TIPS to TRANSCRIBE Orchestral Music

In this video I'm giving you a few tips on how to transcribe orchestral music and the importance of transcription in order to build up composition and orchestration chops.
I'm trying something different for this one. It's a bit more of a talkative style video so let me know if you'd enjoy more stuff like this!
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[@markodvojkovic]

Thank you Mattia for talking about this, people don't realise that this is maybe the single most important and most powerful skill for a composer. By doing it consistently one gets better and faster at it which means that the process of becoming a better composer gets faster and faster! And people still won't do it (I am saying this in hope that it will make people do it even if in spite hah). Yes, if you have never done it before it will be hard and frustrating at first, but then at least picking simple pop songs you like in the beginning is great I think. That can be done even without a score to check because it is much easier to hear if you have done it right or it is not there yet. Cheers!

[@MattiaChiappa]

Hi Marko, I couldn't agree more

[@UlyssesAlexandreAlves]

Awesome work!

[@nickbowd]

Man. That’s some impressive work!

[@LearnCompositionOnline]

7:48 this is a very interesting point! well put

[@emanuel_soundtrack]

actually 7:39

[@fayezindi]

Mattia thank you so much for this tip, I really appreciate your transparency, you are such an inspiration. i will wait for your course to learn more from you :)

[@MattiaChiappa]

You’re welcome!

[@bobe.thomas]

Great video (and also your 10 Orchestration tips)... very clear, very professional and very helpful... so often people make their music videos and it is either too much talking, or too much hand-holding, or just generally unfocused and unprofessional... Thanks much for your work and your excellent and focused perspective!!!

[@MattiaChiappa]

Thanks Bob, glad you’re enjoying the videos!

[@orchestrazionepratica]

Beautiful video and very interesting!

[@MattiaChiappa]

Thanks!

[@briancollins1475]

Thank you Mattia. This has definitely inspired me to use much more transcription in my journey to learn orchestral composition. I do have one question though on transcription "strategy": When transcribing an orchestral piece (like your Raiders March), do you work on it horizontally, focussing your ear on a specific instrument and transcribing that one part for a long stretch of music? Or do you work on the entire arrangement vertically, a few bars at a time, getting the harmonies and rhythmic "interplay" before moving on to the next phrase? Does one way always work better?

[@MattiaChiappa]

Hi Brian, I work on a few bars at a time. Usually starting with melody, bass and the adding the rest.

[@kekes1234]

There’s this one piece called Brise de Novembre by Norodom Sihanouk. I really want to revive that piece because the score was most likely lost due to war and it’s a really beautiful song. It is just hard to really focus on the exact notes because of the old audio.

[@musical_lolu4811]

How much are you willing to pay me😂😂

[@peterreynolds8146]

Excellent advice thank

[@nRGmusicproduction]

Awesome tips as always Mattia.

[@MattiaChiappa]

Glad it’s useful!

[@pourkoituripachanson]

Brilliant as always

[@MattiaChiappa]

Thanks!

[@stevenlamarmooremooremusic4611]

Great work Mattia!

[@MattiaChiappa]

Thanks a lot!

[@bobcarwell9172]

Many thanks for taking the time Marko. Consistent with what I've heard from other composers ! A couple questions: 1) Is your notation Sibelius or Finale, and what is the playback library that plays the score back from the notation so realistically ? 2) Are you transcribing from an audio file and using some type of playback looping software to keep repeating segments over and over and perhaps slowed down as you notate and then moving on to the next segment ? If so, what software (Slo-downer, etc.) ? The old days of repeatedly dropping a needle are thankfully gone forever... Again, many thanks for all your video tutorials ! Much appreciatted !

[@MattiaChiappa]

Hi Bob, I use Sibelius together with a plugin called noteperfomer. I usually import the reference track in logic but sometimes transcribe straight from KZbin changing speeds from the bar below if I have to.

[@FG-bt3vq]

you are extremly inspiring. i like your educational videos. Even more i love your music! I wonder, did you study composing and orchestrating?

[@MattiaChiappa]

Thanks! No, I studied guitar performance

[@FG-bt3vq]

Impressive. In the case of orchestrating / composing you are self-taught?

