The Creative Process
May 14, 2012 Tweet
There is a fantastic article from Sam McNerney over at creativitypost.com called “Produce First, Sharpen Second: What Dylan’s Vomit Teaches Us About The Creative Process” and it deserves more than just a passing glance. In essence they have figured out how to consistently create great work.
The lesson is one you’ve probably hard before, but have you taken it to heart? Looking back at your creative process, is this how it goes?
The essential central message is that you should create without any restraint, editing, or self-criticism. Just get it all out of your system. Don’t rewrite, don’t judge, etc. Write, write some more, and then keep on writing until you have truly run out of things to say. At which point, step away and take a break. Only when you return with a fresh perspective do you dig in and find the gold while trashing the junk.
The two main points are:
1. Stream of consciousness creation.
2. Writing and editing as very separate phases.
Read the whole article, it’s worth it.
In Response to a Music Student
May 7, 2012 Tweet
Recently a young college student and aspring film composer asked me a question, and I wanted to share my response with you.
“I’m in my first year of music college at the moment and I’m just wondering did you ever try to get any intern or assistant positions during the Summers in-between or did you wait until you’d finished college?”
“The short answer is no, I would wait. In my case I didn’t get an assistant job until after I finished college and moved to LA, but that was mostly because I had to move to where the industry was first.
If you come upon an amazing opportunity, perhaps with a composer you admire, or someone who works on the kinds of projects you love, then absolutely go for it. But otherwise I would say don’t get ahead of yourself. You’re in school to learn, so take advantage of it. Practice your instrument, read 100 orchestration books, stay up all night analyzing the Rite of Spring. Devote yourself to music and developing your skills. The details of how to work in a studio can mostly be picked up in a matter of weeks, but the foundation of being a truly skilled and versatile composer takes years. Keep reading…
This Month in ryanleach.com History – May 2012
May 1, 2012 Tweet
Here’s a look at some blog posts from the past few years!
One Year Ago
May 4th, 2011 - Lessons for a Composer’s Assistant
May 11th, 2011 - Using Music to Develop a Film’s Brand
May 18th, 2011 - Keep Them On the Edge of Their Seats
May 25th, 2011 - On Finding Your Voice as an Artist
Two Years Ago
May 4th, 2010 - Eden Espinosa
May 13th, 2010 - Music from ‘Skinning’
Starting by Planning or by Improvising?
April 30, 2012 Tweet
This is almost less of a post and more of a question to the community: Do you tend to start a new cue/piece of music by planning it out or improvising and seeing what happens?
I’ve heard it said before that there are two primary methods of composing. Either you envision the entire piece in your mind before picking up the pencil (or mouse, more likely), or you noodle around with material until you settle on something you like.
In his book “A Composer’s World”, Paul Hindemith asserts the following: Keep reading…
Audiotuts: Customizing CineBrass
April 23, 2012 Tweet
My latest tutorial for Audiotuts is now online: Customizing Cinebrass.
CineBrass is my new favorite brass library and in the tutorial I discuss the many options available for making CineBrass suit your workflow.
Check out the full tutorial here!
Use a Single Pro Tools Session for Playback
April 18, 2012 Tweet
I use Logic for writing music, but I’ve found that running video in Logic while working on a project with more than one cue can be difficult.
For one thing, in 64-bit mode Logic doesn’t let you bounce to quicktime, which is very frustrating for creating demos. But it can also be tedious to set up the video for every single cue, especially if the cut is still flexible and you’re receiving new versions. You risk having the wrong version of video in different Logic sessions, and overall are just making things complex.
To make things easier, I run a single Pro Tools session as the video host. Using MTC/MMC I set Pro Tools to slave to Logic. I have the dialogue and temp music tracks set up in Pro Tools and routed to separate inputs on my Mackie Big Knob, which allows me to turn them on or off with the push of a button.
Once a cue is ready to go, I bounce it out of Logic and import the audio file into Pro Tools, where I can mix it with dialogue and then export to quicktime. The result is also one long session with all of my cues, including older versions.
This is amazingly useful for a playback session. For example if the director stops by to see what’s new, rather than wait for every Logic session to load for each new cue you just play back everything in the Pro Tools session.
A simple idea that takes a little bit of initial set up, but once you have it up and running it makes larger projects go much smoother.
“Survival..” short film at Myrtle Beach International Film Festival
April 16, 2012 Tweet
A short film I scored, “Survival of the Family Unit,” will be screening at the Myrtle Beach International Film Festival in late April.
After years of enduring his father’s cold discipline, a son decides to rid his father by poisoning him. But, just as soon as his plan starts to take effect, the son begins to see his father for the first time as a human being.
