This is so true. Education and training may not be as sexy as a brand new shiny guitar, but it is so much more important and valuable. It took me a long time to realize it, but I did purchase quite a few courses taught by Guy and I have no regret at all. In addition, if I need a refresher, all I have to do is go back and watch any part of the course that I want. And let’s face it, Guy is a very entertaining teacher. And no… I am not being paid to write this. I am just a very satisfied customer.
Guy, I just moved and I'm setting up my studio now. Thank you for posting these videos. I've been watching all of your content here recently to get me primed. It is not often that someone with your abilities can take time from their busy schedule to post videos like these. Now I can listen to orchestration and understand what is happening. You are an inspiration. Again, thank you!
9:20 If your reference track is a piano like here, you can also just use the chord track to have Cubase show you what chords you played. Super instructive as always, Guy, cheers!
I like how you differentiate the "basics" from "foundations". From the actual composing aspect, I believe this is one of the most important subjects you've covered so far. The day I realized how to develop music from simple motifs and phrases transformed my approach to writing from there and has never been the same since. After the transformation occurred, I was able to accurately reflect on previous work.
Just bought your how to write music course, and here you are showing us for free. You make it seem so easy and I’m looking forwards to all the other tricks and bits in the course to help me improve and grow into all the plugins that I bough and now need music to use. -update- I am on my day 3 of the music theory course and it may be for me mostly review but I am completely impressed on how Guy goes about explaining the concepts and making it make sense. For it being mostly review, I am still learning new things and even just perspective that greatly enhance my understanding. I’d give three thumbs up if I could.
In the past 4-5 years, I've used a method of finding first the motif. Or "question", 2nd is the "Answer to the "question". Third is a variation in a minor, and so forth. This helps me get out of muscle memory everytime I need to come up with something that works with the film. tempo is key for me too. good video.
I teach a music theory class for a recording arts program at Citrus College and this is exactly the way I teach my students to write their first pieces. Many don't play instruments and have to take my class as a prerequisite to try and get into the studio program (which is way more recording and mixing focused). My goal is to try and get them from reading no music at all to actually being able to spell chords decently and write scales AND then apply it actually making music. I wish every student would make it all the way to composition and seeing why chords and scales can be so useful but many don't just because music theory has a lot of up front memorization and speed requirements to really talk about the next concepts and 16 weeks is not a lot of time to do it (especially starting completely from scratch with no prior musical background) and really master each skill. When we finally do reach composition I find starting with the motif and a basic form is practically required since they don't play instruments and can barely read rhythms let alone talking about chord structure and showing how chords and scales interact as a single unit. The blank page can be very intimidating. Man I wish I had more time, its way to many fundamentals and not enough time. I am always excited to see students realize why music theory is so valuable, and to recognize its not a set of rules, but truly is a theory. It will not hurt creativity but help it! It's neat seeing someone else teach it the same way.
cheera young man that was extremely helpful particularly for me as some one who has been farting around with cubase for years and never really completed anything right through yet.
Well done, maestro! I had a melody in my head years ago. During the Pandemic, I went back to making music myself as a hobby. And suddenly, a few days back, this melody came back into my head. The original approach was to create something like "Hijo de la Luna". Turns out it will be something that some dudes call "Tropical House". But without this melody this would never happen. A simple F Major melody which wrote its accompanying chords itself. I really had the same feeling when watching this video. Thank you, Guy.
In my opinion.. I am a beginner producer (electronic music, and computer guy, so I don’t play any instrument) but the easy way that I found to make music is: first, pick a scale, then make a chord progression with that scale (4 chords maybe) and the pick the notes on the same chords to make a melody.. (rhythm and pitch).. and when I am happy with that (chords and main melody) I do the other instruments..
Sir I am your big fan...I too want to score for the films...I practice regular I watch your videos they motivate me every time to score something...love from India sir ❤️❤️ it will truly motivate me if you reply to this comment...thanku sir ❤️
If you need others to motivate you it’s already too late. You need intrinsic motivation to be a composer. You do it because you can’t do anything else.
