Natural Phrasing of Brass Sustains

Natural Phrasing of Brass Sustains Orchestral Brass players will always execute a natural decrescendo on sustained notes unless otherwise indicated by special dynamics. Many sample libraries come with absolutely flat sustains on the brass (in order to be loopable) and...

Major 7th Chords in Film Scoring

Major 7th Chords in Film Scoring Major7 chords (e.g. Cmaj7) are a bit tricky to handle and should be written with care. They are usually used as tonic chords, however function very nicely on the subdominant position as well. The actually very dissonant major7 in this...

Cue Naming Discipline

Cue Naming Discipline It is incredibly important to have a strong discipline regarding naming, sorting and organizing versions of music cues. Sometimes you need to write several versions of a cue, sometimes you just need to change small things several times, and every...

Work Routines for Film Composers

Work Routines for Film Composers Even though the job of a freelance composer is very unpredictable, developing a daily work routine will help you to work more efficiently. Irregular working hours combined with little sleep, irregular breaks etc. will in the long run...

Problematic Woodwind Unisons

Problematic Woodwind Unisons Intonation on woodwind instruments is sometimes quite trickier and way more problematic than samples might make you believe. There are few configurations where slight intonation differences become very obvious: 1. Avoid exposed unisons on...

Film Scores and Dolby Atmos

Film Scores and Dolby Atmos Recent years have shown the rise of so called “immersive audio formats” such as Dolby Atmos, Auro3D and DTS:X. While all formats have different technical specifications and concepts, all have the advancement of providing...