So, this is a question that rocked up in my head after watching the first Drum Programming video that was uploaded yesterday to the Crow Hill channel. It’s one I also asked myself… Which is rare because I don’t usually question how I write music I just do it and can’t give an exact explanation / answer half of the time (I hope Im not the only one who’s like that 
…)
Listening back on my music and when I actually compose, I kinda go down the Hans Zimmer route… that being just mashing out note after note and literally improvising… of course messing with velocity etc.
My personal favourite drum rhythm thing is where I have snare drum and it goes “DUN dun dun dun DUN dun dun dun”… Then on every louder velocity I also have bass drum / gran casa accenting it… it feels very intense… then later on add crash cymbals to the same parts… they’re choked cymbals of course and wowee intense percussion go BOOM… literally. I do have others but this post is long enough as is haha.
I’m curious to hear some writing techniques that you guys have? Do you do something similar to me? Again, somethin’ we can all chat about!
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Thanks for the question. I think I tend to write “chapters” so spend a few hours making a bunch of different patterns. Triplet feel, half time double time… Then mark out the different narrative gears I need to hit. Then its a matter of thinking less about the programming and relating more with the picture and narrative. Map out the different chapter marks… Then gradually work through hitting key points, transitions into the chapters and the light and shade which for me is ALWAYS by subtraction not addition. I think once the narrative and work to picture is done I return to the musical direction and establish whether we’ve created a viable piece of music. Namely that you could kind of play along with it, or remember it. This is key for me to music telling a story. It should be as much an aide memoire as anything. The easiest trick here is to simply switch off the picture and play it to someone cold. You don’t need to ask their opinion, you will listen through their ears and work out which bits are action music, which bits are just a car crash. I then finesse the musical context… looking at key modulations… swapping out one instrument for another when things sound too repetetive. Next pass… sound… are you hitting explosions… why? The explosions will mask your music, so why not find space in the music before and after to dramatise the explosion, punch, hit, shock. I go through a mixing pass, then if I have time I pass from MIDI to audio and work with the stems directly. This will be stuff like hard muting sections so there isn’t reverb tails, reversing, filtering entire stems and full mix, to create a truly cohesive piece of action score.
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Interesting, also yeah I agree with the thing about explosions… Since those, as you put it perfectly in your video that it just muds everything up and causes unnecessary low end rumble and barely audible, I always stay out of the way of them…
I actually completed a film score recently which is kinda like a marvel thing, fight scenes galore. I actually had to tackle one scene in particular which was a fight scene and that was hard to tackle since the punches were ridiculously loud and created a lot of low end… Of course I successfully tackled it, but it certainly was a bung-fight… since I also was responsible for dubbing the music to picture too.
My workflow is kinda similar to yours, but is slightly different since I have the barrier of using a notation software (MuseScore 4)… I just put down what I feel if that makes sense?
I treat percussion as a last addition to my tracks, at least for the most part. I of course add necessary cymbal swells, timp rolls etc when needed to transition the cue, no idea if that’s the same for you but it is helps for me to do that last, gives me a better idea of what I want to do rhythmically.
Certainly an interesting way you work though, might give that a shot at one point.
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A coin dropped while reading this answer thank you good sir. Not sure if it was the same coin you intended, but a coin it was.
I think you are saying, watch the section of film → then stop watching the film → come up with music you think will go with the film → then see if it works → then go back to the start.
I will try this sorcery.
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