a guide to producing an epic orchestral track

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12/16/2014 A Guide to Producing an Epic Orchestral Track - Tuts+ Music & Audio Tutorial http://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/a-guide-to-producing-an-epic-orchestral-track--audio-13389 1/29 Categories Learning Guides Music & Audio Although I'm not a huge fan of epic productions, they are definitely the thing that producers/directors/game developers search for nowadays. Now, as a whole, epic orchestral tracks can be heard on movies, TV, commercials, video games, trailers. They always support tension, battle, chase – all of these extremely dynamic moments that always catch the attention of the customer (whether a gamer, listener or spectator, doesn't matter). So, this tutorial is a guide that I do hope will help you create your own epic orchestral track. Let's get started! Step 1: Composition A good composition is a very, very important part of the music. It can help you very much in arranging, orchestrating and MIDImockuping. First of all, I'd very much like to point something out – epic orchestral tracks are really similar. Hollywood is a huge machine that manufactures epic tracks all the time, and most of them sound 7080% the same. So, in order to get you and your clients happy, you should make something that sounds familiar. But you definitely should try to add a piece of yourself to it. Tired of those IVI chords? Add something new, tweak the harmony, the melody, add some counterpoints. AUDIO PRODUCTION A Guide to Producing an Epic Orchestral Track by George Strezov 28 Feb 2012 42 Comments 54 10 24

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Page 1: A Guide to Producing an Epic Orchestral Track

12/16/2014 A Guide to Producing an Epic Orchestral Track - Tuts+ Music & Audio Tutorial

http://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/a-guide-to-producing-an-epic-orchestral-track--audio-13389 1/29

Categories Learning Guides

Music & Audio

Although I'm not a huge fan of epic productions, they are definitely the thing thatproducers/directors/game developers search for nowadays. Now, as a whole, epicorchestral tracks can be heard on movies, TV, commercials, video games, trailers.They always support tension, battle, chase – all of these extremely dynamicmoments that always catch the attention of the customer (whether a gamer, listeneror spectator, doesn't matter).

So, this tutorial is a guide that I do hope will help you create your own epic orchestraltrack. Let's get started!

Step 1: Composition

A good composition is a very, very important part of the music. It can help you verymuch in arranging, orchestrating and MIDImockuping.

First of all, I'd very much like to point something out – epic orchestral tracks are

really similar. Hollywood is a huge machine that manufactures epic tracks all thetime, and most of them sound 7080% the same.

So, in order to get you and your clients happy, you should make something thatsounds familiar. But you definitely should try to add a piece of yourself to it. Tired ofthose IVI chords? Add something new, tweak the harmony, the melody, add somecounterpoints.

AUDIO PRODUCTION

A Guide to Producing an EpicOrchestral Trackby George Strezov 28 Feb 2012 42 Comments

54 10 24

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counterpoints.

There are five things that you should take into consideration when speaking aboutthe composition:

A. Melodic MaterialMelody is one of the most important things in music. The 'leitmotif', developed byWagner, is a common technique that is used in modern film/game music – a melodythat is connected with a character or event. Remember “The Imperial March” from

Star Wars. Or if you've watched “The 13th Warrior” (music by Jerry Goldsmith) you'lldefinitely notice how he uses a special motif for the deadly mist (a symbol of theupcoming evil).

Now let's think about that melodic material, that motif. You should be very carefulwhen repeating the melody. That means that you should not introduce the melodyevery 8 bars. If you do so, it will eventually sound boring and dull. Begin your trackwith the first half of the melody, or just a particular interval. For example, the musicfor Terry Gilliam's “Brazil” (by Michael Kamen) has a specific melody that begins witha major sixth. Often he uses just this specific interval to point out things that areimportant.

Also, the melody should be easy to remember (just think about John Williams) andoriginal as well. Yet, the main problem (and paradox) would be that most of yourclients (assuming you're “in the business”) would like that melody to sound popular.(Worst case scenario – to sound “just like “Batman Begins” or anything that is wellknown today.)

