Sorry for the clickbait-ish title guys, but I feel this is a very important truth that often gets overlooked by people who are at their very first steps with mixing (or composing), so I really wanted to put it out there and share it. Also, I want to stress that learning mixing and mastering is not as critical as arranging, but still important to bring your tracks to a higher level, so I'll surely make videos about those in the future months. If you think your arrangement is good enough and don't want to wait anymore to learn mixing, here are three resources you can find useful: - My buddy Lion's Heart Productions's Mixing & Mastering Tutorial: ua-cam.com/video/d9u7f0Ux0VE/v-deo.html - The Recording Revolution's amazing UA-cam channel on Mixing & Recording: ua-cam.com/channels/jRzsiP_aDWWLHV4-2LKBtg.html - Evenant's Cinematic Course, which has one section for Mixing and one for Mastering: courses.evenant.com/?affcode=22931_u2flmxmo
7 років тому+7
Alex Moukala thanks for mentioning my tutorial! I agree with you but I still wanna say that mixing is gonna make a massive difference, even if the arrangement is good. Strings in particular can end up completely lost in a busy mix, without EQ.
@Veixan: still learning! It's the main reason why I mostly write covers of soundtracks I love during my free time. What I discover, I make tutorials about here on UA-cam. ;)
Clickbait or not I just stopped by to see if there was any new uploads since last time. I'm glad I saw this and I'm glad you exist. And as always, looking forward to more.
Heya, I'm a professional orchestral composer, and while loads of people, clients, etc have said that they love the pieces I've written for them, I've always felt that something was missing, it's always bugged me. I've been watching all of your videos, and I've got to say, you're a bloody genius, some of the small details and tips you've shown in your videos have allowed me to find exactly what was missing in my pieces. I've come on leaps and bounds since I came across your channel, and I've gained so much confidence, so thank you so much for making these videos. I think every composer needs to see your videos.
What a nice generous comment. As an impulsive person who jumped into making music because I’m loving doing it and don’t often have the patience to pick up the theory behind it I’m really getting a ton out of all these videos, they speak to my experience, so Its also very interesting to also hear from a professional composer. ...ok...Gotta go make some sounds!
Back in college, when I was with studying music composition in a "traditional way",I didn't know I would end up making music production using daw's and stuff, but we used Sibelius and Finale for writing our homework and present our compositions, back then one of my teachers said something, that I dint "conscious" assimilate and it was" it does not matter the mix or the equipment, if your arrangement does not amalgam(glue) properly, it will sound poor, even in a live scenario (referring to a work presented to him in Sibelius) you cannot expect a woodwind section with a brass without putting in the middle a french horn" I been watching your tutorial lately, because you always throw great pieces of advice, and because nowadays I basically earn my living composing film music and producing it, and your advice just rang a bell, it is totally true, many of my clients tend to ask me what do I do to accomplish x or that sound, and so far I have said to myself"I am by no means any professional mixer or music producer" but just to have the arrangement made in the proper way, improves a lot your production. I've seen exactly what you mentioned, people who graduated with me using poor sample libraries, awful arrangements and their productions just sound... bad. I don't think this was a clickbait at all, I think this is something everyone, even just session musicians should hear. Thanks for all the good vibes bro
I can say that through the years, I’ve invested money into VST’s and it is worth the money for high quality orchestral libraries like EastWest, SpitFire, etc. I see it as an investment to not only make your tracks sound professional and realistic, but it saves you time mixing because it practically mixes itself. As an audio engineer, I love recording acoustic instruments because I know that if the tracking goes well, the mixing easily works compared to using only loops/samples and synthesis. Well done explaining this concept. I subscribed. 👏
This is a brilliant video. You explained everything and made really clear comparisons to help us relate, with the example of making cakes with the right ingredients. Your earned a sub, and I hope you get many more.
Amazing tutorial. Clear, straightforward, and helped me a big ton! When you started to talk about how mixing and mastering isn't as important as we think, I decided to disable all of the EQ and Compressor plugins. The sound I got was at least 3 times better. I have a lot to learn, and you sir will definitely contribute greatly to my learning journey :)
Thank You brother, You are awesome =) Clickbaiting those kind of videos IS extremely good idea, cause people should just know about it without looking for it for years, iv'e seen thousands of tutorials from 2005 when I started with FL, and indeed most are just for plugin/mixer based sound design or just basic mixing and mastering concepts, those small but very logical and truthful ideas are the most important as You need to route Your mind to the right direction to learn Yourself and save time, and technicalities will come with time. I would call this adequate approach from the core.
