LATEST: HOW DOES A STUDIO SURVIVE A WILDFIRE?
LATEST: HOW DOES A STUDIO SURVIVE A WILDFIRE?
Richard Gibbs has scored over 60 films and grossed $1bn+ at the box office, but his studio - which plays host to legendary musicians like Barabara Streisand, Coldplay, The Rza & Tom Petty - was almost lost in the 2018 Woolsey fire.
Richard Gibbs has scored over 60 films and grossed $1bn+ at the box office, but his studio - which plays host to legendary musicians like Barabara Streisand, Coldplay, The Rza & Tom Petty - was almost lost in the 2018 Woolsey fire.
Masterclasses and real-world advice on film, TV and game scoring from a whole range of industry professionals, including Hans Zimmer, Ólafur Arnalds and Spitfire Audio composers – all for FREE.
Explore masterclasses and advice on film, TV and game scoring from a whole range of industry pros, including Hans Zimmer, Ólafur Arnalds and the Spitfire Audio composers – all for FREE.
Academy brings together the most popular educational videos from the Spitfire Audio family – masterclasses that have amassed almost 10 million views. It is also where you’ll find brand new education videos appearing regularly.
The Academy brings together the most popular educational videos from the Spitfire Audio family – masterclasses that have amassed almost 10 million views. It is also where you’ll find brand new education videos appearing regularly.
CREATIVE CRIBS: THE SECRETS OF A-LIST COMPOSERS
CREATIVE CRIBS: THE SECRETS OF A-LIST COMPOSERS
Look inside the studios, minds and processes of successful film composers
We visit GRAMMY-nominated Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds in his studio.
The rooms, the mics, the history!
We visit East London to talk to 'Line of Duty' composer Carly Paradis
The super-producer behind Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars and Harry Styles
John Powell shows us where he creates his scores
Christian visits 'Mowgli' composer Nitin Sawhney at his South London studio
'The Martian' composer Harry Gregson-Williams walks us around his studio
See inside 'Spiderman' composer Daniel Pemberton's Studio
'True Blood' composer Nathan Barr gives a very special tour of his one-of-a-kind studio
Oliver traveled to LA to visit 'The Greatest Showman' composer, Joseph Trapanese
Oscar winning 'Mamma Mia 2' composer Anne Dudley on embracing technology, pianos, pencils and paper
TV composer Andy Gray walks us through his oasis of vintage gear on the sunny Isle Of Wight
The Scottish composer talks us through his workflow
LATEST VIDEOS
LATEST VIDEOS
Discover the latest content created by the Spitfire Audio Academy team
Composing Trends of 2021
Paul, Christian, Kris Bowers and Emily Bear take a look back at their favourite soundtracks from 2021
The Pros and Cons of Lockdown
Four Composers and Engineers share how they handled the pandemic
Recording at Abbey Road Studios
Take a seat inside one of the most famous rooms in the world
From LA to London with Emily Bear
Grammy-nominated Emily Bear composes a track with 5 musicians - entirely remotely!
Behind the Scenes: Making Small Ensembles BIG
Lucie shows how she turned four players into twenty
Top Tips For Aspiring Composers
Paul shares his composing wisdom with the runners up from the Stargirl Scoring Competition
QUICK TIPS
Pick up useful new techniques and tricks in under fifteen minutes
How liberal super deep and subliminal bottom end can add emotion to your scores
Homay takes you through some tips and tricks in Logic which she wishes she had known earlier
Paul shares some thoughts about how to approach creating successful music for commercials
Oliver utilises the epic Hans Zimmer Percussion library
Jake Jackson demonstrates how to add a realistic edge to your orchestral samples
Three tips you can take away from the first eight bars of this incredible piece
Christian demonstrates how to create successful production music in this latest Quick Tip
Christian shows us a new way to use evolutions
Christian shows us one classic and three slightly more unexpected uses for reverb
Taylor Stewart demonstrates how he uses the Folktek Resonant Garden
STEP-BY-STEP TECHNIQUES
In-depth advice to help you improve as a composer
The Ultimate Orchestral Expression Controller?
The second most important tool we use in orchestral programming…. the expression controller
10 Golden Rules Of Orchestral Programming
Christian's 10 golden rules for programming realistic-sounding orchestral music
Composing For Choir With Eric Whitacre
Grammy-winning composer & conductor Eric Whitacre shares how he approaches composing for choir
How To Achieve More Realism with Note Velocities
A dive into some useful info on note velocity programming and how to get more realistic results
How To Write Music (If You Can't Read It?)
