The No. 1 Beginner Mistake | Orchestral Programming Tips

[@ZachHeyde]

Man, such a useful and important video you've made here. I remember how heartbreaking it'd feel years ago when I'd be mixing for hours on end, disable the plugins I'd been tweaking to compare to the original, and realize to my dismay that I made everything sound WORSE. Hoping you save some other composers from the same fate 🥲

[@MattiaChiappa]

Thanks man! I was also guilty of all these at some point 🤭

[@pseudomino3]

I’m guilty of every single one of those errors, specially in my first pieces. Fortunately, I noticed the end result was worse than the unmixed versions, so sometimes I discarded the changes I made. I really needed this video.

[@MattiaChiappa]

Ahahah that’s ok! I’m glad it was helpful 😁

[@raymondspagnuolo8222]

The EQ tips were very helpful. Thanks for posting.

[@carminepastore3274]

Great video! Direct and right to the point. An old guy like me needs this type of info. Thanks again!!

[@AaronAsherRandall]

😂 I love that you actually ended up with an awesome custom sound. I totally get the point though.

[@jenssieckmann]

Thanks Mattia, this is a great video. Besides these "technical" overcomplications I would like to know some of the beginner mistakes regarding composition and arrangement, e.g. adding too many layers, not separating voices enough and so on.

[@andrew_nayes]

I thought that this was the topic of the video! +1 for making the video of overcomplicating composition and arrangement.

[@maciej74174]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. It is stunning. The topics you are mentioned are fundamental to start (in my opinion). My conclusion from this tutorial is: 1. Simplicity 2. Listen first to be able to play/create later.

[@rodterrell304]

Well done, thank you for showing us this.

[@1BLiViON1]

Thank you for this. This is useful for people like me who came from EDM production to scoring. In EDM, crazy sound engineering is the rage. Coming to orchestral scoring where simplicity is often better, it's a bigger transition between the two styles than I appreciated at first. Definitely agree with these tips.

[@MattiaChiappa]

Glad it’s helpful!

[@64guatemala]

Awesome! Thank you so much. I found you through Zach Heyde and am so glad I did 😁. Thanks again. K

[@maciej74174]

I discovered Mattia through Zach as well. The power of KZbin😊

[@Vitericus1]

Thanks for this Mattia. I have to say, as I'm mostly self taught, a problem I run into is that when I go and take some online courses, read books or just talk to other composers, everyone has their own idea of, "do this EQ, add this compression, add these reverbs," etc. Even one guy I know said he does nothing at all for EQ, because the sample libraries are good enough quality. BUT, no matter which instructor's method I follow (or doing nothing at all) I never, ever get the same results. I know that orchestration is the #1 key for a clear and balanced sound, but even with some of the highest quality libraries, I still don't get anywhere near the same results. My best sounding stuff always come from writing a full score in Dorico and using the cheap Noteperformer playback. P.S. Thanks for the 20th Century Orchestration course! Very much enjoying it as that's my main style of writing. Very informative.

[@MattiaChiappa]

That’s true everyone has slightly different opinions. Eventually you’ll find who you decide to trust and what works best for you

[@gonzalozubillaga9341]

This is both Hilarious and great intel! Thank you.

[@MattiaChiappa]

Ahah thanks!

[@dbo514]

That was actually great, and the part where you were just messing with the mics willy nilly was hilarious. What do you think of the mono mic for a vintage 40s-50s sound? Thanks for the tips!

[@MattiaChiappa]

It sounds fine but I never used it

[@dbo514]

@@MattiaChiappa Ah, you see I got the idea from Alex Ball's spiffing guide to light music and that's really the type of sound I like. He also likes to use very a very light touch busses and effects when using different libraries but I guess this is less important when using a library like BBCSO which has a very cohesive sound. Thanks again for the video, I learned a lot!

[@alisafarpour5638]

I've got a big confusion with opening the VSTs. Did you load the BBC orchestra VST for every track from the start or you just channeled the first VST to different tracks?

[@TheCoolj1212]

Another great video Mattia. Non-music-related question here, what do you use to edit your videos and thumbnails? I think I want to get into making content but I'm not sure what's good. Cheers.

