LEVEL UP your orchestration skills with these 5 hacks!

This week Alex presents the 5 best orchestration hacks on the planet! First he talks about doubling instruments and fascinating combinations of instruments, then he dives into interlocking, enclosing and overlapping.
After some amazing tips on how to spice up your strings, Alex ends this video with a look at “dovetailing”. Wait… Where is hack number 5?
Virtual Orchestration is a collaboration between Berklee College of Music (Boston, USA) and Orchestral Tools (Berlin, Germany).
▬▬ Table of content ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00 - Intro
0:35 - Hack#1 : Doubling instruments
6:29 - Hack#2 : Interlocking, Enclosing and Overlapping
10:47 - Hack#3 :Giving strings more texture
13:18 - Hack#4 : Dovetailing
15:19 - Hack#5 : ???
Assets used
SFX :
The following sounds provided by freesound.org under
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) - Public Domain Dedication
Energy, vortexes, field, sci-fi, pulses - User: julianmateo_
16_ca_pads.wav - User: lerwickdj
______________________________________________________________________
The following sounds provided by: www.freesfx.co.uk
Atoms and Particles
______________________________________________________________________
The following sounds provided by: mixkit.co/
Air Whoosh
______________________________________________________________________
Video creation credits:
Script / video concept 📜 : Alex Lamy, Eduard Flemmer
Music 🎶 : Alex Lamy
Camera 🎥 and Editing ✂️ : Fabián Barba Hallal
Motion graphics 🎨 : Michael Logar
Production Assistant 🎬 : Aleksi Oksanen

[@Pooter-it4yg]

Doubling bassoons and celli is also common. Upper strings are often combined with any woods or upper brass. But the key to doubling is only to do it when you have a reason to and don't overdo it - too many colours is beige. A related point is not to use everything all the time - save contrast for where it's most effective. For interlocking, refer to Rimsky for a pretty definitive rundown.

[@mr88cet]

Good suggestions here! Thanks. 8:02 - Here, and in all of this, it’s critical to remember that your notation program (Sibelius, Dorico, Finale, etc., or even your DAW to some extent), is very good at lying to you! For example, the low register of the flute is probably sampled at a volume appropriate for flute-solo repertoire, but within an orchestral setting, lower-register flutes are rather quiet! In Sibelius, it will sound gloriously rich and beautiful, but in a real orchestra, it will sound gloriously … “missing”!

[@kappabravomusic2101]

#4 is great. Dovetail is an underestimated technique in many non professional compositions. Thanks for the tips.

[@zoaltamam]

You are a gift to the online orchestration community my friend! Your content is very unique Thank you so much

[@alexlamymusic]

This is very kind! Thank you 🙏

[@dpixvid]

I watch them all! ...overload - but does encourage experimenting in a learning context - BUT this one is highly useful thanks!

[@virtual.orchestration]

Thank you so much, @Daniel Burke.

[@AndromedaX8]

Thank you for these awesome tips! :)

[@jihunjang6684]

Thank you : ) This is super useful.

[@PaulieDC]

Wow, the content quality of this and the secret video is right up there with the articulation vids with Clara. I'll be revisiting this one a few times, with my composing Moleskine notebook and a pencil in hand!

[@spuddyferret]

Great video Alex and the VO team! If I could leave a suggestion, maybe we could have a sequel to this video focusing on how to orchestrate percussion? I think orchestration tutorials like this are invaluable and focusing on how to support the orchestra with percussion would be a great topic to discuss. Thank you for your work!

[@alexlamymusic]

Thank you, Harriet! I agree, Percussion is generally a bit overlooked, and has been on this channel too so far, but we’re trying to get the best video together for it 👍🏻

[@iluvsyphonfilter]

The note colors in the piano roll made it easy to understand the concepts!

[@byvlogus]

Love this content so much ❤❤👏👏

[@yaroslav_kniazev]

Hi guys. Great lesson. Thank you so much ! Best of luck to everyone !

[@gilesmoss5860]

Cool to see there are proper terms for things I've tried by accident. My orchestration efforts so far have been with ensemble libraries which kind of do the overlapping for you I guess, but I certainly don't have the control needed for the interlocking or enclosing. And the other tips are super useful too. I've tried doubling but sometimes want a little more, the texture hack #3 feels like it'll come in very useful for this. Great, thanks!

