Film Music Composition Guide

Composing Film Music
~ The Ultimate Guide ~

Composing Film Music
One of the beautiful things about composing film music is that it’s open to
musicians from all genres of music. Whether that’s classical or heavy metal.
The film, TV, and game music industries have been growing rapidly over the
last few years, but many musicians don’t know where to start.
It’s a huge question. This is my attempt to answer it in as much detail as
possible. Without actually writing an entire book, that is!
I’ve broken the process down into 11 steps. Obviously, the steps could be
broken down further, but this is a comprehensive starting point for anyone
wanting to start scoring films. My method is not the only method, nor the
definitive method. Find what works for you. There are no rules. Most
importantly, experiment, and have fun!
If you’re interested in the skills you’ll need, you’ll enjoy my companion
article: 10 Skills you Need to Be a Media Composer

How Do I Find Projects?
This is, without doubt, the most common question I’m
asked.
The answer depends on what kind of projects you’re
looking for.
Are you just looking for practice? For high paying
commercial work? Artistic/creative movies?
Each has a different approach.

How Do I Find Projects?
One thing unites them all though: you need to start
networking.
The more people that know “you make music” the more
chance you have of stumbling across a project.
Start by letting your friends know what you do, then get
involved with communities (both local and online) and
find projects.
You’ll need proof that you can do it, so start by putting
together a showreel.

Your Showreel
For your showreel, you could risk ripping an existing movie and
scoring your own music to it. That’s fine for practicing, but has
three pretty major problems:
1. It’s illegal. Unless, of course, there’s a CC license on it. Most
major studios aren’t going to be happy about you uploading or
sharing their movie. Yes, you own the copyright to the music, but
not the image.
2. It’s not real. Anyone you’re pitching to will instantly know that
you didn’t actually write the original music for “The Dark Knight”,
so they’ll assume you haven’t worked on anything. Plus, it doesn’t
show that you know how to work with lower budget films.
3. It’s not original. The original music for a sequence already gives
you the “concept” for the music. That’s half the battle!

Your Showreel
A better option is finding real projects to work on.
Yes, it means you might not make big bucks to start with
(but you wouldn’t from ripping off big films either).
And yes, the production quality of the movie will look
worse.
But at least it’s honest. It shows a potential client
that you’ve actually worked on projects.
It also shows that you’re not relying on the visuals to
“carry” your music…

Finding Projects
Who composes Steven Spielberg’s films?
John Williams.
How about Tim Burton’s?
That’d be Danny Elfman.
And the Coen Brothers’?
Carter Burwell, of course.

Finding Projects
What’s my point?
Pitching your work to a director who already has a
favoured composer is going to get you nowhere.
You need to find people that are still scrambling around
trying to find someone good enough to write music for
their projects.
Or, you need someone to believe that you can do
a better job than the person they’ve used in the past.

Finding Projects
If a director has only worked on one, maybe two projects
with a composer they still might swap.
After they’ve built a working relationship, they usually
stay pretty loyal.
Do not, under any circumstance, try to “poach” a director
from a composer.
Make friends with directors, and if they happen to ask
you to work with them great. If not, they might recommend
you to someone who will. It’s all about making friends.

Finding Projects
Find people that are starting out.
Keep an eye on: your local filmmaking groups, festivals,
online communities (Skype/Facetime is a wonderful
thing…).
Look for good quality projects to get involved with.

Finding Projects
You’ll need to get used to how “indie” projects look, and
how films in general look before they’re finalised.
They don’t have the “polish” of high budget productions,
which can be off-putting at first sight.
With a bit of practice you’ll be able to spot the
difference between the ones that will go somewhere, and
the ones that will flop.

Agencies
Of course, there are also agencies and job listing sites
like Film Music Network, Mandy, Taxi, Shooting People,
and Film Music Agent, along with a variety of country/
city specific sites that you can pitch for work on.
The downside is that you can spend a lot of time creating
pitches with no guarantee of getting the job.
This option can be good if you have a lot of music
already created in a wide range of styles, so that it
doesn’t take you long to create/adapt new pieces from
scratch.

