How To Turn a Piano Sketch Into a Full String Arrangement

[@CurtisSchweitzer]

I'm very impressed at your ability to keep your chord voicings memorized as you input them-- I *have* to look at the score in order to balance the chords. This is a lovely little harmonic progression, by the way-- would love to hear this with more passing tones especially in the low strings to get that classic string chorale sound. Great video!

[@ChristopherSiu]

Curtis Schweitzer Thanks Curtis! For me it’s a matter of putting down the fundamentals first and listening to what’s missing. Indeed, some more passing tones would’ve made it even nicer :)

[@AllyKerrmusic]

Really worthwhile 30 minutes, thanks for sharing your insights. Look forward to checking out more of your tutorials. I love writing emotional orchestrated music so I'm pleased to have discovered your channel. Best wishes from Scotland.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks Ally!

[@PrincessAdobo]

Although I'm a Nurse, I kind of want to study composition.. but now I'm thinking I can just stay subscribed to you! This is so helpful. Thank you

[@ChristopherSiu]

You're so welcome Rae! :)

[@femifakoya7683]

Christopher, this PURE GOLD!!! I have searched for this everywhere.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Femi Fakoya Glad I can help!

[@BluemountScore]

Thanks for the video Chris!

[@ChristopherSiu]

MEETYHTAN Thanks for watching!

[@Doc2rjae07]

Awesome piece🙏🏽💯

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@metaepitome]

Very helpful video. Thanks Christopher!

[@ChristopherSiu]

metaepitome My pleasure!

[@GreenHope42]

Thanks for the great tutorial. It's good to see how you turn a piano sketch into strings/orchestra.

[@ChristopherSiu]

You're very welcome!

[@armanseason2025]

Thx u.. your lesson so easy.. and clearly

[@ChristopherSiu]

Glad it was helpful!

[@revengeVS]

Excelente video, hermano. Muchas gracias!!!

[@RamizST]

This channel is a GOLDMINE of knowledge. Just saying.)

[@ChristopherSiu]

Thanks man!

[@joepeters5796]

A very enjoyable demo Chris!!

[@ChristopherSiu]

Joe Peters Thanks Joe!

[@ScoreHeroMusic]

Great job! Gotta love that CLEAN CLEAN Logic interface :)

[@ChristopherSiu]

Caleb Swift Thanks Caleb :)

[@zaharishtonov]

Always enjoy your tutorials! Makes it hard to follow when listening on studio monitors as your voice is much louder than Logic's audio output (*Tip: compression/limiting ;)). Thank you though for the shared knowledge!

[@kels1170]

Great video!

[@vahas5128]

Very nice

[@ThejaBuddhika]

Thanks for the great tutorial

[@ChristopherSiu]

You’re welcome!

[@AbriElMusic]

So wonderful tutorial and amazng workChristopher!

[@OliKember]

Loved this! Many thanks man.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Oliver Kember Thanks for watching Oliver!

[@levbrodkin5964]

Good tutorial, thank you.

[@ChristopherSiu]

You're welcome!

[@adieltm]

Thank you so much bro

[@vaiman7777]

Total gold here folks! Well explained and perfectly executed dude

[@ChristopherSiu]

vaiman7777 Many Thanks!

[@lonelyseaproductions2337]

Hi Christopher. Thank you for taking the time to make these videos. I was wondering if you could make one on Harp &/or Piccolo runs like the ones you have in Chief of the Sky.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Lonely Sea Productions Yes, great idea! Thanks :)

[@MrMiles-gi1hl]

Good stuff man.

[@ChristopherSiu]

Appreciate it!

[@dafingaz]

This is great!

[@ChristopherSiu]

Marcus Manderson Thanks Marcus!

[@dafingaz]

@@ChristopherSiu No problem. You, my friend, have a new subscriber. LOL....

