Alvaro Urrutia

Well, I'm an amateur composer but I do know a thing or two about video editing. Adding music over video is relatively easy to do, but you have to use a video editing software to do it, one like adobe premiere or adobe after effects, you may also look for free or cheap software, like windows movie maker for example, although sometimes it does get more annoying with free software. Then, some may also want to load the video as they compose so they can see the action while they think the music. I don't know about Finale or Sibelius, but I'm sure most DAWs (like cubase) have that option. Anyways, just my two cents.

Thanks again sarastro, you dont know how thankful i feel about your advice; where i live i cant really get much composition studies, frankly i dont even think there are any schools or universities that teach that here, you really are the closest person ive ever had to a teacher... if you dont count russo's text(and some others) -which were more like far away voices giving me directions xD. Anyways, i'll get to searching for harmony books then, and about counterpoint, i only know 1:1 and 1:2 counterpoint (from russo´s) so i´ll get to search more about that too (theres two more types, no?), although i havent ever seen anyone say "when" its practical to use it; also, about ensembles, besides quartets or ensembles which involve a piano, do you know any other ensembles or groups with varied instruments in them that would be practical and fun to work with? Oh, and last but not least, i do know that music is a field that takes years to master, i'm already prepared for that xD, besides, the other stuff i love to do is write stories, creative writing in general, and thats another field you never stop learning, (or more like cant, cause you can always break the rules everysometime, same as with music...). All in all, music is one of those things i dont plan to stop doing until i kick the bucket xD, even though i still haven't decided which will be my main profession (and let's face it, neither will make me millionare anyways), altough for now im leaning towards music, cause, since i started learning it, i havent been able to stop doing it everyday. Still, i guess only time will tell. Anyways, thanks again for your advice.

hi, and thanks for your great answer sarastro, sir, it gave me lots to think and try to find out about (and sorry to take so long to answer, ive been away for a while xD), still, i have some doubts, you mentioned that the melody needs a solid harmonization, with that, do you mean, to make sure that the melody doesnt go astray from the notes in the chord right(and the notes that do stay in rule)? or is it more than that? and about the bass line, id really love to learn more about how to make better baselines but the books ive read havent been very useful about that topic, makes me feel a little bad when i see my overly simple baselines and compare them with other's -_-, they make it look so simple, not to mention i usually get a little blocked everytime i try to remember all the rules i have to keep in mind while composing xD, altough it doesnt stop the process from being very fun. anyways do you know where i could learn more about making better bass lines too? (books,websites,scores?), oh and my reason to mention what kind of music id like to make was to find out if anybody knew any composers i could study that had similar styles, but i wasnt very clear, i didnt specify my aim is orchestral music (full symphonic orchestra) and also kind forgot to ask some other stuff (but frankly, i had already asked and said a lot of stuff xD right?, lol) Then, about piano acompaniments, would it still help me, in general, to learn about them even if i dont dont own a piano or a midi keyboard? (cause i dont really own any instruments.... and cant afford any -_-), all i can really use at the moment is notation and vst instruments (which i kinda got thanks to a friend), and i mean this given how specific the technique of play is for the piano (and same with the guitar, no?) and one last thing, ive heard again and again about how you have to "visualize" the harmonic structure of a piece when your making it (or planning it) but i dont think ive ever seen a working example of how one would actually look (i mean ive made chord progresions for my practices, but nothing too fancy or too long, mostly triads, i dont think ive ever made a track longer than a minute or so xD, like AABA ) do you know where i could find a book or some examples online or something where i could learn more about that too? i would really like to know how a professional creates his/her harmonic structure (i figure it would be too much to ask, if you could show me an example of how you do it?) well, thanks in advance, and sorry to bug you so much, and eveyone else too for that matter xD.

