Beginner's Guide To Orchestral Music Production

Welcome to your composer journey!

Composing music for the orchestra is one of the most fulfilling things you can do and a dream for many.

Now it's your time to make that dream a reality.

We've all been inspired, amazed, and brought to tears by film composers like Ennio Morricone (“The Good, The Bad And The Ugly”, “The Untouchables”), John Williams (“Star Wars”, "Jurassic Park", "Indiana Jones"), and Hans Zimmer (“The Lion King”, "Interstellar", “Dune”).

These composers are masters of music who skillfully control even the subtlest nuances of sound to create atmosphere and convey emotions. 

But they are also masters of the orchestra, each making it sing with its own distinctive voice. Back in the day, orchestral composing was usually reserved for experts and professionals with many musicians to hire and an enormous amount of instruments to coordinate. But it's not the 18th century anymore. 

We've come an incredibly far way through modern technology. 

So what if we took away the intimidation of creating a work with actual live musicians? What if we could make it easy enough so anyone could produce a piece that would sound just as good as something recorded in a large studio with a full orchestra? 

Whether it is for self-expression or to build a sustainable career: Learning orchestral music production is a noble and ambitious goal. 

Even better: It's become achievable. 

Writing music like Zimmer, Williams, or Morricone is now accessible to everyone. And the best thing? You can do it all from your living room.

Yes, you. No matter who you are: You're not alone, and it's never too late to learn!  

I want to help you begin your journey into orchestral music production. 

In this guide, we’ll start off with what you need for writing orchestral music, before we learn more about the ins and outs of a symphony orchestra. We'll then move into prepping your writing environment before moving on to the actual writing process itself. 

This guide is designed for beginners.

If this is your first time writing orchestral music, then this Beginner's Guide To Orchestral Music Production is perfect for helping you get started on a path toward mastery!

Grab your free Starter Kit

The Beginner's Guide To Orchestral Music Production is 100% free.

And even better: It comes bundled with a free PDF, the Orchestral Music Production Starter Kit. 

This short ebook is packed with helpful, condensed resources for people who are about to start their orchestral composer journey - or are already on it:

• Quick overview of the required equipment and software to compose and produce orchestral music.
• Beginner-friendly summary of the basics of music theory in a condensed mini-guide
• Step-by-step checklist on how to build an orchestral template in a few easy steps.

Your free starter kit will be a guaranteed head start on creating your own orchestral compositions. Grab your copy, then continue with the guide ⬇️

How much of this guide should I read?

Are you an aspiring composer who just started to learn the basics of orchestral music production? If so, I recommend reading the guide front-to-back. 

I've tried to make it as concise and easy to understand as possible, and learning the basics of orchestral music is a vital first step in writing the music of your dreams.

I'm glad you're here! Grab a cup of coffee (or tea), and let's look at Chapter 1, where you will learn about the requirements to write and produce orchestral music:

Explore the chapters

"Beginner's Guide To Orchestral Music Production" has 8 chapters packed with helpful information that makes you ready to create the music of your dreams.

CHAPTER 1: REQUIREMENTS

What do I need to get started?

For true beginners. How much RAM does my computer need for composing orchestral music? Should I buy speakers or headphones? Which MIDI controllers are good? Without basic equipment, you can’t produce orchestral music. This is your starting point.

CHAPTER 2: THE ORCHESTRA

An entire universe of sound.

Time to learn about the instruments and sections of the orchestra. The orchestra is made up of a variety of different instruments, each with its own unique role. Understanding them is a must!

CHAPTER 3: MUSIC THEORY BASICS

The basics in under 30 minutes.

Focusing on the essentials of music theory, we introduce the crucial music concepts. Starting from pitches and notes all the way to scales, modes and chord progressions. This chapter gets you into music theory in less than 30 minutes.

CHAPTER 4: DIGITAL AUDIO WORKSTATION (DAW)

Cubase, Logic Pro, or something else?

You’ll need a DAW. Here’s why, and how to use a DAW as a beginner. The chapter also covers the first steps and absolute bread-and-butter workflows for MIDI editing. You’ll do them. Every. Day.

CHAPTER 5: SAMPLE LIBRARIES

A composer’s favorite tools.

Sample libraries offer snippets (or samples) of real instruments played by professional musicians. Discover the best orchestral sample libraries for beginners, and how to use them.

CHAPTER 6: ORCHESTRAL TEMPLATE

A time-saver for many.

An orchestral template is a great way to organize your DAW projects. It’s very useful for large scale compositions with different instruments and sections to be organized into layers and tracks. We’ll guide you through setting up an orchestral template that works for you.

CHAPTER 7: COMPOSING YOUR FIRST TRACK

Ideas turn into music.

Time for you to write your first orchestral composition. This exciting chapter teaches you how to start and what you can do to avoid getting stuck.

CHAPTER 8: MIXING AND MASTERING BASICS

Improving the sound quality.

Learn what mixing and mastering is, how it works and why knowing your basics is crucial. Mixing and mastering can greatly improve the sound quality of your productions. Super rewarding!

COMPOSER GLOSSARY

Understand key terms and phrases.

All this new music terminology can be difficult, especially when you're just getting started with your composer journey. To make things easier, this glossary offers an easy-to-follow dictionary of the most important terms mentioned in this guide.