Music is valuable. Very valuable. Precious. Delicate. Anyone, and I do mean anyone, who creates music engages in an act that is mysterious, beautiful, and full of light.

It should come as no surprise to anyone that it bothers me when I see musicians doing anything to be heard, like posting their valuable music up on streaming sites that have terrible terms of use contracts, if not terrible privacy policies. It bothers me no one is even reading them!

I was recently getting more interested in posting my music on Orfium.com. Check out this zinger in Orfium.com’s Terms of Use contract (The phrases in bold scared me the most):

3.2 License.

(a) You hereby grant (and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant) to Company an irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free and fully paid, worldwide license to reproduce, distribute, publicly display and perform, prepare derivative works of, incorporate into other works, and otherwise use and exploit your User Content, and to grant sublicenses of the foregoing rights, solely for the purposes of including your User Content in the Site. You hereby irrevocably waive (and agree to cause to be waived) any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to your User Content. You grant the Company the right (a) to allow the Company Service to use the processor, bandwidth, and storage hardware on your device(s) in order to facilitate the operation of the Company Service, (b) to provide advertising and other information to you, and (c) to allow our business partners to do the same. These terms are not intended to grant rights to anyone except you and the Company, and in no event shall these terms create any third party beneficiary rights. Any failure by the Company to enforce these Terms or any provision thereof shall NOT waive the Company’s right to do so.

Moral: Reading is fun, and when you read you won't get messed with in the world of legal contracts. Do your research!

Reading Notes

17 Minute Read | Tablet or Laptop Recommended

Topics and Themes

Emotional impact in film, Memory and neuroscience, Priming, Robots -vs- humans, A director's decisions for the best film score, Orchestral sample libraries, Film budgets, Storytelling

Let’s start With something really important to you: Your Birthday.

Your birthday is the one day of the year where it’s all about you. It should be the day where you get what you want, right? I think it’s okay to get spoiled by your loved ones, just a tiny bit.

Let’s say you start your day slowly. You wake up, stretch, lazily walk to the kitchen, and make some coffee. Now, let’s say you’ve fully woken up and decide to check your messages. It is your birthday after all, and people should be thinking about you, right?

From here, let’s insert one of two scenarios, in turn. Let’s say the first scenario plays out like this:

When you check your messages, you find that you've received about 100 birthday wishes, all at once. Let also say that these messages seem a little... generic. Each message is basically some variation of “Happy Birthday (your name here)!” It’s almost suspicious that all of these people know it’s your birthday, but perhaps a bit insane that the messages are roughly the same length and tone. Let’s also say that in this scenario that you only receive these generic birthday wishes, the entire day.

Sounds like a bummer, right?

Okay, let’s put the second scenario into play:

When you check your messages, you see that you have received a text from your best friend. It says: “Call me as soon as you wake up!” You call your best friend. He/she is really happy to connect with you:

“Well, good morning! Happy birthday! Here’s what’s gonna happen: I have conspired with three other friends to make your birthday the best day ever. We have decided that we are going to do everything that you want to do, because it’s your birthday and we want to celebrate you. If you want to go to an amusement park, we’re in! If you want to go to brunch and then a wine tasting, we’re in! If you want to go bungee jumping or sky diving, we’re in! Or, If you want us to scoop cat litter, walk your dog, order you all the food for delivery, and leave you alone, we get it! Were in!

The point is, this is your day, we love you, and we want to pamper you with luxury. Oh, and by the way, you’re not going to pay a dime. We don’t care how expensive it’ll be! What would you like to do for your birthday, today?”

Sounds pretty awesome, right? Now for an obvious question: Between these two scenarios, which one has the most potential for a great memory?

Neuroscience and Memory

Stay with me; I’d like to share an passage about memory and emotion from Dr. Joe Dispenza from his wonderful book Becoming Supernatural:

Emotions are the chemical consequences (or feedback) of past experiences. As our senses record incoming information from the environment, clusters of neurons organize into networks. When they freeze into a pattern, the brain makes a chemical that is then sent throughout the body. That chemical is called an emotion. We remember events better when we can remember how they feel.

Dr. Joe Dispenza, Becoming Supernatural

The gist of this passage is that vividly remembered events are events we had a deep emotional reaction during. In other words, when we have a deep emotional response to an event, we are more likely to remember that moment than not.

This idea begs exploration and some more clarification. Think back in your life and search your memories. What are your most important events in your life? How do you remember them? What emotions did they create in you? Does one event stir you more than another, and why?

Because of how the brain works, how neurons create patterns, how the chemicals in the brain are sent throughout the body, we remember deeply emotional events far more than events we just passed through.

