Film Scoring For Beginners E02 - From Motif to Theme

[@tredfxman]

Very nice to hear some of your real work Mathias! This one seems to show some real skill in harmonics/chord progressions & arrangment! Great Work! 👍

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Thanks 3dfx, happy to hear you enjoy this Film Scoring For Beginners episode. I like to keep my compositions fairly basic and minimal. More on that in the next episode. :)

[@MattiasHolmgren]

In todays episode of Film Scoring for beginners we talk about how to develop a theme from a motif. We break down the melody from a track I composed called "Ichthys" (greek word for fish). Furthermore, we talk about harmonization and how to develop a small motif to a full blown theme with all the bells and whistles. I hope this is helpful to aspiring composers who want to work in film, games and media composition. Let me know if you have any questions! Cheerio! //Mattias - Morningdew Media www.morningdewmedia.com

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:40 Music Cue demo - Ichtys 03:48 What is a motif? 04:21 Main Motif of Ichtys - Solo violin lead 05:00 Expanding the Motif to the Full Theme 05:28 Main Theme played on basic piano 06:17 Motif variations 06:54 Quantization? 07:30 Expression is important 08:14 Closing the theme (melody) 08:38 Dynamic curve of the theme 09:08 How to find inspiration (concept) 09:48 Harmonization 14:30 Violin 1 & 2 interplay 15:50 Layer orchestral with synths 16:40 Voice Leading 101 17:58 Emphasize the melody 18:45 Mixing instruments 20:20 Reverbs 21:22 Intro sounds - Mid Layer Drone 22:50 Layer instruments for rich texture 24:24 Transitions - small to epic cinematic 26:14 Dynamic shift from verse to chorus 27:23 Sub Bass 28:48 Sub Hits 28:59 Outro

[@sohamrs4804]

Can you share some the project for us to learn like for trailer short films

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi, I can’t share these Logic projects for actual official film projects. But I am making some new episodes in the series. Next episode we will score a small custom scene with free video clips from pexels. Maybe i can share that project. But that would require you to own the same libraries as I…. But maybe if I only used stock logic presets for a project it would be possible. Ill think about it. Thanks! ☀️🍿🦊

[@sohamrs4804]

@@MattiasHolmgren thanku 😊

[@StephanieSante]

Absolutely very fine video regarding Film Scoring. Great Track. Love the emotion Mattias.

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Thanks Stephanie. Happy to hear you enjoy this new episode in the Film Scoring series. This was actually presented / recorded during a live stream some weeks back. But I had to cut it down because it was like 4 hours of material. And we talked about many different songs. I think next episode will be more philosophical about film Scoring dramaturgy / evoking emotion etc. Thanks for watching Stephanie!

[@flockafan96]

I almost cried when that cello came in. You probably get this a lot but you're a great composer. When it comes to minimalist arrangement and tones. This piece was amazing!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Wow, thank you Andrey! I highly appreciate your warm feedback. It means a lot to move emotions in people with music. I will never try to compete with the high profile epic composers of Hollywood. We all have a different sound and I guess mine is to zoom out and make more minimal music. I started to kill more and more "sounds / instruments" rather than overfill my songs, and let the melody and lead sound speak instead. Again, thanks for writing Andrey! Much good karma back to you! 👑

[@flockafan96]

Mattias Holmgren you weren’t lying...less is better! I had to learn this multiple times lol. This piece is a perfect example. Idk if you’re interested in competitions, but spitfire is doing one scoring a car chase scene from the show westworld. I’d be curious how you approach that?

[@dimitargadzhev3800]

Beautiful, thank you very much!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Happy to share! 😃☕️🥁

[@antiapologeticmusic]

Thank you for sharing this process!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

You are welcome Happy to inspire!

[@leonardosales526]

absolutely beautiful piece!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Thank you very much Leonardo! 🌞

[@arshadeepsingh7280]

amazing tutorial,real insights

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Happy to inspire! Thanks for appreciating Singh! 🌞🎉

[@nacs]

Beautiful composition and nice video!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Thanks for sneaking by nacs. I'm glad you enjoy the little film music cue Ichtyhs.

[@Trendsetic]

I really felt this. I'm producing a Vampire film, and hope to have someone with a scientific and music theory background like yourself to work on it. Music makes the film.

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Thanks Edmund. Yes, a deep interest in the medium and background and experience in writing for film/games helps understand what works and how to approach a project. You can always PM me details on a project and if budget and my schedule allows we could collab. Happy to inspire! 🌞

[@Trendsetic]

@@MattiasHolmgren I will be in touch. Thank you.