[@MattiaChiappa]

I use Final Cut Pro and Photoshop

[@dfizzbom]

Great video. I think you've covered the other challenge in other videos but a big one for me that I still struggle with is arrangement. Just like the abundance processors to change the sounds, there's also the abundance of sounds themselves. I constantly struggle to just simplify my arrangements for better sonic clarity. I think to myself, is there a reason to layer four string libraries? Is an ensemble patch of winds sustains helping or hurting? Is the percussion too busy? Would my virtual percussionists look like circus acrobats with all they're doing? Is redundant part writing for the different orchestra sections creating a mess? Have I forgotten that I already HAVE that part written on another track! And here's the easiest one to screw up of all- with all the excitement of finishing writing you just render it off and consider it done. You never take the time to mix the piece properly. Often times it's then that you find sloppy midi writing, redundant parts, insane amounts of bass, poor balance, etc. I'm not really a beginner and yet I often times get it wrong. I don't think I've ever gotten it perfectly right yet. I guess that keeps me chasing it- a good thing.

[@MattiaChiappa]

Thanks for this comment! I agree composing and arranging is the most difficult and yet the most important part. Something that is easy to overlook with all these modern tools we now have at our disposal. This is the point of all these videos. Try and transmit a message that simplicity is always going to be the key, regardless if it’s within a mix, part writing or whatever other aspect of composing a piece. I hope this to be the main takeaway from all my videos.

[@dfizzbom]

@@MattiaChiappa your videos are right on point and great! I watch them all and subbed to of course.

[@5ammy13]

Hey Mattia, wonderful video. Thank you for those tips. They will certainly help me and a lot of people go a long way. I just bought BBCSO Core in the Winter Sale and I see that upgrading to Pro is 330$. I do have hard drive space considerations and also I work with 32GB RAM. I've seen you mention that you use the Mix 1 on BBCSO Pro most of the times, which also happens to be the one mix available in Core. So, what advantages do you see having Pro. If you could make that purchase again, would you go for Core instead? Or do you do find yourself using the additional extras Pro offers a lot?

[@MattiaChiappa]

I like having the option to have a few more mics and make my own mixes even if I mostly end up using the default selection. I think the pro version is worth the money but that's me. If you think you'll be using this library for a long time I think the upgrade is good investment.

[@5ammy13]

@@MattiaChiappa thanks for the reply Mattia. I do agree the price for an additional 600 GB+ content is just extraordinary, but that also happens to be the one reason I'm holding back on it. I don't have enough space to house 600+GB worth of samples. I know I can go on to delete the unused mic positions, but I don't have the 600GB to download it in the first place. I wish they had the option to download individual mics, I would have gotten the library in a heart beat. I'm guessing each mic is around 25-27 GB. Could very well do with just a couple of mixes and the CTAO mics.

[@ViktorKajtazaj]

Hello Matttia Chiappa:) Is it allowed to send you music for a review?

[@envrie9423]

I really don’t agree with the first one. I use the BBCSO and my mix would sound like trash if I didn’t eq on all of the instruments and put compression on some of the parts. Really odd that you think there’s no need to eq sample libraries. Idk, am I crazy. I really don’t think so lol. Because when I listen to the BBCSO strings it sounds much more realistic sounding when I raise the high end. It makes the bow impact on the string stand out much more. Obviously use eq in moderation but I strongly believe that raising the high frequencies on these instruments is vital for making each orchestral a section sound separated and lively. I definitely agree on the room mics tip though. Unless you’re doing a hybrid orchestral production, in that case, do whatever you want.

[@MattiaChiappa]

Did you watch the whole video? I think you’re missing the point. The main issue is going overboard with effects, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t treat your libraries at all. I do use eqs, compression and reverbs myself

[@envrie9423]

@@MattiaChiappayea I did. I know what you’re saying, I’m not against you, but the reality is if I leave my libraries to themselves everything sounds crowded, muffled and frankly a bit terrible in my ears. And that’s not the developer’s fault. With spitfire they capture the room sound as well as the instruments. If you have 5 string voices that means you have 5 room sounds all competing with each others. With that being said, it would only seem logical to use a decent amount of eq to repair the build up caused by potentially 15+ sampled instrument recordings all compounding on one another. But I know what you mean, I’ve definitely made things wayyy to complicated at times and my mix suffered because of that. But I will still say that sometimes my French horns sound better with 2 or even 3 eqs on it, otherwise it would sound a bit irritating. That’s using spitfire BBC. I’m not sure what infinite brass, cinebrass, or CSB is like in the production process yet tho.

