<![CDATA[Composer Focus - Music & Audio Tutorials]]> http://composerfocus.com/-/articles/interviews/ Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:17:41 +0000 43200 Interview: Dave Pierce http://composerfocus.com/-/articles/interviews/interview-dave-pierce-r48 Tell us a bit about your background and how you got started writing music.

In the fourth grade in lieu of an assignment to write 3 pages of creative writing I turned in a 40 page score for a musical I had composed. That pretty much sealed the deal! Years later, I was 16 years old on the sidelines of the 1988 Winter Olympics in my hometown of Calgary when I heard David Foster's theme for the Games - it was at that moment I set my sites on composing music for the Olympics the next time Canada was host. 22 years later, my dream became reality. Every writing gig I did from 1988 to 2010 leading up to the Vancouver Olympics had to meet one specific criteria: would it groom me to be ready for the Olympics? Some might say I was obsessed!

What's the most interesting project you've been involved with?

The 2010 Olympic winter games. I was the Music Director and chief composer. The organizing of feature artists, musicians, recording and producing orchestral sessions, coordinating meetings, delivering creative, licensing issues, choirs, medals ceremonies, etc. meant everyday was different!

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Orchestrating Musical Theatre is rarely done by the composer themselves, Sondheim and Webber both working with regular collaborators, how much creative licence did you use when arranging Webbers concert music? And did you refer to previous scores of his or not?

Orchestrating work for other composers is a difficult balance. It's much easier to orchestrate my own compositions, however it truly stretches all musical boundaries to work within someone else's concept of "how it should be". In musical theater the orchestrator is generally expected to instinctively know the precise way something should be scored often without any direction besides a piano score and a dynamic marking. It becomes a race to achieve a verbal communication with the composer, quickly developing musical references that mean something to both the composer and orchestrator. Words like "lush", "intimate", and "driving" can easily become lost-in-translation if you don't connect. A simple reference like "make it sound big" can mean so many different things that you had better be sure everyone is on the same page before starting to orchestrate the score, have the music copied and then music rehearsed by an orchestra. It's too late to discover after the fact that "make it big" didn't mean strings and harp, but instead distorted guitars and reverb on the drums! My favorite moment in a recording session came from a concertmaster asking "Do you want this big and Hollywood, or small and wimpy?".

Would you ever consider writing the score to a musical yourself?

Maybe in the future, but right now I'd say not specifically a musical...but the thought of writing a score for the Cirque Du Soleil or a Las Vegas production show gets me really excited. I love working on shows where the musical arc has time to establish a theme and then build until the finale really drives a standing ovation...that's much of what keeps me working on the types of shows I've already scored. The Sinatra show in Vegas has a musical flow that takes 70 minutes to experience, and the Olympics had the same idea only the arc spanned 17 days building to the Closing Ceremony as the grand finale. Maybe someday I'll sit down and focus on a musical, but the story would have to be really intriguing!

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For the all the up and coming composers out there, if you could share one tip, what would it be?

If you write by hand learn to be fast, if you work on a computer be even faster to compensate for how great the other guy is by hand. It's competitive regardless of where you are in your career.
Develop work habits that you can transport easily. Writing projects are seldom close to home, so developing a way to write in hotel rooms, on airplanes (my favorite spot to orchestrate is on my laptop) and in recording studios is crucial to being ready for that wonderful day when someone calls you to see if you're "available". If you write by hand learn to be fast, if you work on a computer be even faster to compensate for how great the other guy is by hand. It's competitive regardless of where you are in your career.

What projects are coming up next for you?