Nice one Guy, and this video is a reminder to us all to stop noodling around with lots of instruments and FX... and just get back to basics! Sketch it first, then arrange it, then make it sparkle with embellishments! I'm currently doing your Cinematic Music course, and really enjoying it. Am only a hobbyist, and don't have much intention to turn this into a living (and I might not even go that far into orchestral / cinematic) but the concepts are transferrable. I use Studio One, and the Chord and Arranger tracks are great for sketching out the song. Of course, you have to start with an idea (motif, chord sequence, rhythm etc) but then it really helps to have a framework, as that frees you up to be creative and either work within the framework or (better still) knowingly break the rules ;-) ps. sounds like your Soft String Soloists violin is coming in a bit late, and from what I know of Fracture Sounds, it's probably the legato latency. A bit of offsetting on the track would fix that (I've just tried it with their excellent recent brass band library).
17:00 _""Before you go out, and spend all your heart and money on millions on instruments… …invest in yourselves!"*_ That's what I say about camera gear. I'm a professional director / video-editor / cameraman. Good gear doesn't define a good camera operator. It is the artistic mind, as "we" are supposed to be story-tellers. Composers are exactly like that: *story tellers!* So, it's not the gear. It is you!
The last thing I realized about creating music is. Draw a map of the entire music in advance, how many bars is the intro, how many bars first section, second, bridge etc. Then you see where you need transitions, where you want to go harmonically, where you need variation. Instead of working blind with no overall structure or plan. I got 8 bars of music, now what...
Yep. I always start with the form that I am aiming for, and a map of how I am going to get there. It never quite turns out that way, as I discover endless interesting things en route, but it's there to hang things on.
I've waited years for a video like this. Thank you. Please do more, and maybe another one following on from this as you expand it and do the B section and the alternate A section.
Guy!! Fantastic video as always!! You always bring such a smile to my face. The black Friday sale is total fire!! I will finally be able to get the courses I'm missing. Speaking of courses, I had an interview about the Masters program.. I think I'm gonna jump into the deep end with both feet. I am so excited!
That's a very interesting approach. I usually come up with the motif part while I'm doing the sound design. I'm going to try this approach, it seems a little easier. Especially while building the arrangement.
Guy, question. I’m thinking about purchasing VSL duality strings essentials. You think you can do professional quality work with this library…keep in mind this is the essentials. Many thanks Steve
lovely little piece throw a little glock on the downbeat of each chord and you've got a lovely child's song. Kudos to you Guy for helping out the younger folk along their travels into music.
I've taken a different stance this Black Friday to not invest in any library and invest more in my own music composition learning. I've got most of your excellent courses and I particularly liked the Cubase School as I recently moved over to Cubase 13 Cheers Guy
Nice video, I'll see if I can pick up a course this BF for sure. Very happy with the ones I've taken from you, even long after the courses are fantastic references. Btw, what's that bass sample you used in this video, it sounded abolutely superb in this context?
Here's an interesting concept: How about putting all that theory of functional harmony to work (math). Why not start a song using pencil and paper and not a fishing pole? Take out a piece of paper and pencil. Choose/decide items off the menu of the basic elements of every song: Meter, Time Signature, Key, Key Changes & Modulations, genre(s), target a sound and groove, use a list of about 30 or 40 of the most comon progressions over the past century or so for a basic outline just to break inertia and get the conversation going. Take said paper full of scrabled charts, then pick up your intstrument and hear what you produced, then start tweaking to taste. Saves a lot of time, more likely to produce something with a consitent theme, and more importantly, gives you a written record of what you've done in the past to avoid repeating yourself on the next composition.
This is why I always say that cubase is the best DAW. You just grabe the chord midis in chord track and boom. All the chord show even with slash bass ones in no time especially when you write faster and don't want to go through naming them on markers one by another !
