Jonathan Armandary

THE
MEDIA
SCORING
GUIDE
An introduction to the
skills, equipment, and
process of film scoring
Welcome!
Welcome to The Film Scoring Guide!

The aim of this guide is to outline the skills,

equipment, and process of media composition.

Media composition has enjoyed a massive growth in

popularity over the last few years, with media
composers regularly selling out arenas when they tour
music from their shows.

I’m going to take you through the main steps of

composing for moving image, including the skills
you’ll need, how to get setup and find projects, and
the steps to go through when actually composing.

Of course, if you had any feedback, suggestions, or

want to learn more, please do reach out to me…

jonny@soundtrack.academy

…or via my various social media channels that you’ll

find at the end of the book.

Also, join my educational group on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/musicformovingimage/

Okay, let’s dive in!

 Before we get stuck into the actual process of scoring for
moving image, let’s make sure you know exactly what you’ll
need in order to be successful.

Skills
Composing
• Composing
This one is pretty obvious, but you actually need to know
• Arranging & Orchestration how to compose! That said, it can sometimes be hard to

• Music Production know what to compose, or how to motivate yourself to

complete compositions.
• Media Theory
A great way to learn how to compose is to find good
• Self Awareness
reasons to compose. If you’re happy to just sit and write
• Marketing music all day, you’ll definitely improve. But you’ll
• People improve a lot faster and with a lot more ingenuity if you
can find things that push you out of your comfort zone.
• Filtering

• Negotiation Keep an eye out for competitions, whether they’re

specifically for media music or for general composition.
• Organisation
Many competitions limit your instrumentation choices, or
• Business dictate specific themes, which is a great way for you to
learn how to work within those constraints.

Be wary of contests that you have to pay to enter, or ones

that demand you to hand over all rights to your music –
always read the fine print!
Guided study is another excellent way to give your Don’t wait for inspiration.
composition practice focus. A book like Alan
Belkin’s “Musical Composition: Craft & Art” is a
great way to improve quickly. You’ll have specific
exercises and constraints that help to push you
creatively, and help you to understand what you’re
actually doing when you compose. Mike Verta also
has some awesome online courses that focus on film
music composition.

Interestingly, almost every composer I’ve

interviewed for my podcast has mentioned some kind
of obsession with sound. Your sounds should be as
original as possible. Think of the palette you are
creating for your score. An instrument recorded in
a unique and interesting way vs. a sample of the
instrument playing the same passage will sound
remarkably different. Be obsessed with sound.

Music theory will help you. Now, I’m not saying

that before you start composing you should go and
learn everything there is to know about music
theory. Not at all. But, you should be focused on
learning theory as you go. Work out what is
happening in the music you are listening to and
creating – it’s the fastest way that you’ll
improve. Compose every single day, preferably at the same
time, and inspiration will start becoming a part of
Theory is the grammar and vocabulary of music. You
that routine.
can’t expect to master a language without knowing
lots of vocabulary, and a decent amount of grammar,
so don’t expect to master music without it.

Arranging & Orchestration
Arranging and orchestration are two vital skills,
and have a lot of crossover depending on who you
ask. The traditional definition is that “arranging”
is the rearranging of existing material into a new
idea, and “orchestration” is basically putting a
composition onto orchestral instruments.
However, in more modern musical vocabulary, the
word “arranging” is often used to mean the
arranging of music onto instruments (as in “big
band arranging”) and the definition of
“orchestration” has become so blurred with the
development of sample libraries and hybrid-
orchestral scores. Is it still “orchestration” if
it’s on synths? Who knows!
The reason you need to understand this is that you
need to know what might be asked of you. If you’re
asked to work as an “orchestrator” for someone, do
you actually know what to expect?
Of course, in today’s composing world, arranging
and orchestration both expand into MIDI
orchestration. That means you’ll need to know how
to orchestrate for sample libraries, and make them
sound amazing (more on that later…).
Also, I’ll reiterate an earlier point here: you
need to know music theory. Let me pitch a
hypothetical situation to you: somehow, a famous
composer happens to stumble across your work and
likes it. They’d like to work with you and they
have some room on their team for an orchestrator.
Can you do it? Not if you can’t read music. Not if
you don’t understand instruments and their ranges.
You just lost the gig. Sad face.
Learn your fundamentals: arranging, orchestration,
and notation.
A great way to kill multiple birds with one stone
(sorry PETA) is to purchase or borrow some notated
scores and recreate them using MIDI. If you can get
film music scores, great! If not, classic
orchestral scores are also excellent for
practising. Program all of the information into
your DAW, get a good recording of the piece as a
reference track, and see how closely you can get
the two to match one another.
It’ll take a lot of work to get your samples
sounding realistic, but you’ll learn so much about
the instruments you’re working with, and about
orchestration, in the process. You’ll see and hear
where instruments are doubled, who has the melody,
harmony, and bass, all while getting faster and
faster at reading notation in all clefs.
I cannot recommend this approach enough for
learning. It is literally the best way.