[@DJDavis844]

Hey i was the one who asked about what level should you be at in terms of piano playing to start writing. I would say I'm in between beginner and Intermediate. That's just me saying that though

[@ASX2001]

Thanks a lot! 👍

[@MattiaChiappa]

You're welcome!

[@joobastudio]

Thanks !

[@MattiaChiappa]

You're welcome!

[@Cr4z33_YT]

Mattia ho appena sentito i nuovi strumenti (strings, brasses, ecc., ecc.) della Performance Samples e sono in crisi perché stavo per comprare quelli della Cinematic Studio Series, ma questi suonano da paura... 😍 Tu che ne pensi? Farai mica una comparison prossimamente?

[@MattiaChiappa]

Mi confondi con qualcun’altro non possiedo nessun performance samples solo CSS 😂

[@Cr4z33_YT]

@@MattiaChiappa era per quello che te ne parlavo. Ho visto passarti da BBCSO a CSS e, diciamo, mi domandavo se ora avessi valutato questa nuova libreria (v. Pacific)? 😁

[@MattiaChiappa]

Mi piace molto come suona Pacific Strings ma sono soddisfatto da quello che ho per ora. Se mi offrissero un NFR potrei fare un comparison, altrimenti per quanto mi piacciano molto i loro strumenti non ho intenzione di comprare altre librerie che non mi servono. Oltre tutto non mi entusiasma l’idea di lavorare a nuovo template quando ho appena finito quest’ultimo 😂

[@Cr4z33_YT]

@@MattiaChiappa OK grazie, volevo proprio sentire cosa ne pensavi. Alla fine mi devo decidere, perché son tutte belle hehe. 😁

[@andreakleiner80]

Ho da anni CSS, mi sono regalato Pacific Strings a Natale e ti devo confessare una cosa: Pacific Strings è di un altra categoria. Sembra una library “next gen” rispetto alle altre. Non saprei come spiegarmi altrimenti, fa suonare le altre library che ho vecchie. Ha un livello di realismo incredibile. Non so dirti se è la hall, o semplicemente una questione di programmazione del software…semplicemente straordinaria.

[@kappabravomusic2101]

Thanks Mattia. Question however. So I've got a "Woodwings Pro" & "Jager" libraries. They are different, but I do like how the instruments sound from the sections. Would you say minimize the reverb in the plugins and then glue them together with the reverb sends? I.e. because the recordings of the space for both plugins sounds different.

[@MattiaChiappa]

I would say turn off the reverb within the libraries and use something external so you can at least have the same tail across your template

[@kappabravomusic2101]

@@MattiaChiappa ok. That's what I was doing. Just thought to ask if you have a better idea. Cheers Mattia.

[@ZooDinghy]

I tried the high-pass suggestion some time ago to get rid rid of the low frequency rumble. Suddenly, everything sounded empty and thin. It was so frustrating.

[@MattiaChiappa]

If you just pull down a couple of db it shouldn’t make a drastic change

[@fredericdicrasto5826]

We have to be very light for string corrections because the sound loses its essence very quickly

[@MattiaChiappa]

I agree!

[@sebastiansalt]

I do think that the EastWest Strings highly benefit from some EQ 😉 I guess the key is „some“

[@AliAlshammary-rw6xe]

I wish there was another camera filming the keyboard

[@MattiaChiappa]

I usually put up a virtual keyboard but this time I forgot, sorry. I guess it wasn’t the focus of the video but I’ll try to remember next time, I promise!

[@rubenmolino1480]

excelent ¡¡¡

[@MattiaChiappa]

Thanks!

[@Dave-nm8uk]

Surely one point is that the section of music worked on here is actually boring. Also it is predominantly string texture - there is no variety or melody. For example a melody introduced on an oboe or flute - or indeed almost anything - would make this more interesting. There is movement - but no really striking rhythms which do much other than contribute to the texture. It would make sense to concentrate on getting better music first before trying to improve the sound. Some of the techniques mentioned here are maybe good but not for initial work. Agree about compression - but that relates to dynamic range - and again music with a static level of volume is just boring. It makes much more sense again to try to get a wider dynamic range - but this kind of tweaking doesn't give a good effect. So sorry - this is not such an interesting video - unlike some others you have done.