How To Mix Orchestral Music in 5 Steps - My Workflow Explained

[@AlexMoukala]

02:09 - Step 1: Write a Great Arrangement 09:29 - Step 2: Reverb 17:40 - Step 3: Volume Balancing & Panning 25:26 - Step 4: Aggressive EQ & Surgical EQ 33:02 - Step 5: Fine Tuning & Comparing with Reference Mix

[@spoonman1111]

Please tell how do you make big unscrolling separator in the mixer and add more Send channels on the right?

[@AlexMoukala]

Step 1 > Press right click on any mixer track. Step 2 > Have fun.

[@andrewqualls]

Hey Alex thanks for this tutorial, I feel like I have asked you this before, I don't remember but basically, I have a problem when making orchestral music due to FL Studio slowing down when I start adding in more instruments to the piece. It literally gets to the point to where if I hover over something that can be clicked, it takes like a second for the mouse Icon to change to the finger pointer icon, even the thing that moves as the track is playing the track back in real-time kinda delayed (The more Instruments I add in the track). I noticed in the Drink Up Me Hardees remake it looks like your daw still runs smoothly. My Specs: Intel Core i7-6700CPU, 3.40 GHz, 64gb RAM, 64-bit OPS. The Brass instruments and the percussion that I use, run off of the PLAY Engine, everything else is Kontakt. I really would appreciate your feedback on this.

[@peshtiwarbotanimusic]

For the first time I'm mixing a track that I'm fairly satisfied with follow these steps, I'm at 23:44 but I will follow through tomorrow since well it's late here and I'm earfatigued. Thanks for sharing this, it's people like you who are encouraging other people to follow their own path and dreams ❤

[@JoanneMoo]

I love all your orchestral production tutorials. They are so packed with useful tips thank you!! 😇

[@Fabi-es1xy]

yess :)

[@thomasnielsen7229]

"If the cake sucks, you can put all the icing you want but its never going to be great". lmao

[@JazzyFuriousDestroyer]

Genius

[@ToastedCigar]

Another great video from you, Sir! It's good that you emphasize the importance of instrumentation rather than super-heavy producing. If the music sounds badly arranged, it doesn't matter how much you polish the tracks, since they are not going to sound good.

[@cubawak]

Alex! Those 37 minutes opened my eyes! What you convey in half an hour, a university professor would need a whole semester ... You're a magician. Even HZ does not convey knowledge in such a simple and accessible way. Thank you very much!

[@UthoRiley]

It's good to see you're mostly concerned with instrumentation when mixing instead of production, whereas the popular trend in orchestral music nowadays (mainly due to trailer epics) tends towards spending 80% of the time producing instead of writing. Suffice it to say you're doing a good job, so keep it up ;)

[@TerallianOfficial]

Super cool to see you on this page Utho, been following Alex for a little bit now. :D

[@UthoRiley]

Yeh, i hop around on alot of composer's pages nowadays, it's always cool to see what others are doing and it's never too late to learn.

[@julko28]

Thanks Alex you are big inspiration to us, and IMHO this is the best youtube channel

[@DanieleNasutiComposer]

Hi Alex, I'm an italian composer. I want to say thank you for your mixing tutorials. Sofar I studied composition, orchestration, music for films etc but mixing was a thing I didn't know almost anithing about and now that I was in need I found your tutorial very very useful, so thank you very much for your help!! However before this I haven't ever hear about you, aren't you in the composer's forums? (VI Control, Redbanned...)

[@DanzoSrife]

Thanks for the tips, I learned a couple! Btw, I enrolled in the EVENANT course Cinematic idea from start to Finish. I've been on it from about 1.5 mos now :)

[@AlexMoukala]

Great! How are you liking it so far?

[@ibrahimgema6119]

Wow. This is what I really need right now, I don't know where to go after levels adjusting. Thank you for the content!

[@Damon802]

You're videos are great man! When it comes to the Panning of the already panned Libraries, I just recently read that if your Arrangement needed for example, The String Section Panned to the Opposite side you can just Swap the Stereo Channels keeping the Fullness of the Library. Thought it was worth sharing.

