The Secret Disney Project

It's time to reveal what I've been working on over the last month! During the summer, I had my amazing phone call with Greg Smith. In that call, he asked me if I had any experience writing music with lyrics. I told him very little, and he let me know that a lot of what he does at Disney involves music with lyrics. After that phone call I knew I wanted to show him that I could write a Disney-styled song, like one that you would see in the films. The problem was where to begin.

Luckily Lauren's dad, Paul had a solution. Paul is an amazing painter and dabbles a bit in music. He had written the lyrics for a song almost a decade ago called Suddenly Uncertain and asked me if I would write it into a song. Originally he wanted it to be a pop song, but pop is something I have no skills in writing, and it's not something I particularly want to do. When I read the lyrics, I noticed that the words really loaned themselves to be the setting for a Disney love song about a girl who is having feelings for a guy who she thought was not an option and realizes she actually loves him. So the song began.

Step one was taking what Paul had already written and putting it to music. He had a basic melody in mind, so I tried to stick to that as best I could. I loaded my instruments and wrote a verse for the music (which ended up being the third verse in the final song).

Over time we made tweaks to the lyrics to make it sound more Disney-like and discovered that in order for the song to really come into its own, it needed a make part, so the song was to be a duet. We modified the lyrics again and the song really took shape. Over the next weeks I would score the instrumentals and tweak the lyrics until I was happy. Then I realized there was something I hadn't planned on. Who was going to sing for me?

I don't know any singers in California, and even if I did, where would I record them? As I pondered this, I wanted to share my project with a couple of my close friends, Ryan and Nicole, who are both huge Disney fans. Then I realized, they're both singers! I asked them if they wanted to help and they were more than happy to. But the problem was they were in Connecticut and I wasn't. But then I remembered Jeremy Taylor. He was my high school band/music technology teacher and good friend of mine. A couple years ago, the high school was renovated and a state of the art recording studio was installed. I emailed him and he agreed to do the recording. I was so excited that this was finally coming together.

After a couple weeks of planning, printed sheet music and practicing, we had a recording day in mind. Ryan and Nicole had used their computer microphones to send me temporary recordings so I could get them ready for the day. On the real day of recording, Jeremy Skyped me in so that I could direct the recording session. He also patched their mics and the instrument track into Skype so I could listen on earphones exactly what they were singing and then coach them in real time. It was a really amazing session that I could be a part of. The recording session went so well and I couldn't be happier.

Over the last week I mixed everything together and balanced the music and vocals and came up with my final product. I played it for Paul and he was so excited to see a song he thought up 10 years ago come to life. Now I have this Disney song to send to Greg and see if this opens some doors. I'm so proud of all the work that went into this project from everyone and I am excited to finally show this to all of you! I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed creating it.

And here is the version without vocals if you would like to listen to what the orchestra is doing underneath.

Something for the Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone! To all my friends and family on the east coast, I'll be missing you this Christmas. To everyone else, I hope your holiday season is an amazing one. Here's a little something just for you. I hope you enjoy. This is a lesser known song called 'Come Buy My Nice Fresh Ivy'. If you listen carefully, you may hear a touch of 'Carol of the Bells' and 'The Holly and the Ivy'. Vocals by Lauren Martin.

New Commercials and a Fan Film

I've been on a bit of a hiatus lately. I recently got a job at the Apple Store to make ends meet until something happens with the music. It's such an amazing place to work. Apple really takes care of its employees and it's filled with people just like me. So many of my co-workers are in the film, TV or music industry and are in the same place I am, so we all have that in common. Many of them know I do music and I am already in the process of collaborating on a few of their projects. I'm very excited to see where that leads.

This week ended up being an unexpectedly busy week for music. I was asked to write for an Ace Hardware and a McDonalds commercial. I hope I get picked for one of those. So far none of my tracks have been picked for the recent commercials. It's such a competitive field. I'm sure that once I get my first, I'll know what sells and I can do a better job of writing what they want to hear.

I also was asked to write a sample track for a small production company doing a fan film on Harry Potter. They're looking for someone who can replicate the feel of John Williams. No one can ever come close to the real thing, but I had never tried to replicate his sound, so I was eager for the challenge. I did a small test track today and feel pretty good about this as a first draft. Have a listen!

Other than that, my secret Disney project takes a huge leap forward next sunday, so in a week or two, I will be able to reveal the project to you all. I know you haven't heard from me lately, but keep on tuning in. Things will be happening very soon!

I'm Not Dead!

Hey everyone. Just writing in to let you all know that I'm not dead. Things have been awfully slow in the last few weeks so there hasn't been a lot to report. Little things have happened here and there, but I'm beginning to feel the need to be doing something. So I'll give you a few little updates until something actually happens.

Firstly, as a continuation of my last post, the song I was previewing has been completed, entitled 'Quest for Asia'. I am very pleased with the new sound and am excited to start getting feedback on it. I'm trying a new way of sharing my music on this blog, so if anyone can't play the files, please let me know and I'll switch back to the old way of doing things.

Next, after a bit of a lull, I got a new commercial to score for Google. This one tells a bit of an uplifting story and they were looking for more traditional instruments, so this one really appealed to me. Here's the music I came up with.

The interesting thing that happened recently is that I received an email out of the blue from Robert Kral. Robert is the one I met during the fellowship working on the Scooby Doo cartoons. He asked me if I had made it to California okay, and was interested in getting more music of mine sent to him. I had already given him a CD of some of my stuff when I met with him. I can't help but wonder why he wants to hear more of my work if he's not looking for help. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but this is certainly a promising lead. 

I am also currently working on a Disney-themed project that I can't speak too much about right now. It's a personal project, but I have hopes that it may open a few doors for me. This project has both instrumental and vocal sections, so it will definitely be an exciting one. I'll keep you updated once things take a bit more shape. 

Finally, I've been here for 2 months now, and I'm at that point where I simply need something to do. I've started looking for any kind of work in the area just to keep me busy and give me a little spending cash until one of these composer leads pays off. I'm confident by all the feedback I've been getting that it's only a matter of time now, so the idea of temporary work doesn't seem so bad. Hopefully I'll have some good news for you all soon. 

Tim Jones, Prefaders, Multipressors and Greg Smith

So as the title suggests, I once again have quite a bit to talk about. Last week I had my first interview with Tim Jones, who was one of the composers who responded to my emails about needing an assistant. I took a drive out to Pasadena to meet Tim at his studio. He greeted me at the door and right away I was comfortable. Tim is such a genuinely nice and good-hearted person. I met his assistants and it was easy to see that they all had a great working relationship. Tim had described to me on the phone that his scoring rig was wildly complicated, but to be honest, I was not entirely prepared for what I was about to see. Tim has something like 8 to 10 Mac Pros networked together, plus a couple PCs and a storage array wired over two rooms, upstairs and downstairs. Upstairs, Tim's workstation consists of gear both old and new, including a synth rack, real instruments, a mixing board, an old tape machine for making his mixes sound real, among many other things. Tim described it as he's never satisfied with his rig so he's adding to it faster than he can organize, but without a doubt, Tim's music is fantastic, and the quality of his sound is spectacular. I spent most of the afternoon there and we talked music and gear and just had a good conversation.

In the end it became clear that Tim was looking more for a computer technician rather than a musician. He was so polite in telling me and was perfectly honest that he could tell I wouldn't be happy in the position. When I thought about it, he was right. He could tell I wanted to write music, and that's just not what he needed then. But he asked if I had any music for him to listen to, so we went up again to his station and he listened to my music. He listened and wanted to know the timeline of my work and said he could hear me improving from piece to piece which was good to hear. He asked if I would mind some creative criticism, which course I wanted. People always seem afraid to give tips on how to make your art better that I never get any help from people in his position. I was so grateful to get some from him. And it was like he was in my head. He said first I needed to work on 'instrument placement'. What he means is that even in stereo, you can have control not just over whether an instrument sounds like it's coming from the right or left, but how far forward or back it is 'on stage' in your mix. You do this with a reverb channel and prefaders.

