Melodic Build-Ups

Melodic Build-Ups Building towards a climax requires also your melody to increase tension which is not only possible by “going higher and higher”. When analyzing melodic structures that build towards a climax, usually several characteristics of the melody push it...

Creative Work vs. “Office Duties”

Creative Work vs. Office Duties You need to plan in quite some time into your work schedule for communication and organization. Don’t believe that you can compose/produce music without interruption during your “scoring weeks”. It might not seem like much on first...

Make No Excuses

Make No Excuses Make no excuses. Acting professional involves sometimes swallowing bad working conditions. Nobody cares whether you just couldn’t get the five mins score done in one day or whether your cat has been sick or if your computer crashed every three clicks...

Melodic Ideas in the Same Register

Melodic Ideas in the Same Register This is one of the first rules one learns when learning to orchestrate and still I very often see it being done wrong: make space for important melodic lines. You don’t want to have several lines and textures in the same range walk...

Demo Mock-Ups

Demo Mock-Ups The media world nowadays doesn’t work anymore without detailed mock-ups (aka sample produced demos) of cues. The times when composers just presented their ideas on the piano and the directors trusted them that it will sound great in the end are over. If...