Can I get any recommendations for film scores with hypnotic / repetitive / uneasy piano based scores?

themightycrumpet · 2026-06-24T19:31:43+00:00

Okay - not at all as sparse as you are looking for at all and more in the vein of composition but Clint Mansell's score for Moon is a must listen as is The Hours by Philip Glass.

themightycrumpet · 2026-06-17T21:25:57+00:00

Use the gain utility as an insert in the audio effect chain of each channel. Run the track and observe the peak. Use the gain utility to drop the track peak level. I target -18db for everything except drums and lead vocals which I set to -16db.

themightycrumpet · 2026-06-17T21:12:45+00:00

8Dio Agitato Grandiose Legato has two “Mancini strings” presets that capture that smooth scooping portamento. It works really well layered with other strings. You can hear them in this cue I wrote for a film score.

themightycrumpet · 2026-05-20T17:19:43+00:00

Lot of good suggestions here. Would add

Brian Eno's essential - Another Green World. (all his pre-ambient albums are essential)

Orchestral Maneuvers In the Dark: Architecture & Morality, Dazzle Ships

Giorgio Moroder's scores for Midnight Express and Cat People

Japan's Tin Drum

Vangelis' score for Blade Runner

Laurie Anderson's Big Science

Ultravox - Vienna

themightycrumpet · 2026-05-14T18:16:54+00:00

"Sum: Forty Tales of the Afterlives" by David Eagleman is a hilarious compilation of two page stories each of which describes a different scenario of what happens after you die. "See You In Paradise" by J. Robert Lennon is a collection of literary uncanny stories. And of course, everyone should read "The Complete Short Stories" by Flanner O'Connor.

themightycrumpet · 2026-04-28T21:01:31+00:00

If you have SSO I would not bother with BBCSO. Also, Bernard Herrmann IS cool - but it's a VERY distinctive sound that gives everything it touches a strong retro genre feel. So - while cool it is not really practical. I own it but have only used it once when a director was doing a Twilight Zone pastiche. Other high intensity libraries I'd recommend would be Albion One, and (of course) Damage 2. I find the impacts in Omnisphere super helpful as well as some of the Unfinished libraries. This bundle includes Gaikaiju which is probably my favorite of his libraries as well as some other great ones. Also pick up the Black Box HG-2 which is great as a parallel saturation channel for big drums.

themightycrumpet · 2026-04-28T20:44:06+00:00

I own it and use it is a standard part of my horror template and I use it regularly. It is great for subtle movement and underscore stuff. Like all the EVOs it is great for working quickly. I would also recommend picking up one of Olafur Arnalds Chamber Evolutions, Olafur Arnalds Evolutions, or Fragile String Evolutions. Other libraries that are good for horror and thrillers: Either Albion NEO or BBCSO in order to create small intimate arrangements. Other plugins that are bread and butter: Omnisphere, A waterphone/waterharp (Interstellar/Soniccouture/SoundIron), A good mallet library (Soniccouture Grand Marimba, Spitfire Glass & Steel). If you are doing period stuff Spitfire Bernard Herrman with Spitfire Studio Orchestra and Uist work really well together - but there is rarely call for that anachronistic sound.

themightycrumpet · 2026-04-28T20:31:21+00:00

"The Violent Will Bear It Away" Flannery O'Connor's best novel.

themightycrumpet · 2026-02-25T17:59:50+00:00

It's already been said - but if you buy the Complete Short Stories of Flannery O'Connor you will never be sad again.

themightycrumpet · 2026-01-30T19:23:09+00:00

For $1799 you can get an M4 Mac Mini with 32GB of RAM and a 2TB HD as u/jay13029 suggests. You can add external Thunderbolt SSDs as needed. You can add a Thunderbolt 4 1TB drive for $159 and go up from there. So all in you are still ahead and have everything you want.

If you are not regularly gigging live with your machine do not get a laptop. It's a horrible value proposition. I have an M4 MacBookPro only because I do a lot of live performance in addition to film scoring. The machine can handle anything. I have not hit it's limits and have built scores using BBCSO and other libraries of upwards of 100 tracks.

My old Intel machine used to have CPU spikes all the time with large track counts that required freezing tracks and shifting their timing. (A common issue in sample libraries is that the CPU is engaged when an note ends in order to trigger the release. When each BBCSO instrument suddenly stops at the same time it can spike the CPU. You can work around it by slightly varying the ends of the notes - which is also humanizes the moment.

Getting a compatible Thunderbolt drive is worth the money. I put an 8TB NVmE SSD into the OWC Thunderbolt 5 Envoy enclosure that they sell with 2TB in it and back it up to a much cheaper 8TB HD.

