I come from jazz performance training, so I basically write best when it's kind of like improv. I do figure out various landmark of the piece, and I let myself brainstorm before anything (I happens mostly when I try to sleep [:(] )

Yeah this is something I have a problem with sometimes. You'll get a small portion of a tune cooking nicely and then you find it really hard to move on out of it cos you made the piece you were working on so full.

My remedy is that I try to perform and learn my whole tune first. Recording now and again to remember ideas and some specific melodies that I like.

I tend to compose using only one sound. And I try very hard not to move onto another instrument until I have my tune correct. Of course it doesn't always work out that way but I try.

So I use either a piano, or synth strings .. or a flute to perform the entire piece .. and then, and only when I'm happy with the overall piece will I begin to assign parts to the orchestra. This makes sure that I don't end up with a 4 bar loop that gets totally orchestrated and doesn't let me go anywhere else.

Hope this advice helps .. it usually serves me pretty well.

Great thread...

I'm from an improv background as well (I improv classical for ballet classes and jazz on gigs) so I can definitely sympathize with the problems described here.

Something touched on here that I think is vital (to me) is thinking macro THEN micro. Always think with the big picture in mind. It sure is tempting to keep those strings going, for example, but then you kill the first three rule of orchestration: Variety, variety, variety.

I'm somewhat limited by my computer resources, as well, so planning ahead serves a dual purpose.

Lastly, I like to leave lots of space. I tend to believe that sample rendered compositions sound more real when things aren't so heavily layered. In fact, everything will have a part except for the occasional double (bassoon-violas or something) in order to preserve and feature the unique colors of the orchestra.

John Williams inspires me in this way. He constantly changes color combinations, is unafraid to expose whatever orchestration he's using, etc.

Clark

@hetoreyn said:

You'll get a small portion of a tune cooking nicely and then you find it really hard to move on out of it

Don't remind me of the dozen's of unfinished pieces lying and rotting on my hard drives.

PolarBear

All good suggestions here. I used to just sit down and start writing. I would start at the beginning and start writing/recording having no idea where I would be 8 – 10 bars down the line. This is fine for shorter cues, but longer pieces would meander on with no real direction and definitely lacked that “closure” a well written piece of music has.

Over the years I’ve developed some techniques that work well for me:

Someone suggested a timeline. Create a timeline/chart on a blank sheet of paper. Mark your hit-points or “landmarks” you may want to hit. Draw a curve along the top of your time line to signify dynamics, intensity (what I mostly use), tempo, orchestrational “thickness”, etc. This curve would start on your timeline (y-axis) and go up/down (x-axis) as you dictate. Make multiple curves if necessary. This technique forces you to think about the big picture and the overall flow of your piece – and you’ll find ideas coming to you as you do this.

Next, sketch some themes and progressions on paper or software notation program. Use techniques like inversion and retrograde to create even more variations of your ideas. This is essentially your “color pallet” of themes for your composition. You can (and will) obviously create more as you work - this will help keep your music varied, but focused and aurally unified as well.

Without getting into all the theory of form and structure, I often find myself writing in “threes”. That is, my composition will have a (1) beginning, (2) middle, & (3) end, my beginning will have a beginning, middle and end, etc. – thinking this way helps keep you focused on how the music you’re working on now relates to your composition as a whole.

Ideally for me, my process would be (after above prep. work):

1. Sketch entire piece
2. Orchestrate entire piece (using software notation program)
3. Sequence/record

But, alas, in this world of media composition, time is always of the essence. My process is usually:

Sketch/sequence/record simultaneously – my work is finished product
Sketch then orchestrate with notation program – performed by live players
Sketch then orchestrate/sequence/record – combination of both

Keep in mind you have to find the process that works best for you. Good luck.

Scott

My first approach is pencil-and-paper, then later the sequencing/mock-up.

My second approach - if I need to get to the mock-up faster - is to use the score pad for lead lines, and then literally "blocks" of shading in the other sections so I can visually see where the orchestration will be. So I might have horns on the melody, with a quick figure in the strings followed by squiggles for a bit, and then maybe some indications for ww flourishes. No notes, per se, but sort of non-standard graphic notation.

This way I have a visual cue for how my color palette is shaping up, and I find most of the time I adhere closely to these sketches.

I should say, though, that I compose orchestrated - they're a simultaneous process. I have never been able to separate the drama of a piece from its precise orchestration, so I can't actually conceive of writing, say, a piano reduction and exploding it - despite all those godforsaken exercises I did in school.


_Mike

@vibrato said:

When I started my undergrad course 4 years back - I had a lot of problems. I come from India and had very little equipment at home. I had a Yamaha PSR synth with 16 tracks to fill inside and record on a Floppy disc! So I found myself doing the same - Layer by layer.

Yamaha PSR's are quite handy! Here's something that Chris Bell did on a PSR 2000:

http://www.psrtutorial.com/mp3/AA/Artists.html

Scroll down and hit "America". Some of these guys are unreal!

@skyy38 said:

http://www.psrtutorial.com/mp3/AA/Artists.html

Scroll down and hit "America". Some of these guys are unreal!

I'm sorry - but I've got to say that's fucking dreadful.

@Drilian said:

Do you have some kind of mystical shorthand that helps you scratch out parts on paper really quickly?

Josh

It has to start and take place in the mind first. I don't even start to do anything except thinking, not inputing and no writing to paper, this until a clear idea and concept is conceived. I could also fool around with the music, improvise as some forumites mention above, all very nice but most often a waste of precious time.

For example, regisseurs and art directors at advertising agencies demand to hear a proposition next day. After the art director explained what he has in mind, and the best directors always know what they want, they just have their own language to explain it to me as composer, at this point I start my sonic fantasy on the subject, thinking thru the storyboard and concept until the idea arises. This workflow forced me to be time efficient. It is a fact that when the pressure is right, you will never fail to come up with satisfying music for the clientele. I also had to learn that I'm not inspired at all when folks with no budget call me.

About orchestration as such; I find it very animating for the my personal sonic fantasy, to play or listen to selected piano solo music from other composers, this of course only when my mind is free of production stress. The bald truth of naked piano music from other composers not only permits me to extend my harmonic language in a very comfortable way, but, and that more important, leaves enough free room to apply my in real time thought instrumentation to the piano music.

Recently I bought the complete piano solo collection of fabulous composer Zdeněk Fibich. As practice I still equip music who has never been orchestrated before with instruments. To protect my sonic personality, I stay away from listening to music who is orchestrated.

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