Rigor Tortoise
February 1, 2012 Tweet
The clever gentleman at Rigor Tortoise have been using my music on many of their recent comedy shorts. Check out their website for some of the latest and greatest, including some of the highlights below: Keep reading…
Using The Procrastination Dash for Composing
January 25, 2012 Tweet
There is a great post by Merlin Mann of 43 Folders about the “Procrastination Dash”. The technique is that you do 10 minutes of work, take 2 minutes to rest. Do this 5 times and you’ve worked for an hour.
The purpose is to force you to get something done you’ve been putting off by making the amount of time you have to spend on it too little to matter. Hate cleaning out the garage? Well you only have to do it for 10 minutes. Has “write a blog post” been sitting on your to-do list for over a week? Just spend 10 minutes on it, and you might even make more progress than you’d expect.
A way I’ve found this useful is for pumping out sketches and ideas for themes. I set up a timer for 5 sessions of 10+2, and then I set up a clean Logic session. After hitting go I start hunting for an idea, perhaps by playing around on the piano or by loading up a patch I’ve never used before. Keep reading…
NAMM 2012
January 18, 2012 Tweet
This week I’m at NAMM, the National Association of Music Merchants conference in Anaheim. It’s a great chance to geek out and see all the new music related toys coming to market soon. Of course I’m particularly interested in software and virtual instruments. The last time I went to NAMM was in 2007, so I’ll be interested to see how/if it’s changed.
If I come across anything particularly post-worthy I might write something up here, otherwise you’re more likely to find me tweeting about it.
Workflowy
January 11, 2012 Tweet
As a freelancer and owner of my own business, time is one of my most important resources. The more time I can focus on writing music, the better. But unfortunately there are tons of day-to-day operations to keep things running that need to be done. As a result, I am always very interested in ways to be more productive and efficient, and I imagine that many people who read my blog are as well.
I recently stumbled upon a fun and simple web app called Workflowy that I’ve really enjoyed using for about a week, so I wanted to write up a quick post to share it. Workflowy is essentially an outlining program with the bare minimum of features. What makes it better than other outlining software I’ve used is how simple and intuitive it is. Working with it is impeccably easy and once I got started I was filling it up with notes and ideas very quickly.
Here’s their introduction video:
There are a lot of ways I’ve found that it can be used:
- Lists to keep track of things. Such as gear to buy, people who owe me payment, things to do
- Contact sheets
- Spotting notes
- As an easily searchable journal
- Brainstorming new projects
- Taking notes while on a phone call
- Outlining articles, tutorials and blog posts, such as this one.
All of that sounds pretty basic and I’m sure it isn’t blowing your mind, and you’re probably wondering what the big deal is. The point is that it’s so simple to use that you can have everything you could ever need to write down in one place, and have it incredibly organized, without it taking up your entire day just to keep it together.
Anyway, I’m having fun playing around with Workflowy. Let me know if you check it out and what you think.
Feature on the Sibelius Blog
January 6, 2012 Tweet
Thanks to a recent post I wrote in which I mentioned how I love Sibelius, Daniel Spreadbury wrote up a nice article on me for the Sibelius Blog. Thanks Daniel, and here’s to more music!
Software and Virtual Instruments in my Studio
January 4, 2012 Tweet
I am often asked by composers that are just starting out about the software and virtual instruments I use, so I thought it would be a good idea to make a simple list and briefly discuss the basic elements that I use on regular basis. Keep reading…
2011: The Year In Review
December 28, 2011 Tweet
2011 was a busy and productive year! To cap it off I thought I’d write a summary of some of the highlight projects I got to work on this past 12 months.
I scored the beautiful feature film Two Shadows from writer/director Greg Cahill.
I wrote original music for a commercial for the MTV Video Music Awards.
I wrote music for many short films, including:
- Project Arbiter with Michael Chance
- Fire City with Brian Lubocki and Michael Hayes
- Pixelated Mindwarp Mario Adventure! with D. Ryan Reeb
- Patricide with Kevin Huang
- Nuts for Pizza with Dave Andrade
- Bride on Sale with Hendrik de Smet
The medical animation company Viscira had me score some of their recent projects. Thanks to Hagop Kaneboughazian, creator of Ara’s Flight, for the introduction!
