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.

Day 37: Preparing for Guitars

I stayed inside all day again today. I had a lot of writing to do, and I'm pretty sure no one was in the studio today anyway with the main title for Law and Order: LA done and the new SVU episode not coming until tomorrow. I spent the day working on my whaling main title. It's very complex and has a lot going on but by dinner time it was finished, save for the guitar part that Brandon will be recording on thursday. I must say that this piece of music may be my favorite thing that I've ever written.

After dinner I started on the next piece that requires live guitar. This one is giving me a challenge. The story behind it is it's the 1950's in the heartland of America. A little boy is growing up on a farm with his family and life is good and simple. Then he's diagnosed with childhood leukemia and his life is turned upside down. Thankfully he goes into remission and he has a new outlook on life. This is supposed to be more like a miniseries or a made for TV movie, but the trouble I'm having is that the story isn't really something you'd turn into a series requiring a main title. TV movies don't have main titles, they just have the opening sequence. That's usually a long segment with time for the music to develop. With this, I still only have one minute that I'm allowed to write and I have to tell the story of this boy's life, then developing cancer and then coming out of it. The story itself is a long, evolving story so making a short piece of music out of it (in my opinion) is extremely difficult if not impossible. Even movie trailers have more time. So I came up with a minute long idea. I did the sketch just using piano. This piece needs to be simple in its themes and execution so I'm staying with just the piano for now. That's enough for Brandon to record the guitar part too. I figure once I have that, I can build from the guitar, rather than write this piece of music and try to find a place for the guitar to fit in. Hope it works.

Other than that, I'm really loving this main title experience. When Mike first told me I had a week to do 5 main titles, I freaked out because that's pretty much a day for each one. When I start a new piece of music, it can take me days sometimes just to come up with my theme, but then I realized it's because I didn't have a guideline to start with. By Mike giving me the synopsis of each title, it got my mind thinking about what each one would sound like, and I was able to move quickly. It was amazing. And these titles are so different from one another that I get to use rare instruments and sounds I don't normally think to use, and I feel like having these will show potential bosses that I'm a well rounded composer.

So tomorrow I have my meeting at BMI and then I finish my titles to prepare for thursday. A lot coming up so I need to focus.

Day 36: Work, Work, Work

Today I went into the studio. Brandon, Dave and Mike were working on the main title for Law and Order: LA again and finally got the call from the producers that the song is locked and ready for TV, so there was a bit of a celebration after that. Mike then went on to talk about how stupid he must be to still love working on the theme to Law and Order after 20 years, but he loves the challenge of keeping something that old interesting. Then, Liz, one of the Pete Carpenters from last year was in the area and stopped in to visit so we all went to lunch. Liz is now a teacher at Chapman University. When we got back we finished my review from my final SVU episode.

Mike was extremely impressed. He said all my cues are just as good if not better than his so that was amazing to hear. I'm starting to find my voice so he said I'm taking different approaches to the music than him, but he said they are just as effective as his. Come the last cue, there is a reuniting scene between a kid and his brother. It's a very heartfelt scene. I told Mike I took a risk on this one and may have gone too far. See Mike said when I did my first episode that Law and Order never uses major (happy) chords in the music because it's not that kind of show. At the end of this episode I used major chords. When I played the cue, Mike was smiling. After we played his cue, he did the same thing, so knowing that I'm on the same page as such a legend like Mike Post is a really good feeling.

After the review Mike had work to do, but I asked Brandon and Dave if they would listen to the 2 main titles I finished. They listened to the Afghanistan one first. They liked it so much and had nothing to say about it. They said the mix was great and it was very different and definitely sounds like a main title. Then they listened to the French Revolution one. The loved the elements I incorporated into it. Brandon had some suggestions about the mix and how to make the trumpets sound more realistic using reverb. Other than that he said my orchestration and writing is great and he can't give me any tips on that. So then we talked my next main titles that will have live guitar. Things are going to get tricky. Brandon is going to Hawaii on friday morning for a wedding. The next SVU episode isn't getting to the studio until wednesday for some reason so that means they have one day to finish the entire thing, so we have very limited time to record Brandon.

