My FL Studio Template for Orchestral Music
Every time I start an orchestral project, I load the same template. It took me months of tweaking to get right, so here's the full breakdown - routing, buses, plugins, and the logic behind each decision.
The Mixer Bus Structure
I route everything into four main buses before the master:
- Strings Bus - all string sections (violins I/II, violas, cellos, basses)
- Brass/Winds Bus - horns, trumpets, woodwinds
- Percussion Bus - timpani, cymbals, orchestral perc
- Synth/Pad Bus - any electronic layers or atmospheric pads
Each bus gets its own EQ and compression before hitting the master. This gives me group-level control without touching individual tracks.
Plugin Chain per Bus
Here's what sits on each bus:
Strings
- Pro-Q 3 - high-pass at 80Hz, tame 2-4kHz harshness
- Pro-C 2 - gentle glue compression (2:1, slow attack)
- Valhalla Room - hall reverb send (not insert)
Brass/Winds
- Pro-Q 3 - high-pass at 100Hz, scoop mud around 300Hz
- Pro-C 2 - tighter ratio for dynamics control
- Same reverb send as strings (shared space)
Percussion
- Pro-Q 3 - shape the low end, add high shelf for presence
- Transient shaper - punch up attacks
- Shorter reverb send (plate or small hall)
Why This Works
The key insight: all orchestral sections should live in the same "room." Using a shared reverb send on strings and brass puts them in the same acoustic space. Percussion gets a slightly different verb to keep it punchy and forward.
This template saves me at least 30 minutes per project because I'm not rebuilding routing from scratch every time.
Download
Grab the template file here: FL Studio Orchestral Template (FLP)
If you want to see this in action, check out the video breakdown on my YouTube channel.