The Guide To MIDI Orchestration

This is an excellent book and compulsory reading for anyone, at any level, who wants to compose, arrange and produce big orchestral scores for TV, movies, or is just generally interested in the subject matter. The author is highly knowledgeable and experienced, as a musician as well as a composer and orchestrator, and it is obvious that he knows well what he is talking about when he describes in detail the various characteristics of orchestral instruments. Creating a beautiful and naturally sounding instrumentation is no easy feat (I am talking from experience) and knowing what the "real thing" sounds like, and understanding physical limitations of real instruments, is essential. One area I would like to see covered in more detail, whether in a fourth edition or in the upcoming "user area" on the author's website ([...]) is a more indepth coverage of Sibelius 5. Sibelius 5 now also supports virtual instruments which makes it an absolute killer (in my personal opinion) in combination with high end libraries such as Eastwest's Symphonic Orchestra.Note for readers of this review: the forementioned "user area" (expected to be up sometime in May according to the web site) will provide updates on the material covered in the book. This should alleviate some of the concerns of other reviewers to the effect that the information on MIDI orchestra and the various libaries available, is quickly outdated.

Some content is very outdated related to software/midi (2004?) but content on orchestration is still viable. However, I believe there are likely other books that cover more of the timeless concepts related to orchestration without all the filler related to outdated MIDI instruments, samplers and software.

The Guide to MIDI Orchestration is a 700+ hardback book that explains how to achieve a great deal of realism when working with orchestral samples and MIDI. The quality of the printing and the production of the book are beyond just about anything I've seen in the music book genre--full color graphics throughout with high end, thick slick paper, and it's a hardback. Obviously, this book was produced as a reference that the reader would go back to again and again and this is exactly what I've found.This book has helped me tremendously, giving me the tools to make my MIDI orchestrations have much more realism and life. The book covers a great deal of territory (as you'd expect at 700 pages). It includes some introductory information on the orchestra and then moves into several in-depth chapters on sections of the orchestra and how they are used in orchestral music. These chapters are extremely helpful and compare very favorably to many of my full blown orchestration texts. Then, the real meat of the subject begins. Gilreath explains step by step how to set up your sequencer (DAW), how to input the individual lines, how to correct attacks, note lengths, volume levels, delays, etc. For anyone who has ever tackled this task, you know the amount of time and decisions it takes just to get the individual lines into the software. That is just the beginning of the task and Gilreathprovides an easy to follow course. He then talks about plug-ins including delays and reverb and how to use these to achieve individual instrument and section placement on a "virtual stage". As Gilreath explains, there is much more to this than just applying some reverb. Using his plug-in techniquesmade the difference in my orchestrations sounding good and sounding extremely real. Next, he describes the mix process, which also includes rendering MIDI tracks into audio, premixing if necessary and a whole set of techniques to make this last crucial step a success.The last part of the book deals with reviews of libraries. For the most part, these are much more than the typical review you'll find in a lot of magazines. They are in-depth and talk about how to use the various libraries to their fullest potential. He includes orchestral and piano libraries and there is also a chapter on using Choir libraries (which discuss the libraries themselves as well as how to write for a choir to augment theorchestra). For composers of film or game music with an emphasis on the dramatic, this is a great chapter!The book has various other perks. A great glossary and range guide, large listing of online and print references including orchestration texts, and a great index. In addition, the publisher (which is Gilreath's own company) offers a portion of their website accessible only for those with a book in front of them (the access code is a word from a particular page and thisseems to change everytime I access the site). Here I've gotten updates to the book including three new reviews of libraries that have only recently come out. I've also downloaded MIDI and audio files for some of the examples which is a real help!Gilreath's style of writing is very readable and his interest in providing updates to the book online shows the advantage that a small publisher has over a large one. I love this book and whole-heartily recommend it to anyone who works with orchestra and MIDI-film composers, game composers, students, teachers or just the hobbyist who wants to make their music sound morerealistic. A+++++!

This is an excellent book book in many ways, and a bit weak in others. On the excellent side, this book provides documented recognition for one of the growing facts of composition: no matter whether we compose punk or "classical" music, most of us have become adept at creating increasingly realistic mock-ups (and occasionally finished products) based on the computer-based sequences that we use. I became hooked on this manner of orchestrating a few years ago when Finale began to include some Garritan samples with their new upgrades. Suddenly the little General MIDI CDs of my latest scores sounded much better when I showed up for my composition lessons, and I gained a better sense of articulation and phrasing. This book recognizes that orchestrating with sequencers and samples is a new method of orchestration that combines the European tradition with the skills of audio production and digital synthesis. Morph something often enough and it becomes its own thing.As for the down side, I'm not all that bugged by the sloppy editing and the quickly out-of-date info. In my opinion, the inclusion of a section on "traditional" orchestration is unnecessary and limiting. Why bother with a section on orchestration when the subject has been done so many times before? A really interesting question is, how do orchestrations based on samples sound different from something played live? Samples sound unique, so in addition to the art of trying to make a sample-based orchestration sound like a live recording, shouldn't we also be concerned with how we can make them sound different? I liked the bit about the difference in sound quality between first and second violins. Why not also factor in odd instrumental combinations, or unusual uses of effects?I guess my main complaint is that, more often than not, when an author begins to talk about orchestration they are only referring to the European tradition and very little else. While the first 93 pages of this book are dedicated to the standard instruments of a European orchestra, only a couple of pages are dedicated to "ethnic" percussion later in the book. Frankly, I think this is appalling, though I suppose I should be used to it by now. The truly fascinating thing about sample-based composition is that one person can create convincing parts for uillean pipes, djembe, kora, gamelan, distorted electric guitar, etc. without the logistical concerns of needing to find someone who owns the instrument and plays it well enough. In addition, since orchestras are not available to most composers and are usually fairly conservative in their preferences, sample-based orchestration is just about the only place we can hear all of these instruments and their respective musical styles combined with the sound of an orchestra. Even if the author is open to a wide variety of sounds and textures and approaches to playing and composing music, this first section of the book kills it for me. There is a lot of excellent information that I can only get from a long-time professional, but the way that orchestration is defined in this book is too limiting for my taste.