Now, let's sum up:

You should try to make a melody that is easy to be remembered (and sung).

You should try to introduce variations of the melody, so that it doesn't getboring.You should try to use specific fragments of the melody at some places.You should try to make an original and interesting melody.And you should try to make a melody that is wellknown.

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Sounds nasty, right?

In my case – I have used specific intervals (IVIIIVII) as the beginning of the theme.The theme itself is square – four bars, divided into two small motifs of two bars. Thebeginning of the theme is actually the first two bars of the piece. Listen to just thebeginning of the theme and the theme itself afterwards:

Motif, played by french horns:

The melody, played by strings:

Please note that all the demos before mixing are without reverb or any effects –EWQL products straight out of the box!

B. HarmonyMost of the time melody and harmony go on hand by hand. The same things that areapplied to melody should be applied to harmony as well. Try using some chords thatare not so popular – diminished or augmented, try different inversions. Using onlythe first inversions of the chords can be very boring, and you should try expandingyour 'arsenal' of harmonic language. Mike Elliot has some great articles, called

“Adding Flavor to Chords”. If you haven't checked it out, you should totally do that!

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Again, in the track for this tutorial, I have used mostly a very common chordprogression – IIII. In the beginning this is F# minor → A major. The thing is that firstI use a different inversion – the III is a sixfour chord, meaning that the E is in thebass. Now this does not entirely please me, so I decided to make the III an alteredchord – augmented. So AC#E becomes AC#E#, and when using the sixfourinversion it becomes E#AC#. For more explanation, check the tutorial for thealtered III by Ryan Leach.

Hear how it sounds, and how it sounds with the melody applied.

Unusual harmony in brass section:

Harmony plus melody:

Another fragment – harmony in staccato (and ostinato line in low strings):

Finally, consider that tonality can get boring as well. Do you think that using only Cmajor for a whole movie would be good and interesting? Not at all! So you should tryto modulate through different keys.

In my track, which by the way is called “Roof Chase”, I wanted to represent a real

chase, very tense and dynamic. My imaginary character is insecure. He tries to runfor his life. Everything is at stake... So I modulate through different keys – I try not tostop for a long time on a specific key. My character is being chased on rooves, heisn't likely to slow down and drink a cup of tea, right?

C. FormNow, my colleague Ryan Leach has a great article on SCOREcast Online regarding

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Now, my colleague Ryan Leach has a great article on SCOREcast Online regardingform. Nowadays forms like rondo, sonata and etc. are rarely used because most ofthe commercial music is applied to picture (excluding popular music). So, as Ryantells us: “Picture is king.”

Nevertheless, you should think of a structure that you can apply on your track. In mycase I have an ABA form, meaning – one part, after that you have another, differentin style and thematic material part, and finally you have the A again as a reprise(with a dynamic reprise, meaning that I didn't copy A directly and furthermoredeveloped ideas from A).

D. OstinatoRyan Leach has another great article, called “How to Create a Compelling Ostinato”.Today's music is 80% created out of ostinatos – whether it will be the bassline orthose repetitive cello notes, introduced by Hans Zimmer in “The Dark Knight”.

Ostinatos are great, but again – you should try to add something new. Here in thebeginning violas and second violins are playing the same rhythm and the same note

(B natural), but after that there are these 16th notes that make a specific mode(minor key with II flat, in our case – B natural – C natural – D natural – E natural –F#).

One thing with an ostinato rhythm is that if you want to have a dynamic musicalpiece that has the listener in its clutches from the beginning till the end, you shouldnot abandon the pulse. When you start an ostinato you should keep it till the end. (Ofcourse, there are always exceptions  you might want to add a slow, romantic partthat will contrast the aggression.)