Music Libraries
Finally, there are music libraries that you can submit your work to.
Video creators can browse the library and pay to license your work.
This can be a great way to recycle material that you used for a pitch,
so that it doesn’t go to waste.
Just be sure to thoroughly read the terms and conditions. You don’t
want your music trapped in an “exclusive” deal that you didn’t want.
As you’ll only be able to submit it to that library and never use it
on another project.
Frank Schlimbach has kindly put together a whole list of non-exclusive
libraries, along with their pros and cons, on YouTube.
But again, READ THE TERMS so that you know what you’re getting into.

How Much to Charge?
“How much do you get paid to compose film music?” or “how
long is a piece of string?”
Unfortunately these questions are one and the same.
I’ve seen people try to work out how much they charge
“per minute” of music (is that for solo piano or full
orchestra?) or decide their hourly rate and provide an
estimate (what if you go over/under?).

How Much to Charge?
The general rule is to ask!
Find out what the director has budgeted and figure out a
way to work with it.
Some people recommend that a certain percentage of the
production budget should be spent on music, but doesn’t
always happen.
I’ve heard of people with a $10,000 music budget on a
$100k film (that’s 10%) and others with
the same budget on a $1million film (that’s 1%).

How Much to Charge?
If you are asked to quote (like if the client has no idea
what music is worth) there are three other methods:
• charging “per minute” of music,
• working out your hourly rate and estimating how long
it will take you
• work out how much you’d like to make in a year,
divided by the number of projects you think you’ll
work on, and then set “low” and “high” budget options

How Much to Charge?
Obviously, the above can give you wildly varying and
potentially unrealistic results. Like, what do you charge
for 8 seconds of music? Or what about a short film that
needs wall-to-wall music but would be great for your CV? Do
you factor royalties into the equation?
Don’t forget to discuss the hiring of musicians/engineers if
you need to. Make sure you work out who’s paying for them!

How Much to Charge?
You’ll need to have a good discussion with the director
about what they’re expecting. And be honest. If they
don’t have the budget, tell them! But don’t just shut
them down. Try to use your creativity to work out a
solution.
Again, after some practice you’ll know how much things
cost and how long things take. Then you’ll be able to
work out how much you need to charge or how to work
better within the confines of a production budget.

Spotting
This is a vital step to the process: figuring out where
your music is going to fit in the film.
If possible, you should have your own spotting session in
private to generate some of your own ideas before meeting
with the director, music editor, and/or sound designer in
the “official” session. 
The spotting session is an opportunity to ask as many
questions as possible.

Spotting
Find out:
• the in and out points,
• hit points,
• how the audience should be feeling during each cue,
• anything the director was inspired by,
• if the director already had any styles of music or specific instrumentation in mind,
• and anything in particular that they had planned with the sound designer (so that you
can work your music around the sound and not be fighting for space)
Take as many notes as possible, and try to organise them by cue so that they’re easy to
refer to later.

Spotting
There’s actually a naming convention or “code” for cues.
In order, your pieces should be named:
1m01, 1m02, 1m03, etc.
This comes from “reels” of film tape.
The first number means “reel 1” (1m) followed by the cue number (01) – sometimes
the cue numbers would reset on each reel…
(i.e. …1m04, 1m05, 2m01, 2m02, etc.)
…other times they’d continue…
(i.e. …1m04, 1m05, 2m06, 2m07).
The number of cues and names should be decided during the spotting session.

Spotting
At the end of the spotting session you should know:
• Exactly how many cues of music you’ll be writing and
their “code”
• The aim/purpose of those cues
• The start and stop points of the cues
• Any important hit points
• Any specific sound design to be aware of

Conceptualising
Now that we’ve got the gig, we need to get to work. But, that doesn’t mean going to
sit behind our keyboard/guitar/DAW. No, the first stage is coming up with a concept.
Conceptualising, or coming up with a concept, is arguably the most important stage
of the composition process.
Many of the great film composers frequently talk about the time they spend
conceptualising, some even saying that this stage takes them far longer than the
part where they actually start writing notes and chords.
When you think about it, it makes sense; when was the last time you watched an
interview with a composer and they talked about which intervals they used, or how
they decided a minor seventh would set the perfect mood – they never do, and that’s
because that isn’t the important part.
The important part is what they were trying to convey with their music, what
emotions they were trying to create, how they were planning to work with the visual.