With the creative and talented guys at inthegroove I wrote a large collection of cues for the Discovery Channel series Hoarding: Buried Alive.
The official Disney Princess website added Rapunzel to its roster of princesses, and thus I wrote an orchestral arrangement of Alan Menken’s “When Will My Life Begin” for her page.
I wrote several tutorials for Audiotuts, continuing the Altered Chord series I began in 2010:
- Getting to Know Altered Chords Part 3: Altered VI
- Getting to Know Altered Chords Part 4: Altered III
- Getting to Know Altered Chords Part 5: Altered VII
I wrote original string quartet and string orchestra arrangements for many songwriters and artists via the company I run with my beautiful wife, Lydia Veilleux, at Short Order Strings.
And I played bass for Michael Teoli and Joe Fria’s epic gothic horror rock musical CarnEvil!
Here’s to a prolific and creative 2012!
Composing is Decision Making
December 7, 2011 Tweet
When you boil it down to the bare elements, the act of composing is basically about making decisions. Do you repeat that last section or do something different? Do you put this line on clarinet or trumpet? Should this chord resolve as expected or not? And so on.
Every aspect of writing music is a decision. Thus it follows that the better you are at making decisions, the better you will be at writing music. Keep reading…
Five Years
November 23, 2011 Tweet
As 2011 winds down, I’m coming towards the end of my sixth year living in Los Angeles and working as a professional composer. Since crossing the five-year mark earlier this year, I notice that people who describe this as a “five-year town” actually have it about right. It took about five years to reach a point where I was able to find that composing work was coming in steadily and consistently. Keep reading…
The Filmmaker’s Guide to Giving Feedback on Music
November 8, 2011 Tweet
A common question I get form directors is “How do you like to talk about notes and feedback on your music?”. So I wrote a free pdf e-book for directors, producers and anyone who works with composers and musicians on their projects.
Fill out the form below to get your free copy of the 18 page e-book, The Filmmaker’s Guide to Giving Feedback on Music:
For many filmmaker’s, working with a composer is a difficult and uncertain process. Many times they know exactly what they want, but because they are not musical themselves they don’t know how to describe their vision. Or conversely if they are musicians, they may not know how to communicate effectively with the composer. This can result in long revision processes that seem to go nowhere, and even anxiety and a lack of confidence that the music is ever going to be right.
What filmmaker’s need is a way to effectively communicate with their composer in a way that is both results based and diplomatic, and that’s where this guide comes in.
The ideas and suggestions in this guide include:
• What language to use when talking about music.
• Why the story is the most important thing to discuss.
• When temp music is helpful and when it’s not.
• What to do when the direction of the music just isn’t working.
Towards a New Theory of Music
November 2, 2011 Tweet
In my opinion, “music theory” is a misnomer. Music theory courses and books are really referring to a theory of Western harmony of the last 300 years, not a theory of music itself. Music theory is more of a history and analysis tool than a means for understanding how to create music. Keep reading…
Aaron Dignan: How to Use Games to Excel at Life and Work
October 26, 2011 Tweet
I recently watched an interesting video on the99percent.com (an amazing site if you’ve never been to it):
Aaron Dignan: How to Use Games to Excel at Life and Work
As always, it has me wondering how the concept could be applied to film composers. How do you turn composing, marketing, and business operations into a game?
I’ll be reading Aaron’s book soon and will write a follow-up post if I have any insights on the topic. In the meantime, please check out the video and share your comments and ideas.
Artisanship vs. Artistry
October 19, 2011 Tweet
If you want to maintain any sense of sanity as a working composer, it’s important that you have the right perspective on your craft. Becoming too emotionally involved with your work can be disastrous for your career and your mental health.
