How Orchestration Can Be Used in Modern Music Production
The term “orchestration” can have a variety of meanings. But in the context of music, it refers to the process of writing for an orchestra. An orchestrator will take a composer’s musical sketch or digital mockup and turn it into a score that an orchestra can play. He or she will decide which instruments will play certain parts within a musical piece. And depending on the project, the composer can serve as the orchestrator.
What an Orchestrator Does
People who work outside the music industry will often confuse orchestrators for arrangers, which is understandable. Both of them will take a piece of music and pick up where the composer left off, but there’s one important difference between the two. The arranger’s job is to “reinvent” an existing piece of music, but it’s not what an orchestrator does. This person’s job is to develop, enhance, or complete a piece while adhering as closely as possible to the composer’s creative vision. Depending on how much information the composer provides, an orchestrator can do anything from assigning instrumentation dynamics to writing entirely new chords and harmonies.
Why Orchestration is Important
Compared to any other ensemble, an orchestra can give your piece more emotional depth and power. That’s why orchestration can be a great addition to your musical arsenal. It’s especially important if you want to write music for film, television, or games. Orchestration is a huge part of those kinds of jobs — whether you’re doing it yourself or working with an orchestrator. A composer who can also orchestrate will give that person more credibility. According to one Hollywood director, a composer who can write for an orchestra can write for anything.
Orchestral Applications in Modern Music
I have already mentioned the use of orchestral music in film, television, and games. But I didn’t go into detail about how it can be used for modern music production. The role of a music producer is to shape sound, manage frequency balance, and blend various instruments to create a cohesive musical structure. Orchestration is one of many tools that can be used to achieve this goal.
One obvious way to give orchestral music a more contemporary feel is to blend live or virtual instruments with synthesizers, drum machines, and other electronic elements. You can use synth patches to mimic the sound of an orchestral section (whether it’s woodwinds, brass, or strings). You can also layer woodwinds and brass with electronic oscillators to give them a more unique coloration.
Orchestration can be a useful tool for frequency and space management. You can treat traditional instruments as natural EQ’s by doubling them. This can be done in a variety of ways, but here are a couple of examples:
Having a bassoon play with a cello part for added warmth.
Having the flutes play with the violins to give a melody or ostinato more of an edge.
You can also space out instrumental voices across different frequency registers to make your mix sound clearer. Arranging dense sections from the largest element to more specific details will make sure that every frequency base is covered.
Integrating Technology into the Orchestration Workflow
I have already mentioned the use of electronic instruments (such as synthesizers and drum machines) with orchestral ensembles, but technology can be useful for an orchestrator’s workflow. Several companies have developed and continue to sell a number of orchestral libraries that can be used to create realistic mockups inside a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Composers can even use Continuous Controllers (CC’s) to give these sampled libraries more dynamics and expression.
Because these sampled libraries can be played with MIDI controllers, a composer or orchestrator can use the data from a mockup to create a written score (which can be handed off to live players). If the music has been written for use in a film, TV show, or video game, the players in that orchestra can be recorded at a sound stage inside a recording studio so it can be added to the content during post-production.
Final Thoughts
You may think that because it has been used in music for so many centuries, orchestras don’t have a place in modern music (especially since classical music has been falling out of fashion for several decades). But orchestration is a timeless technique that can be used in a variety of musical applications. Modern rock bands (including Metallica and Dream Theater) have not only written songs that can be beautifully orchestrated but have also put together concerts where they perform with a live orchestra. Film composers are combining synthesizers and other electronic elements with more traditional instruments to make orchestral music more appealing to modern audiences.
