cm® 8.2GB yeas) a t= live Construct killer DJ sets in Ableton Live Neen Starring the ‘composers of ASSASSIN’S CREED3 1 N nL: AG res for TV, film Pyare ke eile with Toxxee) adlur. Le on i ieee eae) FaGe eee e advice! Expressive synth leads / Auria for iPad / Understanding mid/side / And more! i] iu] KOMONAZMUK 800 exclusive samples y SION N Ae eel ess oh i 4 See the Need for Speed composer at work in this exclusive in-studio video ISAMPLE! FXPANSION ee DCAM DYNAMICS ios eee IZOTOPE ALLOY 2 SINEVIBES ARRAY STEINBERG PADSHOP +18 MORE REVIEWS bsJ. 4 . ‘ mos e Aes att to, aa Tort Nay-_ a Cor) een Pree reereeamareny neers Clearhead Media, Entrapment Pores CeCe Corr a Ce aad Seneca pS pe Want to create tunes for TV? Iconic tracks for games? Or. epic scores for film? Get on the path to soundtrack success with our huge guide Pn hetuet eternal found yourself getting dewy-eyed overa eerie blockbuster action sequence, you'l already know that the on-sereen visuals wouldbe eure eee ay ee eran’ poten iene creer erect In thisbroad guide to producing music for eee ec ee tenders eee eee eee ea eae) Pee eee ae soundirack or even become thenext Hans ee ena Cee Caer ene Menten Tae ten nts Po ete eon es Co ee eee eens se eos ere Well be covering the tundamental aspects of eet ee ea eren Re er ens es ey Se eres Seer) ene ears Pee tea ate eres Peer era nee eens) Cee reer ens Se ear ey cern eee ol eer] Pi arene eae Peau eee) eee ens eee nt) Petree rem eee en You find that were pushing some of the effects See te er oan a ree ree te ey Me eee ening Cetra ta eos coe ere ets eee Pon heen ities aent to be acomposer? Weil presume you've aready been online {and ordered yourself some business cards with ‘Composer’ printed on them. What next? A computer, a DAW and some synths ‘and samples are great starting points, so ‘well assume that you have some of those ‘already. Beyond that, you're going to need a pinch of raw talent and some top-notch negotiation chops to deal with demanding directors. But before we gt int all that, lets look at the opportunities that are out there for would-be composers. Before the advent of electronic musk ‘yur only real option asa fledgling ‘Composer would have been to learn musical notation and orchestralinstrumentation Famous movie composes ike John Willams ply their orchestral craft ina similar way to composers of ld ike Beethoven ‘and Brahms, by scoring everything or reabife orchestra ~ but you dont have to follow the same path. The opportunities for ‘composers have exploded in recent years, fsthere'sno needa rely on traditional notation or even a conventional orchestral Balette of sounds any more. Even so, the proliferation of sampled ‘orchestral instruments presents huge Dossilities for those without a classical background to become involved in scoring For example, composer Christian Henson startedina covers band and after geting hisist gigs as a background music writer for adult fms, enow boasts some stellar soundtracks in his portfolio, Including for the movies Biack Death and The Devils ‘Double. And Jesper Kya highly acclaimed tunesmith forthe Assassins Creed Videogame series - began his composing ‘career as a tracker musician in the Amiga ‘demo scene And the mighty Hans Zimmer started out as part of new wave pop aroun ‘The Bugg, not to mention writing the Loud in the library ‘S-name gam ites he Assassins Creed - nave budgets oval some Hoty woos ns. For those ooking eget her foot in the oor though hein theme music for 80s UK gameshow Going Tor Gold. Itust goes to show that great composing success can come rom seemingly humble beginnings - though it ‘also demonstrates thatthe career path of the modern-day soundtrack composer can belong and har A foot in the door ‘Ask 100 composershow they gotinto the Industry and they give 100 aferent answers The route toa fulltime career in composing ist without its pitfals and youl need to be prepared for knockbacks from clients, rectors and collaborators ‘That sala the market for original musicto ‘accompany films, ames and TV's bigger than everbetore. ‘The explosion in digital TV channels has ‘meant that many more shows ae being ‘commissioned, and of course, they ll need ‘muse. Many of them uselbrary music, but well cometo that later. Inthe world of videogames. indie developers are prolific and ambitious inthe scope oftheir projects, which allneed rringscene swheretneacionis accompanying musi to varying degrees be itforacasual Phone ttle or a more Immersive desktop effort The movie industry is, as ou'd expect, tremendously dificult break into, but smaller student flims and the advent of crowd funded movies give emersing composersa chance to hone their craft before being let loose witha larger budget ‘Advertising also relies on audloto send 2 ‘message tote consume, and the right. track nthe right style can make afortune anda name forany composer. ‘As youcan se, the possiblities for estabilshing yourself asa composer are ‘many and varied, and opportunities are easy to research and findoniine. Youll be competing with many othe like-minded Individuals, but carve yourself a unique enough niche and you' find your place. After that it'sallabout putting the word out, ‘marketing yourself and developing your contact list. You might be surprised athow ‘many people suddenly want to collaborate or know of someone who needs music as, '00n as you mention you'tea composer. ‘Agood way to find out whether you have the skillstomakeit as a composer isto ‘submit some of your tracks toastock music library for critique. These ibrary publishers keepalargeroster of tracks or licensing to ‘TVand other productions and willbe keen ‘tomake money trom your efforts, ‘We could easily writea whole featureon ‘thedos and don'ts of choosing areputable stockllbrary. Look online for reviews from ‘composers themselves -a good placeto startiswww.musiclibraryreport.com, ‘which has agreat FAQ section. Fr full access to thessite, oul havetto pay to become a member, but the small outlay is ‘worth forthe wealth of advice on offer. ‘Check out forumsand websites for student, indie and crowd-sourced fms. Sites ike RocketHub,Kickstarter and 30 / COMPUTER MUSIC “Stestineworw.devmasternetarea potential goldmine Stonpertunty ferespiring sores composers ‘These days, TV shows are mostly produced by independent production companies rather than the channels. Target their head honchos via directories ike wwwv.theproductioniis.com and wwrw.theproductionguide.co.nk- Blind ‘emailsare usualy awaste of time, s0call and talk to their production managers. For games, wwwgamedevanet, Www. gamasutra.comandwww.devmasternet Sllnave ative forums on which you can post offersto produce music and respond to {ries for help trom developers. These projects oftentake alongtime toget off the ‘ground, soassessing when projectis Feady tobe scoredis crucial you follow the game's development blog they almost allhave one), oui abieto see how the projectisprogressing. and this wilhelp you Judge the right timeto strike, vyThe movie composer ‘Composer and producer Lorne Balfehas ‘worked alongside the