5 Ways to make YOUR music INFINITELY better EVERY TIME! 

What I love in Dom is his intellect in music generally, solid, fundamental approaches which makes him special among many other producer/engineers who make their content to youtube, and the representation is another art, you just can't stop listening to this person

You have one of the best music content in the internet. Congrats Dom for your effort because this is very time consuming (creating the content, editing, taking care of the video takes, position of the camare, etc).

Your content is always better than many other YT guys, because YOU are a musician, not only a 'producer'

It’s like… All directions… Left, Right, Up, Down… Left is the start, Right is the end. Up is loud and down is quiet. This is applied like a fractal, each note has these properties and also the song as a whole. Music always teaches us about the correlation to life! You are born and then you die… and we all have our ups and downs!

👍one of the best videos ever!!! respect Dom,

This might be one of the most important videos out there. So many "producers" who write their stuff in the key editor/piano roll seem to be unaware of this. It's actually kind of sad. Don't get me wrong... not all instruments need dynamics depending on what kind of music you make, but everyone should know about this. Thank you Dom!

Amazing... We play with all our senses, not only with our fingers, lips or... whatever. I call this MUSIC! Thank you for make me understand this better.

Andre Previn "You're playing all the wrong notes." Eric Morecambe "I'm playing all the right notes. Not necessarily in the right order." 🤣

Now I understand the reason of your indepth knowledge of music overall which you said in this video - Your great teachers and your early exposure to music at 5. Keep serving Music Dom.

As already mentioned in the comments one of the best videos you have ever done Dom!

I takes time to get many aspects of music if not classically trained as most aren’t. I basically think in fractions and ratios now, it took me forever to get here. Now I love what I make. I would also say that another way to think of dynamics is by thinking of contrast always.

Brilliant once again Dom! Thank you 🙏

Very Important points Thx Dome!

Brilliance! Thanks Dom

This guy convinces me to learn piano by the end of all of his videos. Great content!

Thx for this Dom! 🙏💙

Outstanding. Thanks for your great work

I don't want to be a hater. It's rather about the state of our society - the fact that somebody has to explain that dynamics matter is mind-boggling. Can't help but hear this phrase in my head "Oh, jee, you know what else do you need for good music? i don't know, maybe notes and chords, ever hear of that?" Thank you, Dom, for educating and for making me feel better than all the tech nerds for once🤣

Increíble video!! Muchísimas gracias!!!

Yeah! Definitly inspiring video!! Thx a lot Dom :)

Awesome. Thank you for sharing.

That is! Excellent! Dom. Good video. Thanks!

Excellent demonstration of the existence of the human soul. Dynamics are everything. Stunning, Dom.

Love the video. Would be happy to see more of this kind from you!

That's what music is about! Fantastic topic Dom!

8.45 "Every melody in our human brain, we concieve it as human voice". is the most profoundly simple yet powerful statements I have ever heard. This is the first thing about melody we should learn. I cannot believe how you made it such a throw away statement. This is a game changer for me. "Take a breath you guitar soloing maniac!" Thank you as always Dom.

One more great video, Dom! As a musician and music teacher in junior school I particularly appreciate your pointing out that good music has to contain ‘the human factor’! This video keeps me confident that AI won’t win! And, for what it matters, I own the Adler orchestration manual and it’s a really ‘must have’ one! 🎶

Thanks man 🙏! Great video indeed.

Thank you sir! Great information. 😊

Like James Brown says : '' You got the feelin '' !

Merci beaucoup Dom ! C'est très passionnant .

Dom got a soul

This video along with the video for "Lacrimosa" are treasures! And not only these two videos but also everything you upload is excellent and so helpful!

Great video, Thanks

Thanks so much! These tips inspire me. This is the essence of expression... Of music.

This is why I follow you... Practical knowledge. Thank you for all you do, sir!

very informative thanks for that video ❤

This knowledge about (classical) instrument dynamics is such an unique characteristic of you Dom :).

I'm just in awe

Completely agree with the expressivité topic. That said I like to use pitch bend on brass and flutes ;-) Thanks for the the video 😊

Thank you Dom. It was, like every video, very inspiring. I will try to give more expression into my songs for the next time.

Thank you very much for the video

As always superb content and great presentation…🙏

Brilliant, thank you for sharing your wonderful musicality :)

Love your channel! 🤟😊🎸

Thanks for sharing this awesome technics, greetings from Karawaci Tangerang Indonesia ❤

Thank you for this interesting masterclass. I am learning a lot watching your tutorials. ❤

Great! Thanks.

