Equipment and Techniques
I'm a firm believer that a film should dictate the music. Likewise the approach for how to score a film should come from the project. That said, as much as I like to think of myself as a musical chameleon, I have a certain music voice that shows up in my projects, like it or not. Likewise, there are techniques that I've learned that work for me that might not work for somebody else. Since I appreciate it when other composers share their secrets, I thought I would share some of mine. I'll also post template files when appropriate.
Hand Writing vs. Sequencer:
I'm old enough to have started writing music by hand on manuscript paper. If I get an idea for a cue, I'll often sit at the piano and sketch it out on paper, usually a one-line approach with melody with chords written above.
When it comes to really writing a specific cue, I'll do a piano sketch to picture directly into Pro Tools based on the handwritten theme.
Pro Tools vs. Logic:
This used to be an easy dichotomy: Pro Tools for audio files, Logic for midi. For many years, I ran Pro Tools on one computer and had Logic chase Midi timecode on another computer. Now with Pro Tools 8 and Logic 9 the two programs are getting more similar, almost merging. However, I'm moving almost exclusively to Pro Tools. Why?
1) Familiarity. I'm really fast with Pro Tools. The fact that you can't customize keys in Pro Tools (like you can on the Avid or Logic) means, ironically, that I'm even faster on all Pro Tools systems. I can go to any studio and rock the edit.
2) Logic can't handle cc7 for a multi-instrument. Logic sampling is based on the EXS, which is a fine format. However, for Kontakt you have to make a multi-instrument, cable it to the Software instrument, then have the audio go out of an aux. If you move the midi volume slider on a single midi channel then it adjusts the volume for the entire instance, not the individual instrument. To adjust volumes separately you have to automate an aux for each instrument. This is a limitation I've worked around for years. I always think Apple will fix it, but they never do.
3) Pro Tools 8 now has notation. This is the one feature I've been requesting from Digi for years, ever since Pro Tools 4. True, it's a very limited notation view (no range filters, for example, which makes keyswitching look awkward), but you can see voicing among parts when you need to.
4) TDM hardware. Logic and Digital Performer can both use TDM hardware, but they are both buggy with it. Logic seems to break with every update then get fixed and break again. DP 6 for me is very crash-y in TDM. In theory using Logic or DP in TDM is a killer app; in reality it's unreliable.
5) RTAS. This is a reason NOT to use Pro Tools. Rather than complain about it, I'm now using Vienna Ensemble Pro, which takes most of the heavy lifting out of Pro Tools. More on VE Pro below.
What about Cubase, Digital Performer, Sonar, Fruity Loops, etc? I'm sure they have their individual strengths and weeknesses. If I really just needed to write to picture for a live orchestra with no other consideration (and no need to produce demos) I would probably do it in Sibelius.
Streamers vs. Clicks
or rubato vs straight tempo, or living breathing music vs robot music. As you can discern, I prefer the former. I'll usually play a cue to picture in Pro Tools without any time reference, then once I get something I like I'll do this trick:
1) change piano midi track to sample based
2) Use Identify Beat on the first beat and the first beat of bar 2 to get an approximate tempo
3) Change the session tempo to the approximate tempo
4) about 30 seconds before the downbeat add two tempo changes in two successive measures. Adjust the first tempo so that the downbeat falls directly on a bar line.
5) Renumber Bars to call the downbeat bar "Bar 1"
6) Go through the remainder of the song and Identify beat until you have an accurate tempo map.
You may ask, "why go through all that for every cue?" or "Can't some plug-in do that for you automatically?" Getting the grid right is important for notation view, and it makes midi editing and quantizing easier. The headache you go through to create the tempo map saves you a thousand little headaches later.
Beat Detective can do this to an extent automatically, but I find it's best to do only a few measures at a time, and the number of buttons you have to press means that it's almost faster just to do it by hand.
Some cues, or parts of cues, do sound better with straight tempi, especially if drums or loops are involved. What I'll do then is take a selection where I want straight tempo, go to Time Operations, and create an average tempo for a region. A cue may have a rubato intro, a fast middle in striaght tempo then a rubato ending.
What I really don't like is an expressive cue with a straight click. That, to me, says "sequencer!" rather than "performance."
All this is not to say that clicks are bad. Carl Stallings used clicks for Bugs Bunny (and Bugs is never bad). That's a perfect use for them -- fast, complicated music that has to hit many sync points.
A few years ago I wrote a magazine article about using streamers in a home studio with an elaborate VJ software setup (VJ = video deejay). Since then I found a product called Software Streamers that does everything I want in a much more elegant package. I run it on a Mac Book Pro using Digidesign Video Satellite LE, which is a very nice system for running picture in many formats (h.264 for example). Unfortunately software streamers is not working perfectly in Snow Leopard, but there is a new version 3 on the way. For more info go to www.softwarestreamers.com.