great Hans Zimmer since 2004. This dynamic duo have created scores for box-office smash movies including ‘the Dark Knight trilogy, Sherlock Holmes and Pirates of the Caribbean. We caught up with, himon a break trom recording some ast- ‘minute tracks for videogame Assassins Creed 3,totalkscores, samples and skills ‘om: Hey, Lorne - welcome tocm. Lome Balfe:"Thanis actualy read the magazine to learn about techie tuff myseft.1 ‘Quite often find myset saying thats why that sounds the way it does em Let's get technica, then. What software doyouuse? LB. "It depends onthe project For the last few years ve been Cubase-riven, so ve learnt al that, but Ive done a lot of live playing, too Tobe honest I've been shocked at how out of time Ive been playing, as you cart go back and quantise ‘everything. ve Been so used to adlusting velocties and everything else afterwards ita ‘challenge to just have the picture running and Play along with it em Do youhave diferent igs and software ‘setups in different places? LBeifTminLA.at Remote Control Hans Zimmer's production housel,m mostly on Pro Tools, buteveryone ese uses whatever DAW they te comfortable with- thes everyone working on the same project agrees touse the ‘same sequencer, however. On Sherlock Holmes ‘we were writingin London and the rigs were identical tothe onesin LA. min Bratisiava recording for Assassins Creed 3at the moment, ‘01 have my mobile, which usta laptop, a MIDI keyboard and some plugins” 32 / COMPUTER MUSIC ‘om. Tellusa litle bit more about your sounds and plugins. [LBeTlove Spectrasonics Titan, which always se for bass parts. whe Zebra's also an excellent vitual synth - It seems to make an appearance ‘oneverything | do, Other synths luse are GForce Minimonsta and the Vitus TL can only play about two chords on the ‘guitar so luse Musiclab RealGuitar and RealStrat for that. Allthe uys at Remote Control use specially designed sample payer called SAN It loaded witha catalogue of bespoke ‘samples taken from seven years of recording sessions. | lke to create my ownsamples for projects, too, as it makes each ane sound dstinet-Theresa project that Im working on fight now where! ve Been sampling a choir doing lfferent effects. I's sound that ist out there commercialy ‘em: Domany orchestral samples makeit through tothe final edit? LBeAlthetime. The ratio of ive instruments to samples varies depending on the project and the budget For example, ve ust finished scoring the remake of The Sweeney and its all ‘samples except forthe gultar, which splayed by Johnny Mart Alot of airectors get used tothe Sound ofthe demo and shard to get the aggression ofthe strings from live players as its 0 perfect eited in samples, To be honest, Sometimes writ string harmonies that are Impossible to pay anyway, so we have touse the samples. ‘em: So, i's possible that a bedroom composer ould use orchestral samples and become the next Lorne Balfe? LLBe"Prety much The market's so saturated right now and there are more people writing ‘music and geting the world tolisten than ever before, because of computers and the internet, Going back 30 years, unless you had the money tobuy aFaiight, you werent able to mock upa great demo toget a composing gig, There used tobe acore group of composers who were always working, but that'll cnanged, Now someone ina bedroom can writea symphony anditean sound fantate: ‘em What would youdoil youwere starting ‘outas acomposertoday? {LI think younneed to have an edge that makes youstand out butt’ stilimpoctant to know how to orchestrate and understand how an orchestra works Nowadays there are coursesin composing for flm and games that werent available 20 years ago. “However good your skis are, though, you've got to get on with people. Writing fim ‘music sta solitary profession, and youl have towork closely with those who have their own Vision for the project. When you compose, Youre interpreting emotions, and despite all the Technology this requires the same skils as any composer working in any day and age. “Youve also got to have good business sense. Ate end of the day, ou'e working toa Schedule, There's no room for error. and you can'tmiss the deadline ~ otherwise the fm wi goout without any music atall My own deadlines canbe from as much asa year to just two weeks ifanother composer has eft the projectat the last minute I'll about professionalism and delivering a product on {ime stil thnk the best way to learn the ropes Isto start asa composer's assistant” Lorne’ websites at wwnlornebae.com. 373 You canfind out mere about his work Zenmer andthe est of te Remote Conol ce at werwhans-2immer.comSymphonic samples you wantto step into the soundtrack arena its pretty much essential tat you have ready access to the majesty and power ofan orchestra, and that means getting one or more ‘quality orchestral ROMplers. It youte new to composing the number of, Noraries onthe market (not to mention their cost) canbe truly staggering. Asa general rule you do get what you pay for whenit comes to ‘orchestral samples, and there are essentially two distinct categories of brary on oer. The fist comprises individual instruments ‘and groups (eg, utes, trombones, et), enabling Yyouto orchestrate inthe traditional way. For ‘example. to build a woodwind section, youd ‘rogram lines for fltes clarinets, bassoon, et ‘This method offers the mos flexi in terms of orchestration, but balancing the tone of the Various instruments and sections against one another can be challenging, The second optionis to go for alibrary which has sampled each section (woodwinds, brass. etc) or thefullorchesta nits entirety. Ths kind ‘of package doesnt offerte same wealth of ‘options when comes to detaled scoring, buts far easier to compose with and sounds more cohesive right out ofthe box. Ultimately, youl probably use a combination ofboth, andi you're starting out, we recommend getting a Budget brary in each style. Lets look ata few. Fora broad range of sol instrumentation, GGaritan Personal Orchestra 4or Miroslav Philharmonik both have some great sounds for under £140 Build on these instruments with a ‘sections’ Horary like ProjectSAM Orchestr Essentials (£275) or Spitfire Albion (£349), which wil ave you the lush string and brass sections missing fom the solo libraries. Always tad the documentation in details ‘man o these libraries rly on features such as keyswitching and MIDI CC contralto access different articulations (eg, switching between legato and staccato string playing), and fallure tse them may result ina sit, unrealistic sound. Aside from these dedicated libraries. yout ‘also find usable orchestral sounds elsewhere, Keeping it real ‘The difference in sound between alive ‘orchestra and asampled onecanbe ‘negligible for slow legato passages. The ‘moments in ascorethat giveaway the ‘sampled fakery are the ones that ‘MIDI programming strugglesto pull off; woodwind runs, string slissandi and brass tris are all common techniques in film scoring that regular sample Worarieshavea hard time producing convincingly ‘Thankfully there are publishers maldng