Conceptualising
So what is conceptualising?
Well, it’s the thinking that goes on before you sit at the piano, keyboard, computer, guitar,
whatever.
Too many musicians and composers think that when they’re going to compose the first thing
they should do is sit down with their instrument.
Why? What will that achieve?
More than likely what will happen is that you’ll just hash out the same chords/melodies that
you always do, maybe in a different order. 
Think about writing a book. As an author, you don’t just sit at your computer and start
writing random words (notes) or sentences (chords) in the hope that they’ll end up as a
compelling story.
You begin by planning, coming up with a plot, the characters, the morals, etc.
Do the same with your composition.

Conceptualising
Music for moving image is calculated, not just randomly
thrown together.
Just like our painting, we need to know what the criteria
is, what our constraints are, and what we’re actually
trying to achieve. 
The conceptualising stage really helps you to decide what
mood your going for and how to achieve that.
At this stage you should be thinking about as many
musical and emotive ideas as possible.

Conceptualising
Think about and write down: 
• What you are adding to the film (are you just trying to emphasise what the film is
already doing, or are you going to give a different perspective, or add another
layer)
• Who or what you are following in the film (is your music going to mimic the lead
character’s emotions, if so, what are those emotions? Does the lead character know
as much as you do about where they’ll end up? For example, if the character you’re
following is going for a meeting with someone you know to be a serial killer, but
they don’t, why would your music be ominous or scary here if that’s not what the
character is feeling? Will your music focus on the location, perhaps – in which
case will try to use authentic musical styles and instrumentation from that
location, or just try to capture the mood of the location in your own style?
• The mood your aiming for (do you want to compliment what’s happening visually or
contrast it? For example, Carter Burwell often talks about how he writes very
serious music for his comedy work with the Coen Brothers)

Conceptualising
 
(cont’d)
• The instruments or sounds that capture this mood (remembering to be as
specific as you can be: soft, high piano melodies sound very different
to low, clunky piano chords) – don’t be scared to go out of the ordinary
for a distinctive sound (like the cimbalom heard in many old spy movies,
or even instruments you can make yourself, as in the film “Brick” where
Nathan Johnson creates a “junkyard orchestra” out of all kinds of items
found in a student house – there’s a great documentary of it on the
special edition of the Brick film which is definitely worth watching).
• Any theoretical ideas you might try or that you know capture the mood
(such as certain scales or modes, any particular chords, or tempo and
time signatures) or things that you’d like to experiment with
• Anything else that you feel will help speed up the actual composition

Conceptualising
The more you can do in the conceptualising stage the faster you’ll actually compose your
music – as the composition simply becomes capturing the ideas you already have, rather than
you sat with your instrument getting frustrated at coming up with nothing for hours on end.
Likewise, this stage allows you to come up with things that you would have never been able to
with an instrument due to the restrictions you put on yourself (for example, your actual
playing ability, the range of your fingers on the keyboard or fretboard).  
Try to consider your composing as another instrument, rather than something you do with an
existing instrument.
You need to practice it, just as you would an instrument, and it requires a totally new set
of skills and techniques.
Had Bernard Herrmann sat at a piano while composing the score for “Psycho” there’s no way he
would have come up with the score he did, as it’s unplayable on piano.
Composition happens first in the mind.

Conceptualising
Once you have your concept be sure to discuss it with the
director/client to make sure that you’re on the same page.
There’s nothing worse than spending days creating a
romantic masterpiece in the style of Rachel
Portman’s Chocolat only to discover that the director
wanted action music in the style of John Powell.

