Here's a nice viewing recommendation that puts specific focus on the economy of using themes in a long narrative story. Besides some in my opionion "overinterpretation" defintiely worth 15 minutes of your time.
2021-07-14 21:13:56 +0000 UTC View PostLet us know!
2021-07-13 12:26:54 +0000 UTC View PostWhen I got into music university at the age of 20, I was already working on smaller scoring projects for a few years. Student films, amateur films, you name it. I didn't earn any money with those but I felt that "I was climbing up the ladder". I felt that I was "ready for the big game" and looking at all the A list composer biographies, I thought that I just needed one big project that would kickstart my career.
One year later, I actually got a phone call by a director/producer who hear...
2021-07-12 08:23:11 +0000 UTC View PostAfter working on my old DAW since mid 2013, I finally decided it was the time to get a new system. I have been planning for about two years now to get a new system but held off for a few reasons until now.
So let's maybe talk about what machine I had so far and what I was missing from it.
Back in 2013 I got a system that was technically pretty edgy back then with 64GB of RAM and two 512GB SSDs + one 3 TB HDD (one SSD for the System, one for Samples, HDD for Projects and other Data...
2021-07-08 08:23:14 +0000 UTC View PostI have a quite specific personal theory for this one and I'm curious if there is some truth to it, so let us know how much time per day you can work creatively* before you run out of juice.
*actually making creative decisions, not just "legwork", and actual creative decisions that you would consider reasonable, not these "I'm in my 14th hour and all I do is just me in Zombie mode" decisions :)
Here's the next part of the Screencast for this piece. In this part, I'm fighting with the flutes at the beginning and push on with setting up the textures.
2021-07-06 07:52:38 +0000 UTC View PostA very common misconception among learning composers is the ignorance of player hierarchy in an orchestra. Especially with fixed ensembles and classical orchestras, this hierarachy is relatively strict while it is less strict with session orchestras.
There are several implications by that hierarchy on several levels and it is possible to really annoy your players if you don't follow the common practice in these regards. So let's have a closer look at this common practice.
Every in...
2021-07-02 08:16:55 +0000 UTC View PostSorry, I've got one more poll for you, this time it is not part of the Poll of the Week series but outside of it and I will most likely not leave it up for long. I was having a debate with someone yesterday about the common understanding of licensing among composers if there is no written agreement so please let me know what you think in this case:
If there is no written agreement about it and this topic also has not been discussed during a handshake agreement I consider the com...
2021-07-01 07:16:29 +0000 UTC View PostWe finally have a date to record the first Orchestra Discovery Session! On September 9th we will be recording a woodwind quintet in Smecky Studios Prague, consisting of the top players (and section leaders of the large orchestras) in Prague. I'm really happy that we finally can get started on this and hope that the Delta variant will behave until then.
You all will be taking part in the creation of the pieces...
2021-06-30 10:10:04 +0000 UTC View PostLet us know!
2021-06-29 09:21:13 +0000 UTC View PostToday, we're gonna talk about a harmonic approach that is probably the most "film music" sounding harmonic strategy and after we touched on it briefly in the last part of this series, let's have a closer look at this principle in more detail today.
I'm talking about modal interchanges. I'm pretty sure that most of you are aware of the fundamental concept behind that strategy but for everybody who is not, let's briefly explain it.
A modal interchange basically means to borrow notes...
2021-06-28 08:07:08 +0000 UTC View Post
One of the things that I also sometimes do is arrange film scores into concert arrangements that then make it on the stages around the globe. In 2013 and 2014 I wrote two arrangements that were played several times over the last years and made it into this concert yesterday. LOVE STORY (Francis Lai) at 11:45 and RETURN OF THE KING (Howard Shore) at 1:04:30.
It's so great to see live music happening again and even better to see my arrangements being performed. Little trivia for the Lord ...
2021-06-27 09:02:06 +0000 UTC View Post
In this last part, we will have a look at the final theme statement in the End Credits as well as discussing what I would do differently now 4 years after I originally wrote that score.
As usual, recording, score sheet and Midi File attached at the bottom of the post.
Let us know!
2021-06-22 07:16:01 +0000 UTC View PostAs discussed on this Patreon many times before the current generation of media composers differs quite a bit from the generations of composers from just a few decades ago.
Quite a few of them are most comfortable in a DAW and don't just write the music but also produce it. This constellation leads to a degree of control over the music that goes way beyond what it used to be. Nowadays, you can shape, process, and alter the sound of the music to a granular detail. Technology allows to sti...
