Tips on mixing cinematic, orchestral music for film with Brian Losch

Guest post by John Hull. This article originally appeared on Soundfly’s Flypaper

Mixing Tips for Cinematic Orchestral Music with Brian Losch [Video]

When it comes to mixing cinematic, orchestral pieces — whether written to score film, TV, and other media or just for the sake of writing ambitious, epic ensemble music — there’s no doubt that each piece comes with its own set of idiomatic peculiarities. Certainly there are norms and expectations when it comes to prepping a mix in this style, but as always, exciting things can happen when you break the rules too.

That said, one thing you’re always shooting to achieve in cinema music and audio is a sense of immersive bigness. And that can come in many forms. So we talked to Brian Losch, a pro engineer with a Grammy Award to his name and a heck of a lot more accolades than that, about how he typically sets up his mixes, what he listens for, and how he tempers the storm of a (typically) enormous amount of stems.

In modern productions, it’s not uncommon to have real and fake elements (like synths and VST instruments), and Brian is a master at finding ways to make the two sound cohesive and shake seats in theaters. In the video above, courtesy of our mixing course series, we’ll see how Brian mixes to achieve that bigness in real time.

Head over to Faders Up: Advanced Mix Techniques now to get hundreds more lessons on mixing and engineering. With Soundfly’s all-access subscription, you’ll be able to go through every course on the site at your own pace.

About Brian Losch

Brian is a Grammy Award-winning recording engineer living in Brooklyn, NY. Production credits include artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile, Jason Moran, and many others. He also does recording and post-production work for film and television and has worked on releases for the American Boychoir, ESPN Films, Discovery Channel, as well as broadcasts for the Metropolitan Opera HD, San Francisco Ballet, and the New York Philharmonic.

Check out his site for more.

Ready to Learn More About Mixing?

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Tips on mixing cinematic, orchestral music for film with Brian Losch