Equipment
After “how much to charge”, the next question is usually
“which sample libraries/what equipment should I buy?”
Again, it’s not a simple answer.
One thing is for sure though: having the best sample
library does not make you a better film music composer.
I’m also a huge fan of working with what you’ve got; if
you don’t have a great quality brass sample
library, don’t write for brass – use your creativity to
come up with an alternative.

Software
As this tutorial is more geared towards Logic Pro X, I’ll
assume you already have that.
Other DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) are just as good
– such as Cubase, ProTools, Digital Performer, etc. – but
personally I’ve found Logic to have the best workflow for
my needs.
Some people choose to compose in Logic and mix in
ProTools – that’s a really sensible option as it plays to
the strengths of both programs.
But, it means buying two DAWs and learning two systems.

Software
Logic Pro X’s basic sample library has come on leaps and bounds in
the last few years.
When I first started out, the thought of using Logic’s library was
laughable, nowadays it’s still not great, but it’s certainly
a lot better – and a solid option when you’re getting started
before you can afford to upgrade.
However, it is still a basic library – kind of like if you bought
a top-of-the-range DSLR camera but only used it with the basic
lens that comes with it.
Sure, you’ll get some lovely photographs of your family and
friends, but it’s not likely you’ll make it as a professional
photographer (I know, I know: I’m sure there are exceptions).

Software
My advice is to invest in what you’ll use.
Don’t just hoard sample libraries for the sake of it – you’ll be overwhelmed
with how much you have at your disposal and become a programmer rather than a
composer.
Start by upgrading to a wide range library. If you’re focused on more
orchestral stuff, you can’t go wrong with EastWest’s “Symphonic Orchestra” (or
you can subscribe to their “Composer Cloud” which is a really great deal) – if
you can stretch for the extra mic positions, it’s really worth it.
For more “epic” stuff with big percussion sections, Spitfire Audio’s “Albion
ONE” is fantastic.
If you think you’ll be using instruments beyond the orchestra, including band
instruments and synths, then Native Instruments’ “Komplete 12” bundle is a
great starting point.

Software
After you have a few projects under your belt, really analyse your
compositions and workflow.
What instruments are you always using? Are there any instruments that you
struggle to make sound good? What about instruments you’d like to use, but
the sample you have are rubbish?
Answer those questions, and then you’ll know what you’re looking for. I use
piano a lot (I know, cliché) so upgrading to EastWest/Quantum Leap
Pianos was an obvious choice.
There are lots of reviews on the various libraries, and plenty of demos
available – just be sure to do your research before upgrading.
Watch YouTube tutorials on the libraries, and try to find demos
that aren’t from the company themselves, so that you get an unbiased
opinion.

Software
For audio effect plugins, you can probably make do with
Logic’s own to start with.
When it’s time to upgrade, start with a good reverb.
Audio Ease’s “Altiverb” is the one you’ll want to go
with.
For the rest (EQ, Compressor, etc.) stick with
either Waves at the lower end of the budget, or if you
want to go all out I’d suggest UAD.

Hardware
In terms of hardware you don’t need a massive setup.
Thanks to how amazing plugins are now, outboard gear is no longer a
necessity.
In my opinion, all you need is:
• Computer (obviously)
• Audio Interface (can’t go wrong with the Scarlett 2i2)
• High quality monitors (I’ve found the Focal range of speakers
excellent for orchestral stuff)
• MIDI Keyboard (I actually just use the MIDI out from my Korg SV-1)

Hardware
Beyond that, everything else is optional.
A few good external drives are always recommended for
backing up work.
Ideally you’ll also have two separate, highly stable,
fast external drives (USB-3 or Thunderbolt) – one for
your sample libraries and one to record audio to (if you
do much audio recording).
Then run Logic project from your main system.

Hardware
Most importantly though, work within your means.
Don’t put yourself into debt trying to purchase all of the
best stuff – there are some great budget options around for
all of these things.
Just do some research, try things out if you can, and figure
out what works for you at this time.
You can always upgrade later if your situation allows you to.
Remember: the gear does not make you a better composer.