Things are about to get technical so feel free so skip over this.

I'm used to putting reverb on each one of my instruments individually, but Tim tells me that makes for an uneven sound. To combat this, you add a reverb channel to your mixing strip, and you use the Sends on your mixer to route to that reverb channel. You then send each instrument track to that one channel. This way is sounds like all the instruments are in the same room. That's only half the battle. Then what you do is send that signal using a Prefader. Normally the fader on your mixer controls the volume of that track. Setting it to a Prefader allows you to route that volume out through the Send BEFORE it gets to the normal outputs. In this case, I'm sending it out through my reverb track. Now that fader essentially lets me place that sound forward or back by sending more or less volume to the reverb. It sounds complicated, and I'll be honest that I don't completely understand it all myself yet, but it works and it sounds amazing. The difference is night and day. I'm using Space Designer from Apple for my reverb impulses and they have some great effects in there.

Space designer gives you great control over what the space sounds like that you're putting your instruments in.

Then Tim asked me if I've ever wanted to get more punch out of my sound and if things seem to just sound flat? I'm still a novice at mixing and mastering (the process of making the music sound good on all speakers) and is something I've struggled with for a long time and no one could really help me with, so I was so excited for him to help me with this. Normally all I ever do to my music is compress it. Music (especially orchestral music) has loud parts and quiet parts. Imagine looking at a mountain range over the horizon.

The loud parts are the peaks and the quiet parts are the valleys. Well you can only raise the volume to a certain point before your speakers start to crackle because they can't go any louder. It's called clipping. When you increase the volume, it raises everything, including the parts that are already loud. When you compress something, you are essentially lowering the loud stuff, and raising the quiet stuff, making more of a plateau.

The problem with this is you can lose a lot of what makes music great. The swells from quiet to loud aren't as pronounced and everything just feels...well, flat. I never knew how to fix this. Tim told me the trick was to use a multipressor.

A multipressor is a compressor, but for individual parts of your song. If you want to make the bass more punchy, you can target only low frequencies, or only mids or highs. After my meeting I went home and tried these things out and I couldn't believe the difference in how my music sounded. In one afternoon my sound had made a quantum leap. I immediately starting writing a new song to test out these new tricks. It's a work in progress and stops suddenly in the middle as I'm still writing, but I want to show you the difference. First will be the song with reverb, prefaders and multipressing. Then will be the song with those changes not included so you can hear the difference. Take a listen!

Now if you listen to the version without all the effects added, you will here how flat and digital it all sounds. It's amazing what these three simple tricks can do to a mix.

So even though I did not get this job with Tim, there was definitely a reason for my meeting him. It may in fact be because of him that I do get my next job.

The rest of that week was very quiet but last monday I was able to get my talk with Greg Smith, who does extensive work for Disney. What I thought was going to be a very short conversation due to his schedule ended up being close to two hours, and could be one of the most important phone calls I've ever had.

Greg and I were supposed to talk a couple week ago but he was so busy he had to reschedule. I was expecting him to only have a few minutes to talk but that was not the case. First he wanted to hear my story, so I told him about the limited music opportunities in CT and the fellowship, and then the choice to move here and what I've been doing. He was very impressed with what I've gotten done and said that I'm doing so much, especially for my age. He gave me advice on business and marketing myself, and explained to me how far attitude can take you, and he said I didn't have to worry about it. He told me that sometimes when people call him, he get's off the phone and says to himself that they won't get far, mostly because of their attitude. He said that he remembered that when he had to reschedule with me two weeks ago I responded by saying that I didn't want to inconvenience him so whenever was a good time for him. he said that meant a lot to him and that's what people look for. 

Greg had much the same story as me. He grew up in a small town in Ohio where there was little music to do. He moved to New York to start doing commercials and wasn't entirely happy with it, so he came to CA and got his start so he could relate to my story. He thinks I'm making the right choices right now and just need to be persistent and patient. He started asking me about my skills and if I can orchestrate, or write songs, or if I had dealt with live players before. He said that it seems I have a lot more experience than most people in my position because of the Fellowship and the projects I've taken on. He wanted me to send him some of my music to listen to and see how he can help after listening to it. I told him I would. Then he told me something that he didn't have to and I'm wondering why he did. He told me not to feel like he was hanging a carrot over my head, but that he's getting to the age where he can't pull all-nighters anymore, and he may in the near future be looking for someone to help him out. Needless to say that got me very excited. So we ended it there and he said he wanted to talk again after he got my music. That night I sent it his way so we'll see what comes of that.

I emailed Adam Berry this week like he asked. I haven't heard back yet, so I'm going to give it a week and email him again. He is my last lead, so I may have to look for a job in the meantime until I have another one. That's fine with me as it was always a possibility. But maybe this is the way it's supposed to happen. Maybe I'm supposed to not find anything at the moment because the thing I'm meant to find isn't ready yet. So now it's back to waiting for a little while, but I'm okay with that. I know that when something comes up, I'll be ready and waiting to jump on it right away. 

BMI and Bulk Emails

This week started out as a bit of a melancholy week for me. No new commercials came in this week so I didn't have anything to work on, and with no new leads for composers, I was pretty much playing the waiting game. But on friday I had my meeting with Lisa at BMI. I drove down to Hollywood to have coffee with her. Right off the bat she was so easy to talk to and it was such a comfortable conversation. She explained to me that the industry isn't the same even as it was 5 years ago. There used to be a clear way 'in'. Now things are so different. The industry unfortunately is now less about talent, and more about who can get what they want for the cheapest price. Lisa told me that the best way in is to be doing as much as possible, every way possible. The fellowship opened the first doors, but no one is going to do anything for me, so I need to find any way to get an email, a phone number or a meeting and see what sticks.

She had some really great advice for me. First off, she said that although the SCL (Society for Composers and Lyricists) is a wonderful organization where one can learn a lot, it is not the place to go if you're looking for a job. Too many people are doing that now that the composers who may offer jobs don't mention it at SCL meetings or gatherings, so that's out. One things Lisa did say was a great move is to go online and look at who composed most of the TV shows out there. Odds are the majority of the composers have a personal website for their music career. Some of those websites have contact information on them. She said I should email as many people as I can find, and make sure I drop Mike Post's name and see if anyone responds. She also agrees with Christian's assessment that I should also try to attach myself to directors and producers either in film school or in the same position as I am, because should any of them make it into the industry, I could be 'their' composer, thus launching my career as well as theirs. All great things to think about.

In addition to that, she said that meeting with her was a good move. The collective resources of BMI means that as a company, they know and have access to literally everyone. Although they don't hand out phone numbers and emails, she said I'm on their radar now. They know I'm looking and what I'm looking for. They get asked a lot for recommendations from composers who are looking for an assistant. Now that they know I'm looking, if someone is looking for an assistant with my qualifications, they can pass my information along.

Finally she told me that because of the way things are now, I can't be picky to start. If a composer needs an assistant, and they happen to be unpleasant, she said it's best to stick it out right now. Better to have someone who's only okay to work for than not having anyone to work for. That's not to say I've had any unpleasant experiences yet. Everyone I've spoken with so far have been great people so I'm excited to whoever I make work for.

Fully inspired after our talk, I did exactly what she recommended when I got home. I went online and made a list of all the TV shows that I could find where the composers information was listed and I emailed all of them. Close to 40 people. I did this on a saturday. On sunday, I already had one response from Tim Jones. Tim said he is in the market for a new studio assistant. He asked me to give him a call on monday to discuss it. I was one for one, and I was so happy to hear positive news from my search so soon. Come monday I had my phone meeting with Tim. He wanted to know a little about my background and about my time with Mike. He said his rig is wildly complicated (though he is trying to simplify it) and he needs someone who can do a lot of the technical work. I told him that I haven't worked with a wide range of software and hardware but everything I know is self taught and I pick up the tech stuff real fast. He said he was working on a bit of a tech crisis at the time and that I should speak to him next monday to set up an in person meeting. Sounds good to me!

