# Mike Verta - Orchestration 3 masterclass video



## Paul T McGraw

For anyone who is at all interested in Orchestration, I want to highly recommend the Mike Verta Masterclass, "Orchestration 3." I am no stranger to orchestration. I have read all of the classics, I can see the Rimsky-Kosakov, Adler, Forsyth, and Kennan on the shelf in my studio, and I have probably read others. And I think I do a pretty good job with orchestration in my own pieces of music.

Despite all of that, I learned a lot (TONS) from this video and was able to internalize the concepts because of the way Mike presented them. Mike takes one melody that he wrote (and a good one) and shows about 30 or 40 different ways to orchestrate that melody. I lost track of the number when it went over 28. He calls each of these a "preset" and demonstrates each in front of the viewer as he creates a mockup of that idea or preset. Let me repeat that because it is a big part of why this video is so powerful. *He creates a mockup (midi-performance) of each of the presets right in front of the viewer instrument by instrument in just minutes per example* (Lord, why didn't I learn piano? I'm jealous of Mike's keyboard skills.) His focus is not on everything technically possible, but on "presets" that he knows from experience will work well in an orchestra.

His teaching method of giving all of the examples with one single melody is brilliant. It allows us to focus on the orchestration technique, not the musical example, although it is an awesome melody, I cant get it out of my head. This is not an academic study. These "presets" as Mike calls them are absolutely practical and usable in just about any style of orchestral music, live players or with samples. The video masterclass is over 6 hours long and Mike answers many, many questions from the folks who were participating live.

So I learned lots of new things, and I am not a newbie. I enjoyed it, and it was only $30. In my opinion, he should charge more. Here is a link to his website.

https://mikeverta.com/


----------



## leon chevalier

Paul T McGraw said:


> For anyone who is at all interested in Orchestration, I want to highly recommend the Mike Verta Masterclass, "Orchestration 3." I am no stranger to orchestration. I have read all of the classics, I can see the Rimsky-Kosakov, Adler, Forsyth, and Kennan on the shelf in my studio, and I have probably read more. And I think I do a pretty good job with orchestration in my own pieces of music.
> 
> Despite all of that I learned a lot (TONS) from this video and was able to internalize the concepts because of the way Mike presented them. Mike takes one melody that he wrote (and a good one) and shows about 30 or 40 different ways to orchestrate that melody. I lost track of the number when it went over 28. He calls each of these a "preset" and demonstrates each in front of the viewer as he creates a mockup of that idea or preset. Let me repeat that because it is a big part of why this video is so powerful. *He creates a mockup (midi-performance) of each of the presets right in front of the viewer instrument by instrument in just minutes per example* (Lord, why didn't I learn piano? I'm jealous of Mike's keyboard skills.) His focus is not on everything technically possible, but on "presets" that he knows from experience will work well in an orchestra.
> 
> His teaching method of giving all of the examples with one single melody is brilliant. It allows us to focus on the orchestration technique, not the musical example, although it is an awesome melody, I cant get it out of my head. This is not an academic study. These "presets" as Mike calls them are absolutely practical and usable in just about any style of orchestral music, live players or with samples. The video masterclass is over 6 hours long and Mike answers many, many questions from the folks who were participating live.
> 
> So I learned lots of new things, and I am not a newbie. I enjoyed it, and it was only $30. In my opinion, he should charge more. Here is a link to his website.
> 
> https://mikeverta.com/


----------



## Quasar

Paul T McGraw said:


> For anyone who is at all interested in Orchestration, I want to highly recommend the Mike Verta Masterclass, "Orchestration 3."...



Mike should put you on commission or something and give you a cut of the sales revenue. This is an outstanding review and it certainly sold me. After reading this I immediately purchased the tutorial (with discount coupon).

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.


