Uploaded July 2017 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Note: this process is now terribly outdated :P
To celebrate 100 subscribers, I thought it might be quite interesting to have a look behind the scenes at the entire process behind my videos. So I recorded everything I did while making the video on "Freezing Kalt" and here you are!
Contents:
1) Transcribing (0:10): I didn't record the beginning of the transcription as the idea to record the process only popped in about 2 minutes into the transcription. This stage just involves listening to the original audio and writing down the individual parts that I could hear. The correct instrumentation is not entirely necessary at this point.
2) Orchestrating (2:57): Using the transcription, I start expanding upon it, adding instruments that might be suited to the atmosphere of this piece. I try to strive for varying the orchestral colour, though in some instances this can be challenging (for example here, as the atmosphere throughout asks for 'colder' colours - no heavy brass, twinkling, woodwinds and breathy etc.). At this stage, I am not worried about the score looking visually professional, but rather that the MIDI playback sounds closer to how the recording will ultimately sound.
3) Creating the Recording (8:48): I export the MIDI of the Sibelius score and import it into Cubase. I then search the EastWest sample libraries I own to find the best sounding samples for this particular piece. You might see a lot of small edits in the note lengths, which is in an effort to make the melodies sound more realistic as if the samples are incorporating phrasing by taking breaths. Once done, I export each instrument individually for the next stage.
4) Mixing the Recording (14:28): I take all of the individually exported instruments and adjust their volume, panning and reverb levels to bring out the more important melodies, create a better orchestral balance and to avoid clipping. I'll then export all of the instruments together in one file.
5) Looping the Audio (16:55): I import this file into Audacity five times and rearrange them to loop one after the other (so that the reverb from the previous loop carries over in to the next loop without some weird audio artifacts). If each loop is longer than 3 minutes or so, I only loop it three times rather than five (see "Id (Purpose)").
6) SoundCloud Recording (17:28): Here I simply reduce the number of loops down to two, with a fadeout in to the third loop, to make a free downloadable version of the recording that I then upload to SoundCloud.
7) Creating the 'Print Score' (17:58): A 'Print Score' is a term I've attached to the final professional looking scores that are ready to be printed if needed. These scores are created to look visually professional, rather than sound aurally professional through playback. I tidy up the score using some tips from Elaine Gould's book "Behind Bars" and my own general knowledge and then export it as a .pdf.
8) Recording the Sibelius Video (20:29): I open up the Sibelius 'Print Score' and drag it to the left side of my screen and stretch it to fill as much of the space as possible for the best resolution. Using OBS, I then record four loops (or two if each loop is longer than 3 minutes).
9) Recording the Cubase Video (21:01): I open up the first Cubase project, remove any obsolete keyswitch notes for EastWest (notes that change the timbre of the instrument rather than produce a sound) and then copy this out four times for four loops, drag it to the right of my screen, and record with OBS again.
10) Editing in Premiere (21:49): Using Adobe Premiere Elements 15, I pull the two videos, the final recording and the Golden Sun logo together and make the video. I'm still pretty new to Premiere, so forgive the scruffy editing! I crop the videos to fit simultaneously and then fadeout the audio as it starts its fifth loop whilst fading in the outro title. I then render and export at 1920x1080 29.97fps.
11) Thumbnail (23:16): I create this using paint.net, though I recently got Photoshop so that might possibly replace this stage! Regardless, I take a screenshot from the video, put it into paint.net, add a red border (red for orchestrations), add the Golden Sun logo, and then the text. After exporting this I'll then resize it to 800x800 to create a thumbnail for the SoundCloud upload.
12) Uploading (24:00): Does what it says on the tin - I upload the YouTube video and the SoundCloud recording and add all the little tidbits of information.
In total, excluding food breaks, this particular video took about 3 hours and 42 minutes from transcribing to finishing the upload - quite a small project compared to other videos such as "Venus Lighthouse", which I worked on over two days.
But there you go! I hope some of you find it interesting to get a little look into the process. It is quite a hefty one at that - transcribing, orchestrating, sample library recording, video editing - all good fun!