Then Lauren and I had a dinner date with Brandon. I haven't seen him since the fellowship so it was great to meet up with him. We met at this fantastic place in Hermosa Beach which had a kind of Mystic, CT feel, so it was good to be in a place that felt a little familiar. He had just started up with Mike again on the new season of SVU. Once we got in to the topic of music, he was surprised to hear how much I've been doing and how many people I've been in touch with since I got here. And here I was thinking I wasn't doing enough. We spoke about loops and he mentioned before I even had a chance to say it that a lot of people think using loops is cheating, and I just have to get over that fact. Everyone uses loops (which doesn't necessarily make it OK) but when I get to a point where I can hire live players and collaborate and such, I'll need to use loops much less. But for now, I've got to do it. He also gave me tips on which software to get next in order of importance. I told him about my call with Tim and he said I could give him his email in case he wanted a recommendation from Mike Post Productions. He told me he'd help with anything I need, and it's such a safe feeling to know that someone in the industry has my back out here. After dinner Brandon showed us around the area and we took off, but we plan to hang again soon.

With Brandon's help, I managed to get my hands on a copy of Ableton Live, which is a great program for loops, and (for you techies out there) it comes with a feature called Rewire, which automatically finds other programs with Rewire and links the two programs together without the need for any complicated tech work. So Live detected Logic right away and I decided to do a loops test. I wrote this little test piece that is half loops and half my writing. It's not the kind of piece I'd write every day, but I only have so many loops right now so the styles I can write in are a bit limited at the moment. I'm pretty happy with this as my first foray into composing with loops.




As I write this, another lead has come in from my bulk email kick. Adam Berry has also gotten back to me and has asked that I speak to him in October. On top of that, Greg Smith has also gotten back to me to schedule our meeting for the week of the 26th. With all this good news and so many people getting back to me, I can't help but be optimistic. Looks like next week is shaping up to be quite the week.

Loops

I had my meeting at Hifi on tuesday. I met with Paul to discuss rock for commercials. He told me that the problem wasn't my writing, but the sound. He said 5 years ago,  everyone in the commercial business did what I did for my tracks. They would 'compose' all the played parts, like drums and guitar. Now that everything is so cheap, both in the recording and library music areas, advertisers are expecting more and more. Paul said that it doesn't matter how real your samples sound anymore. At the end of the day, a piano player can never play on a MIDI keyboard a guitar or drum set and have it sound as good and natural as a real guitarist or drummer. You could learn how to play those instruments (which Danny Lux did recommend to me), but that takes time and you can't use that skill until you're a good enough player. The only option left to us is loops.

What Paul told me is if I want to get picked for rock tracks, I need to use loops like they do. He said that because of the sheer number of commercials they get each month, he only puts his hands on the keyboard maybe twice a week, and the rest is loops. It allows him to move more quickly and create a better sounding track than if he had to make the loops himself. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, a loop is a recording (either of a sampled instrument in MIDI, or a live audio recording) of a very small line of music, or just a part of a line where the end of the recording connects with the beginning, so when played over and over, or looped, it sounds like the beat of the music is constant. Using many loops together allows you to create a song out of those loops. It's more like arranging than it is composing. Paul said I need to start my loop library because 80% of the commercials they get call for rock or pop influenced tracks.

The other thing that he told me was that I need to start buying virtual instruments from other manufacturers. The reason for this is an acoustical phenomenon that occurs when you only use instruments from the same maker. You get an overall sense of 'fakeness'. Like when you see something that is CG in a movie, and you can't see that it's CG, but you can sort of tell just by the nature of it. He said that it mostly had to do with the fact that even though the samples sound real, all the instruments were recorded the same way, and the programming done on the software to make them work is also the same, so you get an almost imperceptible feeling of fakeness. To combat this, simply get other instruments from other makers and use them all together, and it can make your piece feel much fuller.

At first after all this news I was a little discouraged that I'd be doing less composing and more arranging of loops, but then I thought about it a little. Doing the rock pieces for the Expedia spot was kind of stressful for me because it's a style that I'm not very interested in writing often. If 80% of all the commercials I get need rock, it could be a stressful job. But with loops, I can do it faster, and the fact is I don't have to use all loops. I can use a few for the things I can't make sound real enough and still compose other things into it, so it still sounds like me. Also, I know that when they do get something that needs composing, I'll be more of their go-to guy.

Armed with this new knowledge I bought a few inexpensive loops to get me started. It's tough to justify a purchase like this right now having just moved and not having steady income yet, but I figure if I didn't get them, I'd miss out of 8 of every 10 commercials that I get and lose that much potential income. Paul gave me a bunch of places to look for loops and I picked 3 that I thought would get me the most loops useful for commercials. They are Quirky Guitars, which are indy pop and rock loops, Crunch, a series of all styles of guitar loops and Indie/Post Rock Drums, a set of 440 drum beats. This should be enough to get me started, and then if some of my tracks get picked, I can expand my library and get sounds from other companies.

Other than that, Paul told me that the timeframe for hearing whether or not your track got picked varies quite a bit to the tune of next day to a few weeks. The tracks for the last Expedia one I did went in on Tuesday so they have their fingers crossed for me on that one. Other than that, not a lot of new commercials in right now. I have my meeting at BMI tomorrow and dinner with Brandon from Mike Post's sometime next week. With so much going on, something's gotta happen soon.

Expedia, A Reality Check, and More!

I'm still used to being in CT where things move slowly, so I have all this time in between posts, but that's not the case here. I need to get used to writing more often so I don't have these monster updates to write. So here's a monster update.

First things first, I met with Christian, Rupert's old assistant that I was hoping to replace if I had gotten the job. We met at this coffee shop in Santa Monica where apparently all the big movie people go to, because while I was waiting, the people sitting next to me were talking about their sound work on Captain America.  Christian is this really great guy and we talked for about an hour and a half. He had a lot of great things to say that made me feel great about making the choice to move out here. He said he also came from a tiny little town in Colorado and moved here with only enough money for live for a couple months. He only had one contact, and within two months he was lucky enough to get his job with Rupert. He did that for three and a half years and he left because he wanted to start doing his own composing. He did tell me (which was both a compliment and a little bittersweet) that the only reason I didn't get the job with Rupert was because I couldn't start the literal next day. That sucks a little bit, but it was a compliment enough to know that if I was there, I had the resume to get a big job like that. Christian did say that at Remote Control, every 3 to 6 months or sooner there is usually an opening for an assistant, so I should sit tight and keep my ear to the ground and he thinks I'll have a job soon enough. He also said he thinks a runner job at Remote Control might be a good idea because that way I'd be the first one to hear when an assistant job opens up. He also mentioned that in his opinion, TV is the best way to go to get started right now, because you do much more writing and there are more opportunities to become your own composer faster than in the film world. It's all stuff to think about. He said to keep in touch and that we can help each other out. It was a great meeting and it inspired me to be proactive. He said with the fellowship behind me and the number of contacts I have puts me way ahead of where he was, so made me feel pretty good.

I went home and started setting up more meetings. The first person I called was Greg Smith (gregorysmithmusic.com). Birgit recommended that I call him, as he does a lot for Disney. I spoke to him briefly because he was very busy, but he said he loves to help people out, so I am to email him in a week to set up a meeting. Then I called Robert Kral. I left a voicemail with him, so we'll see where that goes. My speaker stands came in, so I was able to finish my setup and now my composing station is complete (well all the pieces I own are installed. My workstation is nowhere near complete).

Still no word on the American Express commercial yet. I think that means that I didn't win that one, but oh well, I was given quite a few more to try my hand at. After American Express, I was given a commercial for Expedia. It called for an aggressive rock sound. Also, the commercial travels through a few different locations. One is a high class restaurant, the next a plane full of annoying kids and finally a ski resort. They wanted the composer to briefly allude to those locations. I did 3 tracks for them. Here's one of them.