Music Production
It’s a solid fact that composers nowadays simply
cannot get away with handing the director some
sheet music, and have it performed, recorded,
mixed, and mastered by someone else. Composers have
to do the majority of those things themselves –
particularly on independent projects.
In fact, a mediocre composer with great production
skills is much more likely to get the gig than an
amazing composer with awful production skills.
Usually.
You need to work on your production skills.
Specifically:
• MIDI programming and orchestration
• Sound design and synthesis
• Mixing
• Mastering
Once again, practice makes “better” (there’s no
such thing as “perfect” here, I’m afraid!) – so do
your absolute utmost to find ways to practice these
skills. Join forums, watch tutorials, ask
questions, and get feedback.
To use the “you get called by a famous composer”
example again: one of the main things you’ll be
doing if you’re brought on as a composer’s
assistant is tech-based stuff. Setting up systems,
MIDI orchestration, plugging things in and
rewiring, etc.. It’s a vital skill.
One way of practicing is to make friends with
composers and to ask them if you can have the audio
files of one of their compositions in order to have
a go at mixing it. That can be interesting, as “Simplicity is the final
you’ll have a “blank canvas” to mix, and a fresh
perspective, as it’s not your own music or a famous achievement. After one has
piece. Alternatively, find MIDI files of tracks on
the internet, and turn them into full pieces. But,
played a vast quantity of
of course, the method that will teach you the most notes and more notes, it is
is the one we looked at earlier: get notated scores
and recreate them! The only downside is that it’s a simplicity that emerges as
bit more time consuming.
the crowning reward of art.”
All of this tech-talk comes with a warning though:
don’t get carried away. There’s a big trend at the
moment of these absolutely monumental mixes with
hundreds (literally) of tracks, layers, doublings,
etc.. That’s great for a certain sound, but don’t
feel that you have to do that – it doesn’t work for
everything. Very often “less is more”.
- Frederic Chopin
The other trend at the moment is that of buying
gear. Everyone seems to think that buying a new
sample library or plugin is going to magically make
them better at composing and mixing. It won’t.
Practicing composing will improve your
compositions, and practicing mixing will improve
your mixes. That said, you will need to invest in
some plugins and sample libraries - but please
don’t view them as “magic wands”.

“Music, I feel, must be
emotional first and
intellectual second.”
- Maurice Ravel
Media Theory
Surprise! You actually have to be interested in
films/TV/games in order to write music for them.
WHO KNEW?!
Jokes aside, it’s amazing how many composers aren’t
actually interested in the media they’re writing
for, focusing only on the music. It’s important to
remember that media music is a “complimentary art
form”. I don’t mean to detract from the incredible
pieces of art that media composers are creating,
but great music that works entirely on its own
doesn’t always have a place in media music.
You need to understand how to create drama. Where
should the climax of a scene be? Music can tell the
audience that. How should the audience feel at this
point? Again, music has the answer.
Hans Zimmer talks about the “story” that we’re
telling with music, and you really have to
understand that before working on a project. What
is the music bringing to the table? What are you
adding?
When it boils down to it, writing good media music
is all about knowing how to create a certain
emotion with music and which emotion you should be
making people feel.
 when they’re in bed by 10pm and awake at the crack
Self Awareness of dawn.
We’re now moving into more of the “soft skills.” As
a media composer you need to know a few things You need to figure out what makes you healthy and
about yourself: do it. Sometimes composing can mean isolation, so
you need to plan time for socialising. Composing
• Your strengths also means long days sitting at a computer, so
you’ll want to make sure you setup your desk
• Your weaknesses ergonomically, take frequent breaks, and look after
your spine.
• Your health
Being fit, healthy, and happy will help pull you
Knowing your strengths is great, it helps you to
through any dark or down days.
know what kinds of projects you could be working
on, how to “sell” yourself to a director/client, I know it’s sometimes much easier said than done.
and gives you the confidence to put yourself
forward. Understanding your weaknesses, though, is
arguably more important. If you can highlight all
the skills covered in this article and work out
exactly what you need to work on, you’ll be one
step closer to your goal – providing you work on
them. “Composing music
Knowing your weaknesses isn’t an excuse to say “no,
I don’t do that” – for example: “well, I’m a
is hard work.”
composer so I don’t waste my time playing with
samples” – it’s a reason to start practicing!

Health is a huge issue, and not something I could - John Williams

cover entirely within this guide. But you need to
know what makes you healthy – and it’s different
for different people. Some people can healthily
stay up all night working, others are healthier
Marketing
Marketing is an interesting concept for composers.
I’ve studied quite a lot of marketing principles in
my quest to help as many people enter this industry
as possible, but I often struggle to see how the
traditional concepts apply to composers.
Paying for Facebook ads promoting yourself to
directors isn’t likely to work. Blogging or content
marketing might bring a few visitors to your
website but is it really likely to land you many
gigs? I’m not sure.
There is one thing that I think a lot of composers
need to stop doing though: promoting themselves to
other composers. Having a network of “comrades” is
great, and maybe you’ll get a few scraps tossed
your way at some point. Amazing. And, of course,
you could wind up as a composer’s assistant. Also
amazing. But, your musical network should only be
half of your contacts – the other half should be
media professionals (directors, producers, editors,
etc.). More on that later.
One thing that can sometimes help is building a bit
of hype around your projects. You can do this by
showing lots of “behind the scenes” type of stuff
on social media.
Why does this help? Well…
Firstly, it helps the people you’re working with
see that you’re genuinely interested in their
project, making them more likely to work with you
again (and if a potential future collaborator sees
that too, they’ll also be more inclined to work
with you).
Secondly, if you’re just starting out and the small
projects you’re working on are being entered into
smaller media festivals, getting some interesting
things about your music in front of the festival
organisers can really help you stand out from the
crowd and get them backing you.
A key piece of advice to remember, though, is that
presentation is important. The first glance of
something can instantly help someone connect with
you. Make sure your website looks amazing, and is a
clear showcase of your music. Make it super easy
for people to hear your music and contact you.
Embed a music player on your homepage and consider
a contact form.
I’ve heard of composers that have recommended other
composers having never heard their music, based
purely on the fact that they present themselves
professionally.  Sometimes the fact that you know
how to write and produce good music is a given.
So, make sure everybody you know knows that you
write music, and make it look like you do it well.
Carter Burwell and Danny Elfman both got started
because their friends recommended them to a
director, simply because they knew they were “in a
band and made music”.
““Just beautiful,” he said.
“Impeccable presentation.
You’d never know from a quick
glance that he has absolutely
no idea what he’s doing.””
- Neal Acree, quoting his College professor
People Skills
Closely linked to “marketing” is “people skills.”
There are a variety of things you need to be able
to do when it comes to working with people.
First, and most obvious, is “networking.” It’s a
skill that so many people aren’t comfortable with.
It’s hard, it’s uncomfortable, and that’s because
it requires you to take a leap of faith. Will this
person like me? Will I say the right thing? What if
it’s awkward?
Do you know the answer to those questions? The
answer is: what does it matter? At the end of the
day, if you reach out to someone and then never
speak to them again you’ve still given yourself an
infinitely bigger opportunity to make a connection
than if you hadn’t reached out.
There are certain “tricks” that you can learn to
help with networking, but the simple version is
this: don’t try and sell yourself, and show genuine
interest in them.
Other people skills that you’ll need:

• Coerciveness: not only to convince someone that

you/your music is the right fit, but also to
coerce musicians into giving their best
performances, or to convince a director that
paying a tiny bit extra for live instruments
will help make the project better.
“You can make more friends in two months
by becoming really interested in other
people than you can in two years by trying
to get other people interested in you…

…which is just another way of saying that

the way to make a friend is to be one.”
• Openness: you need to be honest with people,
and open to feedback. You may not always be
correct, and you need to accept that. And even
if you are correct, sometimes taking on
feedback and trying something different can
present new ideas or opportunities.
- Dale Carnegie

• Giving: the more you give, the more you’ll get

in return. It’s a simple as that. Help people
as much as you can, for every “win” in your
career make sure you give something back by
helping someone else. Sounds a bit spiritual,
but nearly all of the successful people I’ve
spoken to have mentioned how important this is.


Filtering
I don’t mean filtering frequencies – I mean
filtering through all of the “noise” that is out
there. There is so much content, so many projects,
so many people; you need to know where to start.
In terms of filtering through what to learn: find a
few select sources that you like and trust. Don’t
try to watch/read/listen to every single bit of
information out there or you’ll never get anything
done. As long as you are finding ways to
continuously improve, it doesn’t matter what you
might be missing.
You need to filter out who you’re listening to as
well. Facebook groups are an amazing place to
continuously learn new things through the questions
of others, but they’re also full of a lot of
misinformation. Figure out who posts correct and
useful information, and who’s bullsh*tting.
Finally, you need to filter out the projects that
you should be working on. When you’re first
starting out you’ll likely be looking at working
for very little, or maybe even free (the golden
rule with that is if you’re not getting paid, no-
one should be getting paid) – you need to decide
whether a project is worth your while. Don’t say
“yes” to anything & everything.
Find out what the director/producer has planned for
the project. Will they be submitting to festivals?
Do they have a distribution plan? What’s the
overall aim of the project – are they trying to get
funding for another, larger project that you could
be involved in, for example? All things to ask and
consider before signing up.
Another thing to try to work out: does the director
respect music? If not, there is no point whatsoever
in working with them. Any media creator that
doesn’t think about, or has no respect for music,
is unlikely to move onto bigger projects. Make sure
they’re actually interested in, and have thought in
detail, about where music will work in their
project – or that they at least want to discuss it
in detail with you. If they’ve no time for you,
don’t make time for them.
Of course, it’s best to not work for free, and most
good directors should understand and appreciate
that, and will have a budget set aside for music.
Sometimes though, a project is really worthwhile
just being involved in. All you have to do is
filter out the bad ones!
Basically, you need to work out whether the
financial reward (or lack thereof) is justified by
the project. A TV commercial is going to do nothing
for your “exposure” (I know, I know – don’t start…)
so you should be expecting a good payout. However,
a short film tackling an issue really close to your
heart not only gives you more artistic expression,
but could also lead to other projects. Something
like that might pay less, but could be more
worthwhile in the long run.

“I’ve learned how to
use my spam filter
pretty effectively.”
- “Weird” Al Yankovic
Negotiating
Understanding the art of negotiation can help you
in so many walks of life, not only with your music.
One thing to understand though: negotiation isn’t
about “winners” and “losers” (at least, not the
style of negotiation that will help us). It’s about
working collaboratively to figure out the best
possible outcome.
Some things that you’ll need to learn how to
negotiate include:
The Musical Direction
You’ll have to negotiate the creative direction of
the music with various people. Some of those people
might be extremely creative (like directors) and
others might have more of a financial interest
(like studio executives). Either way, they’ll all
want to have a say, and you need to work with them
to decide on what the final music will sound like.
The Final Mix
In the final dub – where movie, sound, dialogue,
and music all come together – you’ll need to
negotiate the music with the other creatives.
Everyone has worked hard at their individual parts,
and everyone wants to make sure that their hard
work is heard. Again, it’s about collaborating to
make sure the final dub best serves the project.
Budgets
Remember, it’s not a “fight” to try and get more
money, it’s a negotiation to work out how to best
serve the project. You need to be able to have a
realistic discussion about what the project can
afford within their budget, and what they could
afford if they could stretch ever-so-slightly.
Bear in mind how powerful the word “no” can be –
and not in a good way. A “no” can halt discussions
entirely. Have you ever tried working out a plan
with an overly negative person? Nothing happens! In
contrast, people who say “yes” are so much easier
to work with, and get stuff done with. Try to avoid
saying “no”, and instead work on solutions.

