Jack Hughes is the director of the newly formed Northern Film Orchestra, based in Manchester, UK. Their mission is to break down the barriers to entry for composers, making orchestral recording accessible to composers from all types of backgrounds.
I was really excited to bring Jack onto the show to talk about what composers can expect from an orchestral recording session, and how they can get the absolute most out of the experience.
So if you’re thinking about working with live musicians, or you’re interested in what the process looks like, this is a must-listen episode for you!
Here’s what you’ll learn:
1. When you should first approach orchestras and contractors, and what you should have prepared
2. How you can use orchestras and recording sessions more creatively
3. The biggest mistakes composers make when writing for orchestra, and what composers can learn from orchestral recording sessions
Get more info and book your recording session with Jack and the Northern Film Orchestra, visit their Facebook, Instagram, and SoundCloud, and connect with Jack on his personal Insta.
If you recognise the name “Ben Osterhouse” that’s likely because you’ve used one of his sample libraries.
For a while they were the best kept secret of the composer world, until someone let the cat out of the bag and they became a favourite for so many people.
I had to get Ben on the show to talk about his approach to creating libraries, and I was not disappointed! We dove deep into the many considerations when it comes to developing sample libraries.
So here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:
You’ll hear all that, and much more, including the benefits of being a solo developer and whether or not composers should create sample libraries for financial gain.
Find out more about Ben by visiting his website, and check out his sample libraries on KontaktHub.
This week’s guest is the wonderful Gunnard Doboze.
Gunnard has scored some of the most challenging type of documentary subject matter that you’re likely to come across as a composer.
Projects like:
Septem8er Tapes, about the search for Osama Bin Laden in the wake of 9/11,
Saving Face, about a plastic surgeon helping victims of acid attacks in Pakistan, and
State of Control, where two documentary filmmakers become targets of the Chinese regime.
I really wanted to interview Gunnard to find out exactly how he tackles documentaries that have such dramatic and emotional storylines - and I absolutely love how he describes his approach, which you’ll hear in the episode.
Gunnard also has some really interesting methods when it comes to his workflow, so this really is a must listen episode if you’re still trying to find your flow, and want to learn how to deeply connect with challenging subject matter.
Three things I think you’ll really takeaway from this episode include:
1. How to make your music become a character in the documentary
2. Working with non-linear timelines and the challenge of last-minute edits
3. Mixing as you go to inspire creativity in the composition process
If you enjoy listening to the podcast, I would really appreciate it if you left a review to help more people find out about it. I’ll even give you a shoutout in the next episode!
Follow Gunnard on Twitter, hear his music on SoundCloud, and visit his website for more.
If you recognise the name “Steven Melin” it could be from one of many different places!
Steven is primarily a video game composer - and in the show you’ll hear us chat about niching down into specific topics like he’s done - but he’s also an author, online instructor, YouTuber, Podcaster…
…you name it, he’s done it!
One of the really wonderful things about Steven is that through all of his musical projects he’s always maintained a “Family First” focus - which is the title of his bestselling book, Family-First Composer.
His approach to everything he does has been to support his life as a father, foster parent, and husband.
I’ve followed Steven for a while and one of the things that I’ve been fascinated by, and the reason I wanted to get him on the show, is his approach to business and marketing as a composer.
You might have heard me talk in the past about all the the marketing books and strategies I’ve studied to help me build soundtrack.academy - and I’m always wondering how those books can be applied to composition.
Well, Steven has dived head first into implementing and experimenting with a lot of these strategies - many of which I’d just assumed wouldn’t really work in the composing world.
So if you’re looking for some new strategies to market yourself as a composer, then this episode is a must-listen for you!
Here’s three things you’ll learn:
If you enjoy listening to the podcast, I would really appreciate it if you left a review to help more people find out about it. I’ll even give you a shoutout in the next episode!
And to learn more about Steven and how to become a video game composer, check out Steven’s website, and his (super resourceful) YouTube channel. Start with his “10 Steps To Become A Game Composer” video to see what he’s all about. You can also get his Family-First Composer book on Amazon (UK / US).
Nainita Desia has achieved so much in the last few years that I don’t even know where to begin.