Then I got a reality check. The next day I received an email from Hifi telling me that this music wasn't right, so I'd have to sit this commercial out. This was really the first time anyone had told me that my music wasn't right for something and I took it harder than expected. This is what I've needed and wanted to happen to me for a long time now, but it didn't make it any less difficult. There is an upside to this though. Paul told me that we'd meet up soon and he'll give me a lesson on rock for commercials. He said that there wasn't anything musically wrong with the tracks I sent, but I guess in the advertising world, there is almost a formula for how rock music should be written for commercials, and I just need to learn that formula. So next week I have my meeting with him to teach me that. So I was feeling a little down, and really wanted another commercial so I could redeem myself in my own head. Unfortunately what came next was a Starbucks commercial that called for an indie-pop sound. I did a bunch of watching of Starbucks commercials online to get an idea of what that sound was and tried it out. It was due the next day and I could only do one version.

Then the next Expedia commercial came in. When I first saw it, I was a little discouraged, but in the email, Birgit said this one was right up my alley. Her and Paul are starting to get a picture of what kind of composer I am, and it turns out it's right what they need. More on that in a bit. This new commercial needed to be sparse but quirky, using odd combinations of instruments and a bunch of metal (like the material, not the genre) sounds that really follow the video and tell a story. So I set to work and I came up with 3 versions.

I sent these in and held my breath. I got an email back the next day, and they loved them! Thats when Paul called me. He started by saying he and Birgit really want me to get this one. He gave me a couple notes which were so simple. He said the music was perfect so don't change anything there. Just switch some of the lines to different instruments to make it sound a bit more odd and I'm good to go. Then he told me why it's good that I'm working for them. He said most of the people there have rock backgrounds and started by playing guitar and then learned piano after. He said they kill the rock commercials and struggle on the ones that require a bit more composing. I'm the opposite. So now I think they know they can come to me when a commercial needs a composers hand, or a more traditional sound (and if not 'sound' like in the Expedia case, then at least in how it is written). Then the next day I got an email from Paul asking me to write a specifically different sounding piece for the same commercial. He said this client is prone to changing their mind a lot about what they want, so he wanted to have another option ready, and wanted me to be the one to do it. So that was great and it was fun writing in this style, as I have never done it before. So here's the fourth option for Expedia.




You'll notice on that one the '.com' singing at the end. So it's possible that that singing bit may be at the end, so I had to transpose my original 3 tracks into the key of that audio clip just in case the client wanted to add that to the end of one. Interesting stuff. Finally, two days ago I woke up to an emergency email from Birgit. Kind of a calling all composers kind of thing. She said they had been asked to do a Sears commercial, but needed to get a track to them within one hour of us getting the email. They were looking for a 'homey' rhythmic sound, mostly or all piano that had 3 distinct 'acts' in the song. There is no video to score to on this one. Sears wants to pick the song first, and then edit their footage to the song. With 40 minutes left to write, I got to work and came up with this.




Birgit was very impressed with my speed and liked the piece, so I have 2 more commercials out there with at least a shot of getting picked.

Okay, almost done! Next week I have my meeting on tuesday with Paul for my rock lesson. I also have my meeting with Greg Smith to see where that leads, and I also have a meeting at the BMI office in Hollywood to see if they can give me any career help. So interesting things coming up. Whew. I'll be better next time and keeping up with everything!

American Express

On thursday I woke up early (for me) and drove to Santa Monica, just down the road from Remote Control to see Birgit and Paul at Hifi, who do the music for many of the commercials you see today. I was greeted by Birgit at the door and right off the bat she was so easy to talk to. Hifi is this great little studio. She gave me a tour and the place is wonderful. They have two composing studios, a live recording room and a mixing studio. I sat down for a meeting with Birgit and Paul and told them a little about my background and what my end goal is. Birgit told me that because of the number of commercials being made on a weekly basis, composing for commercials is an extremely lucrative business and it's very easy to make a living writing for them. She said there's also room to still be a composer for film and TV while still writing for commercials. It's a tight squeeze to manage those two together, but it's great for me to hear that I could be writing commercials, making enough money to live and still have the time to search for my ultimate job.

So they started telling me about how the job works. What happens is a commercial agency makes a spot of either 15 or 30 seconds and sends it to a scoring house. Because of the time schedule of commercials, they want as many unique versions of the music as possible, so a house can sometimes send up to 40 different songs for review. This means that in a sense, you're competing against the other composers from the house who sent in music. Sometimes there will be such a time crunch that the agency will ask for music from more than one house, so you're competing against composers you don't even know as well. The agency will then pick the song they want to go in the commercial. The composer who wrote that piece then gets paid for their work. Then the agency will ask for revisions and tweaks to make the music exactly the way they want it, and that's the process. Hifi has two composers that they've hired full time who put out consistently 'picked' music, so they get a steady paycheck, and they also have a few freelancers who get paid if their music is used. Paul told me the trick is to write as many versions of a commercial as you can because that increases your chances of getting picked. He said the other added benefit is that there are only so many ways you can edit a TV commercial, and many of the songs you've written will fit other commercials, so the more you have, the more you can pick from your library of music a song that will fit a new commercial, so you don't have to write new music. He said some of the guys who have been doing this a while will go a month or more without writing any new music because stuff they've written before works, so it's like getting paid for doing nothing.

By the end of meeting, Birgit and Paul said they'd start giving me commercials to work on, which was great news. My first commercial is a new spot for American Express. They gave me the video to work on which is cool because it's unfinished. The voiceover is a placeholder and the visual effects are just Previz. Previz means the graphics are unfinished, unpainted, very rough computer models that graphic designers use to preview how a computer generated scene will look before all the time goes in to making it look pretty, in case any changes need to be made. I was also given a brief which tells the composers what the agency wants the music to be like. For this spot, I was told the music needs to be warm sounding with long tones in the lower register to offset how blue the commercial is color-wise, with fluttery sounds in the upper register. Also, they wanted a mathematical, almost clock-like approach to the rhythms. With that to go on, I set to work.

I didn't have a desk yet to set up my full workstation yet in the place I'm living, so I set up my mobile rig; the one I used to do my main titles during the fellowship.

So that first night I kicked out two versions of the commercial. One was upbeat, bouncy and happy, and the next was a little more elegant. I wanted all my versions to give the listener a different feeling for two reasons. One, the brief didn't say what they wanted the listener to feel, only what they wanted the music to sound like, so I want to cover my bases; and second, I want to show the people at Hifi that I can write a variety of styles. I emailed out the first two, and a few hours later I received an email asking me to call them. So I did and I was connected with Paul. Paul said he would put me on speaker and have a conference with him and Birgit while they listened to my tracks. He said he wanted this to be a learning experience for me so I know what sort of things they are looking for. At this I was thinking to myself, "Oh God. I really screwed this one up  pretty bad if they both need to give me notes." I got out a piece of paper and waited for my execution. But instead, they said the first one was good enough to send to American Express right away and they just wanted me to use a different way of naming my files so they knew what draft I was on and knew who wrote what. As for the second one, they just had a few very minor suggestions and that was that. They were really impressed. I told them I would get two more out to them by the end of the day. Before I left they told me after hearing my stuff, they wanted to give me a 2 minute infomercial for Boeing that they think I could do well on. Information in hand, we left it at that. 

Feeling empowered, I didn't want to be writing music on my mobile rig anymore. Having all the keys available rather than the 48 of the little keyboard makes me feel a lot more free so I feel I can write better with all the keys ready for me. My I ordered a sturdy piano stand the week before and it had just arrived that day. But what I needed was a piece of wood to serve as a table so my computer and hard drives to sit at the level of the keyboard. I went to Home Depot to get a piece of plywood cut down to the size I needed, and I imagine what I felt was similar to someone who's never cooked a meal in their life feels when walking into a cooking shop to get something called a 'microplane' for their friend. Luckily someone was there to help me, and cut me a piece of wood and I was on my way. Within an hour I was all set up and writing music.