“If a man will begin
with certainties, he
shall end in doubts; but
if he will be content to
begin with doubts, he
shall end in certainty.”
- Francis Bacon
Organisation
You need to be organised. At a basic level, you
need to make sure you can create sensible folder
and file structures on your system to keep all of
your projects organised. Keep earlier drafts of
things in case a decision is reversed. You should
be able to access any draft, of any cue, on any
project that you’ve worked on, quickly and easily.
The last thing you need is to be opening and
bouncing old projects time and again every time you
send samples to anyone.
You also need to be able to manage a project. Early
on, you’ll likely find you’re a one-person show,
looking after everything yourself. But then you’ll
get a slightly bigger project, and will need to
manage other people (like instrumentalists). The
more you step up, the more moving parts you’ll have
to handle – organisational skills will be
absolutely essential here.
Keeping your contacts organised is also vital.
Don’t just rely on your email client to
automatically save contacts – create groups,
address books, whatever works for you and keep as
many details about the person as possible. It’s too
easy to forget someone’s name but remember their
company, or vice-versa. I know some people that
even have a “Christmas” or “New Year” list that
they email every year, just to keep the
relationship alive.
If you’re not a natural “influencer” on social
media, it’s a good idea to try and commit to a
schedule so that you’re consistently sharing
relevant updates. Even if that’s just a weekly
“here’s what I did this week” post – someone
looking you up as a potential collaborator would
love to see that you’re active online. Likewise,
you have to keep on top of all of the platforms and
websites that you have a profile on – it’s no good
having a picture and description from 10 years ago
on a talent site. Create a bookmarks folder with
all of those platforms grouped – then whenever you
have an update you can open them all at once and
edit to make sure they’re all fresh.
“A place for everything, and
everything in its place.”
- Isabella Beeton (possibly…)
Business Skills
In general, composers are self-employed. Being
self-employed comes with a lot of responsibilities:
from taxes and health insurance, through to
contracts and licenses. And just to make things
more complicated, it’s likely that your music will
end up being played, distributed, and marketed
worldwide. That comes with a whole heap of
complications regarding licenses and royalties.
However, the good news is that there’s generally
only a few different types of contracts, and
organisations that can help you. It’s worth joining
a group such as ASCAP in the US, or PRS in UK -
they offer lots of support and often have example
or template contracts that you can use.
Of course, it’s also a good idea to have a good
entertainment/copyright lawyer and an accountant in
your address book. Just in case, or for when you
need more specific advice.
So, for business skills, you’ll need to understand:
• How to register yourself (either as self-employed
or as a company)
• How taxes/health insurance works in your country
or state
• The types of contracts you can use, and the
terminology in them
• The ways in which you can be paid (fee,
royalties, advances, etc.)
 Obviously, you’re going to need some equipment to be a
media composer. That said, you do not need one of those
glorious, beautiful, Instagrammable setups that you see

Equipment online. I’m a huge advocate of only investing in equipment

when you need it and not just for the sake of it.

Investment is the key word though. Just like any business

• Computer
(or even hobby), there are certain things that you’ll need
• Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) to invest in.

• Monitors & Headphones

Computer
• Audio Interface
Of course, the computer is the hub for all of your music
• MIDI Keyboard creation. Most modern computers should be able to handle

• Sample Libraries & Plugins
simple projects (a handful of instruments and effects).
But if you want to start making larger projects, and
getting your music sounding professional, you’ll want to
invest as much as you can here. The more RAM, the more
processing power, and the more storage, the better.

If you’re on a budget, prioritise getting the most

powerful processor that you can, as that’s the hardest
thing to upgrade later. The second most important is the
RAM - but upgrading the RAM is fairly simple on most
computers, so this is something you can upgrade after you
save up some more. It’s worth making sure that the
computer you opt for is upgradable though - some systems
have the RAM soldered to the motherboard, for example.
The debate between Mac and PC is as old as time.
For a long time Mac was the very obvious choice
for professional systems, but more recently the
playing field has been levelled out. Very broadly
speaking, the general consensus is: PCs are more
customisable, but Macs “just work”.

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)

A Digital Audio Workstation (or DAW (pronounced
like “door”) for short) is a program that allows
you to record and process audio and MIDI data. So
it is 100% essential equipment. There are a lot of
different options to choose from, but most media
composers gravitate towards Logic Pro X (Mac
only), Cubase (by Steinberg), or ProTools (by
Avid).

Other popular DAWs include:

• Ableton Live

• MOTU Digital Performer

• FL Studio

• Studio One

• Propellerhead Reason
When it comes to choosing which DAW is best for
you, a lot of it comes down to personal preference,
and budget. Some companies offer cheap, or even
free versions of their DAW - the idea is that you
get comfortable and used to their system so then
feel that it’s the only one for you! I’d recommend
watching some introductory tutorials on each DAW
that you’re considering, or even downloading the
“free trials” that many companies offer, and
getting a feel for how intuitive it feels for you.
Then make your decision!
Monitors/Headphones
A good set of speakers, or “studio monitors” as
they’re called in pro-audio, is super important if
you want to make sure your music actually sounds
good. If you’re using your computer or laptop
speakers to compose music, you’re going to miss a
huge amount of audio information from what you’re
writing. Certain frequencies are either boosted or
lost on ordinary speakers.
When it comes to listening to and analysing music,
a good set of monitors is going to help you to hear
extra details in the music. Once you’ve trained
your ears, you’ll even be able to discern what type
of compression, reverbs, and other effects have
been used on a track - allowing you to replicate
this in your own work.
Studio monitors can be expensive. Like, really
expensive. They are another item worth investing in
though, and a good set will last you many years.
That said, there are cheaper options available, and
if you do buy a cheaper set they’ll make a great
secondary reference monitor further down the line
when you choose to upgrade again.

