How To Write Orchestral Music - Tips To Make Realistic Orchestrations + Free Stems & FLP

In this tutorial, I analyze Final Fantasy XV's Apocalypsis Noctis and share some knowledge on how to write realistic and interesting orchestrations. FLP & Orchestral Stems included as a download!
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[@AlexMoukala]

Hey guys! I decided to make an exception and give the FLP & Stems for free to everyone to celebrate the 5k subs. :) FLP / Project Stems Download: - www.patreon.com/posts/8459373 Libraries used & PC Specs: - Strings: Metropolis Ark 1, Cinematic Strings 2 - Brass: Metropolis Ark 1 - Choir: Metropolis Ark 1 - Piano: The Giant - Woodwinds: Hollywood Orchestral Woodwinds - Percussion: Damage, Hollywood Orchestral Percussion - Trailer SFX: Cinematic Trailers Designed, Scenes From The Multiverse Vol.1, Juggernaut, Custom Samples - PC Specs: 3.4 GHz i7 CPU, 16GB RAM, 512 GB SSD + Extra HDD - DAW: FL Studio 12

[@AlexMoukala]

@Rhandy: i7 4771 3.5 GHz, 16 GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD for libraries. :) I'm going to talk about PC specs more in depth in a video that I'll make very soon tho.

[@rodrigue6315]

Thanksyou very much for all alex

[@AlexMoukala]

@JockerLordz: I think you're good. Haven't tried Miroslav Philarmonik 2, but I'd say just make sure it has the main instrument sections (strings, brass, choir, percs,) and that it's responsive to the Modulation and Expression MIDI CCs. If it is, that's a good pick for a VST to start with!

[@ray-epicorchestralmusic9139]

Hey Alex, I have been watching your videos a lot lately and must say that your tutorials are great! It actually motivated me to give it a try myself, however, it is not as easy as I thought haha. Both composing and making it sound realistic. Needlessly to say, I am working on it and I appreciate your videos :) Thank you!

[@KALYANMUSICLIBRARY]

No Flp link Bro ,

[@PaulCassidyOrchestrations]

Every time a KZbin notification from Alex Moukala pops up, my eyes light up because I know I am about to pick up some new tips! Always informative and never dull. As another person commented, an orchestral EQ tutorial would really help. Thanks as always Alex :)

[@AlexMoukala]

Haha, thank you Paul. Glad to have you here :)

[@SI_Sentinel]

Alex, please show us how you use volume, expression, automation etc. And give us some tips on where to use it, especially on strings. You're the boss btw :D

[@flametrax]

Yes pls, I watched Landing tutorial but still can't figure it out.

[@AlexMoukala]

I will make a video about it, but to answer you now, Mod. Wheel usually determines the intensity of how hard an instrument is being played, while expression determines the volume. With this in mind, I tend to draw curves mostly for the expression and change the Modulation in steps instead, from passage to passage, depending how loud I want instrument x to sound in that certain part of a song. Sometimes though I draw curves for the Modulation too, as that gives a different effect. There's not a set rule on how to do this, and the approaches are multiple. This is mine. :)

[@vignesh19]

Hi Alex , A tutorial on how to use Mod and expression would be great . It would give a clear understanding rather than typing them out and we reading it . Btw , thanks for the amazing tutorials . I just joined the channel recently and it's amazing !

[@SOIBand]

I learn so much in your videos. You may save my faith in my ability to create music again. I was so frustrated because i didnt know from which angle to take orchstral music. I have only written Rock and Prog. I felt lost, but this helps very much. Thank you again.

[@GabrielAguiarProd]

This is brilliant! You explain it very well! Thanks for sharing!

[@MitchellBroom]

YES FInally new video :D Congrats on 5K too! Well deserved!

[@AlexMoukala]

Thanks Mitchell!