So let’s just start with 2019 - she was the IFMCA’s Breakthrough Composer Of The Year, nominated for Best Score at the British Independent Film Awards, and was the composer for Oscar nominated and BAFTA, Cannes, BIFA and SXSW winning documentary “FOR SAMA” which features some of the most complicated subject matter a composer will ever encounter.
My talk with Nainita was so enlightening; I hope you take away as much from the interview as I did.
For the full transcript visit: https://soundtrack.academy/nainitadesai
Check out Nainita's website: http://nainitadesai.com/
Jamie Salisbury is a composer who loves keeping his career as diverse as possible. From production music to music for live events with everything in between, he seems to have a found an amazingly balanced way to make a living from composing, while satiating his love of exploring the various avenues of music.
Visit https://soundtrack.academy/jamiesalisbury for the transcript
Welcome back to the soundtrack.academy podcast after some time off!
Here's the plan for 2020: the podcast is coming back regularly. I already have some absolutely amazing guests lined up.
But I'm going to slow down the release schedule a little bit.
Honestly, I was really struggling to keep up with releasing a new episode every week, particularly alongside everything else I'm focusing on at the moment. So for now, I'm going to release a new episode on the last day of each month.
Hopefully, someday I'll be able to get it back up to a weekly release. But for now, I hope one episode a month will give you all the insight and inspiration that you need.
We're actually starting off this new year with a super exciting episode.
Olajide Paris has such a fascinating history in the film music industry, as you'll hear in the interview. From working as an assistant studio engineer to some of the biggest stars in the popular music world, to now working for Native Instruments designing instruments geared towards film composers.
But the journey to how he got there, honestly, is just absolutely fascinating.
Miriam Sternlicht is a media composer who’s actually fairly new to the game, but I think you’re really going to get a lot out of this episode as I’m sure many of you listening are in a very similar boat to Miriam.
If you recognise her name that might be down to her excellent work as an administrator for the Global Composer’s Network, and we’re actually going to chat a little about that work and how being involved in groups like that can be so beneficial to you as a composer.
We’re also going to talk about how one masterclass, Hans Zimmer’s to be precise, totally changed the direction of Miriam’s life.
Show notes, links, and the full transcript is available here : https://soundtrack.academy/composer-networks
So many composers dream of being able to quit their day job to pursue music.
Maybe you do too?
The problem is : taking that leap of faith is a big deal. You need to have a huge amount of faith in yourself, as well as a mechanism to support yourself as you work towards your dream.
Well, today’s guest, Rob Hicks, took that leap of faith just a couple of years ago, and is already ahead of the target that he set himself before he did. And, most importantly, he’s loving living the creative life, and treating it with such enthusiasm and professionalism.
Before pursuing music full time, Rob Hicks had a successful career in IT – not just as an employee, but as the owner of a thriving internet services business.
So he had a lot to lose if it didn’t pan out.
Thankfully, his hard work as a business owner not only equipped him with some really important business and interpersonal skills to prepare him for the world of music, but it also gave him a financial buffer when he first decided to quit his job to pursue music.
I know that you’re going to get so much out of this episode – personally I found Rob so inspiring to listen to – and I hope that you can action some of the tips he gives in order to get yourself one step closer to being a full time composer.
[03:55] How Rob first learned music & the early technology that allowed him to make music
[10:04] How technology impacts the creative process
[12:40] What Rob did before pursuing music full time
[17:30] Balancing work and music while running a full time business
[18:30] Business skills that can help your career in music
[21:45] Quantity vs quality (or creativity) with production music
[24:52] How royalties / residuals work and can payoff in the long term
[28:02] Should you have a backup plan or a time limit?
[32:50] How Taxi can give your days structure as a composer
[35:56] What to do with ‘rejected’ tracks
[40:28] Should you transition gradually into pursuing music full time, or dive right in?
[42:23] Rob gives advice on learning where your weaknesses lie and how to improve them
[49:21] Rob’s composing process – starting with the vacuum cleaner…
[55:12] Recommended equipment that Rob uses
[1:04:01] A final piece of advice from Rob
Website : www.rhicksmusic.com
Email : rob.hicks@rhicksmusic.com
SoundCloud : https://soundcloud.com/rob-hicks
Twitter : https://twitter.com/RHicksMusic
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/rhicksmusic/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/RobertHicksMediaComposer/
Michael Kruk is a composer specialising in documentaries, having worked extensively with the BBC on a number of their programmes including those narrated by the wonderful David Attenborough.
