Take your STRING WRITING to the next level with the ZED Clef ! feat. Sean McMahon

Sean McMahon, chair of the Screen Scoring Department at Berklee College of Music, gives you expert tools to perfect your string arrangements. He explains and demystifies the nebulous ZED clef, a super handy measuring tool to see if your string writing is well balanced. What’s more, he also shares his knowledge on octave doublings vs unison string lines among the different string instruments, and he gives some advanced tips for string runs.
Virtual Orchestration is a collaboration between Berklee College of Music (Boston, USA) and Orchestral Tools (Berlin, Germany).
▬▬ Table of content ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
0:00 - Intro and Orchestration
1:53 - The ZED Clef
5:34 - Octave doublings and unisons
6:54 - Violin 2 shadow
8:42 - String unisons for tone weight
9:39 - Flourishes for strings
Video creation credits:
Video idea and Script 📜 : Sean McMahon
Script Consultation 🔍 and Director 📣 : Eduard Flemmer
Camera 🎥 and Editing ✂️ : Fabián Barba Hallal
Lighting 💡 and 2nd Camera 🎥 : David Kudell
Motion graphics 🎨 : Michael Logar

[@mrsnooz1]

one thing to remember: more balanced does not mean better!

[@hugobouma]

Yeah, this is only somewhat useful if you need the strings to fill out the harmony by playing footballs, in which case you indeed don't want to be using the extreme registers of any instrument. In any other case, feel free to throw this advice straight out the window-strings can do so much more!

[@jasonp9508]

It’s incredible how many audio examples this video doesn’t have.

[@Qermaq]

Berklee '89 here. Back then it was green Berklee score paper and parts paper, and searching at Copy Cat for White-Out that matched the color of the parts paper. Digital workspaces were in their infancy. The computer lab and film score studios had these but they were like a Victrola is to us today. And I think today's young composers are at both an advantage and a disadvantage for it. Yes, it really streamlines your workflow, kills less trees, and offers more ease in providing preview or even final audio to clients. No more hiring a few dozen friends to record a demo. However, even the best orchestra banks I have heard (which are good) are not people, and I think that's the most important thing to remember. Either you're just making a MIDI piece, or you're writing this for people to play. The key to being a really good orchestrator is knowing how real people will play the notes you write.

[@newtrackrecord]

Yes this is great advice! At present I only use Staffpad which is the nearest modern day equivalent to a pencil and score paper. It is brilliant but I am always struggling to get the balance right for playback so often have to adjust the dynamics for certain parts. However, I always leave the score marked up as if it is to be played by a real orchestra. This is very important.

[@InstrumentManiac]

What a cool technique! I've never heard of this before but it seems extremely useful 🤯👏

[@loganfeecemusic]

Same here, a very intuitive tool! String balance has always been a tough issue for me

[@danielkarsten1579]

Nice re-editions to Thomas the Tank Engine tracks btw...

[@madnessbydesign1415]

It would have been nice to hear the 'unbalanced' versions, so we had some comparisons. It's hard to imagine what the difference sounds like without context...

[@29..47]

^

[@picksalot1]

Fascinating. Never heard of the Zed Clef before, but it's easy to see how useful it is thanks to your clear presentation. Subscribed. 😎

[@BlackHermit]

Strong orchestration. The orchestration of the Law.

[@shubus]

A whole lot to digest here. The setup of the Z-Clef required several reviews to understand the setup. I can see how useful this can be. As usual, another great video from the Virtual Orchestration team. Greatly appreciated!

[@marcolaghi3822]

The Z clef is not a good method to understand clearly how to use any of the orchestra sections. The Z clef doesn’t explain how to use the colour of each registers. If you want to study a Ravel or Strauss score with this method, you will soon realise that the Z clef doesn’t explain the colour of the strings arrangements.

[@felixporras1791]

Excellent!

[@calogiga]

This channel is pure gold. Thanks for this free course. It was super interesting...

