Articles by admin

Photo by Craig Elliott

Don’t be ashamed of your own ideas. Most musicians get applauded for sounding like someone else. People try something out that they think is exciting, and everyone looks a little unsure. Then they play an old James Brown riff and everyone’s saying: ‘Wow! That’s what we want!’ Most of the time musicians are being encouraged to sound recognizable. What I’m doing [as a producer] is encouraging them at the points when they’re not.
- Brian Eno

Who Are You?

An aspect of being an artist is the path to finding your voice. Your ‘voice’ is your signature, your ‘thing’, that which you get known for, something to which you become associated. Sometimes, even, it’s a schtick. If you think of any successful artist, someone who stood the test of time, you’ll note one particular trait – they had a unique voice. They did something no-one else did, or they did something far better than anyone else. This is something you want to cultivate, for a number of reasons.

Karma Chameleon

Composers working for media have a special challenge in this area. Generally, you are expected to be aware of, and be able to compose in, any style imaginable – NOW. I’ve scored an episodic show where I went from comic opera to Joe Pass jazz, then to purposely cheesy PSA music to porn, 50’s bubblegum pop, to copping Prokofiev ballet, then to afro-cuban, and even more. To have these styles in your arsenal, and to be able to say ‘yes’ when asked to genre-hop, is a necessary skill especially when you are getting established.

It’s your thing – do what you want to do

Being versed in many styles is great for your musicianship and breadth. However, this is not your ‘voice’. It’s unlikely you’ll get very far specializing in ALL styles – it’s a bit of a contradiction in terms! What you want is for people to think of you as the person who is the go-to for “X” , but also a capable and professional expert who is also able to adapt and stretch to meet any demand.

You need to differentiate yourself from all those people who are doing the stuff everyone else is doing!

Right now, there are thousands of emerging composers out there, who are trying to emulate the heroes du jour – John Williams, John Powell, Danny Elfman, and Hans Zimmer, to name a few. Some argue that if a producer or director want John Williams, they’ll call him. WELL… yes, and no. No, if they don’t have 1/2 a million in their budget for John’s fee. So yes, the guys who can do ‘that sound’ will get calls.

However, there are two problems with this scenario:

1. The only way to compete in this area is to be THE BEST at it.

2. This is a limiting way to build a career. You might become known as the person who can do Zimmer, and when that goes out of vogue, or worse, when someone wants something original, you could lose.

It’s a short term career move.

Don’t imitate it, don’t abandon it – FILTER IT

This will happen naturally anyways – but try to cultivate your sound when you work. Create a mental environment condusive to this – this means that you have to stop judging your work when it really starts to SOUND LIKE YOU, and instead, recognize it as a good thing and push forward in those crazy directions! You have to develop an awareness of what you do that makes you unique. It doesn’t have to be the most insane thing ever, either – it can be simple. My thing is the guitar – I want to create scores using the guitar in unusual ways. Even if no guitar sounds appear in the final recording, I will use the guitar to compose – and THAT will end up helping to give the score it’s signature – because it’ll be different had I done it another way. I ‘own’ the guitar as a tool, it is part of me and my process.

Do Something Different

Be a little more daring. Try something you think might not work. Pick up a new instrument. I’m getting into instruments from around the world – the Bansuri is my current favorite. This year I plan to learn how to play violin, and eventually I’m going to get a Guzheng. Getting into a different way of playing can really open some doors to different ways of working, new ideas, and a unique path. Study a different style of music, study different composers. Open up – and filter what you learn. Don’t get too bogged down in details – it’s not an academic excercise. Even if you can’t play well, you will come up with some ideas that are unlike what you’d normally develop. Learn fast and take what you learn and make it your own. Each instrument seems to naturally lend itself to doing different things, which is why sometimes you can break out of a rut by composing on an instrument different than what you usually use.

The Devil is in the Sampler

One of the weird things about being a composer these days is watching a film or TV show, and hearing a sample you recognize. I KNOW that one “Thunder Ensemble” hit with the singing bowl ringing overtone from StormDrum2. I even know what velocity level it was triggered at. It’s a damn good sample, too. That’s a little disconcerting when I’m using it for another project – makes it feel a little… cheap. Like cheating. Now, I’m not against samplers, libraries, sounds, and effects, etc. But it’s worthwhile to invest some time into how you can differentiate, even in this area. How your sound, is… well, your SOUND – like a guitar player has their particular sound. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimie Hendrix, Al Di Meola – these guys play different and they also SOUND different – it’s the TONE. Experiment with your samples. Tweak them. Use them “incorrectly” – play instruments out of their compass or pitch range. Use effects.