[@berpmorph2946]

Hi Alex! I have a problem with Midi settings. I need that midi notes (different colours in piano roll) change that colours (change the midi articulation) before trigger the note in kontakt. The setting is: I have different articulations in separate instruments in the libraries (I mean, instruments that cannot be change by key-switch) (example: ProjectSam Symphobia 1). I put some of those in a Instrument Bank and I configure with BRSO Articulate plugin, to achieve triggering every single instrument of the bank with midi colours on piano roll. This setup works, this can trigger every instrument by each select colour. The problem is: It seems like the notes in piano roll trigger the instrument in kontakt first and later check the note colour played. In that order. (To check this, put some notes with different colours in PR and then do long clics on them, you can see that colour change comes only when you release the clic, and not before, like I need) And this is a big problem to work with. Because, for example, I put 4 notes articulation on PR (one after the other): Sustain - Staccato - Tremolo - Glissando With this problem, what's really gonna sound like this: Sustain - Sustain - Staccato - Tremolo ...because the notes do not send the instrument change message before they are triggered in kontakt. I don't know if I expressed correctly. Sorry for my english. I hope you can help me!

[@melyssamarie5377]

Your videos have helped me so much Alex! Thank you!

[@Subholik3]

you are saving my lyfe

[@87bloom]

6 minutes in and I already subscribed. Really insightful! Thanks Alex and God bless

[@jnaramusic]

Very helpful about the composition/arranging, thanks👍🏽

[@kumar_ankit9137]

Congratulations for the 18k Subs...Hope you soon achieve 180K Subs...

[@daniellouis6665]

Thanks for this valuable resource, it's always good to get insight into the process and the way you explain and demonstrate your ideas is clear and masterful. Cheers.

[@EK-ro6pz]

Man, now approaching final stages of my track and Mastering tips and process will help a lot! Waiting for some sweet stuff :)

[@andrethomasson]

Im a huge fan of you Alex! You have learned me alot. Thanks!

[@ludvigvanbeethoven611]

Thankyou so much! Sharing with my friends :)

[@imfurp]

23:36 to 25:19 was new information for me, thanks for sharing it

[@avrahambenshimon7739]

Thanks Alex. Your information is helpful . Simple and practical..

[@Andredy89]

About panning i think we need to clarify a little. BTW somewhere on Spitfire youtube channel (one of the top orchestra libraries producing company) I've seen they DO PAN instruments including the prerecorded delay etc, and that sounds wide and solid. My own track sounded bad just cuz I didn't panned orchestra in proper way. Of course instruments are panned already but it is fair only for close mic position. If u use a Tree mic usually it needs some pan or mix with Close position or both. No need to pan it dramatically but some panning won't be a bad idea, especially if your track sounds too narrow, too in the middle. More over - what if I want the 1st violins on the left and the 2nd on the right? It's still a vital set for orchestra and it's impossible without panning. Most top libraries gives you the possibility to pan instruments as you need.

[@jamescalvey5273]

Another incredible video!! What would we do without you!

[@1NOnlyAdityaUnofficial]

Very helpful ... keep sharing great knowledge dude... #Love ur stuff 😊❗

[@darioborquez8753]

Hey, Alex, great tutorial, I've been learning a lot from your channel, the amount of knowledge you share with us is priceless. Please, please, please, make a video about mastering, i've always struggled with this subject and can't seem to make a lot of sense of it. Thanks in advance

Thank you for so much informationen in one video.

[@Hankyuo]

Thanks a lot for the tutorial :) really cool of you ! i learned stuff !

[@ChrisJustinMusic]

Thanks a lot man, such a helpful video!

[@Lure_Music]

Thank you so much for the tip on not to pan professionally recorded instrument libraries. It makes such a difference!

