MIDI Orchestration Explained®
Setup
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Tutorial 1
MIDI Orchestration Introduction
7:06Overview of what orchestration is and what will be covered in this video series.
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Tutorial 2
Custom MIDI Setup
5:51Discover how to use Logic’s Environment to set up MIDI channel based key switching in order to alter the MIDI channel of incoming notes and trigger different MIDI channels in a multi-timbral software instrument all in real-time from the same track.
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Tutorial 3
Traditional MIDI Setups
6:34See how articulation switching is achieved with traditional note based key switching in Kontakt, mod wheel based switching in the EXS24, or with the use of individual instruments.
The Solo Instruments
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Tutorial 4
The Violin
11:19Discover the world of the violin, including how the instrument is tuned, and some of its various playing articulations and characteristics.
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Tutorial 5
The Viola
11:44Explore the colors and characteristics of the viola, a slightly larger throatier darker sounding big brother to the violin. Hear how it sounds alone and in combination with piano and violin together.
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Tutorial 6
Cello & Double Bass
7:17Learn about the cello and double bass, and how to get started writing in two and three part counterpoint style.
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Tutorial 7
Flute, Piccolo, Oboe & English Horn
12:07Discover the ranges, articulations, and characteristics of the higher ranged instruments in the woodwind family.
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Tutorial 8
Clarinets & Bassoon
7:23Learn about the clarinet, bass clarinet, and bassoon and get a feel for the evocative expressive nature some the combined solo woodwinds can create.
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Tutorial 9
Trumpet & Trombones
6:48The regal wonders of the brass family are reveled here, first with the trumpet, and then with the trombone and bass trombone.
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Tutorial 10
Horn & Tuba
6:05Discover the rich warm versatility of the French Horn and Tuba, and listen to an example of some four part brass choir writing.
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Tutorial 11
Untuned Percussion
8:04Explore the world of non-pitched percussion instruments and discover how they can be used to enhance the overall dynamics and accents within your orchestrations.
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Tutorial 12
Tuned Percussion
7:14See how some of the tuned instruments in the percussion family, including the timpani drums, glockenspiel, xylophone, marimba, and tubular bells can further expand your orchestrations.
Production Techniques
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Tutorial 13
Using MIDI Expression
9:50Using MIDI Expression (CC 11) is useful as a means of generating dynamics while leaving the volume (CC 07) unaltered.
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Tutorial 14
Attack!
6:02Automating the attack parameter is an effective way to generate swells and crescendos. Expression can be used creatively to construct sforzando style dynamics.
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Tutorial 15
Space
7:42Learn to balance and position how close or far various instrument sections are in relation to each other using the channel strip faders and pre-fader sends for reverb.
Instrumental Sections
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Tutorial 16
The String Section
9:05Explore the setup, placement and writing conventions for the string section as a whole.
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Tutorial 17
The Woodwind Section
8:45Learn how the woodwind family works as a section, how to best voice harmonies and blend them with other instruments.
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Tutorial 18
The Brass Section
8:55Discover the wide range of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic possibilities the brass section brings to the orchestra.
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Tutorial 19
Doubling
8:07Straight unison or octave doubling can become heavy and grey sounding. Learn how some of the alternatives to straight doubling add variety and maintain the listeners interest.
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Tutorial 20
Orchestral Accompaniment
6:49Discover some tried and true principles to use when orchestrating to accompany a soloist.
Managing MIDI
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Tutorial 21
Macro to Micro Sequencing
6:52Explore ways of combining patches, and ways of splitting divisi parts over multiple individual instruments.
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Tutorial 22
Micro Sequencing Continued
10:58Discover how note overlaps, release time, bender range, sustain time and region delays all influence the playback of programmed MIDI parts.
Motivic Development
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Tutorial 23
The Glass Mirror
14:54Understand how to conceptualize a post modern approach to orchestration using principals of minimalism and repetition.
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Tutorial 24
Broken Glass
6:39Minimalist concepts of sonic manipulation can be applied at a 'meta' level to the modern DAW by means of plug-ins and automation.