[@aclexvideo]

Thank you very much, Mattias! Indeed so helpful and very, very beautiful video! I just love the main theme so much! It's so warm and thoughtful. Very nice! I have so little experience with this hybrid orchestral music, but it's so much interesting to me, like the techniques of harmonizing, voice leading and very beatiful sounding mix. Will use this tutorial as I guide, I think, I'll need to write some part of similar material quite soon :) So yes, thanks again for sharing it with us and just all the even more beautiful ideas and inspiration for the upcoming week!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

You are so welcome Alexey. This Film Scoring series is VERY close to heart. I'm all in for theatrical and dramatic music so these kind of cues and walkthroughs is definitely something you will see more of in my channel. I hope the videos can inspire new aspiring composers and producers. Thanks for writing again Alexey! Have a wonderful evening!

[@aclexvideo]

@@MattiasHolmgren Thank you so much, Mattias! Yes, this music… I should say, quite a number of trance artists tend to move to this scene over time. Just seen Ferry Corsten have announced he concentrates on some of this kind of music since now. And yes, I like it, it's very beautiful!

[@JuanAguilar-cz5ig]

Fantastic Video

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Thanks Juan!

[@MFazrulGhalib-b2x]

this is amazing!!!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Happy to share 😄🎁

[@ukaszkaliszek5436]

Very helpful!Qustion! where can I download movies with dialogs and effects without music to spread my skills of writing music for the image?

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi, try following sites: thecuetube.com, pexels.com.

[@ukaszkaliszek5436]

@@MattiasHolmgren tahaks🙂

[@vasili747]

SPLITTING 5.1 FILE APART INTO SEVERAL TRACKS. . Hello, your work is amazing! wow. I am brand new to Logic, I am not a musician. Is there a way to uncollapse/expand a 5.1 track, so that I can edit individual tracks without requiring any bounce or export out and back in. In Final Cut Pro, there is a feature to expand or uncollapse or break apart a 5.1 track into 2 or 3 stereo tracks or several mono tracks, but I don't see how this can easily be done in Logic, even though Logic can 'see' and 'read' that it's a 5.1 file. Am I missing something? Thank you.

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi Aegean, thanks, happy to hear you enjoy my work and the film scoring series. I worked with 5.1 to create surround files from Logic Pro X. But I never tried to import 5.1 files. I believe imported split multichannel files are converted automagically. The channels end up on their own track channel with correct panning. Make sure you use a 5.1 surround output (audio interface setup) when you want to work with surround files. You could read up on this in Logic support area: "Logic Pro offers extensive surround processing and mixing functions for all major surround formats. Surround features are available when Show Advanced Tools is selected in the Advanced preferences pane. All audio signals can be positionally mixed, allowing you to place them anywhere in the surround field. See Surround Panner overview and Surround master channel strip. You can insert surround plug-ins into audio and instrument channel strips, which can be routed to surround auxes or outputs. A number of surround and multichannel effects and instruments are included. See Surround effects and Multichannel effects. Incoming multichannel audio is recorded as interleaved multichannel files when creating a surround project. Imported split multichannel files are converted automatically. You can also upmix or downmix non-matching signals (mono to multi-mono, or stereo to surround, for example), allowing you to use any audio material in your surround projects. In most cases, upmixing or downmixing is automatic, but it can be performed manually, if required. See Down Mixer plug-in. You can bounce multichannel projects as split and interleaved surround files. See Bounce surround audio files. Logic Pro does not encode or decode surround files. You can use the Compressor app, available in the Mac App Store, to encode surround files. To work with surround, you need an audio interface that has the number of output channels required by the chosen surround format; for example, six outputs if the 5.1 surround format is used. You will also need the same number of speakers (and appropriate amplification) to hear the channels when mixing. See Surround formats overview." Hope the info helps.

[@ivansabataVZ]

Good vídeo!!!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Thanks Ivan 🙏!

[@Beldame261]

Hello Mattias. Thank you for your very informative video. Very. Basic. Question: I don't use Logic Pro myself - are the instruments you use here built into the software, or do they come from an external source? Thank you!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi, the software instruments / samples I use in this episode is mostly from various third party developers like East West (Symphonic Orchestra Play), Spitfire Audio, 8DIO, Cinematic Strings, Spectrasonics (Omnisphere 2). While Logic Pro stock instruments is a great startingpoint you get the final polished pro sound from third party libraries mentioned above. Thanks for reaching out.