Taking this a little further, every single director I’ve met had at least one movie they could call their turning point. It was the movie that solidified what they were going to do with their lives. After watching that fateful movie, they knew they had to spend their entire lives doing film. It’s a moment that is potent and emotional for them. They can probably recall what they were feeling during the movie, where they saw it, who they were with, and possibly even what they were wearing.

I think it’s more than reasonable to assume that the more a story or a film resonates with the viewer emotionally, the more likely he/she is to remember it.

Chances are, one of the things that made you into a filmmaker is how magical that film was, how you hard you got hit, how deeply it resonated with your soul. Seeing that movie likely make you think, “I have to do my own movies. Have to!”

Then the big question rears it’s ugly head: How do you do it? Just how do you make a satisfying movie? Lets assume that you spent the time to learn the basics of filmmaking. From there, how can you make your movie special, magical, and potent? I’m so glad that there isn’t an answer to this question, because that would take the magic out of movies so fast. But I do think that there is an important point here, lingering on the edge of our awareness, that’s worth exploring further.

What Emotional Impact Means for Memory

Let’s bring it back to the birthday scenes. Between the two scenarios, what was different? In the first one, you received plenty of messages that it was your birthday, but could you trust that a real human being sent each one to you? After all, it’s easy to set up an auto-birthday texting/Facebook/Twitter service. There are plenty of them out there. But, in that scenario, something seems… off.

No matter how many messages you get in scenario #1, real or auto-generated, they will never hit you as hard as the second birthday scenario could. After all, your best friend in the world made your day super special. He/she cared enough about you to tell you what your day could be like, how it could be shaped, how you had the control, how you could just focus on you, and how you didn’t have to take care of anyone else. Someone else was taking care of you, period.

It is my very strong opinion that the movies that we remember are exactly as warm, inviting, and awesome as our best friend doing us a solid on our birthday.

Conversely, it is also my very strong opinion that the movies that we forget instantly are as cold, ruthless, and antiseptic as receiving 100 auto-generated happy birthday well-wishes on our birthday.

The viewers of your movies are no different, also in my very strong opinion. They don’t want to be lied to. They want you to tell them how special they are, and they want you to work hard to make their experience special, too. And frankly, without the viewer, you’re not really a director.

I’m not suggesting that you can’t challenge the viewer, of course. But, if a viewer buys a ticket to see your movie, then it’s your responsibility to be the guide for their experience. It’s your responsibility to make the experience something the viewer will remember, vividly.

The Robot Actors vs The Real Actors

The Experiment

So, what contributes to making a movie memorable? How can we deliver the emotional impact that can make an impression on the viewers? As a filmmaker, how can you assure that your movie has as much potential for being remembered after the audience leaves the theater?

For a start, we can’t lie to the viewers. They are going to know it, and they will shut off their minds to the experience if they aren't convinced. Anything that takes them out of the movie has got to go. And, we certainly cannot try to pull the wool over the viewer’s eyes by covering our asses either: “Take my word for it! That wasn’t a special effect! This is totally real! We actually created a real __________ and it cost us millions of dollars to pull off!”

As much as possible, we have to take care to present a story in a way that lands, emotionally, deeply, viscerally. To get there, we often work with the talent that’ll give us the best take, the takes that will suit the scenes and the movie in general. But, it is in the act of preparation before the scene that human beings can bring what auto-generated processes and robotics will always fail at: Showcasing their humanity.

The process of preparing the talent to have the best possible take is also called priming by Yale professor John Bargh, who is considered an authority on the unconscious mind. Part of his research is based on what happens when we prime the unconscious mind for a better result. The idea is that we frame the experience of the talent before the take happens. We may ask them to feel a particular way, imagine a story, prep them to take something from their lives and bring it to the movie. This is crucial.

When we prime the talent, they can temporarily live in the world of the story. They can act from the world of the story. They play instruments from the world of the story. They feel the same emotions that the characters do from the world of the story. Their immersion into the story creates a powerful gravitational pull to the viewers. Priming the talent on a film can help an audience connect and feel the story beyond the story. The viewers will be compelled to experience the story viscerally rather than intellectually. They will understand the events in a way that defies any sort of rational explanation. They will walk away from the theater still humming from the experience of being inside the film.

To test the idea of priming, that human beings could deliver the story beyond the story better than robots or auto-generated processes, I decided to pit three actors against each other in a race to deliver the most truthful, immersive, and memorable performance. One is a trained voice over actor in Los Angeles, another is a trained stage and film actress in a Austin, and the final actor is a robot.

My hypothesis was that I could prime two trained actors to deliver a more memorable and emotionally impactful performance than a robot. Surely, no robot could possibly beat two trained actors at delivering an emotionally impactful performance… or could they?

