Take Your Strings to the Next Level

🎵 If you enjoyed this video, make sure to also check out my free training - 'My 3 Secrets to Composing Rich Cinematic Music':
www.composingacademy.com/free...
How to take your String Writing to the next level - in this video I show you one way you can take a simple piano melody with chords and transform it into a lush and rich orchestration for strings.
As well as using paid orchestral sample libraries such as Cinematic Strings 2 and Pacific Strings, I'll also demonstrate a version using just the free BBC Discover library, showing what you can achieve just with a free sample library.
► Get your FREE Beginner's Guide To Composing Music in 5 Easy Steps here:
composingacademy.ck.page/5easy...
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:33 - Writing the 1st Violin part
01:46 - Writing the Bass part
02:15 - Adding the Cello part
05:00 - Writing the Viola part
06:30 - Adding the 2nd Violins
07:57 - Playthrough
08:31 - Playthrough using BBC Discover (free orchestral sample library)
09:08 - Outro
Sample libraries I use in the piece:
Cinematic Studio Strings
cinematicstudioseries.com/str...
Cinematic Strings 2
cinematicstudioseries.com/cs2/
Pacific Strings (by Performance Samples)
www.performancesamples.com/pa...
BBC Discover (by Spitfire Audio)
www.spitfireaudio.com/bbc-sym...
If you enjoyed this video, make sure to subscribe to the Composing Academy Channel, for more Composing and Music Theory tips and tricks.
Composing Academy is the place to learn how to begin composing your own music. Here you will find easy to follow videos explaining core Music Theory concepts along with various tips and tricks to help you craft that perfect song of cinematic piece of music.

[@user-vd9qx1ee9r]

Simon, please do not stop what you do here, it is always a great pleasure to see what you achieve and advise. Cheers, Angelo

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi Angelo, thank you so much for your kind words!

[@user-vd9qx1ee9r]

@@composingacademy8270 most welcome

[@reziahamed6654]

I just stumbled upon your channel.. Your content is pure gold & your presentation is just top notch... Totally agree here as you stopping these will be a Crime for us composers... Urge you to keep these rolloing out more often... Much Love & Respect ! Subbed & shared as much as possible....🎻🎉😎🤗

[@jmagness5946]

For a tutorial, this is really a beautiful piece.

[@michaeltablet8577]

Beautiful. I just discovered your channel and immediately subscribed after 1 video. Absolutely excellent and helpful! Thank you so very much!

[@composingacademy8270]

Awesome! Thank you! Really appreciate the comment!

[@ptmm_official]

Wow Really value thing that i learned here thank You

[@user-go4pc8ix2v]

Calm, clear, orderly and very useful, please continue with similar content.

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you for your kind comments and for watching! More similar content to follow!

[@Andmagic77]

Thanks

[@user-ho1bh5vq1u]

Hey Simon, Can you please upload a mixing and Mastering Videos Also. Loved your Video!!!

[@CarlineFrancois]

Thank you for this tutorial on writing a Christmas Song!🌿💕

[@wschenke9999]

Excellent use of the chord track! Keep up the good work Simon-and thanks.

[@composingacademy8270]

I'm so pleased you like it, thank you for watching!

[@ahour4]

Brilliant, loved it❤ impatiently waiting for more

[@composingacademy8270]

Yes, I have been slow on uploading recently, I apologise. More to come though!

[@konstantin7420]

Thanks Simon! Very detailed and inspiring. Picked out a few useful tricks!

[@composingacademy8270]

I'm pleased, thank you for the comment!

[@woolrich020]

This was so much help. I was pretty much stuck in thinking celli are for bass notes, and the 2nd violins and at the lowest the violas should do the chords. This was eye opening, and your result is stunning!

[@cancion5791]

thanks for sharing bro, i wan looking to learn how to write cinematic strings but could not find how until i saw this video and i can see now how this maybe fit into my music.

[@composingacademy8270]

Glad I could help! Thank you for watching & Happy Composing!

[@muso346]

This is excellent thank you!

[@tomturton]

This is gold. Thank you Simon.

[@composingacademy8270]

You're welcome, thank you for watching!

[@alfred11033]

This is what I needed to write! Thank you for this lesson and example!🔥

[@composingacademy8270]

I am so pleased, thank you for watching!

[@ZHEER]

Really helpful. Great content!

[@pedrokringen277]

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing how to do this.

[@composingacademy8270]

You are welcome, thank you for watching!