Music Directing alongside composing/arranging for TV Specials are a passion of mine, I love the pressure of that live spur-of-the-moment decision making. I have a goal to be the MD for the Oscars in the future, I'd also like to work on a super-bowl or a television show like the Grammy Awards. That type of event would use the skills I honed during the Olympics and also satiate my freakish obsession with the music in variety specials from the late 50's and 60's. Coming next for me is re-scoring the Broadway show I worked on called Come Fly Away for the National Tour, and then a couple arrangements for a new Michael Bublé CD. Oh, and the biggest challenge of all: getting off of Logic Pro 7 and into the new version...but that's more frightening than any writing gig!]]> Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:04:52 +0000 47d1e990583c9c67424d369f3414728e Interview: Jerry Gerber http://composerfocus.com/-/articles/interviews/interview-jerry-gerber-r46 Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started writing music.

I began studying music at the age of nine years old. I studied accordion and then guitar. I wrote my first piece at the age of 10. By the time I was 13, I was playing in a band, but my interest in popular music was beginning to wane by the time I turned 20, a year or so after taking up keyboard. From then on, about the only music I listened to, and certainly the only music I studied, was music from the renaissance, baroque, romantic, and 20th century classical periods and also music from Bali, India, and South America, occasionally. I also studied jazz theory. I received my Bachelor of Music degree in composition and classical music theory and then began scoring soundtracks. I wrote music for industrial films and documentaries, and then I was asked to score 33 TV episodes of “The Adventures of Gumby”, a popular animated TV series. After that I wrote the music for the Gumby feature film and then began scoring for computer games. I enjoy doing soundtracks, particularly if I think the story is a good one. I also passionately love writing music for its own sake. Over the past 20 years or so I have produced 11 CDs, 7 symphonies, 3 concertos and a lot of short works. I decided sometime in the 1990s that I would pursue electronic production as the means to hear and record my works, and forego the traditional route of trying to get works performed by ensembles. I really love working in the studio, experimenting, trying things out, testing out orchestrations, etc. Several of my composer friends work with live musicians and ensembles and probably think I am a bit odd for creating and producing all of my compositions using music technology.

Could you tell us a bit about your workspace and setup.

My studio (www.jerrygerber.com/studio.htm) consists of the Yamaha DM2000 mixing board, Adam S3A speakers, and I use Sonar as my DAW. My main sound library is Vienna Instruments Symphonic Cube. I run the library on a fast Windows 7 machine with 24 GB of RAM. The DAW is a separate machine. I also have numerous software synthesizers that I both program and use in my pieces. I also use EMU samplers for choirs and Roland hardware synths.

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Describe your creative process.

A MIDI sequence is only as effective as it is detailed. The more details in terms of tempo changes, phrase dynamics, sample switching and other parameters that are in the sequence, the better and the more musical will be the results.
A MIDI sequence is only as effective as it is detailed. The more details in terms of tempo changes, phrase dynamics, sample switching and other parameters that are in the sequence, the better and the more musical will be the results.
I often begin writing a piece after spending quite a while improvising at the piano. Free improvisation is the most direct, intuitive, and physical aspect of musicality that I know of, a lot of learning takes place there. When starting to compose a piece, I work in the staff view and the event list in Sonar and begin composing and sequencing. For me, MIDI sequencing and composition/orchestration have merged into one seamless process. I insert notes onto the staff view and build up phrases, sections, movements and entire compositions and albums this way, re-tracing my steps many times along the way making changes and editing and refining what I am hearing. Even though I have an advanced orchestral library, MIDI sequencing is a time-intensive process. Phrasing, gesture and expression is achieved through defining strong and weak beats, note lengths, velocities, attack and release times and articulation—these parameters must be constantly considered, and also be constantly in flux. A MIDI sequence is only as effective as it is detailed. The more details in terms of tempo changes, phrase dynamics, sample switching and other parameters that are in the sequence, the better and the more musical will be the results. After I am done with the composition and orchestration and the sequence is finished, I render it to a stereo wave file (and stems if there are audio tracks) and from there proceed to fine tune dynamics using Sonar’s volume envelopes. This adds another layer of dynamic variation that some pieces require more than others. I do my own mastering and use small amounts of EQ to help bring out the best in the mix. I rarely use any compression, and I use peak limiting only on some pieces. I take my time mastering; I might listen to a piece over several sound systems over a period of months before I finally settle on final mastering decisions. Monitoring a mix too soft or too loud will produce a distorted concept of how the mix sounds due to the way in which the low and high end is thrown out of balance when mixing too loudly or too softly. 83 dB is a good level that avoids these imbalances. I usually strive for transparency and a sound that is clear and open.