Join my Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup
In this episode we discuss the ins and outs of composing music for TV and documentaries, and also talk about the key takeaways from Michael’s new book, “An Introduction to Writing Music For Television”.
For the book, Michael had the opportunity to interview three Emmy award winning composers - Michael Price, Walter Murphy, and Mac Quayle - so we also discuss the main things he learned from those interviews too.
“An Introduction to Writing Music For Television” : bit.ly/tvmusicbook
Composer Bankey Ojo shares some advice that is almost GUARANTEED to help you find more composing projects. Listen in to this week’s episode now!
Join my Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup
Bankey Ojo has scored programmes for Sky, ITV, Channel 4, amongst many others and has worked on award winning short films, branded content for Adidas, Puma, and Jaguar, and also a number of animation projects too.
His approach has always been to just go out and do things, and the method he used to find projects when he first wanted to work on an animation is such a great example of that attitude.
Bankey’s Links:
Website : http://www.bankeyojo.com
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/bankeyojo
SoundCloud : https://soundcloud.com/bankeyojo
Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres lives and breathes the creative life. Talking about her process made me desperately want to be a fly-on-the-wall while she works, as it sounds like such a natural, exploratory method of creating music.
Join my Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup
Listen in to hear how her father’s background in film making influenced her approach to music, how Alex has naturally followed what has come her way, and her approach to creating music for film as well as solo album projects.
Alexandra's Links
Website: www.ah-a.co.uk
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6o0pKKljrn7GYEZTQPFwKp
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ahamiltonayres
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AHamiltonAyres
The Whiteroom Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S745wXMTt9w
Hear how soundtrack.academy was born, and the film music process I’ve been teaching, practising, and developing since 2008.
Join my Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup
It’s a bit of a different week this week - instead of my usual format of interviewing a guest, I decided to interview myself!
I’ve had a lot of people asking about my own background in film music, as well as about my own process when it comes to composition. So, using the same questions and format that I use to interview my guests, in this episode I take you through how I got started, what lead me to creating soundtrack.academy, and the steps I go through to create a film score.
Chris Wirsig is a composer and music supervisor specialising in dark intense soundscapes. His advice on specialising in a niche and what music libraries are listening for is all in this episode!
Join my Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup
Many of the guests I’ve had on the show so far compose in all kinds of styles and genres, but not this week’s guest! Chris Wirsig found his signature style and sound and decided to stick to his guns and become an absolute specialist in that one style.
That’s a seriously brave move for a composer to take, and I have the utmost admiration for him for making that decision. Even his own music library focuses on that one specific aesthetic.
And the best part? It seems to be paying off!
Since moving to the US, Chris has been able to make music his full-time job.
Chris’s Links:
Composer Website : www.chriswirsig.com
Library website : www.counter-communications.com
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ChrisWirsigMusic/
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/chriswirsig/
Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/artist/2CFVqb5EoEm8rqxeTVUJMj
Spotify for Chris’s Electro Pop band no:carrier : https://open.spotify.com/artist/2SCRrPql1d7gHv7yDoGhEm
Bonnie Janofsky is one of those multi-skilled musicians that seems to be able to turn her hand to absolutely anything. Originally coming from a performance background, she’s then worked as an orchestrator, arranger, transcriber, and composer. We’re going to talk about some of the advantages and disadvantages of working with notation and composing for real musicians rather than sample libraries.
Join our Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup
Bonnie hasn’t taken the approach of many film music composers in that she’s focused more on scoring for real musicians rather than with sample libraries. If you listen to samples of her work you’ll hear that it’s full of really interesting instrument combinations.
One thing that’s particularly great to listen for in Bonnie’s work is how well the music is arranged for a small number of players. I think a lot of people really overlook how hard it is to get a small group of instruments to create such an effective sound.
Bonnie’s Links:
Website : http://www.BonnieJanofsky.com
IMDB : http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1185225/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/bonnie.janofsky
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-janofsky-312706/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/bonnie_r_j
Growing up in the south of France studying fine art and design before moving into music composition has given Mathieu Karsenti a really unique understanding of the relationship between music and visuals.
