Composition

Guerrilla Film Scoring Volume 8: Composer Career Development Tips From Hollywood

11m 6s beginner Beginner

How do you build up your career as a composer? How do you create momentum so that your career grows continuously? Guerrilla Film Scoring has the answers from Hollywood’s top composers for film, television, and video games.

Guerrilla Film Scoring Volume 9: Music Libraries: The Modern Composer’s Benefactor

12m 17s intermediate Intermediate

What are music libraries and how do they work? Do they compete with composers or support them? Guerrilla Film Scoring has the answers from Hollywood’s top composers for film, television, and video games.

Using Processing Effects to Create Your Own Pads

9m 35s advanced Advanced
Author: Juan Cortés

Rather than patch-surfing, and using the same sounds everyone has access to, employ some originality and make your own pad patches/channel strips. This tutorial explores techniques for creating and processing pads from subtractive synthesis properties, filters and resonant frequencies, granular synthesis, reverb and delay, phasing, tremolo and compression.

Film Scoring Features in Cubase

12m 29s intermediate Intermediate
Author: Rachel Dziezynski

Used by Hans Zimmer and other top film composers, Cubase is a pro-level platform for scoring. This tutorial delves into the importance of setting up a template, setting up instruments with multiple outputs (Konkakt, Vienna, etc.), how to set up multiple cues for the same movie – staying organized, tricks for dealing with video in Cubase, and how to quickly set up new cues and bouncing out your music to video using Cubase.

Film Scoring With Logic: Importing Your Video

6m 44s beginner Beginner
Author: Chris Fitzgerald

With SMPTE syncing capabilities and a user-friendly interface, Logic Pro X is a great tool for film composers. In this tutorial we take a look at how to determine a film's frame rate, SMPTE start time, and audio sample rate. Then we load and sync the video into Logic to prep for scoring. For more on Film Scoring with Logic, check out our course Technical Aspects of Film Scoring: Logic course.

Cubase Overview

10m 12s beginner Beginner
Author: Akash Thakkar

Cubase 7 is a major DAW used by A-list composers (like Hans Zimmer) and novices alike. Cubase is a great tool for MIDI sequencing, audio recording, mixing, and music and sound design production. In this tutorial, Akash Thakkar introduces you to Cubase, covering adding and working with tracks, using virtual instruments with Cubase, mixing and using plug-in effects like EQ, customizing keyboard shortcuts for a more efficient workflow and modifying tempo.

Game Score Analysis: Ideas For Interactivity

9m 45s beginner Beginner
Author: Rachel Dziezynski

Understanding how to compose music that is interactive is the key element to being a game composer. In this tutorial, game composer and sound designer Rachel Dziezynski discusses the importance of interactive music, and breaks down different ways to compose and execute interactive music, while walking through one of her own game projects.

3 Tips for Finding Inspiration for Game Music

8m 44s beginner Beginner
Author: Jacob Pernell

Getting a new project to work on (especially if it's your first) is always exciting, but as creative individuals we often wrestle with how to get started. Where to apply the first brushstroke on the blank canvas before us. In this tutorial, game composer Jacob Pernell lays out his favorite resources to tap for creative inspiration, from using concept art to reference tracks, plus he walks through what he means by "going on an Adventure Module".

Game Project Walkthrough: Siegebreakers

39m 03s intermediate Intermediate
Author: Jacob Pernell

Let's dive in and take a look at some of the music from a game project I recently worked on called Siegebreakers! I'll talk a little bit about my process and show you how I laid out the song in Logic, show you what samples I used, and also talk about setting up the track for having different intensity layers. You'll walk away from this video with a little insight into one person's process and hopefully pick up a few new tricks along the way!

Anatomy of an Instrument Patch: Guitar Synth

12m 11s intermediate Intermediate
Author: Chris Fitzgerald

Coming from a perspective of crafting the perfect sonic landscape for a film, this tutorial explores building creative effects chains. Focused on electric guitar, though touching on ideas that could be used for any instrument, we discuss creative use of delay and reverb, and compression and stereo imaging.