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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Cinema Sound Systems Surprises
Unless you get a chance to listen to your score in a mixing cinema when doing the film mix (which is usually soemthing only higher budgeted movies do)…
Hook Lines in Film Scoring
The concept of a “hook-line” – as it is called in the pop world – is to create one or several elements that stick in the memory of the listener and…
“Fake” Tempo Changes Through Rhythmic Subdivisions
Rhythmic subdivisions of the same tempo can be a great tool to dramaturgically shape your scene and for creating “fake” tempo changes. Staying in the…
Working at Home
Working at home by your own time schedules can in theory be a very nice way of working but can in realitiy cause quite a bit of problems. Quite a…
Tone Colour in the Woodwind Section
When writing for woodwinds, you have to be aware that you’re dealing with groups of instruments of highly diverse tone colour. Combining instruments…
Learn Your Tools
Working as a composer for commercial media requires you to stay up to date regarding technical and stylistic developments. This means, it is part of the…
Rhythmic Offset of Key Motifs
In order to keep a composition interesting, try to rhythmically offset your motif now and then. If you’re melodic idea is based on a motivic idea being…
Finding Thematic Material
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…
The Difficulty of Networking at Networking Events
Very often, business connections are not made in places where they are expected to be made (e.g. business meetings, fairs, festivals etc.) but rather…
DAW Orchestration vs. Real Life Orchestration
Just because you write orchestral music does not mean that you can orchestrate when it comes to working with a real ensemble. I’ve come across many…
Orchestral Intransparency
It is in the nature of orchestral music to not be able to hear every instrument clearly in the mix. Some instruments like woodwinds even regularly…
Melody Notes as Chord Extensions
When harmonizing melodies, it can sound musically more interesting to place key notes of the melody higher up in the chord structure (like 7th…
Dialogue Scoring
Avoid anything that draws too much attention on itself when you’re scoring dialogue. This applies especially for instrumental solos but also for…
The “Lucky Punch” Project
A career as a media composer is incredibly unlikely to launch like a rocket out of nowhere. And yet there are many composers who (secretly) wait…