Film scoring tutorial: How to create a tempo map in Logic Pro

In this Film Scoring Tutorial I want to show you how to set markers and create a beat map (or even called Tempo map) in Logic Pro which then allows you precise movie scoring.
I feel honoured that Bryan Waters from ‪@TheCueTube‬ phoned me some days ago asking if I wanted to partecipate in his film scoring show "1 scene 4 composers" where we will receive a clip and then need to do some scoring to picture. I then decided to use this opportunity to make some short tutorials about movie scoring. Today I show you how to import the movie, the audio and prepare Logic setting the markers and creating the tempo map. The first step of How to score a movie in Logic Pro if you will.
In the next episode I will talk about the libraries I'm going to use and why and then probably two more episodes talking about the musical choices and the final walkthrough.
Check out even the Kickstarter that The Cue Tube is running at the moment: www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
Questions about this movie scoring tutorial in the comments are welcome and will be answered :)
Enjoy
0:00 Intro
1:32 Opening Logic and importing the movie
2:07 Using the Korg Nano Control
2:20 Importing the Audio tracks
2:50 what is a beatmap for?
3:15 Marker and Beatmap Tracks
4:20 Setting the Markers
5:45 Locking the markers to the SMPTE position
6:20 Creating the Tempo map
8:20 What is it used for
9:16 what's next
PS: If you like my content mostly created in nightshift and would like to support me then a coffee would be much appreciated:
www.buymeacoffee.com/wahey73
From now on you can even support me on Patreon. I will upload exclusive content there which you won't find here on KZbin:
www.patreon.com/MartinHeidenr...
A huge THANK YOU goes out to my first Patrons:
Dave Cushing
Ralph Paul: www.numeric-noise.com
Desmond Osullivan
Rikki Murillo: / @rikkimurillo9970
#FilmScoringTutorial #Howtowritemusictopicture #colony #moviescore #thecuetube #logicprox #moviescoring

[@stefanorossi3480]

Great to see you doing tutorials again. Keep em coming

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Thank you, there are more on the way....promise :)

[@thomaskaasi4225]

Very clear and informative, Martin, as always 🙂 Really looking forward to the next ones and the end result!

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Thank you so much Thomas

[@RodrigoLana]

Great video! ❤

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Thank you. I'm always happy to receive comments like this showing me that my tutorials are useful to someone

[@casiano_music]

Thank you so much!

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Thank you Michael, I'm always happy to hear that my videos are useful!

[@brainjellyTV]

This is so helpful…thank you so much!

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

You're welcome...always happy to hear if one of my videos was useful to someone

[@gryffinfuryproductions4157]

Wow, I just fixed a long time problem I've had of not knowing how to lock my markers to score because of your help, thank you! This was so helpful for my own project! I appreciate the breakdown.

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Thanks for your nice words! Always happy to hear if my videos have been useful to someone

[@chromofonic]

I'm already looking forward to E02. I like these tutorials where you break down your process. I find tempo maps tricky. Sometimes i cant time the changes in tempo to be smooth without changing time signature.

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

True, depends on the length of the clip. This one is only 60 seconds with quite a stable pace. In longer scenes where even the pace changes (i.e. someone is having peaceful breakfast and then suddenly burgelers enter the scene violently) it's a complete different beast but as you wrote, you can then help yourself with changing the time signature for a few bars (which by the way can be even a very effective musical tool)

[@cesmcmyth]

Ey Martin, watched a couple of your vids before but never went to nose on your profile. So, you mentioned you took a 20 years break? same story here :-) congratulations for the come back. I guess you made made some millions during these 20 years that allowed you to fully come back? LOL well done! ok, that was it. Cheers, thx for sharing.

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

guess what, I'm hoping to make those millions now.... 😂

[@cesmcmyth]

@@MartinHeidenreichMusic🤣🤣 you're on the right track! LFG!

[@johnfinnis8373]

Great idea for a series of videos, Martin, and very much looking forward to the rest. Thank you. (Only 50 more subs to go!)

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Thanks for your support John. There will be a little bit of everything, film scoring, choosing the right libraries, tipps and tricks inside your daw...quite busy these days in organising, filming and editing those :)

[@oumkaarrs5433]

Nice Video !!! Will you please elaborate on how to manage the time line / tempo if there are changes in the duration of the scenes. As my client keep experimenting with the scenes it becomes hectic to manage are rearrange score to match perfect hit points.