The Text Used

Here is the gibberish text I chose for all performances. It means absolutely nothing. This text was auto-generated by a random new age sentence generator at http://sebpearce.com/bullshit/:

Nothing of importance takes the world for granted. We must learn how to lead ethereal lives in the face of stagnation. Our conversations with other beings have led to a deepening of ultra-endless consciousness. Reality has always been buzzing with entities whose third eyes are enveloped in beauty. We are in the midst of a self-aware summoning of will that will clear a path toward the world itself.

The Robot Actors

Two Online Voice Generators

Our first two performances came from two robot actors (I needed some robot variety). The first performance came from a robot voice located at https://www.text2speech.org/

I couldn’t tell the robot what kind of performance I wanted. I couldn’t prime it. I couldn’t ask it exactly what I wanted it to feel like. Therefore, the first performance sounds incredibly flat to me*:

I couldn’t tell the second robot what kind of performance I wanted either. Therefore, the second performance wasn’t really all that much better. By the way, this performance came from http://onlinetonegenerator.com/voice-generator.html:

Because I couldn’t really ask these robots to deliver me a type of performance that had an emotional impact on themselves, there was almost zero chance that their performances would land on me. Aside from a moment of insane laughter, I really wasn’t convinced.

Fortunately, the human actors did way better.

The Human Actors

Real Actor #1: Aaron Steward

Our first human is LA-based voice over artist Aaron Steward. Aaron has a super deep and sonorous voice, and he also has that infectious enthusiasm that I so love and appreciate in my friends.

I asked Aaron to record two passes at the text. Here’s where things got interesting: Instead of just asking him to recite the text as he saw fit, I primed Aaron for each take and I asked him to bring a certain mood or vibe into the recitation.

In the first pass, I asked him to overly sell it. I wanted him to take on the persona of a charismatic cult leader looking for followers. I wanted him to try to pull the wool over my eyes. I found his performance to be creepy! Here is the result:

For variation, I also asked for a different take. Again, I purposely primed Aaron. I asked him to deliver a jaded, cynical, depressed, and slightly angry vibe. The text was unchanged. Here's the result:

It’s hard to deny how a human being can just crush a robot, right? Well, I think I’m onto something, but maybe we should test this just a little more…

Real Actor #2: Dana Wing Lau

Our second human actor is Austin-based actress Dana Wing Lau. Dana is a wonderful actress and human being. She is involved in tons of productions, and she often teaches her craft and shares her secrets of acting with others.

I also asked Dana to send me two different takes of the same text. For the first pass at the text, I primed Dana to oversell the text. I wanted her to be the charismatic cult leader trying to pull the wool over my eyes. I genuinely wanted her performance to creep me out:

On Dana’s next pass, I primed her to send me a jaded, cynical, depressed, and slightly angry version of the text. I purposely asked her this, again, because I trusted that she could tap into her repertoire of skills and deliver a wonderful take.

No surprises here! Her second take was equally as awesome:

Really, this was an unfair… I don’t see robots doing well on auditions anytime soon.

Emotional Impact Comes From Human Beings

When you listen to each of these passes, it's obvious that the human versions land, emotionally. You can feel the hint of jaded cynicism in both of them. You can feel the creepy overselling of the text. Even though our actors are reciting the same exact text, you can feel the differing emotional impact of each pass because they are human beings and they are both great at their jobs.

I’ll be the first to admit that this is a crude experiment. But, I think there is an important lesson attached to it: Though we can get a robot to recite a text, we can prime human beings and set them up to deliver a performance that allows us, the audience, to feel the emotions beyond the words. If they feel the emotions, we will too.

Now we’re getting somewhere, right?

What About Music?

Emotional impact upon the audience of any film comes from humans who are primed and encouraged to bring their own emotions to the table, who deliver their own emotions in their performances, who take part in a story that has real impact upon the lives of the viewer.

Can this idea apply to the music of a film?

Oh my my, oh hell yes.

The technology for creating entire symphonies in a bedroom is available. It’s even cheap to produce a recording! To create a massive-sounding orchestral film score, many film composers nowadays rely upon sample libraries that include tens of thousands of individual sounds of instruments in the orchestra. The trade off is that they also have to program and then manipulate all of these samples so that they can create the score. In other words, the samples don’t come prearranged for the composer. The composer has to reprogram the sample library to sound appropriate for the film.

This small, almost insignificant detail, the fact that composers have to rearrange a sample so that it can be appropriate for a film score, has a remarkably stark effect on the emotional impact of a film.

Stay with me on this.

Before I get into why, we need to jump into a favorite subject of musicians and the online forums they frequent: Sample libraries.

What are Sample Libraries?

If you have worked with a film composer in any fashion, you have seen them use a sample library to create music. Composers use these libraries to create music quickly, effortlessly, and cheaply.

There are many sample library companies, with more coming onto the scene all the time. Spitfire Audio is one. Vienna Symphonic Library is another. EastWest, the library I am most familiar with, is a major player in the space.

