The Planets - Completed!

Well, I'm happy to tell you all that after a long week in the mix studio The Planets suite is now due for an early release it'll now be in all good online stores from January 1st 2014!

My company AFX started this project in February 2013 and ten long months later it has finally come to fruition and what a result! I'm more than happy with the quality of the recording (recorded at 5.6 MHz) most recordings max out at a sample rate of 196 KHz we went above and beyond by recording at 5.6 MHz that's Megahertz not Kilohertz just to clarify ;0)

So, that means a lot more frequencies were able to be captured which translates as a sparkling more exciting recording for you all to enjoy!

This major work which clocks in at 50 minutes has taken precedence over most of the other things in my life so apologies to you all for my driven and single minded nature over the past year - but hey that is the nature of what I do!

My next major project is the score for director Antony Lane's 'Invasion of the Not Quite Dead' which we are both very excited about I'm looking forward to hanging out with Antony next year and I'm sure there will be a lot of fun to be had ... And probably a few tears (of joy of course).

I will be blogging a lot more from now on ... Thank you everybody involved in The Planets for your patience and understanding during the last year, you rock!

Best,

David.

Film Scoring Secrets #3

AFX Industrial (film scores)

Greetings, here is a long overdue update to my film scoring secrets series, please check the blogs from January and February 2013 for the previous installments.


In film scoring secrets #2 we looked at the embryonic stages of the process which involved sitting down with a director or music supervisor and deciding on the 'time in' and 'time out' points for the music cues. This is often called a spotting session. However, I think that most people in the industry are really interested in the gritty, technical aspect of the scoring process and that's what I'll be touching on today.

The Process

So, we are happy with the in and out points of our cues but what happens now? What do composers do when they are left alone to create that magical music for a movie?

As you have probably guessed, practically everything to do with post production (music comes under this category too) is now computer based, the director will leave a digital copy of the film with me (usually a Quick Time movie) and this will be my official reference copy. There are two major pieces of professional software that composers use to write their scores, one is 'Sibelius' and the other platform is called 'Finale' there has been a debate raging for the last ten years as to which is the better of the two. Personally I don't see a lot of difference between them and, as a composer you tend to specialize in one or the other simply because you were exposed to that platform first.

I use Sibelius and have been since around 2004 prior to that I pretty much worked solely by hand using traditional manuscript paper and a pencil. Sibelius is just a virtual version of that traditional method. So now I can have the film in a digital format I can import that into Sibelius and have it appear in a window on my desktop > see illustration below:

Sibelius

Here we have a our film within the Sibelius software and now we can start composing our music to the picture. There are various ways to lock the picture to our software so that when we scan through our score we can see the picture moving in perfect sync with it.

"composers typically take their cue from the scene, it's always the film that demands what it wants musically"

The Ideas

Now we have the picture locked to our virtual manuscript I think the most burning question I'm asked is always 'where do the musical ideas come from?' We hear the word 'inspiration' overused and abused within the arts and the most cliched question is always 'where do you find your inspiration?' ...

I know I'm not alone in this but I don't really subscribe to the notion of inspiration! I mean there are four hundred years of musical heritage to draw from, there are more manuscripts, symphonies and film scores in existence than I'll ever, ever have time to read and, as they say, 'good artists borrow, but great artists steal'.

We are now well into the twenty first Century and to me 'inspiration' sounds like something you would have needed in the 1960s - whilst recovering from a drug habit. It's the equivalent of me asking an accountant where he gets his inspiration from so that he can achieve a decent level of accountancy. No, and to quote horror writer Stephen King 'inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just go to work'.

The Ideas #2

Here is a good analogy:

If you like blues music then you'd expect it to follow a familiar pattern (technically the chords known as I, IV and V) if we replaced chords I, IV and V with a random selection of unrelated notes then it wouldn't be blues anymore. The same thing happens in scoring albeit on a much larger scale, there are certain recognized methods of orchestration that evoke certain feelings - everything that could be done musically has already been done! Trying to be 'original' just leads to a lot of tail chasing and non-productivity. No, it's much more productive to hone your craft and to do the recognized but do it more sympathetically than the competition. And, bear in mind, because composers typically take their cue from the scene, it's always the film that demands what it wants musically.