libraries fu ‘of sampled phrases, runsand orchestral 'ettects Ge,non- ‘musical sounds such as atonal stabs, tuning up, random bow scratches, ete)thatcanadd ProjectSAM Orches (Orcnestrad offer ferent yet complementary approaches allt usualy na ess exible but more Immediately playable format First of your DAW crsampler may already have some workable sounds. Mac users should download the Mainstage 2 app (£20, which includes all Apple Jam Packs for fee, nckiding the Symphony Orchestra library. This san easy way to acd ots of symphonic samples to your setup for very Ite ash, Native Instruments Kontakt Sand MOTUs MachFive 3 both come with a decent variety of orchestral samples, bt we reckon the ‘most comprehensive selection forthe pice isin the oft overlooked Yellow Tools Independence ro30 sampler. This ships with a mighty 7068. of sounds, including lovely strings and brass from the Kirk Hunter collection al for £165 Expand your palette Once you star geting tothe swing of composi you may nd your bese stock of orchestral sounds somewhat iting, Dut tere are plenty of options fr expanding your sonic Palette We cart cover hem aller, but we con realism toany score. Aswith the‘playable’ ‘elements like these with ‘normal? playable libraries can be enough tofootailistener into thinking they're listening tothe real deal. ‘With ts twisted ute and violin samples, Zero-G Animato (£90)is perfect for those spine shredding moments of horror suspense. For orchestral sections playing risers, smashes and stabs, you can't get much more flexible than Sonokineti Tutti (€157;:the interface even allows ‘micand orchestralsection certainly lag up some of our favourtes, ‘Sounds from ProjectSAMs Symphobia 1 and2 collections have featured on hundreds of 1V shows nd fms. Atan eye watering (though recently reduced) £1200 forthe package, however you'd need tose ta lot tomake ta ‘worthwhile buy. The recenty released Spitire Loegria (€245) features some unusual string atcuations and such unexpected brass instruments asthe ackbut and euphonia all recorded at London's famous Air studios For ‘more unusual sounds you might want tory SSoundirons selection, which includes ther ‘Thomas Newman soundalike Emotional Piano ‘and some ofthe best choir samples on the market. “To keep abreast ofthe atest developments in the world of soundtrack libraries register a the ‘wwwvi-controlnet forum. The boards are full fof chat about the latest releases, with insights ‘rom the developers themselves, There are also sections dedicated to orchestral MIDI programming techniques and mixing tips. ‘Volumes, The follow-up, Vivace, (157, oF £275 orbothislighter intone, featuring ‘musical ornaments based on fantasy and ‘mystical themes, with tempo-synced mots available nal keys. Inthe past, orchestral string and ‘woodwind runs have been especially problematictoreproducein software. However, there arenow developers ‘tering to these needs, such as Orchestral ‘Tools, who havea string library dedicated to runs, And thelr new Berlin Woodwinds bundle provides’ alevel of realism that's beyond the reach of most other packages. ‘Agood budget option s Orchestral String FX (£63) from Dynamic Sound ‘Sampling, which lets you build your own. ‘lustersand stabs using a mixture of COMPUTER MUSIC / 33‘orchestral soundrack cuelust using the mixes microphone postions rom Various somplelibrres We've exported the stems trom each naval string peresson Yul ng thesein the STEMS folder Weloadtheminto our DAW and see how they sound before mixing 1 > Weveakeaty writen astort > Tettsanaiegta wooden ines are trom Orchestral Tools erin Woodwinds and were payed using the ‘mi microphone samples These samples aiready include some room ambience, 50 ‘we ont ned asmailamount of reverD here tomake them gel We copy nd paste thesetings from ReverberatecM ard kock the Dry/Wet evel dow t0 0-36, sereducing the wet evel by 308 The right mic for the job Wsimportant to think about context when You're considering what instrumentation to Luseand what environment to place itn, To lustrate ths, let's take alookat two very different examples: an underscore fora knockabout children's cartoon, and one for ‘anepic fantasy blockbuster. ‘Considering the instrumentation frst, ‘the cartoon would traditionally featurea smaller orchestra and would use right solo Instruments for variouseffects- alone trombone slide toaccompany a character falling ove, for example, or afast xylophone motif toaccentuatea character: running. These are normally cleanly recorded sole instruments, placed upfront Inthe mix in order to stand out fromthe 34 / COMPUTER MUSIC > Thefatiingtocois balance levesand get the panning right A {he strings ar lowered to 1048, the ‘woodwinds to-TadBond the percussion to ‘orchestral section the tring sections are postoned with igh stings on thelet Aandlower strings. the right owe mimic that withthe pan postions shown, > The brasiplacedt ne rer of area orchestra. sols higher requencies Zeematenuates from the audience's perspective Tosimulatethis, weirsert DOME LPIO CM trom the CM tudo) and ‘38h shelf ak Ha tt 648, We copy ReverberateCM again, nrensing the DeyWet ain til it eads 40-006 ano safting Predelay to 02sto smultetne Brass bong ight further avay. backing and punctuate aspecificon-screen ‘action. The overall ambience ofthe cartoon ‘accompaniment would be akin toa small, ‘oom, and thereverb, although present, ‘would be tightly controlted, Incontrastto this, the fantasy film would ‘most likely requirea much larger orchestral palette. The players’ performances will blend togethertocreatean ensemble, withoutany ‘one instrument drawing attention to itself. ‘The space nwhichthe orchestrais recorded ‘would be far larger, with many more reverb reflections thus dissipating the sound, ‘Many orchestral libraries use recordings rom multiple microphone positions, ‘enabling customisation of the ambience ‘around your orchestra. For example, >> Nowets createsome space for our Instruments Convolution reverois a ‘reat way to emulate aphysiea spies 20 Werouteall te string sections toa uss (this pugins pat oftreem Stu that comes wth every suet em-see pd. Wechoas the Basie Hall preset keeping the DryfWet evel at .0dB this avesus ‘smedumlevelot ever. 3 > Feat wea sue reer tothe master bussto give thelmpression ot anovarl physical spacer the orchestra Reverberatecis used again wththe Cathedral preset TheDry/Wet knob is Seto O-8.00B. This demo Yack has een teritten to syne wth heist part ofthe Shot tm Erebus (by Georaios Cherouvim, ‘woreehge ich sin the Tutor Files so you cansee how tits the sual ProjectSAM Symphobla offers closeand Concert hall ic postions selectable from the Kontakt front panel, while EastWest Hollywood Strings features close, mid, surround and mixed micsamplesets, ‘complete with volume sliders for each, EastWest also included a'vintage’ pass of samples recorded using a 1940s ribbon mic, for that golden-age Hollywood sound. Inany orchestral sample package, ‘mixing microphone positions and choosing appropriate reverb will help you to.conjure Certain styles and eras. Reverb