cinematic orchestration

course overview

• Personal 1-to-1 tuition by a professional film orchestrator

• 30 hours of video tutorials including live orchestral sessions, top session musicians, scoring demonstrations and interviews

• Study world famous film scores like John Williams’ Star Wars - the full score of the suite is included with your course materials.

• Detailed instruction in every aspect of working with samples and demonstrations of the major libraries

• 500 page course text plus dozens of scores and recordings

• Watch the process from first sketch through to a live recording with our very own 50 piece film orchestra

• Challenging projects for both sampled and live orchestrators with one-to-one feedback for an industry professional

• Hear your music performed live by soloists and ensembles in our Student Sessions and get feedback from the players*

• Qualify to take the Diploma in Professional Orchestration

*additional fees may apply to student sessions

Where else could you watch the whole process from first sketch, through

orchestration, and finally to the studio recording with a 50 piece orchestra?

A unique opportunity to learn the art and craft of orchestration one-to-one

from working, film professionals.

Above Guy Michelmore (left) the course director and award winning film composer, EMMY and ANNIE Nominee. Nic Raine (right) the Course Orchestrator and Conductor.

Film orchestration is built on solid classical founda-tions and this course is no exception. But the film music that inspires many of us, has now taken on a life of it’s own. It requires specialist techniques, a new approach to scoring and arranging that you will never learn from manuals written a hundred years ago.

This course will teach you both the traditional princi-pals of orchestration and how to advance with new technologies and techniques to produce uplifting, in-spiring, nerve tingling orchestral music in a contempo-rary cinematic style.

Contributors include

Alan Parker (John Williams, Howard Shore, Jerry Goldsmith, Lalo Schifrin)Nick Dodd (Time Travellers Wife, Narnia, Quantum of Solace)Nic Raine (Star Wars:The Clone Wars, Wallace and Gromit)Nick Phoenix and Doug Rogers of East West Quantum LeapHerb Trucmandl of the Vienna Symphonic LibraryTony Pleath (Dark Knight, Hannibal, Da Vinci Code)John Rodd (Pirates of the Carribbean, Spiderman 2, Bourne Supremacy)Howard Blake (The Snowman, Flash Gordon, Monster-in-Law) Perry Montague Mason (Iron Man, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda)and many, many more.....

cinematic orchestration

“A course is only as good as the people who teach it. And the tutors here are as

good as you get.”

These are some of the people who will listen to your work, look over your scores, listen to your mock-ups and judge them by the standard currently expected by the industry. All our tu-tors are currently working professionally as film orchestrators or composers, including regular sessions with live orchestra. We are the only course in the world to be able to say that.

Charles Fernandez, composer and orchestrator, EMMY and ANNIE Nominee with a host of credits for Disney, MGM, Warner Brothers and Universal. Charles is a graduate of University of California, Loyola University and the Royal College of Music. His work spans everything from orchestrating film trailers to concert commissions, composing and orchestrating feature films and television. Charles is based in Los Angeles, California.

Milton Nelson is a composer and orchestrator with credits including the Haunting in Connecticut, Pokemon and Jackie Chan movies, TV shows including Scrubs, The Wayne Brady Show, The Tonight Show and High School Musi-cal: Get In The Picture. He works both with samples and live orchestra and is based in Los Angeles California.

Adam Klemens is a conductor and orchestrator with credits including District 9 (US box office number 1), Brian Tylers score for Final Destination and with Mark Isham on The Bad Liuetenant. He is based in Prague where he has worked on dozens of Hollywood movies. He taught music theory at the Prague Conservatiore until 2007.

your tutors

Robin Hoffmann is a young up and coming orchestrator with credits in both feature films and games. He studied composition at the University of Dresden. His music speaks volumes for his skill as an orchestrator. Check out his music on our website and you’ll see why we were so keen to have him join our team of tutors.

Jamie Christopherson is a game and film composer based in Hollywood. He has an exhaustive knowledge of sampled orchestration but also works regu-larly with live orchestra on major games projects including Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, Command and Conquer and Mortal Kombat.

James Semple from the UK is forging a career as a film and television composer with his foot already firmly on the lad-der.

“The course is an essential and comprehensive guide to work-ing with a modern orchestra. It covers thorough details of the various orchestral instruments

and how to arrange for both small and large orchestras in a modern cinematic style. All of the detailed course notes are backed with hours of fantastic video footage including some excellent interviews with seasoned orchestrators. The process of taking a MIDI mockup and turning it into a full live orchestral work is detailed meticulously and an actual working example is given with video footage of the orchestra actually recording the music. The assignments are certainly challenging and combined with the course materials will provide a thorough grounding for someone wanting to learn about contemporary orchestration.”

student’s view

Our Real-Deal GuaranteeGo to our website and you can hear examples of the work of each of our tutors.