There are also two distinct schools of thought when it comes to scoring and the first (the initial interpretation of what a film score should do) is now lovingly called 'Mickey Mousing'. Although it's origins can be found in opera, this technique takes it's name from the Mickey Mouse cartoons and the way the orchestra would ape the on-screen action ... if Mickey was sad there would be a solo violin playing, if there was a fight the percussionists would bang dustbin lids together - you get the idea. Later on Tom and Jerry took this literal kind of scoring to a whole new level and, in The Simpsons, Itchy and Scratchy took it to even more maddening heights! The second school of thought is to do the opposite and play against the action, although both are still acceptable scoring techniques today it's how and when we use them that makes all the difference.

The Scene

So here is my imaginary scene Cue #13:

Cue #13 (each separate piece of music in a film is traditionally called a cue) it's a slow dialogue driven scene that takes place in a church. OK, so let's look at our two schools of thought, it's in a church so maybe we can use liturgical music? So that would be 'Mickey Mousing' but remember there's nothing wrong with that, or we could play against expectations and underpin the dialogue itself with a non-liturgical score. Or maybe no score is required because the music is a diagetic sound, like a church organ being played during the scene.

As you can see our need for inspiration diminishes as the scene itself presents us with many more musical choices than we could ever use! I know you are hungry to know more ... how can inspiration not be necessary? And where does the music ultimately come from?

I'll let you into those secrets next time!

Peace!

David.   

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Why The Planets?

AFX Industrial (film scores)

Well its been an amazingly busy year for me this year, so please let me share the task that has been getting me up early for the last nine months.

Why The Planets?

As you may know if you follow me on Twitter, in 2012 I decided the time was right to arrange the entire Planets suite by Gustav Holst ... What was the thinking behind this and why did I decide to dedicate an entire year of my life to these seven pieces? 

Click image for larger view.

So why did I decide to take on this monstrous, awesome work? From the strident opening of Mars to the haunting, choral ending of Neptune, Holst's seminal work has been a huge influence on composers. From classical works to film scoring you can hear Holst's unmistakable orchestral colors on countless pieces composed in the last one hundred years. However, above all other areas his influence has especially dominated the area of film scoring - just listen to any John Williams piece and you'll hear Holst at work.

Where do you start?

So where did I start? Well, to arrange these seven pieces so they work in a modern film score context I first had to track down a copy of the two hundred page manuscript.  My intention was to find a copy as close to Holst's original hand written copy as I could and I ended up sourcing a version from 1921.

Of course, how music is written and the language used in the text sections (often German but mostly Italian) is constantly changing but luckily for me this was predominantly in Italian which, after English is the language I'm most comfortable with.

The complete score of all seven movements comes in at around 1500 bars. To arrange the work correctly, every note of every bar has to be arranged on the staves individually for every instrument in the orchestra. I estimate it takes around ten minutes to arrange one bar on paper, so to simply lift the score from the original 1921 manuscript and arrange it in a modern, readable format took me around 250 hours!

If I look at the files on my mac I can see that I completed the first movement Venus (I didn't arrange them in order) sometime in March 2013 which means I probably put the very first note down sometime in late February. Hmm I have arranged and recorded some intimidating pieces in my time (Verdi's Requiem springs to mind) but sitting here and and putting down the very first note of a 1500 bar score is something else I can tell you! I'm due to place on the manuscript the very final note of the entire Planets score this week - it's now October. 

I also had to discipline myself to start working at 6:30 am for three solid months just to get through the toughest sections of this 1921 manuscript. There has been a lot of hair pulling a lot of coffee drinking and the odd call to Dean Haydn Jones my back up arranger to discuss the finer points of the Euphonium and open key writing, but at last I'm happy to say it's ALMOST complete. The final recordings will take place at Shepperton Film Studios in December 2013.

Will the recording be for sale? 

The CD will be in all good stores from FEBRUARY 2014! - You can buy either a physical CD or an Mp3 download copy.

*******************

Final thoughts.

It has been a hell of a journey - to the Planets and back lol, but I have learned so much from this experience. Each piece of music is a microcosm of other worldly motifs and a myriad of fragmented ideas that all blend and mesh so damn wonderfully. I will be very proud to follow in the footsteps of all those great composers who have already mined Holst for these sonic wonders. 

Watch out world I now have a new string to my bow and it's the lowest, baddest B string you could ever, ever imagine! 

Peace to you all !

David.  

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2014 CD releases.

