On The Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring by Fred Karlin and Rayburn Wright

This book is the “Behind Bars” of Film Scoring, with every detail of the process carefully considered and clearly laid out for both university students and working professionals. Though it’s even more pricey than Sam Adler’s “Study of Orchestration” listed above, I’ve heard some film orchestrators say that John William’s introduction to the book alone was worth the price. I wouldn’t go that far myself, but there’s no denying that this is really a thorough text on the subject, with numerous samples and assignments to help composers polish their skills and approaches.