What's the most interesting project you've been involved with?

Honestly, I think every project I am working on at the time is the most interesting to me. If it were not such, I doubt I’d be a good composer. When I am scoring soundtrack music, that is most interesting to me. When I’m composing for CDs, that holds my interest equally. My soundtrack music is simpler music (in terms of length, style and complexity) than my compositions for my CDs because the purposes of music as an adjunct to story-telling, dialogue, plot, setting, character, and sound effects are different than music as a purely independent language. That would make an interesting discussion of itself, the way in which scoring to story and picture affects form, style, content and texture, really the whole meaning of music is altered, including its more literary function.

You describe your medium of choice as "virtual orchestration", you could tell us what you mean by this?

Composers belong to one of the few groups of people who are competing with dead people!
The politics and economics of getting large numbers of musicians together is complicated and expensive, and the larger the ensemble the harder it is to get performed. Composers belong to one of the few groups of people who are competing (when it comes to hearing their works) with dead people! Last time I checked, about 15% of music performed in the United States by symphonic orchestras is written by living, American composers. As computer and audio technology advances rapidly, a new musical medium is maturing, and composers and orchestrators can now be responsible for interpreting their own works. Since interpreting music has different challenges than composing music, the computer-based ensemble offers the musician the opportunity to evolve both the creation and the interpretation of their work, which contributes to a well-rounded musician. There are advantages and disadvantages to every medium, no medium is perfect. One cannot compare the sound of a live orchestra to a MIDI recording, it’s a pointless comparison. But comparing a recording of a live orchestra to a MIDI-realized recording, now that is fair game and I think the differences are growing smaller every decade. Using high-quality synthesizers and sample libraries and bringing to that technology knowledge of composition and orchestration, etc., can definitely produce highly musical and expressive results. I once gave a talk to an electronic music class and a student of conducting remarked that he thought what I was doing was “anti-social”. I believe he might have felt a bit threatened that his dream career might not be available to him if too many composers turn away from live performances. But his fear, if that is what prompted the remark, is unfounded, that will not happen, electronic music and the virtual orchestra are not replacements for traditional means of music-making, they are additions, they’re options. This experience reminds me of when Bob Dylan came on stage with an electric guitar in the 60s and the folk musicians at the time were appalled and resentful, as though Dylan had betrayed them. Likewise, I am sure that when photographers were beginning to photograph people and nature in the 19th century, painters were aghast and fearful that photography would encroach upon, or even ruin, painting as an art. Such thinking is all too commonplace perhaps because as a species we’re so paranoid.

You've been around for the early days of sampled/virtual instruments. How have the developments in this area affected your compositional workflow.

My first sampler, the Roland S-50, had the capability of loading one floppy disc’s (1.44 MB) worth of data into its memory. That’s only one or two samples! Consider the Vienna Symphonic Library Vienna Instruments Symphonic Cube—which consists of over 760,000 samples, about 550 GB of data. When a solo violin consists of over 22,000 samples, and with every note sampled in up to 4 velocities in every conceivable playing style, it becomes possible to phrase shape in a way that early samplers simply did not allow. With 24 bit well-recorded samples, the sounds are smoother than in earlier libraries, but that’s also because of better converters and better clocking. In terms of MIDI sequencing, this means that the musician can now realize musical ideas with a level of detail comparable to what fine players can achieve. This does not make sequencing any less labor-intensive, in fact it does the opposite: With so many samples to choose from, it becomes even more important that the best sample for the phrase is used and that note velocities, envelopes and note lengths are set at the best values for that particular sample and phrase. Having access to a large and well-recorded library no more guarantees a good composition anymore than having the best word processor determines the value of the story and the skill by which is it written. When using earlier libraries, I had to simulate crescendos and decrescendos using MIDI controllers, usually control 7 or 11, or with an audio fade after rendering. This worked OK, but the new libraries contain dynamics recorded into the sample itself, so this means less MIDI programming in regard to certain passages, and it’s musically much more flexible to have the dynamics already existing in the sample when needed.