AFX Industrial (film scores)

 

 

 

 

Hi, firstly sorry I haven't blogged for a while, I have an absolutely massive CD release coming out next year and all of my waking hours have been taken up with it ...

 

In other news I'm really happy to announce that the awesome Indywood Films have commissioned me to score their brand new film called 'Invasion of the Not Quite Dead' this is due for a 2014 release and I will be sketching score ideas in the following months.

 

Also, in 2014 along with the other CD (Holst - The Planets) Affex Records will be releasing the 'Invasion of the Not Quite Dead' score for all of you film music lovers out there!

 

I really do promise to blog a lot more about the process of scoring in 2014! 

 

- David.   

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Which was more important during the medieval period, sacred music or secular?

AFX Industrial (film scores)

Today I'll be looking some of the origins of music notation and also finding out if the medieval populace preferred sacred or secular music.

Secular profanity in a sacred age.

What did they really sing about in the Middle Ages?  Exactly what made these people tick?  If I start with a short song outline, a pastorela, it may help define the mindset of these early 12^th century ancestors of ours:

A knight riding through the green hills comes across a lovely shepherdess; he courteously proposes an indecent act.

This is typical 12^th century style.  Morality at this time led stories to an often non-platonic conclusion. While the slight possibility of a knight failing to seduce the shepherdess added enough suspense to satisfy audiences again and again. That the pastorela was a highly popular format is in no doubt, as it clearly and consciously reflected a pastoral lifestyle led by all during the medieval period.

What exactly is medieval?  Formed from the Latin words medium aevum 'the middle age'.  Medieval as a word was first used towards the end of the 1700's to describe the period between the 11^th century and Renaissance or 're-birth' around the 15^th century.  Let's look at some of the religious elements and see whether sacred or secular music held more relevance among the populace of the time. 

Traditions, Troubadours & Trovères.

One of the earliest figures in liturgical church history was Gregory the great (540 - 604).  Gregory had a profound impact on the music of his time, though not as a composer.  Eventually becoming Pope (c. 590), he was intent on standardizing sacred music to fit with current Roman liturgy. 

Around 596, sending forty Benedictine monks to England carrying liturgical books, he was to forever shape early music, the Gregorian chant was born.  Three hundred years later Gregorian chant had reached its highest peak in Europe. The chant, a doxology sung as a simple monophonic line, used a notation system called 'neumes', which were a series of squiggles, symbols and lines.  Eventually this so called  'neumatic' notation appeared written on staff-less pages, above the sacred text.

Shuttling forward to 1100, we find another exponent of liturgical writing, in Hildegard of Bingen.  Hildegard (1098 - 1179), a nun and an artist, who, legend tells us, received her music direct from the deity, also had a profound influence on medieval music and notation.  By Hildegard's time notation had progressed further still, now using the more familiar looking square note heads, on a series of parallel lines.  Still, sacred music was very much an elitist entity, practiced by the wealthy and literate. The commoner's experience of the sacred was an altogether different one.  Outside the sacred realm they would have encountered the 'Troubadours' and 'Trovères', traveling minstrels in a musically secular society. 

The 1100s were brutal times in many ways.  With a life span of around 30 years, most Europeans lived under the feudal system and were known as 'vassals'.  As a vassal one would work the land, protected from attack by knights, through whom a tax was paid to a lord.  Lords then looked after their knights splendidly, on the understanding that each knight shall lay down his life to protect both lord and vassal.  This seemingly noble existence lead to the rise of chivalry, the epitome of medieval knighthood and the subject matter of many songs.

    

The carriers of these ennobling but often satirical secular songs were known as troubadours, originating from western France, one of the first was William IX of Aquitaine (1071-1127).  So what did they sing about?  Mainly, troubadour songs consisted of the chanson or l'amour courtois (courtly love).   Courtly love sang of unattainable love, often between a knight and a noble woman.  He, never sated, yearns for the object of his desire.  In fact this idea dominated secular music for a century or two, echoes of which can still be found in popular music today.  

Just like today, even the writers of music were often not the performers, this job fell to the jongleurs (or jugglers).  Jongleurs were of a lower social class, jacks-of-all-trades who helped in the dissemination of chansons, thus enabling them to reach a wider audience.  At the other end of the scale from these troubadours we find the trovères, who came from the slightly richer northern French provinces.  Often trovères were aristocratic and wealthy, with the ability to write songs down; jongleurs merely provided a link between the two.  Over five thousand poems are known to exist from these combined genres, although only a third have surviving melodies.

