The Guide to MIDI Orchestration 4e

This book serves as a very helpful reference book for anyone interested in scoring orchestra using MIDI. There are very helpful explanations of the different orchestral sections, and how the individual instruments within them are used. This information would be easily understood by anyone with basic music knowledge, and also help with orchestral scoring in general. Next, the book explores how to achieve realistic results using MIDI. Although technology is progressing very fast, this book is still very relevant. In fact, like most studio equipment, getting good results with less resources makes you better at using professional tools. Having the knowledge in this book will only make you better at understanding the powerful plugins available today, such as the ones being created by EastWest.

The book is not cheap, and this gave me pause for some time. I have been buying a lot of books on orchestration and composition lately, some better than others. I finally took the plunge with this one, and it is by far the best I have seen as yet. I am not finished my first read-through just yet, but I am already learning stuff about layering instrument voices and suchlike that I have not found written as clearly anywhere else.Go for it - you won't be disappointed!

I received a free item to review.Those already familiar with traditional orchestration or jazz arranging looking to move into the electronic realm can skim the early chapters on instrumentation and get right to the meat of technical setup, the specifics of sample libraries, scoring techniques and formulating a workflow for the task at hand.Musicians coming from an electronic music background looking to broaden their instrumental pallet to include digital orchestration will find Galreath’s book to be one of a small handful of worthwhile texts on the subject. As useful as it is however, I’d strongly recommend (and I think Galreath would agree) first or concurrently studying a traditional orchestration text (i.e. Adler, Kennan, Forsyth, Piston) as well as some of the better-known jazz and commercial arranging texts (i.e. Sebesky, Mancini, Israels, Corzine, Pease and Pulig (Berklee), Grove ).The challenge of many orchestration books is twofold: To separate ‘instrumentation’ – the largely static body of technical information about instrument ranges and common practice playing techniques from ‘orchestration in the whole’: Ensemble scoring techniques, musical arrangement and transcription considerations, instrumental combinations, color and timbre blending, as well as practical performance considerations.Galreath’s book attempts to cover both bases and I have to say I wish he’d spent less time on instrumentation – if only to allow for even more depth in the scoring techniques, libraries, workflow and other areas that really set this book apart.His examples lean toward ‘traditional’ orchestral techniques: clear demarcation of theme and accompaniment, divisi parts, arched dynamics. That’s musically where I’m coming from as well and I found his craft solid and well-evident – worth devoting time to study.I have to say I still feel the one ‘indispensable’ book on MIDI orchestration has yet to be written but Galreath’s can certainly vie for top honors.I also own the previous edition; the changes I can detect are mostly refinements and technical updating rather than any fundamental reorganization.

A really well-written book! I purchased it more for the technical side of things that Paul Gilreath mentions in Chapter 8 and 9. It is presented to be understood by people of many levels, and goes into great, thorough detail.

I am a Berklee Grad and I do a lot of scoring. This book is a perfect reference guide. But I bought a new copy and it’s definitely a used copy. The cover has smudges all over it and you can see where it was written in. Lame service Amazon lame service

I'm just starting to read it but so far it is great information and the format makes it very pleasing to read.

I already had 15 years using MIDI for orchestration and thought this book would have some useful tips, but it seems like I already knew most of what is in here from other sources and my own experience. This book would be useful for someone just starting out. Other than that, it's just sort of OK. A lot of the material is starting to become outdated, but it's still useful for people who know nothing at all about this craft. Unfortunately the web site for this book and author are not kept up to date, so the examples in the book can not be accessed. I have found a lot more useful information at the VI-Control forum on the internet.

The book that I was purchased was listed as a new item with used items also available. When it arrived, the cover showed obvious signs of being used. The pages within looked new, clean and crisp throughout. The binding of the back cover was torn. The book was returned.