Daily Film scoring bits
Welcome to the Daily Film Scoring Bits. On this page I post little tips, tricks and advices about film scoring in general but also more specific topics like orchestration, composition, working relationships, business advices etc.
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Hiding Sample Shortcomings
If you can not mock-up an instrument convincingly in a piece (that eventually will end up without recording of real instruments in a score)…
Melodic Steps and Leaps
One very old but also very useful rule for melodic writing is that a melodic leap in one direction should be followed by a melodic step…
Using Collective Musical Memories
Certain musical tropes, colours and paths are so strongly connected in the collective memories of people with certain emotions/situations that they’re…
“Real World” Communication Benefits
In times where communication over long distances can easily be done via all sorts of practically instantaneous communication and where members…
Ethnic Instruments
Ethnic and more rare instruments are still pretty popular in film/game/trailer music and are of course a great tool to locate a scene or character…
“True Legato” Samples Lag
When you’re working with true legato sample patches (where the transitions between notes have been sampled as well) be aware that…
Reharmonisation Fundamentals
Reharmonisation of a melody is a very attractive way for musical development but also constantly used in film to shape a theme according to the mood…
Scoring Kissing Scenes
Many inexperienced composers tend to score kiss scenes overly climactic and cheesy which almost always feels like a bad caricature of the whole…
Self Discipline for Freelancers
Being a composer, or rather being self emplyed requires a tremendous amount of self discipline. If you have the possibility to fall into lazyness…
Perfect Fifth Double Stops on Strings
There are several disagreeing statements in orchestration books about perfect fifth double stops on string instruments that don’t involve open string…
Sustains at the End of Film Cues
You should always make sure to have long enough last chords in music cues that are supposed to “vanish” into nothing as the fade-out time…
Planning a Composition
In spite of many composition teachers and professors recommending to plan out a composition properly beforehand and making sketches…
Relevance of Playback Medium for Film Scoring
Always be conscious about what medium you’re writing music for. The audience has a different focus on the story, the visuals and the music when…
The Director-Composer Relationship
Once there has been established a working relationship between a director and a composer, as long as both parties are happy with this relationship, it…