For the all the up and coming composers out there, if you could share one tip, what would it be?

Write your own music and write your best music and keep your passion for your work alive. Have fun, enjoy the opportunities you’re given and when opportunities are sparse, create your own.
Your faith in your music and yourself will be tested over and over, it won’t stop till you die. Write your own music and write your best music and keep your passion for your work alive. Have fun, enjoy the opportunities you’re given and when opportunities are sparse, create your own.

Music is a sublime art, many musicians understand the healing potential of music, and its capacity to help awaken in people a sense of beauty, order, balance, proportion and mystery; of music’s capacity to help us remember our common humanity and to inspire a sense of interconnectedness with all of life. But like all things we humans do, it can be trivialized and reduced to a commodity in the minds of the more materialistic among us or it can fail because it is bad music. Every composer thinks that their music is different from other music, and potentially this is true because each one of us is unique in some small but significant way. Yet attaining a craft that brings an expressive reality and authenticity to this uniqueness only comes from many years of thought, effort and work. Is composition what you really want to do, or would you prefer to score films and express yourself that way? Are both important to you? The more ambitious the work, the more craft it requires. A successful career in music is based on numerous things: talent, imagination, knowledge, luck, hard work, confidence, attitude and patience. But even with all these things, a career is always based just as much on who you know as what you know. A composer has to have strong networking skills, must be able to work well with others, and must be creative in solitude. If you have these qualities, and you have musical talent, become a composer. If there’s really nothing you want to do more than write music, become a composer. Perhaps the real joy and satisfaction comes because composition is difficult and only those who really want it, and do not give up, get to write music and develop their craft.

www.jerrygerber.com]]> Thu, 14 Apr 2011 12:00:00 +0000 a5e00132373a7031000fd987a3c9f87b Interview: Ryan Leach http://composerfocus.com/-/articles/interviews/interview-ryan-leach-r40 How did you get started scoring for media?

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It started with two separate passions for music and film. Although I had a touch of "film score geek" in me growing up, film sores were not a major part of my life. For me it was more of an all around love for many styles of music and movies. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I started to consider how amazing it could be to bring those two interests together. And once I learned about the Film Scoring program at Berklee, I knew that was what I was going to do.

My very first non-school project was a student film called Super No-friendo by BU student filmmaker Dean James. It was about a kid who accidentally brought the characters out of his video games and into real life. I played way too many video games as a kid so the chance to incorporate elements of classic video game music made it an incredibly fun film to score. My first professional gig was the feature film Interrogation, which of all places actually came from Craigslist!

Describe your creative process

Composing usually starts out with a riff or an ostinato pattern. Depending on what I'm working on, if I already have a specific instrument in mind I'll often start there and just improvise until something catches my ear. Although I'm still developing the discipline to write this way, I invariably write better if I work out a very simple sketch all the way through an entire cue, as opposed to fully fleshing out a short section before moving on. When I get too caught up in short segments there is a lot of self editing, and that kills both time and creativity. There is a much better flow if the most basic framework is worked out first, and then the details can follow.

Describe your workspace/gear

I used to run two Macs at once but I've recently simplified down to a single Mac Pro. I like things to be as simple as possible, running a multiple computer system inevitably leads to technical issues that can slow down the actual work of writing. Now that Logic and Kontakt are 64 bit I can get away with some pretty massive sessions on a single machine without difficulty.

