Do THIS When Writing Orchestral Metal

Here's the first tutorial of my "How To Write Orchestral Metal / Symphonic Metal" series.
It's based on my collab with @Ro Panuganti, a cover of "Birth Of A God" from Final Fantasy VII, where we tried to go for a "Periphery meets Hans Zimmer" sort of sound, made in FL Studio.
I may make more if this one does well.
It's up to you guys!
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🎻 LIBRARIES & SOFTWARE:
(For each module, the libraries are sorted based on how much I like them).
- STRINGS: Metropolis Ark 1 & 3, Nucleus, Cinematic Studio Strings, Fluid Shorts, Cinematic Strings 2, Jaeger
- BRASS: Metropolis Ark 1 & 3, JXL Brass, Nucleus, Twelve Horn Ensemble, CineBrass CORE, Century Brass, Jaeger, Angry Brass
- CHOIR: Oceania, Metropolis Ark 1, Stormchoir 2
- WOODWINDS: CineWinds CORE, Nucleus, Metropolis Ark 1 & 3
- HYBRID PERCS & LOOPS: Damage, PercX, Decimator Drums, Cerberus
- BIG CINEMATIC PERCS: Los Angeles Modern Percussion, New Epic Toms Ensemble, New Epic Dhol Ensemble, CinePerc
- ORCHESTRAL PERCS: CinePerc, Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion, Kontakt Factory Library
- PIANO: The Giant, Woodchester Piano, Spitfire LABS Soft Piano
- HARPS & OTHERS: CineHarp, Kontakt Factory Library
- SYNTHS: Juggernaut, Serum, Harmor, Jaeger, Evolution Atlantica,
- ORCHESTRAL SFX: Metropolis Ark 3, Palette Orchestral FX
- SOLO STRINGS: Tina Guo Solo Cello, Solos of the Sea, Cinematic Studio Strings Solo
- SOLO VOCALS: Jaeger, Vocalisa
- GUITARS: Basic Live Guitars & Bass routed into Waves GTR / Guitar Rig, Metropolis Ark 1, Heavyocity Atlantica
- TRAILER SFX: Custom / Private Samples, AVA Instinct, Cinematic Trailers Designed, Epic Sound Effects Quantum, Scenes From The Multiverse Vol.1, Juggernaut, Jaeger, Evolution Atlantica, AizerX Classic Trailers Toolkit, AizerX Trailer SFX Tools
- REVERB: ValhallaRoom, ValhallaShimmer
- MIXING & MASTERING: iZotope Ozone 9 Advanced, iZotope Neutron, FabFilter Pro-Q3, FL Studio Plugins
- DAW: FL Studio 20
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💻 HARDWARE & PC SPECS:
- Desktop PC: 3.7 GHz Intel Core i7 8700k / 32GB DDR4 RAM / 2TB Samsung Evo860 M.2 SSD
- Laptop PC: Asus ROG GLW752 (2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ / 16GB DDR4 RAM / 1TB Samsung Evo860 M.2 SSD)
- Audio Interface: M-Audio M-Track Plus
- MIDI Keyboard: M-Audio Keystation 49 MkIII

[AlexMoukala]

There's plenty more to talk about in this track alone. If this video does well I will definitely talk about more subjects in this one, like how we layered the guitar to the orchestra in some parts.
Also, I'm stemming the track as we speak, will upload those on Patreon in a few hours

[paletreker]

Could you maybe do a 'from scratch' symphonic metal tutorial? Or something a bit longer? I'd really like to know how to make this kind of music myself

[AeroMetalMoe]

This is good stuff, I realy wouldn't mind watching a 20+ minute video on this topic. Thanks for your insightful videos! :)

[nordic]

Bro, you are a constant inspiration for me and the reason I took my music to the next level. Awesome vid!

[AtharvaMohiteMusic]

The Baton pass Technique is so underrated For Hybrid Music /Hybrid Orchestral

[ThomasJonker]

Interesting video Alex! Didn’t even realize orchestral metal was a thing... but I love it!!

[HouseOfSWARM]

your channel is amazing. thank you so much!

[andrewwerst]

This channel is incredible. I've wanted to learn how to do all the type of composition you cover for the longest time and it wasn't until I found this channel that I really felt inspired (and empowered) to take serious action, buckle down, and learn the craft. Thank you, so very much, for sharing your experience.

[BearCozyMusic]

Alex doesn't mess around with hellos, just gets straight into the content. Keep up the good videos Alex. 👍

[abhishekmukherjee]

This is simple but so effective, thanks mate!

[erkansamc]

Alex, what kind of music education backround do you have? I wonder this . Because you can perfectly produce musics at classic, jazz, rock. And also you can create wonderful sounds with mixs and masterings in the digital programms like a sound engineer.
please make a video which explain detaily about your musical education backround for amateurs like me.
Thank you very much to this video❤❤👍

[gavinleepermusic]

Nice one Alex! I actually noticed a similar technique in Genshin Impact's "Inazuma" where there are certain moments that the woodwinds get out of the way for the main melody, and come back in right away when that melody mellows out.

[modernroyalty]

I was wondering if Alex might actually look at a periphery track for this like or example Marigold or Reptile where the entire song is filled with confounding melodies and orchestral music all across the song that Im sure he can go through and explain why it works so well and how to recreate or replicate that sort of thing

[brianbergmusic]

This advice is very true to my own, rather limited, experience. As a guitarist, I am constantly frustrated by the black-hole-of-frequencies that my instrument is to the sonorous delicacies of the orchestra (unless it's acoustic). It's a lot easier to think of the orchestra like a powermetal band's keyboardist would (constant ensemble patches and pads). The orchestra is NOT a keyboard patch.

I'm thrilled to see more trailer-core meets metal-core. It really is a beautiful collision of two worlds. Neoclassical metal is still *mostly* not classical, but it's very very fun. I'd be thrilled to see more heavy metal in the film score world.

[ninjabuck]

Music Man: "Less is more"
Me: [Throws away "Layering" tutorial]

[vinxvbbxbxb]

I am a big fan thank you you are a master!

[HarryCOBEURE]

more low mid on snare and it's perfect ^^

[deathintj]

are you going to review spitfire bbc symphonic orchestra discover?

[AshishPrinz]

Man! You're super talented! ❤️
The thing that got my attention was choir! How & what do you use to get those massive wall of voices?

[drakewheeler]

Also keep in mind the voicing of voal-ranged instruments. Mashing orchestral pieces with mid-range clarinets, trumpets, and alto saxes can disrupt a choir.