[@RalfBiermann777]

again very insightful and helping with own compositions

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you - yes hopefully it is straight forward to then apply to your own writing?

[@sangkodeng9054]

Looking forward to more string knowledge！😘

[@flavioishimaru5399]

😮These combination of strings blew my mind of peaceful feeling to another dimension. I close my eyes and I can see my wife and daughter beside me I walk in heaven. What a trip was this Simon😀🎌 Thanks Simon...Well done 👍 you deserve many tomzsp 👍👍👍

[@composingacademy8270]

Wow, thank you so much for the kind words!

[@sandraeise9080]

Thank you very much for this video, for me it was very helpful :) A wonderful piece of music you have created in this tutorial, i like it very much.

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you - I'm glad it was helpful!

[@jorritvos9349]

Great content Simon! Thank you very much!

[@composingacademy8270]

You're welcome, thank you for watching!

[@reziahamed6654]

I just stumbled upon your channel.. Your content is pure gold & your presentation is just top notch... Totally agree with others here as you stopping these will be a Crime for us composers... Urge you to keep these rolloing out more often... Much Love & Respect ! Subbed & shared as much as possible....🎻🎉😎🤗

[@Doc2rjae07]

Beautiful opener🙏🏽

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you so much!

[@sanjaycolaco]

Good sounding composition. Thanks for the tutorial. Have a Blessed day!🌷🌷🌷😇

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you so much - you too!

[@wintrasight7525]

really detailed for beginners, thanks

[@composingacademy8270]

My pleasure - I hope it was useful!

[@Antony-qq1ob3bz3g]

always good to watch

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you, so pleased you liked it!

[@timjonesguitar]

Great video, thank you for sharing! Wish I saw that prior to my project just wrapping up, but will implement on next one!

[@composingacademy8270]

Hope it will help next time! Thank you for watching, glad you have found it useful!

[@upplysta3497]

Beautiful piece!

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you so much!

[@mbybeatz]

incredible.....thank you

[@composingacademy8270]

You're welcome, thank you for watching!

[@riversilvers]

wonderful video! Thank you💫

[@composingacademy8270]

You're welcome, thank you for watching!

[@spicetraders]

These are great man! Thank you from San Diego.

[@composingacademy8270]

Glad you like them! Thank you for watching!

[@Ryanrickybobby]

Wow, i have played cello for over 18 years, the accuracy of the parts played are spot on. You even put in slurs, or slurs were generated automatically into the sheet music having everything played on one bow. Fantastic!

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you so much, I really appreciate this! I was very good friends with a Cellist when at College so got a lot of tips from her on techniques!

[@nahtudie]

Thank’s❤

[@composingacademy8270]

You're welcome, thanks for watching!

[@althurdjerah]

This is so special, thank you buddy for teaching us some amazing composition. 🤗😘 You deserve huuuugs and kisses

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you for watching!

[@xoundsbythimo4614]

Thank you🎉

[@composingacademy8270]

My pleasure - many thanks for watching!

excellent job!

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you so much!

[@njt_music96]

hi Simon, this is such an amazing video... your videos helped me when i started my composing journey about a year or 2 ago and very thankful for your guidance. i am curious though about where you put each part of the strings section for your Stereo mixes (for headphones/speakers)? thanks

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you so much for your kind words! As you probably saw I was using mostly Cinematic Strings 2 - these come 'pre panned' so the various instruments are in their correct position in the stereo field, from a conductor in an orchestra's perspective. For libraries which have all of the instruments in the centre by default, I would pan the 1st Violins on the left hand side, the 2nds still on the left but a little more to the centre. Then the Violas I would keep in the centre, with the Celli off centre to the right and then the Basses further round to the right as well. I hope that helps!

[@blasterxt9]

Amazing sir 😊

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

[@TuhinTulsyan]

Hi.... I am highly inspired by your music & videos... I started learning piano but then eventually my interest in multi instrumental music evolved a lot... And hence right now i am working on my transcribing capabilities... Also i am wondering if i must sell off my digital piano and buy a midi controller because i feel the keys on a digital piano are not suitable to play everything... Would you help me with some suggestions/advice? Also i am confused between digital paino/midi controller and an arranger keyboard

[@leslygeorge5751]

May God bless you sir Excellent Lesly George India

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you so much!

[@EricdaRED95]

Could you create a video comparing different DAWs for orchestral composition? Id like to get into composing but don't know what DAW to commit to.

