Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

---

After several years I have decided to do another arrangement of one of my favorite movie themes, and that is really challenging, the Star Wars theme, I am not a fan of doing covers, but there are exceptions and this theme is one of those. In 2019 I did my first version, and 5 years later I decided to do it again to see how much I have improved in my orchestration techniques with new libraries, and I like the result, at least I think it surpasses my previous version.

2019 version if you want to compare: youtube.com/watch?v=_vsoDqyyYWs

Compasiron video: youtube.com/watch?v=g1e6FHiD7dg

This has been a work of great patience and meticulous detail, in total it has taken me 5 days to do it. The 2019 version I did for the fan film Tragedy of the Chosen One, at that time I got desperate after finishing with the brass section and decided not to pay as much attention to the other sections. This time I decided to take more time to make it as detailed as possible. Besides, I have decided to do it in its entirety (the length of the Star Wars title sequence).

Midi Files: drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/198se4vi1Nb6el5vrtjTQkCJi0aO6xfyV

The technique, how did I do it?
To do it, I downloaded a midi of the Star Wars theme, then I had to adapt each track to the virtual instruments, especially cut notes, adapt the dynamics, and also separate instruments (For example, the trumpets track includes all trumpets, and I had to separate them into each individual trumpet).

Original midi (Also in the drive folder): freemidi.org/download3-19716-star-wars-main-theme--star-wars?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0unnzVlXo40uPiDvZIAc6lktSn9gH31KINzutkmR-hWOhRgg5QsUqO7hc_aem_B5Y193wVTfYHMp82puND6A

You can also transcribe from the score to your program, or find a better midi than the one I found.

DAW used: Studio One
Plugins: Fab Filter proQ for Eq, and Valhalla room for reverb (Although I didn't use much reverb this time)

Editing program: After Effects
Recording program: Obs Studio

The Libraries:

Brass:
The brasses I used to shape the theme are:
♦ Infinite Brass [Nice playability] & Beaufort brass from Orchestral Tools [Awesome soft sound, articulation based, and it has very wonderful short notes]
♦ Trailer Brass: The trombone for adding more strength to the beginning part
and "The Horde" patch for adding more bass support for the tubas

And the brasses for adding more strength and support:
♦ Pacific Brass, JunkieXL brass, Fortissimo brass (Free library by Jasper Blunk) [Fortissimo has very nice legato]
♦ Cinematic Studio Brass for a solo trumpet

Check this page, Jasper Blunk uploaded some time ago for free and amazing brass libraries:
bigcatinstruments.blogspot.com/2016/01/jasper-blunk.html

Strings:
Main strings:
♦ Pacific Ensemble Strings for Spiccato and marcato, and sometimes legato
♦ Performance Sample Vista for the legato string section
♦ Soaring Strings for supporting Vista Strings
♦ Orchestral Strings Runs from Orchestral Tools for the running string part of the end

Woodwinds:
♦ Infinite woodwinds for all woodwinds [It has very nice playability and was very easy to adapt, very good for the runs]
♦ Cinematic Studio Woodwinds for the main flute and piccolo flute [It sounds even more natural]
(I had to bounce to waveform the woodwinds part because my CPU was suffering)

Percussion:
♦ X3M Orchestral percussion for almost everything
♦ True Strike, Metropolis Ark 3 for extra timpani
♦ Cineperc for melodic percussion

Harp:
♦ Orchestral Harp from Project Sam

PC Specs:
OS: Windows 10
CPU: Ryzen 2700 Eight-core 3.2 GHz
RAM: 64Gb
Hard drives: Sample Libraries on a 2 Tb SSD
Main drive: Samsumg EVO M2 256Gb
GPU: GeForce GTX 1080

Note: I wanted to use some patches from Nucleus for the run part, but I didn't use it, however I forget to rename the tracks

For youtube:
midi, mockup, Star Wars, main title, John Williams, virtual orchestra, etc.