[@CyrilBellem]

Thank you so much, that's very intersting, as usual 😉

[@codydavis5525]

This is extremely helpful! Thank you! Currently working on an orchestral arrangement of Super Mario Sunshine and I’ve been looking for ways to make it my own.

[@ephjaymusic]

What a refreshing video! I haven't seen any good practical videos on this even though I have learned about these voicing techniques. My favourite is definitely bassoon and horns! It's like magic! Thank you!

[@carsonzuck]

this is a PHENOMENAL beginning orchestration video. this puts all the overwhelming information about orchestration on the internet into a concise, digestible location for reference. i really really wish i would’ve seen this when i first starting out. thank you for what you do for our community!

[@RektorGleichgueltigjahr]

if you are a beginner you have to read books and scores my friend

[@alexlamymusic]

Thanks, Carson! That’s our real hope with this channel, that each video can be a resource people can go back an reference - a modern version of some chapters in an orchestration book!

[@alexlamymusic]

@@RektorGleichgueltigjahr it’s not in this video, but I make this point at the end of the secret video. There’s no substitute for diving into scores and music yourself, and that’s also how you learn what you like and what you want to do. 🔥

[@jayantjrathod]

Very Informative Sirjee Thank You 😊

[@neverlow777]

Your video is extremely helpful.Thank you.

[@XeNoS_Music]

Just incredible video ! Maybe it will be not too polite from my side , but i really would love to see more of this kind of tips here , and im really count on it ! Fantastic job @Virtual Orchestration Thank You!

[@peterhaerens3014]

Is this really all with a DAW and VST? Oh boy... This is so good. And even more in the 'secret' video...

[@ympetu_pe]

wow, great video!!! Thank you so omuch

[@alexlamymusic]

🙏

[@gregkrouse9015]

Repeating some of the comments below. It is not only the content and of course, your organization but also your enthusiasm. from the other side of the pond, Spot on!

[@alexlamymusic]

Thank you! 🙏

[@ravivpinhas9740]

I just discover your channel.. very useful in information :) Love it!

[@andrerussouw2124]

The art of good communication. Many thanks. New to the game have my software and controller.Can't wait to get going. Regards Andre SA

[@Joshua_Griffin]

Great video, thanks

[@ShivSagar010]

Thank You Very Much! 🙏🙂💛

[@virtual.orchestration]

Thank you !

[@jorgestramusic]

Excellent!

[@virtual.orchestration]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@shubus]

Love the use of the Met Ark's and Time Micro.

[@alexlamymusic]

I love those libraries ❤

[@grundvater]

Echt starke Tipps.

[@Ranakade]

The best teachers know how to simplify things for their students. You sir are a best teacher. ❤💯

[@stepkabayan]

the material is presented beautifully, concisely and very intelligibly! Thanks! By the way, almost all examples are echoes of classical traditions. I would like to advise beginners to get acquainted with the books on orchestration - there are a lot of amazing things waiting for you there.

[@alexlamymusic]

The secret episode basically finishes saying that same thing 😉 Thanks for the comment, it’s always good to hear things are coming across well!

[@jade8538]

I've watched every "Virtual Orchestration" video you've presented since the start of this series, and this is to me the most practical one to date. Your points were clearly explained and demonstrated with informative examples. You have a real talent for breaking things down into understandable nuggets. Thanks! I have a quick question: is there any effects processing applied to your examples? ...or is what we're hearing basically "straight out of the box"?

[@alexlamymusic]

Thanks, Kevin! There’s a bit of reverb and gain on things. They’re mixed in the way I would normally work too, so if I hear something I want to EQ then it’s a safe bet to assume I’ve done that, but it would all be fairly subtle if so.

[@jade8538]

@@alexlamymusic Ok, thx Alex. The reason I asked is that everything sounds wonderfully clear, distinct, and balanced. Using effects on orchestral instruments is tricky -- I'd love it if you could do a session on that subject ... tasty use of effects, achieving good balance, basic orchestral mixing, etc. Cheers!

