How do you know if it will sound good orchestrated?

I'm to the point where I want to get some of my music orchestrated...but i'm afraid that...while it sounds great in finale...it might sound awful...or not as great performed by a live orchestra...

How can you tell if a piece will sound good performed by live instruments?

Well, if it sounds good in Finale then it is very likely that it will sound infinately better using real instruments...

Bobby nailed it.

If Finale doesn't sound like donkey, everything's going to be okay. Play it on a piano as well - voicings etc, again: if it's okay on there, than you're all set.

With experience you'll learn that some combinations work better than others.

What notation software can't do is have individual voices listening to eachother, which is what you'd have in an orchestra. Especially under a conductor's guidance, and orchestra can get an infinitely more intricate balance than any notation software because the orchestra is composed of individuals both contributing their own part and listening to others.

The other thing is you can't rely on Finale to give even accurate tones. A lot of what you write you'll have to hear for yourself by familiarizing yourself with the instruments that you're writing for and become accustomed to mixing and matching tones. In any event though, anything is garunteed to sound better with live instruments.

Alright, thank you, I feel less worried, still worried, but less, about having my compositions clash if they ever get orchestrated :toothygrin:

For example,

Siosphere

While that sounds great in finale, i'm unsure how real instruments would sound, and if it would horrible clash, and since GPO fails utterly for some reason, i can't even tell if real fake instruments (ha oxymoron) sounds great....it just worries me that if i ever try to get something orchestrated...they will begin to play..and it will sound..like a bunch of noise...

the best way to KNOW if your piece will sound good is to LEARN how to orchestrate right from the get go.

there is no easy cure for this.

there is no miraculous solution.

there is no programme that will do it for you.

What QC said basically.

You can't base your orchestrations on what Finale says. Finale is and will always be limited. Best orchestration is done in pencil and paper.

You just learn and experience what sounds good and what not! Through books, pieces you've written, your tutor, etc... Good feedback is always valuable as well! And good feedback can take pages of typing through a forum, but it's not impossible to happen really. Just at most reviews are not enough...

Either way, what I try to explain to people who are amazed at me sitting and composing without a piano in front of me is that the same idea applys to reading:

When you read do you read out loud the words? Do you need someone reading them for you? When you write, do you try out how they sound, or the sounds are in your mind?

Same happens with music. It's just not everyday as language is...

Starting out with simple stuff. If you know how a C major in the middle register sounds, you can guess probably what a G major will sound. if you add something on top, you will learn, if you add something else, etc... Start small adn expand. You can't start by orchestrating for a LOTR type orchestra. A duet is much more useful at that stage, a trio, ok maybe a quartet...

You see, I can compose without a piano, and just on paper as well, and then i transfer that into finale, and it sounds great, just as I wanted it to sound, but...I don't think I have had enough experience with each instrument to know the limitations, and exact tones of each, so I am still unsure how good it would sound fully orchestrated.

I have never taken a class, or read a book on orchestration, all i have done is tinkered with notes on paper, and in my head, I just know what sounds good (well in my head ;) ), and it sounds good in my head, and on piano (if i start there), and no matter what, it ends up in finale, and there it sounds good, but i can't help myself still feeling that i'm going to try and get something orchestrated, show up, and it is going to sound completely different then what i intended it sound like, and since i don't have an orchestra at my beck and call, I can't do tests, to see what sounds good actually orchestrated.

Why not get a book on orchestration then?

Walter Piston's book on the subject has masses of information on the limitations and technicalities of each instrument, and a few chapters on actual orchestration aswell.

Okay, I don't understand why is this even posted. It's common sense, I thought. But I'll be nice. Listen to AS MUCH MUSIC AS YOU CAN. Secondly, if you have access, look at as many scores as you can AS you listen to the live recording. Thirdly, if you don't have access, then get a tutor. If you can't do that, then get a book. If you can't do that, you aren't taking yourself seriously as a composer, or you are, but you can't afford it and have other things to do, which is unfortunate. In that case, do what everybody else has done. And once all these are done, all you really can do is write it, give it to the performers, and hold your breath.

Lol, I do listen to music, lots and lots and lots of it, constantly, over 62 hours worth of music just by john wiliams, 30 something by danny elfman (my hero :) ), 15-20 of james newton howard, and howard shore...

As I am more interested in film composing (as you can tell), I do things a bit differently, as previously stated, i have never had a class, or read a book on orchestrating, and I know what sounds good in my head, but I guess through out this conversation, I have come to the conclusion..I just won't know..till I know, I'll just have to give it to an orchestra...and hope for the best ha ha. Thanks for all your reply's, and I might look at a book (which means, i'm to lazy and won't look at one :P ),

Lol, I do listen to music, lots and lots and lots of it, constantly, over 62 hours worth of music just by john wiliams, 30 something by danny elfman (my hero :D ), 15-20 of james newton howard, and howard shore...

Listen to other music aswell...

[...]I have come to the conclusion..I just won't know..till I know, I'll just have to give it to an orchestra...and hope for the best ha ha. Thanks for all your reply's, and I might look at a book (which means, i'm to lazy and won't look at one :D ),

...So I have no good expectatives about your future, man. It is very likely that you wrote lots of things impossible to be played in several instruments, and, if you never had a teacher nor read a book (and you don't want to!), the lack of right notation, effects, etc., might be enormous.

If you really want an advice, do what the members said here, because it might take your whole life for an orchestra perform a score that isn't well written.

Good luck!