When it comes to orchestration, you can transfer the pulsation through differentsections of the orchestra – strings / woodwinds / brass / percussion. That tip is very

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sections of the orchestra – strings / woodwinds / brass / percussion. That tip is veryuseful because ostinato as well can get boring – and by changing timbres you canadd variation to our repetitive pattern, creating a stable, yet interesting, foundation ofthe track.

A nice example is Schostakovich's 8th Symphony, Part 3. You can see how he usesa repetitive pattern in the violas (at the beginning) and after that in the strings andjust when you think that the strings get kinda repetitive, he places the same ostinatoin the brass section (trombones).

Ostinato strings (violas and second violins, together with subtle harmonics in firstviolins):

Another part of the piece, violas and second violins again with bass/celli stabs:

E. CounterpointThis is a term, that covers the relationship of two or more voices. Now, these epicorchestral pieces are very far away from the masterpieces that for example Bach

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orchestral pieces are very far away from the masterpieces that for example Bachcreated during the Baroque. Yet, you can use techniques as imitation, addingdifferent voices (punctus – contrapunctus, meaning that you have one melodic lineagainst another one), mirrored imitations, canons and other.

So, I have a certain moment that I start an imitation between different orchestralsections (French horns – trumpets – violins). It's not a literal imitation, though it hasthe same intervals, same rhythm as the main melody. The changes come from theharmony. Hear for yourself:

Only soloing instruments:

Tutti:

Step 2: Orchestration and MIDI

The art of orchestration is a very complex and interesting one. I think that today itcan be divided into “classical orchestration” and “MIDI orchestration”. The latter iscreated with the help of software and samples – check my previous tutorials andquick tips.

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Now I think that one rule can be applied to orchestration – when done properly in aclassical way, MIDI orchestration becomes piece of cake. Lots of problems will besolved when a nice classical orchestration has been made.

For example if you need high frequencies to your mix, instead of adding some EQplugins and playing around with the sound – just add a piccollo! This will help addthe needed high frequencies and moreover – it will colour up the mix. So a fewthings that I've used in my track:

A. Combining Brass Harmonies with String MelodiesHave you listened to a live orchestra? If so, then you probably have noticed that asingle trumpet can blow the entire string section. (James Newton Howard's score for“The Last Airbender” was recorded with 83 string players!). Now, what about two,three or even four trumpets and twelve french horns? I guess you can picture thesituation.

When you place the harmony in the brass section, you won't need the strings to playthe harmony as well (apart from doublebasses or cellos that could play thebassline). In most of the scores I've looked at, when there is a massive fortissimoharmony in the brass section, first violins, second violins, violas and even some ofthe woodwinds play in... unison! Therefore they create a thick melodic line (greatexample is “Dance of the Knights” by Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet – there is anamazing video on YouTube, conducted by Valery Gergiev).

There is a certain part in the middle of my piece that has a similar orchestration –there is an ostinato in the whole string section (the ostinato is changed now, to addsomething new for the listener), the harmony is in the brass section and woodwindsplay the harmony in the high register and make some effects (arpeggios in triplets).

Hear the brass section only:

Now hear the string section:

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… and the woodwinds:

Finally – the whole orchestra!

B. Blend Different PatchesMy next orchestration hint will be to blend different patches together, thereforecreating a thicker sound. I mostly used this in my strings section to get my strings tosound as real as possible.

Now let's talk about violins: I've used a preset from Hollywood Strings that is called

“NV NV VB MV” (“1st Violins – Long  (Sus) 3 NV NV VB MV RR”)  meaning thatthis patch is controlled by modulation wheel and goes from pianissimo andnonvibrato (NV) to con tutta la forza and molto vibrato (MV). Moreover it's roundrobin (RR), meaning that each note triggers a different sample – in our case this isthe change of bows (upbow/downbow).

Now I don't think that this is enough for me, therefore I've used another patch fromHollywood Strings – “Sus 13” (from the folder “Long Powerful System”). Thesepatches also control vibrato and volume, but the difference is that the sustainpatches control both vibrato and volume independently. The vibrato is controlled withMOD wheel (CC#1), while the volume is controlled with expression (CC#11). Thispatch, being one designed for a “powerful system” has five levels of loudness fornonvibrato, five levels of loudness for vibrato, and three levels of loudness for molto

vibrato. All that means that you can get a very detailed and real strings sound!

