Cubase Film Scoring

Here are detailed instructions for scoring a film in Cubase. I have included an 8 page PDF guide, my custom Key Commands file, and also a working scoring template from which to get started. Film scoring is effortless in cubase, a real treat. I created this hoping I could help people out. Please do not redistribute this Cubase Film Scoring guide, but feel free to link to this page.

Download Template+Guide+Keys    

Angry Birds – Main Theme

Grr, don't you just hate those "fowl" pigs?? All you want to do is just smash their poorly constructed buildings with various types of birds!

Anyway, I have a little gift for all of you "Angry Birds" fans: the proper sheet music for piano! Now including FINGERINGS!

Impress your friends and share! Download below.

L.A. Noire – Main Theme Piano

Isn't LA Noire great? A special treat is when you fire up the disc in your Playstation 3 (xbox too?) and when you hover over the game the main theme plays in a beautiful piano arrangement.... Well, sadly when you search for "la noire main theme" this is unavailable. Also, this recording is not on the soundtrack.

I have made life a little easier for everyone and transcribed this for piano

Sorry I didn't include fingerings, It's pretty self-explanatory through the voicing.

Thank Andrew Hale for that

Download the sheet music here:

LA Noire - Page 1
LA Noire - Page 2

Upper-structures for modal hybrids

Here, in the spirit of my previous article on modal tensions and avoid notes, I will briefly map out the upper-structure triads you may use for modal hybrid chords.

Chord Scale Hybrids:

Ionian: V

Dorian: II- (weak), V-, and VII

Dorian 7th chords: II-7, VIIMaj7 (good for dorian I-)

Phrygian: bII, bVII-

Phrygian 7th chords: bVII-7

Lydian: II, V (weak), VII-

Lydian 7th chords: VMaj7, VII-7

Mixolydian: II- (weak), V-, bVII

Mixolydian 7th chords: V-7, bVIIMaj7

Aeolian: V-, bVII

Aeolian 7th chord: V-7

Locrian: bII, bV, bVII-

Locrian 7th chords: bVMaj7, bVII-7

Special chord scales:

Lydian b7: II (weak lydian sound), V- (weak mixo sound), bVII(aug)

Lydian b7 7th chords: V-(maj7), bVII+(Maj7)

Altered Dominant: bV

I know thats a lot to take in, but again, hopefully this may serve as a reference for anyone learning Hybrid chords

Film Composing – The Composer’s Schedule

Creating the underscore for a film can be a very time-consuming endeavor. The time frame for production isn't really set in stone, rather, it's more relative to the production of the film itself. I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone that movies get delayed all the time, nor should the reasons why escape anyone. Since the score is the last step in making a film, production delays explicitly control the composers' schedule. If a composer feels he is being jerked around, or being asked to compose an unreasonable amount of work in an unreasonable amount of time he has two options; Quit (if the contract permits), or suffer.

There are two key-terms here, the score and the cue. The score is the entire music for the film, the cue is an individual moment of music. Those are just two definitions I felt I had to get out of the way. Typically, for most film composers in Hollywood, writing 2 minutes of music a day can be considered a success. With that in mind, one could reason that if you were scoring a typical 90-minute movie, you could probably expect to take 6-8 weeks to compose the music. This number varies remarkably from composer-to-composer, this is just an average time frame.

Most of the time the composer enters the process during post-production of the film, after shooting and editing is done, when it's locked in. Why, you ask? First of all, it comes down to the cue itself. How can you can time a timpani hit to strike at the exact moment of a gunshot in the film? The answer; the film already has to exist lol.

Anyway, So now you know, the composer enters typically in post-production. Soon after he/she receives a copy of the film to score, the composer will attend whats called a spotting session. This is a meeting between the project leaders of the film, notably the director, and producer. This is where ideas about the score and the film are discussed and passed around, and decisions are made as to the nature of the music. The composer then takes the rough-cut of the film, goes home and writes up his spotting notes. These are a list of cues and notes about whats happening in the film and what music should/could accomodate. This is when the composer gets down to business, and starts actually composing. The music editor prepares the technical aspects of synchronizing the music with the picture during this stage. The composer is probably freaking out about the deadline at this point, as it pretty much controls his/her life. Once the composing begins, many other things start to happen; the orchestrators come in and do their stuff, studio musicians are scheduled to record at the studio which also has to be booked and so on.

Here I will demonstrate an ideal schedule for the entire process.