Each sample library offers the film composer multiple gigabytes of samples of multiple instruments. Each library can cost anywhere from $0 all the way up to $5000 or more to purchase outright.

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Each sample library also comes with plenty of sounds. We have string sections, woodwinds, brass, percussion, exotic instruments and noisemakers, pianos, harps, electronic loops, mellotrons, drum sets, guitars, basses, and many more instruments than that. I will narrow our focus on patches available for the Violin section of the orchestra.

First off, there are probably hundreds of thousands of patches available for violin as a section (meaning 12 or more violinists playing at one time). In EastWest Hollywood Strings for example, there are many patches offering different articulations that the violin section can do. Want a short note? Done. Want a long, sustaining note? Done. Want a glide from one note to another? Done. And as if this weren't totally overwhelming enough, many patches can be modulated, meaning that the note can sound more intense the higher the modulation, and vice versa for lower.

The skill set of creating music with a high quality sample library is required for a contemporary film composer. She must know, understand, and quickly program you a cue that sounds cool using a sample library. As a filmmaker, all you need to know is what vibe you’re after, be able to explain that vibe clearly, and the composer should be able to deliver.

You would think that working with a film composer who only uses sample libraries saves you time and money, but there are some significant trade offs.

It is my belief that a film composer who only uses a sample library to get the cues you want will get the job done quickly and cheaply, but the score will ultimately fail to deliver the true memorable emotional impact upon the viewers of your films. Why? It’s for the same reason that birthday scenario #1, the auto-generated birthday well-wishes, fails to create a memorable experience for you on your birthday.

Further, if real musicians aren’t there to be primed for the task of playing from the standpoint of the story, then the score will fail to immerse the audience into the world of the film. Frankly, I doubt it will leave even a small impression. It doesn’t matter if a composer spent $50,000 on their entire sample collection and spent years making the film score just right. In my opinion, getting real players can beat the synthetic orchestra, just about every time.

So, let’s test this!

Surely, a world class sample library of professionally recorded orchestral instruments would have more emotional impact on a listener than a real musician playing the same thing... or could it?

The Robot Musicians vs The Real Musicians

The Experiment

I created two melodies, one for violin and the other for clarinet. Using a world-class sample library, I created a computerized rendering of the melody for each instrument. Then, I called in the professionals: The musicians who can bring the noise when they need to.

There is a twist, however. For each human performance, I primed the musicians to get the optimal take. Basically, I prepped each musician by sharing stories that helped them imagine what each cue was meant to feel like. I wanted the musicians to feel the story beyond the story, each time, just so that they could deliver that deep story to me on their instruments. If they felt the story beyond the story, I know I would too.

Test One: Real Violin vs Computerized Violin

My good friend and violinist Blake Whitmire agreed to come in and help me out with this first experiment. Blake is a wonderful touring and performing fiddle player in Austin. He’s my go-to player for fiddle melodies. I asked Blake to come in and play the following melody***:

By Dave Wirth. Copyright and Published 2019 Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! ASCAP. All Rights Reserved.

I knew what I was doing when I composed this just for Blake. I knew what kind of take I could get. Once he settled into the recording session, I primed Blake by asking him to imagine a scene before he recorded his next take. Though paraphrased, this is what I asked him to visualize:

Imagine being out in Marfa, TX in December, where the desert dominates the landscape. It’s cold, but not intolerable. You arrived at your rental home, you started a fire in the fireplace, you have all the food you need, the home feels incredibly cozy, and both you and your girlfriend are super happy to be there.

Now, imagine that you and your girlfriend had an amazing first night. You both knocked boots many times, you both feel so much more connected to each other. In fact, I want you to imagine that it was such an amazing first night that both of you refused to go to bed. You didn’t want the day to end!

Then, without realizing it, you both looked out the window and saw the first gleam of a sunrise. Then the sunrise kept becoming more and more beautiful, colorful, and lively. It went through a gorgeous transition of reds, oranges, purples, and finally yellows, before the sun bursted and bloomed into the sky.

Feel this moment and how grateful you are to be there, how cozy it is, how blissful it feels. Now, sell me on this feeling. Convince me that you’re there, but use the music to transport me.

After my story, Blake played in a way that absolutely broke my heart:

Pretty amazing, right? Now, imagine the stark difference, the extreme lack of emotional impact, that the computerized version of the same melody delivered:

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Cubase Arrangement of Violin Solo by Dave Wirth

Which has more emotional impact to you? The computerized melody or Blake? To me, I’m team Blake, all the way.