For example, small speakers, like those found in

laptops, simply cannot produce low frequencies. So
if you compose a piece while only using your laptop
speakers, you’ll probably find that, if you play
your music on different speakers, the bass is going
to be an absolute mess.

Good studio monitors produce an even, or “flat”,

sound throughout the frequency spectrum.
Studio monitor brands to consider include:
Studio Headphones
• Focal You can get studio headphones too. These are great
if you need to work at night, like if you have
• KRK young kids and a day job, for example. They come
with a couple of caveats though.
• Adam
Firstly, headphones can be seriously bad for your
• Genelec hearing if you aren’t careful. If you spend long
hours working with headphones you’ll find that you
• Yamaha
keep increasing the volume little by little until
you don’t realise that you’re working at dangerous
Be careful when shopping for monitors that you’re
levels. Pete Townshend, of the The Who, cites
looking at monitors designed for studios, and not
studio headphones as the main cause of his
for home stereos. There are some incredible
tinnitus. Tinnitus is completely irreversible, and
speakers for home systems that will make any music horrendous to live with. So BE WARNED!
sound incredible. And that’s the problem! Your
monitors aren’t meant to make your music sound Secondly, you lose a lot of sense of depth and
incredible, they’re meant to show you exactly how space with headphones, so when it comes to mixing
your music actually sounds. you’ll have a really hard time getting your panning
and reverbs correct.
If at all possible, get yourself down to your local
music shop and actually listen to the monitors
you’re thinking of buying. You might find that you
hate the sound of some of the highly recommended
speakers, in which case they’re obviously not for
you. Take a few reference tracks with you on a USB
stick: a reference track is a piece of music that
you know the sound of really well and can use to
compare across the different monitors.
Brands to consider for headphones include:
• Focal
• Beyerdynamic
• Sennheiser
• AKG
You’ll need to decide if you want “open back” or
“close back” headphones. Open back are generally
better for critical listening, but they let in
noise from around you and also let noise out. If
you’re in a noisy environment, or if you’ll be
working in the same room as someone else, they’re
not ideal.
The opposite is true for close back: they’re less
good for critical listening but they block out
unwanted outside noise and don’t leak sound out.
Audio Interface
An audio interface is like an upgraded sound card
for your computer. They have microphone and/or line
inputs with gain control and often phantom power
(allowing you to use condenser microphones), and
headphone and monitor outputs with independent
output controls. Some models also have MIDI in and
out as well.
Most studio monitors come with balanced line ¾ inch
jack inputs, which can’t plug directly into your
computer, hence why you need an audio interface.
For recording, most interfaces have some form of
preamp to help prepare your microphone or line
signal on the way into your computer, helping you
to get a nice crisp, clear recording. Trying to
plug something into your computer’s default “mic-
in” 3.5mm socket is NOT going to yield good results
- trust me, I’ve tried!
Before you buy an audio interface, think
realistically about what you need it to do. Most
MIDI keyboards plug in via USB, so do you really
need MIDI capabilities? If you have limited USB
ports and want to free one up, then maybe you do!
Likewise, are you ever going to have eight
microphones or line ins at once? Probably not in
your home studio (unless you’re a drummer), so why
pay extra for all those inputs? Again, be realistic
with what you need.
Audio interface brands to consider: you to control various functions within your DAW.
These are great if you enjoy a “tactile” approach
• Focusrite to controlling parameters, but many people simply
never use them. Also remember that you can get
• Presonus
dedicated “DAW Controllers” for those functions.

• Mackie
In terms of how many keys you want, there are two
factors to think about: your playing style and how
• M-Audio
much space you have! If you need it to fit on your
• Universal Audio desk and generally only play single melody lines or
one handed chords, you’re best off with a 25 or 49
key model (just be aware that some of the smaller
MIDI Keyboard
keyboards have “mini” keys that can be fiddly, and
You can key in notation using your mouse or they don’t always have proper pitch bend or
trackpad, and you can even use your computer modulation controls). If you have more space and
keyboard to play in notes. maybe already play piano, or are learning, you’ll
want at least 61 keys. Whenever I play keyboard, I
You can. always fall off either end if I don’t have 88 keys,
so I know I’m stuck with that!
You’ll be utterly miserable, but you can.

I’m a huge advocate of learning the keyboard if you

want to be a composer. You don’t have to be able to
play like Chopin, but being able to play a few
chords and play in your melody lines is going to
allow you to work SO much faster, and actually
playing in your parts will give them much more life
than if you click them in using a mouse.