[@MattiaChiappa]

I am indeed, learned by transcribing 🙂

[@FG-bt3vq]

i take this as an important advice (transcribing). i find myself creating and creating in cubase (with bbcso and metropolis ark 1/2). Good ideas are there, but the fundamental know-how how to orchestrate propperly is missing completely. I take it as a slow step by step learning. Hopefully i can get there 🙂. Maybe i‘ll go for a class anytime soon on your Homepage!

[@mustechnology]

Thank you for your work! What is this trumpet library? It sounds great!

[@MattiaChiappa]

All the sounds are from a plugin for notation softwares called noteperformer

[@mustechnology]

@@MattiaChiappa thanks, I just discovered! Finally, beautiful trumpets!

[@mustechnology]

I'm sorry, Mattia. It would be better to do staccato on a third note of a trumpet solo. I'm a professional trumpeter. We never play first note staccato in this March. All notes out of the beat should be long. Particularly eights with a dot. Thanks a lot for new samples of Noteperformer!))

[@MattiaChiappa]

@@mustechnology I'm aware of that thanks. There are other little mistakes like that in the transcription, together with some notes that are are just plain wrong. As I said I never go back and correct them, I find that acknowledging mistakes is enough for me.

[@ClintOwenEllis]

You mentioned there was a previous video about transcribing using logic? Is this still up? I couldn’t find it. Thanks!

[@MattiaChiappa]

Did I? Maybe I mixed it up with something I shared on Patreon, not sure..

[@ClintOwenEllis]

No worries. Appreciate the content Mattia, it's helping me alot so thanks for that :)

[@wanisz_]

What's the name of the program you used?

[@davidheymann7741]

would you recommend sibelius and note performer for this or is something that creates a better sound like Dorico (with integrated sample libraries) or staffpad a better alternative in 2022?

[@MattiaChiappa]

Noteperformer interprets dynamics and articulations better than any other sample sample library on the market. If it’s just a matter of getting a realistic representation of the instruments would sound like without without worrying about any other sonic aspect, it will beat any expensive library by a mile. Purely from a sonic point of view though sample instruments are obviously far superior but will take a lot time, effort, dedication and experience to achieve the same level of realism performance wise. NP doesn’t produce professional media ready results and never will but gives you a much clearer idea of how a real orchestra sounds in about every fundamental aspect of what makes a performance other than sound. I heard great mock-ups from staffpad but not even remotely as good as what I would consider a good mock-up made in a DAW. I personally use Logic X and an array of different libraries for anything I compose, use NP exclusively for score prep, studying or anything personal. If you plan to use NP for demos, that doesn’t work either. Any non musician, or even musicians themselves sometimes, will be instantly put off by the sound and would not be able to see past that. That said I think it’s still absolutely worth it and one of my favorite tools for music production. Sorry for the somehow conflicting answers, I’m afraid as for now there isn’t one library to rule the all yet.

[@davidheymann7741]

@@MattiaChiappa Thanks for the answer! I am getting dorico and note performer now. Already using the expensive libraries for DAW productions, but for transcribing exercises, note performer should be good enough

[@micwarren21]

Would have liked to see some of the original score against your transcription.

[@MattiaChiappa]

Hey, it’s not public domain and I didn’t want to risk a block. The video is being demonetized for playing a bit of the music, I didn’t want to stretch it too much

[@micwarren21]

@@MattiaChiappa Thank you, I understand your dilemma perfectly now.

[@MrTobiBase]

Super! ☺️ Do you use noteperformer ?

[@MattiaChiappa]

Thanks, yes indeed!

[@aleksandarstojceski3139]

Without knowing soflege and theory transcribing is impossible.

[@MattiaChiappa]

Hey man, thanks for sharing your opinion! Certainly harder but not impossible. I had taken many students without those sorts of skills and you’d be surprised by what they were able to accomplish. I can confirm it’s definitely possibile if you have some degree of facility on an instrument.

[@rubenmolino1480]

Matia. Add the translator, please, thank you

[@MattiaChiappa]

Hi Ruben, it's not up to me how long it takes for KZbin to create auto generated captions. It's there now but bare in mind for the next one that it can take up to 48 hours

[@rubenmolino1480]

@@MattiaChiappa ahhhh thank you very much ..... MATTIA ¡.... A HUG AND HAPPY YEAR ¡¡