By the end of that day, I had two more versions out. The next day I wrote another, and today I did a final one, to make a total of 6. Birgit called me a composing machine, which makes me feel like they're getting a good impression of me. The deadline for all the versions is Monday, so now all I can do is wait and hope. Although the paycheck would be great, the real reason I want American Express to pick one of my songs to use I think will tell the people at Hifi that on my first try I wrote a piece of music that was used in a commercial, and maybe they'll start sending me steady work. Let's hope so. 

Here are the 6 versions I wrote for an upcoming American Express commercial. Enjoy!

Having Balls in the Air

Before I left, I tried to get as many paths going so that maybe one avenue would pay off. I had my meeting with Jack Bradley about the commercials that would at least get me writing again. I've been in contact with Brandon, Mike's assistant composer, as well as other composers in California. Finally, I still have the meeting to schedule with BMI. I was banking on something happening soon, and something has.

This wednesday I have a meeting with Birgit Roberts and Paul, Jack Bradley's partners on the west coast for the commercials they do music for. I'll be meeting them in Santa Monica as a first step. Jack told me they have a lot of composing contacts at Remote Control, Hans Zimmers studio, and wanted to give me some trial commercials to see if I could do some work for them. I'm excited that things are moving so fast already. Just 3 days in California and I've got a meeting with something that would be great experience, have lots of networking potential and could give me a paycheck to get things started. That's all I know for now on that front.

Also, I was able to get my mobile rig set up to complete another draft of the sci-fi short I'm doing for Jake Wynne. I'm working on the final minute of music for it. I had received notes for it that the music needed to be a bit more vulnerable so I made some changes. I'll be emailing it out to him this week and I think we're nearing a final draft soon. His notes are getting much more specific now which tells me I have the general feel he wants, and now we're getting into the nitty-gritty.

I haven't even been here a week and things are looking up. I can't wait to see what happens when things really pick up.

New Look

Hey All. Just a quick update (not about music this time.) So many of you are now reading and following this blog and I can't say enough how grateful I am for the support and how great it is that you are following me on this journey.

First, to make the blog a bit easier, I've changed the color scheme and added a few new features.

Second, on the top right, you'll see a subscription by email feature. Blogger used to require you to be a member to get notified when I update my blog, but now you can just type in your email (all information stays confidential and you don't get any spam mail) and you receive an email when I update my blog.

Finally on the right of the page, I've added a popular posts section. This will tell you which posts have been read the most each week.

If you have any requests for features or suggestions about my blog, please leave me a comment. This blog is for you all just as much as it is for me, so if there's anything I can do to make it easier to use, or more fun, let me know and I'd be happy to do it. Bye for now!

It's Been A While

So let me fill you in. Last I left off, I was waiting to hear if I had gotten a job with Rupert Gregson-Williams. After a few days of back and forth phone calls and a couple very tense days of waiting, it turns out that I did not get the job. What it came down to was that Rupert had just been signed to a few films at once and needed someone who already knew his equipment, rather than someone to train. It was a bit of a bummer, but getting this close to such a huge job before I even got out to California I take as a good sign. The other good bit was that my moving schedule was back to normal. If I had gotten the job, I would have had to leave the day I heard and booked it as fast as I could to LA. So things slowed down and I was able to have a wonderful last couple of weeks with my friends and family. Those weeks moved so quickly though and before I knew it, it was my last weekend in Connecticut.

During that week, I had one more meeting with Jack Bradley, who does much of the commercial music you see on TV. We had a great talk and he started an email chain to set me up with some of the people he knows in LA. Those people, he says, know many of the composers at Remote Control doing film scoring and may have commercials that they could give me to score. This is all extremely exciting as networking like this is always a good thing and being able to make some money potentially doing commercials while I hunt for more composing jobs is perfect. This meeting made me feel like I was at least going out to the west coast with something to do. We had a gathering a couple days before and so many of my friends showed up to give me a fantastic goodbye. After the party, I packed and the idea that I was leaving home really sunk it. On the day I left, I said goodbye to my family and then saw my best friends one last time. It was so hard to have to leave them, but some of them are considering moving to CA themselves too, so I think in the long run we will all be together again. So Lauren and I set off on what would be an amazing road trip.

I'll spare the details of the trip for now, as Lauren is putting together a wonderful video/slideshow of the journey. It took us 6 days and 3608 miles of driving to get out there with stops in North Carolina, Memphis, TN, Oklahoma City, Holbrook, AZ and a day with my uncle in Wittmann AZ. The drive was easier than expected and extremely beautiful. I recommend a road trip to anyone who just wants to see all the landscapes this country can offer. So on Friday, August 12 at 10:30pm, we arrived in Huntington Beach, California; my new home. It's surreal to think that I live hear now, but here I am and now my quest to write film music for a living can begin in earnest. I'm still unpacking and sorting everything out, but I've already started sending a few emails.

My first goal is to meet up with Jack Bradley's contacts, as they may be able to get me working the quickest, not to mention may have some contacts that I've been looking to get in touch with. This will hopefully get me writing music fast and maybe give me a little income so I don't have to work retail while I meet with other composers who may be interested in hiring me.

So I'm sorry for the long gap between posts, but start checking back more often. Now that I'm here and nearly settled, I should be able to get back in to a normal blogging rhythm.

The Phone Call

Today was a day just like any other. I woke up as late as my body would let me and planned for a nice, lazy day. Lauren was reading a book when I met her in the TV room, so I decided to play some games on my computer. Then my phone rang. It was a 310 number, so I knew it was from California, but I wasn't expecting any calls. So I pick up and I hear "Hi Brenton? My name is Christian. I'm Rupert Gregson-Williams assistant." So obviously my heart starts beating out of my throat. He told me that he had received my resume from Atli's assistant and wanted to talk to me more. So I hung up. Of course I didn't do that, he wanted to know a bit about me and what sort of things I had done.

I told Christian about playing piano and getting my degree and then moving on to local projects here in CT. Then I described my fellowship. He asked about my moving situation and finally wanted me to send him some of my songs for him and Rupert to take a look at. He said he'd pass the word along to Rupert and then they'd get back to me. So after coming down to earth, I processed all that had happened to me and got to picking out sample works that I hope will show them that I would be a good asset to them. After I had sent the sample songs out, I got another email from him. The email said that they were looking for someone to start next week because Christian was leaving, and because I wasn't planning on getting to CA until August 14, they wouldn't be able to consider me. End of story.

But wait. The only reason I was planning on leaving when I was was because I hadn't heard from any composers needing a job out there, so I didn't want to leave my friends and family earlier than I had to. But if there was a job on the line, I would definitely come right out if needed. So I emailed that back to them, and within seconds of my sending the email, Christian was on the phone with me again. He said that it was very bold of me to just be willing to come right out if needed, and bold is good if you want a good position. At that he starting describing the job. He said that first and foremost I would be a tech guy. I would make sure that the computers are running, and I would install software and make sure everything goes smoothly on the computer front. Then I would be setting up recording gear for live instrumentals and dealing with orchestral directors and music engravers as most of Rupert's music is recorded with a live orchestra!  Then he said I would also be writing as Rupert is too busy to do everything himself, and it would be credited writing, meaning I would be in the credits of films right away! He did say that starting out I'd be working 10-14 hour days sometimes 6 days a week, but that it's so rewarding and nothing beats working for such a big name composer.

Impressed that I'm willing to do all this, he said he was going to set up a video chat with Rupert (who is in London right now) for tomorrow, and that will serve as my in person interview! So within the next 24 hours my life could be changed forever and within days I could be on my way to start my dream job.

Of course there's always the chance that the will go with someone else, but this is the closest I've ever come to a job this big...or a job at all in this field, so I can't help but be so excited. And it's all moving so fast. From playing games on the couch to planning the rest of my life in a matter of hours. It's crazy.

So I went and downloaded some of Rupert's music on iTunes and it's just the style I love to write myself! I feel like if given this job I could learn so much from him. So I'm on pins and needles and my phone is on loud and will let you know the results as soon as I get them!