• Week 1: The composer receives the rough cut, attends the spotting session, and the music editor prepares timing notes.
• Weeks 2-5: Composing begins, gives rough copy of music to the orchestrator who orchestrates it, and sends to the copyist.
• Weeks 7-8: Dubbing music with sound effects and dialogue.
• Week 9: Film goes to lab for answer prints and color correction.
• Week 12: Film is delivered to theaters for wonderful fun time for all

Obviously, this is the ideal, but often not the reality. Stuff happens, and it doesn't always go so smoothly. I hope you gleaned at least a few tidbits from this article, this is the first in a series I'll be writing about Film Scoring in general, as well as other subjects I'm studying at Berklee. Follow my blog for more articles about stuff I learn in class!

-Mooquu

Melody/Melodic Writing

Here at Berklee, the way I think is constantly being challenged and altered. One aspect that has recently broken through in my consciousness is melodic writing. I've long been interested in orchestration, yet found getting an authentic orchestral texture quite challenging. Reading Rimsky Korsakov's "Principles of Orchestration", many things have all clicked together and it occurred to me to start thinking HORIZONTALLY, not VERTICALLY (as in chords).

I've been excercising my melodic muscle, and come up with a few key principles/suggestions to develop a solid melody, and maybe some ideas to get you going.

• Your melody should have a "contour" to it.
  

  Notice the wave-like motion

• When deciding the contour of your melody, consider a good book or movie; it has a setup, rising action, climax and resolution. This is the most common shape for a melody to have, and generally accepted as the best.
• A good melody is typically something like 70% step-wise motion, 20% chord tones/arpeggios, and 10% leaps. Step-wise motion is moving from note to note without skipping any. Chord tones are obviously any note of a chord you are currently playing; for example if you are playing a C major chord, the chord tones would be C-E-G. Leaps are important to understand, and there are a few tricks to using them, which i will explain next.
• A leap is generally thought of as movement between two notes in any interval larger than a 3rd (4th, 5th, 6th, 7th etc). So going from C up to E, is considered a 3rd. Going from C up to F is a 4th, and considered a leap. The rule is, always resolve a leap by step. so if you went from the C up to F, your next note should probably be E.
• Depending on the style of music you are writing in, it is fairly common practice to end your piece on the tonic - meaning if your song is in C major, your last note would probably be C. This gives a sense of resolution and is very sastisfying. Of course if you are trying to be super dissonant, then don't end on C. End in something like B or F. (B is the leading tone, F is the 4th, together they make a tritone, an extremely dissonant interval)
• Try developing a rhythm for your melody first, as the rhythm will be the fuel pushing your melody forward. Remember! Don't ever let your melody "sit" or "rest" or "get stale", meaning it should always feel like its moving on to something else, until you end your phrase. This will keep it fresh and interesting to the ear.

If you are REALLY having trouble conceiving a melody, try this useful technique I learned; Find a recorded piece of music you are unfamiliar with. Let it play in another room quietly, the trick is that you should only BARELY be able to hear it. If you can hear it clearly and hum the melody, it is too loud. Make it quieter. Then, in the other room, try to hum the melody best you can. The idea here is that your brain will fill in the gaps of what you can and cant hear, and after a few runs through the piece of music you should be humming a unique melody thats all your own. Keep it! lol

Hope you all found this useful, these tips have been pushing my melodic writing in the right direction.

-Spence

Music Theory – Modal Tensions

Here is a brief list of musical tensions by mode, which are considered a logical extension of tertiary harmony.Tensions are referred to by a "T" and next to it would be it's related interval based on the scale/mode. Example; the 2nd degree of a C Major scale (Ionian mode) or the note D, would be considered a tension in the form of a 9th. So in C major Ionian, the D would be written as "T9" for Tension 9th. Also, notes to be AVOIDED that will ruin the sound of your mode are appended with an "S" for skip or whatever you prefer. Here is a list of the modes and their tensions + avoid notes.

• Ionian -          T9, S4, T13
• Dorian -          T9, T11, Sb6
• Phrygian-      Sb2, T11, Sb6
• Lydian -         T9, T#11, T13
• Mixolydian -   T9, S4, T13
• Aeolian -        T9, T11, Sb6
• Locrian -        Sb2, T11, Tb13

So here's an idea; consider each mode a degree in a scale. If you are playing a D minor chord in the key of C Major, you know that D chord is the 2nd chord of the scale. Whats the 2nd mode? Dorian. Thusly, if you are playing a D minor chord in the key of C Major, temporarily consider yourself in the mode of D Dorian. Why not add the tensions of Dorian into your chord, or solo and touch on those notes? try this for all your chords and you will have a distinct jazz sound.

