Creating a Vintage Movie Score Inspired Beat

Studio wiz Thomas Cochran brings you detailed beat production video tutorials! See how to make a complete "vintage movie score" inspired beat, step-by-step using many of today's popular plug-ins and instruments. The videos are shot with Ableton Live, but the info can be applied to any DAW. This series is for those who are already familiar with using their DAW, but want to learn to make a vintage sounding beat. You also get the samples and Ableton Live projects used in the videos so you can follow along on your studio system.

Intro

• Introduction (02:58) - In the first video of the course, Thomas introduces the sample that will be created and also the beat that will be made from the sample.

Making the Sample

• Making the Sample Pt. 1 (09:30) - To start off the song we first need to make the vintage movie score inspired sample. Thomas shows you how to take a mellotron sampler and create some vibey guitar and pad layers.

• Making the Sample Pt. 2 (08:26) - Thomas now rounds out the first 8 bars of the sample by adding additional layers and a vintage inspired brass lead.

• Making the Sample Pt. 3 (08:20) - See how to add string layers to the second half of the sample, which fills out the sound providing additional material to work with during the arrangement and slicing process.

• Processing the Sample (10:33) - Learn how to process audio samples to make them sound like they were recorded from an old record.

Making the Beat

• Slicing & Re-pitching Sample (14:19) - This video covers sample slicing and re-pitching, to create a new melodic sequence from the sample which will be used as the basis for the song.

• Adding Drums (14:27) - Watch how to create the rhythm for the song using a variety of different drum samples, as well as what type of samples are used in modern trap beats.

• Adding the 808 Pt. 1 (08:12) - Learn how to process and arrange 808 sounds for modern trap productions.

• Adding the 808 Pt. 2 (08:13) - This video covers how to add additional mid range harmonics to the 808, so that the mix translates to a verity of speakers. This video also covers the melodic arrangement.

• Reese Bass (08:20) - Watch how to create a textured Reese bass layer for the main 808. This synth will make it easier to hear the 808 on cheeper speakers and also add flavor.

• Texture Boom Layer for 808 (05:21) - To add some additional punch to the 808, Thomas shows you how to take a simple sample and add it as a layer to the kick.

• Adding Bass Guitar (06:35) - Watch how to add a vintage inspired bass guitar to the track, including how to use this to add variation for a verse part.

• Adding Percussion (04:12) - Thomas now demonstrates how to add some simple percussion to give life to the rhythm section of the track, which enhances the main beat and adds a nice brightness to the drums.

• Adding Chords Pt. 1 (07:37) - See how to create an additional chord layer for the main section of the song using a Rhodes keyboard, that will add additional flavor to the sample.

• Adding Chords Pt. 2 (08:32) - Learn how to use some of Ableton?s built in features to create chords directly from the original audio sample. This will then be used as a sketch for making the main chord melody.

• Adding Final Texture Layer (09:49) - To fill out the verse section Thomas adds a resampled harp from the Arturia CMI sampler. This creates a lo-fi flavor and also provides some melodic variation to the verse.

Arrangment

• Quick Beat Arrangement (08:22) - This video shows you how to make the basic arrangement and song structure of the track.

• Arrangement Variation (16:06) - To wrap up the course, Thomas shows you how to make interesting fills to add more exciting and movement to the song.