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Trailer Music Orchestration (Evenant Guys Workflow)

nuyo

Active Member
When it comes to orchestrating Trailer Music,
most people tend to create big chords with "thousands" of sustained notes per chord.

Is that actually necessary or wouldn't it be enough to have a hard hitting bass, a counter melody, and one main melody.

So maybe only between 4 to 5 voices ?
 
I think it has everything to do with what kind of reaction the director wants the audience to have. Remember a trailer is pretty short so you’ve got a limited time to get the audience to where the director wants them.
 
Most music can be harmonically reduced to 4-5 voices. Orchestration is usually just assigning and choosing the doubling of those voices. A lot of trailer music was never meant to be played live, so you can have "thousands" of notes. If it's something that needs to be performed, then you have to think about the size of the ensemble.

As for whether you double things, that's not something anyone can answer. It depends on your situation, if live, the resources available, what samples are being used, and the musical context.
 
When it comes to orchestrating Trailer Music,
most people tend to create big chords with "thousands" of sustained notes per chord.

Is that actually necessary or wouldn't it be enough to have a hard hitting bass, a counter melody, and one main melody.

So maybe only between 4 to 5 voices ?

i don't think you necessarily need a thousand voices. the more important part in trailer music - i think - is texture. it needs to sound 'big' (most of the time anyway). but you can achieve that with just one synth. signal from output comes to mind.

plus, nowadays most trailer music is revolved around sound effects and atonal percussion, that just orchestral stuff.
 
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