Customer Reviews

Acoustic and MIDI Orchestration for the Contemporary Composer: A Practical Guide to Writing and Sequencing for the Studio Orchestra

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wrote a detailed review a couple of weeks ago that gave this book a three star rating. It was not vulgar or inappropriate in any way, yet it was completely deleted. However, I just received an email from Amazon soliciting my opinion once again!

In short, the book has some decent information on sequencing techniques, though some of it just demonstrates a firm grasp of the obvious, i.e., "use controller messages to add expression" and other similar gems.

The orchestration part of the book covers the rhythm section (don't over quantize) as well as the various sections of the orchestra and how to sequence those instruments realistically. The book does not cover how to combine instruments from the various sections. Stings + woodwinds anyone? You will have to look elsewhere for that type of information.

Recommended for beginners.

This is a good book, easy to digest yet surprisingly thorough.

However, be warned. The otherwise awesome kindle edition is lacking the critical audio examples that you get when buying the printed version.

Why? I don't know. The kindle can handle audio files. Or the publisher could make the examples available on their web site.

But neither option is available. Which ruins an otherwise great read, since you'll be zooming along learning about this or that intonation -- and then the author will say "check out this sample track on the CD" -- but, woops, no audio samples are available on the kindle. I'll bet all the examples would take less than 2 or 3 MB of space as MP3 files, which would be fine. I hope Amazon or the publisher corrects this error.

Luckily, I was able to get ahold of the author himself and he helped me connect with the samples. But that's just crazy! Cool of him. Bad on Amazon!

A great book for beginners and intermediate orchestrator enthusiasts who wishes to sequence their scores in the computer. Provides a pretty technical explanation of using sample libraries and the way to actually sequence different sections of the orchestra.

A very good blend of traditional and modern orchestration insights. Book is very well organized in addressing different needs of modern day orchestration using computers.

I would recommend this book for any budding composer or orchestrator who wishes to create a mock-up of the orchestral piece...

I ordered this book in great anticipation to find lots of technical details as to MIDI composition. However, the book appears to be mainly intended for students who are at their beginning trials (or little beyond) of computer composition. Though good at that level, and containing lots of very useful information and tips, the book does not go into the techniques, and their illustration, far enough. Many of the suggestions remain just that, without showing specific work. Ditto with techniques. "Use CCx for situation y" but, although sometimes graphically shown, many times the narative is not developed into thorough presentation. In other words, I would have desired (much) more analysis and examples.

Then, there's too much introduction to traditional instruments, occupying quite a hefty chunk of the book. When creating a book of this nature, one would expect that the reader be beyond elementary stages. After all, orchestration is a capstone discipline. Evidently, one must know the ins and outs of traditional orchestration in order to procede to the next level. The authors mention this, so I won't dwell on it. In my experience, the composer who uses a computer to realise his/her musical ideas, struggles mostly with less than perfect samples, which behave differently when in combination with other samples than when are sounded only by themselves. For example, no matter how good a violin section sample may be, when put together with viola section samples it will behave differently. I know, books that fully render MIDI composition experience can be of interminable dimentions. However, more extensive books are very much needed, and I am sure that readers would copiously benefit from the present book's authors' vast experience. I also realise that such books will be more expensive than this one. Oh well, the cost of acquiring skills has never been an inexpensive endeavor.

Thanks for reading, John.

This book is great, I'm not through it yet, I don't think that it is completely approperiate for the complete novice, but if you already have background in orchestration and some midi knowledge, you will find it really helpful.

Thanks to Andrea Perjolo and Richard DeRosa. This book is extremely helpful to the computer musician/producer who wants to learn how to make his MIDI productions shine.

The chapters are separated by orchestral sections, and detailed guidelines are provided for each, in terms of sequencing, arranging, applying effects, etc., with many examples provided so you can see and hear what is being discussed.

The book is very comprehensive, as I would expect from professors from Juliard and Berklee.

I was not prepared, when I first read this book, however.

After I finished it the first time, I had to go back and completely review everything I could about the MIDI features/capabilities/procedures of my MIDI interface, and of my DAW.

What I mean is that I could understand the MIDI concepts and functions that the authors were outlining and I could follow along adequately, but I had to do a significant amount of review to get to the point where I was able to implement these very useful guidelines and recommendations on my specific MIDI controller/DAW.

I also learned about what features to look for in sample libraries, samplers, and synthesizers.

On my second pass throough the book, I was actually prepared to work through the exercises.

A bit ascheptic before buying this book (because of the title) and been completely surprised after making a first fast-read. The authors are able to expose from a bit review of instrumentation (instrument ranges, zones where the players can or not to play comfortably, those where an instrument sounds brighter, etc) to a comprehensive tips&tricks about how to make a good mix with software instruments. Who decides what is a "good" mix? Well, these tips are the result of the author experience and they provide enough information to allow the reader when modify their suggestions. This is not a mixing tutorial, but a tool to make more realist your compositions thanks to using properly all the available midi parameters.

A good book for those who have some classical studies and didn't have time to experiment deeply in midi orchestration.

This is definitely a book that deserves 5 stars. The information present is great, and the book does not need any editing. There are some other books that might on music composition that were published before MIDI was even a standard, and some authors have written books both on orchestration and arranging both before and after the adoption of MIDI. Some of these books are also very good, but like most people, and probably even more so, musicians are limited by their financial resources, so if you want to invest in only one book of this nature, this would be a very good one to choose.

I have not finished reading this book yet, but after reading a few pages from the midi sequencing sections for different instruments I'm pretty convinced that this is the book for a guy like me with beginner/intermediate skills. Absolutely practical information in simple and straightforward language.
If the DVD had videos rather than just audio, it would have been a major plus. However, Im so satisfied with the contents of the book that the DVD is just a bonus for me.

Ihave two books wtitten by Andrea Pejrolo and both for me are
the best. In these books I find everything Ineed,everything Iwant.
Thank for it and I wait next books.


Valeri