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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Musical Humor
There is a very thin line between funny scoring and silly scoring. Inexperienced composers tend to overwrite funny scenes by composing silly music. Not every character who has a clumsy side needs to have a score that points its finger at that. Usually, the humor is more…
(Re-)Scoring Blockbuster Scenes
Many especially young composers are looking for film material to practice scoring. And due to many of them wanting to write so-called epic music, it becomes even trickier to find footage as it’s not particularly easy to find amateur or student films…
Scale Run Structures
When writing runs for any instrument that is capable of playing runs, you should stick to plausible scales. Instrumentalists practice their whole life to play scale runs in any form – upwards, downwards, starting on different scale degrees etc. However, if you write…
Protools in the Film Scoring World
No matter what DAW you use to work in and produce, when working in the film scoring field you should have at least elementary knowledge of using Protools. Most recording studios run on that software providing nothing more but a Protools session file…
Melodic Tension
Melody writing has a lot to do with melodic tension and proper resolution. Usually, the degree of tension is determined by the underlaying chord. An f in the melody over a C major chord has a strong tension and wants to resolve stepwise upwards…
Ethnic References
Ethnic references in the music can be a very sensitive issue. When they are stated inappropriately, it might quickly feel like a racist musical remark even though your intentions were purely to “localize” a character. In general, avoid scoring any sort…
Watch Your Ego
Watch your ego! Working on a major project is a great experience and many people shaking your hands congratulating you for your work is a true ego boost which of course feels great for everybody. However, never let this get to you. Falling into an attitude of “I know it all, I’m the best.” is the worst…
Optimal Range for Timpani
Timpani sound best between the f below middle c and the f one octave lower. Even though their range exceeds that limit, in the very lowest register the membrane needs to lose so much tension that the sound gets muddy and unfocussed. Inexperienced…
First Chair Simulation in Mock-Ups
A good way to make loud brass chords in the same family (e.g. a triad in the trumpets) sound more realistic in mockups, is to have the top note playing with a slightly stronger dynamic than the other notes. In real orchestras, this effect will also…
Subconscious Plagiarism
Another issue that bothers practically every composer once in a while is to subconsciously plagiarize existing music. Everybody writing music knows the feeling of asking oneself the question of whether that isn’t something everybody knows…
“Bridgeing” Hit Points
When you need to score a scene that has several important points you need to hit and highlight, it is a quite effective way to first create a proper tempo map for the entire scene. So before you write a note, you should have the cue and hit points…
Waiting for Feedback
Every well planned work schedule with lots of planned in buffer time for edits and perfect work discipline can get absolutely chaotic when you need to wait forever for feedback on cues. Some clients have just so much to do during the post production…
Panning Instruments After the Scoring Session
You should be aware that it is practically impossible to change the panning of an orchestral recording in the mix. As you use the signal from the decca tree in the room as your main mix signal, you can place the (usually mono) spot microphone signals…
Dynamic Shaping of Sustained Brass
Brass instruments have the greatest timbral change over their dynamic spectrum. Therefore swells, crescendos, sffz, fp are highly dramatic and very effective on them. If you use long sustained brass chords or tones on key parts of your score, consider…