Were profane songs or those based on a sacred text more in vogue?  Secular music of the time undoubtedly exploited the inexhaustible subject of unrequited love.  Another early narrative form, known as chansons de toile (picture songs), often wrote of the dissatisfaction of a woman due to the absence of her lover, or indeed the presence of her husband.  However, aristocratic trovères wrote about many secular subjects, such as the legends of King Arthur and other myths. 

Many songs were simply profane rants, often attacking a person's physical attributes.  Songs known as sirventes were also of major importance.   Now accepted as 'songs of service' for the lord to whom a troubadour or trovère may serve, sirventes often painted a vivid picture of the moral code, life style and manners of the time.

Which became more important?  Was sacred music too far removed from general involvement, because of the elite nature of its setting and patronage?  Possibly, education during the 12^th century only ever became accessible through the church, as they had access to books, and employed learned ministers.  Church scholars were certainly able to write music down, unlike the many traveling artists of the time, who relied on aural tradition to pass music on.  Widespread printing did not become available until William Caxton introduced the first English text printing press in 1477.  Books were unavailable, leaving most of the general population illiterate, while their experience of Christian doctrine at that time was almost purely pictorial, where illustrations from the bible existed on woodcuts only.  Alas, accusations of idolatry were abundant 'Not to worship the picture but to worship from the story depicted what should be worshipped.' 

Sacred music, especially during Christian liturgy, also touched on subjects many vassals would have found hard to embrace in the absence of literacy.  The Planctus Marie for instance, conveys Mary's involvement in the suffering of Christ in a dramatic form.   An idea far removed from the common themes of love and lust most people of this era were accustomed to.  Even access to musical instruments had its limits. 

During the early medieval period, we find the use of musical instruments in church was often frowned upon.  Indeed even today many orthodox Jewish churches have introduced the organ only relatively recently, and some still rely on voices alone.  Apart from the organ, the only other instruments widely admitted to church use were small bells or cymbala.  Instruments themselves also held an idiomatic significance, the Lute and Harp were considered the noblest of instruments.  Trumpets had the honour of accompanying a king's arrival or an army's presence.  While the vielle, played by many jongleurs, became linked with beggars and low life characters. 

Dancing was an almost daily ritual during the 12^th century, many poetic dance songs known as balada or dansa, were written for the sole purpose of dance.  Often the subject matter would be joyous, the rites of spring or the simple enjoyment of life and love.  Carefree banality was always at the forefront of these frivolous tunes, and it was rare for sacred sentiment to be expressed at a dance, although reflective moments were sometimes found within the jollity.    

Idolatry and Illiteracy.

To answer the question, 'which was more important during the medieval period, sacred music or secular'?  We also need to ask, 'to whom was it more important'?  A thing only has value if the perceiver values it, after all.  For the large medieval majority their illiterate haze prevented almost anything more than a superficial understanding of the Christ story.  Illiteracy inadvertently led them to idolatry, and, in an attempt to make sense of the religious doctrine they were constantly bombarded with, they sought a release, which became unintentionally secular in nature. 

The real opposite of the sacred is the profane.  The profane steps further outside the secular in an almost mockingly irreverent fashion.  We see many troubadour songs dealing with the profanity of their time and, in nearly all cases from a firmly secular viewpoint.  Parallels can be drawn with today, we have the trained elite, for whom often the boundaries of music and worship become blurred.  This is normal.  Also normal is the 'common' industry, a musical free for all, in which secularism, or more precisely non-theistic and profane lyricism is acceptable.  The larger of the two groups is of course the latter, but does this make the music more important?  Even now we could argue that sacred and secular music is as equally important and unimportant today, as it was in 1170.

Mass appeal gives an item weight but does it really impart importance? Well, yes.  To all those who held secular medieval music dear, who survived on the money it gave them, who found it the very centre of their world.  It was beyond important.  I do of course believe sacred music has, in many ways, led to all the wonderfully erudite compositions we know and love today. For the people of the 12^th century though, secular music appears to have enriched their lives in an immeasurably important way.

- David.

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Why do movies like Prometheus license classical pieces?

AFX Industrial (film scores)

Why do movies like Prometheus license classical pieces?