At that, I went right home to get writing. I have 2 titles that I'd like guitar on so I need to have both ready by thursday morning. The first one that I started is a show about and sailor, part of a whaling community in Falmouth, MA in 1820. This is a high energy, high seas adventure where the man spends half his time on the ocean doing a dangerous profession. The other half, he spends at home with his family, so the music should have a folky feel. I chose a Celtic, Irish feel because a lot of the whaling community was Irish. So I spent all afternoon working on this first main title. I'm currently 40 seconds into it. I have the first A section and the B section finished. All I have to do no is write the second A section and it's ready to record. So tomorrow I want to finish this main title and start the second one so everything is all set for thursday. Other than that, hope everyone had a great Valentines day.

Day 35: Old Friends

Today Graham, an old friend of mine from high school came to visit me today. He's living out here in LA now and it was really great to catch up with him and get some insights about this place, as it's going to be my home in a few shorts months. We did lunch and then I gave him a tour of the studio, and it was really great to show him what I've been up to. So we hung for a few hours, caught up and agreed to meet up again when I come out here for good. Other than that, I decided to take today off. I was absolutely beat after my all day marathon last night making my second main title. Tomorrow my goal is to sketch out the next two that I need to do, because those will incorporate live guitar, so I need to prepare those and schedule a recording time with Brandon. I need to finish a main title every 2 days to meet my deadline, so I have my work cut out for me. Now it's time to sleep.

Day 34: Second Main Title

I didn't leave my apartment today. Happy with my last main title and very eager to begin the next one, from the moment I woke up until not too long ago I've been working on my second main title. This one takes place in present day Afghanistan following a 7 man Ranger platoon. The platoon is mixed race but every man is an American. The music is supposed to be "Badass, aggressive and contemporary". With that to go on, I proceeded to write.

I knew I wanted to incorporate some Middle Eastern elements and I landed on using a Middle Eastern violin, Oun (like a dulcimer) and a solo vocalist. Then it was time to try my hand at a style I have never once written - contemporary rock. This was an interesting but necessary challenge to overcome if I want to be well rounded as a composer. Of course I added some orchestral 'me' flair, but I really enjoyed doing this one. I also put in a military trumpet call to tie it together. Overall I'm very pleased with this new title and am happy to have gotten a second one done in such short order. This new video I added a little extra. This time you can see what the music looks like in the program I use to compose. Up top are the lines that the virtual instruments play, and down below is the mixing window. Hope you enjoy.

Day 33: First Main Title

I have a lot to report today. I went into the studio today and Brandon and Dave were setting up a showing of the Law and Order: LA main title they've been working on for Dick Wolf (creator of Law and Order) who was coming in to discuss what needed to be done with it. The reason everyone is being so picky about this main title is because a lot is riding on this show and they want everything to be perfect. This show didn't do too well when it started so it was cancelled, and then rebooted with a new team, new cast, everything. So Dick came in and he had to get right to business so I didn't speak with him but it was cool to see who created one of the most successful shows ever. He and Mike went into his office and I went out to wait until the meeting was over.

While I was waiting I spoke with Colleen about how my fellowship is almost over and we marveled at how fast this thing is moving. She was also getting all the paperwork in order for Mike, who is headed to the Grammy's soon. Just another routine day for everyone at the office, but crazy over my head. I also got a call from Anne Cecere over at BMI and my meeting with them is this coming wednesday. I have no idea what's going to happen at that meeting, but I'm very excited for it.