Christian demonstrates the transformative power of live musicians
Simple Tricks For A More Vibey Virtual Orchestra
How Paul creates a dark and compelling soundworld with just a few simple parts
Short Notes: How To Get The Most From Them
Paul discusses how you can add some movement to a long flowing line with subtle use of short notes
If I Had ONE Piece Of Advice...
Christian's single most important piece of advice to aspiring or struggling media composers
How To Program Realistic Sounding Strings Pt 1
How to avoid various programming pit falls, rabbit holes and cul-de-sacs
How To Program Realistic Sounding Strings Pt 2
Christian continues programming realistic strings
Ólafur Arnalds breaks down 'Loom (ft. Bonobo)'
Ólafur Arnalds breaks down his Grammy-nominated track 'Loom (feat. Bonobo)'
The Best Ways To Voice Strings
Paul shows the options for laying out the voices in a string section
Orchestral Programming Day One
Christian tries to allay fears about writing orchestral music
Orchestral Programming Day Two
Christian is back to discuss the next steps in orchestral programming
Orchestral Programming Day Three
How to prepare for an orchestral recording session
The Secret To Orchestral Programming
A fundamental lesson for improving your orchestral programming with expression and emotion
How To Make Samples Sound Authentic
Oliver shares the methods he uses to make samples sound authentic when composing
Cinematic Drum Programming
Overcome impostor syndrome and creating outstanding cinematic drum compositions
How To Work With Musicians Remotely
The root purpose of the original Spitfire project - to connect composers and musicians
Scoring To Picture: Day One
Christian demonstrates how to approach scoring to picture
MOST POPULAR
Masterclasses and insights from the Pros
Watch an orchestral session IN REAL TIME
Christian joins Paul in his newly completed home studio 'The Bullbarn'
From The Vaults: Behind the scenes of Hans Zimmer Percussion
A rare insight into the workings of some of Hollywood's A-list film composers
Ólafur talks us through his outboard gear, his methods and his philosophy
Composing in the style of...
How to sound like your favourite scores
Louis demonstrates how to create momentum in your scores
Dan builds a percussion-heavy composition inspired by Ludwig Göransson
Louis is inspired by Nobuo Uematsu's iconic score
Dan shows us how to achieve the Hans Zimmer 'Interstellar' sound
Oliver takes us through a composition inspired by composer Gustavo Santaolalla
We spoke to the composers' behind the soundtrack of Ubisoft's 'Assassin's Creed Odyssey'
Oliver writes a piece inspired by Hildur Guðnadóttir's multi-award winning score for Todd Phillips' 'Joker'
Dan composes a piece inspired by Danny Elfman's score for 'Edward Scissorhands'
Paul looks at Elmer Bernstein's re-arrangement of Herrmann's original 1962 score to the film Cape Fear
Three great tips you can use from the great Jerry Goldsmith’s score to 'Basic Instinct'
SCORE BREAKDOWNS BY TOP COMPOSERS
How the best in the business wrote the music for your favourite films and TV shows
Jeff Russo talks about his opening cue for 'Star Trek: Discovery'
Adam Taylor explains and demonstrates how he composed the soundtrack for this dystopian world
Nitin talks through a cue for Netflix's feature, 'Mowgli'
Join Ronit Kirchman, composer of 'The Sinner', to talk through a key scene from the show
Carlos Rafael Rivera shows us his process for developing a sketch into a full orchestral score
Pinar Toprak shows how she scored a scene from DC's 'Stargirl', sharing some of her scoring tips
Composer Charlie Clouser breaks down one of the climactic scenes from the movie 'Spiral: From the Book of Saw'
THE BUSINESS END
Getting started, getting work, getting paid!
Series Composer, Segun Akinola, talks about leading a team
Christian discusses how you can make a living from composing
Hear from a Composer's Agency on how to get work as a composer
Christian has a candid conversation about his experience as a composer
THE 12 golden rules on becoming a composers assistant
Jon Opstad, walks us through how he broke into media composition
1/3 'Factual Entertainment' is arguably one of the most profitable areas of media composition
2/3 Giving you the opportunity to get some real life experience of writing to picture
3/3 Christian offers out compositional duties to students at Edinburgh college
Is it possible to become a successful composer later in life?