Test Two: Real Clarinet vs Computerized Clarinet

We’ve heard a world-class violinist play better than a sample library. What about clarinet? Thankfully I was able to convince my good friend and clarinetist Shelly Eager, the executive director of Cinematic Symphony in Austin, to come in and go head-to-head with my sample library. This was the melody I composed for the occasion****:

By Dave Wirth. Copyright and Published 2019 Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! ASCAP. All Rights Reserved.

Just like with Blake, I wanted Shelly to approach this music differently. I wanted her to sell me on the story beyond the story. I wanted her to really show what emotions she was feeling. I wanted her and her emotions on full display simply so this music could have that emotional effect. To help her get there, I primed her by sharing a personal story (paraphrased as well):

I remember exactly where I was when my Mom called me to tell me my father had passed away. I was at my old studio, sitting in a red chair, looking at the dark blue walls, guitars strewn about the room, and I was in shock and denial.

After it sunk in that my father was gone, a man whom I dearly loved, someone I could smoke cigars with and have joyful three hours long conversations about entrepreneurship, there was a deep pang of dread and of grief, all rolled into one. On one hand, there was a part of me that was relieved because I knew he was suffering. On the other, I lost a guiding light. At that time, I was unsure how to move forward in my life, how to live on my own.

I want you to remember a time when you felt the same way. Try to imagine and remember that slight pang of dread you felt when you had no idea what you were going to do, but you knew you had to move forward anyways. Remember the shock of the rug being pulled out from under you, how that moment felt. Remember how the grief slowly began to settle in.

I’m asking you to sell me on the sense of broken-ness. I want you to make me feel like you are right there, with all of the dread and the grief, the numbness, that shocking weird feeling of existing when someone important to you was gone. Use the music to transport me there.

Shelly's pass was nothing less than astounding:

When it comes to delivering the emotional impact, I can hear Shelly’s emotions through those notes, between the notes, and I can hear her playing the story beyond the story. She was immersed in the flow of that story, and the music was just a vehicle to express the emotions she was feeling.

Since I couldn’t prime my sample library with the same story, the computerized melody sounds good but lacks the punch and impact of Shelly’s masterful playing:

View fullsize

Cubase Arrangement of Clarinet Solo by Dave Wirth

Which has more emotional impact to you? The computerized melody or Shelly? Well, I’m team Shelly, all the way.

Results? Opinions?

In all of these experiments in sound and emotion, I believe that the real player utterly decimated the computerized version on the basis of emotional impact. The samples sound pretty good, but they still lack memorability. That was because I purposely primed the players using stories that conveyed human emotion, they felt the stories deeply withing themselves, and delivered passes that were absolutely magical.

I think it’s obvious that a real human being can play, interpret, and deliver a customized melody far better than a world-class sample library can. It doesn’t matter if I had $50,000 of samples at my fingertips. It’ll sound amazing, but it will still fall flat, just like the birthday scenario where all you received were auto-generated birthday wishes.

In my very strong opinion, a real human being playing on your film score is like birthday scenario #2, where your best friend makes your birthday awesome.

If you’re still with me, the next question to ask is: Are sample libraries bad?

My answer: Hell no!

Throwing out sample libraries is a bad idea because they are incredibly useful tools. Besides, there are some solid ways to get great sounds. Best of all, you won’t even have to go over budget.

Oh, the nasty B word...

Your Film’s Budget

One reason why filmmakers are more interested in having a film composer use sample libraries only is because it’s more affordable to produce and arrange the score.

As long as the film composer can create music that is appropriate for the story and has a sample library to execute on these ideas, a filmmaker can get his/her hands on a score that will do. Like I said before, it's a natural and normal thing for a contemporary film composer to be able to use sample libraries with ease.

Personally, I love using sample libraries to create mock-up scores that give the director an idea of what it will sound like. It allows me to dial in exactly the vibe that the filmmaker wants to have in a certain cue. As long as my deposit from the filmmaker is in my account, I'm certainly willing to work hard to nail any cue.

When mockups fail is when we are going for emotional impact. To me, and hopefully to you now, they are the equivalent of the auto-generated birthday messages. No amount of programming is going to make them sound lifelike. Why?

Again, I think it's harder for an audience to be “inside” a movie when something feels fake, like a fake film score. We often ream actors' performances for being flat, right? We often get annoyed at shiny special effects at the detriment of the story, right? Well, the same can be said about sample libraries, which were created without emotion, only sound.

This might seem a little insane for those who aren’t familiar with audio engineering and producing records. Recording sample libraries is really intense. For any one sample to recorded, the musician(s) has to play multiple passes at it. Any one specific articulation must be played correctly at multiple volumes and intensities. After that note is done it's onto the next one, playing multiple volumes and intensities. Then onto the next note. And let’s be clear: Many sample libraries have tons of different articulations.

Are you doing the math in your head about how long it takes to record and release a world-class sample library of multiple instruments? I certainly am, and I feel like I’ve aged another five years just thinking about it.