----------



## jononotbono

Paul T McGraw said:


> For anyone who is at all interested in Orchestration, I want to highly recommend the Mike Verta Masterclass, "Orchestration 3." I am no stranger to orchestration. I have read all of the classics, I can see the Rimsky-Kosakov, Adler, Forsyth, and Kennan on the shelf in my studio, and I have probably read more. And I think I do a pretty good job with orchestration in my own pieces of music.
> 
> Despite all of that I learned a lot (TONS) from this video and was able to internalize the concepts because of the way Mike presented them. Mike takes one melody that he wrote (and a good one) and shows about 30 or 40 different ways to orchestrate that melody. I lost track of the number when it went over 28. He calls each of these a "preset" and demonstrates each in front of the viewer as he creates a mockup of that idea or preset. Let me repeat that because it is a big part of why this video is so powerful. *He creates a mockup (midi-performance) of each of the presets right in front of the viewer instrument by instrument in just minutes per example* (Lord, why didn't I learn piano? I'm jealous of Mike's keyboard skills.) His focus is not on everything technically possible, but on "presets" that he knows from experience will work well in an orchestra.
> 
> His teaching method of giving all of the examples with one single melody is brilliant. It allows us to focus on the orchestration technique, not the musical example, although it is an awesome melody, I cant get it out of my head. This is not an academic study. These "presets" as Mike calls them are absolutely practical and usable in just about any style of orchestral music, live players or with samples. The video masterclass is over 6 hours long and Mike answers many, many questions from the folks who were participating live.
> 
> So I learned lots of new things, and I am not a newbie. I enjoyed it, and it was only $30. In my opinion, he should charge more. Here is a link to his website.
> 
> https://mikeverta.com/



I just bought it and am looking forward to a late night session watching it tonight!


----------



## Paul T McGraw

Quasar said:


> Mike should put you on commission or something and give you a cut of the sales revenue. This is an outstanding review and it certainly sold me. After reading this I immediately purchased the tutorial (with discount coupon).
> 
> Thanks for sharing your thoughts.



Ha! I'm a retired hobbyist. No commission or free videos or anything at all coming my way. I just wanted others to benefit from this. Thanks for the kind words.


----------



## ghandizilla

Just bought it along with The Mod Squad. Really love everything Mike Verta does because you can put it in practice immediately.


----------



## patrick76

You sold me as well. Mike is always entertaining and interesting. Thanks for the recommendation. I'm looking forward to checking it out.


----------



## AdamAlake

Quasar said:


> Mike should put you on commission or something and give you a cut of the sales revenue. This is an outstanding review and it certainly sold me. After reading this I immediately purchased the tutorial (with discount coupon).
> 
> Thanks for sharing your thoughts.



Not needed, this is actually Mike himself under a different alias. Stealth marketing is all the craze nowadays.


----------



## shenrei

I don't see a class called Orchestration 3. Is it the one called Putting it all together?


----------



## tack

shenrei said:


> I don't see a class called Orchestration 3. Is it the one called Putting it all together?


It's on the top row on page 1. 

https://mikeverta.com/product/online-masterclass-orchestration-3-presets/


----------



## shenrei

I see it now!  I was looking beside orchestration 1 and 2


----------



## Hunter123

I bought it and found it useful. Very practical and I like how he explains it from the point of view that these preset instrument combinations are just guidelines and everything depends on context. I'm a fan of Hans Zimmer and was wondering if Mike Verta would make a masterclass based on covering more contemporary ground involving more sound design heavy scores, or maybe that's not his cup of tea?


----------



## Saxer

Hunter123 said:


> ...or maybe that's not his cup of tea?


It isn't


----------



## galactic orange

He doesn't drink that tea, but he can make it as well as (or better than) most. Orch 3 is, um, quite the learning experience.


----------



## FriFlo

Hunter123 said:


> I bought it and found it useful. Very practical and I like how he explains it from the point of view that these preset instrument combinations are just guidelines and everything depends on context. I'm a fan of Hans Zimmer and was wondering if Mike Verta would make a masterclass based on covering more contemporary ground involving more sound design heavy scores, or maybe that's not his cup of tea?


