Prerequisites

Now, let’s have a quick look at the basic essential list of requirements of this course.

As we want to get into the actual music part as soon as possible, we'll just go through these quickly. If there are any questions, do let us know.

Hardware

  • Powerful enough computer to allow you to record music
  • A pair of monitors or headphones - preferably high quality industry standard, as production is very important in trailer music
  • Sound card
  • Optionally: MIDI Keyboard (This will help tremendously inputting notes quickly)

Software

  • Digital Audio Workstation: Cubase, ProTools, FL Studio, Logic or anything similar that allows you to record your tracks
  • Orchestral Libraries/Plugins/Synths/: Samples and plugins that allows you to record and produce high quality music in your DAW. Check out the Recommended Sample Libraries & Plugins lecture.

Skills

Basic knowledge of music production:

  • You should know how to operate your DAW, basic use of sample libraries, how to record, add and edit tracks in your DAW, and the fundamentals of recording music on your computer. This course will not cover the very fundamentals of music production, apart from mixing tools necessary for trailer music production.
  • If you’re completely new to music production, check out our course Cinematic Music: The Essentials.

Music Theory

Not needed, but the basic knowledge can be helpful.

  • Advanced music theory knowledge is not required. We will go through harmony and chords, melody and counter-melody, chord progressions and so on, so you will get a decent basis to create trailer music from.
  • Some basic knowledge of chords, scales and pitches are highly recommended but not strictly required. We've consciously tried to avoid overly theoretical approaches as much as possible throughout the course, focusing on displaying practical techniques, and approaches that will be easy to understand even for people with little theoretical background.


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