After the meeting we all met up in the studio room where Mike was going to play a few new guitar parts into the song as per Dick's notes. Then he took us to lunch. We went to this little hole in the wall place that I didn't even see a name on but they all knew Mike and served some great food. Mike was talking about his trip to Las Vegas yesterday. I didn't even know he went anywhere, but I guess he did. He went to Vegas to speak to the cast of Cirque de Soleil who is performing the Elvis show right now. Apparently Mike either worked with or knew Elvis in some way so he met with the director and cast and spoke about what he was like. Just something else Mike did that blows my mind. He said those are some of the best performers on planet earth and he's never been to a show where his jaw didn't drop. We then came back and did some more music. Mike had a phone call and Brandon took out his guitar and starting playing some absolutely beautiful stuff that he wrote. He told me he'd play for my main titles if I wanted so obviously I said yes. One thing he played I think will fit in perfectly in one of them.

So I went home to let the guys work and worked on my own main title. This is the doctor during the French revolution one. So I worked nonstop and now I have a rough draft ready for display. I'm going to mix it better once I get it to the studio, but this is a good start. So let me explain my mindset while writing this thing.

It needed to sound period to a degree so I only used traditional orchestra instruments for this. The first two bars of the piece are reminiscent of the opera that I used for inspiration. The trumpet call in the beginning was taken directly from that. The second two bars are the minor version of the French National Anthem that was very important during that period. After that I envisioned what I thought the video portion would look like, and scored to that:

A Section: You see a French flag and scenes from the war. We then see the doctor in his regal clothing at a high class meeting, then kneeling in front of the King when the music gets huge. Then he leaves and we see he's actually a revolutionary plotting something.

B Section: The music stays operatic but incorporates more folk instruments as we see the doctor tending to the poor, and in the second half of the B section, we see the doctor moving back into the upper class world as he prepares to make his move.

2nd A section (A Prime): It's the same theme as the beginning but only huge, incorporating more brass and battle drums as the revolution comes into the forefront of the opening montage.

So that's what was in my head while writing this main title. I'd love to hear what anyone else thinks as you listen to my first of 5 main titles.

Day 32: Main Titles

I went into the studio today. Mike had a flight later on so we had to move fast. We moved the photo op to tomorrow. We also only had time for half my review, but we got started anyway. Mike was very impressed. I'm starting to do the exact same things that he's doing, and he said at this point, the only reason he sounds better (other than his many years over me) are the fact that he has 2 other guys helping him out. I was so happy to hear all this positive feedback. We moved fast and he told me that any of these cues could go in an episode right away and work fine in it. Then he took me into his office to give me my main titles.

Mike sat me down and told me I was going to do 5 one minute main titles! The first thing he did was tell me how he does main titles. He said they should be different. They should be melodic so that people will hum them. They should sound familiar yet not cliched and to throw some curveballs. So I'll give you the first one.

It's Paris during the French Revolution. There is a doctor who was born into a wealthy and upperclass family. He hobnobs with the royals, kings and upper society. Secretly he's a revolutionary and tends to the poor for free. So he acts high class, but is a Robin Hood-like character. The main title should be adventurish. It should contain action, but have a heroic side for the doctor.

Most main titles are in A-B-A format. This means the A section is where you introduce your theme. The B section is a different sound segment than the first, and then you return to the main theme, but it's different; usually bigger sounding. So this is where I need to start. I talked to Brandon and Dave and asked if I should use my own equipment for writing. They said it'd be a good idea because I'm most familiar with my own stuff so I can write quickly and I have sounds they don't have so it will sound different from their stuff. Brandon did loan me his hard drive, so I could take some of the studio's virtual instruments to use on my rig and that was so nice of him. So I needed a little keyboard so I could write in my apartment. I went to the Guitar Center in town and picked up a little 49 key keyboard so now I can write day and night every day.

First thing I did was some research on the music that was happening during the French Revolution. One song in particular was so popular it turned into their national anthem. I decided to take part of that song, turn it from a major key to a minor key and use that as my 'A' theme. Another big musical thing during the French Revolution was opera. It was a way to communicate to the public that together they are strong against the government. A big part of that were these trumpet calls used in the operas, so that became a big part of the music. Of course I started right away I was so excited and I already have 40 seconds sketched out with 12 of those seconds completely orchestrated. If things go my way, I'll have the whole first main title done by tomorrow or saturday. Okay so I'm going back to work and I'll post my results when I'm done.