Sketching
Project? Check.
Concept? Check.
Equipment? Check. 
Okay, now onto the actual “composition”
(although, I’d argue the “conceptualising” stage is
probably the most important part of composing film music…
but maybe that’s just me!)

Sketching
I usually start with a sketch.
A lot of composers hide behind sound effects, huge
percussion, and production, but if you were to play their
pieces on a keyboard, you’d have nothing.
I find that “sketching” helps me to avoid that.
I start by trying to capture just the melodies and chord
sequences that I’ll be using.
Later, I can arrange and orchestrate them.

Sketching
There are a couple of ways to do this.
1. You can work to the movie
2. You can work “blind”

Sketching
Working to the movie means that you’re already thinking more about the
arrangement, which can help if you’re on a tight deadline (as you don’t have
to rearrange material you’ve already written), but also means that you’re less
likely to create a great, continuous piece of music – as you’ll be distracted
by the image, and will have to immediately work to tempo and scene changes.
Working “blind” (without the movie) allows you to really think about just the
melody and harmony with no distractions, but it can mean a lot of work when it
comes to arranging.
It can also cause you to “overcompose” – forgetting that your music will
be accompanying visuals.
It’s often said that the best film music is “invisible”, in that it blends so
well with the visual that the audience forgets it’s there.
Working away from the visual can mean you lose sight of this.

Sketching
For either method that you choose, try to limit your
instrumentation to just a pad instrument (like a string
section), a harmony/pattern instrument (like piano), and a lead
sound (like a solo violin).
Create your sketch using all of the information you put together
in your conceptualising stage, and from the spotting session.
If you’re working “blind” don’t worry about the hit points and
length of your piece for now – that comes later in the
“arranging” stage. Remember not to just stick with 120bpm in 4/4
(Logic’s default).
Don’t be tempted to start adding effects and/or new instruments!

Sketching
You may have heard the term “leitmotif” before – this is
what we’re aiming to create here.
A leitmotif is a short motif of music that can be
arranged and adapted into a wide variety of styles and
settings.
Star Wars possibly features the most famous leitmotifs,
in line with its description as an “opera set in space”.

Sketching
Some of the great composers (Hans Zimmer, John Williams,
etc.) often create an “overture” (a single piece of music
that contains all of the themes, harmonies, and
instrumentation) which they then arrange (or have an
arranger arrange) into the individual cues.
This is a great method, but depending on how tight your
deadline is, can be impractical.
If you find yourself getting nowhere with a deadline
looming, do some analysis.

Sketching
Depending on your relationship with the client/director,
it could be worth checking in with them again at this
stage.
Be careful though, if your music is only in a really
basic form they might not have the musical imagination to
picture how the end result will sound, and could shut you
down.
The more you’ve worked with a director, the more they’ll
understand your method.
Like Spielberg and Williams.

Arranging
Arranging is basically the manipulation of existing material.
It can include altering the tempo, time signature, harmony, and
pretty much all other aspects of a piece.
In our case, we’re using it to adapt our music to fit certain
scenes.
At its most simple, this could just be adding pauses or repeating
the chord sequence or melody to fit the timing of a scene.
In its more complicated form, it’s actually changing the mood of a
theme in order to meet the required emotion.
The real skill in composing film music is in the arrangement.

Arranging
If you were working “blind” you’ll have a bit more work
to do, but potentially you’ll have stronger themes to
work with 😉 
Import your movie into Logic Pro X (if the project is
long, it might be worthwhile editing the movie into
smaller chunks with just the actual scenes you need – it
saves processing power and saves you getting lost in
Logic, or accidentally moving/changing an entire cue when
you change the tempo earlier in the project (yep…I’m
talking from experience…))

Arranging
Then you have to seamlessly integrate your composition with the
visuals.
Remember that your primary objective is to work with the visuals
and dialogue.
If there’s dialogue, avoid using any melodies in the same
frequency range as the speech.
In the space between dialogue let your music enter and exit subtly
– try to think about what your music is saying: has the character
just said something important that you want to emphasise?
Always arrange with the sound and dialogue, if possible.