I've honestly never been too much of a "gear head", which is odd for someone who started out as a guitar player. I make certain that I know my tools at an expert level, but you will rarely catch me picking up a Sweetwater catalog for fun. I'm much more interested in the notes.

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What's the most interesting project you've been involved with?

I just completed scoring the feature film Two Shadows from writer/director Greg Cahill. The film is about Sovanna, a "Long Beach hipster wannabe" who discovers that her long-lost brother and sister are still alive in Cambodia. She travels alone to Cambodia and embarks on a journey to find them. Besides many touching emotional moments, which are a dream for a film composer, there was a real emphasis on subtlety in the score which is surprisingly challenging to achieve. Many times it was about seeing what changes I could make to a single pad or string line to turn the emotion a certain way. Although I intentionally did not make the score explicitly "Cambodian", I did use some small hints of gamelan music and other traditional elements to add a sense of authenticity to an otherwise non-ethnic score.

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How have you gotten yourself out there?

In this industry there really is no direct path or specific set of instructions you can follow. It's just hard work, persistence and good luck.
As frustrating as it is, the longer I do this the more I realize that when people say "no two career paths are the same" they really mean it. In this industry there really is no direct path or specific set of instructions you can follow. It's just hard work, persistence and good luck. I have made an effort to establish an online presence through sites like this one, Audiotuts, Scorecast, and others, but I think that's it's just as likely that my next gig could come from a friend-of-a-friend than from anywhere else. You have to try everything because you never know what might actually work!

For the all the up and coming composers out there, if you could share one tip, what would it be?

The highest priority for anyone in any creative field, including composition, is to be constantly producing. The only true way to develop your craft is to log the hours. The more you write the more fluent a composer you'll become, and the faster you'll be both as a writer and with your sequencer. It's becoming cliche to talk about the "10,000 hours" required to become a master of your craft, but it's absolutely true. If you spent 2 hours a day composing, EVERY single day without a break, it would still take you over 13 years to reach that amount. Have you spent 10,000 hours composing yet? I'm pretty sure I still have a lot more to go.

Official Website: http://ryanleach.com
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1999695/]]> Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:29:43 +0000 1385974ed5904a438616ff7bdb3f7439 Interview: Scott Starrett http://composerfocus.com/-/articles/interviews/interview-scott-starrett-r38 How did you get started scoring for screen?

I had a couple friends who were attending film school, so I got to score their short films. That was really fun, so I kept pursuing it.

Describe your creative process

Mostly I like to construct a set of rules for each score - the material all has to live within these bounds so that it sounds coherent, like it all belongs together. I start sketching motifs and themes; and then I make a list of instrumentation, and write out the ways that I want to use each instrument. Then I start writing a key scene to see if all the material and rules are working out. Usually I like to mow my way from front to back after that.

Describe your workspace/gear

Right now, it's 2 Macs, 2 big screens, a keyboard and monitors. And a ton of sample libraries. When I need to record, I usually go to a studio. I like to keep the gear simple and focus on what is needed for a given project, so I only upgrade libraries when I know what kind of music I'll need to get into for the next project. I happen to be a big fan of doing everything "inside the box" so as to also simplify my workflow.

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What's the most interesting project you've been involved with?

The Event (NBC) has been a dream job for me. It's the kind of music I love to write and the type of show I would watch anyway, even if I weren't working on it. The highlight of each week is to go record with live orchestra on this show. It has also been fantastic working with Executive Producer Jeffrey Reiner - he is insanely talented and also really knows music. When we were working on the pilot together, we made a list of influences that we thought might be appropriate for this score: Mahler, Ligeti, Herrmann - definitely some of my favorite composers.

How have you got yourself out there?

Mostly I just share my music with lots of people. I'm never afraid to say, "Hey, would love to share my demo with you" when I meet some industry person at a party. Before my recent TV projects, I would also score a lot of indie projects so that I could create working relationships with up-and-coming talent. I also would go to industry mixers, like my entertainment alumni group from Stanford, where I met a producer (and fellow alumnus) who needed a composer for the HBO movie "Dim Sum Funeral".