Thanks for your advice, if it wasn't for of your video, I'll probably be throwing even more of my time into trying to mix better, instead of trying to get better at arrangement
I'm surprised that even I can understand most of what you said. I'm a Chinese and I don't speak English well, rarely talked to an foreigner. Really Thanks Alex, I've sent your videos to my friends.
Alex! Incredible Video. Lots of vital information here. I think a good idea for future videos, since you have experience in the trailer music field. Would you consider doing a few RSM track analysis videos, kinda like a "director's commentary", where you break down other trailer composers tracks? That would be so epically helpful as well!
I'm by far no professional but the one thing i learned over the years is that processing orchestral instrumentation won't make it good if it's not by itself. It's incredible how fast it sounds artificial. Of course a bit of EQ ist totally fine if the strings need some bite or if the 400-500 gets a little too much but going nuts with processing will always have a negative impact.
Beautiful! Hey Alex Congratulations on 6K Plus Subs. I think You should make an opening theme Song for your channel :). Also you could consider making a 5 episode mini series on different kinds of orchestra music like Horror, romantic, suspense and hybrid..... so we can learn some tips on how to incorporate other elements like atmospheres, soundscapes, pulses and others into orchestration. Again, Great video.
For me, I struggle with trying to figure out what instrumentation to use to help create a mood/emotion.. any tips on instrumentation would be a great help for me!! 😌 Great music by the way! Your synth sounds gel with orchestral really beautifully!
The best tip I have is: take other composers's music with the emotions and moods you like, then analyze what they do, and how they do it in terms of instrument choice & orchestration, and you'll understand a bit more of why they do it and how you can do the same.
Try this: picture a vision in your head. Visually take note of all the elements of that picture. Take each track in that picture in your head and name the track according to the thing in your head. For example, if you're picturing driving on a country road with your hand out the window or your car, passing corn fields while a flock of birds passes over your head, your tracks would be labeled: (and I included potential ideas that would match the sound of each track) Wind (synth, soft high string section) Hand out the Window (solo violin, piano, other melodic instrument) Car Engine (synth textural noise, timpani rolls, synth drone) Flock of Birds (textural circular violin articulations, resonant felt piano, pizzicato strings) Cornfield (shakers, percussion) So you find an instrument to represent each item in this picture and compose according to the visual you have. This will make you naturally assign instruments in a way that they will emulate a real scene. When you're composing your melody, you're seeing your hand out the window, playing with the wind, and that helps you keep the melody consistent to a specific theme. It makes you think WAAAAY outside the box when you're composing. The only caveat is that if you end up with a lot of tracks, sometimes it's hard to remember which track actually has what instrument, because they are named creatively. But it's a minor inconvenience for the payoff. Try it out.
you probably learned a lot during these 2 years, but maybe you find something useful in this: as you add more instruments, the little things become more and more important, as tiny mistakes add up in every instrument, and the end result will be a mess. You want your instruments to play in different frequency ranges (for example bass plays the lowest octave, rhythm guitar plays an octave higher, lead guitar plays another octave higher) but you can also allow instruments to play the same thing, or play a different thing but in the same frequency range - this will be inevitable if you use 5-10 or even more instruments. This is why panning and volume balancing becomes incredibly important. It's a waste to not use all the room you have. Drums generally go dead center, low instruments (bass guitar, tuba, double bass and so on can go anywhere between L20 and R20) and the rest of the stuff you are more free to play around with. Of course there are general guidelines on how an orchestra sits, or that rhythm guitars are hardpanned and double tracked on both sides, but music is creative, so you are free to do whatever you want in order to achieve your vision :)
I do watch a number of your videos . I do understand about having good libraries . But i am always more interested in the actual sound of the tracks . Like solo some of them out and show what you are talking about . Show how you bus them . And what fx are in the bus .How do you use reverb or do you use compression in your buses . You say arrange well . But it is arranged by someone else , I have done some great mock ups as well . I am not trying to bash you in any way I have learned some cool things watching your videos :)
First of all you managed to get on the channel "epic music world" and for that i owe you a lot of respect and secondly in climax, having some compression always help so what compressor plugin do you use for mastering? :) thank you
Thanks for this video. I've been watching a lot of your stuff and it's helping me get a better understanding that I still have so much more to learn since I've been trying to compose OST music for the better part of a year. This should hopefully take my songs to a higher level watching your stuff since you have a high level of knowledge and I want to invest in myself by comprehending that information in my own way.
