Vol 3-5: Cinematic spices

Harmonic ingredients that add the magic

Examples of spices

Vol 3,4 & 5 include detailed walkthroughs of all the examples on this page, plus another 30 examples not listed here.

All examples below recorded using readily available orchestral sample libraries, with a minimum of added channel/bus fx—these recipes do not depend on sound engineering smarts for their sound.

examples of Octatonic Swatches

examples of Bookend Triads

examples of Dislocated Tethering

examples of Harmonic Splats

examples of Elevated Majors

examples of Lydian Terraces

examples of Sidecar 5ths

Manipulate emotions. Summon worlds.

Manipulate emotions.

Summon worlds.

Break out of your harmonic comfort zone

You’ve heard these tricks in countless film and game scores—see the techniques unpacked, with multiple orchestrated examples.

Packed with usage ideas & examples

Smash writer’s block and broaden your harmonic vocabulary. Disarmingly clear guides to complex topics, from a music education specialist.

New format: fully narrated videos

8 hours of videos across three volumes, with loads of fresh musical examples to explore, in a brisk, fully narrated format.

All MIDI files included (Vol 4 & 5 only)

For your own sandbox experiments— import straight to your DAW or notation program, and start tinkering. (Volume 4 & 5 only)

examples of Augmented Wormholes

examples of Serial Parallel 5ths

examples of Quartal Lattices

examples of Bisected 10ths

examples of Contrails

examples of Dorian Snowlines

Break out of your harmonic comfort zone

You’ve heard these tricks in countless film and game scores—see them unpacked, with multiple examples for how to orchestrate each technique.

Example-packed, fully narrated videos

More than 2 hours of walkthroughs and illustrations in each volume, with loads of fresh musical examples to explore, in a brisk, fully narrated format.

Transformations for your own orchestrations

Work with the example orchestrations, or use the spices to transform orchestrations of your own.

Download MIDI files and experiment (Vol 4 only)

For your own sandbox experiments—MIDI files are included for every example in Volume 4, so you can import straight to your DAW or notation program.

Manipulate emotions. Summon worlds.

Manipulate emotions. Summon worlds.

Break out of your harmonic comfort zone

You’ve heard these tricks in countless film and game scores—see them unpacked, with multiple examples for how to orchestrate each technique.

Example-packed, fully narrated videos

More than 2 hours of walkthroughs and illustrations in each volume, with loads of fresh musical examples to explore, in a brisk, fully narrated format.

Transformations for your own orchestrations

Work with the example orchestrations, or use the spices to transform orchestrations of your own.

Download MIDI files and experiment (Vol 4 only)

For your own sandbox experiments—MIDI files are included for every example in Volume 4, so you can import straight to your DAW or notation program.

Break out of your harmonic comfort zone

You’ve heard these tricks in countless film and game scores—see them unpacked, with multiple examples for how to orchestrate each technique.

New format: fully narrated videos

5 hours of videos across two volumes, with loads of fresh musical examples to explore, in a brisk, fully narrated format.

Packed with usage ideas & examples

Smash writer’s block and broaden your harmonic vocabulary. Disarmingly clear guides to complex topics, from a music education specialist.

Download MIDI & experiment (Vol 4 only)

For your own sandbox experiments—import straight into your DAW or notation program, and start tinkering. (Volume 4 only)

examples of Augmented Wormholes

examples of Serial Parallel 5ths

examples of Bisected 10ths

examples of Contrails

Vol 1 & 2: Recipes

Instrumental combinations that work

Vol 1 & 2: Recipes

Instrumental combinations that work.

Example intro videos

Recipes also include detailed PDF desk references, scores and MIDI files.

Included in every recipe:

Video for quick walkthrough

Start with an overview: hear examples of the finished orchestration, quickly see how to recreate it.

Written guide for detail

Go deeper: PDF desk reference gives detailed notes for every step. Keep it handy as a cheat sheet as you compose.

Scores for reference

Reverse engineer: concert pitch scores lay bare every note—for study, mockups, or checking transcriptions.

MIDI for your own experiments

Learn by tinkering: import straight to your DAW or notation program. Cubase, Logic Pro, Studio One, Dorico, Sibelius, StaffPad, Musescore…. whatever you use.

Video for quick walkthrough

Start with an overview: hear examples of the finished orchestration, quickly see how to recreate it.

Written guide for deep-dive detail

Fine tune: go deeper into every step with the PDF desk reference.

Scores for reference

Reverse engineer: Full scores lay bare every note—for study, mockups, or checking your transcriptions.

MIDI for your experiments

Learn by tinkering: import straight to your DAW or notation program. Cubase, Logic Pro, Studio One, Dorico, Sibelius, StaffPad, Musescore…. whatever you use.

Inspiration for whatever library you have

Discover fresh possibilities in your libraries. VSL. Spitfire. Cinematic Studio Series. Orchestral Tools. Cinesamples…it doesn’t matter. As long as you have woodwinds, brass, percussion, choir & strings, you’re good to go.

Inspiration for whatever library you have

Discover fresh possibilities in your libraries. VSL. Spitfire. Cinematic Studio Series. Orchestral Tools. Cinesamples…it doesn’t matter. As long as you have woodwinds, brass, percussion, choir & strings, you’re good to go.

More example videos

Recipes also include detailed PDF desk references, scores and MIDI files.

Start cooking

Volume 1

Recipes 1-21
The original collection

Volume 2

Recipes 22-42
Emotions & scenes

Volume 3

Spices 1-6
Cinematic harmonies

Volume 4

Spices 7-10
Cinematic harmonies

Volume 5

Spices 11-14
*NEW* The biggest volume yet

The Icon Project

Super clear icons for
orchestral templates

About the Orchestration Recipes Chef

Philip Johnston is one of music education’s best selling authors, known for presenting complex ideas in simple, engaging formats. Classically trained, he has a Masters Degree in Music from Indiana University and has recorded for Warner Music as a pianist/composer.

Philip has been working with orchestral sample libraries since the Gigastudio days. (You can still hear some of Philip’s Gigastudio demos at VSL’s website—created in 2003 on a PC that has worse specs than your phone…it’s all about the recipes, not the gear)

Email Philip