Arranging
You’ll need to be very creative here, chopping up your
melody and adapting your harmony.
For the moment, try to focus on placement and
the emotion you’re trying to create – don’t worry about
instrumentation.
That comes next.
Again, if you have a trusting relationship with the
client/director, now is a good time to send through some
more drafts for feedback.

Orchestration
Orchestration is where you spread your music out onto
instruments, and add the more intricate details and
flourishes.
This is a really magical moment in your film music
composition, as it’s finally going to start coming to
life.
Before you start orchestrating, you want to make sure
your arrangement is solid.
If not then the phrase “polishing a turd” is applicable.

Orchestration
You’ll need to learn a little about the instruments you intend to use:
what their ranges are, how they sound in the various registers and
dynamics (i.e. high violins can be thin and harsh, whereas their mid-
range can be full and warm), and what the strengths and limitations are
of each instrument.
It’s also useful to know any specific articulations that they can use
(i.e. strings can be bowed, plucked, or even struck with the wooden part
of the bow).
All of these articulations can help to expand your orchestration palette.
You can learn this by listening to music featuring those instruments, or
by talking with people who play them.
Definitely worth taking the time to do so!

Orchestration
Think carefully about which instruments you want playing
the melody, and how you can spread it around the
instrumentation.
Again, consider what sound is already in the movie and
how you can work around it.
For example, if there’s a driving scene, engine and road
noise will fill a lot of the low and mid range, so try to
orchestrate on higher pitches.

Orchestration
You also need to work out how you are going to spread your harmony across
the instruments, and how you’ll voice your chords – some knowledge of
traditional arrangement will help here.
If that’s not your strong suit, I’d recommended trying to learn it, but for
now trust your ears and keep experimenting until it sounds right.
Think about how you can combine instruments:
If your melody on the flutes isn’t as defined as you’d like, try copying
the melody onto a xylophone, or another more percussive instrument.
If your string harmony isn’t as full and warm as you wanted, double the
harmony onto low brass.
There are some tried and tested things, but some experimentation can go a
long way.

Orchestration
I’d start by working on just the melody and harmony, and then add any
ornamentation and flourishes as and when you need them – try not to add too
much.
Be sure to take regular breaks, and even leave a cue alone for a day or
two.
When you come back to it, I’m almost certain you’ll end up removing a load
of the stuff you added.
Remember, you’re hearing this piece on repeat, so it’s always going to
sound like it needs more.
Everyone else will be hearing it for the first time while also trying to
take in all the visual, dialogue, and sound information.
Don’t overwhelm their senses!

Orchestration
You can use a basic, or all-round sample library for this
stage – the sound isn’t too important for now.
Listen to some of your favourite film scores as carefully as
you can to learn better orchestration.
If you can get hold of the scores for any cues, it’s really
beneficial to see how the orchestrator has chosen to combine
instruments, even if you can’t read music.
You’d be surprised how much is going on that you can’t hear.

Orchestration
Send this draft to the director for feedback before starting your mix.
Sometimes it’s worth doing a bit of mixing and sample improvements to help
“sell” your music to them.
Judge this based on your relationship with the client again.
An important thing to note here is your willingness to make changes.
It can be difficult, but you have to be willing to revise your work either
based on feedback from the director, or because they suddenly decide to remove
2 seconds from a scene.
Taking out two seconds of footage is no problem for an editor, but it’s a lot
of work to magically make 2 seconds of music disappear – don’t get frustrated,
just draw on your creativity!

Mixing
We now move into the more technical aspect of the composing
film music.
Mixing is all about getting the individual instruments
sounding amazing, and balancing all of the instruments
together in volume, frequency, and direction (left to right).

