# New blog about film scoring devices



## Leon Willett (May 3, 2009)

I just a new blog about film scoring devices, check it out!  

I have a huge folder of about 500 little film score devices that I love. What I do is work out what's going on, and then compose and mock-up a short fragment that uses the devvice -- that way I really "get" the device. 

This is something I'm doing for a few months as I prepare to get back into commercial scoring projects, and I decided to blog about all my findings. 

http://www.leonwillett.com/leonwillett. ... /Blog.html


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## IvanP (May 3, 2009)

Thks for sharing, Leon!

Great stuff!

Still in Barcelona? Hope to talk to you again soon, 

Best,

Ivan


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## Shantar (May 3, 2009)

Thanks a lot for this. Cool stuff!


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## Hannesdm (May 3, 2009)

Man, this is awesome!

But what is a scoring device? Is that a way of scoring a scene, a sort of template where you can start?


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## Justus (May 3, 2009)

That's cool, Leon! Thanks!


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## JB78 (May 3, 2009)

Very cool Leon!

Please keep it up, I'm sure a lot of people will find this very useful, I know I will.

Best regards
Jon


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## Ned Bouhalassa (May 3, 2009)

Fantastic idea. Is it OK for you to be using samples from recordings? Just curious.


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## Daniel James (May 3, 2009)

Hey Leon,

Thanks so much for this, I am still in the process of picking up all the practical learning material I can and this is just perfect!

Thanks Again,

Dan


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## Leon Willett (May 3, 2009)

Ned Bouhalassa @ Sun May 03 said:


> Fantastic idea. Is it OK for you to be using samples from recordings? Just curious.



Hi Ned, they are not samples from any recordings, they are my own imitations of the devices I find in my favourite soundtracks. I transcribe a device, and then make a short composition to put it to use, thereby absorbing the concept fully. 

I'll post more every few days


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## schatzus (May 3, 2009)

Thanks for the wonderful little tutorials...
Great stuff!


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## Leon Willett (May 3, 2009)

Hannesdm @ Sun May 03 said:


> But what is a scoring device?



A device is just a small idea. It could be a harmonic device, a contrapuntal device, an orchestration device, or even a compositional device (where the contrapuntal, harmonic and orchestration aspects of the music are intermingled). 

The idea here is that Hollywood film scores have a very rich tradition and there are many devices used (all the time by many different composers) that you need to know if you are interested in that kind of idiomatic orchestral writing for film.


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## Hannesdm (May 3, 2009)

Leon Willett @ Sun May 03 said:


> Hannesdm @ Sun May 03 said:
> 
> 
> > But what is a scoring device?
> ...



Cool, thanks! Very interesting!
Do you mind sharing a bit info on your template? Your mockups sound very convincing!


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## DynamicK (May 3, 2009)

Thanks for sharing. Useful for a learner like myself.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (May 3, 2009)

Leon Willett @ 3/5/2009 said:


> Hi Ned, they are not samples from any recordings, they are my own imitations of the devices I find in my favourite soundtracks. I transcribe a device, and then make a short composition to put it to use, thereby absorbing the concept fully.
> 
> I'll post more every few days



Oh! :oops: I'm impressed. =o


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## lee (May 3, 2009)

Amazing blog! And stunning mockup/compositional quality.

In other words, he should be a member of vi-control.

Edit: Silly me, it was he who started this thread.

/Johnny


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## rgames (May 3, 2009)

Ned Bouhalassa @ Sun May 03 said:


> Leon Willett @ 3/5/2009 said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Ned, they are not samples from any recordings, they are my own imitations of the devices I find in my favourite soundtracks. I transcribe a device, and then make a short composition to put it to use, thereby absorbing the concept fully.
> ...



+1 on that - outstanding!


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## leslieq (May 3, 2009)

Wow, fantastic learning material. Thanks, Leon.


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## Stevie (May 3, 2009)

Leon, this is better than sliced bread.
Really appreciate your efforts!