This is another area where you’ll need to decide

what you’re actually going to use your MIDI
controller for. Some keyboards have all kinds of
dials, knobs, screens and faders on them, allowing
Bear in mind that if you already have a keyboard it
may be capable of being a MIDI controller. A lot of
modern keyboards have USB outputs on them, and most
keyboards have a MIDI output - a 5 dollar MIDI
cable that you can plug straight into your audio
interface is a lot cheaper than buying a new
keyboard, if you can make do.
A lot of composers enjoy having two keyboards: a
programming keyboard and a composing/playing
keyboard. This allows you to have a full size,
weighted keyboard or piano for playing and
composing on and a smaller 25 or 49 key MIDI
controller on your desk for programming into your
DAW.
Samples & Plugins
This is a big one. And a potential bottomless pit
when it comes to spending money. Spend any time in
online forums or Facebook groups dedicated to
composition and you’ll see a myriad of questions
about the best sample libraries, whether it’s worth
buying from “X” as they currently have a sale on,
and so on.
A “sample library” is a collection of instrument
recordings, or “samples”. When you open your DAW
and load an instrument to play, it’s basically
playing a collection of recorded sounds. So, when
you load a “violin” and play an “A” on your
keyboard, you’re triggering a sample (recording) of
a violin playing an A.
The basic sample libraries (like the ones included
in your DAW) have less detail than premium
libraries. For example, they might record one note
at 4 different velocities (or dynamics) and spread
that one note across 3 notes - so when you play a
“B” on your keyboard it’s the same recording of the
“A” but pitch-shifted. Premium libraries might
record every single note at many different
velocities, and with many different articulations
(legato, staccato, pizzicato, etc.). They also go
to great lengths to make sure how notes start, end,
and transition to one another sounds realistic, and
that when you play the same note over and over it
doesn’t sound the same (called “round robin”).
“Plugins” are the effects, like EQ, compression,
reverb, delays, etc. Again, the basic ones are a
lot less detailed than premium ones. Professional
plugins are often designed as replicas of classic
“outboard” gear (real life hardware).
The fact of the matter is that the basic sample
libraries and plugins that come included with your
DAW simply aren’t good enough for professional
work. Particularly the samples - you can probably
get away with stock plugins for a while.
You don’t have to buy everything all at once. I’d 6. Equaliser
recommend acquiring samples/plugins in this order:
Suggestions:
1. An all round package (start with a broad range) • FabFilter’s “Pro-Q 3”

• Waves’ “SSL E-Channel (also a compressor) or “API 550”

Suggestions:

• Native Instruments’ “Komplete” 7. Anything else!

• EastWest’s “Composer Cloud” (monthly subscription)
Any fun effects, niche instruments, etc. Ideally, you
2. Orchestral library should try to add to your collection on a “per project”
basis. So, if you need a great Celeste sound for a project,
Suggestions:
then is the time to invest in one - not before you need it!

• Spitfire Audio’s “Albion”

• CineSamples’ CineSymphony

• ProjectSAM’s “Symphobia” All of the above are only suggestions, and I’m not
sponsored, endorsed, or affiliated with any of the
3. Synthesizer
companies. I encourage you to do as much of your
Suggestions: own research as possible before investing your hard
• https://www.spectrasonics.net/products/omnisphere/ earned cash.
• Xfer Records’ “Serum”
Of course, if you’re patient, it’s highly
4. Reverb worthwhile saving up in preparation for big sales,
like “Black Friday”, “Cyber Monday”, “New Year” and
Suggestions:
“Back to School” - most audio companies put on some
• Audio Ease’s “Altiverb”
pretty irresistible offers!
• ValhallaDSP’s “Valhalla Room”

5. Compressor

Suggestions:

• FabFilter’s “Pro-C 2”

• Waves’ “SSL E-Channel” (also an EQ) or “CLA-76”

 Okay, so you now know exactly what you need to be a media
composer, but there’s one missing element: a movie/game/
animation to actually write for! Let’s look at a few ways

Finding that you can find material to work with, either for
practising or for real.

Projects For Practice

Although I advocate getting as much “real world”
• Re-scoring experience as early on as you can, it’s definitely

• DIY Film worthwhile finding ways to practice first. Even just a

handful of practice attempts can make working on real
• Visualising
projects a lot less intimidating.
• Collaborating
Re-Score a Film
• Pitching

• Music Libraries Take an existing film, import it into your DAW, strip the
sound, and have a go at creating your own score instead.
• Networking
You won’t have any dialogue or sound as you’ll have had to
strip it along with the music (unless you find a scene
with no music in the first place). Sometimes you can
extract the “centre channel” which, if you’re lucky, only
contains the dialogue. It’s hit and miss though!

It should go without saying that you cannot use this for

self-promotion as you do not own the rights to the movie.
So don’t go uploading this to YouTube!
Become a filmmaker...kind of
Why not spice up your home movies a bit by turning
them into a short film? Take a collection of your
own videos (maybe clips from your last holiday) and
edit them together using iMovie or DaVinci Resolve
(both free). You could even try and create a
narrative in your edit too.
Then create music for it: no more bored relatives!
Visualise
Write a story and use your imagination to create a
storyboard with timings, and maybe even images that
you can find online. Again, you could even use
iMovie/DaVinci to edit together the photos to
create a “moving storyboard” to score.
For Real
Collaborate
You’d be surprised how many of the now famous film
composers began simply by collaborating with
friends or new directors. Think about it: who is
Tim Burton going to call to write the music for his
next film? Danny Elfman. No questions asked.
Basically, you need to find the next Tim Burton and
let them take you along for the journey!
Maybe you have friends that are budding filmmakers?
Collaborate! Find ways of working with people you
know to find real life projects.
Pitch
There are 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.
Basically, they either send or post a description,
and you pitch your work to them (often paying a fee
to submit). If your piece is chosen it can be
really lucrative, but it can also mean you spend a
lot of time (and money) writing music with no
guarantee of success.
Libraries
This is a really growing field for media
composition. Basically, you create albums of tracks
in certain moods or styles and submit them to music
libraries, which then license them on your behalf.
Studios or directors essentially browse the
library’s collection, select the tracks they want
for their project, and purchase the license to use
them.

If you can write a lot of extremely high quality

music you can make good money from royalties.
However, it can take a long time for the income to
start rolling in (often years...literally).

Network
Much like my point on “collaborating” - you need to
find people working in the media industry. And not
just composers! Having a network of composers is
great for support, but unlikely to lead to you
working on projects (unless you’re hired as an
assistant or apprentice). Focus on finding other
media professionals, such as directors, producers,
sound editors, music supervisors, etc..