For all the up and coming composers out there, if you could share one tip, what would it be?

Score as many projects as you can - short films, indie films, web series. You need to get comfortable writing for picture; and you also practice working in a collaborative setting and directors/producers - working with them and addressing notes is a real skill. This way, when you get your big break, you're prepared. Some of the directors & producers will also go on to have bigger and bigger projects, so hopefully they'll call you when they do make it big.]]> Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:23:05 +0000 013d407166ec4fa56eb1e1f8cbe183b9 Interview: Brian Ralston http://composerfocus.com/-/articles/interviews/interview-brian-ralston-r25

Interview Highlights

Degrees

"No one out here cares if you have a degree. It's all about your music, your work ethic, your professionalism and sometimes it's about your connects. Do they trust you, are you someone they want to hang out with for almost 24 hours a day on this project for six months."

Deadlines

"They were really stuck between a rock and a hard place with their money and their budget. They had a deadline to mix a week away that could not be moved because if they moved they would loose the mixing room. I got a call on Friday night with my sound design friend asking me if I was available for the next week."

The next level

"I always try to add something live to the score even if the budget won't allow for a live orchestra getting that live musician in there who has the talent on their instrument. It brings a whole another level to the score."

More Information

You can find out more information about Brian and his projects at http://brianralston.com.]]> Sat, 05 Mar 2011 12:12:55 +0000 3def184ad8f4755ff269862ea77393dd Interview: Peace Nistades http://composerfocus.com/-/articles/interviews/interview-peace-nistades-r30

More Information

Award-winning film composer S. Peace Nistades (Sornsanti Nivasanont) has scored numerous projects in over six countries worldwide based out of his music production facility, Alkaloide Music Productions, in Los Angeles, CA. He has collaborated with such artists as Lisbeth Scott (The Chronicles of Narnia, Munich), Karen Han (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Kung Fu Panda), Gingger Shankar (Passion of the Christ) and Grammy Award winning artist Darlene Koldenhoven (Yanni: Live at the Acropolis).

His versatile body of work range from the dark and subtle score for psychological thriller DARK WOODS to the quirky, jazzy score for PHIL COBB’S DINNER FOR FOUR. His music has been called ‘a tour de force, invigorating’ (Steven Cerritos, director) ‘perfect’ (Dark Woods review) ‘enlivens every scene with a brilliant blend of tension and closer’ (Bryan Felber, director).

Alongside film work, Peace also constantly collaborates with numerous international artists and bands on albums as composer, performer, arranger and engineer. In 2008, he wrote a memorial piece for the late Princess Galyani Vadhana of Thailand and attended the live performance of his piece in Bangkok, Thailand in November of the same year. He also worked on the single KAM SARB by the Thai rock band ZEAL, which went on to become a top hit in Thailand.

Currently, S. Peace is attached to score the Norwegian psychological thriller BØRRE, the Vietnamese western HIEU: THE OBLIGATION, the dark, psychological drama REPASS and the upcoming Asian supernatural action fantasy SLEEP NEVER COMES.

Website: www.nistades.com
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3053485/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nistades
Facebook: http://www.facebook....des/20720409162]]> Sat, 05 Mar 2011 12:12:26 +0000 9b8619251a19057cff70779273e95aa6 Interview: The Track Team http://composerfocus.com/-/articles/interviews/interview-the-track-team-r34 How did you get started scoring for the screen?