In my opinion, film composers are much more like artisans than artists. I expect that comment may get some people riled up, but bear with me. Keep reading…
Teleportation Doesn’t Exist (On Growing Organically)
October 5, 2011 Tweet
An aspect of my writing that I’ve always considered a weakness is a heavy reliance on ostinatos and repeating patterns. I think this probably comes from being raised on pop/rock music with a constant and steady beat, and a general tendency towards minimalism. I just happen to be obsessed with hpnotizing repeating figures.
I’ve always thought of this as a weakness because I tend to have a hard time writing without an ostinato; my writing brain just doesn’t seem to work like that. And this makes me concerned that my writing is always turning out the same, that I’m not ever writing anything new because I’m always writing in the same way. But lately I’m beginning to rephrase how I approach this aspect of my writing. Instead of a weakness, perhaps it’s simply an unavoidable characteristic of my style. And even more importantly, knowing how I tend to write my best means that if I want the writing to flow, that’s the way I should be writing. Keep reading…
“What do I do next?”
September 28, 2011 Tweet
An aspect of composition that I’m currently fascinated with is development. How do you turn a simple idea into an entire piece? Coming up with new ideas is relatively easy. But once you have an idea, what do you do with it?
It sounds like a pretty basic question, and too elementary for a professional composer to be pondering. But in many ways “what do I do next?” summarizes the entire craft of composing music. Keep reading…
On Keeping the Aspects of Composing Isolated
September 21, 2011 Tweet
According to Walter Piston, from his iconic orchestration book, “The true art of orchestration is inseparable from the creative act of composing music.” Although I understand his meaning, from a practical working aspect I have to disagree.
Perhaps one of the hardest lessons for me to remember and adhere to is this: the more I separate the different aspects of scoring, the better the final result will be. Keep reading…
Deane Ogden: What Directors Want from Their Composers
September 14, 2011 Tweet
Composer Deane Ogden has written two remarkable posts that I thought were too good not to share. He asked two groups of studio and independent directors a series of multiple choice questions about their preferences, feelings and thoughts regarding hiring and working with composers. Keep reading…
How I Became a Composer’s Assistant
September 7, 2011 Tweet
Very frequently I am asked how I got the job assisting composer Michael Levine and eventually moving with his company into Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions. I write out the response so often that I thought it would be practical to make a blog post out of it.
Like most things, it ultimately comes down to good luck (ie. preparation plus opportunity).
Keep reading…
CarnEvil at Sacred Fools
August 27, 2011 Tweet
I’ll be playing bass this fall for the awesome original Gothic Horror Rock Musical CarnEvil, with music from my dear friend Michael Teoli and Lyrics by Michael Teoli and Joe Fria. If you live in the Los Angeles area don’t miss the opportunity to see this great show (and a very rare opportunity to see me play bass).
The show runs Friday and Saturday nights from September 16th to October 22nd.
A young man with a dark and troubled past returns to his family’s carnival after a long absence only to find the business in shambles. In an attempt to redeem himself, he vows to help his cousin bring the carnival back to life. But when his efforts fail, he is thrust into the darkness he tried to leave behind and makes the desperate decision to bring a peculiar stranger into the mix. Success follows, but at a high price. An unspeakable horror is released and our hero must face unholy truths and long-kept secrets about himself and his family in order to save everything he cares about from complete and utter destruction.
More information and tickets at http://www.carnevilmusical.com/
Going Home at 5:30
August 24, 2011 Tweet
A few weeks ago I went to an SCL event for a panel with Michael Giacchino and his music team. It was a great evening overall, and I took away many insights and ideas to think about. One of the things that really stood out to me, because it aligns with my own philosophy, was when Giacchino said “My work day ends at 5:30pm, and then I go play with my kids.” I wanted to applaud him, because sadly in this industry that is an incredibly rare thing.
Part of the reason it stood out to me was because that very morning my wife and I were discussing the very same concept. Is it possible to get ahead in this business without putting in 100 hours a week? Won’t there always be some other guy out there working one more hour than you? But if an Academy Award, Golden Globe, Grammy (etc. etc.) winning composer is able to work a normal workday, perhaps a balanced life is not just a dream but an attainable reality. Keep reading…
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