[@DebraLRowe]

Z clef - wow. The last example really helped me understand how to use it. Thank you!

[@douglasromayne328]

Scott was a great teacher. Glad to hear you're passing the zed clef wisdom to your students. I use it all the time.

[@d.harrimusic2919]

This is a really neat concept. I haven't heard of this before. Thanks for the knowledge!

[@AnatoArchives]

In some certain scenarios, the zed clef idea comes to mind without actually knowing about it. Orchestrating "balance" would have me looking at the score to observe how "far apart" the notes are in their written staff. It fits well with the zed clef idea, and it sometimes works.

[@user-hv4nl9rn8t]

Wow. This is great!

[@BsktImp]

Thanks for this! On one hand it'd appear that I've been following the principles intuitively and from studying scores, Piston et al, and on the other hand it's great to have another tool on hand to double-check.

[@JohnCervantesMusic]

This video was non stop useful info, thanks!

[@PatrickSchouten]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

[@JulianHamlin]

Such a useful, clear video. Thank you!

[@Ajwmusicmedia]

Really excellent video - thank you!

[@emmanuelschalit8853]

Effective as alway Sean

[@user-sl5mz1sv8n]

Thank You Very Very Much! 💛🙏🙂

[@richardmillingtonmusic]

Thanks Sean - this was really useful!

[@DanielEscudeiroCE]

Incredible 🎉and very useful

[@sebastiandudek4016]

Fantastic video!! 👏👏👏 Thanks a lot! 👍

[@nievelsteinmusic612]

This is very helpful! Cool

[@mikeboguskimusic1947]

brilliant

[@RotemCinamon]

Dear Sean, Thanks for this fascinating video. It was a pleasure studying with you back then at Berklee, and it is a pleasure learning new things from you now!

[@jacobtapianieto9655]

Very interesting and useful technique!

[@samanthagettinglost]

This blew my mind! A really interesting and innovative technique - really made me think about orchestration in a new and fresh way:)

[@PASHKULI]

seriously… 😂

[@joegrint6280]

Very helpful thanks - I'd never heard of the Z Clef!

[@MFJMD564]

Great technique that helps visualize almost immediately if we are writing potentially bad harmony and that our voicing need attention. Even without writing the ZED clef, we can quickly visualize the cluster. Thank you!

[@evanseesred]

“Octave plus a sixth” is the secret track of this video

[@Franck_Hoffmann]

Your sharing of information is truly enlightening! The concept of the Z Clef is fascinating, although I had to review it twice to understand it fully. Despite the rapid pace of the presentation, it's an invaluable tool to be aware of. Thank you for expanding my knowledge!

[@JariSatta]

Awesomeness: Major!

[@Alonso6390]

Thank you for explaining this. I had noticed this in Vivaldi but couldn't articulate what it was. Vivaldi observes the zed clef quite strictly in tutti passages but not so much in passages in which the solo violin is supposed to project over the cello support or the support of pianissimo first and second violins and violas.

[@pessilevanto8074]

I took the Scott Smalley orchestration course about 15 years ago and he did indeed talk a lot about the zed clef. It felt revolutionary (to me) at the time. However, these days I feel it's oversimplifying things quite a lot. Especially if you balance instruments from different families with it as the tessituric charateristics are not necessarily the same (for example, low notes of the flute and those of an oboe are quite different in character). Nevertheless, I still find it a handy thinking tool when considering tessitura of instruments in relation to each other.

[@VFXCommander]

He said only for balancing strings!

[@pessilevanto8074]

@@VFXCommander True, but mr. Smalley presented it as a sort of a universal method. Nevertheless, I think it's a useful tool to keep in mind.

