Music for Film

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: During the pandemic I wrote and published numerous scores for short animated films and albums of hybrid orchestral music. I was the composer, engineer, and music producer on those projects.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Composing and publishing new pieces as often as possible.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital but only because of the massive conveniences it provides.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: That my work ethic and musicianship are so tightly knit that I'll never create something for the sake of making a few dollars. Anything with my name attached to it is something that I am infinitely proud of.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Meeting people, hearing their stories, and writing music to make their idea better than they had initially envisioned.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: What's your rate? Well, how long is the piece I'm writing and how many instruments do you want.

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

A: Hmmmm, I'm not sure.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I ask about how or where a project will air, the nature of the content I'm composing for, who handles PRO cue sheet submissions, what the project pays, are there points paid on profits, how much is paid up front and when balance due is paid at completion, etc.

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: Ask as many questions as are necessary to feel comfortable in hiring me. Generally people know right away after hearing my music whether we're a good fit.

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

A: Macbook pro, an SSD of my sample library, NI 88-key controller, a mic that worked well in a sandy, humid environment, and the cables necessary to connect everything.

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

A: I began as a guitar student up through college, worked as a production assistant and 2nd engineer as a few studios, taught music performance and composition, wrote, performed, and published music with bands and as a soloist, now I'm creating music that is intended to be synced to motion picture and other visuals.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Uneasily delicate on one hand and a giant, dramatic humorist on the other.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: I'd like to work with directors or producers and producers who are producing content that has the potential to change people's lives!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Subtractive EQ is the way to go.

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

A: Music for motion picture, television, adverts, and art installations.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Work ethic and desire to create evocative art.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Life experience, passion for music and storytelling, the ability to problem solve and find creative solutions, and a couple of decades worth of musical study, practice, performance, and production.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: To write a melodic theme, choose initial instruments, harmonize the theme, and begin writing secondary and tertiary themes to broaden the piece. Sometimes a re-harmonization of an idea is used to add a bit of another emotion to a melody or transposition to a new key. Whatever compositional devices are used they are chosen to make the piece of music as evocative as possible and not simply for the sake of being complicated.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I do nearly all of my composing and producing 'in the box' making it very easy to be on-location for spotting sessions, briefs, production meetings, etc. I have some fabulous percussion and string instruments.

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

A: Sheesh, there are so many. But, I love listening to John Coltrane, Paco de Lucia, John Powell, solo Chris Cornell, early American fingerstyle blues guitar, Leo Brouwer, Isaac Albeníz, Oz Noy, Scott Henderson, Branford Marsalis.. the list will be different tomorrow.

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

A: More often than not I am asked to spot a production, take a director's notes and suggestions for temp music, and create original music for the project that supports and magnifies its emotion and aura.