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## JohnG (May 3, 2009)

This is a very positive contribution. Well done and thank you.


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## WillMah Gold (May 4, 2009)

Great stuff Leon!!! Thanx a lot! 
I've one question: could you manage to scan the score examples darker so one can read/see the notes better? They are very faint. Thanks again!


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## Waywyn (May 4, 2009)

Hey man, thanks a lot for posting this. Off to my RSS reader 

Hope to meet you again somewhere in the future!


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## Blackster (May 4, 2009)

Hi Leon,

many thanks for that. Much appreciated and outstanding work !! :D


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## bryla (May 4, 2009)

Hannesdm @ Sun May 03 said:


> Do you mind sharing a bit info on your template? Your mockups sound very convincing!


I would also like to hear about your template! Thanks for the great blog!


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## Mahlon (May 4, 2009)

Thanks for such a great blog and information!

Mahlon


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## Thonex (May 4, 2009)

Awesome blog indeed!!!!! o-[][]-o 

keep it up Leon... great stuff... and great mock-ups!!

T


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## clarkcontrol (May 4, 2009)

+1

Great sounding mockups! I can see why someone thought you were using the source recordings.

Please tell us more about your template when you can! (gotta get my vote in...)

Clark


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## midphase (May 4, 2009)

Really cool! When you're in town....first round's on me!


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## Leon Willett (May 4, 2009)

Thanks for the interest! WillMah, I'll try to get the scans better quality, but pencil comes of pretty badly, so I'm not sure if it will be possible  

I've done three more but I have to get around to the copy shop (I don't have a scanner), so I'll post when I have a moment! I plan on posting many of these over the next few months, since I'm doing all this learning I may as well share. 

About my template: just the usual stuff. VSL woods, SAM brass and percussion, some parts of QLSO. I also have some custom brass and strings, and some custom flute stuff. Honestly, it's mostly down to the writing! When we get a really solid grasp of harmony, counterpoint and orchestration, our mockups suddenly improve


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## billval3 (May 4, 2009)

Very cool stuff. Thank you!

I'd love to be able to see more legible sketches as well. If all else fails, you could always share the midi with us! :wink:


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## gsilbers (May 4, 2009)

billval3 @ Mon May 04 said:


> Very cool stuff. Thank you!
> 
> I'd love to be able to see more legible sketches as well. If all else fails, you could always share the midi with us! :wink:



+1 on the midi


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## Leandro Gardini (May 4, 2009)

Leon Willett @ Mon May 04 said:


> When we get a really solid grasp of harmony, counterpoint and orchestration, our mockups suddenly improve


That´s very true!!!


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## Hannesdm (May 5, 2009)

Woohoo, an update! o=<


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## Rob Elliott (May 5, 2009)

Wow - this is extremely well done. You are a natural teacher :wink: 


Many thanks for sharing what you have discovered.


All the best,

Rob


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## synthetic (May 5, 2009)

Loving these. I'll chip in for a scanner.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (May 5, 2009)

You could always use a laptop webcam.


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## MacQ (May 5, 2009)

Great blog, great concept. Thanks for this. Surely you have the makings of a great reference book or something. I'm sure many (myself included) would pay to have this kind of thing elaborated and explained further.

So hopefully you're able to continue this. Thanks!

~Stu


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## Richard Wilkinson (May 6, 2009)

I may just be echoing everyone else, but I wanted to add my appreciation - really interesting resource - and great mockups too. Well and truly bookmarked.


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## gsilbers (May 6, 2009)

i am having a really hard time with the hand written score :(


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## IvanP (May 6, 2009)

I can see it pretty well with a little photoshop touch, just change a bit of the contrast and you're done


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## WillMah Gold (May 7, 2009)

Tried to enhance the contrast, its better but still not good enough. :( 

Midis...PLEEEEEEEEEEASE? 0oD


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## Patrick de Caumette (May 7, 2009)

Wonderful contribution Leon!