Hear our violin melody with just the first patch:

And now the second patch:

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And now the second patch:

And finally with the patches combined:

C. How to Double String SectionsNote that my next orchestration hint will be an apocryphal one and one that youshould not use in real orchestration. So, this hint is about doubling each stringsection... with another one.

Have you heard what 'divisi' means? This is when a string section is divided intopieces (two or more). Let's see for example the celli – they can play doublestops,but doublestops usually sound tense and are not always possible for playing(especially in faster tempos). So, if we want the celli to play in an octave, we shouldwrite 'divisi' on top of them – our players will see this and will divide the notesbetween themselves.

Now, the main problem with divisi is that they affect negatively on thickness andvolume. When a string section is divided, it sounds as half of the players and doesn'thave that depth in it. So, our 8 cellist for example will sound like 4 cellist + 4 cellist,not like an entire cello section.

So, what's this hint that I am talking about? Making fake divisi. I'll double eachsection with the previous one, starting with the celli, and therefore I'll thicken thesound. Using that formula, I'll double the celli line with the basses (without affectingthe main bass line), I'll double the viola line with celli, the second violin line with

violas and etc.

The important thing with this technique is that each doubling should be with 4050%of its volume. If we take our basses for instance, they will play their line in their mostnatural register and doubling the cellos can be too high for them, therefore the soundwill be very unnatural. We only want to have the idea of doubling, just the smallappearance of another timbre that will colour up the celli.

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appearance of another timbre that will colour up the celli.

Remember – this should be like cooking. You don't overdo the spices, right? Nowlisten to how this technique sounds:

Do you notice the subtle octave, that gets in after four bars? (I've muted the first 4bars for the demo, as shown on the image above.) Listen carefully, for best resultsuse headphones. Now hear the whole and “thick” string section:

And remember – do not do this with real orchestras!

Also, another thing that you can do, is to double strings with different timbres –woodwinds, percussion, piano. Hear some ideas:

Violins + xylophone:

Strings + piano (I personally love doubling piano with low string ostinatos!):

Violas + bassoon:

D. Use the Proper Voicing for Brass and Woodwind

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D. Use the Proper Voicing for Brass and WoodwindUsing proper voicing is crucial to great brass and woodwind sound. In myexperience I've developed a way of placing chords for brass section.

A while ago I read this question in internet: “What are the trombones for?” Actuallyyes, this is a very interesting question, because mainly our ear is familiar with theepicadventure French horn or the marching trumpets... but no trombones.

Well, the thing that I can tell you for sure is that trombones are really dynamic brassinstruments with a very colourful timbre – meaning that trombones can play low andharsh (like a tuba), and they can play in the high register very softly and their soundcan be closer to a that of a trumpet.

So here is the way I'm making my chord voicings (with exceptions of course!):

TrumpetsFrench Horns, Trombone, Tuba.

Therefore trombones are closer to the tuba (low, harsh timbre) and trumpets(majestic, powerful, high). Between them – French horns (noble timbre, thickens the

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whole “brass section” sound). I guarantee that if you do this voicing right, you'll havea solid and powerful harmony in your piece. Check it out.

As for woodwinds – there are several types of positions, that mostly change thetimbre and volume of the music. If you want to check most of them – try gettingsome orchestration books like the one from Samuel Adler or the “Principles ofOrchestration” by RimskyKorsakow. My track, “Roof Chase” is a very dynamic andepic track, mostly – drums, brass and string unisons. This is very, very powerful.Therefore I've duplicated timbres – for example I'll have a simple C major chord andI'll divide the notes like this:

2 Flutes – E + G2 Oboes – C + E2 Clarinets – C + G

So, the whole woodwind section (apart from bassoons), which is equal to sixplayers, will play C + E + G and each one of the notes will be doubled. Thistechnique will help the chord to fight the power of the brass section and percussionand therefore stand on its own.