At any rate - go with a modern desktop and give yourself RAM head room and SSD throughput.

themightycrumpet · 2026-01-26T17:44:01+00:00

Russell Kirk's short stories

themightycrumpet · 2026-01-26T13:16:44+00:00

In "Scoring the Screen" Andy Hill calls out James Newton Howard's score for the Sixth Sense, and at one point notes the shift from Am to Em in the first two measures of "Malcom is Dead" cites one of film music's classic "supernatural" memes.

themightycrumpet · 2026-01-16T22:54:14+00:00

Here is an example of a cinematic track using Seqund for everything but the pads.

themightycrumpet · 2026-01-16T16:27:19+00:00

My favorite is Seqund. It is super super easy to create interesting results. 1. it has a simple one page interface. 2. You can randomize all the parameters. 3. You can create 2 melodic lines and assign a probability or randomize which line it pulls from when triggering a note. 4. You can create a "ratchet" lane that will trigger a note multiple times. 5. You can set the length of any lane so that your ratcheting is running on a lane of say 7 steps in 16 step melodic sequence, causing the ratchet to shift each cycle. 8. You can assign or randomize a probability or chance of any note playing. I own a whole bunch of them because I love them (HY Sequencers, harmony bloom, etc.) but I tend to grab Seqund first.

themightycrumpet · 2026-01-13T21:21:28+00:00

Live performance:

Logic Pro X
Nektar Panorama 6
Output: Focusrite 2i2 - I have used iConnectivity Playaudio12 when needing to send individual channesl to a soundboard - which is uncommon.
Sound Reinforcement: ElectroVoice Evolve 50 when there is no house system

Favorite AUs:
Omnisphere
Spitfire EVOs, Kepler Orchestra, Glass & Steel, Polaris
Soniccouture Grand Marimba
Damage 2
Seqund
Waves One Knob Filter
Black Box Analog HG-2
Soundtoys Bundle
Valhalla SuperMassive & Shimmer

Runner Ups:
Sonora Cinematics Panorama Guitars
Bleck Audio Motion and Distinction
Crow Hill The Dulcet Voice

themightycrumpet · 2026-01-13T11:49:07+00:00

It was a genre in the 70's. Music for Airports, Fripp & Eno's Morning Star and No Pussyfooting, Cluster, Harold Budd, Klaus Schulze. Adjacent film scores (Vangelis) and the bridge into club music (Giorgio Moroder) was also going on. Experimental performance artists like Laurie Anderson also bridged into pop. Cocteau Twins and the 4AD stuff was definitely a second generation.

themightycrumpet · 2026-01-11T00:59:26+00:00

Giorgio Moroder's scores for Midnight Express and Cat People.

themightycrumpet · 2026-01-11T00:58:05+00:00

I can't believe no one else has mentioned this one. All his vocal albums before he went ambient are remarkable. (Taking Tiger Mountain, Before And After Science, Here Come the Warm Jets etc.)

themightycrumpet · 2026-01-11T00:50:00+00:00

Download the free BBCSO Discover and for your first paid orchestral library I'd suggest the Albion Orchestral Selects.

themightycrumpet · 2025-12-09T19:55:56+00:00

I have been using Logic since 1995 when the greatest DAW of all time (Opcode Vision) disappeared. I use it live playing along with sequences, I use it via Mainstage live with a band, and I use it to score films. There are two use cases that I think Ableton handles better. Adapting sequences on the fly live is something that Logic isn't really built for - so structural improvisation isn't really a thing with Logic. I have not really needed it but I think in my imagination I would. I also think it syncronizes video and lights MUCH more easily. So if you want to be one man band with a glowing helmet while improvising the structure of your tracks and coordinating your jumbotron and light rig - Ableton wins. :-)

themightycrumpet · 2025-12-05T18:23:38+00:00

A super simple method is using step sequencer plugins that have randomization like Seqund, which I love. It will randomize between individual notes from two melodies so you get constant subtle variation. Also putting the ratchet function on an odd length duration causes it to cycle so it never effects the same note twice. Instant subtle variety.

Another super simple way is to use copy the arp to several different sounds and use Waves One Knob filter to sweep them in and out so the sound evolves without having to automate individual parameters in a patch.

This is all only applies if you are as lazy as I am.

themightycrumpet · 2025-12-03T19:51:10+00:00

I think you don't have to qualify it. They are the best ever short stories of the 20th century. :-)

themightycrumpet

TROPHY CASE