Jeremy Zuckerman: I guess you could say I followed a path not really sure where it was going and it took me here. Although I've studied music since most of my life, I never studied scoring and didn't have aspirations of becoming a composer for the screen. For undergrad, I went to Berklee where in addition to the usual studies in music theory and performance, I studied music technology and audio engineering. Afterwards, I interned at a post-production facility in Manhattan for about 15 months before deciding to go back to school at CalArts to continue studying computer music. When I finished grad school and started working in the 'real world' I was surprised to find that much of the esoteric stuff I had learned had some pragmatic use.
The diversity of my studies gave me an advantage in that in offered me several ways of getting my foot in the door.
The diversity of my studies gave me an advantage in that in offered me several ways of getting my foot in the door. My first job in the industry was as a sound designer for a Michael Jackson video. The company that had hired me got fired from that job but it cemented our relationship. After that I did a ton of commercials with them with increasing duties first sound designer, than pro tools engineer, and eventually composer. I learned a lot about being an agile composer during that period. We would work on several commercials in the same day, all having completely different musical requirements.

The timing was really serendipitous - just when I started feeling antsy doing commercials, Bryan Konietzko (Ben's roommate at the time) came to Ben and me to see if we were interested in composing the music and sound design for Avatar: The Last Airbender. Ben and I quit our jobs and set out on our own to commit to ATLA. I don't even think we blinked. We knew from the start that Bryan and Mike were creating something really special and we jumped on that train...

Benjamin Wynn: I started taking piano and trumpet lessons while in grade school growing up in Chicago but I never became very passionate about them. Music didn' become a passion in my life until high school when I got some turntables and a sampler. Once I discovered that you could record and manipulate sound I was sold. I quickly started to spend all my time working and thinking about music. After high school I studied photography (which was my other passion) for two years at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, but when I learned that you could study electronic music at CalArts I quickly transferred. There I studied synthesis, composition, world music, percussion, etc. It was a really fun, open environment for experimentation and learning, and it taught me so much. CalArts is also where I met Jeremy. Once we graduated we were both working for different music houses (mostly doing commercials) but we would occasionally work on projects together. It was fun, and our way of working and thought processes complimented each other so once we got the opportunity to form a company we dove in.

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Describe your creative process:

J: I'm still trying to figure that one out! Sometimes it's so painful and sometimes it flows effortlessly. The thing about deadlines though, is that you have to create regardless. There's definitely something to not having a choice!

Really, it depends on the project. There are constants though. It all depends on how much time I have to worry. Probably will spend a third of the time doing that and then once I can't do that anymore I start making decisions by asking questions. One of the first is figuring out the sound palette. Orchestral, non-western, acoustic, electronic, computer, familiar, unfamiliar...? If we know we'll be writing for live musicians we'll spend a bit less time on the production side of things because you can actually write more economically. Here in Los Angeles, we're very lucky to have access to some of the best musician's in the world whose performances have so much weight and go such a long way.

I work with an orchestral staff paper book in front of me and use it as a kind of notebook. It's really quite disorganized but it works for me. I'll have several ideas scattered all over the place but I seem to know where everything is for the duration of the project. Really, it's kind of challenging for me to nail down my creative process. I guess I try to find a balance between not getting too comfortable and not abusing myself by making things harder than they need to be.

B: Starting projects tends to be the hardest thing for me to do. I'm backwards from a lot of my friends but I'm good at finishing things but have a hard time (mentally at least) starting them. I've learned some tricks over the years to get going, but really there's only one answer: time. You need to work and work until you hit upon that one idea that gels everything together. Once I get there I'm good, the rest is easy. But there are no short cuts, you need to work to get there.

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Describe your workspace gear

J: Ben and I have very similar setups. We try to keep things pretty simple. We don't have a mixer, just our computers, couple good mic pres, couple good uncolored mics, apogee convertors, pass labs amps, 88 key midi controller... I've got a surround setup in my room and a bunch of guitars, guitar amps and several non-western instruments including a recently acquired guzheng that is really beautiful.

B: Yes, we've found that the most important things are having a well-treated room (where you can make noise at all hours of the night), a good monitoring system, and good converters. The rest is really icing on the cake. We both tend to like minimal setups, as it can allow for better focus.