E. Use HitsRemember that you should use the whole power of the orchestra, but not each bar.One way to do this is to use hits. I've written a quick tip regarding hits that may helpyou. The same techniques apply here, only that I've used instruments like piano,marimba, synths.

F. Add Interest with Orchestra EffectsOrchestra effects are a great way of making things sound interesting. The perfectinstruments for this in such an epic production are the pitched percussion (marimba,

xylophone, celesta, etc.) and woodwinds.

Listen to some ideas:

Xylophone making some transitions:

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Woodwinds playing triplets (in unison, to make a thick sound that will endure thepower of the other sections):

Woodwind runs:

Step 3: Recording Live Instruments

As I've written in my previous tutorial, “Making Your MIDI Strings Even MoreRealistic”, whenever possible you should record some live instruments that will givethe production more timbre and colour. In my case, I didn't have the budget to call forstring or brass players, so I decided to record some drums in my home studio – soI've recorded some sticks, bendir (Turkish frame drum), bells, cajon and a strangeAfrican drum that a friend brought me from Uganda.

The important thing is that apart from sticks and bells (which serve more like a“decoration” to the main beat) all the other percussion should be in unison with theMIDI ones.

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Hear for yourself.

Recorded drum solo:

MIDI drums only:

Drum mix:

Step 4: Adding Synths

Another technique is to add some synths to thicken the sound. Arpeggiators are agood way to add colour to your track  I've used one patch that I made myself withCakewalk z3ta. You can add some modulation effects (tremolo, vibrato, flanger) and

some distortion to make the sound more industrial. One great thing to read will byRyan Leach's tutorial about tremolo.

Hear how my synth blends with the strings at the beginning:

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Another great use of synths will be using some subbass sinewaves to thicken thebassline or to add depth to hits. Hear how I used a single subbass note on some ofthe hits in the track (it's delicate, though):

Step 5: Mixing

Now we come to the tough part – the mixing. There are few points in the mixprocess that you should take care about very precisely. It is not going to be easy –with my template all my tracks go to 80+ (without the audio channels), so it can getkinda messy there! There is a rule that the good mix makes mastering easy. Well, asI said before – good composition and orchestration makes a track easy to mix. Whenyou compose with the mix in your head you can achieve great result on the sound.

There are lots of things that I could say about mixing. The main three things that youshould care about are: depth, panning, frequency balance.

Frequency BalanceOverall, you always have to think about balance – when mixing in stereo you shouldthink about having your left and right channels to be equal. Also, you should notoverdo some of the frequencies – for example highs over lows and so on.

Some points regarding frequency problems:

1.  Try not to put each instrument in the same register. Use different ranges, thinkabout your chord voicings. Be careful about doubling different instruments.

2.  As I said previously, if you need more frequencies, think about orchestrationfirst, and after that think about equalizers. You need more lowend? Add tuba,bassoon, contrabassoon, timpani, gran casa. Need more highend? Add flutesor piccolos, add celesta, glockenspiel, xylophone.

3.  If you have lots of lowend problems (commonly with drums) add a nice highpass filter. Same things that apply for popular genres can be applied here aswell!

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well!

DepthNow, the depth. One of the biggest problems is how to use reverb and, mostcommonly, how much reverb should be added. In orchestral tracks I'd suggest usingsend effects. See another great article by Mo Volans.

Why using sends? In my case, my template takes about 15 gigs of RAM and myCPU is used on 80%. Putting reverb on each of those 80+ channels would be a totalsucide.

Another idea is that having one reverb setting for your orchestra will give you a muchmore coherent sound. As you've probably noticed from the demos above, HollywoodStrings and Brass (Gold) are pretty dry, so I'd like to add a nice reverb that could getthe sound to a next level. So, I've used one SEND fx track (stereo) where I've put asimple impulseresponse reverb (the Cubasebuilt Reverence).