[@LuisHumanoide]

you're a hero

[@liampeacockmusic977]

Hi Alex, (& everyone else). I have a question about the frequency layering skill. Some of my tracks don't sound full or wide especially when compared to the reference track. When I use frequency layering techniques, like at the end of a track in the third act, I make sure every instrument section has something representing the whole frequency range. What about in the first act, when there is very few instruments going, how do I properly apply frequency layer then? If anyone applies, thanks a lot !

[@costachemircea6091]

Bump

[@astuschore]

Crazy tutorial alex, im a big fan of you, Which hardware are u using here? Laptop or desktop?

[@Marinio95]

Perfect tutorial!

[@nilstarlight]

wow the panning trick was an interesting one... makes me think

[@nilstarlight]

CSSS for example was recorded without any reverb though... thats what they say at least

[@sonyvegas1]

Thank you very much! You are best! : )

[@MaxSylvesterHall]

Fantastic video! Helped me alot :)

[@techbaobao]

tam from aRO here. great to see that you are doing so well! would be cool if you can do something related to ragnarok :)

[@AlexMoukala]

pcmakans oh man, it's been a long time! It'd definitely be a nice homage to the good old days. :D

[@ubleader]

Thank you

[@edilesblog2768]

u rock! great knowledge keep sharing :)

[@brysonnegri913]

Thanks for the awesome tutorials! They’ve really helped me compose some of the best quality stuff I’ve ever made. I have a couple of questions for you that I hope you’ll be able to answer: How do you export stems with this kind of template? When I try to export stems, I get Master stem, Wet Signal stem, all the instrument groups as stems, and all the individual instruments as stems. Which ones do I keep, and which ones do I send to an editor for a film project I’m working on? Also, how do you master these stems to sound good?

[@beat000able]

great guide! thank you! :)

[@BaraMatahariPagi]

Hi Alex, I have a question for you. Can we do volume balancing with dynamics or dynamics is not enough?

[@AudreyWilliamsMusic]

Great tip to not pan orchestral libraries if they're already pre-panned. I would've never thought to check for that.

[@jarfullofgravity]

What software instruments are being used? Stock stings in GarageBand have super slow attack time. Is this specific to your DAW, or is there an orchestral pack for download somewhere?

[@nachorondan2703]

Helloo, could you please tell me which librarles do you use? The sound is amazing

[@AlexMoukala]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmfcf3-soJ2Dhac

[@nachorondan2703]

Yeah, i saw that video just after this one and forget to delet the cuestion. Thanks very much for the awesom tutorials, you are THE MAN!

[@luke88perry]

Hey Alex. Great video. You mention people send you tracks for your feedback. What's the process for doing that? Thanks :)

[@AlvaroALorite]

3:10 how do you know, by looking at spectrum, if the mif is balanced?

[@montazownianr1]

Great tutorial/tips. Thank You. BTW. "Soundgoodizer"?! Really? lol Why not to invest in Slate Digital Subscription plugins? Very cheap, but extremely good :) And you will get console plugin - for orchestration very needed :) Also saturation plugins :)

[@Rockydavemusic]

Hi , which library are you using in this video , please answer

[@tichwiseprod718]

thank you sir

[@arcadiadragoons5467]

Alex, how can we get feedback from you for a score we did?

[@adorethered]

Hi, I love your tutorials and music and I find myself turning to them regularly when I'm in a rut! Thanks for everything you do to help others. I am commenting because I found this effect called visual mixer in neutron 2. It appears to be a tool to mix sounds based on how they would appear on a stage, what are your thoughts on this?

[@Evangelionism]

I'm trying to calculate how it is this video wasn't already in my "Music Theory & Composition Studies" playlist. Hmm.. (It's not adding up!)

Hey Alex, will you make an overview Video of the Pirates Medley?😍😍

[@Kurkox]

Hye nice tutorial. One question. Do you mix all the tracks as midi tracks and not as audio tracks?

[@seanwalker7253]

What’s your thoughts on mixing low end? When I layer cellos and double basses, in terms of orchestral imagining, they’re far right. But bass should be centred to give it power? Slightly unconventional, but I’ve hidden a sine wave as a sub bass under the basses and cellos before now. Would love to know your thoughts.

