, all free for you to download! It's a bit of a chase sequence in a more traditional scoring way. There's a lot of bitonality going on. 

After finishing the score sheet, the whole audio production was done in a DAW (in my case Studio One) utilizing mostly samples from...