One thing that you should take notice of is that all the signals go there with differentstrength. In a real orchestra hall the brass section is WAY behind the strings (= morereverb), while the strings are upfront. Hear the “before” and “after” demos:

Before:

After:

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Parallel CompressionAnd my final tip for this guide should be the “parallel compression”. Check JoelFalconer's tut “Give Drums Impact with Parallel Compression”. This will thicken upthe sound of the drums and will make them sound very, very epic. Also, this will helpyou bring the drums more upfront in the mix, making them that stable basis of thetrack.

No parallel compression:

With parallel compression (listen how the drum section 'thickens'!):

Conclusion

So, I've come to the end of this tutorial. Hope this has inspired you to compose,orchestrate and mix your own music. Don't forget to share your tracks in thecomments section!

Here's how my track sounds after all those steps:

… and the final, mastered, version:

Str…Ro…

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Difficulty:Intermediate

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Audio Production Orchestration MIDI

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Tuts+ tutorials are translated by our community members. If you'd like to translate this post into another language, letus know!

About George Strezov

George Strezov is a student from Bulgaria, studying conducting at the National Academy of Music, Sofia.His passion is composing, and he has made soundtracks for various movies  documentaries, shortfilms,commercials, TV and radio spots.

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Samulis • a year ago

Trombones on top of horns? Not really the best idea imho...

To understand writing for brass/Trombone, you need to understand that it's really twofamilies- Conical (Horn, Tuba) and Cylindrical (Trumpet, Trombone), which each have theirown unique flavors. I could blather for a day or point to some books, but I'd rather justthrow up some ideas and suggestions to help people out.

The cylindrical brass are your hotter, edgier brass- roaring and more DIRECT. The attributesof trumpets and trombones in a solid forte are very similar: regal, strong, clear, and ringing,with a natural Cuivre (lit. "brassy" sound) at loud volumes. In their lowest register (esp. BassTrombone), cylindrical brass still maintain a very full and direct sound that can cut throughthe mix, unlike conical brass and strings (unless you push them, which is almost always thecase). They tend to not blend as well with each other as well as other instruments-especially true with trumpet, which really shouldn't be used in unison with anything butitself unless you're going for unique sounds.

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• Reply •

see more

Conical brass are gentler by nature, but as we all know, they get pushed to their edge mostof the time anyway with full tilt (i.e. "blastissimo"). Horn and Tuba are clear in their higherregister, but very dark and growling in their lower register. Conical Brass (horns

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• Reply •

Adrian Try • a year ago> Samulis

Thanks Samulis. It's great to get such a detailed response from a trombonist. 1△ ▽

• Reply •

Neil Boumpani • 5 months ago> Samulis

Nice explanation. Frank Hunter once explained this to me in simple terms. He waslooking over a marching band arrangement where I used baritone horns to blendwith the trombones trying to get a full, low brass chord. He simply said " trombonesare sharp and piercing, due to the directional nature and build; baris, euphoniumsand tubas are a "round" sound. That was 30 yesra ago and I never forgot it.

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• Reply •

oihoiuhu • 2 years ago

Audio examples currently stopped loading in FF20 4△ ▽

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anonymous • a year ago

And of course, the most important rule of all: Don't steal music from Rambo. 2△ ▽

• Reply •

Alex • 2 months ago

Hey great tutorial! whats the name of the program? 1△ ▽

• Reply •

Jon • 2 months ago

As a video game composer for a living, this article is exactly what is wrong with musicwriting these days.

Geez, this is pathetic.

People, if you want to be an ORCHESTRAL COMPOSER, study it for goodness sakes. Thisarticle is written as if you write little rock songs, and now you are trying to writeclassical/orchestral music. Ya, no. This article is the worst thing for our genre. Justsickening.