Thanks Dom! Important things that are very essential universally in all music (and probably also in the music of other universes...) You were able to illustrate and "compress" these things with your examples really well and briefly. I played the classical flute when I was younger and nowadays it often feels like these things came naturally then, but especially when working with MIDI, things have to be emphasized and caricatured to give even a little liveliness and expression to the music. I really appreciate your channel!

Amazing dom, your channel is so helpful. Please do a video on correct ways to set up master levels pre and head room. Lufs etc…

This is amazing 👏 🙌 😍 ❤️

Very well explained 👍👏

Thank you!

Music is about feeling and emotion, not just doing everything right/correct. Love your content.

Excellent one Dom! And like you said, it's the most important video. Although I know all what you said already, it's a refresher to watch it using your explaining method.

wow now Im studying(re-studying "the right way") piano and you sound just like my teacher It so important to make your music not sound "robotic"like using all the given tools all at once like telling a story thanks again

Nice, got enjoyed

Indeed, Samuel Adler's 'The Study of Orchestration' is a great book! Many layers of expression (tone, clear/dull (brightness), tempo, short/long notes, short/long runs, swing, modes...) they all add up to make your music come alive. And this video is a great introduction to this kind of playing! Thank you so much Dom!

Εξαιρετικό βίντεο, Κυριάκο!

In some genres, when you make dynamic elements, people will come and tell you that this is wrong and then they'll try to "improve" the mix by putting everything at the same level. And when you try to explain that it's on purpose they will say that dynamics are only for classical music.

This is fantastic advice. It seems that the more I compose, the more aware I am of the importance of phrasing (and dynamics) and paying close attention to it. This has also affected my guitar playing/improvisation as I become more focused on it with my songwriting and arranging.

WOW, This is Tremendous! The basics and advanced theory and everything you need to know all in one video. Your combination of dynamics of the keyboard along with the human voice expresions is surperb! This is how music is made! This should be taught in every school of music over and over.

VEry interesting!!! Thanks Dom

Very good information

Always great to hear that... "keep doing what you're doing". I really started focusing on instrumentation over the last year or so and these tips are all spot on, I actually get excited listening to my beats these days haha. Bought my first MIDI keyboard too, the humanization is everything.

Excellent.. really soulful... As a singer I can understand the feel of any song...

Great lesson. You are a really good player/musician. This reminds me of a program on public television I saw as a child that was all about music. The part it reminds me of is they had people listen to multiple performances of a classical piano piece and choose which one they liked best and was the most musical. They all chose the same performance and then the show explained how that one had the most variation in terms of time, rhythm and dynamics. I always remembered that.

It's all true. Dynamics make all the difference in being expressive.

Hi Dom, you're so right about all these points - we all know them, but we also all need to constant reminding! All instrument (real, sampled, or modelled) are nothing without expression. It's good to have a MIDI controller that allows different controls, e.g. the NI KK MK3 keyboards have velocity, poly aftertouch, pitch, mod, sustain and expression pedals, two more pedals, and knobs, plus space on the top to put additional controls (like you, I've got Monogram). Phew! But for any reader, really all you need is available on most keyboards - pitch, mod, sustain + you can add a cheapo controller like Korg Nanokontrol etc.

Thanks a lot. 👍

Maestro 💯

I ALWAYS LOVED RIDING THE VOLUME KNOB WHILE MUSIC PLAYED ON A STEREO.....I COULD EMPHASIZE AND DE- EMPHASIZE PARTS TO MAKE THE MUSIC SO MUCH BETTER!!! TRY IT.... IT'S GREAT!! (THIS VIDEO NAILS IT....!!! THANK YOU!!!)

I know the tips but they can't be repeated often enough. Very inspiring! I have just bought Cubase after having been working with hardware sequencers for 35 year. Now I am saving up for SWAM Audio Modelling.

superb

Thank you Dom for all your Amazing videos ,i use you as a Mentor i don't need to go to any Fancy Music school ,just watching all your videos

Very inspiring! Would love to hear you discuss the concept of how to better remember classical music. Also Do you have perfect pitch?

Another IMPORTANT aspect of adding dynamics in a mix, is to remember not to expect the master to be consistently loud, since limiters will crush dynamics. Quality over loudness.

Love your videos. Thank you. Pathetique sonata was also used in the chorus of Billy Joel's This Night.

Thank you master..in my country this is called "fine print"...all the best for you....!!!!

Am waiting from India🇮🇳❤️

Tack!