plug-ins still have a place, though, as applying them on. top of the reverb already presentin the recordings canhelp disparate sample ipraries blend together.Working with video "Most major DAWs can import video for playback. enabling you to compose and sync an ‘accompanying soundtrack. You may need to first convert the video file toa suitable format Using free conversion tool ke Handbrake, available from wwwhandbrakes or Any Video Converter, which youcan find at wwwany- video-converter.com: your computer has limited CPU resources and struggles to run ‘multiple applications, consider converting the Video leo a much lower resolution, ust forthe purposes of working with tin your DAW. The ‘exported audio can always be mixed with the full-quality video tater on. Your system willneedtheright codecs Installed to stream video, as DAW packages ‘ont include video decoders. As a general rule, Ifyou can playa video cipon your Macor PC Using a standalone media player you should haven problems. ‘Most DAWs treat video cps inthe same way they do ual, splaving them along the timeline as a sequence of thumbnalls There ‘ay also be a pop-out window forthe video, which you can resize order tomaximise avalable screen space. Many composers use a Second (or even third) monitor sereento run Video while they compose. However, before you splash out on another screen I's. a good idea to check the screen sharing capabilities of your system, as your video card will need multiple ‘outputs to connect to multiple monitors ‘When you importa video clip, you should also have the option to detach the video's auto, placing it on ts own track, Thiscan be ery Useful as you can mute and solo the video's alin the same way as any other auc track, tear how itfts with your own must ‘Once you've composed your soundtrack, the final step isto mix the video and audio back together. Your DAW may have the option todo thisfor you, exporting anew video tle with audio embeded. not, ounce the audio as ‘normal and use any video editing software to ‘overay the audio remember, Macs come with ‘Movie while Windows comes with Windows ‘Movie Maker, both of which are suitable for this). ae =... Entrapment by Clearhead Media, ‘wot learheadmedia.com fr this {utora-itsneugedin tne Tutota Fes folder Our DAW of choles hare Logi butte processes weciescribe willbe very similar inany other DAW We ereato anew project. choose FlesOpen Movieand roadie vdoo te 1 >> Wetessng io eusngthe shot in guldeusas wewritethemuse adjusting the tempo so the downbeats Tandon them. Forte MIRROR marker, we sea ay abrupt unexpected change n theimusic And we've pictured herehow {Me music changes atthe 138 CLOTHES tna reverseacymbalesaing ino new bassine > Te viseots imported ito ou DAW. where appears inthetimelineas2 Series of humbralimages We want place marterstomake navigating the ‘Yarous it poins inthe vsuals easter We tihtlekinthe Global racks timeline ‘and make sre te Marker boxed, Doubie-icking the sal playback ‘window inthe ltt hand Move ab pons Asafinal foursh, weada more Foley sound efects-thesound of bat chatter, dosing levator doorsand the ‘is coat dropping to thefoor with our ‘audio exported we use Movieto combine ‘the au and visuals toa tinal video checkitoutin ne Tutor Fes toler. > Now weuse he play eadtosrot ‘throughthe video and single outa Couple okey hitpoints where te music \ralenange reflect the on-screen action. Werightesck inthe Marker timeline to places frst marker a 3, when the gt oaks inthe miror The second sat 38, lustafter the ose-up on helps asshe Seains changing clothes Werame the ‘markers MIRROR and CLOTHES. >Magic markers Logics normal markers arelocked tothetempotimelinratherthan regardless ofthe tempo These ‘would be useful we panned to write audio withalot tempo Changes Logic can detect sane tuts andplace Scene arkers via {he Detect Cuts uncton accessed either om te et ofthe Video thumbnails or om Options» MarkersCreate Movie Scene Markers»> Entre Movie, COMPUTER MUSIC / 35The TV composer Dave Porter's the creative force behind the distinctive musi of smash hit US TV series ‘Breaking Bad. He mixes unusual acoustic instruments and heavily processed sound ‘design elements nto the twisted tracks that have become synonymous with the bleak but playful tone ofthe series. We caught up with him while he was working on thefifth and final season of the show - which was ring at thesame time! ‘em: Breaking Bad season fivesairing right now..and you're still writing the score? Dave Porter: "Ihave only four or five daysto turnaround each episode everything is very ‘compressed. fi dont havea meeting or mito tends | work from am to 6pm and then resume around 9pm until as late as necessary. Because my score for Breaking Bad reles 30 heavily on sounds that Im crafting myself. 2s ‘opposed to jus firing up the string libraries, | ‘dontoften create more than a few minutes ofa score ina day. To keep things fresh jump back {and forth between several cues that arein ‘varying stages of completion. ‘em: What gear are you using? DP"Ive worked exclusively in Pro Toolsfor the last ten years. | started my career working on ‘Synclavier systems and stil use mine for certain tasks. On the hardware side, Ihave large Collectionf vintage syntheslsers- that's been a bitot an obsession of mine since was 5 years ‘ld Primarily collect analogue and cgital polysynths, but also own an ARP2600 and ome modular bits For Breaking Bad, often lean on my Oberheirn (Matrix-1000, Matrix 12 ‘and OB Ms) and Roland synths Qupiter-8, MKS- 180, MKS.70 and June-106). use software plug-ins and sot synths, oo, rom Native 36 / COMPUTER MUSIC Instruments, SoundToys and others. enjoy Rob Paper's soft synthsas well-each one has 2 dlstint character, which fs what love about older hardware synthesisers. “Ifind that get deeply into using certain Instruments fora period of time, butthen eventually change things around to stay Inspiced. For example, [used my beloved Octave Plateau Voyetra‘8 extensively this summer, but haraly touched ithe year before. ‘om Tellusa litle more about your home-made sounds. Dp: "On Breaking Bad, sometimes add these elements in an overt way -like when lincluded Ti’ bellin one of my enc credit cues ~ but usually fs suber, ust using an existing sound asastarting point to create new ones. For this ‘season's tralnhest, wen first began building ‘ew sounds for that cue, some of what started with was recordings of trans and railroad tracks By the time had processed them and used them ina musical context. they became something quite diferent Another example of thstromvery early on inthe series sina cue called The Morning After, which ends witha strange cycling noise that was originally the sound of alawn sprinkler - something borrowed from the suburban footage at the beginning of that scene. ‘em: How do youmake electronic and acoustic sounds gel together inthe mix? DDP+"Ithink one the most powerful tools that 3 composer has isthe ability to bring a consistent sonictemplatetoa project. Withallof the tools avaliable to tne modern composer. there's no reason why electronic musiccant sound ‘organic or acoustic music cant sound electronic. ne of the ways tat achieve thisis. through processing, both with external hardwareand software plugins. Appiying the same processing to both electronic andl acoustic recordings can give them a unifying qualty that helps them sit together comfortably ina mix. sea lotof diferent types of astortion - bit reduction, delays and older reverbs -toachieve that on Breaking Bad: ‘om. We'venoticed that the music placement InBreaking Bads quite sparse. How do you decide where to put the music? DP: “The choice of where music should go anc, Justasimportanty, whereit shouldnt = isa ‘group decision. For every episode wehavea ‘meeting for ths purpose that includes Vince Giiganfereatorexecutive producer), Thomas Golubicimusic supervisor), that episodes scrint writer and ealtor, and me, Itbecomes a discussion about what the music should try to ‘accomplish and the ways inwhich ican support thestory. It may sound obvious, but you have to let what youre seeing onscreen inform your decisions Since the score fstradtionaly one of the last things toappen during the production of afimor television show should expand ‘upon the work ready done by everyone before you, from the sxpt writers tothe actors to the Dleture ectors.Allof these artistshaveinstiled pace and emotion into the projectiong before the music gets there. lalvays ry to follow ther leadrather than fghtit-Idont want to ‘overstate something that has already been ‘made clear by the scriptor the actors: been inclu favour It www.daveporterty 1VIDEO Wont Sines erence PUTER > VaMioL ne py inastytmic sequence af t6tvnote taps We aso sea scraping soundtat weve recorded from the seucepanto ish the sequence ‘onarew track We use MHarmoniereM Uromtheem stico ree wih every se ‘fem set to Harmonize mode ar the ite settings OE minor octaves fllto ‘ive the ape more aa pitched tonal ee. >> Letseseaninatruent thats come signature staple of Breaking Back Dobro quar We ead upcinematiceffects Norary Vie into Kontakt on anew ack, snd select Dobro Phrases We sic Spproprat phrases are chosen, and we ay them int thetrack Jostling for attention Untike with ‘regular plece of music, thereare other aud elementsthat can Influence soundtrack composing and ‘mixing decisions. The main consideration Is. hhow to get your musi to play ball witha of theother audio ingredientsinthe film. Your ‘music wilhave to contend with dialogue ‘and sound effects, so its important to think about how these elements will ft together during the composing process. One of the first things to consider isthe frequency content of the mix. If your music thas much ofitsinstrumentation around the ‘midrange, for example, this wll be ‘competing withthe dialogue, which shares thatrange. Similarly. it you havea booming ow endin your soundtrack, you may find it > The tacks licking now en Fora quick and easy solution wefreup ZearscMonanew track and choose the BAS Deep roots (Pughugger preset, ‘noveryeectronictone We pay! program acoupieot Enotesinto ‘ecompany the track {fighting against on-screen soundeffectstike ‘explosions. Any conflicting frequency problems will probably resultin your ‘soundtrack being pushed down in volume by “whoever does the audio editing, sotallor ‘your composition accordingly. ‘Good communication with those handling ‘other sonic aspects of the projects essential ingetting aheads-up on potential conflicts. ‘Youdon't want to spend days on anineredibly Intricate score for ascene only to discover at the premiere that t's largely inaudible due to anonslaughtof sound effects! Listen to film musicand you'lloften hear high and ow string lines used during spoken ‘sections, with mid-range instrumentation kept toa minimum, Chugging action music > Theinsruments sound oo separate atthemoment oles tem all {ogether with afew elects onthe master ‘hanes We adds Brushor eto 308 Driveans2x Downsampling Woo ‘dd Logics defaut Stereo Delay athe Basle preset in ReverberateCM. This wash of eects pulls everytning together nda the track st back il ebinatitwont obscure dalogue, te that elles on ow drum hits will alsofhave ‘rhythmic partsin the mid andupper ranges, as the low endis often dialled down in level toleave space or therumbleand punch of bass-heavy effects, ‘The film's dialogue and effects can also ‘guide the orchestration of your musle~for ‘examplo, it's wiseto keep the orchestration lunfussy during spoken sections, so asnotto slistract fromthe speaking parts. Inthis sense, mixing fr surround sound Is easler than for stereo asthe dlaloguels usually sent tothe centre speaker, leaving the left andright channels free for effects 1d music that aid, you should always listen to your final mix in stereo to double- check for problems with conflicting sounds. COMPUTER MUSIC / 37‘Stephen Baysted, composer and audio director of UK gaming team Slightly Mad ‘Studios, has worked on many hit driving ‘games, his soundtrack for Need For Speed! ‘Shift winning industry awards. He's also produced advert music for corporate giants like Budweiser, MeDonale's and Pizza Hut, ‘ands Reader inFilm Composition atthe University of Chichester. ‘em: What are you working on right now? ‘Stephen Baysted: "Im super-busy at the ‘moment, the middle of scoring a wellknown Zombie game for Gamagio with John Harvey =1 ‘anit say which one, though. tm writing the ‘music and directing the audio for Project Cars and several other game projects for Slight Mad Studios that Im also unable to talk about! ts been a very busy year so far” fem It sounds ket! ‘SB: "Like most composers know: its often the ‘case that we're working ona variety of projects simultaneously so proficiency injugging Is needed. An average’ triple-A game ike Shit 2: Unieashed, for example, may take two oF more years to make. tsa protracted process. withthe Audio assets being created right across the san ‘ofthe development cycle. Musicisnormally put ‘together towards the end ofthe development ‘cle, when the main game architectures in place. Thiscan make for an ‘interesting final few ‘months as the game goes tothe wire: em You've also worked on films. How does: “writing for videogames differ from that? ‘SB: "Conventional compositions especialy ‘those for film or television, are linear and the film determines the form and structure of the ‘music itself. In games, the compositional process can be radically diferent, and the music Itself can largely be concelved as being nor. linear and subdivided into looped material and! ‘or layers, according tothe prevaling gameplay ‘rteria and the way that the game's audio ‘engine works” ‘em: Can yougiveus some examples? 'SB:"Musicin games tends ofall into three principal types. The fists menu/backaround/ Aamblences. This s music outside the main ‘gameplay scenarios solt’snot usualy synchronised to picture. Secondly, you have traditional score, which operates ust ke fim ‘music nthat its synchronised to unplayable ‘cutscenes that are interspersed throughout the gamesaction “Lastly you have interactive or adaptive ‘music. This type of musics mostly looped and layered, With each successive layer normally ‘comes addtional musial or ehythmical ‘complet. ana these ayers ae triggered as the player interacts with the environment - itis almostas ifthe players playing or performing ‘the music. But regardless ofthe underiying ‘mechanics, the ilusion of continuous ‘inematiestyle music is the order ofthe day” em Interactive music sounds ike pretty ‘complicated stuff. '$B:"Youhave to approach musical structure melody, harmony and phrasing in radically 38 / COMPUTER MUSIC itferent way. Your music must give thelusion ‘ofbeing linear and synced to the onscreen ‘ction, when al he time its made up ofa ‘complex network of oops and layer. In my lew, te most important aspects for successful Interactive musicareto ensure that key structures, tempo relationships and oop sync points work. Then i's a question of planning (with game designers, audio programmers and the audio director) how these loops willbe triggered and ultimately operate given network of loops’ prevailing gameplay criteria ofthe project - ‘although this last aspect canbe inordinately ‘complex, ofcourse” Cem: What kind of audio formats are you ‘working with?| 'SB:"Most of my game musicand sound design \orkis implemented using FMOD (www.fmed. (org), although for mobile, iOS and Android, and ‘browser-based technologies (WeDGL/HTML, proprietary audio engines are most common. those cases I'snormally the audio programmer andapp programmers who implement the ‘music and au ils that Ive created: ‘om Talkus through your studio setup. ‘SB:"Ima Cubase user and 'm finding the very latest version (6 5) on Mac tobe superb -its rocksolid and packed fullof great features. ve {got flr it of outboard gear, including a Roland VSynth XT, which love “Iruntive slave computers for sample streaming via three MOTU 2408 audio Interfaces and various RME interfaces, Library- ‘wise, Im fortunate to have alot to choose from, butfor strings almost excusively use the ‘bespoke Spitfire Symphonic Strings which is ‘mind: blowingly good. This the one thing | currently couldn ive without. We havea grand piano in the house. sol often record that instead ‘fusing samples; n general, the more you can Use ive musllans, the Better ‘em You'vealso done quite abit of advertising work. What do you thinkisthe secretto success inthatfeld? ‘Hah i knew that Tbe sipping a GET on the back a boat in Monaco! Seriously, though, italways seems like alottery.|got my 2¢ 993 through an agent who dealsexclusvely with ‘music for advertising. You ust need tohave a very thick skin and keep pushing forward, Youtl notice that most adverts fliow the samebasic structure and pattern, so the musie should ‘most cases do the same. How you interpret agency briefs is crucial: Find out mare about Stephenis musicat \wwwstephenbaysted.comPlaying the game Writing music for videogames presents plenty ‘of challenges. Many factors can playa part Including the capabiltiesof the system, the ‘amount of available memary ana the ‘complexity ofthe musical requirements. There's ‘aworid of aiference between writing ingame loops for]an Android phone game and creating “anadaptive soundtrack for an Xbox 360 tite. Most smaller-scale games, be they ona phone, ‘on an Pad or na browser, have to deal with Serious memory constraints. For example, ‘downloadable Nintendo DS games rarely allow ‘more than 64MB of data in total. including the ‘music, Given that a three-minute WAV file on ts ‘own could exceed that, alternative formats and methods have tobe used The most economical way to write music within a small memory footprint sto use short, lower quality samples anda trackerlsequencer {otrigger them via MID. The samples and MIDI data can then be compiled and dropped into the ‘gameas code, Aways irstestabish withthe ‘music Th rack heavy on eects Sndhas.a tine! thm povided by toe Stake and bongos. We bounce the track ‘ow. including an empty eghtbae Section atthe endof the rack tis isto ‘aptureall ofthe revere and delay tats 1 >> werestrtna wna 2a cea! the em guide ‘brogrammers which format they prefer and how ‘can best be implemented. In-game loops ityouhaveabitmore space. i-game loops are Brother option The best way to produce these isasfutaualty WAV tes downsampied ‘meet the system memory cation. san Budiophite younay bala ny compression ietw tabs but bowser and phone games ten use mach lover trates than that -as ow S16kops hen unly means mono suc sta reduced sample rate). Look atthe system hardware or onboard tools you're working with, and if there's a native audio encoder, use Itto retain ystem resources. To save more memory, ‘go mono or use shorter oops. While were on the subject of loops, we recommend using the Ogg Vorbis format rather than MP3 Not only doesit give you higher {quality playback tthe same size, butit also encodes without adding unnecessary silence at the beginning of the sound fe essential it ‘you're attempting to create a seamiess oop. ‘Give some consideration tothe playback systemitselt Laptop and phone speakers sound tinny. with weak bass that rarely even reaches ‘down to 100H2 oso, There are afew waysto ‘overcome this: youcan doubletracks that > Now wereimportne bounced backinte our sequence We soloonly ‘theimported track and dsblealthe ‘elects onthe master bus. We en chop ‘tft rever-and-selay portion ofthe Toop at exactly bar 32 and copypaste tat ‘thestart of an dential wack, slong that ‘one ae Wel Thsleto ensure that when he Toop restarts, thereverbleley does cut ‘out whichcan be noticeable and jaring, contain predominantly low frequencies an fctaveor two higher, for example. This works wall wth kick drums, adainga clearly audible “cick tothe sound, The harmonic content of a bassline can also be emphasised using a plugin like Waves Maxxbass or Voxengo LF Max Punch, ‘or you can highlight upper harmonic content Using techniques ke distortion, overdrive and parallel compression. Ofcourse, our tracks Should sound OK on headphones and speakers too, some players will actually be using these. Adaptive audio Systems with more memory enable theuse of higher bitrates nding oops Many games now feature context-senstve aati Muse Consisting of mull oops that canbe overlaid byanin-game engine o heighten tension or create suspense. For example. agame character ‘wandering the countryside mightbe {accompanied by alight backing track on lute andiarp. When on enemy sighted, panicky percussion loop would be overlaid andi aight rss theft would be croppedinfevaur of ‘hugging string ostinati loops ‘Adaplive music can be complicate anc ine consuming to produce, as there are many more toopsto create. The composer needs to operate tighty within the game's ramewerk to ensure {hat theloops workin context We've primed Yyoulon thebases of game composing here but {ogoindeeper pickup The Complete Gude To Game Audoby Baron Marks. >> Wesstaloonatbar 32 and bounce that section as a WAY, which wilioop perfect For demonstration purposes, ‘ve also bounced tas an MP3 {kop whichinrorices shot sence Into the ample. This bad news for loops, Sp weve use Audacty to convert the tgp 10 0G6 format too ths sounds acceptableevenatow quality anaishalt theszeof the MP3 COMPUTER MUSIC / 39Isic now The sound designer "Modern soundtrack work srt only about notes and music-earcatching sounds can be Vitaly important, and sometimes they can provide asounatrackon their own. This is where sound design comes in Although you Can use pretty much any plugins fr sound, ‘sign work there are few that industry professionals tend to favour, such as Spectrasonics Omnisphere Native Instruments Massive and whe Zebra. Howard Scart Sound designer for both Hans Zimmer and he, gives us his thoughts on Zebra, “ebrals Zimmer's go-to synth plugin, and can understand why” Scart says. "Zobra ls very ‘ep there's alwaysat least one way to realise an idea that'sjust waiting tobe discovered. However complex the audioand ‘modulation routing, Zebra does exactly what it told without sing audio quality The patching system is pure genus, as are the Comb ters. lcould gush about Zebra for hours, but fa better stop now because. already sounding ikea slesmani™ rhe recently released The Dark Zebra, reviewed in iast month sem and comprising anamazing bank of presets specially {developed by Zimmer and Sear forthe Dark Knight trilogy Scar tells us how the patches were developed. “loften start with a purely technical ies, then tweak away unti‘an interesting characteristic emerges," he explains. "Ot Course. whenever Hans asks for something specifi, ook fora technical solution we can What's that sound? ‘The only absoluterule whenit comes to ‘making music for asoundtrackis hatit', otto fitthe visuals, When most people think’soundtrack, they envision grand symphonic scores fromthelr favourite films. Orchestral instrumentationisstil the backbone of many film scores, but nowadays you'reas likely tohear synthetic sounds alongside acousticinstruments. Movie soundtracks lke those or Tron: Legacy and inception stradate the line between traditional scoringand sound design. If you're looking torecreatetthis vibe yourself, there are not somany rules. The goal of sound designinascoreisto subvert the usual conventions, so pretty ‘much anything goes. For example, forsome parts of his Prometheus score, composer Mare Streitenfeld reversed’ the musiche gave to the orchestra, recordedit, and then reversed thatto create a disturbing soundscape. Don't presume that these kind ‘of sounds ae imited to fantasy settings either -even Thomas Newmans cues for Road To Perdition, set in 1930s Chicago, have strong drone textures mingled with the wind and reed instruments. ‘Themost common use of synthetic ‘elements in scores is tounderpia rhythmic percussion or string passages, creating tension and subtle developmentsin timbre ‘and colour. Several commercial sample 40 / COMPUTER MUSIC. both work on. Some of my patches turned out to bbe more sultabe for a comedy than fr a ‘dystopian blockbuster, but think ve learned how to anticipate what Hans might ike. Anya, those DarkKnight patches were sent backand forth tobe tweaked into submission uni they Super sym he Dark Zbralsa sound designtour do fore, contaiing patches rom the Dark Kg movies producers have met this growing trend by ‘eleasing their own pre-glitched auioloops, Including 8Dio's Hybrid Tools and Rhythmic ‘Aura collections, These libraries comprise ong, repetitive samples culled from acoustic sources and twisted into unrecognisable sounds using gating and other effects. you ‘want to reate this kind of thing, Camel ‘Audio's Camelspaceis.a fantastic multitfects plug-in that con mangle any audio signal into a rhythmictexture, in perfect synewith your project's tempo. Drop these patterns over traditional orchestralelementsto introduce subtle elements of sound design. ‘Never underestimate the effectiveness of “Yound’ sounds, from tapping and scraping desk surfaces tomaking unusual mouth noises. Allyouneedisa microphoneanda Ce eno ether suited the music or landed on the shel. ‘The Xtras folder in The Dark Zebra sa selection of unused patches from that set Ifyou havent yet experienced Zebra, our exclusive ‘te version = ZebraCM - comes free with every issue ofem. willingness to experiment with what's around youto capture some simplenotses, ‘Then, use the weirder plug:insin your arsenal, ora ‘sound design’ package like {Zotope is, to heavily process your recorded samples. The ideas that the results will beso twisted that no one will, lever guess the origin of your creations. For mixing, sound design elements work like other orchestration parts:f ou want themto standout, give them thelr own frequency and reverb spaces. Conversely to ‘meld them with the other instruments, they should occupy a similar range. Intraditional film scoring, you'd want to leave aclear distinction between the music and the sound fects, but recently ‘Composers like Dave Porter (interviewed on 'p38) have blurred theline. Dave uses ‘elements from the sounds within the Foley ‘and background noises from edited footage toembellish his cues. Yo pull off this kind of avant-garde sound design scoring requires ski, experience anda director who's willing toexperiment. Not many projects will give You the opportunity tolex your sound design muscles inthis mannher,so don't allow the overalltone of your cuesto be ‘compromised by the tempting allure of of the wall sounds. Moderation is key,and any sound design should work withthe score and not stick rudely out of the mix.] >> Letslookat sting acting ack or ‘the srt im Bunny Magi tb Philp Watts wor philipwattscomau). Which 'Sinthe Tutorial Files We import tne im Into Logicandusethe Import Audio From Movie funcionto get the uso Sketch backing ack wih Symphobias Dasleshortanatong sving patches ide te The time and the place There comes atimein every composer's career wien they recalled upon to create apiece of ‘music from another era. Ths could beas recent 290s hipshop oras far backin timeasa ‘mediaeval madrigal Whatever the time period, Itsimportant tobe authentic in terms of instrumentation, technology and the recording processes of the era, I's good recreating 2 big see of50s rock'n rol, then mixingand masteringit to a modern pristine level of qualty that would ve been unobtainable at the time. Remember tobe mindful of thelimitalions of the era when engineering a period piece. Plugins that emulate tape saturation, viny Sefects audio degradation and plate reverbs Canal help to create an authentic sound from Yesteryear a5 can utlsing channel strip plugins that emulate older mixing desks. ‘Weve looked at emulating vintage recording techniques numerous times inem but if you reed some further inspiration. pick up How Does it Sound Now?by Gary Gottileb, This book Interviews over 30 expert engineers from the last 50 years and has some great insights nto thetr stud gear ana techniques. World in action ‘World musi’ isa controversial and much- ‘maligned phrase, but welicapitulate tots use here justfor convenience. Much ike period music,’ easy to get drawn into compositional clichés when writing for world settings. Take a listen to the track Divas and Dunes from the Sex ‘and