[@nandoflorestan]

It cannot be a universal tool. Your example is perfect: a flute gets louder as it goes up, an oboe gets louder as it goes down. The zed clef therefore cannot apply

[@yuyufeng-ln4tm]

As mentioned in the orchestration method, the timbre of string instruments is uniform, but woodwind instruments have a distinct timbre. So there is a difference between string arrangement and woodwind arrangement

[@GaryGP40]

Interesting concepts. I tend to compose Vn 1 an octave higher except when I am doing low voicings then I tend to cluster vn 1 & 2 and va in the same range. I love the low sounds on the violin and viola, They speak a different sound than high piercing notes do,

[@stephenlimbaugh]

At 8:34 the cello is sounding an octave higher than written. ;)

[@synthlifestudios6341]

That feels so easy but nothing I've ever heard in anything I've researched up to this point. I'm eager to give it a try.

[@PerchHunter]

Really great video thanks! Now if we still talking about strings i think would be really nice to say few words about DIVISI ;)

[@amj.composer]

Wow

[@PeterHAdams]

Very interesting. Never heard of the Zed clef. I compose for renaissance string instruments. I wonder how that clef will help with orchestrating for those instruments.

[@sviatoslav6427]

We'll have to review the video a few more times

[@Zer0Spinn]

Wait... this guy was involved in creating the spiderman music meme... wow

[@denniskielton2447]

First off, this Zed clef stuff is great. However: There may not be a button you can push, however there IS a feature in Logic Pro which creates scores automatically, specifically meant for giving scores to musicians lol. Whenever your write or play midi, you can view it in either Piano roll (what was shown in this video before the score) OR you can juts simply click score and *boom* it's all there. You can even edit it and make it look like what you want. You can also import it into Guitar pro, several different ways to do it, and that will also spit out a score. You can also do it in reverse, taking a well composed score out of guitar pro by exporting the midi, and it will keep all the accents like bends, vibrato, harmonics, literally anything you add into the score. Soooo maybe there's no button to push, but there are several ways of converting midi/piano roll to an actual score. Just FYI

[@VFXCommander]

Amazing! Would the same concept applies to choral writing?

[@StefanGraz]

Yes! Writing for instruments as they were human voices is a good orchestration technique in many cases, especially avoiding big leaps, dissonant invervals etc.

[@lorenzodicapo6305]

I know Zed Clef. He lives next to Jasper Timesignature

[@cmyk8964]

So the zed clef is only an overlay of every clef used in the string section, without regard to which lines and spaces play what note?

[@jordanmorack9122]

Can you use this same concept for horn arrangements? I can’t see why not? What do y’all think

[@leemcd56]

1:14 Export to MIDI from the DAW and import into Finale, Sibelius, or Dorico 🙂

[@cherrysound]

“octave + a sixth” at 11:46 - what does it mean?)

[@ivand745]

Does anyone know if it is possible to use the Zed Clef for woodwinds, brass and percussion? I would be interested in learning more about this 🤔

[@VFXCommander]

He said only Strings!

[@InfluxDecline]

It's not great for other instrument families because they vary in tone differently based on range.

[@Qermaq]

Saxes would make some sense using the zed clef. They are transposed such that the fingerings are identical, but (for example) there is a tone difference between written C# and D on the sax that would not be apparent unless you knew to look for it - and knew when it was relevant. Still, for general sax section writing this would be a good review tool. Other woodwinds are variant in where their tessitura lies on the staff. Even more so with the brass. We already use the zed clef on percussion. It's the percussion clef ;)

[@InfluxDecline]

@@Qermaq Great analysis!

[@valerieplushie1031]

maybe it's possible for brass (excluding horns)? but I wouldn't recommend it, I'd recommend learning about the colors of the instruments in their different registers and orchestrating using the tone of the instruments. In percussion there's not at all the same thing.

[@bakkdavidlaszlo]

“octave + a sixth” at 11:46

[@alexg.5850]

Does the Zed cleff works for wind harmonies?