I don't know what are everyone's thoughts on this, but it would be nice to turn this into a sticky, with additions of similar examples (mp3 + score) from other contributors...

What do you think?


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## bryla (May 7, 2009)

+1 for sticky!

Leon, can you tell how you apply reverb?


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## billval3 (May 7, 2009)

Patrick de Caumette @ Thu May 07 said:


> Wonderful contribution Leon!
> 
> I don't know what are everyone's thoughts on this, but it would be nice to turn this into a sticky, with additions of similar examples (mp3 + score) from other contributors...
> 
> What do you think?



Excellent idea.


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## Thonex (May 7, 2009)

MacQ @ Tue May 05 said:


> Great blog, great concept. Thanks for this. Surely you have the makings of a great reference book or something.



Now there's an idea :wink:


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## damoy (May 8, 2009)

Got my vote for best blog on the net :mrgreen: 

Nice work Leon. Thanks for sharing.


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## bryla (May 10, 2009)

check out the new post about Music for Games! Thanks Leon


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## Leon Willett (May 10, 2009)

Well, there's hope yet for you readability whiners  

Amazingly, a professional orchestrator and arranger who works on symphonic music, musical theatre and stage shows in Vegas and NYC named Jimmy Lockett wrote to me to say he's copied out my sketches into a notation program! After we get some mistakes sorted out I'll update my posts with his professionally-engraved digital copies. 

In my reply to him, I explained my shorthand notation, which is pretty standard I think, but will nevertheless probably be of interest to some: 

My short hand boils down to: 

- If there are no note heads, it means previous notes (or sometimes whole ideas) are repeated literally
- sometimes I mark a line "+pic 8va", which means a piccolo needs to be added, an octave higher
- sometimes I just mark a line "+8va" or "-8vb", without specifying the instrument, because it's obvious (I hope!), like if I write that in the cellos, then it's obviously the basses that are going to do the doubling
- sometimes I'll mark an entire idea "+WW" which simply means the whole thing is doubled by woodwinds, and it's left to the orchestrator to decide which ones
- a2 = "a due", i.e. two players (but you knew that!)
- when I write the word "as", it means what ever instruments are on that stave play the same notes "as" some other instruments. So I may write "2fl as vi", which means two flutes play the same notes as the violins. 

INSTRUMENT ABBREVIATIONS: 
- pic = piccolo flute
- fl = flute
- ob = oboe
- EH = english horn
- cl = clarinet
- bscl = bass clarinet
- bn = bassoon
- cntr = contrabassoon

- hn = french horn
- tpt = trumpet
- tbn = trombone

- hp = harp
- pno = piano

- vi = violins
- vla = violas
- ce = cellos
- bs = basses

I'll bump this thread when Lockett's copies are up. I've been (very!) distracted this passed week with requests for lessons, and I've been doing lots of skypeing, so I haven't done any writing at all, but I'm hungry to get back into it this week


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## Stevie (May 10, 2009)

Holy macaroni!

=o


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## Rob Elliott (May 10, 2009)

Leon and now Jimmy - a sincere nod to your service here. I just pattern a cue after something one of these 'devices' got me thinking about. Which is why these are so great - opening our minds to NEW and exciting possibilities - making them our own.

All the best,

Rob


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## billval3 (May 10, 2009)

Leon Willett @ Sun May 10 said:


> Well, there's hope yet for you readability whiners
> 
> Amazingly, a professional orchestrator and arranger who works on symphonic music, musical theatre and stage shows in Vegas and NYC named Jimmy Lockett wrote to me to say he's copied out my sketches into a notation program! After we get some mistakes sorted out I'll update my posts with his professionally-engraved digital copies.



SWEET!


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## Leon Willett (May 10, 2009)

bryla @ Thu May 07 said:


> +1 for sticky!
> 
> Leon, can you tell how you apply reverb?



