Getting started composing music scores

Taylor, you did that? That's awesome! Wow! (Garageband is MAC?)

MattC got on the phone with me today and 'edu-ba-cated' me on the finer things on this subject matter

HorseFilms; don't you need a USB port for a Directbox (Now Im really making **** up)
 
LOL! You tell him Johnnie!!!

Firewire is better, and a direct PCI connection is best, but yes, a USB port will work and for what John's doing (or for what you're doing Horse - midi - will work fine).

Bookmark this page: http://www.tweakheadz.com/ and spend the next month reading about it (you don't really need a month, but man is there a ton of info here for the newbie). It will answer pretty much any question you have regarding this stuff and there is a great forum as well.

Best,

Matt
 
HorseFilms said:
I've also got a question. I have a decent synth with a MIDI out. The problem is that I don't have a MIDI in on my computer. What's the cheapest way to get my setup to work?
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You can buy a midi card for your computer pretty cheap, they are sometimes on soundcards such as the Soundblaster line.

John, yes I did it... and am now cultivating a career as a beefy 45yr old rockstar.
The bigger girls dig it.

yeah its a Mac thing, too . But there is some great guitar emulators such as Amplitube for the PC.
 
Hey Matt, i was just looking through midi keyboards and saw you have that Radium 61.
What do you think about it and its smaller bro, Radium 49? I went to the store and kind of liked the edirol more, but this one's cheaper.
Also, the mixing surface - the Behringer BCF seemed like a good choice, with its awesome price tag and the motorized faders.
 
Looks like I'm looking into getting:

Cubase
Sampletank (maybe L2)
MAudio OZONE (maybe the Ozonic for IEEE)

To start.


It's intimidating to look at close to a grand without having any real musical skills. Damn it. BUt Im a peristent bastard.
 
Its a matter of taste. I used to do a lot of synth work with a Roland D-20(ancient now) and I have tried the various versions of synth guitars. If I were doing a score I would prefer a keyboard connected to some kind of software synth. The accoustic guitar parts would have to be SM57 mic or a something similar. Just line the electric guitar in and add effects later. For me personally I got tired of doing the whole synth/midi thing.(no one to play off of) We did shows for three years just my guitar and the synth with parts that I programmed and it was the most uninspired music I've ever done.

I'm not quite sure how that would translate to a movie score since I haven't done one. For dvxfest I'll probably just use a drum machine like Hammer and some canned music. If you want a serious score I'd get away from synths all together. Something about someone playing a Sax or Trumpet or five string bass in the room is much more appealing to my ear.

Come up with some appealing progressions and invite some locals to Jam over it. You might get more of what you want. Most guys I've played with love a good jam and would do it for fun or credit. I have paid 150.00 a session for musicians and had those same guys put in extra time and come back because they liked what was going on. If I ever do make a feature thats how I'll do it. Love to hear some samples of everyones efforts.
 
The Radium is ok, I did the edirol too. I only got the radium because until I move I don't have room for it and have to keep it under my bed most of the time, so I wanted something cheap and light, knowing that I would wind up replacing it. I will more than likely get an electric piano, or the M-Audio controller with hammer weighted keys as I like the feel of a real piano.

Bigmagic. you can check out something here that I did quick. http://www.birthofthecool.com/films.html Everything is midi but the sax, which I played.

Matt
 
I agree, bigmagic, because often you get lost in the "science" part of the process while the art part is only partly there. With real instruments, especially with a few musicians, it is much easier to get the music creation going. Maybe it's all about the group effort, after all that's why bands exist. I'll have to think about it..
 
John_Hudson said:
It's intimidating to look at close to a grand without having any real musical skills. Damn it. BUt Im a peristent bastard.
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In recent years, I've been using a program I wrote that creates the music itself, using that as a basis and then going in and editing or adding "live" parts.

But it's only good if you want the stuff to sound more like Brian Eno did the score, rather than John Williams.

Dan
 
I prefer Eno to Produce.

