{"id":280,"date":"2007-08-22T13:26:03","date_gmt":"2007-08-22T11:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/wordpress\/?p=280"},"modified":"2007-08-22T13:27:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-22T11:27:00","slug":"composition-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/blog\/2007\/08\/22\/composition-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Composition tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMPOSING TRICKs, TIPPs and HINTs<\/strong><\/p>\n

GENERAL:<\/strong><\/p>\n

– try singing the melody line. Good melodies are often sing-able<\/p>\n

– when modulating to a new key, try changing the arrangement as well, to make things more
\ninteresting<\/p>\n

– make middle voice\/harmony instruments (not melody or bass) play at half or double tempo to
\nadd texture<\/p>\n

– choose your focus\/subject instruments and make sure that they are always clearly heard
\n(volume, EQ)<\/p>\n

– try a little compression on sampled instruments that don’t have an even intensity, EQ if they
\nlack an even timbre (make them similar by subtracting or adding a common group of
\nfrequencies).<\/p>\n

– compare your mix with others from this forum and live players on recordings<\/p>\n

– if you add other ensembles to an orchestra like a rockband or a lot of synthiestuff, compress
\nand limit the rockband like hell to leave space and dynamic range for the orchestra<\/p>\n

– When you write a melody, sometimes it’s a good idea to look at ways you can cut down the
\namount of notes in the melody, while still achieving the same feel – don’t be afraid to be a bit
\nrelentless in doing so<\/p>\n

– something I always think of when scoring is – sometimes less is more<\/p>\n

– on’t have too many different things going on at once. It makes for cluttered sound. If you look
\nat scores, even in tutti passages, there may only be two ,three, or four different ideas
\nhappening at once.<\/p>\n

– If a mix sounds cluttered or muddy, the first thing I always do is change \/ simplify the
\narrangement, before I even think about volume levels \/ compression \/ EQ etc. etc. Be ruthless.
\nNo matter how much you may love that trombone countermelody, if it’s muddying the mix it’s
\ngotta go!<\/p>\n

– Start with a simple melody. Develop chordal structure first to assist the melody, then, instead
\nof chording, break that chord into an intricity of parts throughout the orchestra. Like
\nsculpting, less is more, so the idea is economy of notes (so when the orchestra swells you have
\nsomewhere to take the piece.)<\/p>\n

– What emotion are you trying to convey in the piece? If you don’t feel emotion when you’re
\nlistening back to the composition, stop, either rewrite or start over.<\/p>\n

– Play the pieces in bar to bar. If scoring, look at ways to humanize your score like expression
\ncontrollers and bpm editing. Do not move ahead until the previous bar is where you want it.
\nMassage the dynamics using expression cc#11 until the section sounds convincing. A-B your
\nmixes<\/p>\n

– Be picky!! Make sure each Inst. sounds the way u want it. Go back and redo stuff that u notice
\nisnt right a week or 2 later in retrospect (even if your piece has already been delivered..)<\/p>\n

– Nothing should have perfect sync, maybe once in awhile, but making every track start a bit
\napart will make it sound more realistic.<\/p>\n

ORCHESTRA:<\/strong><\/p>\n

– if you put some soft EQ on the higher frequencies of your strings you sometimes get a nicer
\ncolor and bow-sound to your ensemble<\/p>\n

– if you like to add more warmth to your brass phrases, try to support the lines or stacc parts
\nwith contrabsassoon or bassoon (depends on the key range)<\/p>\n

– don’t forget to use the tuba<\/p>\n

– If you play a fanfare\/march trumpets line, try doubling it with piccolo higher octave<\/p>\n

– moderately fast harp plucked notes doubled by tremolo violins or violas is one of Horner’s
\nmost frequent effects<\/p>\n

– reducing release of woods and winds samples to 150-170ms is very useful for most patches<\/p>\n

– Write what you want to write but realize the ‘tools’ (samples\/patches) you have to work with. If
\nyou really wanted a solo french horn for the melody and a flute (sample) just plain sounds
\nbetter – use the flute. Don’t be pig-headed about this. When the Philharmonic plays your stuff
\nchange it to solo french horn.<\/p>\n

– ‘sweeping’ triple octave violin lines are even more powerful with woodwinds doubling
\n(especially clarinets, flute, and piccolos.)<\/p>\n

– Cimbasso is perfect for ‘mellowing brass’ parts<\/p>\n

– in string arrangments have the 1\/2 violins play the accompaniment while the violas and cellos
\nplay the melody (my son’s who plays the viola has requested this)<\/p>\n

– double the harp with a timps (p or pp)<\/p>\n

– sometimes think of your choir as a member of your percussion section.<\/p>\n

– a good orchestrated piece barely needs eqing, mastering or too many changes on volume
\nlevels. it just sounds good<\/p>\n

– for crescendos: medium – use a harp glissando and sus. cymbal roll crescendo-ing up to the
\ntarget downbeat<\/p>\n

– large – use a timpani roll crescendo with a timpani hit and crash cymbal hit on downbeat<\/p>\n

– hollywood – use everything but the kitchen sink<\/p>\n

– double the timpani or bass pizz with piano one octave lower<\/p>\n

– use a little lfo-pitch detuning on sustained string harmonics chords for that ‘The Shining’
\ntouch<\/p>\n

