Small Ensemble Seating

Small Ensemble Seating When recording or overseeing the recording of a small ensemble of musicians, pay attention to a few seating issues. If you’re not depending on a specific seating of the musicians for other reasons, you might want to go for the following option:...

Study Instrument Registers

Study Instrument Registers Just as important as knowing the ranges of the instruments that you are writing for you should also have a clear idea about their registers and dynamic possibilities of them in these registers. There are a few charts out there which show one...

Fingers Off the Pan Knob

Fingers off the Pan Knob The standard panning knob (or balance on a stereo signal) works in a way that it simply changes the levels of the right and left channel according to where you set it. Therefore, on stereo signals it only seems to change the direction of the...

Mixing Volume

Mixing Volume Always mix your music at the approximate volume it will be in the movie later. The human ear has a different perception of balance depending on the volume of music. Especially the bass register is very sensitive in this matter. You tend to need way more...

Highest Note in a Chord

Highest Note in a Chord In well balanced orchestral chords consisting of several instrumental colours (e.g. a chord that is orchestrated in the woodwind section) the instrument on the highest note will dominate its colour impression. This means that even in a chord...