r/filmscoring

Hey all, I’ve been thinking recently about some of my favorite scores of the 21st century and I’ve struggled to come up with a list. This isn’t for anything, was just kinda bored and wanted to think about it. But I was curious what everyone’s favorite scores are so far in the century? I don’t have a list but I think a personal favorite of mine is Giacchino’s score for Ratatouille. It could really be any of his Pixar scores for me (inside out, up, and incredibles are all genius in there own way) but I feel that ratatouille has some of the best thematic storytelling I’ve ever heard in a score so that’s my personal favorite. What about everyone else? I’m definitely interested in hearing about some scores that might have gone under the radar all these years

I've always had this opinion that Hans is a great film score composer however, I feel like he has been stuck in his own ways and never really wanted to explore. I think that Dune's score was incredible and quite a step from his usual scores so I'll give him that, but before that, he really had a distinct style, not that it's a bad thing but moreso, after a certain point it's hard to tell a cue from Interstellar vs. a cue from Inception vs. a cue from Top Gun Maverick, etc. I think that his orchestral writing is really epic and definitely fits some things but at a certain point, to me at least, it comes off as tacky. Ludwig on the other hand has been making waves since 2015 in film scores. Even in his formative years (I'd say probably 2015-2018 around Black Panther) I'd say he was better than Hans. Also considering I feel Hans is sort of like a mentor to Ludwig in a way since Hans was the one who suggested him for Tenet (in my opinion top 10 score of the decade). I love both composers but Ludwig has shown that he has a distinct voice but doesn't let any specific style of his control the score, he adapts and he breaks rules which I feel like Hans hasn't done in quite a while. Thoughts anyone?

I thought it was really cool that all the musicians in the orchestra for Toy Story 5 were listed in the credits, by name and instrument. It feels like the first time I’ve seen that. Was I just not paying attention before?

HOLY SHIT THAT WAS AWESOME!!!

Are the development of themes specifically asked for by the director or is it left to the composer? Also, do you do themes without or with picture?

Hi,

I'm in the market for a new system to replace my now very old Mac Pro tower. It's a 2009 4.1 that I upgraded to a 5.1 and updated the RAM and CPU, so it now runs like a 2012 model. I also updated to the latest OS using open core. It's now quite unusable for what I want to do, which has resulted in me actually putting my music-making on hold for the last couple of years, along with my ambitions.

The RAM is particularly important given the sorts of Kontact libraries I run. I'm learning film and game music, and five simultaneous CineStrings patches are about the limit on my current Mac, so I need something that will let me properly expand and use more patches and sample libraries per session.

As such, I was looking to drop a ton of cash on one of the new MacBook Pros. I planned to wait until the new M6 redesign, purportedly coming at the end of this year, dropped, and then get a powerful system that would last me as long as possible. This would fundamentally mean stacking it with a lot of RAM, and with recent price increases, the exponentially higher cost has made it impossible for me.

So, the idea now is to spend significantly less than I was going to and buy a second-hand MacBook Pro- either an M1, M2, or M3. M4 or M5 are possible, but they're in that range where, if I'm spending that much, I'd rather spend even more to go all out on the spec and get a beast of a system. With the price hikes, doing that is now far more than I can afford.

I've been looking into things, and it's pretty confusing for me. I haven't found references comparing M1, M2, or M3 for this type of music-making, and there's also the issue of base, pro, and max models. And then there's the RAM, which is likely the clincher. I understand it's important, but I'm not sure what's the best bang for the buck.

There's also the software issue. I use Logic, and as far as I'm aware, you can only update it on the latest version of the OS. One of my concerns about buying into an older chip is that in a couple of years I'll be locked out of updates to both the OS and Logic...

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

https://reddit.com/link/1unbrrg/video/ecx0krf0d8bh1/player

 Please do not judge my composition, I am not looking for composition feedback. Only showing that Musescore can be used for scoring. I scored a short 1 minute film clip (a supernatural horror scene from the movie Rings) only to show to myself how Musescore can be used for scoring film. Not at the level of a DAW, but I feel film scoring on Musescore (4.7.3 in this example) can be great for a first pass before exporting to xml and importing into a DAW for advanced mixing and mastering if needed. This is a lot cheaper than using Dorico, in fact Musescore + VLC + VLCsync plugin is free! I did use a couple of VST3 instruments (e.g. Kontakt::FORZO by Heavyocity for Horns as I wanted some special brass effects) as Musescore allows using VST3 instruments (BBCSO, Hans Zimmer Strings, Kontakt and its instruments, etc).

This is a quick example, not what I would do for an actual gig. I am in no way associated with this film, my composition is purely for educational purposes (fair use act) and to show how using the free open source video player VLC, in combination with the free VLCsync plugin for Musescore, allows scoring somewhat like a DAW. (I tried the paid MuseHub app Vienna Video Pro but I did not find it useful, your mileage may vary, and after trying VLC I much prefer VLC; markers and hit points can be added to a score using staff text if needed)

I really like composing in a notation editor like Musescore, to see the structure and clarity of chords, intervals, and more. Note: I intentionally composed more music using more tropes for horror than I normally would, as my goal was to see if I could score a cue using typical supernatural horror music tropes in Musescore. Please do not judge my composition,

When scoring for characters how do you keep track of cues if for example you needed to make changes to the motif after feedback? How would you know which cue's need updating?

When composing do you use a single monitor or multiple? If one where are your references like spotting, scripts, director feedback etc.

Would appreciate it if you checked it out.

Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/the-nine-muses-for-albion/

Guys currently I'm learning orchestral music and a bit of basic mixing too but I'm confused if we need to bring the sub & bass freq. of the double bass in the centre like any other pop music to avoid phase issues and have better translation while the instrument itself is placed on the right side?

Hi there!

Lately I've fallen in love with John Powell's recent soundtracks and also Tyler's Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack. One thing that has clearly gotten my attention is the entire choir whistling at once! Quite a great sonority!

I would love to have a plugin/library that allows that exact same thing: an entire choir whistling with lots of articulations (legato, staccato, etc), not a single person whistling. Anyone knows about one?

Thanks! :)

I got kinda lucky and landed a film trailers/ 20th century fox with an electronic song I made

Now the company who got it done have asked me to make them an album.

They’re looking for real film epic trailer music + high energy sports tv ad stuff

They said try get some high quality sounds in Kontakt

Now I like the look of damage 2 but that alone is 250usd right now and if I buy more I’m sure I’ll end up 500+

Then I found musio and east west subs for 20 usd per month

As this isn’t a full time thing for me I’m wondering if anyone recommends any all in one or subscriptions worth getting for say 2 months. I create this album and see what happens after before committing to big prices

Who do you all think will be the composer on the film? I’d be happy if it was Ramin Djawadi who does House of the Dragon among other things. Bear McCreary would be a good choice too. He did great on the Godzilla King of the Monsters score. What I liked most about it is it was respectful to the original songs.

Let’s hear all your choices 😃

I’m studying film music as of now and I’m thinking about the financial side of it. Obviously I’m not expecting massive big budget films and shows. But scoring short films and the occasional advert of if I can find work. In the event that I do find some work whilst studying, what should my rate be. For reference I have worked with some moderately high profile composers namely Rachel Portman and Dave Buckley as well worked with Nigerian artist Adekunle Gold. But how would that affect the rate.