If you have seen Prometheus you may have noticed that Chopin's Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 was used during the introductory scene for the slightly sinister droid David, in a similar manner Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was used in the first Alien film. However, the one that really started the trend was Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra which famously opens Kubrick's 2001 ... but why?

Ridley Scott is considered to be among the greatest, he's up there with Kubrick yet both of these directors at key points, even pivotal moments chose to use famous classical works in their movies.

If we break it down even further we can see that the directors who license classical music appear to be more successful than the ones who don't. And to answer my initial question ... but why? Well it's simple, to be even more successful! To have a wider appeal and also to create that always important connection with the audience.

But classical works are perceived as high brow aren't they?

True, for many outside of the genre, classical works are often perceived as inaccessible especially with their strange numbers like: 'Op. 28 No. 15'. But film also has its share of strange numbers like: 'h.264 1080p & 24fps'.

Luckily, for film makers the perception that classical music is 'high brow' works to your advantage as you can enhance your film and unsettle the audience in ways that cannot be described.  Added to that, great classical works will never tie your film to a particular moment in musical history (think 80s snare drum here) giving your film a timeless quality. Are you brave enough to use a classical work? It's a sure sign of a mature film maker and your peers will sit there in awe wondering how you came up with such a great idea!


- David.

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Free Stuff

AFX Industrial (film scores)

Why getting your score for free may not be the best solution!






If you are a creative person like me, then you'll have probably done all sorts of stuff without the expectation of payment.  Like being in a band with your buddies.  Making an experimental film for fun or even inventing some life changing gadget just for the hell of it.  We've all been involved with projects that never quite got off the ground.  There's something great about working on creative projects that have no time constraints or budget concerns, and a lot of us wouldn't be where we are without that experience.

Making The Break

In the end though just making the break from an amateur to a professional can often mean leaving some of those ideals behind.  If you are reading this then you may be a professional film-maker and ready to move on to the next level.  It's a hard fact, but eventually this will mean that you have to consider paying for the music on your film ...

A lot of people will offer to give you some music for free. On the face of it, that sounds great who
doesn't like getting something for free?

But there are downsides to free music ...  

1. Payment - If you don't offer pay and they don't expect payment, this already puts any professional
relationship on shaky ground. If someone is doing something for free, it's unlikely that it'll be their full-time job - your film will have to come  second to the things that pay their rent! 

2. Contract - No contract means no commitment. This can be fatal as it means the composer can walk away from your film any time they like, taking you right back to square one. At some point you will have a deadline to meet, maybe for a festival or a screening. Why wait until the deadline and pay more for 'library music' that won't really enhance your film? You'll spend less by budgeting for an original score right at the start of your project.

3. Bust-ups - No matter how reliable your composer may seem, with no contract and no financial commitment to tie them in any disagreement could mean that you are left with no music. Working with a professional composer will reduce the likelihood of freindship-ending rows.

So when you work with a professional composing team there will be no question that you'll get what you want, when you want it, for the price you want to pay.


- David.

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Different Music for Different Countries?

AFX Industrial (film scores)

If you're interested in selling your film globally then you need to consider international tastes in music.  The wrong choice of music in your film will directly affect how your film is perceived - which will ultimately affect sales.

 

 

Who Are You Selling Your Film To?

Below China (1.3 billion) and India (1.1 billion), at 311 million the population of the USA is now the world's third largest!  European countries like the UK, France and Italy have around 62 million each.  So, for a western, English language film the largest market (before you head down the expensive road of foreign language subtitling) is without a doubt going to be the USA.  If you're making films for fun and don't care about sales then reading this will be a waste of your time - go and have some fun!

There are so many VOD (video on demand) platforms that you can use to sell your film, like Netflix and MUBI and the audience is already there waiting, with cash in hand!  At the time of writing this blog Netflix are enjoying around 30 Million subscribers all paying a very reasonable $10 per month!  It doesn't take a genius to see that VOD is a very lucrative business, and you want your film to be part of that business right?  Of course you do, but what if something as boringly simple as the music you have chosen to present your film to the world with has no mass appeal?  Then your film could flop!

