My most in-depth video EVER: Sketching, orchestrating & creating a mock-up in Logic Pro X.
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- Опубликовано: 1 авг 2024
- Welcome to my most in-depth video yet. In this video, I am writing another part of my new ballet that will tour the UK later this year. In this video, I'm deep-diving into how I initially sketched my music, orchestrated it in Logic, and created a mock-up for approval.
This video is of a 2.5-hour writing session - at the start, I only had some chords to work with as a starting point, and at the end, I had a complete mock-up.
Of course, this is just a mock-up, so it is still rough in places, but I hope you find this deep insight into my creative process interesting.
As always, if you have any comments or questions, I'd be delighted to hear from you. Please subscribe, too!
PART 1: The Sketch
00:00 Intro
00:42 Harmonic sketch
02:27 Beginning improvising
03:08 Sketching main motif
04:45 Developing initial motif
06:10 Recognisable features
09:50 Two pianos sound rubbish
10:09 Mistakes are GREAT
10:54 too much, too soon?
12:42 Sketching next section
14:23 harmonic pacing
15:45 build-up section sketch
17:26 sketching the climax/outro
18:20 using harmony to tell an underlying story
PART 2: Orchestrating
19:32 a caveat about mock-ups
20:07 sketching with CHC R&D Strings
21:36 add synth for filler
22:33 flute for colour
23:10 solo cello
24:25 This is why I write music
25:10 Adding rhythmic layers
25:47 automating the strings QUICKLY
26:08 octaves, octaves, octaves
27:15 adding rhythmic intensity
28:05 velocity processor
29:00 filling out the chords
29:54 adding percussive layers
31:45 Orchestrating next section
32:37 change of colour needed
32:46 adding brass
33:24 filling out the texture
33:56 2.5hrs later…
34:40 playback of mock-up
38:20 outro
Software I used for this mock-up:
► DAW: Logic Pro X
► VSTs: @spitfireaudiollp BBCSO Pro www.spitfireaudio.com/bbc-sym...
Aperture the Stack www.spitfireaudio.com/apertur...
Labs Autorgraph Grand labs.spitfireaudio.com/autogr...
@TheCrowHillCo R&D Strings thecrowhillcompany.com/vaults...
► Plugins I regularly use: Altiverb 7 reverb www.audioease.com/altiverb/
@fabfilter Pro Q3 www.fabfilter.com/products/pr...
FabFilter Pro C2 www.fabfilter.com/products/pr...
FabFilter Saturn www.fabfilter.com/products/sa...
Various Waves SSL compressors & channel strips www.waves.com/bundles/ssl-400...
Connect with me:
► Instagram: / tom.harrold_music
► Website: www.tomharrold.com/
► SoundCloud: / tom-harrold
My setup:
► Mac Studio M2 Max 64GB
► Audio Interfaces: Presonus 8pre
► Headphones: Shure SRH 1840
► Monitors: KRK Rokit 5 G3
#composer #musiccomposer #spitfireaudio #filmcomposer #newmusic #commercialmusic #balletmusic #stagemusic #dancemusic #contemporaryballet #contemporarydance #contemporaryballetmusic
Keep up the good work!
Thanks, will do!
Thanks for this video Tom. Very interesting and inspiring to see you 'work' (when enjoying yourself like that, it can hardly be called work 😉). Beautiful piece you are sketching here. Can we hear the finale piece also somewhere? 🎶🙏
Glad you enjoyed it! I'll see what I can do about the final product, it's on a hard drive somewhere :)
Thank you for your video Tom, my favorite part is the piano sketch, it is very inspiring to me, thank you again
Great, thanks very much for watching!
Very cool, Tom. Thanks for upping the commentary aspect, it really does bring the interested viewer into the process at a much deeper level. Love the piece so far! My work process is very similar: light sketch instruments, lots of trial and error and then the pleasure of bringing in the big libraries to make the whole thing thrilling. Having real instrumentalists play your work must be a rush. Looking forward to more on this project.