I get it. But it's not always true. For example. Mockups of classical pieces... People like Korskakov, Mahler, Strauss etc these composer knew the orchestra in and out, so doing mockups should sound fine then right? Well, that's the problem, even when creating mockups it sounds kinda bad compared. Mixing is important to get a professional sound. If I play Mahlers adagietto on CSS out-of-the-box it's gonna sound very muddy and not very clear in sound. That's an example.
Of course man. Mixing is important but arrangement needs to be prioritized and ensured to be the best it possibly can, BEFORE mixing. I used to fall down this trap not so long ago, where I I'd record parts, and make mistakes and kind of rush them, and generally make rather sloppy sounding recordings just so they're done, so I can move on to mixing and had that mindset of "I'll "fix" it in post production". That is a very bad mindset to have. There is a saying that goes "you can't polish a turd.." meaning that if your initial recording sounds like shit, then even if you EQ and compress the crap out of it you will still get a turd. The other part of the saying goes "..but you can roll it in glitter". Essentially meaning you can make some improvement to the crappy recording, but at the end of the day it will still sound like shit rolled in glitter. For a mix to sound good, it's important to ensure you don't rely on mixing and post processing as the main source of the reason the mix sounds good. Basically meaning it should sound good even without any mixing applied. EQ, Compression and post processing are just the icing on top, to make the already good sounding mix sound even better, NOT a remedy for making a shit performance sound listenable. So, when recording make sure you are in time, with other instruments in the mix as well as the click track and beat. That all instruments go well together and that the mix isn't too busy - make way for what you want to be the focal point - as a metal composer this is something that is very prominent in my work; in most places I want the guitar riff to be the focal point and in others I want the vocals to be the main instrument you hear, but sometimes the guitar has to make way for busy orchestral parts. If you have a really busy guitar over equally busy orchestra you're going to overload your audience with information, as the human brain can only focus on so many things at one time, and you want your music to be easy to focus on and follow, and not just an endless cacophony, even in a heavier genre like metal or orchestral music. If you slip out of time and your recording becomes out of time, you need to either re record or re arrange the parts so you can play them on time. Sometimes you can quantise MIDI or edit audio tracks, but you don't want to rely on this too much as you'll end up with a robotic and overly perfect sounding track which for the record isn't great either, unless you need to sound robotic (when making electronic music, like EDM or Techno for example, or maybe even Industrial stuff when you mix synths with orchestra, like the Bladerunner Soundtrack). Music theory knowledge also plays a part, as you need to be able to make your parts sound good together, and you need to know what feeling you want to evoke and know what notes sound good together for what you need to do. For instance, a creepy horror/metal track will utilise the tritone and have riffs play ostinato notes three tones apart to make a dissonant sound (like Raining Blood or Black Sabbath). Parallel fifths will be used in chords on rhythm guitar riffs in this situation, but the orchestra will probably add to those and play the minor third or even something more creepy like a diminished third for a really nasty sound, then the lead guitar may play an octave above that. A good example of composition and orchestrations is the band SepticFlesh. They write for a real orchestra and make some heavy ass death metal too. You want to ensure your timing and arrangement and performance sound good by themselves, BEFORE you mix.
Hi Alex merry christmas. I am very interested in your beginners course however on the website the purchase option is only credit card which I not have. I use paypal for all my on line purchases. Is there a way I can get the course for $39 as they offer on line? Would help me a lot 🙂 Thanks in advance (I did drop them an email for the paypal request though)
Your videos are great... Nevertheless I never get to sound nearly as good as you do... all my instruments sond too low and I cannot get to make my strings sound epic... I only have symphobia 1 LASS and metropolia ark 1.... Is it possible that you make a series of videos building a project from zero?
I eventually will Ricardo, I haven't yet 'cause I'm still very uncomfortable with my composing speed, so I think it would be a bad idea at this stage. But eventually I'd love to make live-stream compositions. :)
I tracked to tape as a younger man. I can deal with all that goes with it. But, in todays environment I'm not sure how or why anyone would not mix as they go. It seems like I'm more creative with good sounds. I feel that way live as well. Good sound system, engineer, man it feels good.