The Eurovision Effect

I'm sure most of you reading this will have either seen the Eurovision Song Contest or you will have heard of it, and, if there is such a thing as colloquial music then that best sums up the vast majority of the entrants.  Music that is particular to a country or a region can often seem absurd to those outside of the region itself, a prime example is the didgeridoo.  I mean it's pretty absurd isn't it?  Whatever spiritual connection the didgeridoo is meant to evoke it would be an absurd noise to hear behind images from say Downton Abbey or The Tudors.  And, unless you want to make your film sound like a cheap travel documentary, you'll need to decide on the didgeridoo as the musical basis for your film first and then film it in Australia just to be sure!  Still not feeling me here?  How about J.J. Abrams latest Star Trek TRAILER and when the bad guy (Benedict Cumberbatch) appears on screen we switch to a solo Irish whistle?  Yeah that'll scare 'em!  To be sure. 

But what is the most popular and the most commonly used music in western film making?  Well, according to many international music publishers, the most popular genres chosen to enhance film making are as follows:

1. Dramatic Instrumental Music.
2. Rock Music.
3. Classical Music.

These are the top genres that time after time, when utilized for the sole purpose of film, scoring outsell ALL other genres.  Unfortunately (because it may be used only 0.1% of the time) your favourite music may not even appear on the list.  And of course popular music that it's cool to like is totally dependent on which country you live in, please don't be blinded by your own musical preferences.

In retrospect, when I studied music in America, not only did I gain unprecedented insight as to where iconic composers like John Williams drew their inspiration from, I also hung out with my student buddies watching bands.  But, while I visited these local bars I began to notice one thing and that was how much Americans love the guitar!  They love Rock and Country, but above all what surprised me the most, was their love of incredible musicians - and those bands I had the absolute honour to watch were driven by awesome, effortless musicianship!

As a film maker, the USA is one of your biggest markets and as you can see, statistically they love 'Dramatic Instrumental Music' just a little more than they love Rock and Classical!  If you're not following this example then you're probably torturing your audience with music, when you should be entertaining them - which will result in diminished sales.  If you're not interested in a formula for increasing sales then what are you doing reading this far?  I told you, go and have some fun!  And why shouldn't we maximize sales?   Film making is bloody hard work and bloody hard work should always merit a reward.

- David.

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Licensing Music

AFX Industrial (film scores)

This week I'm looking at the subject of music licensing, and how artists are often their own worst enemies when it comes to negotiating licensing fees.

 

 

The concept of licensing music.

If you're new to the idea of licensing music for your film, then I'd really like to help you explore a world of music that you may never have considered using.  For instance, did you know you can use ANY piece of Bach or Mozart or Debussy?  In fact the list of composers is endless!  In fact, I can honestly say that you would never be able to make enough films to incorporate all of the beautiful, scary and thought provoking music available.  There is one massive catch though!  Although the written manuscripts are freely available, let's face it they are pretty useless on their own, I mean how you gonna slot an 18th C. manuscript into your Avid / FCP timeline?  No, the catch is you need a recording of it, and although the music may be in the public domain the rights to the recording will always belong to someone.

Confused already?  Well don't be, as it's really quite simple, depending on which country your production is being made in that is.  In the UK you'll need to wait for 75 years to elapse before a composer's work becomes a public domain work.  So, for guys like Bach (deceased for 263 years) or Mozart (deceased for 222 years) we know that everything they ever wrote now belongs to us all collectively.  This can mistakenly lead film makers to believe that they can just use any old CD version of the piece!  You can't.

As I said earlier, although the music in its purest form is free, if you wanted to use a 1991 recording by the Berlin philharmonic (for example) you'll need a license.  Now, you may wonder why you need a license to use the recording of the music but not the music itself?  Hmm well it's pretty simple really, just think of it as paying the musicians and the recording engineers to do their job, a bit like a plumber or an architect.  I'm sure all of the collected knowledge on how to be a plumber exists for free in a library out there, in fact, the knowledge required to learn most trades can be found for free somewhere.  But, when you pay a plumber it's not for that colossal wealth of knowledge handed down through the generations is it?  No, who cares about that!  Jeez!  It's simply the finished pipework, it's the practical application of that knowledge that you're paying for.  Does this analogy work?  I'd like to know ;0)

Licensing contemporary music.

Anyway, you hate Bach right?  Of course you do, and there's so much contemporary music around right now that you'd love to have in your film ... So, what rules apply to say (the ironic use of) 'Don't Stop Me Now' by Queen?  Well pretty much the same rules apply except in this case, since all of the musicians (except Freddie) are still living, then the music itself will be subject to copyright rules.  But don't let that deter you as EVERY piece of music can be licensed ... For a price of course.

