5 Books Every Film Composer Should Own

2/18/2016

So you want to be a film composer, but you don't have the money to go to Berklee, or USC, or Pulse, or wherever. Or maybe you're already working as a composer, but you'd like some resources to go to in a time of need. These 5 books below are some of my favorite books relating to film scoring, and I still open them all from time to time just to keep that information fresh in my brain. Remember, kids, knowledge is power!

1. Complete Guide to Film Scoring by Richard Davis

Richard Davis' "Complete Guide to Film Scoring" is definitely a must-have for aspiring and active film composers alike. It goes over just about every aspect of film scoring in just enough detail to be a pretty easy read. The only downfall of this book is that it's really geared more toward working in Hollywood, which is important to know, however the industry outside of Hollywood is quite different. Overall, still a great book to have in your library.

424 pages
List: $27.99 USD
Buy it on Amazon

2. On The Track by Fred Karlin and Rayburn Wright

This is a monster of a book. Seriously, it weighs almost 4 pounds. This is by far my favorite book on film scoring because it goes over a lot of the same topics that Davis' Complete Guide does, but in a little more detail, and it has analyzed score excerpts and recommended scores to study, AND it has a foreword by John Williams! This is probably not a great book for beginners because it may be a little too much information, but every serious film composer needs this book in my opinion.

560 pages
List: $93.95 USD
Buy it on Amazon

3. Music Supervision by Ramsay Adams, David Hnatiuk, and David Weiss

This is one of the best books on music supervision I've read, and probably one of just a few on the topic that are even available. Music licensing may not be every composer's focus, but my mantra as an independent composer has always been "be ready for anything". If you want to learn about how music supervision works and how you can get into it, this is a good book to have.

245 pages
List: $21.95 USD
Buy it on Amazon

4. All You Need to Know About the Music Business by Donald S. Passman

I'm surprised I haven't recommended this book in another post already. This book isn't specifically on film scoring, but it does touch on music for visual media and in my opinion this book should be on every musician's bookshelf, film composer or not. If you want to make a living with your music, you have to know the business, and this book is THE business bible of the music industry. Stop whatever you're doing and buy this book right now if you don't already own it.

544 pages
List: $35.00 USD
Buy it on Amazon

5. The Study of Orchestration by Samuel Adler

So this book is kind of specifically for composers who write for orchestra, and in today's industry that's definitely not everybody – maybe not even most composers anymore. But if you are one of those composers who writes for orchestra, then this book is a great resource. It goes over every section and instrument of a standard orchestra, discusses techniques and how to write/orchestrate for each section, and includes score analysis and lists of scores to study for each technique.

864 pages
List: $110.00 USD
Buy it on Amazon

What's your favorite book on film scoring? Let me know in the comments below!

Some of the links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links.

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