How do you develop an instrumental cue?

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kevinmathie
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How do you develop an instrumental cue?

Post by kevinmathie » Wed Nov 22, 2006 5:15 pm

I'm sitting here, the day before Thanksgiving, trying to get motivated to start a music cue. It's not like I have to put this to film, or anything. It's just an assignment I've given myself this afternoon that includes certain specific parameters. It's an exercise of sorts.Anyway, as I've been sitting here, it hit me that maybe my way of approaching composition isn't the best way for the tight-deadline world of film and television. Normally, I sit at the piano and develop almost all the compositional ideas on paper first. At the very least, I'll develop the melody, harmony, and main accompaniment figures on paper.Then, after it's on paper, I'll sequence what I have. Sometimes I'll play around with orchestral elements as I'm sequencing, but for the most part, what gets sequenced is what's on the page already. After that, I'll often "sweeten" the sequence with tertiary elements that never make it to paper.Basically, my compositions get done twice. Once on paper and once on the computer.Is this the way most of you work? Or do you go right to the sequencer first thing to save time? Thinking about going straight to sequencer without working it all out on paper first seems a little intimidating to me. Maybe I'm not a very smart musician, but I don't know if I could work things out as well without being able to see it first on paper.But, that also seems to be very slow. I don't know how I could meet a very tight deadline that way.So, I'm very interested in how you all do it. I've never written for film or television. I've never had a 3-week deadline to come up with 45 minutes of music, or anything crazy like that... Well, OK, twice I've had only 5 weeks to compose the score to an entire musical, but again that was just writing the music down. I didn't have to record and mix the music in that time as well.How do you work? Is writing music down an old-fashioned, and soon-to-be-extinct way of developing music for film? Are there better, more efficient ways of doing it?

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Re: How do you develop an instrumental cue?

Post by zink » Wed Nov 22, 2006 6:54 pm

I think this really depends on what kind of cue your talking about. Personally, if it's something traditional (orchestral, piano based...), I like to start at the piano and atleast get a basic sketch of what I want. If it's something more of a soundscape, (maybe something like the Donny Darko soundtrack), I usually hit the DAW and start developing sounds. If it's an electronica type thing, I may start at the piano, or maybe at the computer coming up with a beat, or a bassline, or a cool sound... I don't think there's any right or wrong way to go here though. The only thing that matters is the final product. How you get there is entirely up to you.One thing that I find helpful is starting with a concept of what I want. No chords or melodies, just an abstract concept. Maybe something like: Dark Aggressive Cello spicattos... or maybe Flowing Seductive Water... Sounds odd, but having some adjectives and/or orchestrative ideas upfront seems to work, at least for me, especially when time is an issue.FWIWZ

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Re: How do you develop an instrumental cue?

Post by kevinmathie » Sat Nov 25, 2006 11:16 am

Well, that makes sense. Thanks for your input!

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Re: How do you develop an instrumental cue?

Post by feloniuspunk » Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:54 am

I used to do it all on paper by hand. Then I discovered band-in-a-box. I bought the program and boy does it save time. I normally start with either the melody or chord changes. Once I type it/them in I play around with tempo, key, instrumentation and style to fine tune it but it takes about a half hour tops to write a new tune that way, unless it's a real complicated. By uncomplicated I mean most normal 12, 16, 24 or 32 bar stuff. You get instataneous playback.It has its drawbacks though. Some keys produce funny accidentals on paper when you print out the lead sheet. It also can't do weird time signatures like 5/4 or 7/8. It can do 2/4, 4/4, 3/4, 6/8 and 12,8 in swing or straight feel.Overall it's very useful being able to immediately hear your ideas. Unless you have a keyboard, some of the computer based midi instruments sound cheesy but I normall use fender bass, rhodes and nylon string guitar for the rhythm section and vibraphone for melody. That combination sounds okay on my computer.There are tons of different Latin styles too which I love. They make versions for PC or Mac. I like the lead sheets and take them to gigs. Transposing for other than concert pitched instruments is also very easy. It takes about 2 or 3 hours to get up to speed when you first get it but after a while it's real easy.There are also other programs that do the same thing like finale, cakewalk, etc. http://www.pgmusic.com/

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Re: How do you develop an instrumental cue?