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Tutorial 25
Deconstruction to Reconstruction
7:07Explore ways of expanding and elaborating on thematic material using re-harmonization, modulation, and meter change.
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Tutorial 26
Modern Harmony
7:48Learn how to re-harmonize melodies using upper extensions, jazz style cadences, bass movement, pedal tones and modal style quartal movement.
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Tutorial 27
Repetition & Retrograde Variations
7:53See how to use exact and sequential repetition, retrograde and inversion techniques as tools for motivic development when building orchestrations.
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Tutorial 28
Motive-ation!
6:05Explore more techniques of motivic development used to elaborate and vary thematic material.
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Tutorial 29
More Thematic Development
7:23Learn how to use rhythmic augmentation and diminution, fragmentation, simplification and modal change as thematic development techniques.
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Tutorial 30
Reprise & Coda
8:24Summary of some of the principal concepts discussed throughout the series and concluding thoughts on how to approach orchestration.
Music theory master Eli Krantzberg has heard your requests for an in-depth series all about MIDI orchestration and has delivered big time. This series is designed for those of you who want to create realistic symphony orchestrations using todays awesome symphonic virtual instruments. If you want to compose for film, TV or just to get what's in your head outside for all to hear, this collection is for you.
Eli goes really deep in this offering, starting with MIDI, custom and traditional setups and articulations, solo instrument descriptions and usages, how to create production templates, how to group instruments correctly, working with MIDI layers and splits, all the way to macro and micro sequencing, motivic development, modern harmony, deconstruction and reconstruction and so much more.
If you've ever wanted to get into symphonic writing, this series will prove indispensable. Get ready to write your masterpiece, get MIDI orchestration Explained today.
Reviews
Submitted 2 weeks ago
Excellent1
EXCELLENT!
I am a: Producer, Audio Engineer, Ableton Live, Cubase, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Studio One
Submitted 1 month ago
Very well explained from midi to music
I really like mr. Eli K.'s Videos. Lots of valuable infos in each and every sentence. Also very precise verbally. Definately worth the €.
I am a: Professional, Musician, Sound for Film/TV, Logic Pro
Submitted 2 months ago
Amazing content!
Thanks for sharing this acknowledgment! This is priceless.
I am a: Hobbyist, Semi-Pro, Professional, Musician, Producer, Audio Engineer, Sound Designer, Mastering Facility, Reaper
Submitted 4 months ago
Thumbs up
Great video...Insightful
Submitted 6 months ago
Lots of great stuff here...
A great little overview of the orchestra and orchestration. If you're a beginner you'll learn a ton but there is a fair amount of stuff for the intermediate composer as well. As an added bonus a lot of the concepts can be applied for blending and composing for non-orchestral instruments and synths.
I am a: Semi-Pro, Musician
Submitted 6 months ago
One of the best courses on G3 !!!
It's just amazing how complex this course is, I learn A LOT, thank you so much!
I am a: Semi-Pro, Musician, Producer, Logic Pro, Studio One
Submitted 6 months ago
This was an excellent course.
The content was well explained and logical in presentation. Lots of musical examples of the principles helped to illustrate the concepts and strategies in the course.
I am a: Hobbyist
Submitted 9 months ago
Very Helpful and Interesting
I really liked this course a lot and I thought that Eli did a great a job at teaching the material. I particularly liked Eli's review of the orchestral instruments and their different articulations as well as how combining different instrument families produced different moods in the music. Thank you Eli for a good introduction to this topic .
I am a: Beginner, Musician, Audio Engineer, Game Designer, Sound for Film/TV, Ableton Live, Acid, FL Studio, Mixcraft
Submitted 1 year ago
Very Helpfull
Fantastic. Thanks Eli
Submitted 1 year ago
Current, Convenient, Affordable
Complete and detailed explanations of theory and practice.