Hey Alex, thanks for the tutorials. They're very helpful. Could you touch on if you add EQ, compression for String Sections and Brass Sections. What does your mixing chain look like etc.
This is great! You are so right, my latest track that I haven't mixed yet is getting more love than my other slightly mixed track becasue my latest track simply has a much better arrangement!
Thank you for making this. I make beats/instrumentals but am exploring orchestral music and actual composing, not just loops. Your point about building upon several small tricks and techniques is spot on. Having those in your arsenal will expand creative possibilities and the more you know the better musical and creative decisions you can make. Thank you again.
So where is the yummie cake?! Haha, jokes aside. In my opinion, getting a good arrangement is indeed the number 1 mixing tip! I also liked the ending. I always say, knowledge is invaluable, so in the end, evenant courses are actually not expensive at all :) Keep up the good job Alex, i love what you're doing!
This is somewhat humbling. I have some great samples and even joined the Evenant trailer course and STILL don't write clean, professional sounding tracks. I'll be going through your channel a lot because this vid already explained some good stuff. Thanks!
I always was searching stuff about vst professional orchestration but this is the time I realized I came to the right place... Last years I also started to compose epic music on my computer (which can be found on my youtube channel) but I am not satisfied with the sound. I will definitely watch all your tutorials, they seem to be vst/computer oriented and not just classical orchestration theories. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, this is too valuable!
Sorry for the clickbait-ish title guys, but I feel this is a very important truth that often gets overlooked by people who are at their very first steps with mixing (or composing), so I really wanted to put it out there and share it.
Also, I want to stress that learning mixing and mastering is not as critical as arranging, but still important to bring your tracks to a higher level, so I'll surely make videos about those in the future months.
If you think your arrangement is good enough and don't want to wait anymore to learn mixing, here are three resources you can find useful:
- My buddy Lion's Heart Productions's Mixing & Mastering Tutorial:
ua-cam.com/video/d9u7f0Ux0VE/v-deo.html
- The Recording Revolution's amazing UA-cam channel on Mixing & Recording:
ua-cam.com/channels/jRzsiP_aDWWLHV4-2LKBtg.html
- Evenant's Cinematic Course, which has one section for Mixing and one for Mastering:
courses.evenant.com/?affcode=22931_u2flmxmo
Alex Moukala thanks for mentioning my tutorial! I agree with you but I still wanna say that mixing is gonna make a massive difference, even if the arrangement is good. Strings in particular can end up completely lost in a busy mix, without EQ.
@Lion: golden stuff my man! You should make more. :)
Great tip! where are you currently learning (or have previously learned ) arrangement?
@Veixan: still learning! It's the main reason why I mostly write covers of soundtracks I love during my free time. What I discover, I make tutorials about here on UA-cam. ;)
Clickbait or not I just stopped by to see if there was any new uploads since last time. I'm glad I saw this and I'm glad you exist. And as always, looking forward to more.
Heya, I'm a professional orchestral composer, and while loads of people, clients, etc have said that they love the pieces I've written for them, I've always felt that something was missing, it's always bugged me. I've been watching all of your videos, and I've got to say, you're a bloody genius, some of the small details and tips you've shown in your videos have allowed me to find exactly what was missing in my pieces. I've come on leaps and bounds since I came across your channel, and I've gained so much confidence, so thank you so much for making these videos. I think every composer needs to see your videos.
Haha, I'm far from being a genius haha, but definitely glad to hear these videos are helping you so much!
Keep it up Daniel. :)
What a nice generous comment. As an impulsive person who jumped into making music because I’m loving doing it and don’t often have the patience to pick up the theory behind it I’m really getting a ton out of all these videos, they speak to my experience, so Its also very interesting to also hear from a professional composer. ...ok...Gotta go make some sounds!
Back in college, when I was with studying music composition in a "traditional way",I didn't know I would end up making music production using daw's and stuff, but we used Sibelius and Finale for writing our homework and present our compositions, back then one of my teachers said something, that I dint "conscious" assimilate and it was" it does not matter the mix or the equipment, if your arrangement does not amalgam(glue) properly, it will sound poor, even in a live scenario (referring to a work presented to him in Sibelius) you cannot expect a woodwind section with a brass without putting in the middle a french horn"
I been watching your tutorial lately, because you always throw great pieces of advice, and because nowadays I basically earn my living composing film music and producing it, and your advice just rang a bell, it is totally true, many of my clients tend to ask me what do I do to accomplish x or that sound, and so far I have said to myself"I am by no means any professional mixer or music producer" but just to have the arrangement made in the proper way, improves a lot your production.