[@MitchellBroom]

No worries, Something i've been meaning to ask you. Can you possibly do a tutorial on cinematic sound design? I know thats a super broad topic but I feel like with the trailer music industry heading more and more towards hybrid sort of stuff a lot of people (Including myself) might benefit a lot from that? Just and idea/request haha

[@PereRevert]

Alex, much appreciated for sharing. This is very kind of you to make all these awe-inspiring video tutorials. Keep up the good work dude !

[@18CC]

I am starting on Daw this year,i want make musics like you on FL studio. I use Signature bundle. I am so happy to have found your channel !

[@karimjamous4940]

You. Are. A. Genius

[@AshtonGleckman]

Fantastic Alex! Really enjoy your thorough explanations. Cheers to you and congrats on 5k! :)

[@AlexMoukala]

Cheers, my man! Love your tutorials too! :D

[@hankdraco6957]

Hey, I came here rather accidentally, searching for some orchestration tips, but I took a valuable lesson about composing in general - thanks Alex! The way you explained "spotlight" in terms of using instruments helped me a lot! You flipped the switch that was tending to switch for some time I guess;) I will surely check out your channel. Thumbs up for good content!:)

[@ShamStalin]

Awesome Alex Moukala! I love this theme ^^

[@rajobratadas8799]

Alex:- The track is pretty loud so prepare yourself Me:- *raises volume*

[@jahkrmusic]

Aww yea this is just what I need! These tutorials are awesome. The Evenant classes are amazing as well. I never knew I could learn so much so fast! Well done!

[@AlexMoukala]

Indeed! Those guys are freaking great

[@MythixMusic1]

5k subs?? Dude, you're killing it! Nice work and cool video

[@AlexMoukala]

Thanks bro!

[@EliasNilssonComposer]

Congrats on your 5k+ subs (almost 6k!), you deserve it and so much more :) Great video and thank you for the stems! Will surely help me and many others! Will have a look at them tonight.

[@AlexMoukala]

Thanks Elias!

[@RaffzVieira]

Alex, really cool that you made a exception and made a project of yours avaiable, really cool way to go even more throughly in the things you teach. But besides that, your videos are always a very good dissecting of a orchestral track and for that (and the fact that you are one in few who do that nowadays in youtube) I'm really grateful to have found your channel months ago! Keep it up :)

[@5ammy13]

Master, I see that you have overcome those shortcomings. We are for ever grateful that your lesson has finally reached us :-D really good tutorial Alex. And thanks so much for stems as well :-P

[@AlexMoukala]

Haha, yeah I made it! The audio card juststarted behaving on its own after I spent a whole afternoon fighting with it, go figure. :D Glad this tutorial was of help!

[@CesarDMarin]

Great tutorial! Thank you for sharing all your knowledge!

[@tharinduft]

You are an amazing producer........ Good luck.....

[@thepianoman007]

Great stuff Alex! Thanks for doing that!

[@NexusNightcoreMusic]

I CAN SEE GENGAR ON HIS SHIRT....AMAZING ALEX

[@HumanTouchArt]

great tutorials keep it up :D love watching this while im learning how to compose this are very helpful videos :D

[@patrikherman_]

HE IS BACK!

[@AlexMoukala]

:D

[@B3yondOfficial]

Amazing technic's i learned from your channel damn

[@sa9037-x5h]

Much love from India!! great music man love it....i have learned a lot from you❤

[@AlexMoukala]

Glad to hear that!

[@b1wg_137]

@ 8:08 "Give character to every single instrument." Google is your friend. Google (orchestral instruments) to learn about their limits and their purpose on how they support one another. I had no idea what a timpani was at first, not even a cello. I fucking love the cello by the way haha. But yeah, this helps a lot. Don't just buy libraries and put in those instruments thinking "Oh, my music is going to sound good now" beacuse you see Alex doing it. Alex has that foundation of knowledge that us beginners don't. So, try to have a good understanding of an orchestra before trying to arrange one. 16:09

WOah your orchestration is improving a lot :D Amazing! Wait isn't that pretty much exactly the skyrim theme? But you're saying it's from Final Fantasy :o So similar

[@AlexMoukala]

Thanks man! Yeah, it's a boss fight track from Final Fantasy XV which is quite controversially similar to the Skyrim theme. :P Still, I enjoyed this track a lot and wanted to learn how it was made, so I rewrote it by ear!