A Balancing Act

The one caveat in all of this, of course, is that it is important to stay current. Like the ability to compose in any style, you will be asked to sound en vogue. But it is possible to balance this with a striving to be unique, different… memorable. One of a kind. A Go-To.

All things under the Sun

This kind of thinking naturally extends to your whole music business, aka your BRAND. How you present yourself – visually, personally, the myth or legend, or story you create about yourself. This all gives a context to the music and how it is perceived, and can add to your value as a composer. It’s how well you can sell yourself and your ideas, the kind of music you produce. If you build yourself to be a special kind of composer, then people will see you that way and will look to you to deliver your specialty. I will be looking at the idea of ‘myth building’ in a later blog.

Speakeasy

How do you differentiate? Do you have some great examples of artists making it work for them? (one of my favorites is Carter Burwell). How do you strike a balance between doing it all V.S. doing one thing?

Photo by Roger Do Minh used under CC liscence

In a recent article, I detailed the journey I took with a director, crafting a cue through several versions to arrive at the final product which worked with the scene just the right way. More than knowledge of music, talent, or ability on an instrument, very important is your ability to effectively communicate with the director, and your ability to analyze, understand, and translate their vision and story into musical ideas which work to picture.

Don’t even say ‘crescendo’!

You should be able to do this without speaking one word of musical jargon.

The language of film music is primarily the language of emotion, and when speaking about how the music can/should work in a scene, you want to use these terms as descriptors – laymans terms, non-academic speak. Words like afraid, stubborn, furious, joyful, mysterious, distant, dark, hopeful, etc. Words that describe the film, the themes, actions, characters… not the music.

This isn’t a dumbing down of musical concepts for someone with no knowledge of music – the director may well be versed in music, even to a high degree. The point is that you are there to serve the vision of the director, and the director is telling a STORY. You have to set up a framework for talking about the story, and I have found it makes it easier, more efficient and consistent, and pleases directors, if you speak in their language – the language of emotion, character, themes, and story. It’s your job (and happy challenge) as a composer to turn those ideas into music.

“He really GETS me, you know?”

The other aspect to this complex relationship is trust. If you can watch the film, read the script, and accurately analyze it with an attention to detail and passion that shows you really GET the film and care about the project, you will be on your way to earning the trust of the director. Try to see it from their point of view – it’s their baby – they love the characters, they believe in the story, the message, the themes. They know the work inside out. If you demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the themes, make connections between a characters actions and what that means to scene 237, if you see how a camera angle or a prop has a deeper meaning that connects the film together, they will be more apt to trust your musical instincts and ideas.

Sorry, what was that again? I said, learn to be a GREAT listener

I try to get directors to talk about the film, their motives for making it, what they love about it, and the characters, themes, and story, before anything else. I want to discuss and analyse their film, to make sure I really understand their vision. Only after this, once I have established some basic trust and rapport, do I say, ok, let’s talk about the music. What did YOU have in mind? What my ideas are, what I want to have happen, this comes pretty much dead last. Again, this is a part of the business that you have to be ok with – I love the collaborative process, and I love having parameters, a framework within which to work. I absolutely ADORE analyzing films and literature. And, I almost always find a way to satisfy my own artistic desires within this process. But don’t forget, you are there to serve someone elses vision – it’s not a servile position – you are an expert, but your own desires take a back seat.

Literally speaking…

Knowing the story, the themes, the characters and their motivations inside out can be a great help to actually writing the score, especially in terms of overall structure. Shorter forms are easy to deal with, but the score to a feature film can be likened to a symphony, where as much as 60 minutes of music and more might be required. How do you ensure a consistent, balanced, and thematically connected work emerges? One thing I like to do is look at what is happening in the film and apply it quite literally to musical ideas. There is a micro and macro aspect to this – scene by scene, in moments, and also in terms of the story as a whole, the arc. Once you have written a theme for a character, for instance, it may be that the character becomes more broken, alienated, hollow as the film progresses. Think of the musical theme – can you write a variation that will sound this way? Can you ‘break’ the theme, and alienate it from it’s harmony? Can you orchestrate something which sound hollow? Of course! Now you have a simple framework for creating something quite quickly, which will give the audience a subliminal insight, a deeper emotional understanding. This particular example might not work in all cases – sometimes, you play counter to the action or theme, so a different tack might be needed. But consider it – work out some descriptors for characters, themes, storylines, and see if you can’t find a sophisticated way to incorporate those.