I've seen exactly what you mentioned, people who graduated with me using poor sample libraries, awful arrangements and their productions just sound... bad.
I don't think this was a clickbait at all, I think this is something everyone, even just session musicians should hear. Thanks for all the good vibes bro
I can say that through the years, I’ve invested money into VST’s and it is worth the money for high quality orchestral libraries like EastWest, SpitFire, etc. I see it as an investment to not only make your tracks sound professional and realistic, but it saves you time mixing because it practically mixes itself.
As an audio engineer, I love recording acoustic instruments because I know that if the tracking goes well, the mixing easily works compared to using only loops/samples and synthesis. Well done explaining this concept. I subscribed. 👏
This is a brilliant video. You explained everything and made really clear comparisons to help us relate, with the example of making cakes with the right ingredients. Your earned a sub, and I hope you get many more.
Sully Orchestration Didn't knew you were here too xD
Huh. Funny to see you here.
I see you in every orchestra video, dude xD
Amazing tutorial. Clear, straightforward, and helped me a big ton!
When you started to talk about how mixing and mastering isn't as important as we think, I decided to disable all of the EQ and Compressor plugins.
The sound I got was at least 3 times better.
I have a lot to learn, and you sir will definitely contribute greatly to my learning journey :)
Man I'm learning so much from your videos, keep up the good work Alex!
Thank You brother, You are awesome =) Clickbaiting those kind of videos IS extremely good idea, cause people should just know about it without looking for it for years, iv'e seen thousands of tutorials from 2005 when I started with FL, and indeed most are just for plugin/mixer based sound design or just basic mixing and mastering concepts, those small but very logical and truthful ideas are the most important as You need to route Your mind to the right direction to learn Yourself and save time, and technicalities will come with time. I would call this adequate approach from the core.
I love the Final Fantasy metaphors
Thanks for your advice, if it wasn't for of your video, I'll probably be throwing even more of my time into trying to mix better, instead of trying to get better at arrangement
Thanks for the great Tutorial! I really like the way you are explaining stuff and enjoy watching your videos :) don't stop making videos! :D
"Yum" - Alex Moukala 2017 (favourite quote)
Hahaha all jokes aside Great tutorial Alex Thank you!!
I'm surprised that even I can understand most of what you said. I'm a Chinese and I don't speak English well, rarely talked to an foreigner. Really Thanks Alex, I've sent your videos to my friends.
Glad to hear that, thanks for sharing!
Alex, I really think that all Your videos are super-informative.
Love your tutorials, I'm learning a lot with them. Thanks!
I have just a three words. THIS IS AWESOME.
Thank you so much for these videos. Your mixing advice is wonderful.
Milk and oranges! Ha ha ha! Great! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Always great advice Alex, and as entertaining to watch as always! I think I have the right ingredients I just need to learn how to bake better! :)
The Law of Exquisite Shit: If you put shit in, the best result you can get is the exquisite shit.
Question for you: What is better than an strawberry cake recipe?
Answer for you: Eight strawberry cake recipes.
YES.
Alex! Incredible Video. Lots of vital information here. I think a good idea for future videos, since you have experience in the trailer music field. Would you consider doing a few RSM track analysis videos, kinda like a "director's commentary", where you break down other trailer composers tracks? That would be so epically helpful as well!
I'm by far no professional but the one thing i learned over the years is that processing orchestral instrumentation won't make it good if it's not by itself. It's incredible how fast it sounds artificial. Of course a bit of EQ ist totally fine if the strings need some bite or if the 400-500 gets a little too much but going nuts with processing will always have a negative impact.
Beautiful! Hey Alex Congratulations on 6K Plus Subs. I think You should make an opening theme Song for your channel :). Also you could consider making a 5 episode mini series on different kinds of orchestra music like Horror, romantic, suspense and hybrid..... so we can learn some tips on how to incorporate other elements like atmospheres, soundscapes, pulses and others into orchestration.
Again, Great video.
For me, I struggle with trying to figure out what instrumentation to use to help create a mood/emotion.. any tips on instrumentation would be a great help for me!! 😌 Great music by the way! Your synth sounds gel with orchestral really beautifully!
