Getting started composing music scores

EWQLSO Gold is amazing. I've used it on others systems, and have been very impressed. Platinum is great, but you really need a dedicated computer (or five) to run JUST the orchestra and pipe it into your DAW. I started with Silver and even that is great, but it is more in the line of Garritan Personal Orchestra, but with the Hollywood sound.

Taylor, Actually Garritan makes a higher-end symphonic string packaged that is probably what you here in the shows you are referring to, but maybe not depending on what shows you are referencing. Garritan makes very good stuff, but his personal orchestra is more geared towards the composition student than the film scorer. But don't take that as a knock, it is a great library. I just prefer EW because of how the orchestra was recorded with various mic positions to give adjustable and real ambiance effects and it has (to borrow a phrase from John Hudson) as certain hollywood "Mojo" to it...

I have Halion. Halion is simply a soft sampler. You provide your own sounds (although it does come with some). It's a great sampler but most sound libraries these days are coming with their own soft-sampler engine (such as Kontakt). Absynth, however is a synth, and is quite nice for electronic sounds.

Also I'm all for "hiring" outside composers (and I do compose for orchestra - or did at least). Search the net, you'll find tons of young composers willing to score a short film for free. I've said this over and over on this forum but it seems no one believes me....

Best,

Matt
 
I believe you Matt. Before I started making my own movies I would have been thrilled to have the opportunity to score someone else's.
 
Ok, so I am resurrecting this old thread as I'm in the same position of wanting to learn to do some basic composing for film. I have little to no musical background (learned some chords on a roommates guitar and could play a little bet not very much or very well) and am lost as to how big of a midi controller I should get. Physical size isnt much of an issue, but I'd just as soon not invest much money in this as its just a fun way to spend some time while the wife is learning to knit. So is a 25 key controller too little for what I'm trying to do? I'm not really interested in ever actually playing real songs on a piano, just those little bits and pieces like when a cartoon mouse tiptoes across the floor, etc. I also havent really decided on a software package/library either if anyone has any more suggestions other than those listed previously, just havent done much looking in the software arena yet. Feel free to point me in any other research directions too, just couldnt find much for the total newb looking to score for film.
 
jdajda said:
Ok, so I am resurrecting this old thread as I'm in the same position of wanting to learn to do some basic composing for film. I have little to no musical background (learned some chords on a roommates guitar and could play a little bet not very much or very well)
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Maybe the money would be better spent on getting your basic level of musicianship a bit higher? If you really want to write music for picture, it can take years for someone who's already musically profficient to get close to making a living this way. I'm guessing you haven't done much orchestration, arranging, music theory or composition?

Forgetting that for a minute, you would get by with a 25-key midi controller, but you'll quickly wish you'd gone bigger!
http://www.dv247.com/invt/24171/ - something like that would be a good start.

Basically, you need:
A MIDI controller (eg keyboard)

A host program which interprets the MIDI
Garageband is a good start, and cheap (Mac only)
I use Logic.
Protools, Cubase, Digital Performer etc are all valid choices.

and optionally, more samples
Kontakt is a good all-around start. It should include some orchestral stuff, along with bass/guitar, ethnic, drums etc etc etc

Orchestral:
Garritan Personal Orchestra is cheap, but really doesn't cut it in terms of realism.
East West do good orchestral stuff, as do others like Kirk Hunter & Sonivox.
Westgate libraries are very nice sounding.
VSL (Vienna Synphonic Library) is the big-daddy of orchestral sampling. Google and listen to the demos.

There's a lot to get your head round, and if you start you'll never stop chasing that next bit of kit, which (naturally) will be the last thing you need before you 'make it'!

But as I said at the start, none of the above is ever going to be that useful unless you have a decent musical education - whether self-taught or otherwise.


Oh - and check out:
Soundsonline.com
kvr.com
northernsounds.com
vi-control.net
 
Cool I'll check all those out - I definitely agree that my musical education needs to be furthered. I just wanted to make clear what my final goals with this were. Any good computer based "teach yourself piano" stuff? I dont have the schedule to support formal lessons but I've got an hour a night I can put towards practicing and studying on this. The more I read it looks like a 49 key is the way to go as to not be too limiting, but still have enough range to work in. Would the oxygen or axiom 49 be that much better than the keystation? The knobs and sliders and such look useful. I know I said budget was a concern but a little more money if it gets me something that has a better construction/feel and some extra features is fine. I just dont have 20 grand to spend on this. I'm currently PC based so can go with garage band, but I can justify Cubase for work perhaps... I'll have to look and listen on the libraries. Say if I made something with a crappy library and then got a new more robust library I could replace the samples I previously used with new ones right? Anyways thanks for your help, I'll have to do some more research at lunch today.

Jeff
 
The art of Film composing

The art of Film composing

Hey JR

Here's a quote from a director:

"The heart of every story is a sound - something so deep that it resonates like a pressure in your chest. It is this feeling that the film composer seeks to make heard; not merely to underscore the chases, clinches, climaxes, or to smooth over the directorial inadequacies of soft cuts and shaky transitions, but to give voice to an inner life - its soul, if such a thing can be said of film."