Samples vs. Live Players
When I started there were no samples (well, the DX7, remember those?). Now there are string samples (LASS, I'm talking about you) that can rival an expensive 40-piece orchestra. After all, samples are real instruments, and sampling is just fancy music editing. More than the other oppositions on this page, this one is really a false dichotomy.
Given that budget limitations will always exist, the question is what sounds best on samples and what sounds best with a live performance? And more importantly, if and when you use samples, how do you record the live elements of a cue so that you don't have robotic tempi (see above). A lot of creating film music is a question of music production, same as, say, a pop album. Getting an orchestra in a room playing to streamers is the ultimate in performance capture. However, even an orchestra in a room often has to follow playback in their earphones. Deciding when to overdub vs when to pre-record is a complicated issue.
I don't think I can provide any real insight here besides experience, sensitivity and common sense. Music production should not become so assembly line that live players are simply replacing tracks in a sequencer. A sequencer can just as easily follow a live performance. Let the music dictate the production technique.
Orchestral Template
Here's some meat and potatoes for other composers out there. I've built many templates over my lifetime. Philosophically I think there should be no template - each cue has it's own requirements -- but realistically you can't re-invint the wheel every time you take a drive. I like a template that has lots of room for expansion and modification.
I know many composers have multi-computer setups. At the most I had four, but now I'm down to two. I think I'll probably keep it this way for a while, with a lot of music down to one computer.
I often make cues entirely in Pro Tools, but for the past few years I was using Bidule as a host, or else part-ProTools and part stand-alone Kontakt routed back into Pro Tools with an interface from the second computer or from an optical cable from the same computer. Now I'm using Vienna Ensemble Pro for the most part.
Now that I've teased you with meat and potatoes, I'm afraid I'll have to expand on this section later. My template is under re-construction, but I'll post it as soon as I finish it.
Equipment List
Hardware:
ProTools HD3 Accel PCIe
Digidesign 192 Interface
Digidesign Sync I/O
JBL LSR 4326P speakers in 5.1 with the LSR4312P Subwoofer
Mac Pro 2x2.66 Ghz with 16 GB RAM
Mac G5 Dual 2.3 Ghz with 8GB RAM
RME Fireface 400
AMT8 and Midisport 4x4 midi interfaces
Mackie Control
Novation ReMOTE ZeRO SL
Studio Logic SL-1100 midi keyboard
2 Dell 20" Monitors, 1 Apple Cinema Display, 1 Sony LCD Display
Canopus ADVC-100
Sony Bravia KDL40V3000 television
Software:
Pro Tools 8 HD
Pro Tools Video Satellite LE
Logic Studio 9
Digital Performern 6.02
Sibelius 6
Live 6
Reason Adapted
Soundminer 4
Kontakt 3 and 2
Audio Ease Altiverb 6XL and Speakerphone
Virtual Instruments and Sound Libraries
Spectrasonics Omnisphere, Trillian and Stylus RMX
L.A. Scoring Strings (LASS)
Vienna Symphony Library Special Edition (WW Plus)
VSL Appassionata Strings
Cinesamples Hollywoodwinds
Project SAM Symphobia
Project SAM Orchestral Brass Classic
East West Quantum Leap Platinum Orchestra Play
East West Quantum Leap Symphonic Choirs
East West Quantum Leap Stormdrum 2 Pro
East West Quantum Leap Ra Play
Ivory 1.7 (with Italian Expansion)
EZ Drummer (with Latin and Jazz Expansions)
Samplemodeling "The Trumpet" and "Mr. Sax T"
Kirk Hunter Emerald Orchestra
Garritan Jazz and Big Band
Cinesamples Harp, Drums of War, Swing Sticks
Uberschell 60s a Go Go
Slo Motion Tokyo Soundscapes
Bollywood Grooves
South American Traditions
Tonehammer libraries
Heavocity Evolve
Sonic Couture Balinese Gamelan and Glass/Works
Plug-ins
Vienna Suite
McDSP ML4000, Filterbank and MC2000
Massenburg Design Works Hi-Res EQ3
Sonnox EQ
Sound Toys Sound Blender
Sonic NoNoise
many various plug-ins
Over 1TB of Sound Effects
Custom Foley Footstep Sample Library
Live Rig:
Mac Book Pro 2.16 Ghz with 2GB RAM
Metric Halo ULN-2
M-Audio Keystation 61es midi controller
Digidesign Mbox 2 Micro
Mackie 1202-VLZ mixing board
Glyph Portagig drive 80GB
OWC Mercury "On-the-Go" 320GB Drive
Pro Tools LE 8
Logic Studio 9 (wtih Main Stage)
Digital Performer 6.02
Kontakt 2
Microphones:
Sennheiser MKH 416P
Blue Baby Bottle
AKG C1000S (x2)
Audix D-4
Shure SM-57 (x2)
AMT M40 piano mic
Instruments:
Steinway M 1954 Grand Piano
Telecaster Electric Guitar
Kramer Electric Bass
Alvarez Accoustic Guitar
Banjo
Accordion
Tin Whistle
Recorders
Various hand percussion
©2010 John M. Davis