How To Write Music - Scoring Step By Step

hello everybody my name is guy I'm a film and television composer and I'm here to write a bit of music and what I thought we'd do today is to write something really simple but to talk you through every step of the decision breaking process so you can see what's going on what a what an idea do you really want to know what's going on in my brain in my brain well unfortunately you're going to find out so what I've got here is a very simple project which is got a group bus where we're going to route things to a reverb channel and eight instances of contact and that's it okay so we're going to start with the first one and we're going to load up a simple piano because it's never a bad place to start we can always junk it later if we don't like the piano but let's get this going okay it's a bit dry so let's just got a little bit of reverb on it because it you won't have to sound which you feel comfortable with when you're trying to write stuff which inspires you which is why people tend to have favorite just like in the real world have a favorite instrument a favorite guitar a favorite piano so you can in the sample world as well right so what we've got is we're working at 90 beats a minute all I'm going to do to start with is put in a couple of mockers two we're going to give ourselves a bit of a structure before we start because sometimes that really helps to get going so we'll have a marker which can go in there then one two three four bars of little intro then we're gonna step it up to part one of our tune one two three four five six seven eight let's put another one in there and we're gonna have another section so the whole thing will change a bit one two three four bars of that before winding down again there and then one two three four and out okay that's how this piece is going to go let's see if that stands up what do they say about plans and first casualty of war okay anyway [Music] what you're always fighting is the power of all the stuff you do instinctively without thinking which it's great first time round and gets less and less great every time you do it I like that chord what is it it's a G sus 4 but we've still got a third in so it's like okay there's G add a see to it now invert it start with that [Music] that was horrible I'm going to do something else then I look quite like the lyrical minimalism thing I'm [Music] okay that's working let's go with that [Music] that wasn't what I played before was it I could stop the tape run back and see what I played but I'm not going to so that's basically a G where could I go tune that I could go to a first inversion of C major okay let's try that I think that's more or less what I played look mom no hands I always do this I always forget that it defaults to merge and I really want it to be replaced right nice and gentle for this first intro bit I quite like OneNote implied that and by cord a by cord is where you have say F in one hand and G in the other gives you it's one way of looking at I mean you could look at it as a load of other ways but harmonically if you're just trying to improvise the simpler you imagine things to be the the better see what happens sometimes that's the best way [Music] not bad I might keep that one and try another version because well once you want you've got to get the foundations right because we're we're getting both the harmony now I am very fond left hand left hand of playing this chord shape which is a fifth with a tenth on the top works well with first inversions sounds particularly nice if you voice trombones like that as well [Music] down to F T in the top back to G time to see that two-g first inversion of F next and Big C and then we're going somewhere else just before we go any further can I tell you about of course we run if you want to write better music better tunes more interesting chord progressions and fully develop your ideas then check out my online course how to write music six hours of video tutorials free downloads a supportive online community and a comprehensive course text take your music to the next level with how to write music god it's so good I'm gonna buy so we got a basic chord progression which is running all right in there now we're gonna need okay let's put a string line on the top and we're looking for a console gene maybe I'm quite like something a little bit glassier and weirder than that so maybe we look for Albion 5 which has a very nice selection of well soft but slightly more alternative sounds less straight out the box let's try that one [Music] right now we're going to what we're going to do is we will put this little string sound on the top or quite like that I quite like the sound of the strings straining a bit and that's obviously very high and there's not that many of them so let's give that a sound let's see what that sounds like I'm going to be interested to see how this D fire plays against the F I'm not convinced what you end up sometimes doing what was the note which clashed in there there's I like that sound and I saw what I'm gonna do it's like sometimes when you're laying down two layers it's like a conversation so therefore you have to work out that's better it was that note that second note which was whatever it was C sharp B flat [Music] okay we need something else in there how about a strange solo string or some description or solar wind [Music] how about mmm do I feel that okay