Film/TV scoring books

[Nik]

Hi,

Could someone point me in the direction to some good books on composing for TV/film? I have looked on Amazon. Quite a few out there but it would be helpful if someone would care to make a recomendation?

Thanks in advance!

Nik

[Albert]

A really good one is "On The Track" by Karlin and Wright.

[Nik]

Thanks....I will check it out.

Cheers!

Nik

[Dave Martin]

For the scoring end, I'd also look for the orchestration books by Neslon Riddle, Don Sebesky and Henry Mancini.

[mdbeh]

Originally posted by Dave Martin
For the scoring end, I'd also look for the orchestration books by Neslon Riddle, Don Sebesky and Henry Mancini.

I've got all three of those. The Mancini is my favorite, in part because of the included CD. I like the Riddle book, too.

The Sebesky book... I dunno. I've definitely learned things from it--I actually bought it in high school, on advice from a teacher. But Sebesky's style hasn't aged too well to my ears. The 'CTI Sound' almost seems like kitsch to me these days.

Dave, what do you find most useful about that book? I haven't looked at it in a while, so perhaps I'm due to revisit it...

[Dave Martin]

Originally posted by mdbeh

Dave, what do you find most useful about that book? I haven't looked at it in a while, so perhaps I'm due to revisit it...

I haven't even looked at it in 20 years or more (in fact, I haven't looked at any of them in that long...); I was suggesting it because it seemed useful (if over my head) back then...

Is it the Mancinni or the Riddle book that even goes into a bit of detail about scheduling the cues so that the lead trumpe hits the highest notes early in the session rather than at the end?

[kosi]

I liked "the reel world", by Jeff Rona, many good tips and easily written.

I have the Mancini Book too, but you don't have these films anymore. It's more on arranging then on film music.
Complete guide to film scoring by Richard Davis shall be ok( friend told me)

Most problems with most books: they emphasize the good old days of real composition as an artform. This has nothing to do with todays TV world.

[Bob Olhsson]

There's a Focal Press book I haven't been able to find that's the best explanation of how to do the math I've ever seen. The thing to understand about scoring is that it's always done in a panic at the last minute.

My old film buddies tell me that most contemporary scoring really sucks because it's "ear candy" that conflicts too much with the dialog. Underscoring needs to have much thicker harmonies than a stand-alone instrumental composition would have. In fact most of the classic "sound track" albums were rewritten to sound better without dialog since the musicians' union was going to make the labels pay for another session anyways.