Hope this can work as a nice little reference for anyone caught up in modal theory.

-Spence

Propellerhead’s Reason 4 – Top Ten Tips and Tricks

Hello again everyone, and welcome back to my series on Propellerhead's Reason 4. In this article I'm going to talk about my Top Ten general tips and tricks to navigate Reason 4 more efficiently. When I was first struggling to grasp the scope and utility of this truly comprehensive environment, I scoured the web night and day for quick tips and tricks to speed up my workflow - more often than not to only be left disappointed. First, before we get to the gist of this article, let's talk about Reason, and what it can do.

• The number of instruments in a mix is only limited to your computer's available amount of memory. (RAM)
• The mixing is modeled after the functions of ACTUAL real-world hardware mixers. I was surprised to find out that Reason 4 is actually a great learning tool for getting acquainted with audio gear; more or less all of the components and devices in Reason 4 are modeled and wired after actual gear, which can give you a great insight into a field you otherwise probably would have never been introduced to. Fun!
• You've got full automation of every conceivable parameter in Reason 4. Pan, volume, gain, EQ - if it's got a knob, you can automate it.
  
• MClass Mastering Suite - all the tools you will need to master your project.
• Recording overdub.
• Graphical editing of all device parameters.
  
• User definable quantization settings - really great quantization toolbar here, I have to say. I've seen a lot of MIDI editors and as far as quantization and ease of use goes, Reason 4 wins, hands down.
  

Ok, so now we know a little bit more about Reason 4, Let's get the tips n' tricks!

1. DETACH SEQUENCER WINDOW - Seemingly obvious, it's interesting to note how often this feature is ignored. The default Reason 4 rack isn't really a space suitable for complicated and large-scale editing. as you can see the little tiny sequencer space in the bottom is pretty "petite" by default.
   As you can see, not really working out. So navigate WINDOW > DETACH SEQUENCER WINDOW to get a nice lofty workspace, pictured here
2. QUANTIZE OFTEN - Quantize by either highlighting your MIDI track, right click, and on the bottom it should say "quantize". Or go to the Window > Show Tool Window and then a tool menu should pop up showing you the quantize options.  This can actually be essential. whether you want it feeling really loose or not, doesn't matter. If that's the case, quantize only 25% or 50%, but make sure you DO quantize often, because otherwise, if you don't have the best time (like myself) your projects' out-of-time'ness will COMPOUND more and more, until there is no hope of restoring quantization, and you've just got a big mess to clean up.
3. PLAN YOUR PROJECT - Sure, I know everyone likes to "feel it out" and add instruments and tracks as you go, this is a great and natural thing that Reason 4 does shockingly intuitively. However; the Reason 4 14:2 Mixer is not God, and does not always know your mind. If you randomly toss in an instrument here and there, with an MClass Mastering Suite here and RV7000 Advanced Reverb there, more than likely you are going to get a sloppy signal path, with wires missing and not everything working exactly like you wished it would. Get an idea of the instruments you will want, and effects you will probably use. Set them up first, so that you can stop worrying about it and just play your music. Set them up chronologically, navigating them by right clicking the Mixer board as I suggested in the previous Reason 4 article.
4. USE AUXILARY SENDS - A great tool for keeping your rack nice and clean. This applies to any effect really, not EQ though. Say you've got all your instruments laid out in your rack, and it's time for effects processing. You want to put a slight reverb on everything. Now, the Reason 4 noob will instinctively apply a Reverb patch like the previously mentioned RV7000 to every single instrument, resulting in potentially dozens of those suckers. This is time consuming. This is inefficient. This is bad !! Instead, right click the Mixer, navigate CREATE > RV7000 ADVANCED REVERB. you should see that purple component snuggled nicely beneath your mixer as so
   Now, observe the four red knobs on the mixer per track, labeled AUX - Confused? these are your AUXILIARY SENDS/RETURNS. See how it says REVERB in the tape on the right, under a red knob and the number 1? This controls the max level of whatever effect you've applied in this way. This is your first AUX, so now when you adjust the FIRST RED KNOB in the AUX box, you will hear more and more reverb being applied. You can manually adjust each track this way by using only this one reverb patch. Fun! Keeps it clean, too.
5. CONSIDER DYNAMICS - such as Stereo Pan (left and right), volume (obviously), EQ, and other general aesthetics of sound. It can really add another dimension to your music to hear the the melody 16% panned to one speaker, and the harmony panned 16% to the other. Constant sounds like percussion, strings/pads, bass tend to be centered at 0% pan, so they don't get annoying. It can be really refreshing, try it. Also consider which element is dominant in your mix; do you really want the drums louder than everything else? You have to consider aesthetics in music, as well as each instruments function in a piece of music. Drums are part of the rhythm section which is fairly continuous, therefore they don't need to be that loud. Otherwise they would really start to annoy you. The golden rule for mixing is always LESS IS MORE. Make your goal how quiet you can make something while still making it a functioning element in your track? take everything to all extremes to make the best judgement.
6. NAME YOUR TRACKS - Seriously people, if you are working on a track for a couple days, and it takes you 5-15 seconds to figure out which combinator is your piano and which is your percussion, you can waste lots of time. This is just an overall good habit to have, and will make you a little more speedy and professional.
7. USEFUL KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS - rack getting too big? Hold the ALT-key and minimize to minimize ALL of your rack. That would be this arrow Hit TAB to flip your rack around and wire everything the way you want it. Too many wires? hit L to hide them. Want to create a new instrument without it auto-wiring so that you can do it yourself? When you create an instrument hold the SHIFT key to insert it completely un-wired. Hit SPACE to play and stop. Of course, for a more in-depth look at Reason 4 keyboard shortcuts consult Propellerhead's PDF, located HERE
8. GET RECYCLE 2.0 - This truly unlocks Reason 4. Import any audio you want, create your own instruments and so on. Really amazing product.
9. STUDY BASIC EQ'ING PRINCIPLES - I might go into this in more detail in a later article, but for now it will suffice for me to suggest you do some reading. Use EQ to get instruments out of eachothers' way, so everything sits well in your mix. I highly recommend watching this Video Tutorial. This particular video helped me understand this stuff a little bit last year before I did my own in-depth research and study. Also, if you want to go nuts read Bob Katz' Mastering Audio. Great in depth book for engineers.
10. AUTOMATE EVERYTHING - by right clicking and knob or slider that you can interact with, a dialog will come up regarding AUTOMATION. Right click a knob, select EDIT AUTOMATION and the knob/slider will be highlighted in green. This means as soon as you start recording, WHILE you are recording whatever you do to that knob or slider will also be recorded. You can assign any knob/slider to a knob/slider you might have on your MIDI keyboard or control surface, and move it manually. Automation will add a whole new level of power to your sequencing. Start experimenting with it today, you won't regret it.

