Category
Debreved

DownbeatThe session starts, and the contractor will come out to announce the project, introduce the composer, and maybe also introduce the director or anyone else important. They sometimes say a few words, and then we are off. After the group tunes, I call the first cue. It is important to call out any version numbers, as sometimes we have more than one version of a cue. I will say it a bunch of times to make sure that everyone knows. I will explain the divisi…
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Introduction and Score Preparation When I give lectures, one question I get asked a lot is "What is the difference between conducting for a concert vs. conducting in the studio?" It is much easier to say what is the same. The conductor is the leader. Whether recording or performing live, the conductor's job is to beat time and cue people. That is about where the similarities end, however! In a concert hall scenario the music has usually been played many times before and the players…
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Hard to believe that I originally made this video in 2013 and it is now 2022! While several things have changed since I made the video below, my process is still the same, so it is still relevant to anyone interested in film orchestration. "What has changed?" I hear you ask. The main thing is that I now use Keyboard Maestro for all my shortcuts instead of Quickeys, which stopped being updated a few years ago. At first I was disappointed with…
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When I started working on large orchestral scores, the string section sizes were pretty standard, and similar to the concert hall where each lower section shrinks by two players. So for example, a standard orchestra might be 14 first violins, 12 seconds, 10 violas, 8 cello and 6 basses, or "14/12/10/8/6" for short (in the film world where we lump all the violins together, so this is often condensed further to "26/10/8/6"). After many years of orchestrating, conducting, and recording orchestras I have come to the…
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