How To Write Orchestral Music - 8 Tips & Tricks To Get Started As a Beginner 

Hey guys, I'm back with a new tutorial after my Star Wars Kazoo shenanigans. :D Also, tomorrow I'll be leaving for Munich, followed by Tokyo & Osaka straight after it, to enjoy a bit of traveling and meetup with my composer friends from Evenant and End Of Silence. Tutorials might be slowing down a bit due to this, but I plan on making interviews with them about music & mindset to post here. I'm even planning on recording travel vlogs about Japan, thinking of posting those on Facebook, but in case you guys wanna see them, I could post them on RU-vid too, so, let me know what you think! :)

As someone with a degree in music composition I can tell you this: a composer always writes by ear. All music theory and orchestration teach you is how to get your ideas down on score paper and the proper ranges of the instruments. When I started composing there were no sample libraries and DAWs. I wrote a score, copied parts for the recording session and recorded with real strings, brass etc. You could not compose without knowledge in music theory. Today I use DAWs and numerous sample libraries. However, I have always composed by ear. I use to compose at the piano then write a score as I went along. I love the technology we have today. I also enjoy your videos.

Alex: FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Logic, Pro Tools...these 5, also Reaper, those six are the main DAWs. Also Reason, so seven. Me, the Ableton user: **sad live noises**

I agree on basically everything except for the Music theory part. Yes you can compose by ear and creativity is very important but if you don't learn more than the basics of music theory your tracks will get stuck at a certain point where you no longer improve. Music theory offers so many ways of creating tracks that pass this point in ways you simply can't think of just with creativity and ear. Take a bit of your free time and learn music theory. It is absolutely worth it!

Hi Alex. I'm originally a guitarist. I played in a few bands in the 80's before buying cubase, programming backing tracks and performing as a duo. Now I'm 60 and have recently bought logic and have the time to study and develop my love of cinema music. Your tutorials are fabulous...I've learned so much from you since seeing you and your work. You are very talented and I adore your music. Thank you so much! Steve

The best part of this video is "Start doing music, stop planning" SO TRUE, I see that a lot with friends, I'm a guy who studies more than practices and I totally agree with that tip, I'm slowly starting to steer away from that and start putting some actual effort on my work

This guy is a good teacher

I didn't know that Hans Zimmer can't read music! That's really amazing

You the man! Thanks so much for the shoutout mate, glad to call you a friend. See you on the battlefield!

Really appreciate the dedication you put into helping others. Your channel is priceless. Can't thank you enough.

My personal showstopper has been the amounts of pricey digital instruments and not knowing what i really needed from them. Im definitely going to roll with the ComposerCloud, stop talking and start doing. Thanks for the pointers. Highly appreciated.

I've discovered your channel and you're a real motivation! I love the way you motivate all the people to chaise their dreams with a creative approach by using their ears and their feelings and not only with music theory. Thanks a lot for your videos, you're a very good teacher, I've learn so much!! (hope my english is understandable ahah!)

Those tracks in the beginning, heard all of em. Really nice video man!

Good, Alex. I specially liked this part 4:52 and 6:11 and 30:35. You said it rightly: to start implementing the music knowledge (however little it may be ) right away. With practice, the music will keep on growing and sounding better. Thanks !

Thank you for everything dude,much love from Romania! :)

Hey Alex! *happy to subscribe* :) I can´t believe it took you only 4 years, with no music background! wow... I´m an aspiring composer, I´m planning on getting a good pc and sounds, but until that day I´ll be doing the most music I can, so when that day comes, I´ll have more ideas :D! *Thank you for the inspiration*

Thank you Alex. The message of this video is very powerful, and it has still aged well into 2019. I appreciate that your videos intend to do more for the students than the teacher. Don't stop being that awesome man!

man epic video as always! would be nice to see a "track from scratch" kind of video where you make a short track from nothing. just a suggestion!

You are so amazing and kind to share your knowledge and experience so openly. I even favorited this video cause it is so good! :)

Thanks a lot, Alex! Very useful tips. P.S. It's my new mantra for every morning: stop planning - start doing ;)

Tip#8 Exactly what I needed to hear 😁

Thank you for your tips, you answered a lot of questions that I have , god blesse you , you are Amazing 😍

Hey Alex - thanks for taking your time to post/share your knowledge - really enjoying your vids - have learnt a lot!

Bella frate! I just realized you're italian :) Wish you success with the channel and thanks for the orchestral tutorials!

Thank you very much Alex, I'm a real beginner in this field and everything I need is just tips on how to get better. Love your channel!