Who is this course aimed at? Musicians who want to write and arrange orchestral mu-sic in a cinematic style, whether writing for live players or samples. Many will be composers interested in film, television or games. Others maybe inspired to write by great film scores.

What will I learn? You will learn to write and arrange orchestral music that is both technically competent and creatively interesting. You will learn the range, articulations, strengths and weaknesses of each section and instrument of the or-chestra. You will learn common combinations and scor-ing techniques, how to balance and blend the sections of the orchestra, different voicings, doublings and articu-lations. You will understand how to create convincing orchestral mock-ups using sample libraries, keyswitch-ing, legato mode, multiple articulations and controllers. You will also be able to produce a playable score for a live orchestra or musician, and understand the process of taking a score from a simple sketch or midi mockup to a live recording.

Obviously where you end up depends on the skills you have to start with. To achieve the outcomes I have outlined above you would need to enter the course with a good working knowledge of music theory including har-mony and a reasonable grasp of how to work with music technology and sequencers.

How will I learn?The 500 page course text is the backbone of the course. There we explain for example, how the ‘cello works, its technical restrictions and the range of colours and articulations. We then introduce video tutorials with

Tony Pleath, who’s ‘cello solos you would have heard on Hans Zimmer’s scores like Gladiator and Batman. He plays examples and explains what different techniques sound like in practice. Then a Hollywood orchestrator on video analyses a particularly the string writing in Star Wars. You follow the tutorial in your own copy of the score. Then orchestrator Nic Raine takes a simple piano sketch and, in real time on video, orchestrate the piece for string orchestra. Finally we record the piece with our own live string orchestra. Now film composer Guy Michelmore takes you through sampled orchestration, creating a string template, choosing a library and gives you a scoring demonstration applying advanced tech-niques in practice.

You then choose a project. It could be a simple scor-ing assignment for string quartet, creating a sampled mockup of a famous film score, transcribing a MIDI file or MP3 file for live orchestra. There are assignments for every level of ability and every area of interest. You then receive detailed feedback on your work from a profes-sional film orchestrator or composer.

Are there face-to-face classes as well?We organise regular workshops and seminars for students. There will also be opportunities to have a short piece of your music recorded by a live musician or ensemble at a reasonable cost. They are not compulsory but most students find them inspiring and invaluable. They are however completely optional and additional seminar and session fees apply.

How long will it take?The course lasts 12 months and you can start whenever you like. If you need extra time you can simply pay an an-

nual tuition fee and stay as long as you like.

Do I get a qualification?When you complete the course you will receive a Cer-tificate of Course Completion. This will qualify you to enter the Diploma examination which is a typical, short, professional orchestration assignment to be completed in a set period of time. There is a separate entry fee for the Diploma examination but it is entirely optional. The Diploma is accredited in the UK by the Open and Dis-tance Learning Quality Council.

Is everything included in the price?All of the text is provided as downloadable pdfs along with most of the scores and audio. You will need to pur-chase the Star Wars Suite and Snowman scores though.

Do I need to read music?Yes. We don’t require fluent sight reading but when you open an orchestral score you need to know what you’re looking at. However, some students do complete the course with no music theory at all, just concentrating on sampled orchestration.

Do I need to know about technology?Yes to some extent. You should be able to write and re-cord a simple demo in a computer sequencer/ That said some students do complete the course just submitting scores from Sibelius or Finale.

See the full course requirements for more details.

how it works

the course: unit by unitUnit 1: An Introduction to OrchestrationWhat is orchestration, how to read orchestral scores, video examples with our live orchestra, dif-ferent approaches to sampled and live scoring and workflow, take-downs and how to orchestrate from audio files.

Unit 2: Strings 1A detailed look at the ranges, articulations, strengths and weaknesses of the individual string in-struments. Extensive video tutorials with top session players. In sampled orchestration we look at how to build your string template and the library choices available to you.

Unit 3: Strings 2String writing in practice, approaches to common string applications, a detailed analysis of the writing for strings in John William’s Star Wars, Howard Blake’s The Snowman and Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite. Watch a top orchestrator arrange a piece from scratch in Sibelius, then record the piece with a live string orchestra. Live scoring examples of writing for sampled strings.

