Scoring the Climax scene first

Scoring the Climax Scene first When scoring a quite long movie, there is a danger of losing the focus for a proper dramaturgy. Sometimes you work your way up to the climax of the movie but when you reach it, you notice that you scored the few preceding build-up scenes...

Momentum of a Big Project

Momentum of a Big Project Once you’ve finished a project that is rather big for you considering your portfolio, don’t fall in the state of “Now, I’ve done this, time to relax a bit.”  Use the momentum of the project and try to aquire new jobs. It is much easier to...

String Divisi

String Divisi Dividing string sections into several parts is a common technique called “divisi” and for section strings is usually the preferred way over making the players play awkward double stops. However samples make many composers believe that a divisi will...

File Versioning

File versioning Keep track of your versions. Many professional programs (be it DAW, Notation etc.) by now offer to save versions of your project to be able to later revert to them. It is extremely helpful to actually write comments on these versions (about what is...

Doubling in thirds or sixths

Doubling in thirds or sixths Doubling melodies in thirds or sixths (e.g. first violins playing the main melody while 2nd violins double in a third below) is in general something that is musically quite effective as additionally to providing melodic information it also...

Compose around the sound of a scene

Compose around the sound of a scene Scoring movies is often writing music that needs to fit in a certain frequency range to actually be heard. You need to compete against sound effects and design which in many cases leaves only small possibilities for the music to...