That first try at the motif sounded like a mother goose childrens song because of the rhythm of the ending cadence. And that’s one of the issues in song composition - a lot of ideas sound like something already popular, with all it’s preconceived baggage. Of 10 motifs I try, perhaps only 1 will sound unique enough for me to proceed. I prefer to start with a hook. The hook could be a motif with a particular sound patch, or a guitar riff, an unusual drum pattern, or a chorus vocal like “I can’t get no…”
..” which we could then go on and develop into something much more complicated..” .. pretty please, I would love to see your magic recipes and workflows that deals with that. It is so rarely touched on as a topic
Hi Guy, I have two questions: 1) I'm still relatively new to film music and I'm thinking of buying SSO and additionally CSS. Does that make sense for you or would you say it's enough to just get one of the two? 2) I've been using Ableton Live 10 Suite so far (I come from electronic music) and I'm thinking about using a different DAW for film music because of the well-known timecode problem with Ableton. Cubase seems to be the most popular, but it also seems to be the most expensive and complicated. I can therefore imagine getting Studio One, which I've heard good things about so far. As far as my budget is concerned, I would probably have to decide between SSO and Cubase or SSO, CSS and Studio One. What would you advise me to do? And what can you say about Studio One? If I have to switch to Cubase at some point anyway, I could of course go straight for it.
Okay, thank you very much! And would you go with another Software than Ableton? The other DAWs seem to be better for Film music. If yes, do you have a clear favourite regarding Cubase or (the cheaper) Studio One or are both good choices?
@@ThinkSpaceEducation ah yes I see what you mean. I don’t use the chords themselves. It’s just a reference but I will try your suggestion. Great video as always. Cheers Dave
Lese immer wieder "KI". Damit sind aber nur die Bilder gemeint hoffentlich. Den Gesang finde ich nämlich wirklich schön und wäre hart schockiert, wenn das auch bereits die KI macht.😅
@@LearnCompositionOnline I think it's a talent you're born with. My daughter has the ability to hear underlying harmonies and pick them out of a song, but I can't do it.
We don't need any new fancy technical things or new plugins. Modern music is so boring. The only BIG key in music is: a great arrangement and great melodies! The Beatles already knew that decades ago.
This is so true. Education and training may not be as sexy as a brand new shiny guitar, but it is so much more important and valuable. It took me a long time to realize it, but I did purchase quite a few courses taught by Guy and I have no regret at all. In addition, if I need a refresher, all I have to do is go back and watch any part of the course that I want. And let’s face it, Guy is a very entertaining teacher. And no… I am not being paid to write this. I am just a very satisfied customer.
Guy, I just moved and I'm setting up my studio now. Thank you for posting these videos. I've been watching all of your content here recently to get me primed. It is not often that someone with your abilities can take time from their busy schedule to post videos like these. Now I can listen to orchestration and understand what is happening. You are an inspiration. Again, thank you!
9:20 If your reference track is a piano like here, you can also just use the chord track to have Cubase show you what chords you played.
Super instructive as always, Guy, cheers!
I like how you differentiate the "basics" from "foundations". From the actual composing aspect, I believe this is one of the most important subjects you've covered so far. The day I realized how to develop music from simple motifs and phrases transformed my approach to writing from there and has never been the same since. After the transformation occurred, I was able to accurately reflect on previous work.
So many lessons in the short lecture. Thank you Guy. We should all duplicate this very song in our daws.
Just bought your how to write music course, and here you are showing us for free. You make it seem so easy and I’m looking forwards to all the other tricks and bits in the course to help me improve and grow into all the plugins that I bough and now need music to use.
-update-
I am on my day 3 of the music theory course and it may be for me mostly review but I am completely impressed on how Guy goes about explaining the concepts and making it make sense. For it being mostly review, I am still learning new things and even just perspective that greatly enhance my understanding. I’d give three thumbs up if I could.
"Chord seven we don't talk about". This perfectly sums up the general attitude to the diminished triad on RUclips.
In the past 4-5 years, I've used a method of finding first the motif. Or "question", 2nd is the "Answer to the "question". Third is a variation in a minor, and so forth. This helps me get out of muscle memory everytime I need to come up with something that works with the film. tempo is key for me too. good video.
