Discover Volume 5

Settle into any cinema seat and music powered by Octatonics is almost inevitable—this is a set of notes that wants to tell stories. We deconstruct 6 very different octatonic orchestral cues, so you can create similar cues of your own.

(Audio below is from Section 6)

Section 1:Tutti Octatonic foundations
Section 2:Baton change foundations
Section 3:Strategies for octatonic melodic lines
Section 4:Sordino string chordless creepiness
Section 5:High impact octatonic stacks
Section 6:Epic tutti infinity progressions

Bookend Triads

Rich, melody-wrapped four voice harmony

Melodies that project. Harmonies that envelop. All compressed into a single octave, and deployable anywhere outside the very lowest range of the orchestra. Cues ranging from elven citadels, to brass chorales, to carollers in the snow, to Aston Martins and shaken martinis.

(Audio below is from Section 5 )

Section 1:Stratospheric layering with strings and winds
Section 2:Orchestrating outside bookends
Section 3:Shaping the interior: brass chorales
Section 4:Speed-write 007 mockup
Section 5:Bookends for big sounds from small ensembles

Purchase Vol 5

Purchase Vol 5

Quartal Lattices

Triad Transcending
Modular 4ths

Not only do a whole new world of possibilities open up when you start thinking in 4ths, but these are sounds that are out of reach until you do. We explore 4 very different orchestrated examples outlining the shift in thinking you need to deploy—and manage—music’s alternative lattice.

(Audio below is from Section 1)

Section 1:High winds pedal points and quartal scalesets
Section 2:Holst orchestration with quartal stamps
Section 3:Freeing up orchestral range with inversions
Section 4:Moodsetting with inverted quartal stacks

Dorian Snowlines

Adventure and immersion for fantasy world-building

It’s almost impossible to score for high fantasy without leaning on Dorian mode at some point, but there’s more to Dorian than Middle Earth. We look at how to use it to summon worlds, both mythical and modern, with five very different orchestral cues and workflows.

(Audio below is from Section 5)