Well there you have it, my Reason 4 Top Ten list. Hopefully what you take away from this article will assist you on your path to Reason pwnage. If you have any comments or questions of course, please leave them in the comments below, I will answer any questions or suggestions for future articles promptly!

-Spence

Mooquu

Getting Comfortable In Propellerhead’s Reason 4

A Brief Introduction

I first was introduced to Propellerhead's Reason 4 oddly enough at the conservatory I was attending in Miami for classical guitar performance. I was taking a creative writing class and my wonderful professor Dr. Joann Falco-Leshin challenged the class to create an interactive website for the poetic and literature content we would create in the class. Upon learning I was a musician, she insisted I write some music for the site. Well, I had never recorded anything, and I knew I couldnt use traditional microphones for my guitar because it would just sound too amateur. I remembered hearing about a MIDI class some of my peers were taking and that the main software they used was called "Reason". I knew this would be the best way to create semi professional quality music in a digital medium, so I asked a friend to show me the ropes and help me record a piano piece I had written.

We had agreed on several times we would meet and record the piece, but he always had something else to do and bailed. Out of frustration, I figured I would just learn the software and do it myself. So I bought Reason 4, an 88-key semi-weighted MIDI keyboard and went to town. At first I had absolutely no clue where to begin. All I knew were the few immediate goals I had;

• Select an instrument
• Record the track, preferably in real-time performance
• Make it "on the beat, and in time" (quantize)
• Save as an audio file people could listen to

So I set about this in the slowest freaking way possible: Google. I googled the HELL out of that list, scouring forums and peering through questions/answers. I even made some posts as to how to do each and every one of these things in the most specific way possible. Well,  hopefully you will have found this article, and not have to suffer this daunting task yourself. Trust me, it took me a while to "get comfortable" in Reason 4.