Category Archives: Technology & Tools

Audiotuts: Customizing CineBrass

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Ryan Leach

My latest tutorial for Audiotuts is now online: Customizing Cinebrass.

CineBrass is my new favorite brass library and in the tutorial I discuss the many options available for making CineBrass suit your workflow.

Check out the full tutorial here!

Use a Single Pro Tools Session for Playback

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Ryan Leach

I use Logic for writing music, but I’ve found that running video in Logic while working on a project with more than one cue can be difficult.

For one thing, in 64-bit mode Logic doesn’t let you bounce to quicktime, which is very frustrating for creating demos. But it can also be tedious to set up the video for every single cue, especially if the cut is still flexible and you’re receiving new versions. You risk having the wrong version of video in different Logic sessions, and overall are just making things complex.

To make things easier, I run a single Pro Tools session as the video host. Using MTC/MMC I set Pro Tools to slave to Logic. I have the dialogue and temp music tracks set up in Pro Tools and routed to separate inputs on my Mackie Big Knob, which allows me to turn them on or off with the push of a button.

Once a cue is ready to go, I bounce it out of Logic and import the audio file into Pro Tools, where I can mix it with dialogue and then export to quicktime. The result is also one long session with all of my cues, including older versions.

This is amazingly useful for a playback session. For example if the director stops by to see what’s new, rather than wait for every Logic session to load for each new cue you just play back everything in the Pro Tools session.

A simple idea that takes a little bit of initial set up, but once you have it up and running it makes larger projects go much smoother.

Film Scoring 101: Cue Numbering

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Ryan Leach

Welcome to the first post in a sporadic series on Film Scoring Basics, in which I will help get filmmakers and upcoming composers new to the scoring process up to speed on general introductory topics.

Today I’m going to discuss how we come up with cue numbers. Keep reading…

Lynda.com Giving Away a Copy of Pro Tools 10

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Ryan Leach

I received a press release that I thought you guys would probably be interested in:

“Lynda.com, the online learning company that teaches software and creative skills through instructional videos, is offering a chance to win a free copy of Pro Tools 10.

The company released a free course on Pro Tools 10, which covers the newest features available to users.

To celebrate, lynda.com is giving away a copy of Pro Tools 10 to one lucky winner. Interested readers can enter by visiting the online form at http://blog.lynda.com/2012/02/29/win-pro-tools-and-learn-it-for-free.

lynda.com offers a variety of other courses in the audio field—here’s just a sampling: bit.ly/lyndaaudio “

Gumroad

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Ryan Leach

I discovered a new tool last night called Gumroad which looks like it has a lot of potential for direct-to-consumer sales. In just a few easy steps you can sell a digital file to anyone with a credit card. Just upload a file and you get a direct link.

It seems like a great opportunity for selling mp3s, either of single tracks or entire soundtracks. It’s very social media friendly and has an elegant simple interface.

For example, to try it out I’m selling the soundtrack for Skinning at a special half price rate of $4.99 via this link: https://gumroad.com/l/Kzs

Gumroad takes 5% plus .30 cents, and you can set your own price to whatever you want. Check it out at gumroad.com!

Composing with Paper and Pencil

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Ryan Leach

Believe it or not, I think that one of the best ways to compose is with paper and pencil. Away from a computer, away from a piano, away from any distractions. Just me, a sheet of staff paper, a good pencil, and my imagination.

I used to hear about John Williams writing cues on airplanes and it blew my mind. How could he possibly compose without an instrument in front of him? But when you actually just try it, you find out that it’s not only easier than it sounds, it has amazing benefits. Keep reading…

Workflowy

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Ryan Leach

As a freelancer and owner of my own business, time is one of my most important resources. The more time I can focus on writing music, the better. But unfortunately there are tons of day-to-day operations to keep things running that need to be done. As a result, I am always very interested in ways to be more productive and efficient, and I imagine that many people who read my blog are as well.

I recently stumbled upon a fun and simple web app called Workflowy that I’ve really enjoyed using for about a week, so I wanted to write up a quick post to share it. Workflowy is essentially an outlining program with the bare minimum of features. What makes it better than other outlining software I’ve used is how simple and intuitive it is. Working with it is impeccably easy and once I got started I was filling it up with notes and ideas very quickly.

Here’s their introduction video:

There are a lot of ways I’ve found that it can be used:

Lists to keep track of things. Such as gear to buy, people who owe me payment, things to do
Contact sheets
Spotting notes
As an easily searchable journal
Brainstorming new projects
Taking notes while on a phone call
Outlining articles, tutorials and blog posts, such as this one.

All of that sounds pretty basic and I’m sure it isn’t blowing your mind, and you’re probably wondering what the big deal is. The point is that it’s so simple to use that you can have everything you could ever need to write down in one place, and have it incredibly organized, without it taking up your entire day just to keep it together.

Anyway, I’m having fun playing around with Workflowy. Let me know if you check it out and what you think.

Feature on the Sibelius Blog

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Ryan Leach

Thanks to a recent post I wrote in which I mentioned how I love Sibelius, Daniel Spreadbury wrote up a nice article on me for the Sibelius Blog. Thanks Daniel, and here’s to more music!

Software and Virtual Instruments in my Studio

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Ryan Leach

I am often asked by composers that are just starting out about the software and virtual instruments I use, so I thought it would be a good idea to make a simple list and briefly discuss the basic elements that I use on regular basis. Keep reading…

Premium Tuts now available on the Envato Marketplace

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Ryan Leach

The Premium (formerly known as “Plus”) tutorials that I regularly write for Audiotuts.com are now available for single purchase at the Envato Marketplace.

http://marketplace.tutsplus.com/user/rwmleach

If you’re interested in developing your skills as a composer, producer or musician please check out the tuts!