The document provides tips for overcoming writer's block and creating better music scores. It suggests that the key to success is a 7-step process: 1) visualize and take notes, 2) think, 3) organize tracks, 4) select a musical scale, 5) start recording, 6) playback and listen, and 7) revise. Following these steps will help writers apply themselves, determine success, and enjoy their improved musical scores.
40. Sources and Personal Portfolio:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCLjtN-
nFm1efgcNslAukOw?view_as=public
https://www.reverbnation.com/eternalsoul
https://soundcloud.com/asept12
https://flic.kr/p/93gGpN
Editor's Notes
Having trouble writing expressive music? Cant find the right music for a video game or movie? Maybe you struggle with writing music on how to express a certain feeling or emotion?
Writers block affects everyone. It just happens. I have found a way to break that habit with my easy program. It is all a way of thinking, or process of thinking. Sometimes people need a boost, or motivation. Their career goals seem farther than ever, but that is not true. Just have to change your way of thinking.
Cant seem to find that groove, instrument, or feeling? Let me help you, and follow my easy step program. You will be writing music for games and movies in no time.
I know the secret, I can teach you how to write good musical scores..
Listen up and pay attention. The saying goes you learn something new everyday. All I need is a few minutes of your time, and my presentation may or may not change your life. I am about 80% sure that after this presentation you will never look at music the same way again. All about changes and thinking differently and looking at things differently.
Are you Ready? Still with me? Here we go.
This presentation as a whole is a process, but these followings steps are things to keep in mind throughout the entire process I am going to teach you.
4 keys, or things to follow by: Listen, Learn, apply, and determination..
Learn! Everyone has something that everyone can learn from.
Apply, nothing will go into action unless you apply yourself
Determination. Enough said. Apply all of these, and you are golden.
Are you In? I invite you to join me on this incredible journey. The door is open, all you have to do is walk through.
My name is Allen Sept. Currently an electrician. I work full time and go to school full time. I find time because I do enjoy both my job and going to school.
I want tot hank Full Sail for getting me where I am today. Not only teaching me, but guiding me, and also helping me be a better person overall. Lastly making me see that my dreams can come true.
I am studying for my Bachelors degree in science for Music Production. After graduating, I plan to achieve my goals and become a very successful producer, and artist. Music is my passion, and life long dreams. Soon enough, all my dreams will come true.
I have very many skills and talents. I am self taught on guitar. I know how to read music. I know music theory, scales, and programs. I use Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, Garageband, and many more. I can teach anyone how to play an instrument. Good at song writing, composing, and getting the message through using music. Also play some live shows when there is time.
Music theory is a big portion of music production. You cannot create the music, understand pitches, tempos, triads, scales, inversions, counterpoint, and the list goes on and on. So many things to learn, but knowing theory is an essential part of your career.
Aspiring musical artist. I strive to do my best, create something new, fresh, and abstract. But still achieving the task at hand put before me. I use a lot of plug ins and add-ons, but that is a last resort. Most of the time I try to use live instruments such as guitar, bass, and drums. For the orchestral and synths, ambience, and miscellaneous stuff, I will use Kontakt or the built in library.
Song write, produce, mix the final copy. The complete process, from start to finish, I do it all. This entire process does not happen overnight. It has a lot to do with repetitiveness, practice, and musical theory. Each DAW accomplishes the same goal, but you need to know which one to use, plug-ins, and built in instruments. Format is the same between each, but slightly different. If you can use one, you can use the others.
It is in everything we do. You have to live it, breath it, and love it.
Lets dive in. Movies are the most complicated to score. There are so may scenes, and cues. The music really has to portray what is on screen, and cut off at the right moments, which are called cues.
Think you have what it takes to write an entire musical score for any type of videogame? Do not forget about the arcade games, and also the classic Nintendo, and Atari games. Video games I believe is my strong area of writing musical scores. I play games from time to time, and know operates. I have developed a good system to score music for video games, but we will get into that later.
Live music and playing shows is the last part of what we do in the entire process. We mostly just go and play the bars, and its more of a jam session than anything, have some fun. No big crowds, we like a laid back environment.
Here it is, The Walking Dead season premiere episode, and the introduction needs to be scored. You have 30 seconds, lets see what you got. Go show them what you are capable of. Not only do we just games and movies, we will also do short films, TV shows, news broadcasts, Sports. Anything that has film, or any video game. Commercials and TV shows are a little challenging just because of the short time restraints.
Music with attitude!! Because music really does express emotion and feeling without actually saying any words. Music can put you in any feeling or emotion. Maybe you listen to a certain type of music or song depending on the type of mood you are in. Identify that in your films, or movies, and try mimic the sounds, and instrument. Then write your score based off of scales. I chose “Music with attitude, because I really do put my heart and soul into it. Whatever emotion im feeling, whether that be sad, happy, angry, I try to incorporate that into my music. I want to put myself out there and get known, and possibly write songs or scores for clients who are seeking music for their project. I called it music with attitude, because I am going to try and achieve the emotion or feeling the customer desires regardless of what type of mood I am in. I want the music to tell the story, not so much in the lyrics or vocals. Music with attitude is what I thrive for. I live by this, because this stands true into any musical score we do regardless of genre. You really have to add that “attitude” other wise this is not going to work.