Improving MIDI
The first step is to work on improving the MIDI samples as much as
possible.
I try to treat my samples like real musicians, and I kind of
pretend to have a “recording session” with them.
What I mean by this, is that I save the project as a new file
(“[cue name] – VIOLINS”) and delete all of the instruments I don’t
need, focusing on just one.
I do this for every instrument.
I could just mute the others and then bounce them together – which
I’d certainly do on a larger project – but if I’m only working
with a handful of instruments I find this method works for me.

Improving MIDI
At this stage, it’s great if you are able to actually
record any real instruments – even one or two acoustic
instruments can really trick the listener into believing
the rest of the instruments are real.
Importantly though, try not to change anything in the
arrangement at this point, as you don’t have the other
instruments for context.

Improving MIDI
The first step is to put the instruments onto your best
samples, whatever they are.
Make sure your panning is central (on both the channel
strip and in your sample library) and that you’ve taken
off all effects – we’ll add those later.
Bear in mind that MIDI sounds awful without reverb, so
you’ll be hearing this in it’s worst form for a while.
If you try and add reverb now though, you’ll end up with
a mess when you put all of the instruments together.

Improving MIDI
Focus on making sure it sounds like it’s played as realistically as possible.
Make sure it’s not all perfectly quantized, and that the velocities aren’t
all exactly the same.
Listen out for any notes that are too hard or soft and adjust accordingly.
If it’s a section of instruments, add slight overlaps, as not all players
will change note at the exact time.
For brass/woodwinds, make sure there’s space for the players to actually take
a breath.
At the end of a phrase, add fade-outs as players naturally diminuendo at the
end of a note, they don’t just stop dead like a sample library.
And for piano, don’t overuse the pedal in place of reverb.

Improving MIDI
If your sample library has any effects controlled by modulation
(like dynamics or vibrato) it’s a really good idea to hit record
and ride your modulation wheel and try to capture how the
instrumentalists would play.
Once you’ve done all of this, you can bounce the file to audio.
One file for every instrument.
Then setup a new project and import all of your audio files –
we’re going to start the final mix.
It’s a good idea to setup a “template” for your mixing, it’ll save
you hours in the long-run if you can use it on multiple projects.

Mixing
Before we start really mixing everything together, we need
to make sure we’re looking after our ears.
Set your volume knob to a level that you’re comfortable with
(if you’re going to be listening to music all day, you’ll
want to stick to around 65 to 70dB) and don’t turn up.
If you find yourself wanting to turn up, take a break in
silence and come back to it.
Avoid using headphones, unless you have some serious self-
control, or don’t care about your hearing.

Mixing
Begin by getting each individual sound as good as
possible.
Send it to two reverbs – one smaller and one larger – and
try to use the same reverbs on every instrument so that
they sound like they’re actually in the same room.
Only add EQ and compression if you think it needs it, not
just for the sake of it.
I was in the bad habit when I first started of adding the
same set of effects to every track and then wondering why
my mixes sounded awful.

Mixing
Bear in mind that reverb disappears behind dialogue and
when music is turned down, so you’ll probably want to add
more than you think you’ll need.
A good trick it to turn your speakers down until you
can only just hear the music and then see if you think it
needs more reverb.

Mixing
I can’t stress enough how important it is to start
learning or programming key commands for mixing too.
For example, did you know holding “alt” (or “option”)
while clicking the “solo” button for an instrument
automatically un-solos any other instruments?
That could save you 1 or 2 seconds every time.
Multiply that by 1000 per project, on 50 cues, and you’ll
save over 14 hours!!!

Mixing
On anything mildly percussive (like piano, harp, or
actual percussion) adding a very subtle delay can help
bring it to life.
Only a tiny amount, almost like a reverb.
You can also send some of this to the rear speakers if
you’re working in 5.1 for some extra depth to the music.

Mixing
In terms of EQ, rolling off around 2-2.5kHz with an EQ on
MIDI strings can help them sound a little less “digital” –
for other instruments just listen carefully and decide if
it needs brightening or dulling.
You’ll find that the higher-quality the sample library,
the less you’ll need to EQ, as it’s been recorded so well.