The best tip I have is: take other composers's music with the emotions and moods you like, then analyze what they do, and how they do it in terms of instrument choice & orchestration, and you'll understand a bit more of why they do it and how you can do the same.
Try this: picture a vision in your head. Visually take note of all the elements of that picture. Take each track in that picture in your head and name the track according to the thing in your head. For example, if you're picturing driving on a country road with your hand out the window or your car, passing corn fields while a flock of birds passes over your head, your tracks would be labeled: (and I included potential ideas that would match the sound of each track)
Wind (synth, soft high string section)
Hand out the Window (solo violin, piano, other melodic instrument)
Car Engine (synth textural noise, timpani rolls, synth drone)
Flock of Birds (textural circular violin articulations, resonant felt piano, pizzicato strings)
Cornfield (shakers, percussion)
So you find an instrument to represent each item in this picture and compose according to the visual you have. This will make you naturally assign instruments in a way that they will emulate a real scene. When you're composing your melody, you're seeing your hand out the window, playing with the wind, and that helps you keep the melody consistent to a specific theme.
It makes you think WAAAAY outside the box when you're composing. The only caveat is that if you end up with a lot of tracks, sometimes it's hard to remember which track actually has what instrument, because they are named creatively. But it's a minor inconvenience for the payoff. Try it out.
learn about symbolic and instruments.
Super Awesome! What type of choir and instrument libraries are that? Are these kontakt ones?
It's Metropolis Ark 1, an all-in-one orchestral library for Kontakt.
With few instruments, my mixes sound good, but with many instruments they sound horrible. u__u
It's probably because you add to many things into the same spaces so they fight each other to much .
you probably learned a lot during these 2 years, but maybe you find something useful in this: as you add more instruments, the little things become more and more important, as tiny mistakes add up in every instrument, and the end result will be a mess. You want your instruments to play in different frequency ranges (for example bass plays the lowest octave, rhythm guitar plays an octave higher, lead guitar plays another octave higher) but you can also allow instruments to play the same thing, or play a different thing but in the same frequency range - this will be inevitable if you use 5-10 or even more instruments. This is why panning and volume balancing becomes incredibly important. It's a waste to not use all the room you have. Drums generally go dead center, low instruments (bass guitar, tuba, double bass and so on can go anywhere between L20 and R20) and the rest of the stuff you are more free to play around with. Of course there are general guidelines on how an orchestra sits, or that rhythm guitars are hardpanned and double tracked on both sides, but music is creative, so you are free to do whatever you want in order to achieve your vision :)
You are awesome!
I do watch a number of your videos . I do understand about having good libraries . But i am always more interested in the actual sound of the tracks . Like solo some of them out and show what you are talking about . Show how you bus them . And what fx are in the bus .How do you use reverb or do you use compression in your buses . You say arrange well . But it is arranged by someone else , I have done some great mock ups as well . I am not trying to bash you in any way I have learned some cool things watching your videos :)
Great video! Question: how to split mixer channels into those sections shown in the video?
Is Amadeus symphonic orchestra okay?
This could have been a 2MB .png motivational image
Hi Alex, do you bounce all the mic positions for each instrument and mix with VCA groups?
correct! cheap library = cheap sound lol -- go vienna symphonic library... best investment into vst I ever got
MRW he scrolled down to reveal like 75 more instrument tracks o.O
true
a baadaaas soundd :)))
*YUM*
Hi Alex! Do you know the book "Study of Orchestration" by Adler? I find it great for classical orchestrations. You might like it :)
I heard Orchestration books are pleated gold, will eventually check one out when I I'll have some time in my schedule for theoretical studies. :)
Is this a Metropolis Ark endorsement?
Crispy cake? 🤔
AKA don't be bad at making music
Instructions unclear...wanted to make a good cake...but made a better mix
100% truth! You beat me to it! Congrats almost on 6k subs! :)
Just browsing and found you here .__. Now this makes it worth watching and learning!
You're everywhere!
Haha! I have clones. ;)
Global Composer Network wus here ! :D :D:
jew
1. Good arrangement
2 Good quality samples
This is one of the most powerful messages to the aspiring producer. Folks can get discouraged. You nailed it with this breakdown.
I've been looking for tips on making orchestral music... You explained this perfectly, Alex... That strawberry cake... Yum!!! Thanks Alex!!