[@alexlamymusic]

I think eventually we will do a mixing episode, but I already know the first point I’ll make it’s that 90% or more of the mix is done in the choice of sound and the programming. Programming things with the right balance, volume, dynamics, choice of mic mix, automation etc. is honestly most of the work and the way you get things to sound clear. For example, if a mid strings line isn’t coming through enough, it’s not a mix problem, it’s either a dynamics problem or the wrong sounding samples for what you’re doing. For me, I use Oxford Inflator on solo instruments instead of compression, but will compress peaks of dodgy legato lines sometimes (not in these examples though). Eq’ing is usually about removing resonance, which can be especially obvious if you put reverb on something. Reverb choice is also important, and I usually have a convolution of a scoring stage or hall, and an algo reverb like a lexicon hall which will have a longer, more pleasing tail. I’m a fan of pultec style EQ’s, doing small top and bottom boosts where needed. A bit of sub on percussion, a bit of air on strings, but nothing over the top. And master bus really depends on how big the sound needs to be. Usually a slow, low ratio bus compressor just knocking a 1-2db off on louder segments is enough to get things together. More complicated tracks need more complicated mixes, but I don’t really have a one-size-fits-all approach other than trying to do as much as I can on busses of the same groups of instruments/sounds, rather than on every track.

[@Broeckietube]

Cool topics! Interesting to see how some of these tricks might also help real life players in an orchestra play together (the dovetailing for example). If you'd ever have a score that you want recorded by an actual orchestra, let me know!

[@TheComposingDevil]

I don't know why I learn these at 1 am. Damn, i wanna sleep. And still make music. Music in dream.

[@jamescannell]

You have to be careful doubling winds in a real world scenario due to intonation issues. Guess this isn't a problem for samples.

[@alexlamymusic]

Only oboes 😉

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

@@alexlamymusic why?

[@alexlamymusic]

@@emanuel_soundtrack it’s really an overtone thing with the oboes. Even if two players are in tune, they won’t sound as good as one oboe if they’re on the same part. The same does apply to the other winds, but doesn’t have the same level of detriment to the character of the sound. Good players will not have to worry too much about intonation issues - so it’s just a question of what sound you want. If it’s meant to be a melody on flute, it may not need two on the part. If it’s part of a thicker texture it may be a great sound to have more than one instrument. And in the case of doubling different instruments together, well that’s creating new sounds, that’s orchestration. Worrying about intonation should just be considering the difficulty of the part in the registers of each instrument, or how easy it is to produce the sound you need and still be together with other instruments. Avoiding doubling for the sake of intonation is timid, and not giving players enough respect!

[@MrDazlord]

Thanks for another great video! A lot of the compositions shown in this video i'm really digging and I wanted to listen to similar music/composers with similar styles but i am struggling to find any online... Any sugguestions where I can start to get the same vibe?

[@alexlamymusic]

For the time being I can only suggest my own music 😅 I’ll give it some thought though. I’d probably recommend Alexandre Desplat and Thomas Newman’s scores off the top of my head based on the style of some these.

[@MrDazlord]

@@alexlamymusic Thanks! I'll start there!

[@sai_tejaa]

Can we expect a tutorial on scoring music from pc or laptop for movie about what we should need with limited equipment and showing what are the possible ways to make it possible , this will help for bedroom producers like me

[@alexlamymusic]

We have a video on basic gear needed for starting out, if that helps? Otherwise I don't think you need to limit any creativity because of limited equipment these days - and hopefully the other videos we make will also help give you some good ideas 🙂

[@sai_tejaa]

@@alexlamymusic there was bit doubt fo movie i want to extract audio at what format and how much hz needed for our score later on to get 5.1 mix or something Dolby or etc things and I'm using FL studio in future hope some one will do on that also And what a way of narrating lessons very impressive and glad u r channel explained many things I want to know ❤️ thanks alot

[@johnsrev08]

Where did you get the keyboard desk and keyboard you use in these videos? I would like to get one. Thank you🎼🎹🤩

[@memorablemusicformedia1337]

Good viddeo! It could be much improved by showing notation in staff view, instead of piano roll view.