[@gabrielsalcedo6760]

Hey Alex very interesting tips

[@EfisioCross]

Awesome brother.... that teeshirt tho 😍

[@AlexMoukala]

Haha, yooo!

[@neelabhnayanphukon3415]

wow... its amazing

[@no-yj2cf]

You've inspired me!

[@pcraigmillard]

Great stuff man! You seem like a cool dude- great info. Also where did you get that Gengar t-shirt? It is sick!!

[@AlexMoukala]

Haha, wow, someone noticed my nerdiness. :D I got it from www.teetee.eu/en/ I think!

[@TheDuffLP]

you are a genius! Great:)

[@ShadowOpus]

Great Job Alex! Very informative and explained well. I'm also interested in the second band you mentioned as "Orchestral jazz" that you liked. Please let me know the spelling of their name. You said it so quick.

[@AlexMoukala]

Snarky Puppy! These sick guys here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4ulnYWhe5VgqtE

[@ShadowOpus]

Thanks Alex!

[@Evenskiped]

No flp i'm disapointed

[@MeridiusReloaded]

Alex, big thanks for all the great tutorials! Will you analyze something from the modern film music as well in the future? I mean Zimmer, Jablonsky, Gregson-Williams etc.

[@AlexMoukala]

+Tomas Zemler I wouldn't exclude those, although I'm personally much more interested on music from games. :)

[@terragarcia5397]

ohmygosh..... being an orchestra fanatic... haha i love this.. QwQ ..... i want to create my own orchestrations for the world!!! In reality it will take time and patience. :D

[@ravescience2000]

good work:)

[@tutusxddeflstudio6249]

hello Alex epic nice

[@DipshankarDas]

hi can you show me how to make the strings of the kontakt library sound realistic using mod wheel, thanks

[@AlexMoukala]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/o33Kn3tjiqqGhZI

[@MythixMusic1]

Your drums and percussion sounds amazing. What're your go-to instruments?

[@AlexMoukala]

Haha, I love these too, percs are a big part of my personal style I think. I mostly use basic stuff though, you know? Damage, EW Hollywood Percs for the more organic percussion and layers of trailer hits/booms from libraries like Scenes From The Multiverse, Juggernaut etc.

[@5ammy13]

Darius, nice to see you here :-D

[@patrikherman_]

What do you think about Action Strikes, Alex?

[@AlexMoukala]

@Patrik: I think it's a good tool for beginners but once you get more expert, you may want to start to write rhythms on your own. I'm not a big fan of its timbre though!

I like action strikes, with processing it can sound amazing, also it has some of the best collection of shakers :D Shakers for life! I agree not all the samples are great but some are, like the taikos or the big tom ensemble (big hits) used it in my last track for example. I don't know if it's the best value though.

[@samuelgordon2529]

Alex, i want to try myself in the orchestral music but i have been only working on EDM and Dubstep-ish stuff. where should i start and what should i do to learn the very basics?

[@AlexMoukala]

I will make a video about that very soon, but a good place to start is_ Step 1 - Get a library that covers all the mian sections of the orchestra (this is great and cheap: www.soundsonline.com/composercloud) Step 2 - Compose simple pieces to get a little hang of how the orchestra works Step 3 - Watch all the videos on this channel!

[@samuelgordon2529]

Alex Moukala Thanks! I Love your videos!

[@tutusxddeflstudio6249]

Alex Can you Do one tutorial Equalizing Orchesta sounds

[@AlexMoukala]

That's a good idea for future tutorials, thanks. :)

[@RaffzVieira]

Oh and if you happened to check hans masterclass, would be nice to have a video with your opinions on it (tbh I just want more content from you haha and I know it's probably hard for you, time and all, but if you have the time, update the channel a bit and I'm sure it will grow even further!)