Now I want a nice strawberry cake
First of all you managed to get on the channel "epic music world" and for that i owe you a lot of respect and secondly in climax, having some compression always help so what compressor plugin do you use for mastering? :) thank you
+Never Say Die iZotope Ozone's Compressor and Maximizers, mostly!
alright! thank's a lot for responding :D i love you work keep it up
Thanks for this video. I've been watching a lot of your stuff and it's helping me get a better understanding that I still have so much more to learn since I've been trying to compose OST music for the better part of a year. This should hopefully take my songs to a higher level watching your stuff since you have a high level of knowledge and I want to invest in myself by comprehending that information in my own way.
Funny how real world truth and beginner's intuition are oftentimes 180° apart. I lost some years as well because of wrong assumptions.
5999 subs. get the 6k bro, you really deserve it. Your tutorials on epic orchestrating are the best i´ve seen yet on youtube
149k later😊
I get it. But it's not always true. For example. Mockups of classical pieces... People like Korskakov, Mahler, Strauss etc these composer knew the orchestra in and out, so doing mockups should sound fine then right? Well, that's the problem, even when creating mockups it sounds kinda bad compared. Mixing is important to get a professional sound. If I play Mahlers adagietto on CSS out-of-the-box it's gonna sound very muddy and not very clear in sound. That's an example.
Of course man. Mixing is important but arrangement needs to be prioritized and ensured to be the best it possibly can, BEFORE mixing. I used to fall down this trap not so long ago, where I I'd record parts, and make mistakes and kind of rush them, and generally make rather sloppy sounding recordings just so they're done, so I can move on to mixing and had that mindset of "I'll "fix" it in post production".
That is a very bad mindset to have. There is a saying that goes "you can't polish a turd.." meaning that if your initial recording sounds like shit, then even if you EQ and compress the crap out of it you will still get a turd. The other part of the saying goes "..but you can roll it in glitter". Essentially meaning you can make some improvement to the crappy recording, but at the end of the day it will still sound like shit rolled in glitter.
For a mix to sound good, it's important to ensure you don't rely on mixing and post processing as the main source of the reason the mix sounds good. Basically meaning it should sound good even without any mixing applied. EQ, Compression and post processing are just the icing on top, to make the already good sounding mix sound even better, NOT a remedy for making a shit performance sound listenable.
So, when recording make sure you are in time, with other instruments in the mix as well as the click track and beat. That all instruments go well together and that the mix isn't too busy - make way for what you want to be the focal point - as a metal composer this is something that is very prominent in my work; in most places I want the guitar riff to be the focal point and in others I want the vocals to be the main instrument you hear, but sometimes the guitar has to make way for busy orchestral parts. If you have a really busy guitar over equally busy orchestra you're going to overload your audience with information, as the human brain can only focus on so many things at one time, and you want your music to be easy to focus on and follow, and not just an endless cacophony, even in a heavier genre like metal or orchestral music. If you slip out of time and your recording becomes out of time, you need to either re record or re arrange the parts so you can play them on time. Sometimes you can quantise MIDI or edit audio tracks, but you don't want to rely on this too much as you'll end up with a robotic and overly perfect sounding track which for the record isn't great either, unless you need to sound robotic (when making electronic music, like EDM or Techno for example, or maybe even Industrial stuff when you mix synths with orchestra, like the Bladerunner Soundtrack).
Music theory knowledge also plays a part, as you need to be able to make your parts sound good together, and you need to know what feeling you want to evoke and know what notes sound good together for what you need to do. For instance, a creepy horror/metal track will utilise the tritone and have riffs play ostinato notes three tones apart to make a dissonant sound (like Raining Blood or Black Sabbath). Parallel fifths will be used in chords on rhythm guitar riffs in this situation, but the orchestra will probably add to those and play the minor third or even something more creepy like a diminished third for a really nasty sound, then the lead guitar may play an octave above that.
A good example of composition and orchestrations is the band SepticFlesh. They write for a real orchestra and make some heavy ass death metal too.
You want to ensure your timing and arrangement and performance sound good by themselves, BEFORE you mix.
Hi Alex merry christmas. I am very interested in your beginners course however on the website the purchase option is only credit card which I not have. I use paypal for all my on line purchases. Is there a way I can get the course for $39 as they offer on line? Would help me a lot 🙂 Thanks in advance (I did drop them an email for the paypal request though)
Your videos are great... Nevertheless I never get to sound nearly as good as you do... all my instruments sond too low and I cannot get to make my strings sound epic... I only have symphobia 1 LASS and metropolia ark 1.... Is it possible that you make a series of videos building a project from zero?