Director – Kevin Huang
Producer(s) – Adam Bonsib
Editor – Mowgli Jones
Cinematographer – James Herron & Tim Wu
The Commitment
April 11, 2012 Tweet
I recently completed the score for a wonderful and moving short film called The Commitment. The film is about an interracial gay couple who is adopting a newborn baby. They meet the pregnant Asian birthmother and receive a surprise that threatens their relationship.
Here is a sneak peek of the score, the cue from the end titles:
The film is written and directed by Albert M. Chan, starring Albert M. Chan, Jason Fenton, Mary Niederkorn, Kerri Patterson, and produced by Albert M. Chan, Richard Possemato, Aaron Howland, Seth Howland
Lessons for a Composer from Shark Tank – Part Two
April 9, 2012 Tweet
Recently I shared an article from Fast Company about “7 Entrepreneurial Lessons from Shark Tank”, and then followed it up with the first in my series on what a composer can learn from the show. The topic of part two: Be Prepared
One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make on Shark Tank is a lack of preparation. It is also one of the easiest things to get right! But time and again, people stumble over their vision for the business, get confused about their sales figures, and just flat out don’t know how many functions of their business are actually performing.
When you go into a meeting with a director, you had better be prepared. Here are some ideas on what to prepare for a meeting:
- Learn as much about the project as you can. Did they send you a script? Read it and take notes. Does the film have a website? A Facebook page? Read the blog to get an understanding of what production was like, how much sweat and labor has already gone into the production, and what kind of work ethic they expect from their crew.
- Learn as much about the filmmakers as you can. What are their past projects? What type of films do they seem to like working on? Do you have any mutual connections? Read their bio, maybe you both happen to be from the same small town back East which would make for a great ice breaker.
- Know your numbers. Are you planning on pitching a full orchestral score? Do you know how much that will cost, even if just an estimate? How about scheduling? Can you give them a solid estimate of how much time the scoring process will take?
- Know the genre. If you’re going in for a meeting on a romantic comedy, make sure you actually can talk about some romantic comedies. Research the iconic scores in the genre, and brush up on some of the latest releases. When the director says “I want something that sounds like Drive,” you had better know what that means.
Tip from The Hunger Games Score: Forward Momentum
April 4, 2012 Tweet
While listening to James Newton Howard’s score to Hunger Games, my ear caught a short section in the track Katniss Afoot that reminded me of a simple but useful technique.
At about 1:19 the violins play a repeating ostinato pattern that rests on beats 1 and 3. By starting the pattern on the “and” of beats 1 and 3, the rhythm gives a sense of constantly pushing forward.
A simple technique, but worth remember if your rhythm doesn’t seem to have enough forward drive.
Lessons for a Composer from Shark Tank – Part One
April 2, 2012 Tweet
Yesterday I tweeted a link to a Fast Company article by Amber Mac called “7 Entrepreneurial Lessons from Shark Tank”. Today I thought I’d take it one step further and look at a few lessons composers can take away from the show as well.
I’ll examine one lesson a composer can take away from the show now, with more coming in future posts. Keep reading…
This Month in ryanleach.com History – April 2012
April 1, 2012 Tweet
Here’s a look at some blog posts from the past few years!
One Year Ago
April 4th, 2011 - Composer Focus Interview
April 11th, 2011 – Project Arbiter – End Titles
April 18th, 2011 – New TV Placements
April 19th, 2011 – “The Great Marcusio” on Vimeo
Two Years Ago
April 11th, 2010 – SCOREcastonline: Long Distance Scoring
Part 2 of my Interview on The Project Arbiter Blog
March 28, 2012 Tweet
I recently did an interview with David Bettencourt, Co-Producer of the epic short film Project Arbiter, Part I of which was published last month. Part II of the interview has been released and can be found on the Project Arbiter blog.
In the interview I talk about the process director Mike Chance and I took scoring the film, as well as some of the conceptual and thematic ideas we came up with to identify the Arbiter.
Thanks again to David for the great questions!
Film Scoring 101: Cue Numbering
March 26, 2012 Tweet
Welcome to the first post in a sporadic series on Film Scoring Basics, in which I will help get filmmakers and upcoming composers new to the scoring process up to speed on general introductory topics.
Today I’m going to discuss how we come up with cue numbers. Keep reading…
Art vs. Entertainment
March 21, 2012 Tweet
I had a conversation with a friend recently who was complaining about Hollywood’s lack of imagination and the constant rehashing of old ideas, sequels, remakes, and the like. Not too long ago I might have been in a similar state of mind, but maybe I’m becoming old and grizzled because I realize that I don’t feel quite so strongly about that anymore.