You should be attending your local film festivals,

getting involved in online communities, and trying
to make friends. Not sell yourself. If you attend a
local festival and like someone’s work, just reach
out and tell them! Don’t try to shoehorn in the
fact that you’re a composer. Just have a
conversation. If it leads somewhere, great. If not,
you have a new friend. Either one’s a winner.
 Skills? Check. Equipment? Check. Project? Check. Okay,
pre-flight checklist done: we’re ready to start! So,
what’s the first thing we do? Open our DAW, or sit at our
Spotting & piano, right??? Wrong. The first thing we need to do is
conceptualise.
Conceptualising
Conceptualising
Before you even think about starting your engine you need
• Deciding your “concept”
to know your destination, and in media music we call that
• The “Spotting Session” “conceptualising”. Deciding on the concept for your music
is arguably the most important step in the process. It’s
often said that the composer is the “final writer” on a
project, because even at this late stage in the process
(music is often one of the final things to be completed in
a project) music can still change the story.

Think about creating a piece of artwork. If I commissioned

you to create some artwork for my house, what’s the first
thing you’d do? I doubt it would be to get out your
paints, dip your brush in and slap it on the canvas with
no idea what you were actually going to paint. At least
not unless you were going for something really avant-
garde. No, you need to decide your subject, the medium
you’ll use, your colour palette, the size of the canvas,
etc..

Some of these things you’ll have the choice to decide

yourself, others will be things that you’d need to discuss
with the client. There’s no point in doing a 30 foot
multicolour pop-art painting of a bunny if the client
wants a small black-and-white charcoal piece to sit on
their mantle...and if they’re terrified of bunnies!
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.
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? Will
your music focus on the location, perhaps - in
which case will you try to use authentic musical
styles and instrumentation from that location, or
just try to capture the mood of the location?
• The mood you’re targeting(will you compliment or
contrast what’s happening visually?)
• 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)
• 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 or speed up
the actual composition
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 while sat at your computer
or keyboard.

Spotting Session
As I said, you need to work with “the client” to
decide which direction to take the music in - in
our case that’s usually the director or producer.
At the end of the day, media music is a
complimentary art form. It works with the visuals/
sound. Therefore, you need to work with the
director, and maybe even sound designer, to decide
the direction in which you’ll be taking your music.
This is where the “spotting session” comes in.
The spotting session is where you sit down with the
director (and possibly producer, sound designer,
even studio executives on larger projects), and go
through the project and musical ideas. It’s your
opportunity to explore all of the conceptual ideas,
discuss what moods need to be captured at each
point, and decide where the score (and other music
tracks) will be.
It pays to be extremely prepared for the spotting
session. Make sure you’ve read the script (if
possible) and have made notes. Bring any reference
pieces that you like the feel of. If you’re super
prepared, you might even have some sketches of your
own ideas that you can bring.
You should leave the spotting session with a really
clear understanding of the direction of the music.
You should also know how many cues you’ll be
writing, and the timecode for the start and stop
times of each piece in the movie, as well as any
key moments that should be “hit” musically.
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
to aid clarity.
 After all of that setting up, finding a project, coming up
with ideas and discussing them with the director, we’re
finally ready to start composing (although, I’d argue that the

Composition composing actually started back at the conceptualising stage!)

There are a few approaches when it comes to starting a

composition. Some people begin by finding sounds. That might
• Sound be by playing with an analogue synthesiser, or by going out
and recording some real-world sounds to manipulate. Some begin
• Sketch
by writing an “overture”: a single piece of music that
• Orchestrate captures all of the main themes of the project that they can
then rearrange to fit the actual cues. Both great approaches.

Personally, I usually start with a sketch - as do many others.

“Sketching” is basically a very stripped back version of the
music, often just on piano, that gives the key melodic, and
harmonic information, as well as the timings. This allows you
to compose “horizontally” rather than “vertically” (i.e. you
stick with one instrument instead of building up big layers as
you go). The orchestration and arranging comes later. You can
either come up with sketches for each theme without the movie,
or start sketching to picture straight away, working out
themes as you go.

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 visuals that the audience forgets
it’s there. Working away from the visual can mean
you lose sight of this.
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.
After you’ve finished sketching, it’s simply a case
of developing the sketch onto the final
instruments, adding any layers, sound effects,
percussion, ornamentation, and flourishes. I’ll
often use a more “basic” sample library at this
point (or a better library with lighter samples
loaded) so that I can work faster without worrying
about my machine choking.
Of course, that’s not the end. You still need to
get it signed off! You should always expect to have
to do some edits to your music. Either because the
project itself has changed (like a scene in a film
might have a couple of seconds removed/added by the
editor), or because one of the many people that has
to sign off on the music wants something changing.
Don’t take it personally!
In fact, I’d be more worried if you didn’t have to
do edits - as that would say a lot about the
quality control on the project. Remember: we’re
working towards what is best for the project as a
whole, not what’s best for you or your music. Leave
your ego out of the equation.
 We now move into the more technical aspect of composing
film music. The production stage is all about getting the

Production
individual instruments sounding amazing (either by
recording live instruments or improving your sampled
ones), and balancing all of the instruments together in
volume, frequency, and direction (left to right, front to
• Recording back).

• Improving samples
Recording & Improving Samples
• Mixing
At this stage, it’s great if you are able to actually
• Mastering
record any real instruments – even one or two acoustic
instruments can really trick the listener into believing
the rest of the instruments are real. Of course, if you
have the budget, the dream is to have your whole piece
recorded by real instrumentalists (other than your synth/
sound effect parts, obviously!)

