Posts tagged with
click track

Part 2 This is the second half of my discussion of the piece I recorded with Hollywood Scoring, where we look at the melodic section of the piece from bar 32 onward. Be sure to check out Part 1 so everything here makes sense. Main Theme I recently bought a new piano and walk past it on every trip to the kitchen. I remember as soon as I got confirmation that this session was happening, I was on my way to make some vegemite on…
Read More

I have been on many rants about the abuse of tenuto in current notion practice. I see scores needlessly littered with them. They can be of use, but in my experience 98.254% of them I see out in the wild are redundant. In my film orchestrating and arranging I rarely use them. I can go an entire 100-minute score and count the number of tenutos on my fingers. I have been trying to work out what they mean in all contexts, and they could mean…
Read More

Introduction My friends at Hollywood Scoring wanted to test out bringing their own recording gear into the iconic United Recording Studio A, which has been 'closed' since the beginning of 2023. They invited myself and a few others to write for a small orchestra. I was also on hand all day to conduct or help in the booth for other composers who conducted themselves. I consulted with contractor Noah Gladstone and engineer Adam Michalak on what ensemble would be best for the day. We came…
Read More

I think a lot of the workshops and courses out there are missing PART 2 where you have to do all of the things I mention in my articles. So let’s just pretend I am going to run my own workshop. This could work standalone, or actually be really cool as an addition to one of the existing ones. 9:00 Meet and greet over oat milk lattes and vegemite on toast.9:30 Review my blog articles about studio conducting.12:30 Lunch (avocado toast followed by more lattes).1:30…
Read More

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…
Read More

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…
Read More