I believe that music connects with the soul. It can out you in a certain mindset, such as happy or sad. Maybe love or lust. The hardest part is portraying this through the music. Not an easy task, but it can be done. Not only psychologically, but mentally and physically the music can affect you. It almost becomes part of you. I can help write music like this, along with videogame, movies or short films. This is only the tip of the iceberg. This is one of my main reasons to research further and find out more about that. Recent studies have shown that depending what type of music you listen to can reveal a lot of you and your personality. There is a relation with psychology and music, and music really does have attitude. The psychology part identifies which emotion, and helps out the music with its attitude.
Catching my drift? In order to write a successful score for any film or game, you really have to feel the music. You have to pretend to be in that type of emotion, regardless of your current emotion. If you do not show it in your music and really show it, then the audience will become bored, or not interested anymore. This is where the application step comes into play. You have to apply the music to what is being seen on the screen. This ties into the last two slides, and solidifies my theory of psychology, music, attitudes, emotions, humans, and DAWs all play a role into what the final copy will sound like.
Now to the fun stuff. The secret to writing an accurate musical score for movies, games, films, etc…
Shhh it’s a secret. Nobody can know.
Finally!! Thanks for sticking around and watching my presentation. So, this is broken into 8 steps. The previous slides were describing the entire process as a whole from start to finish, and a little bit about myself. This part I am going to describe is the hardest to catch on to, because it takes practice, and a little bit of mental control. Now, this is the part you have been waiting for. So lets get to it.
Visualize and gather ideas and information. This part needs to be accurate, make sure to observe scenery, bright colors or dull colors, background noise, such as birds, maybe a thunderstorm, etc… Pay attention to dialogue, what they are saying, and tone. Happy, angry, sad? Body language is important too, it helps to identify the emotion better, because some emotions are similar. What kind of music would you play or write if you were feeling the same emotion as the actors/actresses?
Think. This is a critical step, you do not want to portray the wrong emotion and score the wrong music. . Think about what the film or game is really portraying. Action, Comedy, Horror, Love, Lust, sad, confused, happy sad, etc…. The hardest part is over thinking this. Once you have your mind set, pick your instruments, and musical scale. Go for it.
Organize and select instruments. I will help out customers, or students with this section. Select which DAW you are going to use. Which ever is comfortable. Start with 4 tracks, and put your basic instruments in there (which ever instruments you decided to use). I usually try and work my way from the bottom to the top. Meaning, from the percussion, to the bass, the harmony, and melody. You can add and fix mistakes later on the tracks.
Select scale. Major is usually happy and minor is usually sad or upset, possibly angry. Music theory skills will be tested here. I will do my best to not give you the answer but ask questions until you arrive at the right answer. There are a lot of different modes of scales of each note. Probably a good idea to know your way around these scales. If you can memorize some scales that would be good. Every step is crucial in this process because if you mess up on one, then the entire thing will be messed up. Know the difference between major and minor, and the modes.
Start recording/writing music. Stay within selected scale. And layer instruments properly. Digital Audio Workstation skills will be tested here. Did you select the correct instruments? Tempo? Volumes balanced? General setup, I will also watch how well you operate around any of the DAWs systems. I will help with this as well if needed. Let’s hear your musician skills!!! Push Record!! Try to use as many live instruments as you can. In my opinion live instruments sound better and more realistic and life like. Try and record all music in 4/4 time. Make sure it is even and broken down into sections… ie. Intro, verse, chorus, breakdown, outro.
Listen back to what you have created. Do you like it? Do you think it matches the characters on the screen? Movie? Commercial? TV Show? Does your music match the video game genre you are working on? How can you fix it? Questions and comments? Feedback Listen to what you have recorded. Listen to it a few times, that way the song gets kind of stuck in your head. Evaluate what needs to be fixed.
Revise, make changes. What can I do better? Ask supervisor for suggestions or comments. This is where I would come into play the most. This is the time to add and delete things. If more instrumentation is needed, do that now. Just make sure you layer it properly. Now is also the time to add sound effects, balance volumes, pan. Anything that needs to fixed needs to happen at this point. If you are not satisfied with the material then start over. Sometimes it may take several takes before you get it up to your standards.
Final Mix/ Master. What a process. But you made it. Great job, This is the process in a nutshell, and very short. When I work with my clients it tends to be a very lengthy process. The reason being it is a learning process, but we are having fun at the same time. I try to teach and talk a lot as much as I can during the process. I like to share my experiences and/or tips or advice that I may have. Hope you enjoyed the presentation.
This quote is the sole reason why I do what I do. Motivation, Inspiration, my passion. Live, love, laugh, my grandma once told me, and it has stuck with me ever since. It just does not get anymore simple than that. I will never forget those words, and she also told me to never give up. As you continue on your journey and conquer things, just make sure you live, love, and laugh along the way.
If you like what you saw, I would like to invite you to look at all of my social media websites, as well as my musical works and projects. You will find a lot of music, videos, and stuff that I have liked or watched recently. Feel free to leave comments, I am always open to feedback and suggestions. My contact information is provided within my sites. I hope you enjoyed the presentation, hope you enjoyed my music as well. I look forward to working with you.
These are a few links to some of my works and projects. I like to think of it as my own personal portfolio. I also have a FaceBook, but you can just search my name and it should pop up. Thanks for watching, best regards.
Allen Sept
