Walid

ha. all right. Tasty news!!

You hang out here? that's sweet!! So, when're you having your european-friendly "friday composer hangout"? W

Agree with tannhauser. Solid piece filmmusic. Working on a personal album called "Voice of the Earth". Sort of an ambient and peaceful, but dark orchestral album with some ambience outside the realms of symphony. This is the second song in it with the same name, "Voice of the Earth": The exaggerated sense of space and padlike texture is there not because of a production error, but by my own liking. All thoughts, comments and critiques are welcomed of course. Enjoy guys!

Hey, where I come from (Sweden), derivating peoples names into these cute little nicknames is charged with positive energy. However it can also be negatively, which would be what you thought it sounded like. Alas, the latter was not of my intent. I'm sorry, Stefan. Yes, I'm slowly but surely working off the wetness of the mix. You would be surprised how "dry" it actually is, or rather how much of it is just pure samples with recorded room/ambience. Should consider getting drier samples. Oh yes, definitely. A good mix does help sell a composition though. In all honesty, the soundtrack to Game Of Thrones is in my top 10 music flop list. Ramin Djawadi had a chance to make something spectacular with that story and world, but it turned out extremely boring. But I do like the main title theme... As I previously said, I'm constantly working to get it dry and crisp. It is a bit tough! Here's a little template example I wrote where I have reduced the wetness (or reverb send bus) quite a lot. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/12797960/Sprout_1.mp3 Oh and thanks for the replies, guys. It's very interesting to hear your insights.

Ooh, coming from you ;D thanks steffy

(tack ;D ) who knows from what sources my inspiration comes. sometimes it's just plagiarism without me even noticing appearantly

Here's a commission I got on a webseries. He said "the show should have its own theme!" So here it is.

OMG. This movie. WAS. my. childhood. Absolutely loved it. What was i? 6 years old when it came out? I never ever thought of the soundtrack, but now that i listen to it, almost brings tears to my eyes!!! Actually a real solid soundtrack too. Thanks bro http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cOjbiuxYUQ This. No words!! Just, sorry but... epic.

I really like Bear Mccreary's music and chilled but firm attitude to writing music for media. I have to listen more to his older stuff, like for Battlestar Galactica (i actually like percussion driven cues, which is the opposite to most JW fans I guess).. Bear posts so much good and inspiring videos of his work and the efforts of all the people who are involved in creating the soundtracks. It's a joy to see! Here's some recent videos if you haven't watched:

Love this guy

Favorite from Vangelis by far... Score that is.

Definitely!!

I like the scores for the Dead Space trilogy, Jason Graves is a pretty cool, up and coming composer. I think he and his neighbour built an instrument which he uses with a bow and mallets and what not to get those eerie effects. Pretty cool stuff. I really miss Bioshock though, wish I could forget the story and redo it. Also the music is insane !! Absolutely love that 20s-50s music that's in the OST. Especially like the score for Bioshock 2. I was shitting my pants when I heard the screaming choirs - I have to use that effect sometime in my own music.

Also, to get you started, you can try this chord progression (just made it up, sounds a bit noir-y to me) Am9 (A-C-E-G-B, and possibly add a D here to get the 13th flavour) -> F maj (F-A-C), add a B here for cool dissonance -> Dm9 (D-F-A-C-E) -> C maj (C-E-G) for romantic spice or E major with added D and F# for a shady feel. It's all about the mood you're in... music will come naturally once you're in the mood and listened to what you really need to compose to. There are no rules, but there is an audience... If you take a look at how a jazz pianist plays, say John Williams for example, with his block chords and how he plays melody over harmony, you can take his exact way of playing and copy paste those notes into his orchestration and you will find basically no difference. His jazz ways are with him more than it sounds like! But I guess you mean why hasn't he done a pure score with this old school jazz, blue feel.. In that case I guess it's a matter of what attracts him the most, as it is for most composers with choice..

L.A. Noire with Andrew Hale / Simon Hale. Love that score. If you study it you can find out a lot about how jazz pianists use major/minor 9ths and 13ths. Not that I am any fan of music theory- in fact I hate the way the schools teach it- but if you can figure out what gives the soundtracks that "noir", "minor blues/jazz" feel, then you can implement it in your own playing and composing. Tricky part is chord progression in these settings. I do like the way Barry progresses with his chords, just feels so natural. I also love Jay Jay Johnson's (trombonist and composer) work when it comes to the more spicy jazz, which you surely can grab some inspiration from. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rALYmastjVA Best album imho!

hey. I've been hooked on small ensemble writing lately, mainly trombone quartets (and smaller ensembles of strings). Does anyone of you fine ladies and gentlemen have any good tips of actual underscores/OSTs for films or games that feature these type of ensembles? I loved the score for the game Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magic (check spoiler!), which features 2 violins, 1 viola and 1 cello and a few other scarce elements. Very lovely writing and extremely intimate. Less is way more, quite often! I know many scores revolve around piano, and other solo instruments accompanied by either orchestra or synths. What I'm seeking though is a homogenous (or if diverse, then a small one) ensemble of brass, woods or strings. If you don't know any scores with this - any concerto, recording or performance is welcomed as tips. Arcanum cue from soundtrack. Horn, Bass Trombone & Cello ensemble. W

that was sick! thanks for the tip. i've got some heavy Sato listening to do. This is also great inspiration for some of the action music in the game i'm scoring!!

really? thanks for the headsup the smiley database was limited here. sup wit dat? Japanese composers... just... just... quality! There are so many that I have huge man-crushes on. Kondo... Otani... Hisaishi... Sagisu... Ifukube... Uematsu, Mitsuda, guys.. The list goes on forever. Admittedly I don't listen to a lot of Japanese composers. Just Hishiashi, Ifukube, and the guys here recently had me explore Kondo. But have you heard Naoki Sato? He's great! I haven't have to check that out. so far, no japanese composer (in a sense of orchestral/ost genres) has let me down. Thank you sir! And yes, good on you. Koji Kondo is a man worth acknowledging.

thanks for the laugh, rofl. isnt that blasphemy in this part of THE WEB? not saying i have anything against gays...

Actually, I think that goes all the way down to per-episode level. after each episode, tension was building more and more and it was so much more interesting to see how they (particularily W.W.) would deal with all the crap. the big show down ended so awesomely too.. I was really afraid they would fuck it up big time, but was really climatic and pleasing. mmm Man, I love that show.

I don't think the first season was particularly promising. It barely managed to keep me mildly interested and keep watching. Which then paid off in S2. It's your classic Abrams/Kurtzman/Orci show... once or twice each season it completely switches plots, or even genres. I think the 1st season was awesome, it really caught my interest of this whole pseudo-science entertainment - which made it enough to keep watching to see where they would go with it. all's well that ends well, I guess.

Japanese composers... just... just... quality! There are so many that I have huge man-crushes on. Kondo... Otani... Hisaishi... Sagisu... Ifukube... Uematsu, Mitsuda, guys.. The list goes on forever.

learn something new everyday! thanks for the correction

I am a bit weary of the stereotypical american melodramatics (family life!!), but as far as suspense goes, this is a hell of a series. Season 2 finale still has you on your toes. ye, definitely. I'm in love with the acting of Damian Lewis.. he will always be Maj. Winters in my eyes! (unfortunately, the real Winters passed away not too long ago :/)

possibly the best show i've seen.