Film Orchestration - Part 7 - Brass Section 1 - Line-Up

In modern Hollywood scores, the brass section has become increasingly more important to the overall sound and to some degree the esthetics of how brass sounds in scores is sometimes closer to the sound of samples than actual real players.

With brass sections, there are two fundamentally different approaches in film scoring:

1. Record the Brass with the Orchestra tutti with natural balancing within the room

2. Record the Brass as isolated stem, potentially in an isolated session without the need to balance acoustically against the rest of the orchestra

These different approaches have different line-up considerations. If the brass section is part of a full orchestra recording and potentially recorded together with everybody else, there is a maximum line-up that makes sense from an acoustical standpoint but also considering how much physical space is available. With isolated brass recordings, you can go  way beyond these numbers. So let's break it down separately.

A normal sized Line-Up for Brass in a regular symphony orchestra would probably be something like 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones (of which one will be a Bass Trombone) and a Tuba. Big symphonic works from the late romantic period (e.g. Mahler) have seen line-ups of up to 10 Horns, 6 Trumpets, 5 Trombones and 2 Tubas but this is already relatively obscene. The problem with such line-ups are that you need to counteract the volume by increasing the rest of the orchestra as well. So with these works it is not uncommon to see more than 100 musicians on stage.

In reasonable tutti line-ups the usual maximum of Brass line-up is 8 Horns, 4 Trumpets, 4 Trombones and 1 Tuba. This is the sound we get from the big cues in Star Wars etc. Also, sections of 6 Horns are relatively common.

With isolated sessions for Brass, we get quite different numbers. It is not uncommon to see 16 Horns, 6 Trumpets, >10 Trombones and several Tubas in such line-ups. But also, we see added single instruments or ensembles of more unusual Brass instruments like Euphoniums, Wagner Tubas, Cimbassi, Bass Trumpets etc. So we might see brass line-ups which have something like 12 Horns, 6 Euphoniums, 6 Trombones, 6 Bass Trombones, 3 Cimbassi and 2 Tubas. With the entire space of the orchestra available for the brass section, it is usually not a problem to fit that many musicians.

In a theoretical world where you could record such sections together with the rest of the orchestra, they would simply blow out everybody else and it would not be possible to create any useful balance.

So the question of course is why to actually record such huge line-ups if obviously the issue of volume is taken out of the equation (as you can balance it in the mix). While the possibility to add unusual instruments changes also the color of the brass section, the more essential target is substance of sound. These huge sections create an edgyness of sound that you don't get with smaller sections and particularly in the higher dynamics create that "epic" sound that is one of the standards of today's modern film scores. It is not uncommon to see composers (and clients) dissappointed when they get their first chance to record their music with a real orchestra and realizing that "normal sized" brass sections don't sound like their sample demo.

It should be noted that this "modern Hollywood" sound for brass has a very narrow way to get to it as it is in a nutshell "London players at Air Lyndhurst/Abbey Road". You can't just cram 40 brass players anywhere in the world into any studio and expect it to sound like Hollywood. The Hollywood brass sound is created by some of the world's best players recorded in the world's best studios. Particularly small studios will easily be acoustically overloaded with that many brass players. Also, it needs players that can create this edgy fortissimo. There are other locations and other players that can get close to this sound but most of them don't come at a budget price.

From a musical standpoint, these large line-ups are usually very unisono oriented with many instruments accumulating on just a few notes to create that ensemble sound. Splitting sections into single instruments is very rare except for the occasional solo Horn or Trumpet.

The approach to this larger than life sound  is usually continued into the mix where exciters and saturation are used to create even more harmonics and to create an even more "hyped" sound profile for the orchestra.

In "traditional" brass line-ups that are supposed to perform or record with the rest of the orchestra, balancing is a much more important factor and requires more conscious decisions on how many instruments to put on which line. Also, smaller studio spaces make it way more important to be really mindful about the distribution of power in the brass section as in such spaces even relatively small brass ensembles tend to overpower the rest of the orchestra quite easily.

Besides these considerations, there are some musical factors that should inform the decision on the line-up. When putting entire sub sections in unison, more instruments make the sound louder and more substantial but the key differences happen in chordal work. So let's break down typical line-ups on their pros and cons. These are generalized and context depending but you get the idea.

Horns:

2:

• impossible to carry complete harmony on their own
• will balance nicely in small (chamber) line-ups
• need support from other sections to fill up entire chords->heterogenous chord colours
• unison can sound substantial but usually feels more like a slightly bigger solo horn, don't expect any "epic" quality

3:

• can carry entire triads on their own
• good alternative if you need to save players in medium sized line-ups and don't need epic unison lines
• unison sounds "symphonic" but not "filmic"

4:

• most common line-up, compatibility with concert orchestras
• harmony usually in close 4 part with first and fourth horn an octave apart or three part with two horns on the highest note
• should follow the tradition of horn 1/3 being high and horn 2/4 being low (more on this when talking about horns)
• unison can sound big but not epic
• even split into octave unison possible (1/3 on high octave, 2/4 on low octave)

6:

• unison sounds substantial and filmic (most common line-up for John Williams type scores)
• harmony usually three part with two players on each part
• sub-sections are possible and are distinguishable (e.g. writing passages just for three or four horns) and can create nice color contrasts or gradients
• needs a substantial string line-up to balance (14 first violins or more)

8:

• chordal writing usually identical to 4 horns just with two players on each part
• unison sounds very powerful and can become overwhelming even with big string sections

Trumpets:

1:

• Not recommended, unless for solo work. In tutti writing it will always stick out, only possible to embed it into the rest with heavy use of mutes

2:

• unison sounds quite powerful already
• can not carry entire triads on their own, need to be supported from below which can cause additional problems: if the trumpet diad is quite high up the horns might not be able to "attach below" close enough to create a close position harmony together with the trumpets
• mid/high range chords in tutti with the rest of the brass attached below work well though

3:

• standard line-up/concert orchestra compatibility
• can carry entire triads on their own->rich harmonic brillance when used (e.g. first chord in Star Wars Main Title)
• unison is substantial and can sound quite epic
• can already be too much for some rooms

4:

• quite epic unison
• needs large string line-up to balance
• needs a big space to not overload the room
• allows for "double lead" in chord writing = close position chords where 1st and 4th trumpet are an octave apart, this works very effective with trumpets and can sound quite punchy
• allows more to save the first player's stamina for very high/punchy entrances
• allows to evenly split at octave unison (see 4 horns)

Trombones:

2:

• similar than 2 trumpets, unison can sound quite substantial
• harmony would probably be in the mid register with another instrument providing the root note (Basses, Tuba if available)

3:

• Standard line-up
• 3 part harmony possible (usually in open position)
• in louder writing close position in mid register with bass note provided by another instrument
• unison powerful (but not as loud as 3 trumpets)

4:

• sometimes 3rd and 4th are Bass Trombones, more commonly only 4th is
• allows for "hybrid" position harmony (1/2 close, 3/4 open position) which fills up the range around c below middle c a bit better
• need large string line-up to balance
• unison can be massive

Tuba:

1:

• Standard Line-up
• substantial bass fundament, usually enough even for large brass line-ups
• sound has a lot of body

1/Cimbasso:

• Switch between Tuba and Cimbasso allows for more colors, Cimbasso has more biting tone but less carrying power and stands in as a Contrabass Trombone, however not every Tuba player has or can play a Cimbasso

2:

• Very "tooty" sound, can be absolutely massive in unison with trombones
• quite uncommon in traditional line-ups

These can only be rough guides and starting points for any line-up considerations for your brass ensemble.