Make A Sci-Fi Film Score Like Vangelis With Arturia Analog Lab | Live Electronic Music Tutorial #356

Make a Sci-Fi Film Score Like Vangelis with Arturia Analog Lab in Logic Pro X

In episode 356 of his live electronic music tutorials, Mikas steps away from his usual stock-plugin workflow to build an ambient, cinematic film score entirely with Arturia’s Analog Lab inside Logic Pro X. Inspired by the sci-fi soundtracks of Vangelis and the grand textures of Hans Zimmer, this session captures the first creative phase of a track — laying down ideas, stacking layered synth parts, and shaping a sonic landscape in real time before the full arrangement comes later.

What you’ll learn

• How to start a film score from a single evocative pad in the key of E
• Browsing and auditioning Analog Lab patches to find “happy accident” sounds worth capturing
• Layering brass, bass pads, sampled vocals, piano and strummed synths for cinematic depth
• Using reverb sends and EQ to add space and clean up the top end
• Quantizing and editing recorded MIDI to fix timing without killing the feel
• Why simplicity and one strong main theme matter more than complexity

1. Choose the right tool and start with a pad

Mikas works in headphones to avoid a feedback loop, then loads Analog Lab — part of Arturia’s V Collection, a huge library of vintage synths and multi-instrument combinations he’s owned for years. He opens a patch fittingly named “Cinemascope” and begins in the key of E, a key he finds reliably inspiring for starting a song. A simple sustained pad becomes the bed for everything that follows.

2. Find the main theme

Great film scores live or die on a memorable main line — think Star Wars, Rocky or James Bond, where two or three recurring notes define the whole piece. Mikas stresses that the goal is to find one strong idea and expand on it rather than overcomplicating things. He argues that simplicity is one of the hardest things to achieve once you’re skilled, and that music should speak to everyone, not just an educated few.

3. Record the pad in time and layer a piano

He places the pad on the timeline as a starting point — not perfectly timed yet, just enough to set the intro — and boosts its volume to let it breathe. Then he browses Analog Lab for more material, auditioning pianos and an organ to sit on top of the pad, adjusting levels when the pad sits too loud against the new layer.

4. Capture happy accidents on brass

While browsing, Mikas stumbles onto a brass patch he loves and immediately records it before the idea slips away — a core part of his flow-based process. He notices the patch’s keys vary slightly from note to note (which he wants), tweaks the note lengths, fixes a click, and adds a touch of reverb to make the part feel more dynamic. He then EQs the layer to roll off low-frequency leftovers and keep only the top end he needs.

5. Add a chunky bass pad

To push some weight underneath the arrangement, he heads into the Types and Bass categories in Analog Lab looking for a chunky bass-pad sound. After a few near-misses he lands on one he describes as beautiful, records it, and quantizes the part — then trims it to the track’s timing so the groove sits evenly instead of drifting into the middle of the bar.

6. Introduce sampled vocals and effects sends

Exploring further, Mikas discovers a bank of robotic, phrase-based vocal samples (“do you know my secret”) that add an eerie, atmospheric edge. Since the built-in effects aren’t strong enough, he routes the vocal through a bus send into Logic’s Delay Designer with a complex filtered setting, building texture rather than relying on the synth’s own processing.

7. Layer a piano melody with custom reverb

Next he adds a piano melody, but it clearly needs space, so he builds his own reverb chain — a Silver Reverb in stereo feeding into a large “grandioso” room for a full, huge ambience. He’s deliberately selective with takes here, fighting Logic’s quantize when it flattens the feel of a melody, and re-recording parts when an important first note doesn’t register.

8. Switch to a strummed Vangelis-style lead and add texture

For a more iconic sci-fi vibe, Mikas hunts for a special strummed sound reminiscent of Vangelis’ Blade Runner score, dropping the part nearly a full octave lower for extra weight. He then digs into Analog Lab’s sound-effects and ambience patches, finding a long evolving texture and a patch with an unexpected built-in percussion pattern that ties the whole piece together. With the pad, brass, bass, vocals, piano and lead layered, he has the substance and texture he wanted — the foundation of a true cinematic template.

Get the project file: This was only the idea-generation phase — the finished Logic Pro X template (with STEMS included for those without Analog Lab) lets you recreate and expand the full score. Download the template →