Thanks for watching. Indeed, I’m very fortunate to have had lots of live performances and recordings, but the rush never ever gets old!
wow..........I just heard the finished piece.......totally surprised by the complexity and energy of it.....what a great experience watching it all unfold....thanks so much
Thanks very much for watching! I’m really glad you enjoyed it.
great format for learning
That’s great, I’m really glad you think so
That's great!!! Its was the first time when i watch this type a video, which shows how a simple idea was growing "from a scratch" to complete demo (from a piece of paper ideas to something, that would be someday play in live by real instruments) Is it a something like short movie? This something that would be perfect to lay down for main opening (with titles/characters/realm) for a videogame like Dragon Age or Baldurs Gate
The outro seems to be a little hollow, but maybe its goes for some overlapping action
(like an ocean calming after storm)
In my opinion, (in this moment i can see that you dont have hard processing for each track) but just now, i feel not enough low end in drums and bass, and some plates was too harsh - i have DT 1990, they have a wonderful sound stage - for classic pieces from beethoven to rachmaninov - a lot of live concerts have a big low end and have a lace mids, soo smoth for violin and viola, but they have a peak on 8khz - where is presence of plates and high end percussions, and some old vinyls are loud and harsh - i dont khow why in this days a lot or movies and series have an opening songs that have not enough fullness and complete sound at all, its criticizm on a level, when each phrase have a clue with other, but i feel and hear that on every soundtrack - maybe in this time more films composers boost all the tracks and (or) just play live and create cheap and catchy melodies like soundrack for Game of Thrones, for me its soo simple, i mean its not enough colours, like black, then white, and back to black, but its catchy for average listener, and its easy to remember, in your piece a like that syncopations off beat and rumble drums and that constant moving of "main riff" its feels like prog rock compositions by Dream Theater and Yes, but they also have more drums and love some rhythm changes on the fly. From this point of a view your composition like a full intermission before second chapter on the next disk... Please keep film this type of a video, its very interesting, i would love to see how every element comes to its own place, like a piece of puzzle for a full picture, and some tips from your in Logic Pro - how to bring more live to acoustic samples of an instrument to sound more humanly
PS when comes a second notification, a realized that i forget ti sign in to your channel,
thats how interesting was all the development
Wow, thank you so much for your amazing comment! You’re right, the drums do need more low end; as explained in the video, I’m simply creating a rough mock-up for approval, and later on, I’ll mix and process the tracks properly.
Thank you for your kind comments on the music too, I’m really glad you like it. Stay tuned for more!
Hi Tom. Found your channel just a couple hours ago, and have already watched a few of your videos, especially the ones with the sketch to mock-up orchestration on Logic. Subscribed as well. Very helpful and interesting to see another composer/orchestrator creating their sketches.
If you don't mind answering, may I ask how do your work-hours look like when you're working on a sketch? Do you finish all your work in one sitting (if it's not too big), or do you take breaks and finish it over several hours/days? Also, how do you manage to not get distracted? May I also suggest/request making a video about time management and being effective while working?
Sincere thanks to you. :)
Thanks so much for watching and for your comment. Generally, the sketching is completed pretty quickly for a short piece like this - maybe an idea has been permeating in my head for a few days and (without realising it) I've been absent-mindedly sketching it in my head when not at my desk, so when I come to sketch I have a pretty good idea of what it's going to be (somehow!). Distraction is something I've always struggled with, but I have a few techniques - no phone at desk, no social media at desk, etc. I use some discipline here and it works to keep the procrastination at bay. RE time management, I use an app called Motion which is like an AI personal assistant - I can plug in projects, deadlines, aims and it is like a virtual personal assistant and plans my work days - extremely useful for productivity. I may do a video on it soon!
@@TomHarroldMusic Thanks so much. Makes perfect sense. Looking forward to more incredible content from you, Tom.
Thanks for a great video, Tom - really insightful to see your process laid bare like this. Can I ask: as this is a ballet, to what extent are you considering the dance element here? Has that already been planned, or will that be adapted to this music maybe? Might you tweak the time sigs later to accommodate the dance, or will the choreographer adapt to the music? Just curious really! Cheers.
As it happens the next video I’m doing will cover that a bit more! It’s complex: at the moment the choreographer is using a combination of my music and music that exists already as a guide; the guide music I will replace with something of a similar ilk but could have a different tempo etc. So really, at this stage, it is a completely fluid piece with some elements that are pretty finalised and others that are still being discovered and written. I’ll post the link here when I complete the next video talking about this. Thanks so much for watching!
@@TomHarroldMusic Thanks so much Tom - will keep an eye out for that video. Hope it goes well.