Sounds so space-y. I wonder if this cue was deliberately written to be very 'John Williams space theme'-esque, because of how the claw that saves all the characters is operated by the alien toys...
Awesome explanation, thank you! I'd also love to see a lesson on how different sections / instruments contribute to the main melody, or what role they have, which ones should play what exactly, etc.
Wow, you have created a genius composer's helper in your son, how amazing is that!? Can you please work your magic on my musically talented yet intransigent children haha
Speechless. One really good course this is. Being a "composer" myself, this blew my mind. Seeing this soundtrack being deconstructed just expanded my mind as what is possible, and the shuttle things you can do. This completely convinced me to where to direct my life / career. A big thank you my friend. With the kindest regards, wishing you all that you desire, and a good night. Aclariel.
That trumpet cue and general orchestral color is SO similar to the end credits of Williams' E.T. Maybe just coincidence. But as I listened to that I thought...hey, I know that line! Still cool though!
I love your score breakdowns---so much information here! (My main Randy Newman recollections: the score for 'The Natural' and. of course, 'Short People'.)
Hi Rick! I'm totally amazed by this section of your videos and I can't wait to see more. Breaking down certain compositions and videos of you composing are unbelievably helpful in learning. Best greetings!
hey thanks for the super helpful stuff - just thought id make a suggestion, what if you recorded video of the keyboard seperately, from above, and cut it into the frame somehow so you can see it the right way round... might be a bit of hassle and maybe unecessary, its not too difficult to just swap your visual understanding round, but it might free up some extra attention :)
Now...are you serious Rick? You wrote down all that beast-like orchestration only using your ear? I bet you can spot enemy aircrafts too!... So useful for the security of your country... 😂 So many thanks for this. One also lovely effect that i noticed even if I m not so sure for this is the «pass» that the choir give to the woodwind section that follows! It s amazing how the breathy sound of the human voice is followed by the breathy sound plus some extra movement of the woodwinds! Lovely... Thank you Rick... What a teacher... 💪
I love this so much. Thank you for your detailed analysis--these techniques will be super fun to try to apply to future compositions. Is there any chance you'd be willing to share the score you've written out as it lays on your keyboard? It'd be super helpful in reading along all the parts with the sheets while you explain your points about the instrumentation and how certain sections relate to other sections
Rick:The live excerpt sounds like live orchestra but your electronic version sounds about as close to live as I've heard. What software and what sample plug ins are you using?
I now associate the word 'Lydian' with this channel. Great video though. Not sure the harp is a 'percussion' instrument, it's a plucked string instrument. The strings are nothing like as taut as a piano.
hi i'm jenny from korea i want to learn about how to compose movie soundtrack but now i have no way and no idea of this your channel is very impressed to me and make me more challenging when i get curious thing about that,can i ask question to you?
Rick, the triplet stems without note heads (like in m. 5.2) is a shorthand to indicate that the notated rhythm is to be performed by repeating the pitches already notated in the measure. It sounds like you left them out of your mock-up. Thanks for the videos!
Robert actually had a few problems with that parts not playing back correctly. It was also not playing back in stereo and I couldn't figure out why. I have a new system that I'm just figuring out right now on a new computer. Some of the faster articulations were on a different midi track and when it was soloed it muted the midi track that those quicker notes were on. It was actually playing back when all the tracks around but not when I was soloing them I figured out later. One of the problems was that I erased my brass sound by accident right while I was making the video. I couldn't figure out how to fix. Haha!
Great software and sampler you seem to have. What are you using? I'm using Reason but I definitely do not have sound samples that realistic. What do you recommend?
Is the low clarinet really a bass? The lowest I've ever heard of a bass clarinet having extensions for is Bb 1, while that part goes down to A 1. The handwriting of the staff label is hard to make out with certainty, but I'd guess it says "contra."
Well, the big question for me is: do you transcribe these by ear or do you have access to some kind of way of putting your hands on original movie scores? They are incredibly rare to find published.
Thank you for replying! My impression is that to get to such a level of skill in transcribing you need to have quite a lot of experience in orchestrating and how different textures sound, do you agree? When transcribing, I'm always worried I might be missing some note in the maze of the harmonics and timbres, that there might be some low dynamics notes that don't stand out very much but make a difference etc. For example, how where you able to transcribe the string portion in this video (around 15:00/16:00 for reference)?
I'd wonder how it's possible to know that, for example, there are exactly three bassoons, and that in the first chord, two of them are on the bottom octave and one is on the top. I can't imagine that given a second recording that is identical except with two bassoons on top and one on bottom, anyone would be able to identify which is which with a better accuracy than random chance. Or maybe the way some people hear these things is so different from how I do that I can't comprehend it.
Hi Itzhak- I am using some East West and Spitfire audio sounds. I have a new setup that I haven't fully set up yet that will allow me to work faster so I can do more of these videos. Rick
What are your(anyone reading this comment) experiences with ear training? I seem to get very smal returns for the time I spend on out of context interval recognition and scale singing exercises, in contrast to recording songs(both pre-written and experiments), learning different instruments and figuring out what's happening in other people's songs.
Leonard Dyrkorn I think you have an incorrect, or rather, incomplete idea of ear training. Transcribing songs and melodies by ear IS ear training, since you have to recognise the notes and the intervals (if you're figuring out a chord or harmonisation) in a song. It is definitely more enjoyable than just sitting in front of a piano playing intervals, though I feel it has its uses, especially for beginners who are not yet able to discern and analyze two or more notes playing at the same time. Plus, like any kind of training, it keeps you in shape if you do it regularly even for just a couple of mins.
I might have talked into the wind a little... My point was that I seem to get more in return from stuff that also trains your ear, but are less like running laps, like figuring out how other people's song are put together and building my own. And I was wondering what other people think or feel like benefit them. Ultimately I guess what you should do will be boiled down to purpose and motivation
Hi Rick, great videos with useful advice, I'm wondering about how you mix something like that as when I put together ideas not even half as complex or dissonant the mix gets muddy really quick or things get lost in there?
Any composer who can't orchestrate his own music is nothing more than a 3rd rate hack. Of course, what do you expect from someone who wrote such a stupid song like "Short People"? This Newman certainly doesn't live up to the achievements of his more famous relatives. BTW - Bernard Herrmann had the same opinion of wannabe composers like this.