– Bassoons add great warmth to orchestrations<\/p>\n

– Flute and harp together are great for glissando effects<\/p>\n

– Timpani will add punch to the brass especially in action oriented cues<\/p>\n

– some 40Hz of EQ on bass instruments will give you that bottom end you can feel through the
\nspeakers<\/p>\n

– Woodwinds are great for colouration, not just solo work. Flutes can thicken up a string melody
\nby playing unison<\/p>\n

– In the woodwind family, an octave doubling is usually more effective than unison<\/p>\n

– French Horns, Cellos and Bassoons are great for those stirring “low end” melodies. Male choir
\nblends in here nicely too<\/p>\n

– Brass staccs can be accented with picc flute and xylophone<\/p>\n

– Cellos are great in not only playing the root of a chord but also playing unison to the violins. It
\ngives a spread of string melody from the left to the right<\/p>\n

– Let your musicians breath! Not only brass and wood, but also the other instruments. Phrasing
\nis derived from breathing. Always sing your parts.<\/p>\n

– Improving your orchestration and composing technique isn’t all about what you put in. It’s
\nalso about learning what to cut out.<\/p>\n

– in order not to write unplayable parts, stop breathing while starting your horn line at the
\nchosen tempo. If you get red in the face before the line is over, stop your sequencer, put a rest
\nin and start from the top again for the next line<\/p>\n

– Unless your creating a Fanfare or Military type Piece, Try to not use a click. Try to keep stuff as
\nflowing and “liquid” as possible. Its easy to keep track of stuff with a grid or click but without
\nthe subtle “human” time deviations , mid orch. can sound really mechanical.<\/p>\n

– Play in EACH line . Dont play in String or Horn part all at once as though they`re Chords…<\/p>\n

– Use as many Dynamic possiblilities as yur samples will allow…<\/p>\n

– Harp chords sometimes sound better when slightly (very quick) arpeggiated<\/p>\n

– Try more adventurous combinations of Inst. Thats the High point of these sample Libs. (Think
\nBernard Herrmann) The possblilities have not been tapped<\/p>\n

– Harp with vibraphone octave lower is a nice touch<\/p>\n

– Harps with vibraphone octave lower 16th or 32 rest behind the harp adds a magical feel.
\nDouble the harp with a glockenspeil (glock octave or 2 higher) again for that magical feel.<\/p>\n

– Phrases with glockenspeil doubled octave higher adds more pronounced phrasing<\/p>\n

– Don’t do what I just realized I DO!!! Like stated earlier make the timing uneven (not too much
\nhowever) and add slight tempo changes throughout the piece<\/p>\n

– Learn how to actually write music, in your pieces add the signs like cresc. dim, grace notes etc.
\nIt will enable you to write it so it could actually be played by an orchestra.<\/p>\n

– In brass staccato passages try these combos:
\n– Trumpet in the higher register, 1\/2 violins doubled with very little piccolo\/flute added,
\n– French Horns, clarinet, viola octave lower then trumpets
\n– Trombones, bassoons, cellos and timpani in bass
\n– Tubas, basses and contrabassoon in 8va
\n– Use bass drum doubled with a hard timpani strike for the prominent beats.
\n– Of course if it is not only staccato playing then either use divisi or double the intruments that
\nadd the most colour and power.<\/p>\n

– Last of all experiment and takes courses, there is no better way then using both<\/p>\n

– Try to keep your sound transparent: Double in the unison only if you absolutely have to
\n(because you’re after a specific effect or sound). Unison doubling tends to make the sound very
\nthick and heavy, but it increases the perceived volume of a part only marginally. Therefore it’s
\nno good solution if a line doesn’t get through and needs to be heard better. Try to double in
\noctaves instead, or (as mentioned before) cut out other parts. Another good solution is to have
\na line double different other lines consecutively.<\/p>\n

– I use crossfading patches for all notes longer than staccato and for all instruments of the
\norchestra. You can achieve a lot of articulations (sustained, marcato, crescendi, …) with them
\nand play very intuitively and expressively<\/p>\n

– Edit your trumpet sounds for more realism:
\n–
\n– I’ve found that the trumpet sections in most orchestral libraries tend to sound rather synthy. A
\nsolution is to edit the filter settings: I found that crossfading trumpets sound most realistic
\nwith a moderate amount of filtering. In most sample libraries, either no filters are used at all,
\nor the filter settings are too drastic, producing a very synthy sound. Try to find a balance<\/p>\n

DRUMS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

– Please remember when programing drums that human drummers only have two arms and two
\nfeet and that the parts of the drum kit are seperated by physical space. Do not have your
\ndrummer banging on 6 different crashes while playing 32nd notes on the open-close-open hi-
\nhats while double pedaling the kick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COMPOSING TRICKs, TIPPs and HINTs GENERAL: – try singing the melody line. Good melodies are often sing-able – when modulating to a new key, try changing the arrangement as well, to make things more interesting – make middle voice\/harmony instruments (not melody or bass) play at half or double tempo to add texture – choose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-when-stuck"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hanshafner.de\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}