Day 31 Part 2: My Cues

So here they are. These are my cues for the 3 episodes I've done. I picked ones that Mike had comments on (except the ones he hasn't heard yet). So you'll be able to see my progress over the weeks. Without further ado, here they are

Note: While the music is my own, these videos are owned by NBC and cannot be downloaded, copied or shown anywhere other than this site. These clips are intended only for demonstration purposes only and are a part of my Demo Reel for the Pete Carpenter Fellowship under the instruction of Mike Post.






This is from my first episode 'Mask'. Mike was happy with the suspense element I added to this cue.




This is the Techno Sound Effects cue that I wrote. It is to simulate what the characters are hearing.




This is a cue from my second episode 'Flight'. This is the one Mike said he liked better than the one he used.




These are a few cues from my final episode 'Spectacle'.

I hope you enjoy them. I will post my main title once it is finished before my fellowship ends.

Day 31: Robert Kral

I went into the studio today at 10am. Everyone was there including Randy who had next weeks episode to spot, so we did that first. This is another very different episode. Mike's been doing this so long that it looks like he's not even paying attention when he watches these things. He was sitting with his guitar playing music and barely looking at the screen. Don't be fooled though. He sees everything. So well in fact that he caught a massive error that no one else saw. All of a sudden he stops the video asking who screwed up and Randy didn't know what he was talking about. Turns out either a writer or someone messed up and one of the detectives had a line where they said information that the cops didn't know about yet because what they were saying hadn't yet happen in the episode! No one caught it. Not the writers, editors, actors; nobody. But Mike did, so they have a bit of work to do on this episode to fix this mistake. It was just so cool to see how tuned in he was. By the time the spotting session was over, I had to leave for my meeting with Robert, so no time for my review. It is definitely on for tomorrow, 10am where I will also get my picture taken for BMI. Then it was off to my meeting.

Robert and I were to meet up at Brew Co. for lunch in Manhattan Beach. On the way once again, my GPS took me past WB Studios so that felt cool.

 So I drove down there to discover it was right at the water (the word beach should have given it away). For those of you who ever watched the O.C. It's the place where they would film a bunch of scenes on the pier when they ate lunch at that fast food joint. Very pretty area.

Robert then met me and off the bat he's super nice. We sat down, ordered and first talked about Danny Lux because that's how I got referred to Robert. Robert told me how he got started. He actually applied to work for Mike Post when Chris Beck (one of Mike's most successful Pete Carpenters) stepped down to pursue his own career in music. Robert didn't get the job, but instead was picked up by Chris. He worked there for a while ghost writing for Buffy until Angel started. Ghost writing is actually very common and Robert tells me it's the perfect way to make good money and get your music on air without the pressure when you're starting out. The composer for Buffy was done with that series and wanted to start something new and gave Angel to Robert. That was his break. Since then he continuously picked up steam, did more shows and few films and finally landed at Warner Brothers doing childrens animated shows. Most recently he did the score to A Haunting in Connecticut. Turns out he has the same tastes in music as me. He loves huge orchestral music, sweeping themes and a big epic sound. It's what he brought to Angel. After hearing so many composers tell me that TV is all simple electronic music (which is a good piece of advice and I don't discount it) it's so good to hear a composer tell me that he has a career in film and TV doing the kind of music I write too.