Capisce?

When you return with your first cues in hand, you can impress a director and solidify their trust by actively demonstrating that you’ve been listening, that you understand what they are doing – especially if you talk in their language. It’s the same as when you visit a foreign country – the people that are native will be very impressed and happy when you demonstrate a knowledge of their language and customs – it’s simple – it shows respect and a desire to communicate.

Do you have some interesting ways of working with directors? Do you use the story in interesting ways?

Photo by Sam Javanrouh

Here’s an interesting little experiment.  I like to call it that, because it’s how I feel about it.  When someone offers an idea, my philosophy is to say ‘ok, let’s try it’ before nixing it outright – unless I have direct experience with something similar which did not work in the expected way.  Of course, when you are working on a film as the composer, you are working collaboratively with the director/producer.  You are going to be taking a LOT of suggestions!  And that’s not a bad thing – I always have a gut feeling about the people I work with – I know it will work or not, I know it will be an enjoyable challenge or an unmitigated drag.  If it works, I love getting ‘notes’ – in most cases, the work I subsequently produce is better, and I often learn something.

This particular clip was interesting, because it was intended as a ‘teaser’.  But it functions in many ways like an opening/credit sequence – a young woman is shown lovingly preparing food for a dish to be served at a banquet.  The visuals are beautiful and sensual, and it has a very peaceful quality.  The film however, deals with themes of family, pride, and death/loss, and how we don’t always see each other for who/what we really are, and sometimes can’t communicate what we really need.  It’s a dramatic feature, and these themes are very powerful in the film.  The challenge was, as I was only scoring this short teaser – should the music reflect the visuals, or speak to the underlying themes/story, or was there a way to do both?

Enough words.  Let’s take a listen to Version 1:

Note that I did not send this to the director – at first.  I decided it played too upbeat – it worked to the visuals of the piece, but if it were an opening, it would give a completely false impression of what the film was going to be about.  “Practical Magic” springs to mind (a musical guilty pleasure), as a reference I thought of when I reviewed the music against picture.  More on what the director said about this version shortly, as they did not hear it until after Version 2.  It’s decidedly major, with a rhythmic figure in the strings that gives it a ‘running’ movement, and has a slightly mysterious, searching melody based on the Lydian scale.

Here is Version 2:

I took the basic structure and figures from V1 and made the harmonic progression minor.  It wasn’t a straight inversion; some of the original progression just didn’t function the same way.  I managed to get some interesting movement in some parts, and I liked the development of interplay between sections – I wanted it to sound like a conversation – a back and forth kind of thing that would mirror the conversations/arguments that would happen in the film.  Each section wants to ‘be heard’.  After watching the fantastic 2003 film ‘Zatoichi’, I took the idea of matching actions on-screen with stylized rhythmic motifs – so when she is peeling a vegetable or chopping garlic, the woodblock and shaker figures come up.  I thought this might inject a bit of humour back into the scene, as the film is really about hope, and has it’s funny moments too.  The theme of death and loss is addressed as the music climaxes in intensity, becoming very mournful.  It then returns to a quiet simplicity, the french horn line representing quiet hope and acceptance of some truths.

The director’s feeling was that the string figure made it seem too urgent, and that the overall music, while beautiful, seemed in conflict with the calm energy of the scene (a gentle jazz tune was used to temp the scene).  Overall, the music seemed too dramatic and dense – when sparse and intimate was what she wanted.  I thought, hmmm – maybe my first instinct was off – maybe she will like the first version better, as it addresses her concerns – I fired that off, commenting that I felt it spoke to the character of the cook – youthful, optimistic, confident.  To my slight surprise, she felt as I did about version 1, and went a step further – she felt it was very “mainstream”, and reminded her of the Tom Hanks vehicle, ‘Big’.  At that moment, the term “mainstream” sounded like a dirty word to me.