Yeah; I'm kind of looking for John Willaims, Hans Zimmer, JAmes Horner type stuff; typical THATRICAL FILM SCOREs
 
MattC said:
iamloser,

It took me a while to convert, but I don't use any hardware synths anymore. The softsynths are just soooo much better and more powerful. Granted it's easier to just fire up a Triton and experiment, but for final sound selection? Softsynths all the way!

Matt
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I know theres a great selection of software samples out there. but my synth plays them.. i have a tricked out top of the line Kurzweil fully weighted full 88key workstation synth .. with sampling, SCSI interface to my PC so i can load .wavs or whatever sample such as softsynths right off my computer and visa versa.. Full digital IO including AES/EBU with mixing and pass through synthesis and effects. onboard hardware samplng and vocal modeling with envelops, LFO's and eveything else under the sun. Its got all the addon RAM instruments and SCSI HDD for storing instruments i make or tweak. load CDs.. floppys.. whatever. and no lag on my machine recording 32bit float multitracks when im going straight DA instead of midi sequencing. ..basically the synth is a computer in and of itself. so i load almost all my samples onto it, and let the computer do other things.

as to which is better.. soft vs hardware.. well it all depends on what samples/roms/arrangemets you have. in the case of a hardware synth like mine when you have preset and the ability to create multitimbral and mutlilayered instruments.. as well as load on any other sound i come acrossed.. giving me everything from a soft gentle flute to a full blaing orchestra with nuances like vibratto and staccato and breath and modulation and attack and release and basically alot more control over the instruments and how they sound being played all from having just one single patch loaded ..and all controlled realtime by hardware. it blows away soft synths big time.. but in the case of the average synth .. the newer software samples are pretty competitive if not head above. I ll admit i do my fair share of just using somthing in the PC cause its easier than porting it to my synth soemtimes, but if i had the time id want the synth controlling the samples all the time.
 
The synth can still be used as a controller. But you get to use the sample libraries on the PC (that's all I'm referring to). I've never heard a hardware synth that has a built in orchestral library that can compete with Vienna Symphony Orchestra (or other giga studio packages costing thousands of dollars) or with East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra (Platinum). I think there's something to be said for hooking up an old Moog too, although software recreation has gotten very, very good.

I have friends of mine who had racks and racks of synths specifically for scoring. Today it is all in banks of computers with one controller (still a high-end synth used mostly for the wieghted, hammer action keyboard), and a couple of novelty synths). When you start using libraries in the 100+ gig range it just makes more sense processing wise.

Matt
 
..definitely.. my synth doesnt even have a drive that big. unless i hook one up.. but a 100 gig SCSI drive would cost a fortune. lol.. but as far as the sound library or orchestral roms available for the kurzweils.. nothing short of amazing. its the industry standard for music composition from a synth setup. yeah though if your talking giga studio samples that are huge.. the only way to really run it is software controlled. ive been considering purchasing a package, but havent had a definite need yet.. although rest assured that day will come. :)
 
I'd kill for a kurtzweil. I do everything on an Alesis QS-6. I've been meaning to look into the software sampling programs, but I got bogged down with this little sideproject called filmmaking.

I do everything on the cheap. I run my sequencing software (usually finale allegro because it's good for orchestral stuff, but I also use cubasis) out to my synth then to my broken down old four track back into my PC.

Composing orchestral stuff is very complicated and intimidating. I've been trying it for about 5 years now and have done very little that I would even label adequate. And I've been writing music for over 20 years. Like every other aspect of filmmaking there are very talented people who dedicate all of their efforts into that one singular discipline. But sometimes you don't know what you are really good at until you try it. I've done the music for all of my own films, but I hope to get somebody better than I am in the future. It's like having a good editor; they think of things you never would, things that can often make your movie better. But keep at it John. Let us know how it all turns out.
 
Matt, Neil, thank you. I just ordered EWQL Gold Edition; been looking at it for a while, you only made me sure. I know it's not Platinum, but that's $2k difference, let's see what I can do with this first.
 
I recently got the Garritan Personal Orchestra, and have been impressed and overwhelmed with its abilities. It has been used on a ton of shows...

www.garritan.com

Also has anyone used Halion or Absyth...and your opinion.
 
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