I'm in pre-production of my next movie and this time we are going to be making an original soundtrack for it. (It will be an orchestral soundtrack along the lines of the time period movies.) We have the orchestras and choruses lined up, and some talented musicians volunteering to write music, but they don't know how to write music for different instrument parts very well. Are there any programs for writing music?

Finale is a great program for composing the music by means of music notation. You can then hear everything you've composed so far with various instruments (about 120 total).

I think East West QL Symphony (Silver, Gold, Platinum) is the best way for the ultimate composition. It features a great sound library (someone composing music for me just bought another 200 GB of new music samples to create an original soundtrack). A lot of music composed for studentfilmmakers is done by Symphony. You have great control in the orchestration, and you'll ultimately come up with a great sound - a great composition, much like a genuine orchestration.
Gotan

If your budget is only $4000, I can only guess that it is a student orchestra? It seems strange to me thaty you have musicians volunteering to write music, but don't know how to write for an orchestra.

My advice, get a composer in now. You'll regret it later when you've got a half-assed score with musicians who can't write for the orchestra you have.

Just get one, two composers MAX. And get someone who has experience. There are plenty of people out there. If you have a composer you do not need to worry about the programs. That's not your job.

However, just for reference, FINALE or Sibelius are top notch notation programs. If you're recording for an orchestra the composer will certainly use this or something similar. It's very good for notation.

If your composer goes down the digitial path, you'll need a sequencer and a sample library. EestWest is good, but also consider Garritan. For it's price, it's very good, and has such great support.

Sometimes you'll get a nicer sounding score from sample libraries (professionally recorded world-class instruments in many cases) than a cheap orchestra. Having said that, if you've got good players, go for it.

Keep in mind no software program is going to write music for you, or even make your poor orchestration sound nice. To write music for an orchestra, you need a notation program, and knowledge of orchestration. The program won't do it for you.

Good luck.

-Chris

Yeah, they're not exactly composers. Where could I find a composer, and how much would it cost?

Well, nothing. You can get composers that are willing to work for free. Here there are plenty, and if you pop over to somewhere like northern sound source forums (google it), you'll find someone.

Don't be fooled by peoples music based on how 'good' or 'powerful' their digital music sounds. A lot of the composers working for free have expensive sample libraries but no real emotion in their music. They cover up their poor writing by using expensive sample libraries and playing really loud boring melodies.

In most cases, once a composer realizes he or she can make money, or gets one good deal, he'll stop doing it for free. Having said that, there are still plenty of 'free' composers out there, or composers willing to take on the odd project for free.

You want to look for someone who has had experience, but not enough to make them able to charge much, or anything for their music. So someone in the transition phase would be good.

I may be interested in doing it, I'm about to start work on an independant boxing drama (starring retired boxer Gerry Cooney), but that will probably be done before you need music. email me some more information. What sort of orchestra is it you have lined up, by the way? a school orchestra?

-Chris