[@alexlamymusic]

Sadly Logic's notation view leaves a lot to be desired! Especially with projects with this many tracks. It would be cool to have notation alongside the MIDI, but hopefully the lessons aren't lost without it!

[@YotamIshay]

This is great! might be worth it to consider finishing sentences with different intonations every now and then cause it could be distracting :)

[@MrKeithterrett]

It's a perfectly clear, understandable and succinct English accent, what are you talking about!

[@cjp68]

I would Love to learn learn more about interlocking. "I think" I have done this in the past without realizing that is what I am doing in pieces that I have written. However, I'd love to get a better understanding. What would be a good resource (Video, Book, etc...) that I could gain effective knowledge from? Thank you kindly in advance.

[@jade8538]

Kent Kennan's book, "The Technique of Orchestration" has a chapter (Chapter 10) that touches on Interlocking, Enclosure, Overlapping, and Juxtaposition, as it relates to each section of the orchestra. I'm sure Adler's text also talks about the subject.

[@cjp68]

@@jade8538 Thank you very much for suggestion. I shall have to check that out. It could be a new addition to my library? Thank you once more.

[@user-dl3wm6gc6d]

What program do you use to write music?

[@alexlamymusic]

Logic (shown here) and Cubase

[@tritonneptune3834]

wait so making the entire section play the same whole chord is not ideal I assume? 😅

[@MJTcompositions]

I learmed nothing. But thanks for posting

[@westcliffmusic]

interesting video- thanks I've subscribed, but to my taste you have recorded your voice to high. If your voice was slightly quieter compared to the music I think the video would be better

[@martijnvanbeek4387]

I noticed it too. But it doesn't have anything to do with his voice but with the chosen microphone I guess

[@joseph.cotter]

Yea, that "click here" only works if the "click here" link shows up, which it does not for me. I would not recommend any links that aren't superfluous be linked like that (on screen) since those links often don't show up for everyone. In this case it was particularly irritating.

[@alexlamymusic]

You can click on the info button that comes up at that point, or wait about 10 secs and it comes up as the next suggested video 👍🏻

[@Kingchord2000]

I have watch throughout the vid but I cant find the 5th tip.

[@virtual.orchestration]

It depends a bit on the medium you're watching KZbin on. There is an info-field when Alex says it and it is one of the Videos that are also linked at the end of the videos, in the "watch more" field.

[@yurigore6390]

can someone link the 5th one. Dude says click here and nothing pops up for me...

[@alexlamymusic]

You can click on the info button that comes up at that point, or wait about 10 secs and it comes up as the next suggested video 👍🏻

[@evanseesred]

I’m watching on mobile and there’s no link to a secret video. What gives!

[@StarshipTrooper4231]

"CLICK HERE" Where!?

[@alexlamymusic]

There is a little info button up in the top right at the point, but the video thumbnail also comes up at the end of the video 👍🏻

[@StarshipTrooper4231]

@@alexlamymusic Thanks. I had to switch to my phone since it didn't appear on my computer for some reason.

[@finecontemporarymusiic2239]

no one of these tips mention counterpoint. I could not understand how this could be the best, since most of the (best) orchestral music is full of counterpoint, this is the "default"

[@alexlamymusic]

That would be because this is a video on orchestration, not on counterpoint.

[@LearnCompositionOnline]

@@alexlamymusic makes no sense, because the composer orchestrates the counterpoint and the harmony. These rule the art of orchestration, among other parameters. To make decisions about harmony and counterpoint is the core aspects of orchestration and define the core challenges to overtake. It is reasonable that the "best" techniques can handle these aspects

[@alexlamymusic]

@@LearnCompositionOnline If you have harmony and counterpoint that you want to orchestrate, then sure. But this video isn’t about harmony or counterpoint. It’s about a few distinct ideas for orchestrating music. You can choose to use them in any way around your harmony or counterpoint. A video on ‘how to orchestrate your counterpoint’ could be cool, but also potentially endless - and they wouldn’t be tips, they’d just be choices, the same tonal/timbral choices you could make on any area of your music.

