The Principles of Orchestration with Eric Buchholz

Eric Buchholz is a talented composer and orchestrator who offered a glimpse into his illustratious career as well as valuable orchestration principles.

My guest today is Eric Bucholz, an extremely talented and experienced composer, orchestrator, and arranger.

Eric’s career has taken him to some incredible places such as:

• backstage at Nintendo’s E3 2011 performance of orchestral Zelda music rubbing shoulders with Shigeru Miyamoto
• touring with Evanescence
• assisting Nintendo’s national Symphony of the Goddesses concert tour
• copying and orchestrating the score to Ori and the Will of the Wisps, the sequel to the beloved indie classic.

In preparation for our conversation, Eric graciously collected his best pieces of advice for composers looking to write for the orchestra. If you’re a newcomer to the orchestra like myself, this is an excellent place to start.

Eric also walks us through the process of how the Ori score went from raw MIDI data all the way to the music stands of professional players and all the work that goes into that process.

I’m fascinated by folks who have such a command over the orchestra, and Eric certainly didn’t disappoint.

Resources from Eric

• Hero of Time
• Limit Break Audio
• Chad Seiter’s Composer Code interview
• Spitfire’s free orchestral library
• Ori and Will of the Wisps OST
• Eric’s website