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Ricardo Ceron • 5 months ago

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• Reply •

Ricardo Ceron • 5 months ago

This tutorial should cost a million dollars.... thankfully you shared it for free.... thanks amillion for this awesome piece of info... Is there anyway we can download it completely withthe sound samples and stuff for keeping it in our knowledge base even on offlinecircumstances?

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• Reply •

guesty • 6 months ago

Great tips, well written, top marks for this, thanks! I find not hard quantising everythinglends to a more human result, i.e. with the great 'fake divisi' string idea you presented, youquantise each section by different percentages, or not at all if you played well. Likewise not'normalising' the velocity of midi drums for instance.Sure, you don't want it to sound sloppy, but leave a few subtle rough edges, it'll give...........an edge?!

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• Reply •

sasikanth • 8 months ago

I am a jazz -rock musician with little or no knowledge of orchestration, but always wanted toknow. And the last half and hour of reading this article has to be one of the most productiveblogs i ever read. Do you recommend an further readings to this article?

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• Reply •

Adrian Try • 8 months ago> sasikanth

Hi Sasikanth. Glad you liked the tutorial - it's one of my favourites. I'd say the firstthing to do would be to read the rest of George's tutorials, and then check out RyanLeach's tutorials. He's covering arranging at the moment, including arranging forstrings.

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• Reply •

Nic727 • a month ago

What is the best free software to create soundtrack? △ ▽

Dan • 17 days ago> Nic727

i am using FL Studio to make my tracks. With any good music software, you'll needto spend some time getting to know it and it's functions. But FL Studio is the onlyprogram so far that offers full features in the demo version, that is, you can use thedemo version as much as you want including all the feature the full version offers.One catch though. You cannot open any projects until you pay for the program. Thatmeans that you can work on your project, save it, but when you close the program,you can't open the project you were working on unless you pay for the registration. :)What I used to do before I had the money to get the full version, I would just neverclose my project. I would always keep my computer and FL Studio on, so I couldkeep working on my music. Hope this helped ;)

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• Reply •

keep working on my music. Hope this helped ;)

Here's what I managed to create in this program also trying to apply some of theprinciples discussed in this article.

https://soundcloud.com/superna...

https://soundcloud.com/superna... △ ▽

• Reply •

dan • 17 days ago> Dan

the only program so far that I know of ** △ ▽

• Reply •

Joe • 4 months ago

Very informative. Thank you! △ ▽

• Reply •

Neil Boumpani • 5 months ago

Thanks for this tutorial. Very well writen. △ ▽

• Reply •

flixus fünfus • 5 months ago

You misspelled "Motiv" :D △ ▽

• Reply •

Pranav Ghodnadikar • 6 months ago

Does a composer have to be a sound engineer? Does he need to know mixing/masteringwhich is important aspect of production?

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DJHComposer • 4 months ago> Pranav Ghodnadikar

In todays industry, yes. 1△ ▽

• Reply •

sigit • 10 months ago

why they (you) call this music "epic"? △ ▽

• Reply •

gprok • a year ago

great great stuff!!!! that's exactly what I need to get my music sound better!!!!! thanks somuch!!! gprok

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Guest • a year ago

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• Reply •

Guest • a year ago

This is awesome! I loved this tutorial when i discovered it last year. Although it does seemyou did make some reduxes on the track, unless I forgot what it sounds like? Anyway,again, amazing.

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• Reply •

Sam • a year ago

I've never read such an understandable and easy tutorial like this...! AweSome..!! it washelpful . .! .

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• Reply •

Guest • a year ago

i've never read such an understandable and easy tutorial...! awesome... it was helpful....! △ ▽

• Reply •

Qiandan Zhang • 2 years ago

Amazing sound track!! But the audio examples seem to have some problem △ ▽

• Reply •

Adrian Try • 2 years ago> Qiandan Zhang

Hi Qiandan. Currently there's a problem with playing the audio examples in Firefox,and we're working on fixing it. In the meantime, the audio examples should work inany other browser. I hope this helps.