What's the most interesting project you've been involved with?

J: Well I think Avatar was the deepest in the sense that we were a part of it from the very beginning and got to see it through to it's conclusion. Also, since it was our first major project, there was an incredible amount of discovery and growth involved. Nearly every episode was a profound learning experience all the way to the finale. It opened up a lot of roads for us, both musically and career-wise.

...since it was our first major project, there was an incredible amount of discovery and growth involved. Nearly every episode was a profound learning experience all the way to the finale.


Ben and I do a lot of stuff outside of scoring which is interesting and fulfilling in completely different ways. I'm finishing up work on a dance piece for the Scottish Dance Theatre which has been very interesting. I was able to go back to my computer music toolbox for that one. It's been several years since I've worked so acutely in that domain and I'm definitely a different composer now than I was then. I like to think I'm less of a purist now which has made it a lot more fun.

B: I'll ditto Jeremy's remarks on Avatar. As far as television projects go, we've definitely grown the most on that project I think. It was a huge learning experience and something that we're both proud of.

In terms of our own projects, I make and release electronic music under the name Deru as well. In 2007 I got the opportunity to co-score a ballet for the Paris Opera Ballet with Joby Talbot. We recorded a string quartet, an 8-piece choir, and then added electronics to the piece making it a pretty unique hybrid I think. The dance, called Genuswas about Charles Darwin so Joby and I mapped out a trajectory and evolution for the music before we started. This was a new way of working for me and having a graph of the piece while working was hugely helpful. Then seeing this piece performed in the Palais Garnier was a humongous thrill. The ballet is just starting to tour around so getting to go to these premieres is really a joy.

How have you gotten yourself out there?

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J: I think it helps that there's two of us. But in addition to having a wide social network, I think it's really important to cultivate relationships with people you respect on a personal level and on an artistic level. Making relationships early in a career is key. Most directors have their creative team in place early on. You need to be a good judge and know quality and integrity when you see it and treasure that.

Also, I notice more and more that I have to ask for something to get it. Sounds obvious but it's amazing how overlooked that is. I had a music teacher growing up who would often say that he sat around waiting for things to come to him and that was his biggest mistake. I wasn't sure what to do with that information but always kept it in the back of my mind... I wish I had something more concrete to offer but aside from some general approaches (follow through, be reliable, do your best on every job because you never know who will see it, don't smell bad, etc...), I think everyone has to find their own path.

B: Again, ditto to what Jeremy said. Personal relationships have been hugely important to us, and I tend to think they're similarly important to everyone.
My life is different to this day because I sent out 30 demo CDs in 2001.
We produce music for projects (and the music needs to be good!) but at the end of the day it's the interactions and relationships that everyone involved in the project will remember. And you also can't be afraid of failure. Send your music to people! You never know what will happen. My life is different to this day because I sent out 30 demo CDs in 2001.

For the all the up and coming composers out there, if you could share one tip, what would it be?

J: Now more than ever, a composer needs to have a wide skill set. Know how to engineer and how to make a great sounding production in addition to composing. Really it could be argued that in today's world, production is a part of composing. Additionally, the more skills you have the more ways you can get your foot in the door. It's important to apply your creativity to every aspect of your career. In other words, you will probably have to think outside of the box to find your own path.

B: I would say that when you're starting out it's important to say yes a lot. Every new experience makes you grow and learn new things, especially if they're things you wouldn't normally do. Find people who are making interesting videos or movies (at the local art collage, or even on youtube or vimeo, etc) and tell them you'll work for free. These are potentially the people that you will still be working with years later.

And most importantly you have to be passionate. I'm confident that I would be making music if I wasn't getting paid for it. Passion is what keeps you learning and striving to be better, and music is one thing that you can always be better at. That's one of the reasons I love it.]]> Fri, 25 Feb 2011 21:09:10 +0000 02522a2b2726fb0a03bb19f2d8d9524d