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi, yes that is something I could add to my future videos list. If you are just starting out, I would recommend going for a free DAW to start with, I have a video on Cakewalk, which is free and one of the best out there. Might be worth a watch?

[@TuhinTulsyan]

What are pre requisites to becoming a composer?

[@siruskaadora290]

Thank you , very helpful. Can you make a video about how to compose horror music by using orchestral instruments?

[@composingacademy8270]

You are not the first person that has asked this, it is definitely on my list to do!

[@gianni1646]

Hello Simon! I just subscribed to your channel about 24 hours ago and am fascinated by how much you have to offer for composing! I was wondering though, is there a way to stop the “Subscribe” gif once a person is subscribed? It does pop up too often and is moderately distracting. But, if there is no remedy I will continue to watch and learn because you provide a wealth of valuable instruction. Thanks for you videos, Gianni❤

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi Gianni, my thanks for subscribing and getting in touch. Unfortunately I don't think there is a way to get rid of the subscribe animation, once a video is uploaded. I'll admit that when I first started uploading videos, I watched others and saw that they often used a similar animation, but over time I can see that it is distracting. During my recent videos I've made sure to limit the number of subscribe animations, and I think in this String one, there aren't any? The more videos I make, the more I learn about what people/don't like. Thank you for your feedback and kind words!

[@MrNimbus53]

Which vst do you use for the Celli?

[@sandraeise9080]

Hello :) it would have been very helpful to point out which note in which measure in which instrument-track was wrong. i couldn't find any differences to the first video yet.

[@composingacademy8270]

Hi-it was in the Cello part in bar 7. I have an A as the top voice in Cubase (for the F major chord) but had an Ab written in the notation :-(. Very annoyed at myself for missing it the first time!

[@sandraeise9080]

@@composingacademy8270 ooh, that one ! thank you for the answer. But for me it does not feel like a mistake, it gives an interesting dimmed effect (this F 9#) to the F major ...

[@MadMan_MG]

I would imagine this concept can apply to other instrument groups as well? Or is there a different way you would go about brass for example?

[@composingacademy8270]

To an extent yes, but be careful with individual instruments. For example, I probably wouldn't write for the Trombones like I have for the first 4 bars of the Celli (although I absolutely would using the last 4 bars of the Celli!)

[@MadMan_MG]

@@composingacademy8270 much appreciated

[@baileybarnes3233]

Can you do a video for brass

[@composingacademy8270]

Thank you for the suggestion!

[@micwarren21]

With bbcso did you also use 2 libraries to thicken? Ex viola long and a staccato patch from a different library?

[@sandraeise9080]

I guess, he does not use the BBC-Orchestra instuments in this Video. He is using CSS = Cinematic Studio Strings (not free, kind of expensive) and the Pacific STrings (also no free sounds) I tried to rebuild his sample with the BBC-Orchestra Instruments and it works too.

[@composingacademy8270]

For the BBC Discover I did use both the Viola long and shorts patches to help, but I didn't layer in any other patches for 1st Violins, Cellos etc.

[@micwarren21]

@@composingacademy8270 great video as usual.

[@sausse3975]

what this program?

[@composingacademy8270]

The DAW is Cubase Pro 12. Thanks for watching!

[@someoneintheearth5117]

[@WhoisLeggio]

Sounds like journey from the destiny 2 soundtrack

[@composingacademy8270]

Interesting, will check it out!

[@pabloortizcom]

3:30 Is this a pure MIDI composing/arranging tutorial, or fo you intent to be played by a real orchestra later? That cello part with those chors sounds great here, but, in a real orchestra would sound very "dirty" and "fat", and it would be necesary to delete maybe 1 or two voices for clarity and clean sound. You've got violas there. You can double cellos by themselves (cellos playing same notes low and high), and then, violas playing the notes you removed from cellos. Nevertheless, you are already doubling notes there by the double bases, so mmm... The piece works, but I think the sound resulting is very very split. Down, bass and cello make it sound very gross at the end, and on the upper parts, they sound very distant from the lower voices. I would be more balanced if celli and viola are modified.

[@berserker2551]

I'm going to report you,for making composition videos that are too good XDXDXD

[@composingacademy8270]

LOL, thank you so much for the comment, I really appreciate it.

[@berserker2551]

@@composingacademy8270 You are a very good teacher of Music Theory You must to creat a full Music Theory Course Reggards :3

[@teja7217]

To my ears BBC discover sounded professional and better than CSS

[@user-ho1bh5vq1u]

Thankyou Simon!! Can you please upload a Mixing and Mastering Videos .