I teach a music theory class for a recording arts program at Citrus College and this is exactly the way I teach my students to write their first pieces. Many don't play instruments and have to take my class as a prerequisite to try and get into the studio program (which is way more recording and mixing focused). My goal is to try and get them from reading no music at all to actually being able to spell chords decently and write scales AND then apply it actually making music. I wish every student would make it all the way to composition and seeing why chords and scales can be so useful but many don't just because music theory has a lot of up front memorization and speed requirements to really talk about the next concepts and 16 weeks is not a lot of time to do it (especially starting completely from scratch with no prior musical background) and really master each skill. When we finally do reach composition I find starting with the motif and a basic form is practically required since they don't play instruments and can barely read rhythms let alone talking about chord structure and showing how chords and scales interact as a single unit. The blank page can be very intimidating. Man I wish I had more time, its way to many fundamentals and not enough time. I am always excited to see students realize why music theory is so valuable, and to recognize its not a set of rules, but truly is a theory. It will not hurt creativity but help it! It's neat seeing someone else teach it the same way.
I started my composing journey with your videos on FL.
cheera young man that was extremely helpful particularly for me as some one who has been farting around with cubase for years and never really completed anything right through yet.
I love seeing you go through the foundations as it is a great explanation and you do so well at breaking it down!
I love your videos, i am on a passionate journey to score for film and you have really been a great part of this journey. Thank you so much.
Well done, maestro! I had a melody in my head years ago. During the Pandemic, I went back to making music myself as a hobby. And suddenly, a few days back, this melody came back into my head.
The original approach was to create something like "Hijo de la Luna". Turns out it will be something that some dudes call "Tropical House". But without this melody this would never happen. A simple F Major melody which wrote its accompanying chords itself.
I really had the same feeling when watching this video. Thank you, Guy.
In my opinion.. I am a beginner producer (electronic music, and computer guy, so I don’t play any instrument) but the easy way that I found to make music is: first, pick a scale, then make a chord progression with that scale (4 chords maybe) and the pick the notes on the same chords to make a melody.. (rhythm and pitch).. and when I am happy with that (chords and main melody) I do the other instruments..
Sir I am your big fan...I too want to score for the films...I practice regular I watch your videos they motivate me every time to score something...love from India sir ❤️❤️ it will truly motivate me if you reply to this comment...thanku sir ❤️
If you need others to motivate you it’s already too late. You need intrinsic motivation to be a composer. You do it because you can’t do anything else.
Your skill blows me away ... every time
Hello from Ukraine, sending a Biiig hugs and thanks for all the skillshare and workshops you do here - it’s priceless 🤝🙏🏼🙌🏻🏄♂️
Nice one Guy, and this video is a reminder to us all to stop noodling around with lots of instruments and FX... and just get back to basics! Sketch it first, then arrange it, then make it sparkle with embellishments!
I'm currently doing your Cinematic Music course, and really enjoying it. Am only a hobbyist, and don't have much intention to turn this into a living (and I might not even go that far into orchestral / cinematic) but the concepts are transferrable.
I use Studio One, and the Chord and Arranger tracks are great for sketching out the song. Of course, you have to start with an idea (motif, chord sequence, rhythm etc) but then it really helps to have a framework, as that frees you up to be creative and either work within the framework or (better still) knowingly break the rules ;-)
ps. sounds like your Soft String Soloists violin is coming in a bit late, and from what I know of Fracture Sounds, it's probably the legato latency. A bit of offsetting on the track would fix that (I've just tried it with their excellent recent brass band library).
17:00 _""Before you go out, and spend all your heart and money on millions on instruments… …invest in yourselves!"*_
That's what I say about camera gear. I'm a professional director / video-editor / cameraman.
Good gear doesn't define a good camera operator. It is the artistic mind, as "we" are supposed to be story-tellers.
Composers are exactly like that: *story tellers!*
So, it's not the gear. It is you!
Very true.... but we also love new gear
The last thing I realized about creating music is.
Draw a map of the entire music in advance, how many bars is the intro, how many bars first section, second, bridge etc.
Then you see where you need transitions, where you want to go harmonically, where you need variation.
Instead of working blind with no overall structure or plan.
I got 8 bars of music, now what...
Thanks for that. I needed to hear it. That’s usually how I get stuck. No plan, busk it out, perfect it and I’ve got…20 seconds.
Yep. I always start with the form that I am aiming for, and a map of how I am going to get there. It never quite turns out that way, as I discover endless interesting things en route, but it's there to hang things on.
you dont need to plan the number of bars in advance
I've waited years for a video like this. Thank you. Please do more, and maybe another one following on from this as you expand it and do the B section and the alternate A section.