[@LearnCompositionOnline]

@@alexlamymusic so this is a new method by Berklee . The masters of orchestration teached in another way, considering harmony and counterpoint carefully, among other things. Rarely something is "by default" in art. It is a good video, but i also did not understand the "best". Best for what? I also don´t care so much for the answer, but maybe another student should ask this question

[@alexlamymusic]

@@LearnCompositionOnline ‘The 5 best hacks’ is meant to be funny - not serious. At the end of the the 5th hack video I do mention something about this, that there is no such thing as an ‘orchestration hack’ really. As for Berklee, you would have to ask a professor there for exactly what they cover in their orchestration curriculum (I wasn’t a student there). For what it’s worth, these orchestration ideas are some of my favourites, and ones that I chose because they’re some of the most fundamental ideas. They’re all well covered in every orchestration book I’ve looked at, but we wanted to put them into practice with some virtual instruments - which is what this channel is mostly about. I’m not sure what you mean by things being default, though?

[@jeffmansfield914]

Great video and 4 tips. I would probably enjoy the 5th tip as well, but I so dislike this clickbaiting strategy that I refuse to participate in it, even if I’m depriving myself with essentially no impact to this channel.

[@alexlamymusic]

Hey Jeff, not sure why you feel like that, it's not really click-baiting, it's really just avoiding a 25min video. The 5th tip is really cool, and it's linked in the description of this video as well as the 'Music Writing + Screen Scoring' playlist on the channel. I hope you watch it one day (and other videos too!). I think it's my favourite video we've made, actually! (Not to bait you!)

[@jeffmansfield914]

@@alexlamymusic “Level up your orchestration skills with these *five* hacks” - Shows *four* hacks and says you have to click another video to get the fifth one- Yep. Whether that’s technically clickbaiting or some other shady practice that doesn’t have a handy nickname, it’s misleading and (in my opinion) done as a way to get a viewer to click on more than one of your videos so KZbin says “oh he must like these”, and starts recommending more of them.

[@alexlamymusic]

@@jeffmansfield914 in my experience the KZbin algorithm does that anyway 🤷🏻‍♂️ (and not just with our videos) If this stops you watching any of our other videos then sorry about that. Im glad you liked this video anyhow.

[@jeffmansfield914]

@@alexlamymusic I’m sure my commenting and engaging here is likely going to increase the odds of recs, too, but we’ll see. It just felt like a dishonest tactic, to me. I totally understand that it’s free content that I can watch and gain benefit from, and that you’re under no obligation to provide any hacks, whatsoever. But, if you’re going to promise something with a video title, then I think the integrity move is to deliver on that promise. If you say “here are five hacks”, then give five hacks instead of giving four and stringing the viewer along by telling them they only get five if they’ll click more videos. I think it just seemed out of place because it was a quality video on a topic that is more academic and intelligent in nature. If the video was “Five Karens do the walk of shame after getting ToTaLlY oWnEd🤡🤡🤡”, then I probably wouldn’t have expected any better.

[@jeffmansfield914]

But hey, like I said, you don’t owe me anything in the first place, so I’ll just keep on truckin’.

[@pedrocatoira2695]

I can't click on the 5 tip ;-;

[@alexlamymusic]

It should come up as a suggested video if you watch to the end 👍🏻

[@pedrocatoira2695]

@@alexlamymusic Thank you so much 💛

[@pedrocatoira2695]

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

[@finecontemporarymusiic2239]

"the best orchestration hacks on planet". And the basics of instrumentation? And how to avoid this ostinato monotony?

[@alexlamymusic]

You’ll be pleased to hear that both of those other videos are in the pipeline! 🥳

[@superblondeDotOrg]

Suggests "orchestration hacks" then shows MIDI piano roll. omfg.

[@alexlamymusic]

Somebody didn’t watch until the end… 🤓

[@superblondeDotOrg]

@@alexlamymusic nope. I got halfway thru and could not stomach it anymore. which, considering that I very rarely click away, even on videos which feature serialism, says something in itself.

[@alexlamymusic]

@@superblondeDotOrg not sure what that says, actually 🤪

[@superblondeDotOrg]

@@alexlamymusic not sure what it says? because you didn't read until the end?

[@alexlamymusic]

@@superblondeDotOrg got halfway through and couldn’t stomach it anymore 🤣 I’m only kidding, hope that was funny! 😅