Recording all the music for a single instrument in any sample library is no joke. This is an exhausting task for any musician to do, and it's just about impossible for the musician to play with any emotion during this process.** Emotion is stripped from each note.

There is no way to imprint emotion on all of the notes in a sample library simply because the process is intense. As a result of how these libraries are made, it's left up to the film composer at the user end to organize these samples to land, emotionally, as best as they can.

So, if samples libraries fail to deliver, how can we get that emotional impact we need to make a film memorable?

The Benefits of Recording a Live Film Score

The complete opposite way of producing the score for a movie, one that has a higher chance of impacting the viewers emotionally, is to record the orchestra playing the score live in a professional recording studio and to prime the orchestra before each new cue. Doing this can create an amazing atmosphere because the orchestra can present the musical representation of the story beyond the story.

If you’ll remember back to my experiments above with Aaron, Dana, Blake, and Shelly, I primed each of them for specific performances before they did any takes. I wanted each of them to immerse me in their experience and emotions. As a result, each person delivered a pass in a way that I could feel what they were channeling.

Now, imagine the composer for your film standing in front of the orchestra that you paid for and giving this speech before the musicians record a specific cue in your movie (just go with it):

For this next cue, our main character Simon wants to enter a specific castle, even though there are considerable forces that want to keep him out. When he opens the castle doors, he has to face and defeat two large lions before he can get to the water of life.

I want each of you to remember a time when you were trying to get into music school. Each of you remembers what it was like to audition, right? You had to impress the professor of music you wanted to study with. Your professor was like the lions in this cue, and you had to defeat them before you were granted access to the music school, which holds the water of life.

I remember when I was outside Nick Goluses’ office at the Eastman School of Music, scared out of my mind. I had to impress him! I played marvelously that day, and I got into the school. I studied music there, which definitely held the water of life for me.

I want each of you to remember that time when you were at the gates of the music school, waiting to either be devoured by the lions or rising to the challenge and doing the job right. I need you to grab that energy and bring it here, now. The notes on your page are your way of expressing this emotion to me, and ultimately to the audience of the film. I want you to sell me on that slight pang of dread and nervousness you felt, but then I want you to sell me of that excitement you felt. I want you to convince me that you’re there.

I want you to force me to experience what our main character is feeling at this moment. Let's do this.

Can you do this with a sampled orchestra? Nope.

Film Orchestra Recording Budget Considerations

So, what's stopping most filmmakers from getting a live, orchestral score professionally recorded? Funding. It is often quoted that the recording budget (not the money that goes to the composer) will take at least 15-20% of the entire money available for the film.

I bet you’re thinking, “Okay Dave, I get it. You're telling me that the trade off is that I have to spend an extra 15% of my already stretched-thin budget just to get an emotional impact?”

Well, yes. I am.

Assuming that an orchestral score is appropriate for your movie (which is another topic I'll get into on this blog into the future), yes, you'll have to pay more.

Remember: computers are far less likely to affect human emotions as effectively as real musicians can. Think back to our VO actor Aaron Steward. Think back to our film and stage actress Dana Wing Lau. Think back to violinist Blake Whitmire and clarinetist Shelly Eager. Having human beings playing the music on your project will help your story land.

Does this mean your movie won’t succeed if you don’t have a budget for a professionally recorded orchestral film score? Hardly.

First, you don't even need to do an orchestral score. You could ask a composer to do a synthesizer-based score for you. You could have a composer do just a string quartet score. You could have minimal electronics and ambient sound design throughout your movie, and it could be incredibly appropriate for the story you are telling. Really, it's about what is appropriate for your film.

But, what if you did want an orchestra and couldn't afford one?

Though I'm not fond of the following process, It’s better than nothing:

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Hire a film composer to create an orchestral mock up for you, and then have a budget to record specific players.

So, instead of a computer generated violin, budget the money for a real violinist to come in and record the parts professionally. Instead of a synthesized string quartet, hire a real string quartet. Instead of a fake oboist, hire a real oboist. Then, you mix and match the real players with the computerized ones.

When you mix and match those real players inside the mock up score, you tend to boost the emotional impact of your movie.

It’s Important Enough To Fund A Live Score for High Emotional Impact

Your fought long and hard to create your films. Your stories are incredibly important to you. I bet you fought tooth and nail to get funding. I also bet that you fought to get the right actors. To rent the right equipment. To edit it correctly. To color correct it in a beautiful way. To make it as memorable as possible.

Your story is important, and it's worth spending the extra money to create a score that can keep the viewer immersed in the film.

Connecting with the viewers is probably the greatest and most important task on your plate, even if you want to challenge the viewers and possibly get a rise out of them. To get that connection, you have to work hard to help your story land.