I only have a month of fl studio left. I started listening. I do a lot of things by ear. Later I started learning to read music, because I wanted to play music like Einaudi. That made me very critical and my feeling is gone. And that's why fl studio is very overwhelming for me. But thanks to your tutorials I also learn a lot. Thank you.🙏

You're right, I was producing trap music and I started suffering from analysis paralysis due to all the mixing rules. Nowadays I just create music based on my intuition, flow state, my ear and personal preferences. Enjoying the process from start to finish : )

You are really a great dude, and I am grateful for your videos! I hope you make it far in this industry, bro! :)

Thank you for your time to explain all this staff !!!

Happy to see you are recommending building your own computer. I saved thousands over getting a Mac Pro, and had plenty of money left over to throw in a water cooled graphics card so I can play Inquisition while not producing music. Also happy to see you aren't pushing for people to get an external mixing board. I'm selling mine: keeps disconnecting and unsyncing from my DAW. I draw volume automation with a mouse in less time than fussing with the outboard gear.

Don't have time to watch this video right now but I will later. Keep it up

Appreciate you for making time and effort to share your knowledge. It means a lot to us.

Ottimi consigli come sempre Alex. Buon Viaggio!

Hey Alex! Would be great if we could follow along as you compose from scratch!

Thanks man! great and inspirational approach) Simple, uplifting, keep it that way, good luck to you my friend!) + waiting for some vlogs of your trip !)

Love all your videos, the ones I've seen at least. Keep going, these videos are so much help!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks!

Thank you SO MUCH!!!!!

Who said that ur songs are not good?it's the best I've heard

Thanks ,Very helpful video.Keep it up!

Thank you Alex !

Amazing video man thanks

Really encouraging words. I've seen a couple of your other content, you are making great job man!See you around ;)

LOVEDDDD IT.... TQ SOOO MUCH... YOU ARE TH REAL TUTOR... GOD BLESS.... LOVE FROM INDIA

Cool video mate. I'm really enjoy it. Thank you :D

Very good video. I'm musician by ear and i want to learn Orchestal compositions. I subscribed to your channel. You communicate your information very good and i can understand your english. Thank you so much man. I will check your tutorial videos. :)

Great video. Thank you!

Legend Path, Renegade Path, and Sage Path!! Hahaha,! That's the best.

Just got me enrolled!

Hi, where are your samples from (like effects, impacts, etc...)?

you re the best of the best .Thank you very much.

Thank you, useful!

awesome work, you should time stamp your videos, love the content man

re: music theory music theory is to composing as grammar is to writing mozart didn't write crossroads and shakespeare didn't write harry potter

Good stuff man 👍

what DAW is used in the Evenant courses? I personally use Cubase. I am at the beginner level too. It would be very beneficial if they used Cubase in their courses.

Really inspiring video ! I have to admit that I wanted to find tutorial step by step learning, but I think you're right, we just have to do some stuff : fail and retry ! :) Thanks for thoses tips tho ! especially libraries :) btw, Evenant are all with cubase DAW right ? I own FL Studio .. :/

Tank you and great video :)

nice work!

Alex, one question, did You forget about sound card and choice of headphones/speakers? How important are they in music producion?

Hi dude! Really nice vid! I'm a noob as far as composing orchestral pieces is concerned and I'm actually having quite a few PC problems (I'll probably have to invest...) but I was wondering if a good sound card was necessary or even an "external" sound card was needed? I know I'm quite late (1 year and a half) but if anyone has an answer for me, I'll take any advice ;)

Thank you very much for creating these videos Alex. Very interesting and useful. For me, getting my hands on a good computer for music production, went more easily because i bought a second hand, yet powerful office computer and maxed this out with 2x8 GB of fast RAM. I do want to point out that i researched and compared specs and sought fast yet compatible RAM. Because it used to be an office pc, it's also super quiet, very small (about 3 times smaller than the conventional desktop) and comes completely tested and installed with usefull software. So lookout for companies that refurbish and sell office pc's. These are often cheap yet powerful and get you started right away. ;-) Mine cost a little over € 300 by the way + € 95 for the extra RAM.

For anyone who wants to start making music without spending money immediately, I recommend the community version of "Versilian Studio Chamber Orchestra 2 Rompler". Awesome samples and functionality, legal and for free!

Thx for the Video, the only bad thing is M Audio Keyboards! Cheap quality!

Hans Zimmer actually know a lot about music theorie but indeed he learned it by himself

Solid State hard drives are so much cheaper now and are many times faster than high RPM disc drives.