2021-06-21 07:04:56 +0000 UTC View PostOne of the things that can often be seen in music by learning composers/orchestrators is the limited scope of the execution of ideas throughout the orchestral colours. This might sound really cryptic but let me explain what I mean by that:
Very often, the execution of a musical idea remains in a relatively confined space. There is for instance "a trombone chord "or a "piccolo run" or a "violin melody". The musical idea is often executed without leaving the confined space of a single ins...
2021-06-17 08:29:23 +0000 UTC View PostLet us know!
2021-06-15 06:58:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Just as a little service post for everybody who's interested :)
2021-06-14 11:14:32 +0000 UTC View PostAs promised, here are the audio stems for my latest piece OPENING THE PORTAL, separated by sections, as well as a MIDI file and the score sheet.
These should make dissecting the different textures and approaches of the piece more easy as well as giving a clearer insight into the role of the individual groups and sections.
2021-06-14 08:17:27 +0000 UTC View PostWe live in a golden age of sampling. Practically every day, a developer releases a new package of samples that is targeted at media composers. There is hardly any instrument left on this planet that hasn't been sampled and there is hardly any playing technique left that hasn't been covered in any of the libraries.
Media composers are expected to have a huge arsenal of different samples so they can write convincing demos (or often final products) in any style at high qualitiy. The media ...
2021-06-11 08:27:41 +0000 UTC View PostLet us know!
2021-06-09 08:18:38 +0000 UTC View PostOne of the most common issues that can be observed with inexperienced composers/arrangers is the lack of variation in rhythmical ideas. Certain rhythmical gestures or accompanying patterns very often get repeated over and over again. This results also in a concentration of rhythmical events on the downbeats of each bar.
With a constantly repeating rhythmical model, even the most flowing melodic idea becomes static and lifeless and even the most interesting chord progression ...
2021-06-07 08:25:46 +0000 UTC View Post
In this final part of the composition walkthrough, we go step by step through the effect chains that I used on this piece.
2021-06-03 08:14:50 +0000 UTC View PostAs announced yesterday, I'd like to get to know you a bit better which is why I will start a new Poll of the Week, sometimes with more serious questions, sometimes with more fun questions. Let's start off with the basics this week :)
2021-06-01 09:19:26 +0000 UTC View PostSeveral big changes are coming!
Over the last couple of weeks and months, a few of you approached me, telling me that they are "drowning in the content" that I put up here. Obviously the rate at that I post here is overwhelming a few of you who struggle with keeping up and dedicating the time to properly read/watch/analyze/contemplate the things that I post here. I even heard about people who really liked the content but canceled their membership because they just couldn't keep up.
<... 2021-05-31 07:17:38 +0000 UTC View PostOne of my personal pet peeves are "Orchestra open airs". As much as the atmosphere of enjoying an orchestra outdoors on a warm summer night is desirable (even more so after the last year), the acoustics of such an event are usually horrible. This is usually not the fault of the sound crew but the lack of the room around the orchestra is the most problematic factor.
There are a few outdoor locations that provide at least some acoustic reflections and there are a few ways how ...
2021-05-28 08:11:52 +0000 UTC View PostIn the last part we were discussing how to avoid standard cadences by not using the structural pillars of tonic and dominant at expectable moments.
In this part, I want to extend this approach even further by almost completely avoiding any cadential harmony or even a clear tonal center.
One essential premise is that we understand that the audience's tolerance for harmonic paths has grown...
2021-05-26 08:04:28 +0000 UTC View Post
This is the first part where I really start to work at the piece and don't talk all the time. I edited it in a way where all the things that I do are documented including the moments where I go back (which happened quite a bit on this piece) but edited out all the passages where I just search for the right chord or think silently :)
I was unsure whether I should do an additional voice over but decided not to as I already stopped every few minutes in that video and explained what I was d...
2021-05-24 08:18:34 +0000 UTC View PostIf you compare orchestral scores from today with the ones from a few decades ago, you will very quickly notice that at least in the big budget productions we see an excessive growth of orchestra sizes, particularly obvious in the brass sections.
It is not uncommon to see line-ups that extend even beyond Mahlerian orchestras with 12 Trombones etc. Additionally, sample developers more often release virtual instruments that come with ensemble sizes that are beyond anything "reasonable" by ...
2021-05-21 06:56:12 +0000 UTC View PostFinally, here's the score sheet for my piece OPENING THE PORTAL, which I have been working on over the last couple of weeks and have been documenting the entire process in an ongoing series of composition screencasts.
I will also be posting the Stems soon so you can dive deeper into the score sheet if you like.
2021-05-19 07:26:03 +0000 UTC View Post