In the last part of this article, I was explaining how I think that the change in the way how film music is being created has influenced the music itself.
The fact that film scores are more "produced" than "written" nowadays has tremendous implications on the mu...
2020-11-20 08:50:28 +0000 UTC View PostA big factor that helps us to recognize instrumental colours is in fact not only the mixture of the harmonics of the sustaining sound but at least to an equal part its dynamic envelope, particularly the attack of the sound. As attack time, we usually mean he time it takes until the air in the tube or the string string etc. has reached a continou...
2020-11-18 08:49:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Welcome to the final part of the composition walkthrough for GAZING AT THE NIGHT SKY. Today, we focus on the last section with the sentimental string ending.
As usual, Score, Audio and Midi attached at the bottom of the post.
The previous parts of this composition walkthrough are available 2020-11-16 09:07:17 +0000 UTC View Post
One of the many nerdy obsessions that I have with music is to not only understand how instruments sound but also why they sound the way they do. I'm fascinated by the reasons why certain instruments are constructed or shaped the way they are and what that has to do with their sound.
The interesting fact is that acoustic instruments are so ...
2020-11-13 08:39:36 +0000 UTC View PostThe art of writing music for a visual medium and the obvious emotional influence that music can have on the audience has always been subject to exploitation in morally problematic ways.
Since the beginning of film more than 100 years ago, music has been an integral part of delivering messages and emotionally manipulating the audience...
2020-11-11 08:26:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Welcome to the next part of this composition walkthrough. The previous parts of this series are available here.
In this part we will cover the beginning of the Cue M3 - Car Chase.
As usual, we will work with score reductions, the...
2020-11-09 08:47:07 +0000 UTC View PostThe concept of associating a theme with a character in a movie is probably one of the strongest and also most well known properties of film music. In fact, this scoring approach has become so well known that it almost feels like the default for film music. It seems like each relevant character or situation or maybe even location in the movie sho...
2020-11-06 08:55:17 +0000 UTC View PostAs I wrote in my last post in this series, when notating for scoring sessions, the highest priority should be to be as easily readable for the musicians. Over time notation conventions for scoring sessions, or sight reading sessions in general, have developed their ow...
2020-11-04 08:42:15 +0000 UTC View Post
I got a few messages from some of you guys who said that they often are overwhelmed by the Multitrack Sessions that I make available here not really knowing what to do with these many tracks. And I can totally understand that opening up such a large amount of tracks can feel quite overwhelming.
To make things easier, today I chose a track ...
2020-11-02 09:05:53 +0000 UTC View PostAnother month is coming to an end and I'd like to give you a little informal update about what is going on with this Patreon site.
Unfortunately, Europe is currently seeing a large second wave of Corona which causes many things to become increasingly difficult due to restrictions and lockdowns. However, other than in spring, recordings all...
2020-10-31 14:35:10 +0000 UTC View PostEvery few weeks, on any of the online communities for media composers there pops up a discussion that essentially boils down to "John Williams vs. Hans Zimmer" with both sides argueing for the approach, craftmanship and execution of musical ideas by their preferred composer.
And depending on perspective, both sides are correct. But just re...
2020-10-30 08:33:07 +0000 UTC View Post
A few days ago, my score for A FATHER'S JOB was released on all streaming platforms. Spotify was so nice to put it into their Editorial Playlist "Classical New Releases" so it's currently getting a lot of plays which is great.
Exclusively for my patrons, you get to download the entire score including an unreleased (short) Bonus Track as we...
2020-10-28 08:51:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Today, we're going to have a deeper look at the Brass Chorale part in GAZING AT THE NIGHT SKY.
As usual, Score, Audio and Midi attached at the bottom of the post.
The previous parts of this composition walkthrough are available 2020-10-26 08:56:41 +0000 UTC View Post
I spent my Saturday afternoon nerding out with Nate and Drew Garcia about film, filmmusic and the movie HERO we did together in 2017. It was a lot of fun and became quite philosphical at times.
2020-10-25 16:06:55 +0000 UTC View PostIf you are relatively new here, you will probably not know that I have a quite long history of teaching music online. For many years I have been giving private lessons over Skype to students from all around the world and have written a "Daily Filmscoring Bit" on my personal web site for more than 10 years before making the move to Patreon in ear...