[@DecontructRecreate]

Hi Mattias, finally found some time to check your video out. Excellent tips, with an amazing score to go with it! Out of all the tips, I think that having voicings "overlap" with one another instead of simply ascending or descending in fifths or octaves the best bit of advice any beginner should take from this video. Whats your opinion on the stock Logic strings and woodwind instruments? I find that the brass section is actually very decent, capable of delivering extremely realistic sounds with the right programming. The studio strings are also very capable, dare I say the best string plugin for its price (which is free ahaha). Had a lot of fun writing a short dramatic cue using only stock plugins. I am a little partial to Logics own stuff, would much prefer to master whats given to me instead of looking for a better sounding library.

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi happy to hear you enjoy this Film Scoring episode on motif and theme. Yes, voice leading boosts composition from zero to hero. 😋 Logic PRO X stock Orchestral is quite decent but when A/B to something like Cinematic Strings 2, Albion or Hollywood Strings you hear the painstaikingly Recording quality of a solid Orchestral library. That said, I also had Great luck with the native tools attached with Logic PRO X. As long as you do proper orchestration and put on good reverbs it can be convincingly fun to use. 😊 I think Logic packade is really solid. So many Great libraries in there and plugins. Happy to hear you enjoy them too! 😄

[@ronnyskaar3737]

Really interesting. I am just starting out. What sample libraries would you recomend to start with? Can I use Pro Tools, the DAW I normally use? Thanks for this series.

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hey Ronny. THere are some quite good free ones to begin with. The Project Sam FREE Orchestra. SpitFire Discover is also amazing. Yes you can absolutely score in Pro Tools too. Any DAW that supports video is good to score film with. Logic Pro, Ableton, Studio One, Pro TOols, Cubase, Fl Studio. Any of those work great for film scoring.

[@ronnyskaar3737]

@@MattiasHolmgren Thanks a lot, Mattias.

[@DatGuy]

another sick video! I look forward to the next one. Quick question can all of this only be done on logic pro or there are other apps out there that lets you todo this

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Thanks, happy to hear you enjoy this Film Scoring episode too! Yes there are other DAWs that work with video (Ableton Live, Studio One, Fl Studio...Cubase) But personally I prefer Logic whenever I compose to video, and Logic also has the best score editor (for note sheets too). Love it!

[@DatGuy]

@@MattiasHolmgren alright thanks pal appreciate it!

[@detlefkrystofiak3838]

Hallo Mattias, Ich befasse mich seit kurzem mit dem Thema Filmmusik. Deine Beiträge zu diesem Thema finde ich sehr interessant uns sind für mich sehr hilfreich. In einem Deiner Videos habe ich gesehen, dass im Mixer alle Instrumente im Panorama mittig stehen und auch die Volume-Regler alle in etwa gleich stehen. In meinen Template habe ich diese für alle Instrumente bereits eingerichtet, weil ich dachte so ein besseres Gefühl für den Klang zu haben. Hat dies einen bestimmten Grund, dass Du diese Regler so eingestellt hast? Mit freundlichen Grüßen Detlef

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi Detlef, My german is not the best. I know a little...but. With a little bit of google translate I can respond to your questions. ;) Ok, so the panning on most (not all) orchestral libraries are already pre-defined within the library itself. If it's sections like in Albion, they are carefully panned within the ensamble patches. Strings, Brass, Woodwinds are already where they should be etc. Of course you can fine tune this yourself within the Kontakt patches. But I rarely touch that if it's not some specific reason. I do regularly pan solo cellos, violas etc to get them where I want. But in general I don't touch that much panning on these large orchestral libraries. Hollywood Symphonic Orchestra, 8DIO libraries etc are also already pre-panned for most accurate symphonic playback out of the box. Panning is seldom in the DAW mixer (Logic Mixer) but rather in the plugins....of course I might pan custom recorded audio files etc. I might pan acoustic guitars hard L/R etc for wide sound. But I think it was the orchestral patches you talked about in particular!? And they are already pre-panned in the sample content for good stereo image...to save (us composers) time and headach. ;) I am pleased to hear you are inspired by my film scoring content. Glad to have you onboard my channel. Let me know if you have more questions. 🌞🍨☕ Thanks, // Mattias

[@detlefkrystofiak3838]

@@MattiasHolmgren Hallo Mattias, vielen Dank für Ihre schnelle und für mich sehr hilfreiche Antwort. Ich arbeite im Moment hauptsächlich mit Albion One und BBCSO Core. Da muss ich mir das Thema noch einmal ansehen. Also nochmals vielen Dank und ein schönes Wochenende. Mit freundlichen Grüßen Detlef Krystofiak

[@iswiu2bl]

This was very nice! But I have a question. I found your channel while researching on DAW Bitwig. Am I correct that Bitwig could have been used to create this work instead of Logic Pro? What was your reason to show this using Logic Pro? At the last moment of diving into Bitwig myself, I am just a bit puzzled. By the way thank you for all videos~

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hey and welcome onboard! Always happy to see new voices in here Douglas. I have probably answered this question many times in these videos. Yes, the music itself can be made in anything reel-to-reel or what ever... Hehe. But the reason I selected Logic for this episode is the reason Logic has video support and is also my favoured DAW for film Scoring. Some tools in Logic, like score editor and video support (and instant True stereo panning) makes it more suitable for film work. I am multi DAW user, and choose the DAW I prefer for certain tasks. Hope you see my point. But yes, DAW is irrelevant to the actual music in a bigger perspective. They are just tools like anything else. 😃 Thanks for asking!