Unit 4: Woodwind 1A detailed look at the ranges, articulations, strengths and weaknesses of the individual wind instruments. Extensive video tutorials with a top session player. In sampled orchestration we look at how to build your woodwind template and the library choices available to you.

Unit 5: Woodwind 2Woodwind writing in practice, approaches to com-mon wind applications, a detailed analysis of the writing for woodwind in Princess Leah’s Theme form Star Wars, Howard Blake’s The Snowman and

Reicha’s Wind Quintet No 2. Watch a top orches-trator arrange a piece for woodwind and strings from scratch in Sibelius, then record the piece with a live orchestra. Scoring demonstration of writing for woodwind and strings.

Unit 6: Brass 1A detailed look at the ranges, articulations, strengths and weaknesses of the individual brass instruments. Extensive video tutorials with top trum-pet, trombone and french horn session players with credits from Narnia to the James Bond movies. In sampled orchestration we look at how to build your brass template and the library choices available.

Unit 7: Brass 2Brass writing in practice, approaches to common wind applications, a detailed analysis of the writing for brass in John William’s Star Wars and Howard Blake’s The Snowman. A masterclass in swing band writing with Moulin Rouge arranger Steve Sidwell. Watch a top orchestrator arrange a piece for live orchestra from scratch in Sibelius, then record the piece with a live orchestra. Live scoring examples for samples.

Unit 8: Writing for Harp and PercussionThis unit looks at the highly technical area of writing for both harp and percussion. There is a master-class with Kevin Hathway, Professor of percussion at the Royal College of Music and top film session player. There’s a close examination of hard and per-cussion in both Star Wars and The Snowman. We show you how to create that wall of sound percus-sion track with samples with live scoring demonstra-tions.

Unit 9: Writing for Small OrchestraThis unit starts bringing it all together. Specific requirements of working with smaller ensembles, a bar by bar analysis of The Snowman with the com-poser, Howard Blake, plus live scoring demonstra-tions, how to work with short score and much else besides.

Unit10: Writing for Large OrchestraA bar by bar analysis of the Main Title of Star Wars with Hollywood orchestrator and composer Charles Fernandez, live scoring demonstration from piano score to final recording of large action and heroic cues, lice scoring demonstrations on how to create that epic sound using just samples.

Unit11: Working with MusiciansFrom sequencer to score, how to take a midi demo and turn it into a performable piece of music. The million and one things you need to know about pre-paring scores, parts, backing tracks, click tracks, running orders, mix minuses, Pro Tools session and a lot more besides. Watch the process as we take a score and record it with our live orchestra. And finally advice on mixing orchestral music from two top scoring mixers.

Sampling Technology SupplementEverything you could possibly want to know about how sampling works, the technology, the librar-ies and the developers. Demonstrations and video tutorials of everything from how to use multiple articulations and controllers, key-switching, legato mode and overcoming the machine gun effect. Video interviews from Vienna and LA with the men behind both VSL and the EWQL libraries. Choosing a library, setting up a multi-computer rig,

student’s view

Thiago Spada is a composer from Brazil already working in film, television and games.

“Hours of excellent videos from work-ing professionals with a lot of useful information. And of course, the practi-cal assignments and the feedback, the knowledge shared by professional tutors is the best way to learn how to do it. There is no better investment you can make in your career as an orches-trator or composer.”

“there is no better investment you can make in your career as a composer

or orchestrator”

The Diploma in Professional Orchestration and The Diploma in Sampled Orchestration.

Students successfully completing the course may apply to take the one of the two Diploma examinations. These are exams where we will set you a professional project under time-limited conditions. Those who produce professional quality work will pass. For example, a student taking the Diploma in Professional Orchestration might be given an MP3 and a MIDI file and asked to produce a performable orchestral score for a given line up of players. A student applying for the Diploma in Sampled Orchestration might be ask to produce a sampled mock up of a given piece of music.Taking the exam is entirely optional. Re-takes are available at an additional fee. Only students who have completed the course may enter the examinations.

The Diploma is accredited in UK by the Open and Distance Learning Quality Council

Student Sessions and Workshops

To hear your music performed by a live musician is thrilling and life changing experience. We regu-larly offer students the opportunity to have a short piece recorded and give them feedback on their composition from the players themselves. Because these sessions are shared by many students it comes at a fraction of the normal cost. The only restriction is that the recording cannot be used in a commercial context.

We also organise regular workshops, seminars and hands-on training to supplement your course. For many students this combination of face to face training and distance learning is the perfect way to learn in a supportive and creative environment. Additional fees apply to both the student

sessions and the workshops and seminars.