Then we talked about me a little bit. He wanted to know my history and what software I use. He was happy to hear that I write orchestral music. He has this way of being so nice, knowing that I'm looking for work, and telling me what I need to hear. I told him that I plan on moving out here in July unless something comes my way sooner. He then told me that right now he has 2 assistants working with him on Scooby Doo and things really pick up on that show in August (one month after I move there. How convenient). He said he may need someone then, and that he has some projects in the wings right now and if one of those happens, he may find himself needing someone right away. So that's very encouraging news. He told me I should send him some .mp3s of my songs, and I told him I had a CD on my music already. He was actually happy that I didn't do the standard 30-45 seconds of each song on a demo CD and put entire music tracks on there. So it all went better than I had hoped. We parted ways after such a great talk about everything music related and he told me to keep in touch and to give him a call when I get back out here (if I don't hear from him first).

So I came home tired, but with a smile on my face and a contact that may get me somewhere. I'm loving it. Now at 11pm my time I'm allowed to post sample cues from my SVU episodes because that's when the latest episode airs so I won't be breaking any laws having them on my blog before that. So check back if you're interested. I have samples from all 3 episodes that I did, as well as the techno scene that I promised.

Day 30: Calm Before the Storm

Nothing really to report today. I went into the studio after lunch. Colleen, Suzie and Dan were there, but no Mike, Brandon or Dave. So I used that time to export all the video and my cues from the 3 episodes that I did onto my computer. Now I have everything so I can put together a reel of some of my cues and post them on the blog. That has to wait until at least tomorrow because my reel has cues from an episode that doesn't air until tomorrow.

So it looks like tomorrow everything explodes. First at 10am I'm headed to the studio where we're going to try to squeeze in my review before they start working on next weeks episode. Then it's off to see Robert where who knows what will happen. Then when I get back (if I believe I'm in reality or not) I'll post some of my cues. Here's to whatever tomorrow brings.

Day 29: Stepping Stones

I woke up this morning with a voicemail waiting for me on my phone. It was Robert Kral, who composes for Warner Brothers. He does a lot of cartoon work, as well as writing for Buffy, Angel and The Dresden Files. He was so busy over the last couple of weeks that he couldn't get back to me. Danny Lux told me that Robert calls him every once and a while when he's swamped, looking for new hires. If you remember our last conversation when he asked if I was looking for work, his voicemail had a couple new interesting statements in it. He wants to meet for lunch this wednesday somewhere in Manhattan Beach, which is halfway between me and him. So he told me to send him an email to confirm that I can come. But then he wanted to know how long left I had in my fellowship and what my plans were when the fellowship ends and he wanted me to email that to him. Now I have to wonder, why would he want to know those things now before we even meet? Those are pretty specific questions, so I can't help but hope that maybe he's shopping for new hires. It's safe to say that I'm so excited for Wednesday to get here. After that great wake-up call, I headed into the studio to finish my mix.

CSI was filming a huge scene across the street when I got in. There were tons of crew and extras there so I wonder what they were up to. I've never seen a CSI so I have no idea what type of scene they were doing, but it was fun to watch for a bit. Once I got in, I started mixing. I must say that I'm feeling very confident with my SVU cues now and it feels good to start trusting my abilities. After the mix was done, these are my favorite cues yet. Mike was in the studio while I was there and he kept popping in to make sure I was having a good time and getting along okay. He was very busy today so we  couldn't do a review. He's got a meeting with Dick Wolf coming up and a bunch of other things going on, but it was so great of him to still take the time to check up on me. So if Dick doesn't come in tomorrow, we'll do the review then. If not, we'll have to find another day because of my meeting with Robert on wednesday. Then after all that comes my main title. It's starting to move fast now. I just hope it's moving toward something starting for me. Either way, every day has been such a great day.

Day 28: Three's the Charm

Today Lauren and I enjoyed our last day together and then I had to bring her to the airport. Her flight got cancelled while we were driving to the airport, so we had to reroute to LAX which was interesting. It was sad to see her go but we had a wonderful weekend, so that helped.

