You’ll Love Composing
Music to Films

At its core, there are really only two things that a composer needs in order to write music for films:

• a film;

• instrumental sound.

As a reward for producing a successful film score, there are two core things that a composer should get:

• a sense of self-satisfaction;

• MONEY.

Concentrating on the top two bullet points, a film is available from a film owner that is interested in your skills as a composer. The film must be displayed on a screen or monitor in order to be seen by a composer. These days, the film is usually imported into a composer’s recording program and displayed in a setting that allows music to be composed within the program while the film is being displayed.

This brings us to our second point. A composer needs instrumental sound at his or her disposal in order to create a soundtrack. These instrumental sounds can be live instruments, or midi instruments (synthesized or created from real sound samples).

Live instruments are recorded into a sequencer/recording program with studio or mono microphones that are hooked up to an exterior mixer. Midi sounds are bought and installed into a computer as a resource for composers that either cannot afford the cost of live musicians or choose to use midi as a preferred sound source for a particular film project.

The software that I am most accustomed to for film music composing is called Cubase. Although there are more recent versions than the one that I am currently using, I have found Cubase SX3 to be very responsive and effective as a recording and mixing program.

Of course, the other option is for a composer to concentrate on the composing of a score and allow an established recording studio to do all of the technical work with their chosen computer setup and software. This is a viable option, as long as a composer budgets studio time and technical processing into his composing fee.

As for the writing of the music, the oldest trick is to make the music fit the action. How to do this depends on training and talent. Composing music for film is a process of sharing and a rewarding meeting of minds between composer and movie director. With proper chemistry, composers are likely to get repeat requests from the same director for services in film projects.

As a final note, composing for film can be a detailed and time consuming process. A composer has to repeatedly watch the movie that needs the music. Then, a mapping out process of where and for how long the movie needs music takes place. A composer must be prepared well before he or she walks into a studio, as wasting time in a studio is not professional.

To ensure that a composer is ready, directors will repeatedly meet with composers to make sure that the proper amount of time and the mood of the music is contained within a film score. In this regard, a composer of film will usually have a midi or piano reduction, and a recording of his/her intended film score readily available for a movie director’s review (the fully scored music with added live instruments comes later in the final studio recordings). In this way, a director can have an audio representation of what the composer has planned for his/her film before the final studio work and recordings take place.

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