Is it just me or is there like fifty music composers on this site? And how many of them are good? I dunno. I write my own music for my films so I guess technically I am a composer as well. I was just wondering what the rest of the fifty bajillion composers use to make their music.

As for me, I notate everything on a program called Noteworthy Composer and then import the MIDI file into Cakewalk Pro Audio 9, and using that I assign different parts the more real sounding instruments from my QS8 MIDI Keyboard.

How awesome is it to take a movie without any music and work with and intergrate themes into the story for an overall emotional and meaningful project through music. That gets me every time. Personally, adding the music to my films is one of the most satisfying moments in making the film itself.

If you would like to hear a song of mine, email me. I also scored a film by Chandler Mays on this site called EXECUTION, however I finished the score after he submited the film here, so my score isn't in the version you see on the site. A total of 35 min of music for that movie. I wrote a total of 58 minutes of music for THE LOST SOLDIERS. You can hear the music in the Trench Scene on May 16th, I believe which is when it hits Studentfilms.com

Some people downplay music and say that amatuer filmmakers use too much music to try to make their movie better. But to me, the music is one of the most important parts of a movie. I must agree though that music shouldn't drive a film, it should only enhance in it the direction that it is going. I find it easier for me to be able to make films knowing that I will do the music because I am thinking about it when writing the screenplay.

I was just wondering what everyone else's opinions are on film music and how it helps make or break a movie.

Also, what other films on this site have original scores. I would like to hear them because I am anxious to see how other people approach the music in films when they are not using other music from Hollywood films.

Thomas Verrette
tommy21485@earthlink.net
Imperial Pictures

I do it the exactly the same way, but when I finish with the midi I use soundfonts to make the songs into mp3's.

Ochestra is my field. Contact me if you want me to compose for your film. on AIM = Lyndonpro. Thanks

I personally believe that music helps to enhance the mood that is being displayed visually and verbally. If two people are in love, then throw some music in the background, to enhance the mood, and make a much larger impact on the audience. Every little bit that goes into the movie helps the final product, and music in my opinion, is one of the major influences in films.

Also, about the scoring...

I generally write all my music using cakewalk, because I can do it really fast that way, and use soundfonts if need be. If I write music for live instruments, then I use Finale 2002. For piano music, I keep them in my head. I have made sheet music for 3 of my piano songs, but I honestly don't feel the need to do so, because everybody I know is constantly asking me to play them.

If you need music, email or message me on AIM.

Here is what I do:

I compose in Cakewalk SONAR XL 2, first converting the film to MPEG-2 and adding a timecode so I can get my timings perfect (I need to get a mac, they have better sequencers) and I use Gigastudio for my samples because I have way too many for any soundfont card (and Hardware samplers are way too limited). I record it into Cool Edit Pro 2.0 for production (mainly using the Waves plug-ins), which gives me my mock-up master. If I need to produce the written score, I input the MIDI into Finale 2003 and add articulations and such.

I think music in film is also a way of letting unspoken emotions be made more clear. The first time I watched a film I was shocked by how it seemed so empty. I do think that some people ask for TOO much music (during dialouge and such), but I don;t think that indie filmmakers overdue the music in thier film.