Composer, Orchestrator

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: A group of compositions for a video game being created by a friend of mine.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Creating something new.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: That I can flip a switch and a song pops out. Good composition takes time, experimentation and patience. A nice melody may come quickly, but to expand upon it and develop it out into a complete composition that is not only musically interesting, but also does not get in the way of the action of the video game/Film takes time.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: Fully loaded Mac, Access virus Ti, Focal speakers, A full orchestral library from Spitfire Audio, and a Lynx digital interface.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: Seriously for 25 years.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Traditional and very melodic.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: To be the best composer you can be, learn Orchestration!!

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: Orchestral. But I also want to expand to hybrid Orchestral/Synthesized scores.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: My love of music. I want to pull out the most emotion I can in every song I write

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: 25 years of composing experience as well as continually growing and working on my craft.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I just adlib until I get a nice melody to work with. Then I begin to expand the melody to make it more interesting. I then come up with alternative melodies that I can i use to add a different feel to the composition. Then I interweave every theme I am using to give a more interesting result. I will experiment with modulations and different harmonic structures to add depth as well as counterpoint when orchestrating.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I use Ableton Live for all of my composing and orchestrating.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: I am inspired by EDM, R&B production and current Pop production. The music production has become more energetic and more vibrant. I am also inspired by the music of Claude Debussey and Maurice Ravel.

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Orchestrating strings for backing tracks. Composing game music.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I like both but now I have just Digital. I hope to branch out and do a hybrid mixing style offering the best of both worlds.