If your movie creates a stir, you can find yourself in a position where you can work on projects with bigger budgets. You'll be negotiating with film studios who want to see you succeed and tell a great story. You'll be in a better place artistically, with more resources at your disposal. Keeping the viewer inside your story spells success for you.

Remember your birthday scenarios above. Would you rather have 100 or so auto-generated birthday greetings with little to no human warmth, or an experience that you'll remember for as long as you're alive?

As a composer, I want the viewers to feel the story beyond the story. I want that experience to stick with them, to feel it long after they left the movie theater. I want them to simply walk out of the theater and say, "Holy shit, that was a great movie. I have no idea where the time went. I have to watch that again." That is the best possible compliment I could ever receive as a composer.

Telling the story beyond the story benefits everyone. It’s an investment to care about your story like this, I know. But who ever sets out to make a forgettable movie?

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Please, leave me a comment!
Or, feel free to reach out to me.

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More Articles on Film and Music

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Footnotes

*I am aware that Google’s Trident would have done a better job fooling all of us (creepy) https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/09/609820627/googles-new-voice-bot-sounds-um-maybe-too-real

**It’s my fervent hope that any musician who subjects him or herself to the process of contributing to a sample library is being paid a lot of money, like the amount of money that would keep them happy for two years or more.

Audio Engineering And Arrangement Notes

Both the computerized and human-played parts were arranged/recorded in Cubase. I used some specific EastWest Spaces II patches for the sake of creating the depth we’d expect from the instruments, as if they were playing a solo in the orchestra.

Finally, I ran all instruments through the Flux BitterSweet plugin, the Waves Shoeps 73, and Waves API 2500 on the master track. I recorded the human players using a couple of superbly cheap microphones.

Copyright Notices

***Clarinet Solo composed by Dave Wirth. Copyright and Published 2019 Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! ASCAP. All Rights Reserved. Clarinet Solo score is Published 2019 Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! ASCAP. All Rights Reserved.

****Violin Solo composed by Dave Wirth. Copyright and Published 2019 Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! ASCAP. All Rights Reserved. Violin Solo score is Published 2019 Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! ASCAP. All Rights Reserved.

It’s important for me to make a living as a musician. Working with clients can be… tricky. The philosophy that keeps me out of trouble may seem harsh to most people:

I refuse to collaborate on other people’s projects for free.

Why?

First, the energy is unbalanced. What are they giving back? After all, I love giving energy to making a project better, and I love receiving energy in the form of appreciation and payment. It makes sense.

Second, it’s a bit cruel to myself. What does it say about me if I don’t charge appropriately? I care about creating music that carries the story and is appropriate, so it makes sense for me to charge for that.

Third, if I do something for free once, they think I’ll do it for free again. Yuck!

Whenever I meet with a potential client, I am upfront with them by saying I charge what I’m worth, but that I love to talk and hang out. Having good people to interact with makes me a lot happier as a human being.

It’s so sad to see so many wonderful musicians settling for free when they should be paid a lot more.

Music… Is… VALUABLE!!!

How many articles are out there on this one little acronym, SEO? I don’t know. All I do know is that I have a visceral response to these three letters; Almost immediately, I feel constipated.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

When can the woodwind section be useful in a film?

When you have filmed a scene that you feel needs some movement, but the vibe shouldn’t be heavy. You can think of it like having pastoral vibes, not unlike running through a meadow. Think of two kids talking to each other about life, watching the clouds go by in the afternoon. Think two lovers chasing each other through a sunny and sparse farmland. Think youthful dreaming and optimism.

I have often used woodwinds as a color substitute for strings, and often for a balance between other instruments outside of the orchestra. To me, I think one of it’s strengths is in it’s color variety.

Music*

Score**

Budget

If recorded in Austin with me conducting and I was able to contract the right people for the job, this cue would cost an estimated $1,150 to record with live musicians.

Why so expensive for a 10 second cue?

When you buy tiny fractions of time of the musicians, you still have to pay them for even getting to the studio. Therefore, as a filmmaker, if you want to go the orchestral route for your story, think bigger. Getting musicians in the studio for a 10 second cue is much more expensive per capita than getting them in there for 30 minutes of playing.

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Light, Colorful, and Rhythmic composed by Dave Wirth. Copyright and Published 2019 Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! ASCAP. All Rights Reserved.

**Score for Light, Colorful, and Rhythmic is copyright and published 2019 Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! ASCAP. All Rights Reserved.

The Epic Cue is very much in vogue nowadays in film music. It’s an exciting, awe-inspiring cue, one that is meant to bedazzle and overwhelm us with sound and fury, like when we see the culmination of an epic battle scene:

Music*

The Score**

Ingredients

1. Melody

2. Sustained chord

3. 16th notes

4. Drums and percussion

5. Sound effects interspersed for interest and surprise, usually lower than 100hz.

Cooking Directions

1. Set your tempo to around 130 bpm.

2. Create a melody that sounds epic, but orchestrate it with either choir or brass. French horn and female ahhhs are favorites.