Good Things May Await

It's been a while since my last post so let me fill you in. First off, I started hearing back from people. I heard from Alan Menken's manager first. Although not the best news, I got a legitimate answer from him, rather than a "we don't accept any questions in this manner" sort of messages. Rick thanked me for the kind words about Alan and told me that Alan only does the Disney films, and no others, so he's not working all year round. Because of that, he has no need for a full time assistant. He then gave me some tips on how to contact other composers. I was so happy to hear back (as I didn't think I would) and he was so polite. With that done, I continued to wait.

Next I heard back from a girl, Lisa, from BMI. She told me to call her when I got out to California and we would meet at the BMI offices so she could give me some career advice. It's good to see the agency that I'm now a member of actually try to help it's clients so I'm looking forward to that. Meantime I've been doing some local projects. I was contacted by a man named Jake Wynne  who has done some real impressive work for the BBC. He had just completed a very short Sci-fi film and wanted me to do the music for it. The music he wanted to be very out there and alien-sounding but not in the cliche way, and then switch to a more emotional feel. This film is proving to be a real challenge but I love working with someone so articulate and passionate with their craft. I'm on draft 3 of the soundtrack, and rather than being frustrated with being asked to do so many changes, I'm loving it! I'm so used to people just saying "I have no idea how music for a film works, so just do whatever you want". This time around he gave me the feel he wanted, and then on each draft told me what he liked and what he wanted to change. What Jake does different that I love is that instead of telling me what he didn't like he actually told me what he wanted to have the music do differently from what I had written, so this project is a blast. I think we're nearing a finished product here, so I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I've also had a few interesting conversations of late. I was invited to a production meeting in Hartford last week for a feature film that I may be doing music for. All I know at the moment is that it is an "urban action film" but that feel to me like it would need a big sound which is my specialty. I was asked to bring some samples of my work, and was asked a lot of questions by the director, but overall they seemed impressed so I hope I get that gig. Also, one of the actors from our sci-fi film from last year is also producing a feature and asked me to do the music. It just started production so I won't have anything to do for a while, but it's good to have some future projects lined up.

Finally I got some west coast news. First, I heard back from Atli. He told me he was on vacation, but when he got back, he would let me know if anyone is looking for work. Completely unrelated, but Atli's assistant just emailed me today and told me that Rupert Gregson-Williams will be looking for an assistant next month (conveniently the month I get to CA). He's the brother of Harry Gregson-Williams, who's done films like Narnia. Rupert has done a lot of films too, and I checked out some of his soundtracks on iTunes, and his style is very similar to mine so I really hope this one works out. Atli's assistant told me that I'm coming in a bit late in the game, so Rupert already has some people high on his list, so the chances are a bit slim at this point, but a chance is a chance. I sent a resume already so all I need to do now is wait and see.

Other than all that I've been slowly packing and just enjoying this last month with my family and friends. Hopefully I'll have some good things to report very soon.

Minor Updates

One thing that Danny Lux told me when I visited him in LA was that knowing more than one instrument can help with one's composing as it forces you to look at music from a different perspective. So with that in mind, last week I bought a guitar so that I could start teaching myself how to play. It came in recently and one thing is clear at the moment: I'm pretty terrible at guitar. Playing piano as long as I've been have made my fingers used to making certain shapes so this will be a long process, but a worthy one I hope. So far I know how to play E and G chords. It's slow going, but it's progress.

Colleen form Mike Post's got back to me with a new BMI contact that may be able to get me in touch with some more composers to network with. I need to build as many contacts as possible so I can jump right in when I get to LA. I'll be calling this person tomorrow and see what that brings me. Brandon (Mike's assistant composer) also got back to me a few days ago and mentioned he may have a lead or two for a show on FX that needs music, so I'm eager to hear what happens there.

Today I sent out a couple new emails. First, I emailed the person at BMI that I met with in January to see if she may be able to help me network. I hope she gets back to me. Second, I managed to find the email of Alan Menken (Tangled) so I took a risk and emailed him to see if I can start up a conversation with Alan. It's a huge longshot, but hey, the worst that could happen is I never hear back, so there's no point not to try.

So I'm doing everything I can and hope something takes hold. I've got just over a month before making my move to the west coast, so I'm crossing my fingers that I get some work back before I get out there. That will make this whole thing a lot less scary.

The Hunt for John Powell

So I'm two months away from my move to CA and I wanted to take this time to start contacting composers to see who may have a need for assistants come the time I get out there. I have the names I got from my fellowship, but there's no such thing as too many contacts and there's no harm in aiming high (as long as you're not afraid to have nothing come of it). So I want to do children's music and why shouldn't I try to work with my favorite children's composers?

Top of my list is John Powell. He does some of the best children's music, and music in general out there right now and I would be the happiest person on earth if I was given a chance to work with him. So I am beginning a quest to find him. Not in a creepy, stalker sort of way, but as a major goal in life. I feel that I could learn so much by what he brings to his music that I would be a fool not to try. So today I began sending emails and asking questions on how do you contact the people you want to work with in the industry. Seeing as how everyone knows everyone else right there, hopefully through the 'Six Degrees of Separation' one of the people that I know, may know how to contact him. It's a long shot, but any dream is worth a reach every now and again. So I begin today. I have no idea where this may take me, and it may lead me to a job with someone I hadn't even expected, but any movement is good movement right now. Wish me luck!

Squeeze Pods

The weeks following my seminar have been full of projects and I'm finally starting to cross some thing off my list. One of them is a web commercial for a new product called Squeeze Pods. Our little film studio was asked to create the quick demonstration for the website to introduce the project. I called in one of my best friends, Lauren Marston to lend her hands for the video. I also got to do a bit of music for the demo. This will be good practice for me, especially if Jack Bradley is able to get some commercial jobs for me once I'm out in LA.

The music for this little video is obviously very different from my usual film-styled music as it has to sound like what you'd hear on television commercials today. Overall I'm very happy with the music. We did 4 versions of the video and what I did was make the music scalable. What that means is I can easily chop the music into smaller bits that still make sense to use in shorter commercials so I don't have to write completely new music. The other great thing was that some of the demos I sent off are a few seconds longer than the first one (I wrote the music to the first one) but my scoring software allows me to change the tempo. So rather than writing new music again, I can just make the music a touch slower to have it match up with the new length so that was a real time-saver for me. I have the first Squeeze Pod commercial attached below.

In other news, I've been asked to do a spoof soundtrack for a parody on Ancestry.com. I've just finished the music today and sent it off to be evaluated. If it looks okay, I'll be able to post that as well, so stay tuned!

The Seminar: UPDATED (With Video)

Today I spoke at the South Eastern Connecticut Film Group. They asked me to come in and speak about my journey to getting where I am now and also to give tips to filmmakers on why an original score is better than royalty free music and how to prepare your film for a composer so you get the most out of your music.  It was such a great group to talk to. I had a full room and everyone had some amazing questions and I felt honored that these people were taking someone as young as myself so seriously. It was a great discussion lasting two hours and it was filmed, so once I get the video, I'll put it on this blog in case it could help anyone. I met some great people there and may have gotten a couple scoring jobs in the process. Overall it was such a great day and if my seminar helped anyone, then I'd call it a great success.

Other than that, I've been asked to score my first film that could be headed to Sundance. I'm so excited about this one. I can't go into details on it yet, but the music should be really fun and a departure from my usual brand of music. I have a sample piece of music that I should also be able to post soon. So I'm definitely keeping busy until the move. It makes the time go by. I started sending emails to a couple composers just to touch base so I hope to hear back soon and see what the 'weather' is going to be like when I get out there.

Here's a video of the seminar. I apologize for the poor quality. I had to greatly reduce the video quality to keep in within the file size restrictions on vimeo. Audio seems fine though. Enjoy!

Some News

Yesterday was the SENE Festival in Providence, RI. My family and my friend Nicole who acted in the film drove up in the morning for the festival. We met up with other members of our cast and crew who came to support our film being accepted in the festival. Our film was to show first on the 3:30 block of short films. 4 other films showed with ours. We got such a great crowd reaction and they really seemed to get into the story. I was really happy with everything and proud of all the work everyone put into the project that took it this far. If that project, made on zero budget got this good a reaction, I'm looking forward to what our next one will be like.