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

That's a tough question. Personally I don't score a scene/short movie in detail until I get the locked picture (if the director makes frequent changes). Until then personally I only use a few tracks , just enough to keep the directors mind busy. Changing the markers results in a mess (at least for me). Good news, normally there are way less hit points needed than we often think. Hope that helps

[@julianamartinvlog]

Watching & greetings here in Macau Along the way ..here i am my eyes catch your channel"Martin"your name is my surname😍 Now here my love & support..looking forward ahead more

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Thanks for your nice words. What a funny coincidence, subbed to your channel too

[@JSoulKeys]

So is it better to choose a tempo of the song you have in mind to compose, tempo map the scene, then once you have the overall tempo, start composing?

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

That's an interesting question and depends on your workflow (or on what the director requests). You could score a scene completely without any tempo map and it will work, or you will need to hit several points and then a tempo map is fundamental. But to your question: yes, first you should find a tempo that suits that scene most and then decide if a tempo map is needed to set some accents really on point or if you want to have the music more or less free flowing. In this video I show how I scored the same scene twice, once with and once without a tempo map and why: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hl6QpXatq5t8jdk

[@wesboundmusic]

Sechskanal-Abhöre, Room Treatment... Mann, mann, mann - da entsteht ein richtiges Studio bzw. ist schon entstanden, wow! Schkucke... ;-) What a cool clip and project, wow! I'm sure it's tons of fun to score to!

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Andere nennen es auch Greenscreen 😉

[@wesboundmusic]

:D @@MartinHeidenreichMusic (ok, hast mich drangekriegt ;-) )

[@wesboundmusic]

Jetzt checke ich erstmals bewußt: Der Seiltänzer läuft ja in der Nähe vom Tollwood vor der Oly-Park-Kulisse, starke Aufnahme, super!

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

@@wesboundmusic Ganz genau, der lief genau mitten über das Tollwoodgelände und ich war zum Glück zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort

[@Anada-qw7fq]

Hi Martin, thanks for the tutorial. Just wondering why sometimes I'm not able to drag the beat mapping to my desired marker spot?

[@Anada-qw7fq]

Oh, I just figured it out. I forgot to select the marker first, as you've demonstrated in the video.

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Great to hear that you figured it out :) What are you working on (if you want to share that info)?

[@Anada-qw7fq]

@@MartinHeidenreichMusic Sure, I'm working on rescoring a game trailer. It's a test for a job I'm applying for.

[@wingtinalvinsham134]

Im new in logic pro, so i found that if i want to change the tempo in the middle of the part, the parts afterward of the movie are still messing up, how could i solve this ? Or i must decide the tempo in the part and once i make it i cant adjust it without messing up other stuff?

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Unfortunatelly I have the same problem. You really need to work your way from start to ending, you can't edit from the middle (except, you delete all time changes from where you need to edit, and then do the rest again) which makes sense, if you think about it. How should that time edited in the middle be compensated?

[@Mojo_Musik]

If I want the tempo transitions to be as discrete as possible, is there an easy way of gradually fading into the new tempo over the course of whole scene (rather than a short ritardando), without having to manually mess around with curves?

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Not sure if I understood your question: if you need to accentuate hit point in the scene, then that's the only way I know. If you just want the tempo to change gradually as it's more of some underscoring (let's say a documentary or something like this) then just draw the tempo curve to your likings, works great in Logic

[@Mojo_Musik]

@@MartinHeidenreichMusic Sorry Martin, yes it was very late and I was in the thick of it. Yes, for an underscore. I was really just wondering whether there was a feature in Logic that would calculate a linear tempo 'fade' from one hit point to another, avoiding any obvious rit/ralls.

[@inarell84]

QUESTION: I'm trying to adjust my beat map for a certain section. The midi events are all changing when I adjust the tempo. They aren't SMTPE locked so I don't know how to fix it. I'm using a Marker that is SMPTE locked and dragging the beat map bar over to change the tempo to match the marker, then all the midi events in that section are shifting over instead of staying on the beat. Any ideas?

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

Hi Isaac, unfortunately what I found out is: you need to work from the "left to the right". Once you start moving the markers everything gets beaten up

[@inarell84]

@@MartinHeidenreichMusic thanks for the reply. So basically you have to set your markers and beat map and not touch the tempos after you start inputting midi? It seems like a bug to me. The midi items should either be smtpe locked or not. Right now they are acting like they are even if they aren't.

[@inarell84]

@@MartinHeidenreichMusic what do you mean by "work from the left to the right"?

[@MartinHeidenreichMusic]

@@inarell84 You need to start at bar 1 (to the left) and then work your way through to bar x (to the right). Once you get the locked picture there isn't any need to change markers afterwards. If you have to work on drafts that the director might hand out to you, just don't overdo it with markers and arrangements and everything is fine (at least it works for me)

[@cesmcmyth]

@@inarell84 found this already? kzbin.info/www/bejne/apbEY4hoociVrMk