This is what I need. There is never enough information about the basics.
Thank you guys! This videls helps to refresh the fundamental knowledge. Doesnt matter if its a simple example. Thanks again🙏
Guy!! Fantastic video as always!! You always bring such a smile to my face. The black Friday sale is total fire!! I will finally be able to get the courses I'm missing. Speaking of courses, I had an interview about the Masters program.. I think I'm gonna jump into the deep end with both feet. I am so excited!
That's a very interesting approach. I usually come up with the motif part while I'm doing the sound design. I'm going to try this approach, it seems a little easier. Especially while building the arrangement.
Thank you for sharing this! ❤
Love it. Takes me back to my childhood music lessons and Watch with Mother :). PS - Timely Black Friday GAS warning at the end there, Guy.
This helps.
Thank you, Guy.
All the best.
As always very refreshing and helpful!!! Thank you Guy!!!
Thank You, this is great !
I hear some thin whistle runs and a harp gliss in this track... 😂 I love it. Thanks. ❤
Thinking back to when I was in school, things changed for the better
Guy, you are great! Thank you!
Super helpful as always
Brilliant. Thank you.
Guy, question. I’m thinking about purchasing VSL duality strings essentials. You think you can do professional quality work with this library…keep in mind this is the essentials.
Many thanks
Steve
lovely little piece throw a little glock on the downbeat of each chord and you've got a lovely child's song. Kudos to you Guy for helping out the younger folk along their travels into music.
I'm a guitarist.
I love your video.
I subscribed.
I've taken a different stance this Black Friday to not invest in any library and invest more in my own music composition learning.
I've got most of your excellent courses and I particularly liked the Cubase School as I recently moved over to Cubase 13
Cheers Guy
Nice video, I'll see if I can pick up a course this BF for sure. Very happy with the ones I've taken from you, even long after the courses are fantastic references. Btw, what's that bass sample you used in this video, it sounded abolutely superb in this context?
Here's an interesting concept: How about putting all that theory of functional harmony to work (math). Why not start a song using pencil and paper and not a fishing pole? Take out a piece of paper and pencil. Choose/decide items off the menu of the basic elements of every song: Meter, Time Signature, Key, Key Changes & Modulations, genre(s), target a sound and groove, use a list of about 30 or 40 of the most comon progressions over the past century or so for a basic outline just to break inertia and get the conversation going. Take said paper full of scrabled charts, then pick up your intstrument and hear what you produced, then start tweaking to taste. Saves a lot of time, more likely to produce something with a consitent theme, and more importantly, gives you a written record of what you've done in the past to avoid repeating yourself on the next composition.
Personaly I use 3 faders of my Arturia for orchestral Spitfire kind of soundbank , it works fine ! :)
Very easy and informative !!! Invest youself !
To a novice like myself, this a great tutorial.
Love these videos. I'm curious why you have swapped out the NI Keys for the Arturia
I love you, man!
If it had harpsichord..its Mozart at whatever age .
Christmas tunes ..
Lullabys. All viable .and good enough to keep one busy in between Opus's ..🤗
This is why I always say that cubase is the best DAW. You just grabe the chord midis in chord track and boom. All the chord show even with slash bass ones in no time especially when you write faster and don't want to go through naming them on markers one by another !
Could you do a sequel orchestrating this little example?
I like that piano and E piano, what Plugins are they?
That first try at the motif sounded like a mother goose childrens song because of the rhythm of the ending cadence. And that’s one of the issues in song composition - a lot of ideas sound like something already popular, with all it’s preconceived baggage. Of 10 motifs I try, perhaps only 1 will sound unique enough for me to proceed. I prefer to start with a hook. The hook could be a motif with a particular sound patch, or a guitar riff, an unusual drum pattern, or a chorus vocal like “I can’t get no…”
We need vedio like this but with vocal
That first motif you played is out of a Cure song, "Six Different Ways."
Camberwick Green eat your heart out 😎
..” which we could then go on and develop into something much more complicated..” .. pretty please, I would love to see your magic recipes and workflows that deals with that. It is so rarely touched on as a topic
What headsert mic are you using? I'm finding it difficult to find one with decent quality
Hi Guy, I have two questions:
1) I'm still relatively new to film music and I'm thinking of buying SSO and additionally CSS. Does that make sense for you or would you say it's enough to just get one of the two?