Today I got a call from Frank, who did sound on our film. He told me a filmmaker in CT he knows is working on a pretty ambitious film that he plans to debut at the Sundance Festival. The film shoots end of May and the director would like me to consider scoring the film when it's ready. Frank will be sending the script to me soon to look over as well as the links to his other work so I can get a feel for the other projects he's worked on. I'm excited to see what kind of project this is. Hopefully this work will keep me busy until I hear from whoever will give me a permanent composing job.

The Next Generation

A couple weeks ago Jeremy Taylor, my band director from high school asked me to come in and give a lesson to one of his MIDI classes about what I am up to and how MIDI is used in film scoring. Admittedly I was a bit nervous about this as giving lessons is not my strong suit. What Jeremy recommended was I talk about what I did in LA and then he would give me a clip that I had never seen before and I would bring in my rig and score a bit in front of them. I liked the idea so we set up the date.

That morning I brought in my equipment and set everything up. The class started and I spoke about my time in LA working on Law and Order and talked a bit about the important things to remember while film scoring, like tempo and honing in on what the music needs to do for the picture. The kids had some good questions and seemed really interested in the process. Then Jeremy gave me the clip. It was a scene from an old Betty Boop Cartoon. This was great because I got to talk about how the animators would draw with a tempo in mind and how the music in those days usually needed to serve as both the score and sound effects track for the show. I scored a little bit and showed everyone how to fix mistakes in the MIDI recording and moving phrases around and they really got into it. The time flew by and we only got about 10 seconds into the score but it was really great to do that, and hopefully if just one of those kids decides they want to try their hand at film scoring after the presentation, then that would be really amazing.

Jeremy and I were talking afterwards and he gave them all a small scoring assignment. I suggested that if a couple kids do a really good job on their project that I could come back and convert their scores into finished recordings using my system and the better-sounding instruments. He liked the idea and we'll see where that goes. He also told me that he ran into Jack Bradley after my meeting with him and Jack said that once I get out to LA, he may have some work that he could throw my way. I hope so. That would be a great start to my life out west if he does. Other than that, things have been pretty quiet around here in terms of music but very busy trying to finish up my side projects and get ready for the move.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Providence, RI for the SENE Festival. Our short film, A Step in the Wrong Direction has been accepted in the festival and will be shown there. We were also invited to speak on a panel about the film, so it will be excited to see what the audience reaction to it is and (especially for me) how the music is viewed for the film. I'll be sure to post an update once the festival is over.

Networking

I just got back from a meeting with Jack Bradley. He is a composer of most of the ads you see on TV today like Bounty and Samsung to name a couple. My band director from high school met him, and passed the name along to me so we met up today. He's such a great guy and so easy to talk to. We spoke of how we got started and he has a story quite similar to mine. He started playing piano when he was 5 and loved music until he got to college where he wondered how he would ever turn that love into a job. So he got into film instead and went into the production end of things. We wound up producing commercials and had the most fun working with the music guys. Now that he knew people in music, he wanted to go back to writing. Before too long, there he was, writing TV ad music.

He wanted to hear about my trip and said that he knows a bunch of guys out in LA, and even some who work with Hanz Zimmer. Networking is almost more important than the talent because it's so necessary to know people who can get you work and keep you working once you're doing it. I'm so grateful to know all these people who are willing to help and it really speaks volumes about the community of people that I'm trying to associate myself with. I haven't seen a single big ego yet even though so many of these people definitely could have them. Instead I see this group of people who love what they do. It keeps them young and they want to help anyone out who has put in the work to get into this industry. Jack had to leave for a meeting after about an hour (which went so much faster than I thought) but we agreed to meet up again soon so we can share some music. First week back in CT and things are already looking good.

On another note, I have 4 events coming up that I'm very excited about. I'll be giving a lesson at my high school in two weeks to the kids about film scoring which should be fun. They have a digital music class there which is so cool that the kids can be exposed to it in a classroom setting, so I hope I can encourage them to keep up the interest in it. Second, I'm going to my college to do a forum on film scoring and my experience in LA to the music department, so that should be interesting. Third, I'm giving a talk at the local SECT Filmmakers group about how important music is to film, which I'm hoping will raise awareness that thinking about music starts as early as the screenplay and maybe get me a few local jobs in the process. Finally, I've received word that our film 'A Step in the Wrong Direction' has been accepted into a festival for viewing in April, so my music finally gets to reach a general audience. I'm very excited for that. I'll give more details when I know them. So it's good to be back, and being back has been good to me, so here's to a great time back in CT!

Media Woes

Here is the finished product for Ansel's project. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about tempo. Now Mike told me way in the beginning that tempo was the most important thing you could do with music for picture. Boy was he right. I edited this film with no idea what the music was going to be like. When I sat down to write the music, I could hear a tempo in my head. Once I started writing, I realized that I unconsciously picked a tempo that lined up with every beat I wanted to hit in the video without needing to tweak the picture! It was incredible how right Mike was that if a composer can pick up on the implied tempo of the video, then your music will be so successful.

The other thing I did on this little project was play around with the virtual positioning of the instruments using microphones. The software I use allows me to choose any of 3 mics (a close mic, a mic on the stage, and a mic in the 'audience') to 'place' the sound in the room. Once the strings come in in my piece, they were too muddy and hard to hear. I added the close mic position to it, and they became so much clearer. Overall I'm very happy with this video and I hope you enjoy it.

Mini-Project

I'm here in Seattle with Lauren, enjoying a little vacation before everything goes crazy when I get home. There I need to prepare my demo reel, work on a few video projects (non-music related) and make as much money as possible to prepare for the move. While I'm here one of Lauren's friends is doing a school project where they needed to make a one-minute video about how media and electronics effects people's lives. He asked me to help. We came up with this little comedy about how college kids never open books anymore, even if the answer to their question is sitting right there. I have all my music gear here, so I'll be able to write him a custom score to go with it. I'm excited to have something to work on while I'm here and this should be a fun little story to put music too. I should have the finished video up sometime this week, so keep your eyes peeled!

Day 42: The End - The Beginning

So this journey has finally come to and end. Today was my last day in LA until I move back out here in the summer. I went to the studio to meet Dave and set up my titles for my final review session. Mike showed up shortly after and we got started. I began by showing him my hip-hop title as I wanted to get that over with. He had asked my if any gave me trouble, and was happy to hear that one actually did. He said these styles are so vastly different from one another that if one of these didn't trip me up a bit, I'd be some freak of nature. He listened to the first piece twice. When it was over he turned to me and said "If this is the worst you've got, this is going to be one heck of a review." He loved the piece. He said it told the story of this guy's transformation extremely well and sounded just like a traditional hip-hop piece. He was moving to the beat and everything, and was even more impressed when he found out that I didn't use any loops for it; that I had created my own because I wasn't happy with any loops that I had. 

Moving on we listened to the French Revolution piece next. He listened to that one close to 6 or 7 times on every speaker he had. He was blown away by the writing. He even asked me to break down the chord structure of the key change going into the B section because he was so impressed. We went right along after that.

Next came the Afghanistan piece. After listening to that one he went into this speech about being different and creating a hook that people would latch on to. I thought I had really screwed up, but when he finished, he talked about how much I had nailed this one. He loved the writing, and loved how much of a risk I took starting the piece so slowly. He said the music creates a visual right away, and that's what you want. The one piece of advice he gave me on this one was he could tell I was trying to put as much into a short bit as I could, and for a main title, sometimes you want to keep it simpler so the audience has more time to latch onto your hook. Other than that, all he could say was "killer". 

Fourth came the Leukemia piece. Again he listened a few times and talked to me about how simple music with a melody you can hum, or nearly hum is what makes you a huge player in the industry. He talked about how Jerry Goldsmith is a more complex and involved composer than John Williams, but the reason John Williams is such a bigger, more requested name than Goldsmith is because his melodies are memorable. He said that this tune is one he thinks people will want to play on repeat and is a sign that I'm ready for the bigtime. 