[@yuulian4776]

Alex please, do you use reverb on bass trombones, cimbass , tuba and basses???

[@deepytv]

Great tutorial Alex! Thank you so much! It's nice to see how you go through the mixing process! I got a question on a completely different topic. I need a plugin for drums. I thought about action strikes, but I don't know. Is it better to make the drums yourself or using something like action strikes? I'm not good making drums myself, but I feel like that action strikes is kinda like, I don't know, you don't make the drums yourself. Do you get what I mean? I hope you can help. I just think action strikes would make it easier, but it's kinda like cheating for me. What do you think and what do you recommend using for drums? Thanks in advance!

[@srikantk90]

Action Strikes is great. You could also use HZ Percussions and Damage.

[@AlexMoukala]

Action Strikes can be a good starting point. It has loops, but you can also use the kits and write your own MIDI for them once you get a hang of those. However, my favorite percussion library is Damage, hands down. I also use Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion if I want something more organic.

[@deepytv]

Thanks so much guys! I'll definitely look it up :)

[@rumaghosh9693]

Can you provide the project file for Cubase??? And what instrument did you use???

[@lumi_2423]

Which plugins do you use for distortion in your bass instruments? I use Fl Studio as well

[@chrismeyers7487]

Hey Alex, I apologize if you cover this in another tutorial (I'm going through your entire channel to see if you cover this, I just haven't come across it yet), but on the topic of volume balancing, do you go over balancing in the orchestration phase? Balancing your sections with like CC7/CC11/CC1 - how do you achieve such great balance in the orchestration pre-mixing. Thanks again for all you do!!

[@AlexMoukala]

Yeah sometimes I do, I also do that after finishing the track too. I split the structure into sections and in each section I'll set the volume for each instrument group slightly differently, so each instrument (or instrument group) gets its chance to shine at different times. Usually it's very fixed automations either with the Expression or with the volume knob directly

[@chrismeyers7487]

Alex Moukala Tutorials - right, and do you ever adjust the faders in the orchestration phase? Some libraries seem way too loud no matter how low I turn the volume down, and I feel I need to pull down the faders to like -12db, or more. I’m just so blown away at how clear you get your instruments to come thru, without adding compression and all that. I guess my balancing skills are just that awful, hah

[@montazownianr1]

BTW. Mixing inside FL Studio is alway pain in a** for me comparing to Studio One 3 or even Cubase 7. Automation lanes are so easy there ;) I use FL only for beats, very intuitive for that simple task :)

[@FVDaudio]

Excelente.

[@Castler]

Alex, when you run out of creativity and feel no motivation at all for composing music, do you wait till its over? Or do you force the process of working at your pieces?

[@yurianvise1672]

Go outside, watch an movie , an anime , something to make you feel something. If you feel, it's easier to make a track .

[@anthonysaab1186]

If you're using the Close mics only from your library, not the Tree or Amb mics, shouldn't you be panning? It makes sense not to pan if you're using the Tree setup in your libraries since "pan info" is already there, but I don't think it's the case with the Close mics (spot). Is that right?

[@AaronRaglandTV]

Dag man.What plugin do you use for your strings and orchestra?!That sounds amazing!

[@fusedguitar9507]

More details in the description.

[@chrismeyers7487]

Dude!! I didn't know SPAN had that frequency detection trick! Are there other tricks/secrets in SPAN?

[@AlexMoukala]

There must surely be, though I never really delved into it a lot. If that plugin has a manual, I expect all the cool tricks to be there. :P

[@AudreyWilliamsMusic]

What plugin do people use to check the frequency spectrum of a reference track?

[@RonenSakal]

Thanks Alex! what about delay fx in orchestal music?

[@AlexMoukala]

RonenSakal I talk about that in step 5, although it's one of those things I don't use every time.

[@asdghfjlk]

Very impressive! :) But at 11:24 wrong tune

[@jackthurlow2466]

Hey Alex! Im looking to get into Orchestral Production and have have around £200 to £300 pound to spend on plugins. What shall I get?