Trevor Morris & Dru Masters talk to Paul Thomson & Christian Henson
GETTING THE PERFECT SOUND
Sound advice to improve your recording, mixing and mastering
The Reverb World Cup
Christian and Jake Jackson put a selection of reverbs to the test in this in-depth episode
How To Prepare A Pro Tools Session For A Recording
Oliver takes us through how you can prepare a Pro Tools session for recording
The Recording of Robin Hood
Joseph Trapanese shows how the arrangement of the orchestra was constructed
How To Make Your Garden Shed Sound Good
Can Christian and Yellow Technology make the shed an acoustically sound environment?
Professional Mixing - How Much Does It Improve Your Music?
Goetz Botzenhardt joins Christian to discuss how professional mixing can enhance your music
Which Budget Mic Should I Buy For Home Recording?
In this video we take a look at seven great choices for recording at home
Why Are Synths So Difficult To Mix?
Do you find synths difficult to mix?
Time Alignment - The Lost Secret Sauce?
Christian discusses how you can use time alignment to improve your compositions
Mixing and Mastering Your Music
Paul and Jake Jackson share an introduction to mixing and mastering
Make A Sample Library In A Day
The Spitfire team challenged themselves to create a sample library in a day
FROM THE VAULTS: Recording Hans Zimmer Percussion
Recording engineer Geoff Foster recounts the process of recording HZ Percussion
Comparing Mixes in Hans Zimmer Percussion Professional
Paul talks through his composition for the BBC show 'The Interceptor'
Mix Masterclass with Jake Jackson
Jake Jackson and Christian present a mixing masterclass on Solo Strings
orchestral programming
Christian demystifies the process of writing for an orchestra
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using spitfire audio libraries
How to get the most from your Spitfire Audio libraries
Composing Your First Film Cue
Homay guides you through writing a film cue using BBCSO Discover
How to Get Started with Albion One
Dan Keen shows us how to avoid that all-too-common blank-screen syndrome with this step-by-step scoring session
How To Win Pitches and Get Noticed
Christian focuses on vision and originality when pitching for composing work
Start Your Scoring Journey
Homay takes us through her latest demo written using libraries from our Originals series
How To Use Electric Guitars In Orchestral Music
Christian takes us through how to use electric guitar in your orchestral music
The Iconic Sound Of Cinema
Oliver takes a brief look at the iconic history of Abbey Road's Studio One
Adding Bite To Your Composition
Oliver takes us through writing music for a chase scene
INSPIRING STORIES
Insights, wisdom and behind-the-scenes films from across the composing community
Christian visits the factory of master piano makers, Schimmel, in Germany to learn how pianos are made
Alfa Mist’s journey as he collaborates with the LCO to re-imagine his track ‘Confliction’
Suzanne Ciani gives an in-depth demonstration of how she composes using the Buchla 200e
Lucie, Oli and Dan discuss scoring cinematic trailers, storytelling with music and compare writing styles
From The vaults: Behind the scenes at the creation of Hans Zimmer Percussion
Christian takes a trip to his favourite Loudspeaker company for a special tour
composing with strings
Level up your string arrangements
How to avoid various programming pit falls, rabbit holes and cul-de-sacs
Christian continues programming realistic strings, featuring another live composition session
Oliver shows us how to compose music for a string quartet
Paul shows the options for laying out the voices in a string section
Homay demonstrates how to build tension in your compositions
FREE SCORING TOOLS
Inspiring instruments to get you started
FREE SCORING TOOLS
Inspiring instruments to get you started
#OneOrchestra
Experience our incredible BBC Symphony Orchestra range
How to Create Emotive Melodies
Louis Rugg takes us through his Ennio Morricone inspired score
Writing Fantasy Music
Homay breaks down her stunning Fantasy piece, 'Sadie's Waltz', written using BBC Symphony Orchestra Professional
Writing In The Style Of Resident Evil
Louis Rugg shows how to pair piano with BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover
How To Create Amazing Orchestral Mockups
Louis Rugg sits down with Lead Developer Luke Olney to break down his highly popular demo 'Man's Best Friend'
Exploring Theme with BBCSO Core
Louis Rugg explores theme by drawing inspiration from renowned video game composer Nobuo Uematsu
Writing Music Using FREE Samples in Real-time
Dan Keen sets a timer for 45 minutes to see how easy it is to write using only BBCSO Discover
Can Anyone Create Orchestral Music?
Christian transforms Erik Satie's famous 'Gnossienne No. 1' into an orchestral piece
BY GENRE
How to compose in a variety of styles
Homay shares the process behind her music for the Ólafur Arnalds Stratus trailer
Lucie channels Björk and Sigur Rós to compose an Icelandic-inspired piece
In a special spooky video, Louis shows us how to write music for horror scenes
Dan takes us through his stunning composition 'A Strange New World'