2020-10-23 07:48:41 +0000 UTC View PostOne of the biggest problems that I see quite a lot with learning composers and orchestrators is the lack of registral control in voicings. This whole subject touches heavily on orchestration already and requires a deep understanding of the properties of each instrument but mastering it will result in considerably better sounding orchestral voici...
2020-10-21 07:43:09 +0000 UTC View Post
Welcome to the next part of this composition walkthrough. The previous parts of this series are available here.
In this part we will cover the second half of the Cue M2 Let's Roll.
As usual, we will work with score reductions, th...
2020-10-19 07:53:10 +0000 UTC View Post
As I mentioned already a few weeks ago, I recored a score for a short film in July with a very specific line-up and seating.
This score will release on all streaming platforms on October 22nd.
However, you as my patrons get an early access to the release...
2020-10-16 08:38:40 +0000 UTC View PostAfter all preparations for a successful scoring session are done and everything is set, it is time to record.
All other parts of this ongoing series is available here.
The exact procedure of the beginning of a ...
2020-10-16 08:25:39 +0000 UTC View PostWelcome to this brand new tutorial series! In this multi part tutorial, I will focus on the notation side of things and while this might not be of interest for a few of you (who see their work in virtual orchestration only), it might still be worth reading through them as there might be some information that might be useful for your own work in ...
2020-10-14 07:59:20 +0000 UTC View PostIt's time for another entire multitrack session from a orchestral recording. We're continueing with the score from Pastry Party that I recorded in 2015 in Prague.
In an earlier post, I talked extensively about the recording setup.
This cue...
2020-10-12 08:02:29 +0000 UTC View PostBeing self employed or freelance very often means to be a one man show in every regard, Only very few composers can or want to afford having one or more permanent assistant(s) and even if you can, certain "non-composing tasks" will always land on your table.
It is essential to realize that you need to plan in "communication and organisatio...
2020-10-09 07:51:49 +0000 UTC View Post
In July and August, I had the pleasure to write the score for the very ambitioned short film "A Father's Job" which we were lucky enough to record in Prague in a phase of relative low Corona cases.
Here's the trailer for the movie:
T...
2020-10-07 08:36:16 +0000 UTC View Post
After the more low energy B section, we return back to the A theme of the piece, effectively following a quite common ABA structure for the first half of the piece.
You can read the other parts of this walkthrough 2020-10-05 08:24:52 +0000 UTC View Post
After having a look at click tracks and session preparations in the previous parts of this series, it is time to finally get to the scoring stage and record. Depending on the size and budget of the project, the numbers of ...
2020-10-02 08:18:59 +0000 UTC View PostIn a post a while ago, I spoke about symmetric scales which have specific properties that cause them to behave quite differently to "regular" diatonic scales but more importantly give them a very distinct sound and lack of "rootedness" in any specific...
2020-10-01 09:02:40 +0000 UTC View PostWith September coming to an end, it is once again time to do a wrap-up of the last few weeks and the coming weeks and months.
As you hopefully have noticed, I announced the first ORCHESTRA DISCOVERY SESSION a few weeks ago which will take place in the first half...
2020-09-30 08:00:49 +0000 UTC View PostJust as a little service post, if you want to be eligible to apply for the first ORCHESTRA DISCOVERY SESSION to be held in the first half of 2021, you should make sure that you have completed 3 consecutive payment cycles of the $12 or higher tier and 6 c...
2020-09-28 16:04:29 +0000 UTC View Post
As discussed in the last part of this series about my score for the short film HERO, this cue generally has a more light hearted and playful attitude than the last cue that we had a look at, as of course we now arrive in the world...
2020-09-28 07:57:59 +0000 UTC View PostWhen writing music, in certain situations it might be benefitial to work your way through it backwards rather than forward. What I mean by that is that it is generally easier to set yourself a musical target, like a key signature or a climax chord or any other specific point that you want to reach in the music and take this as a base to work you...
2020-09-25 08:03:55 +0000 UTC View Post