We talked, and decided that the basic material comprising version 2 was good and I would work from that, to produce something slightly more spare, less urgent and suspenseful, with more of a focus on the solo instruments.  There was a lot of material and ideas in V2 that I really liked – the rhythmic string motif being one.  I moved towards a compromise; here is Version 3:

In this version, the music holds off a bit until the visuals set a bit of the pace.  The tempo of the piece was reduced from 120 to 110 bpm – to bring a bit of calm.  Instead of the urgent string motif, I have only the harp (playing half time from V2) and a solo flute and cello.  When the rhythmic motif does come in, it’s for a few bars only, and at a reduced dynamic – the strings alternate to long, legato bowing instead of the staccato they played throughout in the previous versions.  I reduced the intensity of the build, and in general re-arranged some of the sections to play in lower, darker registers, to lessen height of the climax.  I was very happy with this version, and felt it improved not only how it worked to picture, but it became much more interesting as a piece – it had more variation in rhythm, texture, and dynamic.

I got final approval from the director on this version, with a few small changes – the harp would come in 2 bars early as an introduction to the melody, and the first solo would be taken by the violin instead of the flute – the flute reminded her too much of those warbly soundtracks for the National Film Board of Canada’s 1970’s nature documentaries.  It was quite humorous – definitely a product of our age – she said, “I don’t know about the flute… it kind of reminds me of…” and I said “Wait, don’t say it, I already know”.

All in all, I enjoyed this process of carving away at the block.  If I were on my own, I would likely have stopped at version 2 and begun the process of finessing the piece.  I can’t deny, however, that the final product is qualitatively better than version 2, and I’m very pleased by that.  I enjoy the collaborative process – it’s not for everyone; you really have to let your ego go while maintaining your position as an expert in your field.  It’s very important that you find a way to effectively communicate with your director/producer/client, and that you keep focused on win-win solutions to all problems.  If you can do this, it’s a very rewarding experience where you get to do good work, learn something, fulfill (some) of your own artistic desires, and make your client happy (which has positive side effects for you as well!).

To hear the final piece and see the recording session of the orchestra at CBC studios, click here:

http://adrianelliscomposer.com/AdriansBlog/?p=116

How it all got started...

Caterpillar: Who are YOU?
Alice: This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. I — I hardly know, sir, just at present — at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

I think this a fantastic question to ask yourself as a creative person, and I’ll be addressing it in an upcoming post.  But for now, let’s start with actual introductions, and we’ll leave out the tripped out hookah smoking polypeds for now.

Hi!  (yea, that’s a good start…)

My name is Adrian, and I’m a composer, producer, and all around music-creative guy.  My primary area of focus is creating music for media – film, television shows, web stuff, and even video games.  In that sense, I also consider myself a filmmaker and storyteller.  I work as a craftsman, helping to bring life to someone’s vision.  I’m drawn to do this because I love the collaborative spirit, I love the visual medium, and I love analysing and telling stories.  Obviously, I’m also deeply passionate about all aspects of music, and can geek out about recording technology, guitar playing, and production.  I also adore working with other musicians, either in recording my own works or helping them see their own vision come to fruition.

So… what am I DOING here??

Sharing and connecting!  Imagine that – on the Internet of all places!  I know, it’s a terrible idea.

I thought it would be fun to share some thoughts, working ideas, insights and stories – both my own and from others.  I’m looking forward to hearing from YOU – the filmmakers, web-heads, musicians, composers, producers, fans, trolls – and hear your stories, responses, and insights.  Get in touch with me, or post response – also, tell me what you’d like to hear about or see!

But wait… what?

Here are some things you will find coming up:

Videos! I’ll be documenting some of my projects as they unfold, everything from composing to recording, from the studio to the sound stage, and everything in between – it’ll be an intimate look at the mysterious “creative process” you’ve read so much about.  You’ll also find videos that delve into the technical side of the craft.  I’m hoping that it will be interesting to both those who are musically inclined, as well as those who work in other fields.

Podcasts! for download and listening on your favorite YouPod-a-maphone.  Collections of my tracks for personal use (sounds kinda dirty, doesn’t it) and episodes where I do a little talking about the tracks, what they were for, how the collaboration worked, and insights and anecdotes.

Blogs! web based text-talky things, where an ‘author’ goes on and on about ’stuff’.  I heard you liked media, so I put some media in your media so you can enjoy your media while you… wait, uh… never mind.  Here are some future topics:

1. Using limitations to enhance creativity

2. Creating your ‘myth’ or ‘legend’

3. The composer as filmmaker

4. Creative rituals, creative time

5. Creating your niche, standing out, being different

6. Stuck?  Ways to break out of your own mold

… and plenty more (right, brain?  Say yes… good).

See you next time!

Cheers,

Adrian