[@samjhylton]

Hey Mattias, do you write out the more polyphonic parts by hand (like the ensemble with voice leading) prior to playing them into logic?

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi Sam. I used to do a lot of score sheets (pen & paper old school) for all my songs back in the day. Nowdays I do it occasionally. I like Logic score editor so I sometimes use that. But its very rare these days. I mostly do the Scoring directly in the piano roll now. Then again... Muscle memory. Ive talked about this before, and when I play I tend to go to certain voicings. Thats just how Muscle memory works. Its hard to break, so sometimes I write the notes in instead so I dont sound exactly the same all the time. Well, of course the typical style comes across anyways. Because we write what we like so... But its fun to shift for fresh ideas too. 🥳🌞

[@samjhylton]

@@MattiasHolmgren Cool! Thanks for the video and for your swift reply. I suppose there's a lot to be said for speed and efficiency when you're scoring in such a big session. Great content!

[@Xserey]

Thanks again for another lesson. Off topic question, but do you use a certain piece of equipment to control the volume or "expression" ? Such as TouchOSC. If so, would you give your recommendation on that piece of gear? (I'm in need of finding one) Thanks again!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi Ryan, I did try many iPad apps (like TouchOSC), but I find fiddling with a touchscreen is annoying and cumbersome compared to real knobs and faders. I've been using the 8 touchstrips on the Maschine Jam which are excellent for riding multiple CC's on orchestral instruments. Many times I record the lines straight into the DAW and then ride some CC afterwards too. It changes from time to time how I do it. But using the Machine Jam is very expressive, the buttons on the Jam are meh (quite low quality, so don't bother them) but the touch strips are excellent. ;) There is also a touch strip on the Komplete Kontrol S61 and this Arturia Keystep 37 that I use it works fine too for expression. I do have a Moog EP-3 expression pedal but I forget to use it all the time, bust get better at it. Because the foot is always free and it's an excellent pedal. I bought it to do wha wha when I was recording guitars for a game called Snow Moto Racing Freedom. But after that I forgot all about the pedal. The issue with too much gear around... ;) But if you decide on grabbing an expression pedal (like the Moog EP-3) make sure your midi controller has input for expression pedal. Not all have that. What keyboard controller do you have at the moment? Thanks for the feedback Ryan! //Mattias

[@Xserey]

@@MattiasHolmgren I really appreciate the reply, I'm using a Nektar Impact 49 key MIDI controller. There is a mod wheel on the side, but the only way I can get expression to work is if im using lets say... Spitfire LABS SINE player. (the free VST strings. But if I were to want to use the stock strings in Cubase, the mod wheel only gives it a bit of wonky tremblo. Just looked at the Machine Jam, I think thats a bit much for what i need, All I need is a simple knob to control my volume and expression :) Thanks again!

[@MattiasHolmgren]

In most DAWs you can reassign and convert cc data to whatever you want, so you should be able to do that in Cubase too. What samplers are you using? Kontak? In Logic, Bitwig, FL its super easy to assign a knob, fader, modwheel to whatever u want.

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Yeah stock strings of cubase are probably not that expressive then. ☕️ stay away from Cubase strings. Did you check out Spitfire BBc Discovery, its like 49€. Wonderful sounds for the buck.

[@MattiasHolmgren]

But take a look at the Arturia Keystep 37. Korg NanoKontrol?

[@quadros8948]

Is this headphone an Akg? Thanks for your vídeos and cheera from Brazil

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Yes it's some trustworthy AKG K141. Happy to hear you enjoy the Film Scoring series!