Do you use the free version of voxengo span? Your videos are amazing and really helpful thanks. 😁

Alex thx a lot for your videos, they really a mean a lot to me! :D I started playing piano last september and I made some decent progress but on arranging and stuff I'm still a very noob. So I'm planing to make some remixes/covers to learn smt of the arrangements of my favorite artists. (I'm more into the music of the pokemon games and rather calm ochetral pieces like in Ni No Kuni or Ori and the Blind Forest). I'm struggling a lot with transcribing so I guess I'll be trying out with some sheet music. You said that you Arranged your FF cover by ear, like really?? I think it's very hard to transcribe a piano piec, let alone a whole orchestral piece! Alex do you have a very good relative pitch?

awsome

keep this up :D this is awsome :D

19:21 Lol "Funniest Shit" playlist to the left 😂

Alex, Ahm, I had a question, I can't figure out if I can use (as shown below) is it possible?, If possible, how can I assign those midi out individualized in mixer?. And if possible, can you make a tutorial about this or if you had one, can you send me the link? Pattern 1 Kontakt 5 Midi out (Juggernaut) Midi Out #1 (Action Strike) Midi Out #2 (Action Strike) Pattern 2 Kontakt 5 Midi Out #3 (Damage) Midi Out #4 (Voxos) Pattern 3 soundfonts

does writing in organized formats like intro verse chorus outro make it easier and faster to make good sounding piece's

I own a MBP 2015 with only 8gb ram , is it fine for me to get a sample library like from the Cinematic Studio Series ? With 8gb ram ? I know most people would recommend 16gb of ram like you did , but now these are all I have now .I don't want my money to be wasted , so I want to make sure if I purchase a library like that for my Laptop spec now , will it able to run properly ?

I've found VSTBuzz to be a good source for getting samples on a budget. Of course there's a lot of redundant stuff, but I've also gotten a sampler with 30ish GB of content for not even 40 bucks. Really good to keep an eye there, they also tell you what's going on sale and when.

this is cool. you're cool. and your accent is awesome.... 👍

The thing with Hans Zimmer and music theory yu said was, he does not only know little about it, he also doesn't give a fuck about it either. He hates rules. "Someone telling you not to do something, is my reason to do it and make it sound good."

How did you start with midi keyboard without any knowledge of playing the pianos?

what monitors and headphones u are using please tell me ???? u r awesome

do you have a tutorial on the sub drop with stutters effect at 0:59 ?

These tutorials are (by far) the best i have found. You are amazing Sir. Also, my english is bad... but still i can understand all that you say. I really thank you for this, ill support you thats for sure (taking a look right now to your patreon). Keep up this awesome work, its really appreciated and i love your compositions. You are like a Heroe for me (im a beginner), thank you so much.

hey Alex, can you make something on orchestral mastering?

Boss.

I'm half Italian not related to music anyway just want to throw it out there jk, you're awesome

I've been trying composer cloud (the one that gives the gold libraries) for a couple months now, and hollywood strings makes me want to give up. I can't make it sound soft like in the movies, it just sounds like shit, and there's no way to make it sound better...

cpu intel i7 8-16GB Ram Fast HD with higher RPM min 1 TB space

"Eight advices" - Beautiful

The compossercloud

Remember the name, guys. I'm sure in the future, that name will be one of a famous composer.

Alright, time to go make a simple fanfare just to try things

I want to make compositions like Tchaikovsky

i absolutely love your content, Im a beginner myself and really need to learn FL Studio basics (dont know where to start). Anyways, one word of complain; your face cam is not really needed in tutorial videos, unless you show something important through the cam. It is just sort of in the way. Its nice when you are showcasing your content and other stuff though :-). I dont mean to be/sound negative, I want to become better or as good as you! 😇 Do you have a video for fl studio tutorial or such..?

I'm without doubt a renegade haha

You can also use Ableton as a DAW

25 mins in, still! this video shud be called "what you need to write music" not "how to write music" waste of time, but ur other stuff is good!

hey bro, quick request, can you please avoid the non-video related talks in ur vids? so for example Im watching this vid about how to write orchestral music, and it's 13 minutes now you are talking about VSTs and hardware, you can just create another vid for that and link it at the start, so if someone doesn't know, can click on that link and what you talking about VSTs and hardware, but' it's really boring for some (like me) that I have to keep skipping parts that are not very related to why I'm watching this!

Should be titled "how to build your computer and buy vsts". This was not a tutorial on how to make orchestra music.

It doesnt work my friend

Thanks Alex!