What Does an Orchestrator Even Do?
In the olden days of film scores, a composer would have written their music out on a piano staff or two before handing this over to an orchestrator to expand the music out to the available ensemble. They might have made a few orchestration suggestions - "give this to woodwinds", "place this melody on trumpet" - but the orchestrator played a big role in a fitting the music the musicians at hand while the composer focused on the actual music.
These days, that process is quite rare outside of certain genres like musical theater. Composers are expected to produce fairly accurate mock-ups for directors and producers, thus doing most of the creative orchestration themselves. Instead, a contemporary media orchestrator works to complete what I call the "last mile" of composition. Their job is to ensure the music is actually playable by the orchestra, both idiomatically (e.g., parts fitting in their ranges and being reasonably sight-readable) and logistically (e.g., the composer wrote a 5-note string chord, but we only have three musicians), while also filling out or adding any necessary parts (for example, expanding on brass voicings, or giving the woodwinds something to do).
While the composer will work mostly in a DAW, the orchestrator will transfer their music to notation. A lot of orchestrators, including myself, are also expert copyists, ensuring the final sheet music - both score and parts - are of the highest professional quality.
An orchestrator can be an invaluable asset to your music team, saving you immense amounts of time and effort by helping get your music over the finish line and preparing it for live musicians. Below is a demonstration of various levels of orchestration and arranging.
These days, that process is quite rare outside of certain genres like musical theater. Composers are expected to produce fairly accurate mock-ups for directors and producers, thus doing most of the creative orchestration themselves. Instead, a contemporary media orchestrator works to complete what I call the "last mile" of composition. Their job is to ensure the music is actually playable by the orchestra, both idiomatically (e.g., parts fitting in their ranges and being reasonably sight-readable) and logistically (e.g., the composer wrote a 5-note string chord, but we only have three musicians), while also filling out or adding any necessary parts (for example, expanding on brass voicings, or giving the woodwinds something to do).
While the composer will work mostly in a DAW, the orchestrator will transfer their music to notation. A lot of orchestrators, including myself, are also expert copyists, ensuring the final sheet music - both score and parts - are of the highest professional quality.
An orchestrator can be an invaluable asset to your music team, saving you immense amounts of time and effort by helping get your music over the finish line and preparing it for live musicians. Below is a demonstration of various levels of orchestration and arranging.
Selected Orchestration Credits
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