Love you sir

So there's a reason why I consider Vangelis my musical father figure. Because his approach was nearly always based on performance, you can hear it to where 1) there's no mistaking it's him and 2) it makes the use of synthesizers all the more expressive and even ... human. (It's no wonder that he and only he could have ever provided the music for a film that explores the question "What does it mean to be human?"). I think that there are instances when that "programmed performance" will be fine, even forgiven. But whenever possible, I want to perform the parts myself because the velocity and timing alone will make it more human. It's interesting you bring up breathing because even in an instrument where breath doesn't play a role, musicians will sometimes "breathe" in their playing as a kind of reminder to phrase it. After all, playing shouldn't be that different from singing. And I meant to mention this when you were talking about ethnic/world/non-Western music libraries ... understanding the mechanics of an instrument really does help to make the playing more realistic, especially if you are using a keyboard instrument. You definitely get this and I hear this in your playing where you don't play a "trumpet like a piano". Whilst a keyboardist or pianist has ten fingers plus a foot for pedals, a trumpet only three fingers for the valves and his own air. I try to keep this in mind whenever I'm playing a "real instrument" just using the keyboard. At any rate, nice job as always =]

This fantastic video reminds me of probably the best book about music that ever was written. It's 'the music lesson' by the one and only Victor Lemonte Wooten. He's writing about the 10 elements of music embedded in a beautiful novel. There's also a double DVD together with Anthony Wellington: 'Groove Workshop'. He's presenting these 10 elements to bass-students, one of the most valuable lessons ever put on video.

Dom, really excellent tips, thanks so much. I love your channel. Comment: I see some YT composers mostly varying the dynamics in a phrase while much of the time not changing expression as much. I see you varying both and getting great results. I suppose that is especially important for libraries that have fewer dyn layers. Anyway thanks for a great vid!

All the best bro love your tutorials. ❤ Just didn’t expect I would learn piano lessons from a cubase expert today 😅😅

Awesome vid as always. Would you be able to make a video on cool ways to use electric guitars in ‘orchestral’ music?

Thought it was clickbait, but it's a great video! love the velocity examples.

Great video...I'm classically trained (Double Bass player), but I still need reminding how to transfer that thinking to Cubase!

I have been listening to music for a very long time and believe I have a keen ear for musical quality and sound generally. I listened to the two samples presented first plus the next piano sample. I did ths three times to be sure. The second was way better than the first by 20% - 30%. Night and day. Brighter, clearer and way more musical. It was like comparing MP3 with a CD but with a much wider margin. The first was dull by comparison as if the top had been cut off or compressed. I can only surmise that playing around with the filter or modulating equipment was the cause which achieved the opposite desired. Having read the comments either those listeners were subject to confirmation bias or inadequate musical hearing. Or both. The absolute truth is the first samples were indeed dull and not at all consistent with the presenters comments. Terrible.

Excellent video dom! I played piano for 12 years and pretty much knowed that dynamic stuff in pianos and synths and used it in my beats for many years. But now, since I`m trying out more orchestral stuff (I already owned east west symphonic strings since 12 years but only struggeled with it) I finally understood the basics of orchestration from the spitfire and east west guys a few years ago and also got more libraries, also composer cloud - hollywood strings 2 is currently downloading😃. But I`m still learing and am not very good with using my controller (I have a "studiologic SL Mixface" on my keyboard with medium lenght 50 mm faders, which is actually pretty nice, but extremly sensitive). For me as a "beginner", I probably need some longer faders, to catch the sweet spot of the instruments and don`t make make so many mistaces with it. Christian Henson has made several videos about the importance of dynamics and controllers, you probably know, and this new "Ghostnote Audio Conductor" with 3 long 100 mm faders) he introduces in one of his latest videos will probably be my next investment. It's already completely sold out since Christian introduced it😉

Great examples. It's a healthy reminder - even for those producing techno/house that dynamics CAN make a huge difference in how people experience/FEEL the track.... :-) Cheers!

Dynamics = emotion Now I want at t-shirt with it 😂

👍 The dynamics of a pop singer or melody artist can significantly enhance the timbre, style, character, and overall feel as well. However, in this case, you need to re-balance the vocal track with more consistent dynamics to complement the fullness of the backing track.

this is most important video on youtube

Man, your video makes my day. Tnx :) can you tell me which controller you are using?

Thank you for the amazing video. What are your lightup Midi expression sliders?

So little attention given to dynamics and phrasing.. That IS what makes the music ..music Great Video!!

Beethoven track also was used as the chorus to Biily Joel's "This Night" from the Innocent Man album.

respect