Composing / Arranging / Songwriting

Like any way to make a living, library music has its pitfalls. We help you look out for some of the biggest!

Brass and horns ignite the fire at the heart of the orchestra.

Scoring a huge ad campaign in four days is no mean feat, especially when you have to record live musicians.

There’s a lot of money to be made writing music for movie trailers — so you have to be good. Have you got what it takes?

Creative woodwind writing is the orchestral arranger’s secret weapon.

A trailer can make or break a blockbuster movie, and the choice of music can make or break a trailer. Chances are that music will be library music...

This often-overlooked orchestral family holds the key to a wide range of exciting tonal colours.

Success in the library music world is partly about who you know — so get out there and get to know people!

Familiarity with a few common articulations is the key to successful MIDI string arranging.

How can you ensure that your library music hits the spot? What better way to find out than to ask the people who buy it!

Adding strings to an arrangement is a great way to inject motion into your music.

Blockbuster video game Horizon Zero Dawn took six years to make, and required its three composers to invent an entirely new sound world.

Successful library music writers are efficient, productive and reliable as well as musical — all skills you can develop too.

Our major new series explains how to harness the power of today’s virtual orchestral instruments.

We saw last month that library music can provide composers with a good income. This month, we explain how that income is generated.

Production music is rarely glamorous, but it can be very lucrative. In the first of a major new series, we explain how to get your foot in the door.

Cult TV series Stranger Things has become essential viewing — and essential listening. We talk to the previously unknown composers behind its hit soundtrack.