soundtrack.academy

Daniel Suett was handpicked out of literally thousands of people by Hans Zimmer, Lorne Balfe, Junkie XL, Jacob Shea, Russell Emmanuel, and Steve Kofsky to be part of the Bleeding Fingers Music Team.

https://soundtrack.academy/

My guest this week is Daniel Suett, who works as part of Hans Zimmer and Steve Kofsky’s Bleeding Fingers Music team. You might remember that a few years ago Hans Zimmer ran a competition to find a new composer for Bleeding Fingers Music. Well, Daniel is the composer that WON that contest!

I think a lot of people expected that whoever won that competition would end up as an assistant or apprentice. That’s far from the case, as Bleeding Fingers Music threw Daniel right in as a fully fledged composer. As you’ll hear, Daniel really stepped up to this massive boost to his composition game - which is absolute testament to his skills.

Daniel has so much knowledge and so many insights to share about the process of composition, and how he talks about storytelling and finding solutions really helps to re-contextualise how media composers should be thinking about their music.

Claire Batchelor - a media composer specialising in both film and production music - joins me for this week's episode.

Visit the website: https://soundtrack.academy/

We talk about how the 2008 recession caused her to almost accidentally end up as a full time composer, how the schools and education system needs to encourage more girls and women to pursue technological paths, and Claire shares the exact steps she goes through when she first takes on a new project.

Links:

https://clairebatchelor.co.uk

This week’s guest, Jordan Killiard, works in a really interesting, and hugely overlooked field: creating music for audiobooks. 

https://soundtrack.academy/jordankilliard

Jordan first got started in the audio world by recording voice-overs and ADR on all kinds of projects: including major motion pictures, animations, and corporate videos. It was fascinating talking with Jordan about the audiobook process - as he is basically in charge of the final product, including dialogue, sound, and music. This gives him a unique insight into the relationship between the three, and clearly gives him a stronger understanding of what’s required of the production music that he also creates.

Links:

http://jordankilliard.com/

https://soundcloud.com/jordankilliard

For this week’s episode I’m joined by the multi-talented Neil Spencer Bruce. 

https://soundtrack.academy/neilspencerbruce

Neil has a wide-ranging creative background: having toured the world as a gigging guitarist, studied soundscapes and psychoacoustics at PhD level, directing over 700 commercial film projects, AND creating sound design and production music that’s had placements on TV, Film, apps, and video games.

Alongside his creative output, Neil also lectures at University level, runs a successful YouTube channel focusing on guitar technique and equipment, and also hosts a podcast centred around the freelance lifestyle, called “There Is Another Way”

Links:

http://www.spencerbruce.com/

https://www.theguitarrecordingfactory.com/

http://www.manipulatedacoustics.com/

This week’s guest is James Asher, who has a fascinating background in all kinds of music, but with a particularly interesting focus on world music. 

https://soundtrack.academy/jamesasher

Having been leant his first 4-track recorder by Pete Townshend of The Who, James has gone on to create over 50 albums, one selling over 200 thousand copies. He has a wealth of experience in the music industry, and fully utilises his music studio as a compositional and creative tool - not just as a means to record.

Links:

https://www.james-asher.co.uk/

http://www.starfieldstudios.co.uk/

My guest this week is Brian Stephen Adams. Brian runs a studio in Worthing, UK helping people develop their ideas into full tracks. More recently, he’s taken the leap into library music and is with me today to share his experiences so far. 

https://soundtrack.academy/brianstephenadams

Thanks to his years of working in music production, Brian has heaps of knowledge to share, particularly around the creative process and mixing side of things. We dive deep into the specific plugins he uses, and how he uses busses, as well as some other tried and tested techniques. 

Links:

http://theknightimeproject.com

Italian composer Francesco Berta joins me this week to talk about his views on how social media steals your time, how he learned to compose as a self-taught musician, and his approach to composition.

https://soundtrack.academy/francescoberta

Francesco was originally self-taught, but through meticulous study has learned how to create gorgeous hybrid-orchestral pieces drawing on his electronic and ambient background.

He is also a director, so has an interesting view on music in film and also on the role and responsibilities of the composer. We discuss how perhaps composers should view themselves more as filmmakers, rather than musicians.

Links

Francesco’s BandCamp: https://francescoberta.bandcamp.com/

Francesco’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/francescobertaofficial/

I’m excited to be joined by Michael John Mollo, who has worked closely with John Powell, Michael Giacchino, and Giorgio Moroder.

https://soundtrack.academy/michaeljohnmollo

Michael is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music and the University of Southern California and early on in his career was part of Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control team.

You’ll have heard some of his music in the soundtrack for “How To Train Your Dragon” and “Rio.” As well as composing, Michael is also an incredibly skilled orchestrator, synths and samples programmer, and arranger. 

And that’s not all! On top of all of that, he also oversees the global operations of production music library Velvet Green Music.

Links:

Michael's website: http://michaeljohnmollo.com/

Velvet Green Music: http://www.velvetgreenmusic.com/

This week Chris Presswell, film writer/director, shares his views on the relationship between director and composer.

https://soundtrack.academy/ChrisPresswell

Despite being musical, Christopher ISN’T a music composer or producer, he’s a film writer and director. That’s what makes this week’s episode so exciting: we’re going to hear first hand how a director collaborates with a composer, and gives advice on what a composer will need to know to work as part of the post-production team.

Chris and I have worked together on quite a few projects over the years, and I thought it would be great to get a director’s perspective on the use of music in film, and also to find out about what a director is actually going through while the composer is coming up with a score.

Chris is a highly eclectic director, having created music videos (including an innovative 360 virtual reality one), trailers and ad spots with the likes of Warwick Davis and Elizabeth Olson, and short and feature length films. His work has been screened and won awards internationally, with red carpet premieres in both London and LA.

Chris' company (Workbus): https://www.workbus.co.uk/

Chris' website: https://www.chrispresswell.co.uk/

This week I’m joined by Si McGrath, a producer, sound designer, and composer who has worked in many areas of the music industry. A particularly interesting area of his work is the sound design that he creates for productions and live events alike. 

For show notes visit: https://soundtrack.academy/podcast

Those of you that have played the Broken Sword series of games will have likely heard his co-compositions and productions, and any theatre fanatics will have likely come across his work with Mind The Gap. Hopefully we’ll get a slightly new perspective on music for media from Si, coming from a production and sound design perspective instead.