Producing High Quality Cues Quickly (Any Tips?)

[kellyandrew]

Hello TAXI Community!

I recently upgraded to 64-bit and it has done wonders in my ability to produce faster. However, some friends and acquaintances in the industry have advised me that in order to be successful in the world of "TV" or "trailers" that I would need to produce at least 1 to 2 cues (fully loaded pieces) a day from start to finish with high quality. Watching the TAXI TV episode with Nick (professional composer for trailers) earlier this week confirmed this.

As far as inching my way toward this goal, so far I've prepared my project templates - I use Cubase 7. I already spent time getting familiar with all my sound libraries, layerings, and quick keys. However, the turnaround time for me is still about 16-24 hours for a 2-4 minute fully blown orchestral piece, and 4-8 hours on a somewhat simple instrumental piece. One flaw in my workflow is that I don't use a keyboard to insert my notes, but a mere mouse. Another flaw may be not enough practice with Cubase quick keys. Third flaw may be my perfectionist nature.

Aside from my workflow flaws, are there any other tips on how I can achieve this level of productivity sooner? I would love to get some input on this as well as for some others (I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one wondering about this).

Finally, It's an honor to be a part of this wonderful supportive community and my first post here on the forums. Third year TAXI member and written hundreds of songs to date. I hope to meet many of you at the TAXI Rally this November!

[EricB]

You've already touched on many areas to quicken your pace. A huge way to improve your pace is templates. Make templates for different instrumentations with plugins you like ready to go.

[Cruciform]

I think there's something missing in translation with Nick's comment on Taxi TV about 2-3 cues per day. I don't think he is referring to trailer cues at that speed. Pretty certain that was in reference particularly to sports cues. 2-3 tv tracks per day for a full-time composer should be do-able. But even at full capacity 12-20hrs for a trailer cue is quite reasonable.

[andygabrys]

really nice music on your page Kelly.

Kinda sounds like you answered some of your own questions - why not spend 15-30 ultra focused minutes per day to get more keyboard chops together? I am not a keyboard / piano player first and foremost either but I think step input / or click with mouse in the piano roll would nearly drive me over the brink as well as slow me up. and I have done plenty of mousing in Finale over the years.

[kellyandrew]

Thanks everyone for the replies and for re-affirming my concerns. I can see how 2-3x 2-3 minute cues can be done with simple instrumentation or 3x 30-second fully blown orchestral queues in 10-12 hours (Cruciform, is this what you mean by "Sports cues"?).

As far as a control keyboard for inserting notes, I already have an old 2-octave oxygen 8 with knobs and pitch bends. All I need, ideally, is to have an 88 keyboard with weighted keys. To anyone, what keyboard do you recommend? I'm looking into the Yamaha P95/P105 for now, but if there are better ones out there for under $1,000, let me know.

[andygabrys]

several years back I got an Akai MPK88 on amazon new for $495. its been great. although some really picky pianists don't quite like the weighted action. lots of knobs and buttons and sliders to control those VI's too.

[kellyandrew]

Thanks, Andy. I'll look into that (as well as a few others I have in mind) and I'll check out a local Guitar Center to try it out.

To others, more keyboard suggestions are welcome.

[Cruciform]

I can see how 2-3x 2-3 minute cues can be done with simple instrumentation or 3x 30-second fully blown orchestral queues in 10-12 hours (Cruciform, is this what you mean by "Sports cues"?).

Yeh, by 'sports cues', I was just referring to the kind of music he was talking about that would get used on sports shows, or just non-orchestral tv music in general which tends to be a lot faster to write and produce. If you or anyone can do 3x 30 second full orchestral cues in 10-12 hours more power to you!

[ceedub]

16-24 hours for an orchestral piece entering the notes with a mouse sounds pretty fast! Good job. I've gotta believe you could cut hours by playing the parts on a keyboard.

[VanderBoegh]

Like the rest of the guys, the ONE major thing I see slowing you down is mouse-work. Get yourself a keyboard... ANY keyboard, and it will dramatically increase your speed.

I've been using a simple 2 octave Oxygen cheapie since I started in the cue-world about two years ago, and since I'm not a keyboardist/pianist, it's all I really need.

My biggest output to date is 6 cues in one day. Some people (like Kelvin Tan, aka K.O. Star) blow me away with his record of I think 12 in a single day. When I really sit down with the focused goal of cue-writing for an entire day, I can probably average around 2-4 good ones. These are about 90 second pieces, maybe with a maximum of 20 parts - most of them less than that. Nothing major like Rob O (Cruciform) does, but stuff that still has its place on bad reality TV shows.

You'll get there. Just get the gear, and get to work!

~~Matt