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!