Get “The Media Scoring Guide” : https://soundtrack.academy/ebook
Mathieu is another fine example of someone who has worked ultra hard to put himself in situations that could lead to more opportunities. As you listen in you’ll hear that it wasn’t some cleverly structured plan to get him to where he is now, he just looked at where the opportunities lay and did his best to make sure that he was a) in the same place and b) that he did a great job of whatever was expected of him.
Also make sure you check out Mathieu’s website. I know a lot of you are always looking for ways to make your online presence stand out a bit, and Mathieu has what I think is a really great video on his “About” page that features him being interviewed during a session. A director seeing a video like that can really help them understand who you are as a composer, and not just what you do.
Mathieu’s Links:
http://www.mathieukarsenti.com/about
Described by none other than Hans Zimmer himself as an “incredible artist”, Suad Bushnaq is an an award-winning Arab-Canadian film and concert composer who is making some serious waves in the film music world.
Get “The Media Scoring Guide” [FREE] : https://soundtrack.academy/eBook
I’m not really sure where to begin with the intro to this episode as we covered so many topics from practical composition techniques and equipment, to discussing what it’s like being an Arab woman composer in the film and concert music industry.
Suad even shares the amazing story of how one of her scores was recorded in Syria, during some of the heavier bombings. An absolutely incredible story, to think how determined those musicians must have been.
Since recording the interview, the film that Suad mentions the she created during her residency has also been released, so I’ll include links to that in the show notes.
Suad's Links:
The Borrowed Dress : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsEmXt3AolY
A Very Important Appointment : https://vimeo.com/341647271
Website : www.suadbushnaq.com
Audio Reel : www.soundcloud.com/suadbushnaq
Credits : https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6883900/
In this week’s episode Jenny J Nam discusses the differences and crossovers between performance, composition, and songwriting.
Get your FREE eBook: https://soundtrack.academy/ebook
Jenny is an award-winning composer, songwriter, and pianist. We’re going to talk about how different her thought process is while she’s improvising on jazz piano compared to when she’s composing for film.
Her composition process isn’t as simple as just drawing from her background in improvising, and instantly composing to picture. In fact, it’s the opposite, as you’ll hear.
One of the really fascinating areas that we explore in this episode is how different the Korean music industry is from the American and UK industry.
And, of course, Jenny shares some excellent advice on compositing for film.
Jenny’s Links:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/jennyjnam
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jennyjnam
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyjnam
YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/y4sz5x5l
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/y6o4xeo9
Apple Music/iTunes: https://tinyurl.com/y4esavl5
From working as a staff piano player at Disney, and session musician for Mike Post, to scoring some of the most iconic movies, and now writing and directing his own documentaries, Stephen Edwards truly has some fascinating stories to share.
Get the FREE eBook: https://soundtrack.academy/ebook
Let me introduce Stephen by listing just a FEW of the films he’s scored that you might have seen:
…the list goes on and on!
And those are only some of the action films that he’s scored.
If you take into account other genres, and films he’s had tracks featured on, or has worked as an arranger or a performer on, the list is almost endless!
He’s the first American composer to be invited to have his music performed at the Musica E Arte Sacra festival in Vatican City. That was for his choral work Requiem For My Mother - which we’ll talk about in the show.
So, we’re going to hear how he got started, how he creates his film and concert music, and we’re also going to chat about the amazing stories behind his two documentaries: Requiem for My Mother and Syndrome K.
It’s truly an honour to have had Stephen on the show.
Links:
Oscar Fogelström is a two time Swedish Grammy winner, has had over 100 million streams on Spotify, and has worked with Academy Award nominee Lasse Hallström on Sweden’s Oscar entry, "The Hypnotist”. Let’s hear how he got started, whether he recommends that composers also work as songwriters, his creative process, and advice on working as a film composer.
Get my free eBook: https://soundtrack.academy/ebook
Oscar is an absolutely wonderful example of someone who became involved in the music industry not through forcing new relationships or coldly marketing themselves to anyone who’ll listen, but from having a genuine passion for music, collaborating on as many projects and events as would come their way, until eventually the right connections started to come along at the right time.
As you’ll hear, he has a wonderful tale of how he naturally came to work in the industry.
People Oscar has previously worked with often mention his ability to bring new stories and emotions to their projects, which we’ll explore in the episode.
Links: