Orchestration Hacks (5 Quick Tips)

Listening a symphony is like eating your favorite food. Just as different ingredients mix to make a dish yummy, different sounds in the music mix to make your ears happy.

I guess you should say "like and subscribe" and promote your channel, but it's not needed for me. I have learned some incredible things from your experience, in such a short time, and do that automatically as a way to thank you for sharing it. Awesome ! So glad I found you ! 😁

Oh wow,it,s just so helpful. Why this video recommended just two years later?( . Youare like an angel to me now. Thank you so much❤❤❤. I am a your new subscriber

I can't believe you stopped the Moldau RIGHT BEFORE the main theme came in. I just about died right there.

I don't have bras to fill in my cord..(

This is gold

Great video, LOVE the tips! I find myself getting stuck writing a piece because I’m over complicating it. I like your approach of starting simple with big melodies

This is so very very very most excellent Great. Thank you Anne-Kathrin Dern. You are simply the best. This is pure education-Thanks Thanks Thanks.

The part about the 3 Trumpets is one of those treasured gems that will be remembered for a life time by me. Additionally the information about 2/3 violins is yet another precious gem of knowledge.

pro tip: if writing march music, use an imperial shit ton of insturments for the melody instead of a metric one. thats what that distinguishes the professional from the amateur

This is still amazing, for it is not only applicable for live orchestras, but also for digital orchestration! This will definitely help me, so thank you!

This is so useful .. loved it 🙂

Overwriting percussion… Do NOT start composing your piece to a “Deep Orchestral Beds Grooves”, “Damage”, Stylus RMX and so on and so forth…Those technological “marvels” are meant to be added at the end of composing process.
Groove can “inspire” one for certain music, serve as a “convenient” building block that allows further composition to emerge, but it’s a trap !!! After you compose, “orchestrate” and mix your “baby”, when you mute that “percussion bed” you’d be surprised :)
Start composing WITHOUT any “inspirational groove”.
Anne-Kathrin, your videos are awesome, especially for those of the young students who really want to learn things ! You have a true gift of clearly expressing verbally profound musical ideas, without any unnecessary BS. Straight-to-the-point.
Let us know how did your workshop in Austra go (for those of us who couldn’t travel to be with you at the location).

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Absolutely fascinating!
Thank you.
(Some contemporary film composers would do well to heed your advice about over-writing percussion!)

String Quartets that have parts with only Violin 1 and 2 playing in shambles right now.

Sehr hilfreiches und inhaltsreiches Video. Danke dafür.

Wow! That was really useful info. Thanks!

In dovetailing,any new orchestrators take note, overlap one note to keep it seamless. A lot of subtle different effects can be applied,like how long the phrase is before dovetailing. Also, there's a difference in effect between call and response (no overlapping note) and dovetailing. If all else fails,try to keep it sounding natural. And yes, percussion is more effective the less they're used.

So helpful!!! Thank you

Hello Katherine! Just saw this. I am a beginner orchestrator who has always loved orchestral sound. Being steeped in the rock/pop sphere, I find your tips immensely useful. Thank you for posting. I am subscribing.

Very informative video, Anne-Kathrin! One of my favourite examples of a melody line that's goes through the entire range of the orchestra (from basses/cellos right up to upper strings, fl. piccolo etc) is the march from the Nutcracker. Tchaikovsky seamlessly dovetails the scale from the bottom of the orch. to the top so that it sounds like one flowing gesture. Keep up the great work and thank you!

I must say in all the video’s that I watched this is the most helpful video ever when it comes to building up a template for creating a classical piece of music. THANKS!!!
And of course I liked subscribed 👍
Hoping to learn much more from your tips!
Stay safe!

I don’t have the capability to train professionally, so videos like these are incredibly useful! It hurts knowing that I’ll never truly understand, but videos like these are great at giving me just a glimpse.

Thank you so much. This made my understanding of Orchestration easier. 👍🏽

Thankyou!

Learning so many things, filling in so many gaps from your excellent vids. Vielen Dank!

I love this stuff Anne, PLEASE keep these jewels coming whenever you can! Yer the best! 🙏👍

Awesome videos!🤩

The trumpet sounding out of tune could be because of the harmonics piling ontop of each other.

This happens when players and even singers are so exactly on pitch that the harmonics started resonating and becoming a problem.😄

Really cool stuff!😃

Oh my god, 3 trumpets traps!
Thanks for your sharing.

Thank you sooo much. I really appreciate you and this great information. Iv been trying to find knowledge on these topics to better help my mock ups and you've helped me Soo much thank you thank you thank you . Forever grateful 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

Thanks ! 🙏🏻

The melody section is 🔥🔥🔥. It’s helpful seeing how others orchestrate.

How to choose instruments for counterpoint?

Thank you! It's very useful.

Maybe leave the percussion in if it's tuned and also if it's sprach Zarathustra haha

Thank you for your great Tips!

Thank you for that! Exactly what I needed.

Yesterday I watched another orchestration video of you and today I thought....
"I call it instrumentation". Or actually "Ik noem dat instrumentatie". It could also be a bit of both, since I hear abd read so much English in my life.
Anyhow, in sythworld for example presets are aften named / tagged with bass = bass, lead = ... lead, pad = harmonic / chord, pluck = pizzicato and so on. Although pizzicato of course is a technique, it still is a different tone. As such, pads can involve legato string[ish] sounds, whilst leads are often more trumpety.

Merci pour ton partage et tes retours d"expériences. 👏👏👏👏👏👏!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was tremendously helpful. Thank you so much!

Just a fantastic video. I’m SO SO GRATEFUL to have found this channel. Your explanation is simple, clear, very easy for people like me to understand. Your teaching is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

No nonsense, fantastic advice, just felt like a fellow musician was sharing their thoughts which is refreshing. Loved it! You have a subscriber! I look forward to seeing more of your content.

Thanks so much for this! That first tip is gold already. I always thought I was being cheap having first and second violins play in octaves and uncertain about how to utilise the rest of the strings, assuming the chords should be filled within the strings, and then again uncertain about what role to give the brass etc. Obviously there are pieces that need the horns in the melody etc. and trying something different is often part of great creative work, but this sounds like a beautiful, clean starting point for... well, lush theme arrangement.

This was chock full of seriously useful orchestration advice. Thanks so much for sharing!

i am not an orchestral composer but i find your videos very interesting and enjoyable.

I'm so grateful that you've taken the time to share what you've learned from all of your hard work and professional experiences. You have inspired so many of us. :) Peace-Paul