# Harry Potter Trailer Score- Sam Dillard



## Sam Dillard (Feb 12, 2013)

Some music I did for the Harry Potter Kinect game trailer, a mix of two tracks- the first one was aired with the official launch trailer. The tracks are totally original without any of the film themes (due to licensing issues) so they are my own interpretation and themes. Thanks for listening 




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## Darthmorphling (Feb 12, 2013)

These are really good. You seemed to capture the feel of the film's soundtrack very well.


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## Ed (Feb 12, 2013)

Really great work!! Love the writing, really refreshing. Stuff like this always makes me want to do better.


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## Mike Marino (Feb 12, 2013)

Sounds great, Sam!


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## DocMidi657 (Feb 12, 2013)

Excellent work!


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## Jordan Gagne (Feb 12, 2013)

Nice job man.


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## Rob (Feb 13, 2013)

well done!


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## Sam Dillard (Feb 13, 2013)

Thanks y'all! :D


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## handz (Feb 13, 2013)

Great - very well done - nice to hear classically composed music. 

(BTW it always amazes me how there are licensing issues with using themes from movies for videogames )


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## ryans (Feb 13, 2013)

Great work, Sam.

Ryan


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## Sam Dillard (Feb 14, 2013)

handz @ Wed Feb 13 said:


> Great - very well done - nice to hear classically composed music.
> 
> (BTW it always amazes me how there are licensing issues with using themes from movies for videogames )



Thanks, and yeah, it is funny isn't it. I guess the score is owned by the recording companies and it costs money to license from them, so a lot of developers just don't bother with it to save a few bucks.


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## benmrx (Feb 14, 2013)

Just awesome.


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## YoungComposer (Feb 14, 2013)

Amazing, I really enjoyed the piece (s). Great stuff!


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## christianhowes (Feb 14, 2013)

I think you did a very good job of making us believe that the music was actually from the movies. Bravo!


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## dcoscina (Feb 15, 2013)

Sam, great writing. What libs did you use? Also the space is nice- was it MIR or Spaces? 

I'm curious about the string and wind runs in particular. They sound great. Horns are super too!


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## Malo (Feb 15, 2013)

GREAT WRITING! You have taken the essence of the film scores without using any of its themes. Very nice, indeed!



> What libs did you use? Also the space is nice- was it MIR or Spaces?



Huh? Surely this is recorded with an orchestra. Isn't it?


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## jaredcowing (Feb 15, 2013)

dcoscina @ Fri Feb 15 said:


> I'm curious about the string and wind runs in particular. They sound great. Horns are super too!


 
I'm also really interested in hearing about those runs- I can never make runs like that sound real.


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## Mike Greene (Feb 15, 2013)

Wow! This is really nice work, Sam. You totally captured the feel of the films, to my ears at least. Really outstanding.

I'm with Malo, by the way, in assuming this must be a real orchestra?


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## marclawsonmusic (Feb 15, 2013)

Wow... amazing work! You totally captured the feel of the movies without replicating any of the original melodies.

The production is outstanding too. The choirs particularly stand out to me. Terrific writing and orchestration.

Bravo on all possible levels. The whole thing rings "Harry Potter" from the very first note.


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## rgames (Feb 16, 2013)

Great work - perfect fit!


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## Sam Dillard (Feb 16, 2013)

Malo @ Fri Feb 15 said:


> GREAT WRITING! You have taken the essence of the film scores without using any of its themes. Very nice, indeed!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Nope, all virtual I'm afraid, I never learned to read or write music so making something for a real orchestra would be difficult 

Reverb is actually combination of built-in Kontakt reverb and MasterVerb in these, although I have since bought Spaces and have used it in a couple newer pieces,

-Sam


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## mark812 (Feb 16, 2013)

Sam Dillard @ Sat Feb 16 said:


> Reverb is actually combination of built-in Kontakt reverb and MasterVerb in these, although I have since bought Spaces and have used it in a couple newer pieces,



Haha! :D So much for the reverb snobbism. 

Excellent piece, Sam, enjoyed it very much!


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## Michal Smorawinski (Feb 16, 2013)

Great thing Sam  As somebody said you've captured climate of the original movie in a beautiful style  I wish I could learn some of your mixing techniques that makes every instrument in mix sounds clear and selectively. Anyway... Good Job!


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## Sam Dillard (Feb 16, 2013)

mark812 @ Sat Feb 16 said:


> Sam Dillard @ Sat Feb 16 said:
> 
> 
> > Reverb is actually combination of built-in Kontakt reverb and MasterVerb in these, although I have since bought Spaces and have used it in a couple newer pieces,
> ...



Thank you, and yeah what little money I have goes into sample libraries, not reverbs hehe. I've only ever used Alitiverb and Masterverb, outside of built in reverbs. Had Masterverb for years, then bit the bullet and got Altiverb, used it for a while, got tired of the kinda flat-ish sound, went back to Masterverb. 

You can get good results out of any reverb with a little work, but a good reverb just means I have less tweaking to do in the end 

-Sam


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## Malo (Feb 16, 2013)

Well, that is very impressive! >8o Congrats on your composition, orchestration AND mock-up skills!

Would you mind sharing what libraries (and patches :mrgreen: ) you used in these pieces? I was VERY impressed with your strings. Please tell!


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## mark812 (Feb 16, 2013)

Sam Dillard @ Sat Feb 16 said:


> mark812 @ Sat Feb 16 said:
> 
> 
> > Sam Dillard @ Sat Feb 16 said:
> ...



I agree on Altiverb's flatness, didn't like it too. Spaces are nice, but I've always preferred algo reverbs. Really great work. Would love to use what libraries did you use and is there any additional processing aside from added verb?


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## Sam Dillard (Feb 17, 2013)

> I agree on Altiverb's flatness, didn't like it too. Spaces are nice, but I've always preferred algo reverbs. Really great work. Would love to use what libraries did you use and is there any additional processing aside from added verb?



What I did for years was set up a ton of different reverb settings for each section in Masterverb, record each section or solo instrument separately, then mix them all together, and apply Altiverb with no reverb coloring or saturation to put them all in a similar final space. 

Main libraries are EWQLSO, LASS Lite, HB, HWW, OSR, and Symphobia. Only additional processing was EQ and dynamics tweaks in Sound Forge,

-Sam


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