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.
Use the search bar on the right to find specific topics or click on the tags to filter posts by specific topics.
Please don’t hesitate to comment on the bits, a lively discussion with different points of view is desired 🙂
You can follow these social profiles to be notified every time a new Daily Film Scoring Bit is posted. Make sure to adjust your notification settings on these platforms accordingly.
If you want to get more in-depth articles, exclusive content like composition walkthroughs and extensive articles, please consider joining me on Patreon.
Key Change Dramaturgy
Key changes can be not only effective musical tools but also very effective structural elements. Trying to build towards a climax in a piece that persistently stays in one key might not be the most interesting thing to do and approaching the climax…
Presenting Ideas to a Client
Finding the right thematic material and having both parties (you and your customer/director) agree on it can take quite some time. When you present possible themes/ideas, it is common today to present them in their best shape as directors very…
Taking Care of Business Contacts
Taking care of your precious business contacts and keeping the contact alive is a very important thing to do. This is especially important when you haven’t worked with them for a while. Producers/directors often have so many things on their…
Hiding Behind Orchestration
Having the sound of a full symphony orchestra at your fingertips to play with is always exciting and opens up endless possibilities for interesting soundscapes. However, orchestration should never be a tool to compensate for a weak composition…
Choir Recording
When you’re adding a real choir to your music, in most cases it is recorded seperate from (and after) the orchestra has been recorded. There are three main reasons for this: A choir needs to rehearse and can’t really sing music prima vista. Even the best…
The Danger of Composing on the Piano
Composing on a piano is a great tool but can also be quite limiting. For example, chord voicings that sound good or decent on a piano don’t neccessarily translate too well to real orchestra. Usually, the biggest problem with such voicings is the gap…
Music as Slow Motion Device
Music can alter the perception of time quite heavily. It can actually even work like a subjective slow motion. For example imagine a huge battle, the last few minutes of it, the hero is fighting, lots of fast action and instead of bringing in a busy…
Film Composer’s Time Management
Tight deadlines can be a major factor standing in the way of creativity and always come quicker than you think. It is up to you to develop a strategy to handle such situations as they are very common in the “media world”. Some people practically get paralyzed…
Piccolo Flute Highest Register
In it’s highest register, the piccolo flute can be very piercing and shrill and sometimes even painfully loud. This can be a great effect when you want a really edgy sound. For example in action or horror music this sound can work extremely well…
Basic Orchestral Microphone Setup
In orchestral recordings, the main microphone is the so called Decca Tree, which is positionated a few meters over the conductor pointing towards the orchestra. The signal from these microphones is also the one that is used as fundament…
Spontaneous Modulations
A very common device used in film scoring, especially when writing action music that leads to a climax is to spontaneously modulate up a semitone, whole tone or minor third. This works most effectively on ostinato-driven music with sparse harmonic…
Watching Rough Cuts
When you see a film you’re going to be working on for the first time, there might be a big chance that it is far away from picture lock and you might easily be lead on the wrong track regarding its dynamics. Usually you get a quite rough cut…
When to Start Looking for Scoring Gigs
It is never too early to start scoring movies. I often hear excuses like “I want to perfect my writing skills before I do the first film project” or “I need to buy some more sample libraries in order to create music properly.” as a justification…
The Film Mix
During the phase where your music is being mixed together with the movie, you should be well prepared for spontaneous requests to re-deliver certain files. Sometimes that has something to do with technical issues (e.g. audio glitches…