SCU: Orchestration 101—Part 1

Mastering the art of orchestration takes a lifetime of study, research and application. But, we all have to start somewhere, right?

CONTEST: Win Spitfire Audio’s New Solo Strings

It’s SCOREcast’s 2nd Annual Cue Contest—and we are teaming up with Spitfire Audio to give away a copy of SOLO STRINGS! Enter to win today!

SCOREcast 32: Tom Salta

Veteran video game composer Tom Salta stops by to chat with the boys about the art and business of scoring video games during SCOREcast’s 5th Anniversary episode.

Caveats of Convenience: Pt. 1

Things film composers are doing wrong lately, and how to avoid developing the same habits.

The Creative Tank

How to keep your creative well from running dry.

Shut Up and Score

This one single piece of advice will change your life, I promise.

All About Delivery for Film and TV Music

From a technical point of view, preparing music files for delivery according to your client’s requirements should be a pretty straightforward thing. Although every project is a little bit different, there are some standard procedures, and we’ll go over them, with some definitions, a few precautions, and one or two minefields. Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011All Rights ReservedOriginal content here is published under these license terms: X License Type:Read OnlyLicense Summary:You may read the original content in the context in which it is published (at this web address). No other copying or use is permitted without written agreement from the author.

Delivery, Finaling and Changing the World

I’ve already outlined a few technical thoughts on delivery and “finaling” (whatever that is) in my Weekend Provocations this month… and I’ll continue to do so in the weeks to come.

As I began to write today’s article, though, I realized that our April focus itself is built on some assumptions. Those assumptions, and their ramifications, after the jump.

Mixing—Technical Guidelines, Part 3

Since, as a mixer, I’m not involved in the mysteries of a spotting session, this month’s column is going to be another in my series of “tech tips”, covering some engineering issues that have recently been in the air.

Getting a Little Queasy

Marc Shaiman will tell you that one of his best-known scores, for City Slickers, came into this world with more than its fair share of agony. One of the toughest parts to write was the famous cattle-rustling scene—Shaiman says he was scared out of his mind by the temp track. He felt like “the ghost of Copland was standing over [his] shoulder.” It’s something we’ve all faced. Not from Copland, and not always from the temp track, but there’s a sort of intimidation that hits us once we’ve landed a really good gig. Once in a while a project lands here at the Gulag that makes me sit up and take notice. Sure, I do my best work…

More Bits, More People

Seems like there are a lot of ways to spend your money these days, often more money than may be coming in. What are the right choices to move your career forward? Here are a couple of contrasting ideas, both worth considering in their own context. More bits To start with, here I am wearing my “technical guru” hat. Let’s review some things about digital and computer audio; there’s a new technical trend and product you should be aware of. You probably know that digital audio, in the files we create and the way in the signals can flow from one piece of equipment to another, can be in a variety of different sample rates…

Competing with Technological Assumptions

We have been reading great articles this month on how to stay competitive as a composer, but can technology or the latest sample library or monitors help you be competitive? It could, but it could also bear no relevance whatsoever.

For me being a recording engineer and having to appeal to a wide variety of people means that I need to stay competitive in my gear selection, my rates, my marketing, and my best practices. I can no longer afford just try to compete on my talent or skill alone.