I eventually will Ricardo, I haven't yet 'cause I'm still very uncomfortable with my composing speed, so I think it would be a bad idea at this stage.
But eventually I'd love to make live-stream compositions. :)
I tracked to tape as a younger man. I can deal with all that goes with it. But, in todays environment I'm not sure how or why anyone would not mix as they go. It seems like I'm more creative with good sounds. I feel that way live as well. Good sound system, engineer, man it feels good.
VERY IMPORTANT: BEFORE mixing its all about gain staging your composition,
Hey Alex, thanks for the tutorials. They're very helpful.
Could you touch on if you add EQ, compression for String Sections and Brass Sections. What does your mixing chain look like etc.
You cant teach music with sounds. Pls mind it. Really boring with your speech
Many thanks
Did you experiment mixing using VSL instruments and MIR PRO 3D ?
Dude, you deserve a freaking Million subs!! your Mix and composition skills are great!
Its ironic. But the choir at the start rraaaally didnt translate into my phone speakers. Just the start though the rest was amazing
This is great! You are so right, my latest track that I haven't mixed yet is getting more love than my other slightly mixed track becasue my latest track simply has a much better arrangement!
Nice.
Now gimme that cake you are talkin' about!
Thank you for making this. I make beats/instrumentals but am exploring orchestral music and actual composing, not just loops. Your point about building upon several small tricks and techniques is spot on. Having those in your arsenal will expand creative possibilities and the more you know the better musical and creative decisions you can make. Thank you again.
It sounds muddy as hell on my end. Maybe it's your speakers. Lol
First video I've seen of yours, subbed because awesome video plus the Muse t-shirt. Haha
I would like to hear your opinion on how to mix different orchestral sample libraries. Thanks!
You should make a composition from zero..skin in the game
what time signature is best for film scores ?4/4 or 5/4
yo who's over here eating crispy cakes
Simple tip yet the honest truth!
My voice competes with the strings 😂
Great video, it was like you were talking to me XD
So where is the yummie cake?!
Haha, jokes aside. In my opinion, getting a good arrangement is indeed the number 1 mixing tip! I also liked the ending. I always say, knowledge is invaluable, so in the end, evenant courses are actually not expensive at all :) Keep up the good job Alex, i love what you're doing!
Nicely said Enya!
Glad you're loving the videos :D
I mix in a 10dollar headphone 😭😭
This is somewhat humbling. I have some great samples and even joined the Evenant trailer course and STILL don't write clean, professional sounding tracks. I'll be going through your channel a lot because this vid already explained some good stuff. Thanks!
Are they strings runs right at the beginning? Do you do them manually or is it from a specific library? Thanks!
Yeah, I did those manually.
They're actually from a blurred spiccato patch, the library I used is Metropolis Ark 1.
2 years of using of span and I never knew about the ctrl-click thing until this video. Very bloody helpful ! Cheers :)
11:44 here you said all ;)
Any entry level libraries you'd recommend?
Berlin Orchestra Inspire!
Your videos have been helping me a lot. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, insights, and experience with us.
Wise words!
Thank you for your tutos and energy! This video is really important! I wish i got more great libraries and skills to improve my stuff tho...
That track is badasssss!!
What does your automation of Dynamics do and do you purely do automations by mouse?
I dont have money so my tracks sound shitty. Your sound is so amazing and you are a beast in terms of arranging!
you are talking the whole time, better to view you than the track. Thank you good tips
Not only am I learning about making music, I make a hell of a strawberry cake now
pre mixing as you compose should cut down alot of mixing at the end
I would say not always, but if it's about volume and panning then yes, it can be a good thing to do just a little.
I always was searching stuff about vst professional orchestration but this is the time I realized I came to the right place... Last years I also started to compose epic music on my computer (which can be found on my youtube channel) but I am not satisfied with the sound. I will definitely watch all your tutorials, they seem to be vst/computer oriented and not just classical orchestration theories. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, this is too valuable!
Really incredible tutorial. Thanks!
Makes the title worth it ;) bahaha
Excellent! Cheers.
Almost +1000 subscriptions in 2 weeks. :)
Preach!
Well said, thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Thank you!
You're really motivating us.
Your are absolutely right my brother, thank you.