That is what the HZ Masterclass is for, isn't it?


----------



## cqd

Just wondering..does MV do sales at all regularly?..There's a few of these masterclasses I want to pick up..I'd rather wait until the next sale and get more..


----------



## galactic orange

cqd said:


> Just wondering..does MV do sales at all regularly?..There's a few of these masterclasses I want to pick up..I'd rather wait until the next sale and get more..


He has sales all the time. I think there was one around St. Patrick’s Day and another one since then. He probably announces it on his site forum so be sure to check there every so often.


----------



## mverta

Going to have a 4th of July sale starting this week on Wednesday!


----------



## mverta

The coupon code is: glory40


----------



## danbo

What does he mean by a preset exactly? I’m guessing these are pre configured instrument configurations that can be applied against a melody. Say take the opening bars of Beethoven 5 as our tune, I could imagine a variety of ways that could be mocked up in instrumental preset concept.

Are presets simply instrument pallettes or do the include harmonic and rhythmic elements? Without a preview I’d like to know whether this would be useful for me.


----------



## mverta

Presets is basically several configurations of "use X for melody, Y for chords, Z for flourishes" across several styles and with several variations. It's like a cheat-sheet to get you started. As always, I say try a class that sounds useful to you, if it's not, I'll give you another one or your money back; whichever, but nobody's ever asked for a refund...


----------



## Victor N.

Hey @mverta, I subscribed to this forum because of this very thread. I watched a good part of your unleashed series on youtube today (instead of working lol). I would like to get one or two of your masterclasses to take advantage of the deal. Which one do you recommend for someone who has played the piano (a very long time ago) and is trying to get back to it. With an ultimate goal to get serious about composing. You play wonderfully and thank you.


----------



## mverta

I really think to get immediately up to speed on things, Composition 1 is the way in, and after that literally anything that sounds interesting to you. Tons of stuff in there!


----------



## Nicktwo85

mverta said:


> I really think to get immediately up to speed on things, Composition 1 is the way in, and after that literally anything that sounds interesting to you. Tons of stuff in there!



@mverta, of all the money I've spent on gear and software over the years, the 30 bucks for Composition 1 were among the best I've ever spent. What a great course. I picked up Orchestration 1 immediately afterward! 

Thank you!


----------



## Will Blackburn

Have any of you guys done the On Horner class? Does Mike go into specific film examples like Braveheart or Land Before Time at all or is it more about his overall techniques? Also wondering how long that one is?


----------



## Markus Kohlprath

Will Blackburn said:


> Have any of you guys done the On Horner class? Does Mike go into specific film examples like Braveheart or Land Before Time at all or is it more about his overall techniques? Also wondering how long that one is?


The On Horner Class has been an eye opener but in a completely different sense than you might expect. It’s pretty much about Horners ability to incorporate traditional, classical scores as foundation for his film scores. It comes to a point where you become aware that a good portion of his scores are more or less copied out of original scores from almost all the late romantics and russian composers. Not that they don’t work well in the context and it is all used with taste and musicality but the creative force that we might give Horner credit for is, after watching the class, is reduced to a much more average human level, if I might say so.


----------



## Will Blackburn

Markus Kohlprath said:


> The On Horner Class has been an eye opener but in a completely different sense than you might expect. It’s pretty much about Horners ability to incorporate traditional, classical scores as foundation for his film scores. It comes to a point where you become aware that a good portion of his scores are more or less copied out of original scores from almost all the late romantics and russian composers. Not that they don’t work well in the context and it is all used with taste and musicality but the creative force that we might give Horner credit for is, after watching the class, reduced to a much more average human level, if I might say so.




Thanks Markus. I'm sure i've heard that somewhere else before re: Horner. Sounds insightful though and will have to check it out.


----------



## fixxer49

Will Blackburn said:


> Thanks Markus. I'm sure i've heard that somewhere else before re: Horner. Sounds insightful though and will have to check it out.