I recently wrapped as the music supervisor on a film and this meant tracking down a license for a particular piece of music by a French DJ.  Being an artist myself I prefer it when film makers bypass my publishers and license scores directly from my company.  The only result when you license from a publisher (who is 'looking after the artist') is they take 50, even 60% or they charge you 50% more!  For example you may want to license my arrangement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik for your film, sure no problem, AFX will charge you say $595 - but license it through a publisher and you could pay $995!  After the publisher has taken their 60% and the MCPS has taken their cut, I'll end up getting $295!  If I'm lucky.  Wouldn't you rather your money actually went to the artist?  After all what contribution to your film have these anonymous office workers made, except to charge you 50%?

This exact scenario happened with the DJ I mentioned earlier, I offered him the chance to maximize his licensing fee by bypassing his publisher - unfortunately he either forgot to respond with a quote or maybe he felt it was beyond him.  So, we ended up licensing his music through the MCPS and he lost 50 - 60% of that sale!

I've dealt with a lot of publishing contracts and I'm yet to see a clause that states 'the artist shalt not exploit their own work for any monetary gain without giving us half if they do'.  In fact most, if not all publishers (and their aggregates) highlight the exact opposite of this clause, they even promote it as a selling point to entice potential artists.  So artists, really, there's no reason to give 'the suits' half of your money is there?

You see, I thought being an artist was all about breaking down the norms of our corrupt society!  A very simple way to be part of the thought revolution is to read your contracts and maximize your income ... Oh no, sorry, having an income from your art will mean you're as bad as 'the suits', so better then just to let them keep your earnings?  But, if you're not prepared to invest any money back into your art, (especially with music) then it will eventually start to affect the quality of your art ... Especially with music!

So, my arty friends please go after every penny that is owed to you and stop giving it away to corporation 'X'!  If you deny them long enough then corporation 'X' will go out of business, and the individuals who made up that company will be free to pursue their own artistic endeavors ... Then you'll be the gate keeper!  At which point you can keep 50% of their earnings just like they did to you! 

Now my comrades, that is true anarchy!

- David.

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Film Scoring Secrets #2

AFX Industrial (film scores)

More than anything else I get asked "how's it done?"  I've been promising a blog outlining some of the secrets behind scoring music for film and here is the second one.

 

 

The Work Ethic

Last time we looked at the basis of music (which is maths) but that's pretty dull isn't it?  What people really want to know about is the physical day to day activity of scoring, the hands on stuff, but I think the real fascination for people comes from the fact that your score will be broadcast on TV or premiered in a cinema showcase.

Of course the film industry has a certain glamour to it, that is undeniable, but from having my studio based at Shepperton Film Studios I have experienced first hand how hard everyone in this industry works.  Even the stars of films spend weeks living away from home (sometimes in a trailer parked outside my studio).  OK so the rewards can be great but I know that most people would not swap my work load for theirs any time soon, that's for sure.

A Changing Industry

Over the last ten years there have been so many changes to the film industry, and keeping up with them all is also part of the remit of being a film score composer.  It's no longer enough to understand the basics of the piano keyboard and how it relates to musical notation no, because along with the digital data explosion of the last decade, comes a new responsibility - to understand more and more about the film making process itself.

Although as a composer I will never expect film makers to speak in a musical language I am however expected to understand the language of film making.  So I guess in a changing industry like ours simply being a composer doesn't cut it anymore.  But that's OK I'm not complaining I'm just explaining how it all works and that how writing music is a much smaller part of the overall equation than you'd ever think.

 

The Stuff You Want To Know

How is scoring done?  Well the very first time I sit down with a director and we watch the film through is called a 'spotting session', during which we decide where the start and stop points of the music should be.  Quite often we will decide where the music cue will enter and exit exactly to the frame.  At the same time we will discuss the scene in its entirety, the feeling that we wish to evoke in the audience and any thematic material related to each character.  By thematic material I mean a leitmotif (recurring theme) that personifies each character and shapes and supports the underlying story.  Spotting sessions may take a few hours or a couple of days depending on the length of the film, and the amount of music cues needed.  This is often a fun (but brief) creative time and is without a doubt one of my favourite aspects of the scoring process!

That's all for this update but next time I will look at the next stage in this fascinating and creative process. 

- David.

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