Mixing
After you have each individual instrument sounding good,
listen to the mix as a whole, and adjust anything that
needs adjusting while balancing the volume and the
panning of the instruments.
Once you have a general balance you can start adding
automation – think about the parts that you want the
listener to hear during each section and automate that
part to stand out.
If your arrangement, orchestration, and balance is good
though, you shouldn’t need to do too much automation.

Mixing
After you have each individual instrument sounding good, listen to the
mix as a whole, and adjust anything that needs adjusting while
balancing the volume and the panning of the instruments.
Once you have a general balance you can start adding automation –
think about the parts that you want the listener to hear during each
section and automate that part to stand out.
If your arrangement, orchestration, and balance is good though, you
shouldn’t need to do too much automation.
I always recommend having a reference track to keep listening back to
to make sure your mix is going in the direction you’d like.
Remember to keep taking regular breaks so that your ears don’t get
over-tired (and to help prevent any hearing damage).

Mastering
After you’ve finished mixing your track, you can now master it.
This step helps to balance out the dynamics of the track, and
ensures it sounds consistent across a variety of speakers.
You’ll want to make sure you have a few different ways of
listening to your master: on TV speakers, laptop speakers, and
cheap headphones.
The aim is to make sure it sounds good on all of them.
Composing film music is difficult in this regard, because some
people may hear it on super high quality cinema speakers or
home cinema systems, whereas other might hear it in mono on
their phone speakers.

Mastering
When mastering a song you’d usually bounce everything
down to a single stereo file and then master that file.
Not with film music, as the the sound/music editor may
need to take out parts of your music.
For example, if the sound designer has added an important
effect that clashes with your music, the editor will
simply remove your music if they only have a single
master track, but if they have multiple stems they could
just mute the one that’s clashing.

Mastering
So, group your instruments into sections and “send” each section to an individual bus.
You’re going to master each bus individually – applying the same settings to each one.
A standard set of plugins for mastering is: 
• Multimeter (to meter pre-mastering)
• Linear Phase EQ
• Multiband Compressor
• Adaptive Limiter
• Multimeter (to meter post-mastering)
You could also add an “exciter” prior to the multiband compressor to add presence and
a “stereo spreader” before the adaptive limiter to spread the higher frequencies.

Mastering
In your EQ, roll off anything under 25Hz, as it’s
inaudible.
Don’t overcompress with the multiband compressor, it
should only be to take any peaks off.
Limit the adaptive limiter to -0.1 to avoid any clipping.

Mastering
Copy the strip settings onto each group of instruments
you’ve created.
You might need to turn each bus down an even amount to
avoid the master stereo out from clipping.
Make sure you also automate a fade in and out at the
start and end of your cues.
You can make a track in the arrange area for your “stereo
out” and automate that.

Deliver
And now you’re ready to bounce!
Depending on what your client/director has asked for,
you’ll either be delivering a single stereo master or,
more likely, your stems that you mastered previously. 
Solo the bus you’re going to bounce, and for good measure
mute all of the other audio files/tracks.
Before bouncing, I usually play a few seconds of silence
after the track ends just to make sure I don’t get any
random reverb tails at the beginning of the bounce.

Deliver
Bounce the track in .aiff or .wav depending on what has
been requested – at 48kHz, 24bit.
Bounce in real time in order to have a final listen to the
play through to make sure you haven’t missed anything.
Make sure you don’t have “normalize” selected as it’ll
ruin your mastering, and give it a sensible file name
(i.e. “1m01 – Strings”).
After you’ve bounced listen to the file (I know, tedious,
but you need to make sure nothing went wrong) and then
repeat the process for each bus.

Deliver
Finally, send the stems to the director/music editor. If possible,
try to be involved in the final sound mix, so that you can advise
on any important parts of the music that need to be heard.
Again, try to remove your ego from the equation – the sound,
visuals, and dialogue are all just as important as the music.
Your music might be quiet, but that could be for the greater good
of the project.
And now you’re done! Your film music composition is ready for the
big bad world!

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Film Music Composition Guide

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