Finally we did the whaling piece. He loved the energy and could tell that I was "flexing my composing muscles, showing everyone how big they are." At that he said "Talent determines 'if' and luck determines 'when' and 'how big'." He said I have the talent to jump right in to scoring major film or TV, and now it's just a matter of getting the luck and timing line up. He said that he'll write a letter of recommendation to any composer I'm trying to work with, and said the trick is to be borderline annoying with them. Keep making emails and calls nil you get a definitive yes or no. He told me to keep in touch, not to be a stranger and be sure to stop by when I get back out here. For him to say all that was simply unbelievable. I'm beside myself and there was no better way to end the fellowship than on that note. 

We left the studio and my time here was officially over. I can't believe the six weeks went that fast, but that just speaks to how much I've learned and experienced in my time here. Dave was so nice and gave me a ride to the airport. We stopped at the In and Out Burger for a final meal. He told me that Mike doesn't do the recommendations for just anyone and that's a big deal, and he thinks that with my attitude, how I get along with others and my composing ability, I shouldn't have a problem finding work. We made it to the airport, he said to keep in touch and now I'm here getting ready to head to Seattle to see Lauren for two weeks and decompress after the last 6. 

This fellowship is over, but I'm not going to stop this blog. I likely won't write every day, but I'll keep this up, talking about what I'm working on, who I'm in contact with and things like that. I'll be posting clips of my current projects and well as other music I'm working on, so check in from time to time. I'm sure a lot will be happening in the months to come as the effects of this fellowship help me on my road to starting my career. I'm about to board my plane, so I'll see you on the other side.

Day 41: Hip Hop

Let me start this out by saying that I don't think I will be able to find a type of music that will push me further out of my comfort zone than this main title did. I'm glad it happened, because I need to know what I can and can't do. It took me nearly 3 days to come up with something at least passable, which is no small feat considering that 3 days ago, I had never listened to a hip hop song all the way through before. So here it is, my final main title. This will be the first, and hopefully last hip-hop song I do, but I'm happy Mike made me do this. The lesson here is that in the composing world, a producer will ask you to write something you have no personal interest in, and if you want to get paid at the end of the day and be reliable as a composer, you need to deliver.



Tomorrow I'm meeting Mike to have my final review. From that review Dave is driving me to the airport and this fellowship will be over. I don't have any thoughts on it now because it doesn't feel like it's over. In a way it's not. This is kind of the beginning. So tomorrow I find out which direction I'm headed in, and I can't wait. That's all for now.

Day 40: Final Title

40 days. Wow. I can't believe it's been that long. I swear I've only been here like 2 weeks. Today was a cold, rainy day so I devoted it to my final main title. This one I feel will be my most challenging and least effective main title. The concept is cool, but it puts me into a style that I know nothing about the writing, or even the listening aspect of. The story is this:

A gang banger living in LA. He grew up on the streets in a violent gang. Never went to prison or killed anyone, but saw things that would change a person. He decides to leave that life behind and joins a ministry, becoming a priest and a teacher. He devotes his life to helping inner city kids. It's a really cool concept. The music is supposed to be a hip-hop base layered with religious music on top.

I love the idea of putting a church-type tune to a modern beat, but I've never even listened to hip-hop or urban music, so it's going to be extremely hard to imitate. The afghanistan piece was a little easier because I at least have a working knowledge of how a rock song is put together, but hip-hop is like an alien language to me. So I spent most of the day just listening to the hip-hop/urban channel on Pandora radio to immerse myself in the music. I picked up some general guidelines on what is commonly found on these types of songs. By the end of the day I managed to put an intro and beat pattern down that I don't hate. So I'll have this title down tomorrow, but I'm not expecting anything spectacular here. I'm really happy to have this challenge, to get me this far out of my comfort zone, and learning different styles of music (even ones I don't particularly care for) is an incredibly valuable skill to have, so I'll do my best. I'm sure that if I needed to do this kind of title often, I will get better, but for all of you listening to my titles, understand that this is a crude first attempt, so I'm expecting this to be my least powerful of the 4. I have nothing to do tomorrow except work on the title, so I should have it up before sunday rolls around.

Day 39: Last Effective Day

I went in this morning and met up with Mike, Brandon and Dave. They were finishing up the primary writing for the newest SVU episode before they go on a 3 week break. Apparently the filming and writing crew got behind in New York so they need time to catch up. Once Mike finished his writing, he had to prepare for a trip. Before that, Suzi came in to take our picture. It took a couple of takes to get right.

Note Dave in the window

Take Two

After the picture I talked to Mike about joining the SCL so I can go to this Oscar party. He actually advised me against it. He told me that the Oscar party would be a lot of fun but networking is never usually done there, so yes I'd meet some amazing composers, but nothing would really come from it. He also said for what I need to pay to be a member, I would actually get more by networking through the working composers I've already met through this fellowship. So on the one hand I'm bummed that I won't be going to the party, I'm glad that I was able to avoid a road that may not have led anywhere.

After that I hung out with Brandon and Dave. The studio isn't open on monday, so with the exception of seeing Mike and Dave on sunday, this is really my last day with everyone. So I made sure to talk to everyone and say goodbye and I was told that I'm welcome to come back and visit anytime. Brandon gave me all of his information and said that we need to hang out when I move out here, so although it's sad to think that my time is just about done here, I'll be back seeing these wonderful people in no time. I showed Brandon and Dave my modified main titles with the live recordings added and they loved them. They think Mike will really enjoy these titles and give me a lot of good contacts for the future on sunday. After that I spent the day at the apartment laying low and trying to shake this cold I have. But I do have the two main titles for you all to listen to. Number 3 is the whaling title, and number 4 is the one about the child battling leukemia. Hope you enjoy them

Day 38: BMI

Today was very full of stuff. This morning I woke up feeling awful. Sneezing, sore throat and a sore jaw. I thought I had a sinus infection as there was some nasty stuff going around the studio the last few days. I went to the doctor to be safe and it turns out I have a simple cold so I'm going to live I think. I had lunch and took to trip to Sunset Boulevard where BMI's LA offices are located. I was let in and met with Anne Cecere. First she congratulated me and wanted to know what I've been up to with Mike. After telling my story she asked how I got to this point and what my plans are for the future. At that point I told her that I want to get into childrens music. She got very excited, telling me that very few people do that kind of music anymore but it's such powerful music. So the first thing she did was sign me up. I am now officially a member of BMI under the writer category. I should be getting my welcome package soon. I'm very excited about that. The other thing she told me was if I can, I need to join the Society for  Composers and Lyricists right away. The SCL gives access in New York and LA to A-List movie screening where the composer is there to network and ask answer questions about the score. That alone is worth the sign up. The hitch is that you need to have either 20 minutes of credited TV cues, 4 assistant composer credits for films, or 1 composer credit for a film. I need to call them to find out if short films count. The reason I need to do this so badly is because if I can become a SCL member, Anne will get me a ticket to the pre-Oscar party next weekend! I'll be able to go and meet all the composer who have anything to do with the Oscars. She knows for a fact that Alan Menken himself will be there because Tangled is nominated for an award, so this is a huge huge deal and I'll do anything I need to to get there.

Once I got back, Brandon called me and told me some time freed up today, so we did all the live recording for my main titles. He is one heck of a guitar player and did some amazing things for both my pieces. He even made the title about Leukemia so much better than I thought it would be. We recorded 2 separate guitars as a stereo double, meaning one guitar comes out of the right speaker, and the other from the left. Then we recorded a third high strung guitar on top and it created this beautiful sound. I can't wait to fill out the piece now. Brandon and Dave absolutely loved my whaling title. They said in their opinion it's one of the best main titles they've ever heard a Pete Carpenter do, so that made me feel on top of the world. So tomorrow I'm going in to talk to Mike about what I can do to ensure I get in to the SCL and then get my BMI picture taken, and then I'm off to finish my main titles. I don't know what to say about everything, so I'll just say goodnight.