I am a: Hobbyist
1. When did you start dabbling in music?
I started playing drums in high school at age fourteen. Like most kids my age around then, I was into progressive rock. Genesis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and Yes. They rocked my world. A few short years later though, my musical life changed. While studying music in college I discovered Charlie Parker, Milt Jackson, Sonny Stitt, and John Coltrane. Milt Jackson spoke to me in such a profound way that it left me no choice but to take up vibraphone.
These great players, along with drummers like Philly Joe Jones, Max Roach, Art Blakey, and Elvin Jones changed not only the way I thought about drumming, but also music - and by extension, life - as a whole. I realized life was meant to be a creative endeavor. The idea of improvising based on a loose set of guidelines and rules permeated into my psyche even when I wasn't holding a pair of drumsticks or mallets. But if I am going to be perfectly truthful, I have to hold Henry Miller and Woody Allen equally responsible for shaping the way I view and experience the world around me.
2. What training have you had?
I am currently an Apple certified Logic Pro. Young and cocky, and armed with only a partial University degree, I dropped out of school and began playing steady commercial hotel engagements and jazz gigs when I could. This went on for many years until I decided it was time to complete my degree - which I ultimately did with a major in Political Science and a minor in music.
It was at this point that I formed my current band Nightshift. We are going in to our twenty third year now - playing commercial one nighters like weddings, corporate events, etc. Don't turn your nose up at it though - it has allowed me a wonderful quality of life. It gave me the freedom to go back to school and complete a post graduate degree in Communications Studies - all the while supporting myself by playing weddings.
3. When did you get into recording?
It was in this graduate program - in the early nineties - that I found myself drawn to the fledgling emerging universe of hard disc recording and midi sequencing. Based on nothing more than the recommendation of one of my band mates who had an old Atari, I jumped in head first and bought a Mac LC ll, along with a version 1.1 of what was then Notator Logic. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But, in hindsight, it was a decision of epic importance in my life - shaping my future as much as the music of Milt Jackson and Charlie Parker did fifteen years prior.
I opened up my own commercial home studio in 1998 and began doing a variety of projects, working on radio jingles, artist CD projects, and whatever came my way. A couple of years later a colleague called me up - desperate. He was working at a post production house and one of the editors had just quit. They were doing audio post for a weekly TV series and needed a Pro Tools editor - and fast! And so, once again, I jumped in head first into what would ultimately open up my world even more - the world of Pro Tools.
4. People you have worked with/for?
Focusing on Logic, I built up a small but loyal client base and my phone kept ringing for Logic tech support and instruction. Film composers and studio owners all over the city were calling me. Even the music stores were giving out my phone number at this point! This kind of stuff becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. The more of it you do, the more calls you get to keep doing it. At least that's the way it should be!
As my Logic chops kept growing, I was hired by an old buddy of mine, Len Sasso, who was then an associate editor at Electronic Musician magazine, and began writing some columns for them. I had a blast doing them - and really learned to focus and express my thoughts in a concise and clear manner. This lead to a collaboration with LA based composer Terry Michael Huud on the 2006 film called Civic Duty - which was certainly one of the highlights of my professional life as a composer.
5. Why are you so good at training people?
I wake up every day excited to boot up, and create. Whether it's instructional videos, creating music, working with a studio client, performing with my band, or teaching at the schools - my days are filled with what I love doing. Enriched by the stimulation and creative freedom this modern music making software brings to my life. I bring that excitement and passion to each and every training product I create. My years of experience both using and teaching these programs has taught me the best way to make the user comfortable with these complex programs.
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Logic Pro X 10.2 integrated Alchemy 2, one of the most powerful virtual instruments ever made. In this three-hour video training tutorial series, Eli Krantzberg teaches you how to become a Alchemy wizard and unleash all of its power on your music!
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tutorial videoApogee Maestro 2 Explained
Maestro 2 is Apogee's flexible and powerful OS X Mixer software solution that's included with all Apogee interfaces. Studio master Eli Krantzberg shows you everything you need to know about Maestro 2, as well as how to get the best performance out of your Apogee interface and improve your workflow.
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