Chords Film Composers use for the HOLLYWOOD SOUND

How to use Chords by 3rds, aka chromatic mediant chords. 😬Mistakes I Made Learning To Write Music Chromatic mediant chords are an easy way to use non-functional harmony to create powerful emotional effects. We’ll put the music theory to actual practical use by looking at short examples of moving between different major and minor chord relationships. Enhance moods, make your chords sound “more major” or “more minor”, and use the harmonic technique that you hear all over film, TV and video game soundtracks! Using chords with roots a third apart is a great step towards broader non-diatonic harmony. I first heard about this trick from Scott Smalley at a film scoring orchestration workshop in LA, but I’ve since seen it talked about many times, including in the book Hollywood Harmony: Musical Wonder and the Sound of Cinema by Frank Lehman. 🥳 Check out my new course Pillars of Composition! 🚀 LINKS 🏛 My new composition course ➔ 📫 Join my newsletter for updates and more ➔ 🎼 Early access, exclusive content and more on Patreon ➔ ☕️ Buy me a coffee ➔ 🎓 Private lessons ➔ _____________________________________ FOR MUSICIANS 🎶 ScoreClub - *OUTSTANDING* composition courses including “Orchestrating the Line” which completely changed my approach to writing music. Master the Score 🎻 20th Century Orchestral Writing - 🎚 Mixing Cinematic Music - 💥 Hybrid Orchestral Composition and Sound - 🤖 Syntorial - The ABSOLUTE BEST way to learn how to use a synthesizer. It makes learning how to program a synth feel like a video game! 🎵 Sound Stripe Where I get my background music (awesome for YouTubers). STAY IN TOUCH 🤖Come join us on DISCORD! 🌍 Website — ✉️ email — ryanleachmusic at GEAR I USE EVERY DAY 🎹 M-Audio Keystation 61 MK3 🖥 LG 34” UltraWide Monitors ⌨️ Logitech MX Keys Keyboard 🖲Kensington Expert Wireless Trackball Mouse 🎧 Apple AirPods Max ________ PS: Some links may be affiliate links which I receive a small kickback at no extra cost to you. Stock footage provided by Videvo, JulienTromeur, and Mark Schellenberg, downloaded from Photos courtesy of Unsplash, special thanks to Annie Spratt. Icon made by iconixar from TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:39 What are Chords by 3rds? 2:01 “More major, more minor“ 3:08 Major to Major 1 3:52 Major to Major 2 4:25 Major to Minor 5:36 Minor to Minor 6:27 Minor to Major 7:17 Final thoughts
Back to Top