look I never used bassoon and actually we are master students we've got a solo bassoon is coming in to play their music in a couple of weeks time so maybe oh sorry Stravinsky's estate oh I'm really sorry please don't sue me okay so double reads I find quite hard to use [Music] I quite I tell you what I do like is that little doo doo doo which is a nice sort of chord shape I mean it's a it's a nice melodic phrase let's I want something big and warm now we're just gonna go whoo I wonder if I got burning strings on here maybe would that do it yes I do they have quite a lot of these single articulations naughty articulations hold Ensemble and what I'm looking for is a sort of big sort of warm wall of sound [Music] to what I can just go for celli because they've got lots of these dynamic things here we go this is the one I'm looking for because a real dynamic played by a real player [Music] that's what I had in mind except not that she to save time where now that we're going to move the counting up to there so it starts [Music] sometimes these slow-moving ones you have to pay on two tracks because so you have to overlap them a bit or [Music] I like that though [Music] okay that's not bad I'll live with that now we want so this is Berlin string chair lead I know makes now we want something which is going to a top line so we're going to go for Spitfire let's get a legato first violin performance legato from jelly from Spitfire chat chamber strings because I think [Music] that doesn't work at all in any way shape or form turn that down a bit you know that works better I just played that by mistake and I liked it more so maybe I need to go back and get rid of the chamber strings at the moment because I don't think it's going to work I didn't like it so let's go to Berlin strings you see the the way in which when you're writing it's a converse it's not just a conversation between the it's your choosing the instruments at the same time and that is interesting ok Long's dynamics let's get rid of him yes I want to get rid of him go away go away go away right and which is this that oh this is a softer oh hang on turn the channel to one there we go that's it now I think I'm gonna need something underneath what you can do strings layer really really well so what I'm going to do I'm layering up I'm going to load a second lot of Long's in here I so I've got this dynamics and I've got the lungs I'm going to turn this down so I've got [Music] so what I'm going to end up with oh it's doing legato that I don't want that take out the dynamics for a moment and just see if I [Music] if I can work with these sound get the sound just right that's blurred because it's blurred seems to mean sliding up to the note I'm not sure I like that anymore soft sends soft amitabh soft with vibrato I quite like some soft immediate with reverse off with vibrato soft [Music] okay this might work [Music] it might not be the right moment to bring this in there I told my mistake was thinking this is gonna be the main lead line but it's not we'll come to that I think we need something else to make this come alive and it's not quite singing yet but it will we're going to load up a harp because we're gonna need a half at some point and my favorite harp is a very very very old one which comes from Vienna symphonic library this is I mean I've got a newer version of this but I still go back to this old one rich you know it's like an old pair of shoes you just get so used to it and it's got this perfect balance between he says he can't find what he needs now just looking for norm where's norm hello norm where'd you go norm oh did I remind you to subscribe if you're finding it useful just click the little button meanwhile okay so it's a very nice normal [Music] okay there's a problem with this I already do that and then it's good I can support the Harmony all the top line [Music] something like that it's going to work simple [Music] okay that is sort of working [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] okay let's add a bit of a flute in I'm going to go for via instrument that one as I've explained on previous editions the VSL flutes I think still have the the best legato it just sounds lovely really really nice so but it is as dry as the Sahara Desert so we're going to have to add some reverb to that don't you bet yeah absolutely so let's go in here send to reverb turn it on turn them down a bit now I've got to try and pick out a [Music] okay so what are we doubling with that flute you can double it with all kinds of things hopefully successfully [Music] other than the rhythmic abhorrent going on in the middle there that's alright okay so now we're gonna what is this not crying out for answering phrases and countermelodies so we need put in well an alto voice of some description which could be anything wonder what solo viola would sound like doodle so the answering phrase has to complement what's going on harmonically and find space rhythmically so it's got a so if you guys do do doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo it said something along those lines is what my weird befuddled brain is hearing [Music] to go from okay so the second chord is f Nazi guy oh really I didn't know that yes you did you're just an idiot okay I am an idiot so it's going to go [Music] it's gonna do something which works around this chord shape [Music] [Applause] [Music] that's all right it's starting