[@AlexMoukala]

Haha, yeah I'm planning to increase my release schedule a bit, gotta find a way to make everything fit. As for the HZ masterclass, I think I'll check it out later on, a few weeks from now!

[@yoshiYoish]

My gawd I was so racist that when I saw you . But then when I decided to watch your video , bruhh you are gold ! It's strange that when people decided to admire that certain person, racism goes away

[@meraxessoneu6794]

Hi Alex! What do you use for choirs? It sounds very good!

[@AlexMoukala]

Meraxes Official, that's the mighty Metropolis Ark 1 choir ensemble!

[@meraxessoneu6794]

Thank you! :)

[@tomasboone]

How does your track not stutter at this CPU usage? mine starts crackling with 10 kontakt players.. :/

[@AlexMoukala]

If you're on FL: Are you using the smart disable function? :P

[@tomasboone]

Yess, i looked up all the tricks on youtube :p probably just a slower computer. I am using my laptop.

[@djfajry]

Hey Alex, What's your set up "PC" or "MAc" i think if want to produce this kind of complicated tracks my machine will die :D what's the best machine to do this kind of project without a freezing (sound and image) Thnx for your videos ;)

[@AlexMoukala]

My PC is not the best configuration there is, but I have an i7 4771 3.5 GHz and 16 GB of RAM, plus a few SSD drives. If you want to avoid freezing and want to have the best playback performance possible, you should try to get a really kickass CPU. Maybe something even beyond mine.

[@djfajry]

Thnx for the reply Alex ;)

[@KALYANMUSICLIBRARY]

Pls update the link with flp bro

[@eylab1541]

hey, love the vids... not a criticism directed at you obviously, but did the guy that wrote that piece really think he was gonna get away with nicking the theme from The Elder Scrolls and that nobody was gonna notice...

[@AlexMoukala]

Yeah, we all thought of Skyrim when we first heard this song I guess, haha. Still, it is a very interesting piece. :)

[@pcraigmillard]

I read your comment before it got to that part and was thinking you were exaggerating. You weren't- It's definitely from Morrowind.

[@livntoasty]

Hi Alex. I decided to download your project (thank you, btw). Once I got it into FL I was able to playback the song as a whole but couldn't hear each part individually. Any ideas about why this happened? Thanks.

[@AlexMoukala]

That's weird. Did you download the separated stems of the mp3?

[@livntoasty]

I just went back, clicked link, clicked the MIDI file and a list of separate instruments opened. If I click the download button at the top right it will download the file but I'm not able to analyze each section in FL. I'm not able to download each stem. When I hover over one of the sections it's just a vertical cursor. Nothing highlights. At the top of that list is a clickable link that says, "open with" if i click it, it brings up a list of apps. Do I need to install an app to get to the individual files? As far as the individual sections, I don't hear any sound. I apologize for not directly saying this before. The cursor follows along, the keys and notes will light up but no sound.

[@k-wiggins9581]

So I know what to buy, what version of Fruity Loops do you use?

[@AlexMoukala]

K-Wiggins 95 I recommend at least FL Studio Produced Edition

[@k-wiggins9581]

Does that have all the plugins you use in your videos, or do I have to buy certain ones separately?

[@papobado9793]

Can you maybe make a video about OST's like Arrival, Stranger things or Hans Zimmer, not just in the style of 2 steps from hell.

[@AgressiveFrench]

why don't you use hollywood strings ? ( if you have it )

[@AlexMoukala]

I have it, but I'm not a huge fan. The library is quite old compared to most libraries I use, so in that context, it's harder to make it shine like the other ones do for me!

[@KingNStheMighty]

which DAW is this?

[@BlackAera]

FL Studio 12

[@iggswanna1248]

hey alex you there?

[@AlexMoukala]

Yes?

[@iggswanna1248]

whatsup?

[@MikeBurnsArrangedAccidents]

Muse is great: like if Queen and Led Zeppelin had a baby.