3 Genius Ideas that Make Music EPIC

Three ways Thomas Bergersen pulls off that incredible epic sound in his music.

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[ianlarsen]

A video by Ryan Leach about Thomas Bergersen's music is the crossover I needed. :)

[TomHelps]

That rule of 3 definitely applies to Hans Zimmer. Something I've always noticed in how he gets that epic feel too

[snarf]

'Epic' is the result of contrast: low to high dynamics; fast, medium and slow rhythms juxtaposed (what you named "rule of 3"); unison melodies to counterlines; pedal tones followed by chord sequences, and so on. All these contrasts give the music a sense of scale, and Thomas Bergersen is a master at creating such contrasts.

One comment about layering: it's not just any layering, it is about careful, well-justified layering and sound selection. There is a common beginner advice meme about needing to "stack the layers", but that will just result in a muddy, unfocused sound with too many overlapping elements. Despite his layering of sounds, melodic and rhythmic ideas, Thomas always maintains a fantastic sense of clarity in his mixes.

[BrockSnowMusic]

I was so excited to see this video pop up in my feed! Bergersen has helped me grow as a composer for the last 15 years of my life. I'm at the point where I can write with (way too) many instruments but it's still cohesive and balanced. I just recently wrote a piece with big orchestra, synths, organ, choir, soloist, piano, big percussion, drum set, and electric guitar. It's not the amount of instruments I'm going for, but the massive sound palette I can pull from. People have asked how I manage to do so, but in reality it's all thanks to Bergersen. He's truly a master one can learn from for the rest of their life.

Thank you for the great material, Ryan!

[DotyString]

can we also give Bergerson props for his melodic strength? his melodies are so freaking emotive.

[WadeSmithOfficial]

Fantastic video Ryan! You brilliantly analyzed Thomas Bergersen's artistic touch to his compositions flawlessly. Thank you for covering the mastermind behind epic music as this is extremely useful for those who want to do either a similar style, or even apply certain artistic ideas Bergersen uses to your own style (as you did). It's also great for those who just appreciate good music!

P.S. And thanks for the shoutout!

[fabiobadano-bad-composer]

Ryan, your channel is one of the most important resource for composer... a gold mine!

[johnmcallistermusic]

"A simple flute part ... filled in that empty pitch range." What a kernel of amazing information. I think that filling in "the empty pitch ranges" is often what separates immature and mature orchestration.

[TheCrazyLunatic]

YESSS I've been waiting for this forever! Thank you so much!

Edit: It's awesome to see a big YT channel actually recognize and analyze Thomas' work! I've never seen any videos that noticed the details like you did! Most channels completely ignore the dulce, or the "rhythmic stacking"

[IUsedToBeAnAdventurerLikeYou]

I’m a simple human. I see Thomas Bergersen, I click. His music has had such a huge impact on my life.

[francobonanni]

Beethoven's 9 th is a great example of the use of the human voice in a symphony. He treats the human voice a an instrument and there you have the magic sound. Great video Ryan. I appreciate these studies you give to us as food for our mind and heart....thank you.

[KingRCT]

Thanks for this video, Ryan! I'm a huge fan of the work of Thomas Bergersen (and so is my girlfriend - that's how we met!) so this video feels like home. And layers & orchestration are probably my favorite things about his music, and why I find other "epic" musics so bland in comparision.
I might add two elements you haven't mentionned:

- His free style and how he borrows from many, many genra and influences. For the track Starvation (album Illusions), he sampled a choir from Bulgaria (THE MYSTERY OF THE BULGARIAN VOICES). He often uses traditionnal instruments and vocalists, such as Uyanga Bold (she's so sweet! I quickly ran into her after their concert, she speaks 7 langages including french, so I was over the moon) which is a mongolian singer with a very distinct voice. But above all, while he knows the rules, he doesn't blindly follow them but rather play with them. I remember the live chat during the reveal of the album Myth - he was here, commenting along. And he made comments like "so on this one I wanted a guitar solo, so yeah". Haha!
He made tracks with rock or metal influences, dubstep, synthwave, house music... Whatever he likes.
What I especially love about his work, is that I don't like everything he makes (surprising yeah, but it makes sense). And usually new songs take time before I like them... and ending up being obsessed with them. While he has a very distinct style, he manages to stay surprising and do what he likes, not what we expect from him.

- The melodies. He's the master of eerie and haunting melodies (and counter melodies, and hidden brass lines). Often in D minor with a signature tonal "jump" somewhere in the line. And relevant modulations. Some give me chills.

[SimonGrossMusic]

I love this Video! Thomas Bergersen is my favorite Composer, seeing some analyses of his music makes me so happy^^ Would love to see more :D

[christianfortner]

Thomas Bergersen is my #1 inspiration! Thank you for the video!

[py_a_thon]

John Murphy, Bear McCreary, Clint Mansell, Phillip Glass and Hans Zimmer are some of of my favorite composers of cinematic or multimedia content in the modern or recent modern era.

Seeing an analysis of the work of others I am unfamiliar with is great.

[alsopiano]

Thank you Ryan for such an excellent video. I was actually able to apply your teachings of fullness immediately to the solo piano album I’m working on. The ascending and descending arpeggios in the introduction were thin, but I added some low, droning and sustaining notes, thinking of them as an extra complimentary track as you suggested, though it’s still a single track solo piano album. So I used your information for writing rather than multi track recording. Made the intro twice as attractive as it was. Huge advancement on such a simple yet extremely important idea. 🙏🏼

[melodicimmersion]

You nailed this! Thomas Bergersen's music is not only jaw-droppingly rich but it's so consistently huge, and you made some great points as to why and how - especially his use of vocals. I'm not sure why but he tends to release instrumental versions of his most popular songs, in case you wanted to have another try at recreating one. He literally drops the vocal tracks. But they never hit as hard, so maybe don't bother :)

[avivshuker]

Mannn i needed this video a couple of years ago 😅

Thomas Bergersen's music is one of my main influences and inspiration for making music.

I never studied music professionally,
I learned everything by myself as an hobbie that grew bigger over the years and turned into wanting to do it professionally.

A lot of the things you mentioned in this video i had to try and figure out myself..
To hear those things I've learned come from you is even a bigger approval for me.

Thank you very much for this video i hope we will see more of this in the future.

[mbaldwinlobue]

So many things came to mind when watching this...I had to go back and watch it a few times to note it all down. I'm so glad you covered TSFH and Thomas here...and that style, very dense, very intense. I've been listening to their work since their Invincible album...so quite a while now...and I was excited to hear you were making a video on them. I'm happy you clearly call out that it isn't for every track, but man if applied correctly can it really set a piece apart. Thanks very much for sharing how it is affecting your work. I really like to hear about the things you are working on and how what you are talking about in your videos, what you learn in your studies and even the feedback that you get from your audience ends up impacting how you write music yourself. Also, one of the things that really sets YOU apart is how you explain and give examples. I love the use of the EQ to help ensure that we can hear what you are talking about by filtering out many other frequencies. Not to mention the visuals which illustrate so clearly. I know that is a lot of work but that effort is, I think, a big part of why you are getting so many subscribers and views. Another great video Ryan! Happy Thanksgiving :-)

[paulthiebaut]

Awesome quick analysis of TB's music, lot's of things to draw from it thanks Ryan !