I had dinner when I got home and went in to the studio to finish my episode. I did my 3 cues and tackled the beast one more time. Brandon and Dave weren't fans of that one either when they were working on their version, so I did as much as I could and then reached a point where I felt it was good enough to pass an inspection and then quit. It was late, so I decided to mix it tomorrow as my reviews are usually in the afternoon so I should have time. I'm eager to hear what Mike has to say about this one. I'm really happy with the sound of this, but I took some risks so we'll see if they paid off. After this review the week will take off. I have interviews with BMI, other composers and my main titles to work on, so these last two weeks will be crazy. I can't believe I only have two weeks left. After this review, I'll collect all the cues I did over the past 3 episodes and post them so you can see my progress from episode to episode.

Day 27: Disneyland!

First things first. I heard from Brandon that the studio is back up and running, so all is well there. Tomorrow night I'll be able to go in and finish my episode so I should have my final episodic review as usual on monday. Now for the day...

We started our journey at 9am (a time I'm not too familiar with). First we went to visit Lauren's grandfather, who lives very close to Disney. Our GPS was kind enough to give us a route when we left right past Disney Studios, so that was a cool way to start off.

We stayed at her grandfathers for about an hour, had tea and some nice conversation. He was excited to hear how my fellowship was going and it was good to see one of my blog readers in person! Then it was off to Disney. We parked in the Woody lot, got our tickets and started our marathon day in Disneyland.

After acting like kids for a while we went and did everything. We did all the roller coasters and Finding Nemo and Indiana Jones; all the classics. There was live music everywhere and it was such a great day. Of course we did the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which I heard before coming today that Atli actually wrote the music for that ride after it was modified to include the movie characters, so that was really cool to hear his music in it. After dinner we wandered, did a few more rides and then got ready for the fireworks. It was the prefect night for them, and the music was fantastic and Tinkerbell coming out of the Matterhorn and the lights; it was spectacular. Definitely the perfect place to go to be a little kid again for the day. Here are a few pictures from today.

Me looking around at the great set design of the Indiana Jones ride

This is the final corner of the Matterhorn. It's quite a cozy ride

Right before the fireworks

So today was perfect. Lauren has to go back to school tomorrow, so we're taking a quiet day together until her plane leaves, then it's off to the studio for me. The next couple weeks should be pretty packed with things to do at the studio so I'm looking forward to it. After that, hopefully a job will show itself and I'll grab it.

Day 26: The Guys

Lauren and I were woken up by our cleaning lady earlier than we wanted so we started things early. We went to the grocery store to get food for the weekend, and then headed in to the studio. Lauren got to meet everyone there which was really cool. I'm glad she gets to see in person the people I'm working with. On our way in there were all these trucks across the street that looked like they were unloading film gear. When we got inside and I asked Dave what was happening, he said it was an episode of CSI filming. He said they come in everyone once and a while and film part of an episode across the street, so that was pretty unexpected and wild. Brandon and Dave were working on next weeks episode when we got there. It's the same episode I'm working on, so I got to hear what Mike was doing for the same cues I am. I didn't cheat, I promise. I only listened to the ones I already wrote, but it was good to see them mixing again, because thats what I need to learn about the most is the mix. So we all hung out and talked and then went to lunch. Brandon drove us all to the In and Out Burger, which had the best burger I've ever eaten. While we were there, we talked about how I'm writing the entire episode's worth of music. I asked why I wasn't supposed to, and Brandon explained that it's not that I'm not supposed to, but that when Mike gave other Pete Carpenters just 3 or 4 cues to do, they really struggled and that me and the other 3 most successful winners were the only ones who did it with this much ease. It's so good to hear that kind of encouragement and kind words.We came back and hung in the studio for a couple more hours. Mike was supposed to come in today but didn't show, so unfortunately she didn't meet him, but we had such a good time with the guys. Soon we left and had dinner and a nice quiet night in.