2) I've been using Ableton Live 10 Suite so far (I come from electronic music) and I'm thinking about using a different DAW for film music because of the well-known timecode problem with Ableton. Cubase seems to be the most popular, but it also seems to be the most expensive and complicated. I can therefore imagine getting Studio One, which I've heard good things about so far. As far as my budget is concerned, I would probably have to decide between SSO and Cubase or SSO, CSS and Studio One. What would you advise me to do? And what can you say about Studio One? If I have to switch to Cubase at some point anyway, I could of course go straight for it.
Good questions
Start with one, I would go with SSO then see where you feel the gaps are. You need one solid full orchestral lirbary first
Okay, thank you very much! And would you go with another Software than Ableton? The other DAWs seem to be better for Film music. If yes, do you have a clear favourite regarding Cubase or (the cheaper) Studio One or are both good choices?
Guy, how are you enjoying the new Artuia keyboard? Do you like it more than the Komplete Kontrol?
awesome
If this little tune doesnt get used in a coffee commercial, humanity has failed
What’s the small mixer with 3 faders ?
Nuances nuancescontroller.fr/
Great tutorial, what version of Cubase are using by the way? 🙏
14 pro
@ Okay thanks I’m still using 8.5 I thought it looked a bit different LOL🙏😂
Guy i would like to see how you handle transitions in battle ostinato since i am struggling a bit with this.
What do you mean by battle ostinato?
@@LearnCompositionOnline Game battle loop.
Obrigado de coração , Guy Michelmore. Voce me ajuda muito.
Muchas gracias Maestro, es de mucha bendición su enseñanza, larga vida y prosperidad para usted y su familia
gute Erklärung Guy, man kann auch den score editor dazuschalten
the chord track? Works really well at, well, noting the chords. Cheers Dave
But it also transposes stuff which I dont want I just a visual reference
@@ThinkSpaceEducation ah yes I see what you mean. I don’t use the chords themselves. It’s just a reference but I will try your suggestion. Great video as always. Cheers Dave
I always just end up listening endlessly to presets and sounds. Never putting down a single note
We're gonna try and Semper Fi? OHHHHH! Simplify! Great video and information as always, Guy!
Very good, but the melody is reminiscent of ""The Keel Row!"
12:41 Oooops. Guy, were you supposed to show this already?
Oh, that’s why I can’t find it anywhere. It is not released yet?
@@ArnoudCarel Premiere is tomorrow (today is Sunday 24th).
The sound immediately got my attention.
My motifs rarely fit neatly on a timeline. Bit too short, too long or off beat somehow. I find it hard to make it conform.
Why use markertrack, cubase has chordtracks also :D
Lese immer wieder "KI".
Damit sind aber nur die Bilder gemeint hoffentlich.
Den Gesang finde ich nämlich wirklich schön und wäre hart schockiert, wenn das auch bereits die KI macht.😅
Guy, you have to make merch available with the hoodie and "Hello Everybody" on em ;-) My fav channel.
Marker track? Why not use the Chord track for ... Chords? :D
Could have used the chord track?
But then it transposes stuff which I dont want. - I just want a visual reference
One of the most difficult things for me is finding the correct harmonies to go with the melody.
you learn this playing with though bass on piano and harmonizing church hymns
@@LearnCompositionOnline I think it's a talent you're born with. My daughter has the ability to hear underlying harmonies and pick them out of a song, but I can't do it.
Is there any reason why you do not use the chord track as a marker?
Yes because it then starts transposing things and I really dont want that I simply want something to remind me what chord is where
I just mute the chord track. I find it so handy for dragging chords down onto tracks for further ideas (I mainly produce electronic music though).
@@bobrv8 I do exactly the same. It´s so easy to change harmonies that way
I want to be a musician.
0:09 I've had some Roblox i guess, sure🤔
Poor chord 7.
We don't need any new fancy technical things or new plugins. Modern music is so boring. The only BIG key in music is: a great arrangement and great melodies!
The Beatles already knew that decades ago.
Thank you