A group of students attend a four day intensive workshop in London (Left). Students came from all over the world including Brazil and Australia for the event!

the course: requirementsTechnical:

PC: Intel Core Duo or AMD Turion. Windows XP 32-bit SP2 or later, or Win-dows Vista 32-bit SP1 or later, 1Gb RAM, 5Gbs hard disk space, DVD-ROM drive

Mac Intel Core Duo or better. OS X 10.4.9 or later or Mac OS X 10.5, 1Gb RAM, 5Gbs hard disk space, DVD-ROM drive

The video tutorials come as downloadable Quicktime Movies, but you can also purchase a DVD pack if you want hard copies of the movies.

A broadband internet connection in order to upload assignments and download updates.

Software Required

• Quicktime 7 or above• iTunes plus, preferably, access to the iTunes store

A sequencing package like Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer or Sonar

A set of orchestral samples. You can wait until you start the course to buy these as you will be able to make a better choice and some suppliers offer a substantial discount to students.

Minimum: Garritan Personal Orchestra or PhilharmonikRecommended: EWQL Gold Complete

Optional: A score writing programme like Sibelius or Finale. Sibleius is recommended.

Personal Requirements

Time: The course lasts 12 months and assumes approximately two hours a week. You are required to submit 8 projects, each of which should take very roughly 4-8 hours of work. These are very approximate and vary greatly fro studefnt to student. If you are not able to complete the course in the time you can extend as long as you like by paying the annual tuition fee, currently £150 or $300. Please check online for the latest prcing information.

Music Knowledge: We are assuming you can read music to some degree in both treble and bass clef. You have a good understanding of keys, scales, and the basic principals of harmony. This is roughly equivalent to As-sociated Board Grade 5 theory. Good knowledge of four part harmony is an advantage although not essential to start with. The ability to produce a printed score is a big advantage.

We offer courses in both music theory and harmony if you need to acquire or improve these skills. These course can be taken either before enrolling in Cin-ematic Orchestration or run concurrently.

We do not exclude students who want to concetrate largely on sampled or-chestration and have little or no music theory. However you won’t be able to follow the course scores and some of the video tutorials and some tutors are not prepared to work with students who don’t meet the minimum music theory requirements.

Technology Knowledge: We assume you are familiar with basic computer operation and can use virtual instruments and a sequencing pro-gramme to produce a basic audio demo of your work in MP3 format. Ability to create zipped archives and upload through a website. It is possible to complete the course just using a score writing programme like Sibelius or Finale as long as you are also able to create MP3 files fo your work as well.

Cinematic Orchestration Course Fee: £599 / US$995(Plus postage and packing where applicable)

This is a 12 month course, 500 page course text and 30 hours of video tutorials, 8 scoring assignments with feedback from real professional orches-trators and you get a load of scores and recordings including John William’s Signature edition of the Star Wars Suite and the complete full orchestral score of The Snowman by Howard Blake.

Course Duration: 12 months / Tutorial Credits: 8

Instalments: Deposit: £199/US$399 (plus P+P where applicable)

then 6 monthly instalments of £75/US$150

Annual Tuition Fee Extension 12 months: £150 / US$300Additional Tutorial Credits (x 4) £120 / US$240

We also now take payments in Euros.

Instalment Plan: Available for Credit Card Payments only. Instalment total includes an administration charge. These figures are a guide and subject to change. Please check the website for up to date pricing. For details of postage see the website. Postage charges must be added to the deposit. Please read our terms and conditions on the website.

You can enrol through our website by clicking on “store” in the left-hand menu or call our admissions office on +44 (0) 1243 512730. Alternatively, email us and we’ll call you back. info@thinkspaceonline.com

ThinkSpace, Atlantic House, 119 Third Avenue, Almodington, West Sussex PO20 7LB United Kingdom

what it costs

how to enrol

Call RachelWhy not give us a call or drop us an email to discuss your own situation. Rachel Grave (right), the course man-ager, is also a professional orchestrator and composer with three music degrees. If you want to know if the course is right for you, if you have the right musical level of knowledge or equipment then call Rachel.

info@thinkspaceonline.comTel: +44 (0) 1243 512730

“I have to say this course is incredible - I’ve learned so much in such a short period of time - it’s like getting the opportunity to crawl around all these great people’s minds for a few hours and grab a lifetime’s experience in a heartbeat. I think I have already got my money’s worth and I’m only just getting thru reading Unit 2... I think I read Unit 1 in a couple of hours - I didn’t even notice the time going by, it just had me grabbed from the first minute.”

Andy StutelyCO Student

how good could you be? ThinkSpace