Orchestration is a crucial part to any piece of music, and in video game music especially, it will affect how one makes individual layers and stems. Orchestration is how one arranges a piece of music for specific instruments to play. This is a skill that is learned over time. Different pieces/genres of music will require different types of orchestrations. The best way to learn is by reading other’s scores and just writing your own out over time. It is important to know what the strengths and weaknesses of instruments are and how certain parts of the orchestra will interact or balance with one another.

I have learned from my instrumentation and score prep class, as well as my orchestration class, that you want instruments to compliment one another and not fight for space. I think of it as mixing a track, but you're mixing through your composition, not just with faders and pan knobs. Jim Fowler talks about combining instruments and how this can effectively increase the power of a score when done correctly. By doing this, you are making your own unique pad of sounds that adds color to your composition.

When Jim analyzed "Mars" by Holst, he focused on how the orchestration, not just the melody, conveys a sense of emotional foreboding. When analyzing the strings, we see an ostinato that creates a brittle feel. When the reeds and brass come in, it is clear to see that here, unisons can create a sense of uneasiness when used in the right instruments. Usually, unisons will create a full sense, but with these low instruments all together, the feeling is rather menacing. When he takes away the woodwinds we hear the strings and just the horns. It is still menacing but it is less heavy and a little more heroic. What’s cool is when Jim starts making the sections into stems to look at the piece through an interactive sense. The instruments keep changing between who is accompanying and who is melody. This makes it evolving and keeps us interested.

The same goes for creating layers in a game. Each layer should have engaging elements and not always repeating the same parts. In the Holst piece, when the string layer is played alone, it doesn’t work well. The same goes for when only the strings are removed. The music becomes too repetitive. However, when they are combined, we hear a repetitious motion and, at the same time, a floating melody above, both working to push us forward.

“When writing, make sure you are writing for real people," Jim Fowler said in his presentation. This is something that I think all composers must face. You can make mock-ups and cool things in midi but if someone needs to play it, it has to be playable. It is important to make stems by music function besides making stems based off of instruments. This way you can think of each part as melody, vs ostinato, vs the ‘’sweetener” and so on.

In a game, these layers can be thought of as similar parts. You can have a drone or ostinato, a melody, a percussive element, and then all other cool effects and sounds in their own layer. You should be clear in your mock ups as well as your parts for each player/ section. If you need multiple passes, be super clear in the music parts and be sure to note specific passes if needed. Anytime something is unclear, it means it will take another pass. This is so true. For my first film scoring session, I had a few uncertainties and it took us a lot more takes. For the video game scoring session, I made sure the players had more time to go over the parts and ask questions in advance. This session moved much more easily.

To wrap things up, one who will be orchestrating and composing needs to have a very open mind and ear. The goal is to have the music fulfill a purpose. You may need to change things around and study quite a bit of material. In the end, though, the time you took in orchestration, mixing and writing pays off.

PDF. This second link is to the recording, but requires an account: Video