[@mbkc5191]

Hello, I wanted to ask you a question about the monitor, mix movie orchestra music, are Yamaha hs7 or ns10 better for it? And what's better for mixing music? I have seen a lot of different opinions on the internet and that is why I am interested in something else. I have yet to buy monitors but I don't know exactly which one for this genre. Otherwise the studio will be in some mediocre room.

[@AlexMoukala]

Can't really help you there as I've always used pretty average monitors.

[@davidklemencz]

Yeaaah!!

[@electrosociety9244]

does a tutorial how to use the reverb on the flutes

[@minutemaid123]

Do you mix with headphones?

[@dnsserverz]

Hello bro, do you know how to setting the dynamics in FL Studio ? Or you could give me a link to learn it. Thank You~

[@AlexMoukala]

Get a copy of BRSO Articulate (it's free). Then use that instead of the classic MIDI Out. It has the dynamics etc. already set up, and it's much better than the MIDI Out in many ways. -> www.syntheticorchestra.com/articulate/

[@danielkleefromusa]

Alex, did you take music classes or are you entirely self-taught?

[@AlexMoukala]

I'm mostly self-taught, but I did take a few online classes in the past, The Evenant Cinematic Music Course being one (back in the day it was 1/5th of what it is now). That's why I always recommend it in my videos. Online courses like that one truly help, but you also and most fundamentally have to put in the work too.

[@Felix00007]

Nice

[@lumi_2423]

This is probably the 6th time I watched this video

[@asp1re530]

Sorry man this is a random question but it's driving me CRAZY!!! How can I disable auto sample load in kontakt when I open up an old project of mine? I want them to load manually not all of them at startup because some of my projects has multiple kontakt plugins with different libraries, its fine to have the library already in kontakt player but I would like the samples to not load until I click on them, I know it's possible and I have a feeling you already covered this but I can't find the video.

[@Dom_Sam]

I just fnished mixing and as he said in the beggining, I screwed up the balance by making too big changes and overcompressing reverbs. What do I do? start over or is there anything I could do?

[@theed5349]

did you put reverb on your voice

[@royalefx5337]

Guys, which Trailer SFX should i buy to write good orchestral music?

[@AlexMoukala]

Check out this video for my answer on that -> kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmfcf3-soJ2Dhacm57s

[@gokulkrish3839]

Bro I have doubt..at what format we have to export our project.. whether in MP3 or wav format... especially for these kinds of orchestral which format is better

[@TheMindCrushGroup]

Wav, always, it's uncompressed

[@syncmusic4007]

please use a HPF on your vocal next time, thanks.

[@indiefresse4452]

Press fucking play man

[@sidneyscaccio]

lyrics in English, please

[@loot6]

What lyrics, it's an instrumental.

[@neelabhnayanphukon3415]

Cool video..... Can you upload a free flp?

[@timflatus]

As a self-taught composer, I'm loving your perspective. I do wish you would speak a little slower sometimes - I appreciate that you're trying to squeeze in a lot of information and stay focused yourself, but I had to take a break halfway through because of the level of concentration needed.

[@Ludvio]

i really like the pacing i watch it 2x speed. i think the slower you watch the harder it is to understand the bigger picture

[@halometry5523]

@@Ludvio you must be very smart

[@michieladriaansens5977]

i'd still eat the icing off a bad cake tho.

[@iggswanna1248]

i find it that using the worse possible speakers is the best way ti mix

[@paulcole1171]

That sounds like almost the same as pirates of the caribbean

[@TheStevenrobinson]

Hmm, way too much high and mids for me, it's as if the natural bassy reverb has been completely removed. However, overall great tutorial, keep it up Alex.

[@jakeward3209]

Bro you need to mix your voice in these videos it’s so harsh and you keep popping the mic

[@jasonquitane]

Adjust the gate also. Great channel Bro.

[@raxi9619]

gain staging?

[@sirkristoferTV]

Fruityloops lol

[@VoodoochildSofoklisPetridis]

too much talking...fix that...