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• Reply •

Hur Ozan Cerrahoglu • 2 years ago

Mr, Strezov,

I don't know how to thank you to give me such vision, without your tutorial I could neverthink about building such a track, here is a sample of my homework, hope to see moretutorials of such kind..

https://soundcloud.com/hur-oza...

P.s. 1 : I am neither professional nor after funds.

P.s. 2 : How to create such harmonies in major chords?

P.s. 3 : If possible can I contact you through facebook? △ ▽

Ephraim Champion • 2 years ago

Thank you very very much! I love the song, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I don't think thetitle matches the song. Honestly, I can't picture a roof chase with this song, maybe anotherscene. Although, THIS WAS VERY AWESOME, YEEEEEEAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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• Reply •

Simon Sloth • 2 years ago

Awesome tutorial. It covered so many things which were questions to me before. Now I feelthat I have inspiration and knowledge to continue my project. Thank you!

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• Reply •

Adam • 2 years ago

thank you very much for your guide. really really helpfu!. Btw, does anyone know a freeprogram that i could download? I want to rewrite some music i composed so that thesound and all would be better than the simple noise my current music software provides.thanks <3

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• Reply •

Joshua Empyre • 2 years ago

https://soundcloud.com/muzikma...

Here's my newest track! :D △ ▽

• Reply •

DancingKutas • 2 years ago

best tutorial of that kind in the internet THANKS! △ ▽

• Reply •

EdibleRobot • 2 years ago

Incredible article. Thank you! △ ▽

• Reply •

Ghidorah • 2 years ago

This was great! Thank you very much! △ ▽

• Reply •

Sara • 2 years ago

Really like this! Lots of practical ideas and excellently illustrated with examples. △ ▽

• Reply •

Guest • 2 years ago

Thank you very much Mr. Strezov. Here are two compositions that were inspired by thistutorial:https://soundcloud.com/mshenk0...https://soundcloud.com/mshenk0...

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Guest • 2 years ago> Guest

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• Reply •

Guest • 2 years ago> Guest

lol, srry everyone for the multiple posts...it must of took like 3 weeks to showup...wasn't trying to spam!

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• Reply •

Matthew Shenk • 2 years ago

Thank you very much Mr. Strezov. I very much appreciate the information. Here are two ofseveral compositions I have created in the last few months which were inspired by thistutorial. Thanks again!https://soundcloud.com/mshenk0...https://soundcloud.com/mshenk0...

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• Reply •

Guest • 2 years ago

Thank you very much, Meister Strezov. I first read your article while visiting my brother inSanFransisco back in September. Since then, it has inspired me to work on orchestral andorchestral "epic" type hybrid compositions. I would very much appreciate if you (or anyone)would listen and comment on either of these two such pieces:https://soundcloud.com/mshenk0...https://soundcloud.com/mshenk0...

Thanks again! △ ▽

• Reply •

Odorwyn • 2 years ago

https://soundcloud.com/ace-of-...

I just started to get interested into this kind of genre, and your tutorial was very good, ireally enjoyed reading it. For my first track in this genre i used the I - IV - III - VII intervallsyou mentioned - i think it fits very well :)

I'd love to hear some feedback :) △ ▽

• Reply •

Holger • 2 years ago

Great tutorial. Thank you very much. △ ▽

• Reply •

koopanique • 2 years ago

Exactly the kind of tutorial I needed. Thanks! △ ▽

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Page 28: A Guide to Producing an Epic Orchestral Track

12/16/2014 A Guide to Producing an Epic Orchestral Track - Tuts+ Music & Audio Tutorial

http://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/a-guide-to-producing-an-epic-orchestral-track--audio-13389 28/29

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Page 29: A Guide to Producing an Epic Orchestral Track

12/16/2014 A Guide to Producing an Epic Orchestral Track - Tuts+ Music & Audio Tutorial

http://music.tutsplus.com/tutorials/a-guide-to-producing-an-epic-orchestral-track--audio-13389 29/29

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