Note: this process is now terribly outdated :P
To celebrate 100 subscribers, I thought it might be quite interesting to have a look behind the scenes at the entire process behind my videos. So I recorded everything I did while making the video on "Freezing Kalt" and here you are!
Contents:
1) Transcribing (0:10): I didn't record the beginning of the transcription as the idea to record the process only popped in about 2 minutes into the transcription. This stage just involves listening to the original audio and writing down the individual parts that I could hear. The correct instrumentation is not entirely necessary at this point.
2) Orchestrating (2:57): Using the transcription, I start expanding upon it, adding instruments that might be suited to the atmosphere of this piece. I try to strive for varying the orchestral colour, though in some instances this can be challenging (for example here, as the atmosphere throughout asks for 'colder' colours - no heavy brass, twinkling, woodwinds and breathy etc.). At this stage, I am not worried about the score looking visually professional, but rather that the MIDI playback sounds closer to how the recording will ultimately sound.
3) Creating the Recording (8:48): I export the MIDI of the Sibelius score and import it into Cubase. I then search the EastWest sample libraries I own to find the best sounding samples for this particular piece. You might see a lot of small edits in the note lengths, which is in an effort to make the melodies sound more realistic as if the samples are incorporating phrasing by taking breaths. Once done, I export each instrument individually for the next stage.
4) Mixing the Recording (14:28): I take all of the individually exported instruments and adjust their volume, panning and reverb levels to bring out the more important melodies, create a better orchestral balance and to avoid clipping. I'll then export all of the instruments together in one file.
5) Looping the Audio (16:55): I import this file into Audacity five times and rearrange them to loop one after the other (so that the reverb from the previous loop carries over in to the next loop without some weird audio artifacts). If each loop is longer than 3 minutes or so, I only loop it three times rather than five (see "Id (Purpose)").
6) SoundCloud Recording (17:28): Here I simply reduce the number of loops down to two, with a fadeout in to the third loop, to make a free downloadable version of the recording that I then upload to SoundCloud.
7) Creating the 'Print Score' (17:58): A 'Print Score' is a term I've attached to the final professional looking scores that are ready to be printed if needed. These scores are created to look visually professional, rather than sound aurally professional through playback. I tidy up the score using some tips from Elaine Gould's book "Behind Bars" and my own general knowledge and then export it as a .pdf.
8) Recording the Sibelius Video (20:29): I open up the Sibelius 'Print Score' and drag it to the left side of my screen and stretch it to fill as much of the space as possible for the best resolution. Using OBS, I then record four loops (or two if each loop is longer than 3 minutes).
9) Recording the Cubase Video (21:01): I open up the first Cubase project, remove any obsolete keyswitch notes for EastWest (notes that change the timbre of the instrument rather than produce a sound) and then copy this out four times for four loops, drag it to the right of my screen, and record with OBS again.
10) Editing in Premiere (21:49): Using Adobe Premiere Elements 15, I pull the two videos, the final recording and the Golden Sun logo together and make the video. I'm still pretty new to Premiere, so forgive the scruffy editing! I crop the videos to fit simultaneously and then fadeout the audio as it starts its fifth loop whilst fading in the outro title. I then render and export at 1920x1080 29.97fps.
11) Thumbnail (23:16): I create this using paint.net, though I recently got Photoshop so that might possibly replace this stage! Regardless, I take a screenshot from the video, put it into paint.net, add a red border (red for orchestrations), add the Golden Sun logo, and then the text. After exporting this I'll then resize it to 800x800 to create a thumbnail for the SoundCloud upload.
12) Uploading (24:00): Does what it says on the tin - I upload the YouTube video and the SoundCloud recording and add all the little tidbits of information.
In total, excluding food breaks, this particular video took about 3 hours and 42 minutes from transcribing to finishing the upload - quite a small project compared to other videos such as "Venus Lighthouse", which I worked on over two days.
But there you go! I hope some of you find it interesting to get a little look into the process. It is quite a hefty one at that - transcribing, orchestrating, sample library recording, video editing - all good fun!