Perhaps because the medium is the same, I think we have confused art and entertainment. I don’t mean to say that a piece of entertainment can’t be a work of art, but does every piece of entertainment necessarily have to be “art” to be worthwhile? Isn’t there value in entertainment for its own sake? Keep reading…
Write Music that Directs Not Reflects
March 19, 2012 Tweet
I’m currently scoring a short film that has been an enlightening experience. I imagine this is part of every film composer’s development, and something I’ve usually subconsciously been doing for quite a while now, but this is the first time I’ve really formulated the idea into words.
To loosely summarize the scene in question: the main character has just received some surprising bad news and a woman is trying to make him feel like it’s not so bad. My approach to the score was “this is sad, but it’s going to be OK.” For the most part, I was focusing on the woman’s reassuring tone and outlook.
What I failed to pay attention to was the main character’s feelings. He was just hit hard with some bad news and as far as he’s concerned, everything is very much not OK! The director pointed out to me that the music really needs to be about what he’s going through, that he doesn’t really believe her reassurance, that he thinks what she is saying is empty. Keep reading…
A Quick Reader Survey
March 17, 2012 Tweet
Standford over at Pushing Social just wrote a post that is amazingly relevant to me right now! I have been publishing very consistently once a week on Wednesday for many months now, but two weeks ago I got busy and so I let one slide. Then the following week I let it slide again! It was a short hiatus and I’m pulling myself out of it, but I was still very glad to come across “How to Climb Out Of Your Blogging Slump”.
I’ve realized that what could really help me out is a bit more information about who my readers are. If you could please take 30 seconds and answer these questions it would not only help me out, but help you by getting more content that is relevant and interesting to you! (Thank you to Alain Mayrand for the idea)
The Composer as Consultant
March 15, 2012 Tweet
Being a freelance composer can be challenging at times. In school we’re taught how to conduct a great spotting session, or the smoothest way to modulate from Bb Major to E minor, but we’re taught little to nothing about running a business. And when you’re an independent contractor you’re also a business owner.
I spend a lot of time reading business books, trying to learn how to do a better job. Unfortunately it’s pretty hard to find information that’s relevant. Most of the books out there are about running a business with a tangible product, not something as hard to describe and discuss as music.
Lately though I’ve come across an industry that might actually have a lot in common with composing for film: Consulting.
“The real value comes from our expertise on how to give the filmmaker what they need, not just to write down the notes they think they want.”
Its not a perfect analogy, but in many ways a composer is like a consultant who specializes in using music to bring out the story and emotions of a film. Just like a consultant may advise a corporation on how to be more efficient, a filmmaker brings us on to recommend the best way to make the heroine’s heartache resonate or the action scene thrilling and terrifying.
Although we are also like craftsmen, constructing a score like a carpenter builds a beautiful dresser, the actual writing of notes is only a part of what we do. The real value comes from our expertise on how to give the filmmaker what they need, not just to write down the notes they think they want.
Lynda.com Giving Away a Copy of Pro Tools 10
March 1, 2012 Tweet
I received a press release that I thought you guys would probably be interested in:
“Lynda.com, the online learning company that teaches software and creative skills through instructional videos, is offering a chance to win a free copy of Pro Tools 10.
The company released a free course on Pro Tools 10, which covers the newest features available to users.
To celebrate, lynda.com is giving away a copy of Pro Tools 10 to one lucky winner. Interested readers can enter by visiting the online form at http://blog.lynda.com/2012/02/29/win-pro-tools-and-learn-it-for-free.
lynda.com offers a variety of other courses in the audio field—here’s just a sampling: bit.ly/lyndaaudio “
Gumroad
February 29, 2012 Tweet
I discovered a new tool last night called Gumroad which looks like it has a lot of potential for direct-to-consumer sales. In just a few easy steps you can sell a digital file to anyone with a credit card. Just upload a file and you get a direct link.
It seems like a great opportunity for selling mp3s, either of single tracks or entire soundtracks. It’s very social media friendly and has an elegant simple interface.
For example, to try it out I’m selling the soundtrack for Skinning at a special half price rate of $4.99 via this link: https://gumroad.com/l/Kzs
Gumroad takes 5% plus .30 cents, and you can set your own price to whatever you want. Check it out at gumroad.com!
Stay Connected
Now on iTunes!
"Skinning" soundtrack available now!
"Devils Racecourse" soundtrack available now!
Get the free Ebook
My new 18-page ebook
"The Filmmakers Guide to Giving Feedback on Music" is available now!