How To Write Like Thomas Newman! Secrets of Film Scoring Part 1

[@4IdiotsGaming]

Road to Perdition is also an excellent soundtrack of his.

[@jaydawg7820]

and Revolutionary Road is also a favorite of mine and American Beauty

[@mosesramirez6330]

This was so amazing! I never noticed all the dissonances in The Shawshank Redemption. I'd love to hear a part 3 of Thomas Newman, covering the "percussion" (the gamelan/marimba cues) from Scent of a Woman and American Beauty.

[@MarcCostaMusic]

The Cinderella Man soundtrack is for me one of the best soundtracks of all time. Thomas Newman is in my opinion so underrated. He's one of the best composers that there has been until today. He hasn't received as much recognition as he really deserves because his music is different from that which authors like Hans Zimmer or John Williams can compose. He composes in my opinion a more complex and rich music than that of many other composers. He really gets what's going on in the story, he knows exactly what the emotions are in each scene. Maybe he's not a theme's composer but he, as his father, is a great composer.

[@bran7134]

Well said, couldn't agree more...have you watched the Thomas Newman interview he just released a month ago? It is pure awesome.

[@stanleyP53]

I watched your interview with Thomas Newman and was just so wondering why you didn't discuss Cinderella Man. That score, in my opinion, contained the deepest and most deeply affecting orchestrations I have ever heard, on a film that expressed the range of human emotion. It communicated the distance between the despair and the triumph, of the human soul.

[@eddalbey2731]

Few composers evoke the kind of emotion in cinema than Thomas Newman does. He is my favorite among many score greats! Thanks for sharing this, Rick!

[@Bronco541]

Thomas Newman --- one of my favorite composers ever! Thanks for this! And thanks for mentioning this in your recent live stream; didn't know you had videos on him yet.

[@paperchasindude6578]

Same here

[@andyokus4930]

Rick, I must say that what deeply moves me about Mr. Newton's music is the beauty of his pastoral work as in "Bridge of Spies". I was brought to tears. If I could only write 8 bars like him I would feel that I had achieved something timeless.

[@22freakly]

The musical world of Newman was for me something beyond the reach and inaccessible. thanks Rick for sharing those secrets. Now I understand that this is not just chaos, but a clearly structured functional harmony. Everything is subordinate to the internal order. I also need to develop my hearing to improve the realative pitch! Thank you so much! Please continue this priceless work!

[@Vegan_Waterr]

or maybe Newman goes w his ears

[@Thedustymichaels]

Don`t know if you ever read comments, but I just want to let you know that I`ve been following your channel more or less every day for about a year, and I have to say it`s the number one channel ever to exist as to provide relevant information about music. So, yesterday morning (GMT+1) I went online and bought your PDF book-bundle, and it`s already becoming my personal bible for writing, arranging and recording music. Along with your videos you give your followers exactly what we need to know about music and creativity. If you`re reading this, I hope you take it with you where ever you go, and that you bear it in mind when the cynical recordcompanies gives you a hard time for using ridiciously >10 seconds of a song for the sake of teaching and preaching what you practice so well. I`ll definitely come back to your store to do more shopping in the future. Deepest respect and regards from me, a huge fan from Norway.

[@BARLEYSWORLDMANCHESTER]

I've loved Thomas Newman for as long as I can remember, there is something about the way his pieces of music get into my psyche. I love all his pieces of music but my favourite has to be Whisper of a Thrill- Meet Joe Black, just makes me want to be with my wife I have yet to meet. Thank you Mr Newman for giving me hope for 1 special day to come.😀 You're very welcome.😀⭐👍🏾✨🙏🏾☀️❤️🌟

[@bran7134]

I don't think any other composer understands the musical representation of the human experience of the mountains and valleys, highs and lows, duality of good and evil, and how they rely upon and juxtapose each other as we see in the narrative of real life better than Thomas Newman. The harmonic genius of mixing the majors and minors he has created is to me one of the greatest gifts of music the world has ever seen. I think if Spotify were to research the analytics of what human being has listened to more Thomas Newman than anyone else on earth, I might just be at the very top. It doesn't matter how bad of a day, week, month, or year I may have, his music immediately takes me to a transcendent place that protects me and makes me feel loved and seen by God.

[@reacteur84]

Major and minor together in American Beauty the funeral scene ..This is how i know is T Newman in a second ..my favorite composer ..So dramatic ..Thanks Rick ..You are a music gift from God

[@JCRyan534]

Thomas Newman is my favourite soundtrack composer...James Horner is great too. These two can create deep emotion in their music!

[@johnfrantz3945]

On my first hearing of The Shawshank Redemption, I was reminded of another of my favorite composers, Aaron Copland. When you mentioned triads, it all made sense. My musical knowledge is limited, but I see the connection.

[@AlexBallMusic]

You're awesome Rick, you really are. Thanks for these videos.

[@adamparsons9507]

Rick.... you are one fascinating dude.

[@chris4mac]

Hi Rick! I kinda wished you had talked about the french horns. They're one of my favorite orchestral instruments. I think they bring out such warmth, especially when they're given pivotal notes in a larger chordal structure. Thanks again for your awesome analysis!

[@snooganssupreme1339]

I’m like 4 years late to the party, but I freakin love you for this.

[@scentline]

He scored 1917 in a similar way. Thanks for your great explanation and demonstration, Rick!

[@ciararooney6824]

8:16-8:21 is THE Thomas Newman sound

[@samscott54]

Rick ... making my day at home.... so worth listening too in my studio...

[@wernervannuffel2608]

Very transparant, good maded musical chords deconstruction.. Thanks Rick. I like very much this kinds of musical reverse engineering approaches.

[@zackeriah87]

The second song is “Big Right” from Cinderella Man. Incredible arrangement... Reminiscent of the infamous Shawshank Redemption prison escape song titled “The Shawshank Redemption”.

[@leoholder7839]

its not a song

[@voicetube]

A couple of my favorite Thomas Newman scores would certainly be Meet Joe Black (underrated movie!) And then my very favorite score of any Thomas Newman film would have to be: PASSENGERS……

[@federz666]

Nail on the head.. With both movies.. Passengers is one of my favorite scores ever. That movie would have been a lot worse without that score.

[@benzo880]

He caught my attention with Less Than Zero. He’s the one that started me paying attention to the composer of films. If you ever see a little movie named Whispers in the Dark you might agree with me that it is his best work.

[@jaydawg7820]

Most people don't even realize how Powerful a Music Score can be for a good movie that really invokes a feeling ... its amazing imo ..... I even Feel something in this breakdown ... lol....

[@dimboris8568]

wow, it's a heavy video! I better watch its Saturday morning!! thank, you sir!!

[@Pedozzi]

That line cliche is soooo spooky, i love it Also the sountrack in wall-e has some absurd pieces

[@davidfroman8281]

Rick all of this stuff is so great! I have always loved film scores since I was a kid. Now that I was forced to learn piano for my degree 11 years ago I can clearly understand now. I would love to see a video of your life experience and how you came about on this scene.

[@nicholaslatina4464]

Don't sleep on the Finding Nemo soundtrack

[@numanuma20]

I had that soundtrack as a kid for Beyond the Sea.

[@paperchasindude6578]

Both Finding nemo and Wall-e should've won best original score

[@thomashaigh6098]

Or a series of unfortunate events

[@TheProtagonist2020]

@@paperchasindude6578 Why?

[@DesertIslandDisk]

Absolute facts

[@Maogmusic1]

You are AWESOME!! I really want Bernard Herrmann and Jerry Goldsmith !!! :D

[@christianelsen3339]

You're way awesome for showing such a good demonstration. Thank you.

[@PatrickQT]

Great series. You should interview him. Super interesting person.

[@courtneyenglish3565]

I loved everything about this video. Would love more film score analysis.

[@RyDaMartin]

Rick this was so helpful. Thanks so much for this. Really learnt a lot.

[@MaxTooney]

Thomas Newman is a genius. Poppa Alfred, brother David and cousin Randy aren't too shabby, either. (Rick, as many others have asked, please--what ensemble strings patch are you using?)

[@RickBeato]

Spitfire Audio Albion 1

[@LASHH9669]

@Rick Beato Thomas Newman is my favourite film composer too, so I'm really glad you made this. Would you say the key to composing with this sort of sound is spreading dissonance throughout many octaves? Kind of like gospel playing? Or am I missing something?

[@teddicruise4733]

To me, Tommy Newman was only one of the first nicest Tommys I'd met when my family moved to California in 1969. We rode the same bus to Summer school during Jr. High. There were 3 of us on the route; Tommy Newman, Tommy Ryan and me. Throughout Palisades High, he and his brother David were always in Play Production classes with me, as well. It took me awhile to register that it was his name I was seeing on film credits. If they'd listed his name as 'Tommy Newman', I'd have realized who he was. Aside from that, I found it fascinating how beautifully the soundtrack was written. An audience can be led to believe almost anything with the subtle persuasion of a soundtrack. Hitchcock used it especially well in Rebecca. The audience is so easily influenced by emotion. So, what better way could there possibly be to influence emotions than through the use of music?

[@paperchasindude6578]

Finding Nemo's score is a masterpiece

[@indiefilmandmusic]

This is awesome. Thanks so much Rick.

[@russellalfonso2962]

Are you familiar enough with Morriconne's scores to share any insights you might have concerning his musical style? I am also interested in Claus Ogerman's style of arranging and orchestration.

[@Convisis]

Thanks so much, these analyses are invaluable. Any John Williams, Danny Elfman ect would be super welcome :)

[@CodyAlanWoods]

I love these series! Can you do one on Michael Giacchino next?

[@arvindbaradwaj3783]

The "Moors" track in Skyfall was amazing 👌👌

[@uenerregly4732]

Greets from Brasil! "How To Write Like Danny Elfman" sounds amazing huh? You are a great inspiration for me to make music .... thanks man!

[@BogusChip]

Wow fantastic video series!! Keep up the fantastic work :D Any chance you could do a video on the legend, James Horner? I feel his compositions in "Field of Dreams" and especially "Jumanji (specifically the piece "A new world" )" are one of his best underappreciated works and I'd love for someone like you to break it down. Thanks again!

[@RyanPRaygun]

absolutely invaluable. thank you so much

[@davidfroman9149]

Rick really appreciate the hard work you put in! Do you have a video that strictly shows music theory basics that composers draw from. In other words the main pools they draw from when they compose.

[@rogeriosobreira2597]

Great analysis (and mock up)! Cheers from brazil!

[@ixman]

I got hooked with "Men Don't Leave."

[@vinnym6734]

The string arrangements from Less Than Zero are insanely beautiful. You can find the the song “Penguin Room” on KZbin. Look it up!!!

[@GarenEvansMusic]

Please post How To Write like John Powell

[@antoniokabbabe1175]

Please, Rick!!! How to write in the style of Envío Morricone!!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 Your vídeos changed my Life!

[@garthknight2159]

Hi Rick Just to say thanks so much for these awesome tutorials ! How about a video of the great Basil poledouris (Robocop/Conan etc..) ?

[@Allan-et5ig]

Excellent video and style exploration. Newman's style works brilliantly- for him...I'm hoping he doesn't inspire a host of imitators...or if he has they aren't doing soundtracks.

[@OfficialStevenCravis]

*Rick Beato* Have you identified that high (sounds like) piano chord at 6:04 ?

[@truthprevails8781]

Plz can u change camera location when u play we cannot see the keyboard clearly is it possible plz put the camera above ty

[@TheBluuHouse]

Great breakdown of the score!! I like the event monitors. are those Hollywood strings you're using? Great work. thanks. ahh just read you use spit fire.

[@RickBeato]

I have Hollywood strings as well :)

[@epotty21]

Meet Joe Black, Horse Whisperer, Green Mile, Shawshank.....and the plastic Bag theme....

[@pienkuipers2709]

Many thanks for putting up these video's. They help me to get through my homework properly. Would you also be willing to do a vid like this on gamemusic? For us songwriters out there. (:

[@michaelosullivan9339]

Road to perdition..superb

[@radiozelaza]

Ahh, classic Rick of yore

[@benmalone6139]

Pleeeeeez please please do something on John Barry

[@CS80undermybed]

Top teaching! :-))

[@oscaradamvinall9901]

the series of unfortunate events soundtrack is up there for me

[@Mr_Chuckles]

Liker number 100, wow dude you know your stuff :)

[@janhonnef9110]

I cant find the cinderella man tune on spotify or KZbin. Does anyone know where to listen to it?

[@capicholob6379]

Cou,d you make a break down of other composers such as joe hisaichi ?

[@EMillerpro]

Could you analyze John Brion's work?

[@yodunnit]

sHorse whisperer would be a great one to do

[@imgeceren]

Hi Rick! Thanks a lot for all these videos, they are really helpful and inspiring. I just want to know about a chord which you said it's a sus4 chord at 8:25. But in the orchestra, horns play the E note, so the chord is like C-E-F-G, is it still called as sus4? Or can we say something like (since we can not say third and fourth together) sus11 :) How is it called in theory?

[@RickBeato]

You can call it sus4/3 or a major sus4 chord. Both imply that the 4th and 3rd are in the chord.

[@PrashantRaja]

Can you please post about How To compose like Hans Zimmer?

[@LASHH9669]

ostinato, ostinato, ostinato :)

[@WyWy0207]

I'm not sure he's going to pull off the Black Hawk Down tribal song in the beginning of the film though lol

[@Sploooks]

-Simplicity -D Minor -Ostinato -Earth Shattering BWAAH Fart Noise There you go

[@albhem_eh]

​​@@Sploooksalso so much of drone accelerants and walls of ambient noise just to cover up he can't play anything playful or musical, just to hype up a scene unnecessarily. Even if he writes something musical, remember its not him, its mostly his co-composer contribution who helps him with actual music writing while him doing the mastering and mixing in the end(which he's good in only that, I'll give him that fwiw). For me personally Zimmer is so boring and void of any musicality. He's like a very poor imitation of Philip Glass(i mean the raved about Interstellar theme is just a very boring inspiration of Glass's *Koyaanisqatsi* )

[@ToxicTurtleIsMad]

​@@albhem_ehre t a r. .... d

[@deezuschrist]

Anyone else notice Rick got a haircut at 1:39?

[@danielmanahan692]

its great how you break all this down I am skeptical that in the creation of this music he needed to be aware of the chord names and what was going on under the hood, and could simply have just made it up as he went along, improvised it played by feel rather than analyzing it. though the skills in doing so are amazing

[@RickBeato]

There's no doubt that he improvises some of this but he does have a composition degree from Yale and his dad, cousin (Randy) and siblings are all composers so I'm sure he knows what he's doing. If you see any interviews with him, he always talks about modes. So does John Williams. Thanks! Rick

[@sandalero]

@daniel misconception. you need to study and to practice and to feel and to understand and to learn und to intentionially break the rules that you learned and build your own repertoire .. otherwise i could just press down random keys on the piano and all would be fine, lol

[@GoemonLovesFujiko]

Im a self taught musician- been playing guitar and singing for 30 years.. working in film and video games as a sound designer for the past 15 years.. being asked to compose for a video game for the first time.. aside from an LACC Music theory and notation course 10 years ago, my knowledge of composition is mainly in the rock idiom (though of course I love Elfman, Herman, Williams, Stravinsky, Zappa!).. Give it to me straight doc: Can I learn this proper? Im 42 years old and live in Japan so Yale isn't gonna happen if you know what I mean.. thanks for your input. Wonderful video series.

[@CarillonAudioVid]

Thanks for this insight Rick. Are you pulling that apart in real-time using your ear, or do you have sheet music?

[@RickBeato]

There’s no sheet music to these orchestral pieces. I just play what I hear.

[@cwgochris71]

More Bernard Herrmann! :)

[@RESPARD0]

What is the name of this cue? Can’t find it on Spotify.

[@TheDropOfTheDay]

Are there any books you would recommend on film composition?

[@RickBeato]

Not that I'm familiar with. Just keep watching my channel and I will cover it all eventually :)

[@TheDropOfTheDay]

Rick Beato awesome! i'd love if you ever went into the work of Cliff Martinez. His film scores are very 80s synth heavy that are so delicate and menacing at the same time.

[@RickBeato]

I will put him on the list for sure!

[@pedrozisels]

"On the track" by Karlin and Wright, is a very good book.

[@saajveh]

4:02 is what you get if you drop a piano into a battlefield.

[@aitornavarro6597]

So he likes #9 chords

[@reyfernandezjr]

Lots of tensions

[@novelasjorgesantacruz]

DO HANS ZIMMER INCEP😉 TION OR DUNKIRK!!!

[@ZWATER1]

👍ty

[@mahimahoo9178]

How to write like Hans Zimmer?

[@sandalero]

dont even get me started on zimmer, dude, dont ! i saw him playing percussion loops with 2 fingers on the piano and hollywood books him, hes the worst

[@rawkinj6609]

😀

[@Joesfosterdogs]

Movie scores are the stars nobody sees in ea movie! they are as significant as any lead actor!! this is the video i wanted and thot...you offer so much i cant be greedy...then it appears...wa hoo! Thomas did an Oxford interview that was amazing...super nice guy...looks like tom cruise, but sane! T H A N KS big time

[@billdoesjudo]

This video is mistitled. Rick is just recreating the chords, but what am I supposed to take away from that? There is not a single lesson or principle to take away. I have learned nothing.

[@mrswozzle]

what's your point??? anyone can retro analyse..but nobody can teach you how to think like someone at the very moment of their inspiration unless you're on a conference call with Gd.