to come together now it needs to go somewhere we're not going to work anymore on that little section it's going to go now we go back to our piano okay I'm feeling maybe a move to b-flat so why because we end up in so we're going to use the same [Music] but the same there's the same shape of triad but a same shape of sort of ostinato but just in a different key [Music] something like that so it's going to go [Music] we keep the by cords going B flat over a B flat then a C over [Music] then we go back to adjourn to the G again one two three four [Music] then back into something else which is our big climax now we're going to get going okay we have a bit of brass in here so let's add another contact or two purse we're gonna have put a few of those in and let's get that out go now let's get this one up this one can be the low brass so we're gonna start in on these down beats that's where if you want to bring in a big brass called that's a really good place to do it because it there's a natural lead-in to it set it up and he's born so we're going to go with what have I got tenor trombone and do a good one I'm gonna give myself see if I like this very John Barry [Music] that's not to work [Music] okay so that's where it's got to come in so actually I was getting way ahead of myself and actually what we you need to be running with through here is French horn because it will lend itself to that by called rather better than the than the trombones well because they're naturally lower and the whole harmonic thing sounded frankly a bit so I might triads work well in French horn so so we might let's try it and what I'm doing here is a second inversion of b-flat then sliding the top two notes up to Sienna knee which is obviously in the and leaving the effort to the pedal [Music] did it work we're going to find out in a minute it's neat this is where we're going to start to need the big guns so we're going to bring in the low string go back to album 1 and go for a patchy it's low string with lagarto the Garter that one that is [Music] now down to G okay now we need now we need now we do need prash violin and legato so we go with the symphonic one we're gonna go with forms legato will go with violins one we may need a barn in two as well but we'll see so we need something which we need a line here which is going to build up and up and up so it's going to go [Music] okay that's all right what about a faster viola line in the middle did a little one of those let's try and go back to Berlin strings again because I'm coming more and water I come back to these more often than I used you know no use do I have any idea sure while and I really like it staccato spicata which is we're gonna be better speak Otto probably that's lovely that work well there's a number of ways of doing this but I'm going to do it with some step input starting on bar 13 so we got a bar 13 we turn on the snapping so that it goes directly to bar 13 we want quantized value of 16 so it did it did it or did it okay so we're gonna go OK like that so here we go that step input isn't it so I'm just going up and down [Music] arpeggios in step time then it goes to G so I can go in 6th I can I go through harm [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's alright um [Music] let's drop that we're going to go to that big home port I'm a trombone on the downbeat and it's a G here he comes [Music] let's add one more line of something I think it could do with some where's East what the old east-west I'm not gonna keep you guessing any longer we're gonna call this down in a second it could really do with HAARP glasses and all kinds of Ponzi stuff maybe I'm going to add a couple of things in and then they'll come back that's a good idea let me do that right welcome back what we've done is we've added a bass drum a gong hit on that big climactic moment we've replaced the short timpani roll with them were four second longer one we've got the trombone chord there we've got that dynamic bowing adagietto thing on the bottom we've got I brought in the flu to get the there's the answering phrase sort of continues in the bassoon it up here if we just listen through to the just the flute and the bassoon maybe even find where the flutes gone then the flute comes in I'd say it would just play the lead line because this is sometimes horribly revealing you go oh my god why did I do that Hey [Music] just a little bit concern about this but [Music] okay let's listen to it from the beginning here we go [Music] [Applause] [Music] there you go so that's the whole thing with the piano hanging on I hope you like that I hope you found it useful if you did of course I only have to remind you to subscribe and then when I do more stuff like this and we do product reviews and sample I reviews and all kinds of things maybe you like it maybe you'll find it useful maybe it'll help make your music better who knows anyways thank you very much nd for your company it's been great fun I'll see you very soon you

Channel: Guy Michelmore

Views: 131,389

Rating: 4.9638529 out of 5

Keywords: thinkspace, education, music, film, scoring, games, television, composition, composer, Guy, Michelmore, Guy Michelmore, how to write music, thinkspace education, cubase 10.5, film scoring, how to write music on piano, how to score films, music education

Id: XcazJ4ynDno

Length: 35min 48sec (2148 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 14 2020