The James Horner video is what I would call a “transcendent” masterclass. Can’t recommend it highly enough. Stock up on popcorn and Kleenex and clear out your schedule. I think it’s the best thing he’s done.


----------



## Markus Kohlprath

Will Blackburn said:


> Thanks Markus. I'm sure i've heard that somewhere else before re: Horner. Sounds insightful though and will have to check it out.


You should


----------



## Nicktwo85

fixxer49 said:


> The James Horner video is what I would call a “transcendent” masterclass. Can’t recommend it highly enough. Stock up on popcorn and Kleenex and clear out your schedule. I think it’s the best thing he’s done.



I've done Orch 1 and 2; Comp 1 and 2, Template Balancing, and Counterpoint so far (all of which have been massively eye-opening and helpful), and was going to branch out into the composer-centric ones. Was thinking about grabbing "Here's Johnny!" or "Simply Silvestri", but this is a pretty strong review. Would you recommend it over those?


----------



## aaronventure

Nicktwo85 said:


> I've done Orch 1 and 2; Comp 1 and 2, Template Balancing, and Counterpoint so far (all of which have been massively eye-opening and helpful), and was going to branch out into the composer-centric ones. Was thinking about grabbing "Here's Johnny!" or "Simply Silvestri", but this is a pretty strong review. Would you recommend it over those?



Depending on what are you trying to learn. You won't (get a chance to) learn ~30 (I think even more) guaranteed-to-work orchestration presets, ways to do theme variation and counterpoint from Here's Johnny or Simply Silvestri. Same as you won't learn about the influences and what Mike learned studying these composers for over two decades from Orchestration 3.

I did re-visit the class recently and it's such a great way to finish off the Orchestration trilogy, demonstrating some of the things he talks about in previous two classes. Obviously he can't demonstrate them all, that would take... days? Months? Instead you get 6 hours which are enough to set you well on your way and learn the rest of the orchestration yourself, which will take just as long as if Mike was to make months-worth of video, but you'll absorb infinitely more by going about it yourself.

Also, Mike improv-ing an _epic_ version of his theme in less than 15 minutes that actually shames most of epic music released today never gets old.

EDIT: You were asking about the Horner class while I was talking about Orchestration 3. Sorry!


----------



## MartinH.

aaronventure said:


> EDIT: You were asking about the Horner class while I was talking about Orchestration 3. Sorry!



But you convinced me to buy it when I've watched all those that I bought in the last sale, so it wasn't a waste of time at all, thanks. 



aaronventure said:


> Also, Mike improv-ing an _epic_ version of his theme in less than 15 minutes that actually shames most of epic music released today never gets old.


I'm looking forward to it!


----------



## Nicktwo85

fixxer49 said:


> ok -- Would I recommend “Empire” over “A New Hope”? Probably, yes.
> 
> BUT… Empire doesn’t make too much sense _outside of the trilogy_, and seeing it before the others may not be the best idea.
> These MV composer deep-dives are basically their own TRILOGY (including the goldsmith). In my humble opinion, the Horner class is the “Empire” of the trilogy, for a lot of reasons beyond just learning progressions, techniques and presets, and even film music itself, frankly. it goes "places".
> so, you should get the box set.



Gotcha! Definitely plan to eventually grab them all, but was wondering more about order of operations, so to speak. Can't wait to dive into these. (As well as Orch 3!)


----------



## pbattersby

Paul T McGraw said:


> For anyone who is at all interested in Orchestration, I want to highly recommend the Mike Verta Masterclass, "Orchestration 3."



Thanks for the review you wrote. It convinced me to buy the video and I ended up with a ton of notes that will serve as a reference for a long time. I can't begin to imagine how long it would have taken me to discover all the things on my own that Mike taught in this one class.

Also, thanks Mike for sharing the knowledge in that video. It's gold.


----------



## Daniele Nasuti

What is the difference between THE MOD SQUAD and THE THERMINATOR ?
They are similar, both about developing ideas..
They are something like this, right?



Which one do you recommend?


----------