Ed Zwick

You need a professional composer.

http://www.rbtmusicstudios.com

Robert
 
You won't hear me say this often but I don't think you need a professional composer.
I sort of do what your talking about. I'm not a composer or even really a musician. I make my living doing sound and have a good "musical" sense but that's not the same thing. So what I have found is. Simple is better than "flexible". Those controllers with lots of knobs can get very complicated, and software, well is software. If I were you I would look at a 49 key keyboard. It needs to have a modulation and pitch bend wheel and it needs to have jacks for at least a sustain pedal. It also needs to be able to transpose up and down the scale (some 49's don't). I would avoid sliders and knobs generally and all the other whiz-bang add-ons unless you are really into programing the keyboard and can keep track of all the options etc. I don't do this (music) all the time and I just can't keep all the options straight. True once your all programed you don't have to worry much, tiil the batt. dies and you have to figure it all out again.
Next I would look at something like the Roland JV-1010. It's a module with a huge amount of very god sounding instruments. You get more choices with software synths and such but you have to be connected to the computer to use them. Also if you doing little scoring projects for your own you can record straight into whatever your working in. Depending on your system running a soft synth and a NLE at the same time may be a problem. If your not doing this all the time I would recommend not getting a bunch of complicated apps that you have to learn. If some time down the line you want to get more heavily into it you can get more stuff and sell off the old hardware. THe upsides are the hardware is going to cost probably less than the software, it has some resale value, and doesn't need upgrading to keep working. It's also portable.
 
I have cubase studio case 2 it is pretty cool but I just have a midi keyboard controller. I'm better with the guitar but no midi controll for that.
 
jdajda said:
Cool I'll check all those out - I definitely agree that my musical education needs to be furthered. I just wanted to make clear what my final goals with this were. Any good computer based "teach yourself piano" stuff? I dont have the schedule to support formal lessons but I've got an hour a night I can put towards practicing and studying on this.
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No worries - I wanted to make my point, but I don't want to come over all superior and 'you've got no chance if you can't read music' blah blah...

As for teaching material, I'm not particularly clued up on what's about to be honest, especially computer-based/online stuff. I would guess that there may well be a lot of stuff around for free. Maybe even check youtube for some piano/keyboard lessons.
A good thing to do might be to get a keyboard, and just start bashing until you make sounds you like - and go from there! It's a long way from playing Rachmaninoff, but far more fun than a lot of lessons will be. Then maybe after a few months of self/internet/free teaching you could seek out something more 'focused'.


jdajda said:
. The more I read it looks like a 49 key is the way to go as to not be too limiting, but still have enough range to work in. Would the oxygen or axiom 49 be that much better than the keystation? The knobs and sliders and such look useful. I know I said budget was a concern but a little more money if it gets me something that has a better construction/feel and some extra features is fine.
Click to expand...

49 keys is definitely the way you should go, in my opinion.
All you really need, as Noiz2 said is a keyboard with a sustain pedal jack, pitch bend wheel and modulation wheel/fader. Anything else to start with would be a largely unnecessary extra.

jdajda said:
I'm currently PC based so can go with garage band, but I can justify Cubase for work perhaps... I'll have to look and listen on the libraries. Say if I made something with a crappy library and then got a new more robust library I could replace the samples I previously used with new ones right?
Click to expand...

Cubase would be fine - I think there's a cheap version too. Maybe SX? I'm not sure.
And 'yes', to your second question.

And 'FTComposer' - I don't think that really helps. The original poster was asking for help to get into the world of writing music by themselves, rather than asking for a composer for a specific project.
Plus, my website's prettier than yours. :happy:
 
Good info Noiz! I'm definitely going for the 49 key now. I'm a bit of a tweaker so am easily swayed by extra knobs and sliders and pads, but I'm glad to have a list of the "important" options as opposed to the "fun" ones. Headed to guitar center to go touch and feel them in a bit. Should I go ahead and get a sustain pedal or just wait until I feel the need.

So are you saying with a module like the Roland I could just plug into that instead of using a software synth/sequencer? I'll have to keep that in mind. After some looking I've found that theres some free software synths to mess around with while I figure out where this is really going.

So say I'm scoring in Cubase or something similiar - cant I just give it a copy of my locked picture and play it in Cubase while I work so I wouldnt have to have my NLE open?

Exciting stuff! Thanks for all the input guys!
 
wilx - I think I'm liking your thought of mashing on the keys til I find something that sounds good! I found some decent free online theory tutorials and stuff too (still havent gotten to read those links wilx but I will) so maybe between the two I'll survive for a bit.

Yeah i saw that cheaper Cubase and think that would suit me well, but I think I'll hold off for a few weeks and just make it make crappy noises with free stuff and see where I get. If I buy in phases the wife wont notice :) I'm pretty sure she's been buying one purse a week since we got married...

Ok off to the music store! Oh - let me know if anyone wants a score for the 2025 dvxfest, perhaps by then I'll have something to show :) Or perhaps not.
 
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