MusicTech 205: Sound for the screen
In this issue: expert guidance on how to start composing for film and TV, including practical tutorials, industry insight and buyer’s guides.
This issue we’re heading to the pictures – or, rather, your music is. The film and television industries have never been as prominent a part of contemporary culture as they are today, and with each new Netflix must-watch and binge-worthy drama comes a need for an equally killer soundtrack. That’s where you come in.
There are many methods of making music for film and TV, and millions of projects going on around the world at any one time, so though it might seem a daunting prospect, the truth is that today, regardless of your preferred genre, your music will more than likely marry perfectly with at least one director’s vision.
In our lead feature this issue, we present a huge practical guide to creating music for the screen. Our soundtrack expert Jono Buchanan will guide you through this amazingly creative universe, and might just take your career down a whole new path, either creating music for sync libraries or reacting and writing to the scene on screen.
Also this issue, we take you through the evolution of bass and give you some hands-on guidance to making your own low-end sound richer. We spend some time with Stormzy’s producer Chris Andoh and chat about the making of one of the biggest tracks of the past decade, Vossi Bop, and hear why FL Studio is the ideal DAW for grime.
There’s also our usual range of tutorial content across six DAWs and, in our review section, we get stuck in to some of the amazing products we encountered at NAMM, including the Korg Wavestate, Audient Evo 4 and Spitfire Audio’s Albion Neo. I hope you enjoy this issue.
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MusicTech 205 includes:
- Sound For The Screen – With music-for-picture composers in increasingly high demand, we outline the best paths into the heady industry
- T-Minus – The new app for tinnitus sufferers
- Why Bass Matters – How low can you go? We trace the history of bass instruments
- Interviews – Composer and Marilyn Manson guitarist Tyler Bates talks punishing deadlines; Psychemagik‘s Tom Coveney on the long-awaited album; Chris Andoh, producer and Stormzy collaborator on his studio and life after Vossi Bop; Swiss composer Oliver Patrice Weder on his career
- Tutorials – Using physical modelling in Logic Pro X; Adding melody and harmony in Ableton Live; Sketching ideas using Score Editor in Cubase; Making the most of sidechaining in Pro Tools; Building sounds with MaiTai and Mojito in Studio One; Recording and editing vinyl samples in FL Studio
- Reviews – We get hands-on with the Korg Wavestate, Native Instruments Straylight, Audient Evo 4, Novation Launchpad Pro MK3, Oeksound Soothe2, and more
- DVD – 3GB of video tutorials, workshops, software plug-ins and samples including AudioThing Type B Vintage Exciter (demo), Denise Perfect Room (demo), BeatSkillz Slam Pup (freeware), 17 synth pads (samples), and Björk – Venus as a Boy Deconstruction in Ableton Live 10.1 (tutorial)
