A-List Film Composer Habits for Any-List Film Schedules

The Creative Process. It’s a tough thing to talk about for me because my creative process (CP) is in such a constant state of flux all of the time. From project to project, my CP changes up drastically. And then sometimes, what worked on one project also works great on the next. What I will offer today is a sneak peek into the creative habits of some of the composers that I’ve worked with over the few years that I’ve been assisting. From these great composers, I’ve gleaned many secrets, tricks, templates, skills, and techniques – some that I use in my own work, and others that I don’t, but might someday. The thing that…

Tame the Template

Every month I will be talking about the technology that we work with on a day to day basis as well as some tips on how to make your experience writing and composing music as easy as possible without letting the technology get in the way. These techno toys we deal with can be very intimidating at times. Some of us are just not that technical and we don’t want to be, while others love combing through the manual and look forward to the challenges of taking on a new piece of gear. (In a future issue we will talk about GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). So what exactly do we have to deal with in…

Maximizing Your Time: The Essentials

So here I am, responsible for getting these columns off to a delinquent start! But, I have a legitimate excuse, which I am going to use to kick off my first post here in my series “Composer as Producer.” Before I get started, I’ll take a quick moment to explain the purpose of my column. As a lecturer at UCLA, my personal goal is to train students in the skills they need to bring their music from the initial moment of creativity to the finished product, whether it be a live performance, an electronic recording, or a combination of the two. Even as the prices of music production equipment continue to fall, and the opportunities…