Later on we went back to the studio so I could write my last cues, but when we arrived, Brandon and Dave were still there. It turns out that while we were gone they had a massive computer failure. The computer was going back to its old ways so they decided to update their software, and that made it so that Logic can no longer connect to all the virtual instruments on the network. The real bad news is that their episode is due tomorrow and they still have 2 cues to finish themselves, so I really hope they get it fixed without too many headaches. Brandon was really nice though and told me that it's good news for me because that means more time with Lauren. We came back and watched some TV and are going to bed early, because tomorrow we are treating ourselves to the whole day in Disneyland! So stay tuned for some pictures from that, and I am in the process of compiling the cues I've written for my episodes so far and I will be sure to post them once I'm finished.

Day 25: Arrival

I went into the studio earlier than normal and Brandon and Dave were just finishing up. I told them that Lauren was coming to visit tomorrow, and they said that we should all go out to lunch. So tomorrow morning, Lauren and I will go to the studio, where she may meet Mike if he's there, and then we'll go to the famous In and Out Burger so that should be awesome. I wrote 3 more cues after that while Andy slept on the floor in the room. My beast cue from yesterday doesn't sound as bad second time through, so I may keep it but I'm not sure. After my 3 cues (which is all I had time for) I had dinner, and took the trip to Long Beach airport to pick up Lauren. What was supposed to be a 45 minute trip was an hour and a half due to the famous California traffic. But I got there okay, and picked her up. It was so good to see her again after such a short wait, which is a rarity. It took a long time getting back, so we caught up, watched some TV to tucker us out and passed out. Tomorrow should be a lot of fun, and the weekend has even more surprises in store, so until then...

Day 24: The Beast

I went back into the studio tonight after a very quiet day to work on my episode. This thing is a beast. 14 cues. Most of the episode has music to it, and as I discovered in short order, some of these cues are massive. I decided my goal was to do 5 cues tonight, getting me halfway through the episode. Once I hit 2m2, the second cue of the second act, I realized it was 3 minutes long, covers 2 scenes and 3 very different emotions. First a sense of being watched, then a feeling of loneliness and finally, a confrontation. 3 very different things to do. By the end of that cue, I was beat and came home for dinner and called it a night. I'm happy with my 4 other cues. Very happy in fact. I tried a lot of new things on this show, and I'm happy with what I'm doing for it. This last beast of a cue however, I may actually redo.

I like to take my time to write. I'll do a few bars, fill it in and move on. And that works quite well for orchestral music, which sometimes feels like building a ship in a bottle, where every move needs to be calculated and set up and it could all go wrong at any moment, only to come together in the end. But SVU music is so textural and atmospheric and it can't be written that way. And when you've got 40 years of writing music on me (22 of those on this show alone) like Mike does, it's why he can write that whole 3 minute cue on the first try start to finish. I'm trying to do it his way, and can do it pretty well, up until about the 90 second mark. That's about all the skill I have so far in writing in one go. This is twice that. So tomorrow, I'm going to go in and write hopefully 3 more cues and then go back and see if I can fix the beast of 2m2. If I can't, I'll redo it. And that's okay because this will not be the last huge cue I get, and I need to conquer it, so that's exactly what I'll do.

Day 23: Spectacle

I went into the studio today and met with Mike, Dave and the SVU executive producer Randy again to spot the newest episode "Spectacle". This is an intense and very different episode from normal SVU ones you see. Lot's of music too. There are 14 cues in the whole show, and because the show is so different, Mike is going for a more traditional sound. It will still sound just like SVU, but he wants to go for more traditional instruments, like a normal piano, flute and strings, so that should be a real interesting thing to try.

After the spotting session I had to leave, but on the way out Coleen stopped me to get the ball rolling on my trip to BMI. There I'll meet with an agent who will give me information on how to get a job and give me names and contacts for me to follow up on. Also, I need to bring my award in next week to get the picture taken with Mike for Film Music Magazine. Then I asked Colleen if Mike knew anyone at Disney. She knew one name on the top of her head and said she'd ask Mike if he knew more. She also said BMI would be a good resource for that. She also wants to get me to go out an meet some more composers, so she's going to get me some more names. So looks like this week is shaping up to be pretty great. Good new music to write and new people to meet.