hello to all, and nice to meet you, im an aspiring composer, studying by myself, so yeah, im really really far yet xD, basically ive always loved music, but never really had the money or the skill in my hands (or so i feel) to learn an instrument, but last november i just though, heck, i cant just do it in my computer, soon after i started doing puny experiments with the fl studio, started getting better instrument vsts, and around one or two months later started getting some books and studyng. now i have a daw and use notation software too, i found "William Russo's Composing Music A new approach" helped me tons but i still i have a problem. I dont find hard whiping up a melody by itself, OR the acompaniment (altough they are pretty common ones, pretty much what is taught by william russo's book- ompah,ompahpah, repeated notes, ostinatos, different kind of arpegios and i guess plain chords), i mean i CAN add a melody to an accompaniment afterwards but i find its not quiet as good that way, not like when i make the melody first, but when i do that i often find myself puzzled as how to actually do it right, "no accompaniment seems to fit right" or "it sticks out", if you know what i mean; i figure this is because i dont know enough ways to do the accompaniment or havent done enough excercises, so i was kind of wondering if you know of any i can do to get better at that? or if theres any books or examples or composers i could check, oh, and my main aim is kind of game music, or trailer-commercials, film, tv music and such xD it would also help me if you could advice me in the same way about Form, which again is something i only know from what ive learned from russo. -- oh and by the way, most of my music background (music im used to or i know) is pretty standard, music ive heard in games and tv/film, from the most commercials id say john wiliiams, Danny Elfman, alan silvestri and others who i probably dont know the names, then from more classic ones, one of the ones i love the most are Gustav Holts and his "the plannets" (specially the first 3 planets) and Wagner in general. And here's some of my practices, one is an old practice, sunlit library, its got only melody and chords, i hadnt reached acompaniment chapters yet, Golden Meadows is a free practice a few chapters after i learned a bit about acompaniment, and the smallest one, light hearted strings, is another free practice, but i was trying some stuff i learned reading the first page of the harmony section of the rimsky korsakov's guide theyve made in the garritan website. Golden Meadows.mp3 LightHeartedStrings.mp3 Sunlit Library.mp3 please be my guest when criticizing me, i really want to get better and theres no other way than that, and i sure am far from what i would like to accomplish... Ps: sorry if everything sounds a little stiff but i dont own a midi keyboard, i made it all in a notation software.

helloes... ok ,well, first as peter said you must mean the articulation, dynamics are about force (which, depending on your vst might be selected either by dynamics, CC modulation or keyswitching), anyways, if you are using the native midi instruments you dont have to worry, just use the articulations already given by finale (click the articulation button then on the note you wanna give it to, or watch the quick start video) . if you are using external vsts it gets a bit more complicated, but the easiest way i know is using instruments for kontakt player, all you have to do is create instrument banks in kontakt and fill them with the diferent articulation patches you want to use, then go into finale and create custom dyamics (if you notice you have the option to create one yourself when you enter the selection screen-in the bottom-- and yes i said dynamics screen but you can use the articulations one, i just wanted to have all my custom things in just one screen), anways, all you have to do is create diferent dynamic marks for each patch (after clicking create, go to playback- then selecting type as patch, then in Gm selecting the matching number- never mind if it gives you a name of an instrument next to it cause its what the system would play if it was the midi instrument not the vst) once you have all the dynamic marks you need for your different articulations, you should probably save them as a library (just make sure to delete all the ones you didnt make so you dont get duplicates on the library, and dont worry deleting those wont delete them from finale, just the document, and that is, if you save) once you save them as a library you can load them in any document, or can put them in your template so all your new documents get them, by the way you can also create dynamics for you CC modulation, what i did was create one for every dynamic and add Mod next to the name to not mix them up(in playback choose type:controller, 1, modulation, then set a value for each, just use your judgment- or check your vsts manuals to determine proper numbers xD), you could probably make the marks invisible too i guess so that it doesnt show in the final document. you can also make some marks for sustain on and off, and probably even volume levels, but anyways if you actually decide to use banks in kontak you may have to lower the precatching values to about 20ishKb in the kontakt options so that the thing doesnt overload the memory, also remember to save the banks new multis so you dont have to create the banks again. still its probably better to use reverb and EQing directly in cubase, somehow i never got altiverb to work on finale 2011, but anyways even if you send the midi data later to a Daw, it sure helps to be able to hear all your articulations while your are working, and not just imagine them xD hope that helps. Alverik. ps: if your wonder why i go to such lenghts to customize finale, its because i dont own a midi keyboard and wont be able to afford one in any the forseeable future xD.... ps2: IF you decide to use banks remember to set a bank when you begging a line for the first time, cause when you load an instrument bank it wont have any instrument selected by default, no matter if you have saved anything in bank 1 or not.