sounds, noises, dances of defeat and triumph

It's September, and having had a marvelous Burn in the NV desert, I am back to updating gear, installing new sounds, and getting to grips with Mark Waters' new film, The Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past. It's early stages, and I am searching for themes and tones at present. I like to find a lot of character in the music, rather than simply do a standard fill-in-the-blanks kind of score. So I am exploring interesting instrumental voicings- you know, bagpipes, ukuleles and such. It's fun, but so far I haven't figured out what sounds will really stick to the film (make sense with the movie without sticking out like a sore thumb). The studio gear has been a bit grumbly. I have one computer which always requires me to do a dance each morning before it'll work... you know, turn it on, launch an app, have the app crash, reset something, relaunch... and then it works! Same thing, every day! I should give the machine a name so I can talk to it. Meanwhile I did a gig in August which was great fun (thanks Christy Crowl), my first in ages, and played on Meredith Meyer's radio broadcast. And my musical mayhem events [http://notoriousdespicable.blogspot.com] keep happening, and there's another coming up in 2 weeks. So things are fun.

Hitting Marin to record SEVENTEEN

A great trip to San Francisco to record the score to Burr Steer's SEVENTEEN. The adventure with the Team was great fun, and the orchestra sounded fantastic. We stayed in SF, and commuted up to the Skywalker stage in Marin County- beautiful country, and a world class studio. The music called for a full orchestra, and the players delivered such magnificent and dynamic sounds it really was a wonderful experience. Also got to see Wall-e at the screening room there; what an amazing and beautiful film. And a great score by Thomas Newman. Now back in LA, flown by my friend and fellow composer Stephen in a tiny plane. Happy after a marvelous trip. [Top pic- engineer Greg. Bottom- we jam in Burbank Airport as flight is delayed.]

More on 17

SEVENTEEN (with Zac Efron) is turning out to be a suprise. I have done a few rom/com films, but this one has an air of adventure and mystery, combined with suspense, and I must say I am really enjoying composing for it. It's a much more substantial score than I was expecting to write, by which I mean there is a lot of interesting orchestral texture, and the emotions are full and passionate. Very satisfying (at least until the music is lost under the sound effects). Hope to be recording the orchestra early July.

Seventeen for the first time

SEVENTEEN, a film by Burr Steers, is developing really nicely. I am several weeks into it, and the score seems to have some emotional weight to it, and feels substantial at times. Of course things often do as I am writing them, only to seem less significant when mixed into the background in the final film. But I am really enjoying the shape of this work, and the power of the images and the editing.