Other than recording live instruments, the first step is

to work on improving your samples as much as possible. Try
to treat your sampled instruments as if they’re real
musicians by pretending to have a “recording session” with
each part. Basically, save the project as a new file
(“[cue name] – STRINGS”) and delete all of the instruments
other than the group or individual that you’re focusing
on. Do this for every instrument/group.
Then, if you haven’t already, put the instruments
onto your best sample libraries, 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. But if you try and add reverb
now, you’ll end up with a mess when you put all of
the instruments back together.
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. You can also click
this in using automation. You’re trying to feel how
it should be played: all of the tiny dynamic pushes
and pulls that players would naturally do.

Focus on making sure it sounds like it’s played as

realistically as possible. Make sure it’s not all
perfectly quantised, and that the velocities aren’t
all exactly the same. Listen out for any notes that
are too hard or too 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 real players
naturally diminuendo slightly towards the end of a
note, they don’t just stop dead like sample
libraries do). And for piano, don’t overuse the
pedal in place of reverb.
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.

Mixing
Before we start really mixing everything together,
we need to make sure we’re looking after our ears.
Turn on a reference track and 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 65dB) and don’t turn up. If you
find yourself wanting to turn up, take a break in
silence and come back to it.
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.
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 is to turn your speakers down until you can
only just hear the music and then see if you think
it needs more, or less, reverb.
I can’t stress enough how important it is to start
learning or programming key commands for mixing
too. It will save you hours, possibly even days,
over the course of a project.
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.
In terms of EQ, the basic idea is to listen very
carefully and decide what needs cutting and what
needs boosting. It’s often touted as good practice
to roll off the bottom and sometimes the top end of
each instrument to avoid too much “noise” outside
of the main frequencies. You’ll find that the
higher-quality the sample library, the less you’ll
need to EQ, as they’re often pre-mixed very well.
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 those parts to remain at a fairly
consistent volume throughout. Then, automate the
rest of your track around those parts. 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.
When mastering a song you’d usually bounce
everything down to a single stereo file and then
master that file. Not with media 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 the music if
they only have a single master track, but if they
have multiple stems they could just mute the
individual stem that’s clashing.
Also, commercial music tends to be mastered in a
way that really pushes the dynamics to the max.
That’s not usually the case with media music, as
the levels are adjusted continuously under dialogue
and sound anyway. Mastering is more about giving
your piece its final polish.
So, group your instruments into sensible sections
and “send” each section to an individual bus
(“percussion”, “melody”, or “strings”, etc.).
You’re going to master each bus individually. A
standard set of plugins for mastering is:
• EQ
• Multiband Compressor
• Adaptive Limiter
You could also add an “exciter” prior to the multi-
band compressor to add presence, and a “stereo
spreader” before the adaptive limiter to spread
just the higher frequencies.
In your EQ, roll off anything under 25Hz, as it’s
inaudible. Don’t over-compress with the compressor,
it should only be to take any peaks off. Limit the
adaptive limiter to -0.1 to avoid any clipping.
Copy the strip settings onto each group of
instruments you’ve created. You’ll likely need to
turn each bus down by an even amount to avoid the
master stereo out from clipping.
 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

Delivery 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,
• Bouncing STEMs
I usually play a few seconds of silence after the track
• Naming Files ends just to make sure I don’t get any random reverb tails
at the beginning of the bounce.
• Sending Exports

• Final Mix
Bounce the track in .aiff or .wav depending on what has
been requested – at 48kHz, 24bit. Make sure you don’t have
“normalize” selected as it’ll ruin your mastering, and
give it a sensible filename (i.e. “1m01 – Strings”). After
you’ve bounced, repeat the process for each bus.

Most DAWs have ways of exporting multiple stems or busses

simultaneously - that’s a huge timesaver, so well worth
figuring out how to do in your DAW of choice.

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.
 Just because your music is now signed, sealed, and
delivered, it doesn’t mean the hard work is over! Now the
marketing and promotion of the project begins (or,

Marketing & ideally, it should have been going on for a while).

Obviously, the main responsibility of promoting the

Promotion project doesn’t fall on the composer. But it’s great to be

involved as much as you can be for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, any media professionals that follow you will see

• Show genuine interest you taking a genuine interest and make an effort to
promote the project you’re working on. That makes you look
• Build hype all the more tempting to work with. It’s also good to
• Boost your income! “look busy” - busy people are trustworthy!

Secondly, it can help build hype around the music which

can bring more attention to you at festivals or networking
events. If festival judges are aware of you and your music
before judging the films, it’s likely that they’ll be more
inclined to focus on your music while watching, which in
turn gives you all the more chance of being nominated for,
or winning, an award. Although awards aren’t the be all
and end all, they can certainly help with your credentials
and for gaining more work.

Finally, depending on the contract you have, you might

also be able to release your music as a standalone
soundtrack, and/or be eligible for royalties when the film
or music is purchased, broadcast, or streamed. The more
people you can get listening to your work, the more sales
or royalties you’ll get and the more money you make.

Simple.
 Conclusion

soundtrack.academy was built to make the study of media music accessible to all

I initially set out to make this a “quick-start” Follow me on your favourite social media platform:
manual, but it turned into something much bigger!
Of course, there’s still so much more that could be https://www.facebook.com/SoundtrackAcad/
said in each section, but I’m pretty sure this is a
https://twitter.com/soundtrackacad/
pretty comprehensive guide to get you started!

https://www.instagram.com/soundtrackacad/
But don’t stop here! Keep learning:

Subscribe to my podcast, where each week I

interview someone from the media music industry: Enrol in my online courses at up to 90% off:

https://anchor.fm/soundtrackacad https://soundtrack.academy/courses/