Hi! I use the method put forward by SvK on this forum -- can someone link it, I can't find it


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## Leon Willett (May 10, 2009)

Form member JohnG was kind enough to point out better (and more standard abbreviations) for certain instruments, which I will switch to in future: 

- bn = bassoon BSN 

- cntr = contrabassoon CBSN 

- hn = french horn FHN 

- vi = violins VLN 

- ce = cellos VC or VCL 

- bs = basses CB


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## Peter Emanuel Roos (May 10, 2009)

Really cool!

Hehe, two weeks ago I also started to work on a Blog (on Virtual Instruments, mixing, production, etc.) Will be opened when I have some 30-50 articles. Still working on the WordPress framework, presentation and articles.

Will have a very easy to remember name: Vi-Ki

Cheers and I will definitely check out all these articles!


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## Thonex (May 10, 2009)

Hey Leon,

I love hearing about other's short-hand notations and time saving tricks.

Your "as" is also commonly used in the form of the word "col" which (I think) mean "with". SO, back in the days when I used to write stuff down, I would write a string part (for example) and if I wanted the flutes to play that same part, I'd write the word "col violins" on the flute stave and then a squiggly line for the duration that I want the flutes to play "with" the violins. Or I might write "col violins I up -3rd" to mean flutes play the same things the first violins but up a minor 3rd.

Anyway.. just sharing... fun stuff. A nice break from technology.

Cheers,

AK


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## Rob Elliott (May 11, 2009)

Emanuel @ Sun May 10 said:


> Really cool!
> 
> Hehe, two weeks ago I also started to work on a Blog (on Virtual Instruments, mixing, production, etc.) Will be opened when I have some 30-50 articles. Still working on the WordPress framework, presentation and articles.
> 
> ...




Sounds wonderful Peter - looking forward to it.


Rob


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## Rodney Glenn (May 11, 2009)

Great stuff Leon, cool blog and very nice mockups.

Thanks for sharing! 

Cheers

Rodney


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## Leon Willett (May 15, 2009)

The professionally-engraved versions generously prepared by Jimmy Lockett are up on the old posts, and I got round to scanning a couple of new ones. I hope you enjoy it!


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## Hannesdm (May 15, 2009)

=o


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## vicontrolu (May 15, 2009)

Wicked!! A MIDI1 export would be awesome as well.

Thanks so much Leon and Jimmy!


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## Stevie (May 15, 2009)

Thank you Leon and Jimmy!

Thank you, thank you, thank... oh wait:
http://www.sinn-frei.com/1000000-thank-you_3688.htm


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## Rob Elliott (Jun 11, 2009)

Leon and Jimmy - another heartfelt thanks for doing this. Watching Star Wars III last night (have an upcoming assignment where the director will use a lot of this score's action scenes for temp.) Your examples really give the right catalyst in terms of orchestration/balance.

All the best,


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## Leon Willett (Nov 12, 2009)

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but it's been a long time since the last update and I got a lot of emails asking about it, so I thought I'd just post it once here rather than reply to everyone! http://www.leonwillett.com/leonwillett. ... /Blog.html

I built a new studio and have one of my students working as an assistant now, a new cue is up on the blog (composed by me, mocked up by my student), so check it out if you are interested! 

Since we are now demoing for games I won't post devices, but will certainly share cues and scans of the short scores for whoever is interested. Updates will unfortunately not be regular, but they will be high quality when they do pop up 

Cheers


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## synthetic (Nov 12, 2009)

Awesome! Can you post some more (here or on the blog) about your new setup? The one-computer system has always been the goal, I'm interested to hear how you set it up. 

I'm really looking forward to affordable, 1TB solid-state drives. Switch on the computer, open project, 10 seconds, ready to go. Sigh, someday.


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## Leon Willett (Nov 12, 2009)

Haha, yes -- my template takes almost 20 minutes to load  

Nothing special about my rig really, it's just an 8-core mac pro (2.66 gHz), with 16gb of ram. I'm running logic, and all my libraries run on kontakt 3, except for my woods which are Vienna Instruments. I only use Logic's internal plugins, no 3rd party effects.


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