3. Create a sustaining chord background, usually with some brass and maybe woodwinds (though woodwinds are probably overpowered by the brass in this orchestration). In the example above, I placed two trombones in an octave from each other, and then I added a French horn choir. The harmony was minimal, as I preferred other parts of the ensemble to do that job.

4. Create 16th note part. 16th notes can be played by strings (because of their agility and ease of playing) or synths. In this case, I used a pandiatonic string section with lots of measured tremelos, and I created a synth arpeggiator that changed according to my finger placement on an X/Y pad.

5. Next, add drums and percussion. can be just about anything, but Taiko drums, snares, drum sets, and techno-style electronic drums are super common.

6. Finally, add of sound effects to maintain surprise. I decided not to add any to this specific cue.

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*Epic Cue 1 composed by Dave Wirth, Copyright and Published 2019 Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! ASCAP. All Rights Reserved.

**Score is Published 2019 Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! ASCAP

I can’t imagine a better name for this effect:

My friend Myrriah Gossett reached out recently to see if I were interested in working on a short, 4 minute podcast contest, and I quickly agreed. Myrriah is one of those producers who can get things done fast, and beyond that is totally relatable and fun to hang with.

After receiving the theme for this year’s RadioRace with KCRW Where The Sun Don’t Shine, we were able to brainstorm and get permission to interview Jeri D. Jeri has an intense story, one that was incredibly difficult to distill to just four minutes. I think we did a good job presenting Jeri’s story.

I don’t want to give a spoiler, but Jeri talks about the time of his life he found out that he had prostate cancer, and he talks about what he had to do to stay alive. Jeri’s story is compelling, to say the least:

Like the music in this story?

Here it is, and for a little while it’s on sale:

RadioRace 2019 : Left In The Dark

$1.99

Music composed for the 2019 RadioRace sponsored by KCRW in Los Angeles.

Add to cart

My morning is incomplete without coffee. I choose my beans wisely, I use a burr grinder, I use an aeropress, and top it with organic whipping cream.

When I’m in a new town, trying to find my morning cup, I have a two simple rules to follow to assure that I get the best coffee possible. The first:

Beware of the coffee shop that offers 3 different prices of either lattes or cappuccinos.

I think this is Pareto’s Principle at work. When coffee shops limit themselves to making one single latte or cappuccino size, they get the ratio of espresso and milk correct, every time. Coffee shops that don’t do this are ones that haven’t dialed in the exact taste of the coffee they wish to present, or probably just don’t really care.

My second rule is this:

Beware any coffee shop if they have more food options than coffee options.

Again, they won’t be as focused on getting that ideal taste in coffee. They’ll have a lot of food options though, and maybe they are good. But the coffee? Nope. Probably not very good.

To me, just about all drip coffee tastes the same, so I always go for the smallest drip coffee at a coffee shop I’m wary of.

But, if you find yourself at a coffee shop that has just one size for a latte, cap, or cortado? Don’t be scared. They probably care a lot about making a tasty morning beverage. Get it! It’s most likely heavenly.

When my father died, my mom gave me his favorite pen: A Mont Blanc Meisterstück, issued by his employer for his dedicated work to the company.

Lemme tell you: This pen writes like a dream. I write about three pages of goop everyday (this habit works wonders for creativity), so I was surprised that the ink lasted for a year or so on the original refill. But, when it was gone, I had to replace it. Enter our villain: Monteverde refills for Mont Blanc.

I bought some Monteverde refills to keep the party going, and I was immediately taken by surprise about how hard I had to push down on the pen to make the ink flow. I was annoyed by how often the ink would stop flowing, mid word, but would pick up if I twirled the pen about 45 degrees. I often cursed out loud, about my writing utensil. Yeah, I went there.

I put up with this nonsense for three years without thinking there was an alternative. Eventually I got fed up and bought the real thing: Mont Blanc pen refills by Mont Blanc.

Within writing two sentences, my hand immediately relaxed into writing again. I’ve not had a single hand cramp in the past week. The sentences have flowed easier. My enjoyment of writing is back to its original state. The rollerball never loses traction, the sentences and words flow on.

What can I say? Though expensive, the refill for a pen matters. Or in other words: When you go Mont Blanc, you can never go back.

I have been committing to memory all of the transpositions of the orchestra. My intent is to begin writing in their transposed pitches as opposed to concert key. I’ve started with the flute family.

I called the Db Piccolo the Db Pickle, and the C Piccolo the C Pickle.

Off to the coffee pot…