[@DavidKudellMusic]

Hi Christopher, very nice easy to understand tutorial on writing for string parts! I love the CSS library, and own it myself. I was wondering if you considered layering the CSS solo strings or ever do so in your composing. I’m considering picking up the solo strings for that reason.

[@ChristopherSiu]

David Kudell Music Hey David, thank you! Yes I do this sometimes for extra definition. Functions as a first chair if you will. :)

[@DMTCOMPOSER]

GREAT video tutorial Christopher! Thanks for making it! Blessings :-)

[@youpi79000]

Great ! Thanks a lot ☺️. Is it possible to dowload just the midi file please ?

[@ChristopherSiu]

You're welcome! Unfortunately I don't think I have the MIDI file for this project anymore, sorry!

[@austintaylor55]

It seems like it would be really hard to keep track of voice leading doing orchestration from piano in Logic. I like to write from a piano sketch too and then orchestrate but find it much easier to orchestrate in notation software like Sibelius where I can see everything at the same time. This is what has been working best for me. Do you have any feedback on your experience in notation software vs DAW for orchestration? I have been trying out orchestrating in Sibelius and then importing into Logic as a midi file. Then I tweak from there and record mod wheel, etc. Interested to hear your feedback coming from formal music study..

[@ChristopherSiu]

Hey Austin, great question. I think it's simply 2 different approaches. The pros to working in notation first is that you have a visual of your voicings and you can play them back anytime, although the synthesized sounds may not be the best (but that really doesn't matter). I simply prefer working in the DAW first because it's a lot quicker for me, and as I orchestrate in Logic it inspires me to try out some other voicing possibilities I may not have thought of if I started in Sibelius. The downside is that you don't actually see the voicings laid out unless you highlight everything in the piano roll, but even that can look quite messy. Both approaches work; it's just a matter of preference personally. Hope that makes sense!

[@johnmears565]

Logic has a very good Score Editor too (for a DAW). I often select the piano sketch, like the one Christopher did, and then open up the score editor and unlink the editor window so no matter what string track I choose, the sheet music from my piano part stays visible

[@austintaylor55]

John Mears yeah that's a handy tip thanks for sharing!

[@endagallery3964]

Great video bro! One tiny question - What is the mod wheel affecting? Thank you and great work!

[@ChristopherSiu]

Enda Gallery Thanks! Mod affects dynamics and expression.

[@friscobeats2846]

@@ChristopherSiu What's a Mod Wheel and where is it located??

[@m.o.n.d.e.g.r.e.e.n]

@@friscobeats2846 yeh i would have loved to have had this in the tutorial since it's quite important. here goes half an hour of googling!

[@d_lydian]

Geeat job, thanks!!! What Mac do you have?

[@ChristopherSiu]

ridgero I have an iMac. 🖥

[@d_lydian]

@@ChristopherSiu thanks for the quick answer. I am curious what specs you have, because you have such big projects.

[@OfficialHarsha]

Hey Chris, I have few questions. Hope you would reply. So lets say I open up a violin 1 patch which has 16 players on it. So when I try to play more than 1 note or more. Does that subsequently increase the number of players in each sample. So when I play one note it is 16 players and 2 notes it multiplies it making it 32 players “technically”. And also what is your workaround with Divisi sections with strings?

[@ChristopherSiu]

Hi Harsha, yes that would be correct when you're working with non-divisi libraries. If Violins 1 is 16 players, then playing 2 notes together would technically mean 16 players are playing 1 note, and 16 players playing the other. I typically don't worry about this too much, because even if there's a chord with an extra voice (6 voices for example), I can just bring in another instance of the violins to complete that. I'm not a stickler for absolute realism, as long as the overall product sounds good to my ear. However, divisi libraries are the workaround, so for example in Afflatus Strings, their auto-divisi works so that when you play 2 notes, the engine divides it up so that 8 players are playing 1 note each, instead of 16. Super smart!

[@OfficialHarsha]

Christopher Siu alright Thanku😄

[@brokenegg4714]

Actually sounds like classical and not movie music.