Post by kevinmathie » Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:35 am

FeloniusPunk,Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out!

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Re: How do you develop an instrumental cue?

Post by matto » Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:10 am

Kevin,obviously there's no right or wrong, it depends on the nature of the cue and what you're comfortable with personally.I'm similar to zink in that I don't have one set way of doing things.If it's a melodic cue (or sometime groove oriented stuff too), more often than not I come up with the kernel idea while away from the computer, like when I'm out hiking or driving or...personal favorite...doing the dishes. I then "save" that idea by jotting it down on paper, calling my answering machine and singing it into it, or if I'm home I might fire up the computer and play it in.More textural cues will be started right in the sequencer, since they are based on sounds and textures that aren't otherwise available. Very "pianistic cues" might be developed from noodling around with a high quality piano sample (and a quality sample really DOES make a big difference...obviously a real Grand would be even better ). Or I might put togethert some "groovescape" in something like RMX and start from there.Like I said, no set way. I rarely "develop" anything very far on paper anymore, but then I was never that much of a "paper composer" to begin with, and I've been working in a sequencer environment of some kind for over 20 years, so it's second nature.I think you'll always gravitate toward your comfort zone writing wise, but I would also recommend deliberately venturing outside of it every once in a while. You might discover a slew of entirely new creative possibilities by doing so .matto

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Re: How do you develop an instrumental cue?

Post by david0912 » Wed Sep 29, 2021 2:08 am

Thanks for the feedback. I was also looking for this solution.

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Re: How do you develop an instrumental cue?

Post by jdstamper » Wed Sep 29, 2021 7:16 pm

matto wrote:
Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:10 am
Kevin,obviously there's no right or wrong, it depends on the nature of the cue and what you're comfortable with personally.I'm similar to zink in that I don't have one set way of doing things.If it's a melodic cue (or sometime groove oriented stuff too), more often than not I come up with the kernel idea while away from the computer, like when I'm out hiking or driving or...personal favorite...doing the dishes. I then "save" that idea by jotting it down on paper, calling my answering machine and singing it into it, or if I'm home I might fire up the computer and play it in.More textural cues will be started right in the sequencer, since they are based on sounds and textures that aren't otherwise available. Very "pianistic cues" might be developed from noodling around with a high quality piano sample (and a quality sample really DOES make a big difference...obviously a real Grand would be even better ). Or I might put togethert some "groovescape" in something like RMX and start from there.Like I said, no set way. I rarely "develop" anything very far on paper anymore, but then I was never that much of a "paper composer" to begin with, and I've been working in a sequencer environment of some kind for over 20 years, so it's second nature.I think you'll always gravitate toward your comfort zone writing wise, but I would also recommend deliberately venturing outside of it every once in a while. You might discover a slew of entirely new creative possibilities by doing so .matto
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Re: How do you develop an instrumental cue?

Post by CEMundt » Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:33 pm

I almost always go into the writing process with an idea in mind, a general emotion/scene, a harmony, and/or instrumentation. At this point, there are two routes for me, depending on whether I’ve started writing on the DAW or the instrument. If I start with the DAW, I’ll look for the appropriate virtual instrument and get at least 4 bars written, repeatedly listening from beginning to end, adding and refining notes at the end. On the guitar, I’ll usually write straight from the beginning to the end (without recording or writing anything down) and refine/practice the part for the next couple days if I have and need the time. Sometimes, of course, if the part is simple enough, you can jump right into recording.

When I write on the instrument, my method is similar to writing in the DAW. I start from the beginning and play until where my piece currently ends, or more importantly, when I make a mistake or need to revise. If I can play through that spot 5x in a row correctly, I get to move on. By the end, even my most complicated pieces are squarely under my fingers. Classical conditioning at its best!

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Re: How do you develop an instrumental cue?

Post by jonathanmare » Fri Feb 23, 2024 3:32 am

Thanks for your valuable information!

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