[@tredfxman]

@@MattiasHolmgren Cool. Been mixing with AKG K240 MK2 for a few years. Light on the ears weight, quick response, quite transparent. Just switched to the Sennheiser HD 660S however. First iwas dissapointed, sounded like they put a dark filter over the highs compared to the 240's when listening regular music. But then yesterday sat myself down to mix some, and felt these phones might acually be really good mixing in for some reason. Are testing out Sonarworks Reference 4 on them to get a flat curve before the signal reaches the mixer in your DAW at the moment. Have you tried it, as they have a version for Headphones? 😊

[@MattiasHolmgren]

@@tredfxman Hi, yeah K240 is really nice too. I have a few different AKG but somehow I always go back to these K141. They just feel best to me. ;) Oh I didn't try Sonarworks Reference 4, but I've heard it's good stuff. In the past I did measure up my rooms and did EQ curves to compensate, but not so much anymore. But it would be fun to have some gear that did that automatically. So maybe I'll give it a go. You always have to "re-learn" your ears when you switch monitoring. "Det finns inga genvägar till det perfekta ljudet..." ;)

[@jeromeweaver809]

Do you use Hexachord?

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi Jerome. Not for my professional work. I tested Hexachords app on a few occasions. I compose from my heart and ears. ;)

[@carsten7058]

Where can I found this Thunder sound that you have in there?

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hmm, what thunder sound? At what point in the video? Maybe a timestamp? ;)

[@jazzybeeff]

Thank you for good content. The hardest part is finding a video without music to study. Any clue from anyone for this?

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi, hmm, maybe you can try googling for Pexels. They have some short video clips you can try working with..or cut your own clips. Aside from that I dunno. If you want to practise I would download any kind of clips from the web. If it's just in educational purpose. There are plenty of re-scoring of films / trailers on KZbin where people have re-scored /re-sound designed scenes to showcase their work for clients. Good luck!

[@jazzybeeff]

@@MattiasHolmgren thank you for information. i am checking Pexels. i think i can find something from there. yes it is educational. but i would like to put my work to youtube or instagram to see people reaction. i've found "without music" trailer of some movies like Joker, Batman... But i can't put it them social media because i think it would be problem for copyrights.

[@jazzybeeff]

@@MattiasHolmgren i can't believe. This Pexels looks great to find videos to study kind of commercial composing. Thank you a lot !

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Yeah content on Pexels is often free for use both private, public AND commercial. Very Nice.

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Superb. Happy to help out.

[@rebphotography9287]

Hey What are your system specs?

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Hi Ron, my main computer (with Mac OSX) is: 8-Core Intel Core i9 3GHZ - 32 GB RAM DDR4 3200MHZ. 5 SSDs with 0.5 to 1TB each. Komplete Audio 6 & Apogee Duet 2 as audio interfaces. I use CAM LINK 4k to capture video into OBS for my videos. Then I'm running a Mac Book Pro 15" 2016, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD with dual gfx etc. I also have two additional computers with quite nice specs (especially the GFX cards) but my son is playing games on them these days...so no more music on those two. lol... I used to run Vienna Ensemble Pro to spread out sample libraries across computers. But I don't do that anymore. All music is done on one computer...no additional fiddling. All videos are done on my main computer. Thanks for asking Ron!

[@muratkeyder]

Wait so tv/film quality music can easily be made on logic with no live instruments at all?

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Yes Murat, Logic comes with a ton of great sounds. And if you grab virtual instruments like Omnisphere, Zebra 2, Serum, Kontakt etc the sky is the limit. ;) In film music (and any music) anything goes. 🌞🌟

[@muratkeyder]

@@MattiasHolmgren Great thanks, I didn't know this. I mean I know a lot of shows etc. are synth, but I think I sometimes don't realize how good synth sounds have become. Kind of sad as an instrumentalist tbh but whatcha gonna do=)

[@BigTownMusic]

min 12... it's the movie interstellar ... h. zimmer....isn't it ?

[@BigTownMusic]

11:37 exactly

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Nope it isn't. Might be similar chords somewhere. But that happens all the time. ;)

[@franciscoaragao5398]

Is it about film scoring? Where is the film?

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Lol, this was a short film I scored. It’s been featured at film festivals etc.

[@ppgf]

Nice but I would have liked to see the process instead of just the final work.

[@MattiasHolmgren]

In this particular video I talk about the importance of building a motif which is used to expand into a full melody. I have other videos where we compose from scratch (nothing). But in majority of the videos I talk about the process in shorter content videos (with pre composed music) because it's as informative as noodling around to find great melodies / instruments / sounds in a live stream which can take 6-8 hours...or even days. ;)

[@Yeounhoz]

자막...자막이 필요해요... please 자막...

[@MattiasHolmgren]

English please

[@Yeounhoz]

@@MattiasHolmgren 오케이 땡큐…🐤

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Lol, comprende nada.

[@MattiasHolmgren]

Subtitles is coming soon...

[@Yeounhoz]

@@MattiasHolmgren thankkkkyouiloveyou❤️😍🐤