[@ThisCanBePronounced]

I'd say (no formal training but this video's content was obvious to me so this channel may not be for me) the main takeaway, which is the understanding the ideas and results behind matching registers vs stacking them, applies to all orchestra sections, but woodwinds in particular are more subdivided, where an expanded modern orchestra has 2 intruments of different ranges (eg, oboe + english horn, flute + piccolo), so this would especially apply within these subfamilies. You could consider it for winds as a whole too but the different color that each subfamily brings gives the composer/orchestrator a bit more choice in how to paint with the woodwinds. You want clarinets echoing the bassoons or singing with the oboes?

[@plamentsvetanov]

I always prefer to write for a live orchestra. Sometimes (whole using samples) some doubling might be necessary to make your strings sound more "realistic". However, if you were to keep it in your score transcription it would sound bad or unbalanced.

[@ZipplyZane]

If at all possible, a lot of the bad options could have used audio examples. And the corrected version would then also have audio. I know it would be harder to find pre-existing examples of the unbalanced options. But it just felt weird with you saying that one was balanced and the other wasn't without demonstrating it.

[@brunocoliveira89]

11:45 "8ve + 6th"

[@dicktempelaar]

Sean, didn’t you make pianotutorials earlier ?

[@anatomicallymodernhuman5175]

The first time I wrote for live strings, it was almost a disaster. I had no decent sample libraries, only the General MIDI set in a cheap soundcard. My notation software was the horrible, but very inexpensive, Noteworthy Composer. Noteworthy playback puts a short break between notes unless they are connected by a phrase marker. So my score printout had phrase marks for every phrase in the parts. I had no idea that to string players, that’s not a phrase mark. It’s a slur. The players were very confused by this at first, and everything sounded quite weird until suddenly one of the cellists understood and called out “Ignore the slurs!” Boom. Everything fell in place.

[@camtaylormusic]

Would be great to hear actual recordings of these examples, even AI de-mixes of the the originals, rather than synthesised strings. Good ideas though

[@AndreyRubtsovRU]

Z clef made it so much more confusing for me...

[@vicfirth1]

Isn’t this just closed voicing with extra steps?

[@darktimesatrockymountainhi4046]

This is very interesting. Thank you! However, so far I am skeptical about how rearranging the same notes to other instruments makes the sound more balanced. In other words, I doubt so far that a mere change of clef can make the strings sound balanced. Now, this is coming from a long time, experienced string player - all of them - with traditional orchestration training - so I did not use a DAW. Perhaps this is only useful for MIDI composition.

[@dogvom]

You know that thing where the guy in the video is looking at the camera, and thus at you, and then suddenly mid-sentence he starts looking off to the side at nobody in particular and for no good reason, except to say, "Hey look, I have two cameras"? Yeah, I fuckin' hate that.

[@aarongrooves]

Also the teleprompter, which distracted me. I was thinking to myself, "Can't he memorize these simple takes and speak them directly to the camera? It would be so much more engaging."

[@LucasHagemans]

8:31 something's not right here. I hear 3 octaves just like in the previous example at 6:44. Also compare the first note at 6:44 (A) with a not in the next example in 2nd bar at 8:37 (also an A). Not much difference there.

[@mharbaugh]

I enjoyed the video, although I have to admit I feel a little bit resentful about the notion that we have Hollywood composers who make millions of dollars who in their lives never bothered to take the time to learn how to read or write music onto a score. Like, I learned how to do all that stuff before I ever made a penny in any music endeavor because it seemed like learning those skills was a matter of paying your dues.

[@aarongrooves]

I'm curious about this. Are you referring to music producers or actual film score composers? If you really mean that there are composers making millions of dollars off of film scores that they cannot read, that is depressing indeed, and I'm having a hard time accepting it. I need examples!

[@bensmirmusic]

Why would it be wrong to compose music without reading ? People want beautiful music, they do not care about your ability to read sheet scores. It’s just a tool. What matter is the end product. If they can compose better music than the people who can read, then they deserve those millions of dollars

[@HYP3RK1NECT]

Ya entendí, pero hay un problema con ello. 1. La tonalidad. Uno no siempre se compone en Do mayor o La menor. 2. Llega a ser confuso la posición de ese acorde y señalando así, se ve desordenado. En vez de eso se usa colores. Así, la escritura es más eficiente.

[@DanielNorwoodMusic]

My favorite part was when he clearly explained what a Zed clef is and how to use it. : - |

[@VFXCommander]

It's easy! Just place all the notes from your strings on the Z clef regardless of their original clef.

[@superblondeDotOrg]

it is just a shorthand method to measure intervals between all instruments to ensure the intervals are as closely voiced as possible after subtracting the relative octave of the instrument. if you dont want to use the shorthand then transpose and measure all the intervals manually to ensure they are close voiced.

[@brodyharlan1331]

why did you completely downplay the importance of an orchestrator? “yeah the composer actually writes everything in a daw and i just put it in sheet music form.” babes… that’s an ENGRAVER. ORCHESTRATORS take sketches and flesh them out into orchestrations…

[@alexlamymusic]

In film scoring, orchestration is often MIDI transcription and engraving. You do still get actual orchestration happening sometimes, but it’s less common and in many cases not appropriate (if cues are approved on the basis of the demo then people don’t want to change).

[@rosiefay7283]

1:24 No composer writes their compositions in an notation which looks anything like that!

[@lorenzodicapo6305]

It's not notation. It's the readout on a daw. Those lines are the tones and durations. When you work in a digital format, that is how the display looks.

[@PASHKULI]

Surely, this must be a joke… similar to the joke called "standard" (church) music notation systems.

[@wolflover8765]

And this is why 90% of Hollywood scores sound the same. Techniques like this remove all the color and texture from a score. A high school orchestra could balance the chord at 3:30, no problem.

[@thegoodgeneral]

Zed clef stuff explains the legion of modern day composers whose string writing is inoffensive and unremarkable. Sad stuff.

[@ICanPlayPiano]

Shouldn't that be the ZEE clef?🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@user-ln4ij3jh6x]

A better method than Z clef ➡Spend a month writing in StaffPad, or at least in notation only. 1. SP has better versions of Spitfire + Berlin, pre-mapped 2. Read / work / edit in 1 view = it’s a joy, MUCH faster, and infinitely cheaper 3. Every edit literally trains your brain to write better. you know your craft… really. 4. I rec custom flute techniques on audio staffs, inline w/ score. There’s literally nothing better. In 10-15 tech years, composers will only work in notation. Get ahead of that curve, IMHO.

[@brodyharlan1331]

this is the most useless tool i’ve ever seen. basically you just need to visually see that the strings are playing in around the same range in their respective registers. why plot on a fake clef instead of just looking at the sheet music youre writing? the zed clef principle is 1000% made up by this guy and has no merit outside of basic understandings of orchestral balancing. also, “balancing” isn’t always necessarily the goal, as proven with the octave doubling example. idk, it seems like a lot of work for very little payoff, especially since this made-up clef is not even a thing you can write in most modern notation softwares!!

[@Whatismusic123]

What utter nonsense.

[@johnspence5689]

You mean “z”? You’re in the us not the uk

[@bryanstarkweather]

3:10 "at first glance, there seems to be nothing wrong with this voicing." Uh... What? It literally jumps off the page as being absolutely wrong. 🤦🏻‍♂️ If you're a professional orchestrator and you can't tell that, you might want to just quit. Unless there's some reason you want to interleave violas between the first and second violin, with them holding the higher voice of each dyad? Not saying it wouldn't work, but if you're trying to come up with a balanced pad, it would be ridiculous. Written for live strings more times than I can count. Did it for the first time when I was 28. It's generally pretty hassle-free, string players are very good at playing pretty much anything you write. Sometimes you can torture them a little. 👌😛

[@audiocristal]

Great video !! Do you use SIbelius? and if so, how did you added the Z clef ?

[@narcolepsydriver]

“octave + a sixth” at 11:46