the Cty 2soundtrack fora truly painful example ofthe way ethnic instruments are often Used to purnme the score into Idiocy at the fst sight of an exotic locale. ‘Unless out-and-out pastiche isintended, t's usually best to keep things subtle when itcomes twadding ethnic instruments to a conventional orchestra soundtrack Ifthe Visuals already scream ethic; the score doesnt relly need to Telterate the theme, Ofcourse there are always exceptions to this. particularly in cartoons. comedy and the sometimes not o-subtle works > Testing paths toograndtor ‘cia small scale animaton Cartcons ke this generally use smaller ‘roupsof instruments without much Fever toimpart greater degree of Intimacy. We'swap outhe fll orestral Strings Symprobiapateh the far more nuanced String Quintet path. This Immediately imparts a period tee, 2 ‘of videogames. The latter often use world music Instruments and styles to cifferentiate game worlds suchas conga drumsin ajunglelevel or pan pipes during a forest stage ‘There are sample library developers who specialise in recreating ancient and world Instruments, which can bea big help when it ‘comes to the more esoteric requests you might receive. Dutch sampiss Sonokinetic publish 2 wide range of historical instruments, ranging {rom biblical harp to church organ, Thelr vocal packages are particularly noteworthy, ‘encompassing everything from Greek poems to Jewish folk songs ‘At www.cinematique-Instruments.com youlfind @ boutique selection of some ofthe Worlds stranger instruments, adding up toa Its easy to get drawn lichés when writing for ‘world’ settings’ useful collections of keys and percussion. Even the factory selection that comes bundled with Kontakt’ has few ‘worl patches, Including a ‘great selection of keys and synths and-some highly useable reeds and percussion. you wantto try and capture some world sounds yourself cheap ethnic instruments are surprisingly e2sy to find inunk shops at car boot sales and on eBay. Shakers and other percussion aren’ aificultto get a sound outof {and will spice up any rhythmic track Whistles and bowed or plucked instruments areaitle {Wikies to master but that’s where your DAW's editing functions comein.Graba microphone and play what you can you can always eat the timing and pitch ater to dsgutse playing issues ‘and chop out the bd bits. > WeaddLogics stereo Spreadptigin dso the Lower Int andUpper int ‘Siders to 50% narowing the stereo il We then setup asend channel forthe strings andinsertthe tee zotope Vint plugin set ote year 1990 ans 78pm Tssort or parte processing gives us ‘Wedalin lego ora50/S0 mx COMPUTER MUSIC / 41>make music now Production resources. Ite interviews and walkthroughs herehavewhetted your appetite and yout ke to delve further into thetheory and practiceof soundtrack searing. check out the tips rom compose'sthemseives wrwwmusiccomposerblog.com This excatent deg started by media composer John reste, festuresinterviewswithbath famous ndemeraing TVand videoname composers. aso hosts 8 wealth of YouTube ana Agi cps demonstrating tele tracks and tecriques sr robin-hotfmann.com This German compose shares his sacretsnnis Day Fimscorna Bis biog. Me archive strtehes back to 2010 and covers every aspect of Scoring, trom orrestratlon to ‘working with ects. wewedeancogden.com Composer Deane Ogden adresses othe practieates of the composerscreativty ons og, wth poss that areanays {oplealand thought proveking. ‘Ogden sas the founder of the Scorecast community st ‘wie scorecastontine com. which Rostsanactive hibot composers rww-soundeontine-forumecom Thisforum spartofEatWests Soundsonine te, where youcan buy sounetrack samplesinany and allconcevable stles,Community ‘members post anaaicuss each both novice and expert composers. www soundworkscollection.com Forthose no ovete dabble in fund design and effects ts audi edtorstopoflesct pro ining studios, theres something here forever the most seasoned ‘iio oxpert The contents presented as concise short videos, fn doit miss the ste sell ond ‘comprehensive Sound Gossary. imscoremonthiy.com Thissubscripton-niyontne magazine began as simple revseter in 1990 thos Seveloped into a resource of blockbuster proportions Every ‘monthly ssUe eatres interviews itn worlefamous composers, Inset features, sounctrack sppeaels and technical reviews, ‘Asasubscriber youalso get access totheprint mognaine'sback exaioguenPOF format 42 | COMPUTER MUSIC bod Money matters ‘When youstart outasacomposer.itcan be hard towork out how much you should charge for ‘your music, Do you invoice your vn time by {he hour or per minute of music produced, or do you charge_a lat fee no matter how long it {akes? In your online search for opportunities, you'll undoubtedly come across content Creators looking for composers who are wiling {to work or free or for erect ‘There are two schools of thought on whether ‘ornot doing this a good idea. Some ‘composers see it asthe only way to plump up thelr portfolio and thus wil take such jobs if nothing elses available The other perspective isthat working for free devalues your own ‘music andthe role of the composer asa whole. ‘Only youcan judge whether or not working for frees worthwhile, but always try to negotiate a better deal idealy agreeing to at leasta percentage of the project's profits. This kind of arrangement works especialy well with Videogame projects, which may have a better ‘chance of resulting in sales than fms. ‘Up.and-coming composer Hary Lightfoot (onwu.harrylightfoot.com has experience of working fo ree. Tmrelatively new to ‘composing buthave already been lucky enough tohave scored a BRC series, The Fisherman's ‘Apprentice. he says. “There were quite few ‘composers including one who was wort famous, who were pitching, It was this that made me think that they te dolng this for free, then what possibie reason have got to ask for payment? t'sashame thatthe industry has ‘evolved this way, but fool we as composers have troll witht somewhat. | would rather work or free and bull up my name and Ist of credits than not get any work at al signed away fullrighs tothe production ‘company. Even though! wast paid a penny Upfront, they woulda’ negotiate on this fit ‘meant losing the gg, then | had to just accept it Lucy, willrecelve broadcast royalties each time the programme airs. Onthis}ob, however, payment for me wasritabout the money it was ‘bout the chance to bulla relationship with a BAFTA award-winning production company. It ‘was about the invaluable lessons learned throughout the process. twas about being able tosay that had worked on a prime-time BBC2 show which had around 17 milion viewers per episode. Itwas about the doors that have ‘pened since the show went out. For any ‘aspiring composer allthis worth a hel of alot 01 have absolutly no resentment about nat getting a cash fee -rather,|feellucky tohave had the opportunity. ‘Al that sad, in ten years Im stil working for tre, ask me fm stil happy. My answer ‘might well be diferent Beware of lat fee projects offering larger payment but requiring that you pay for ‘mastering. studi time and ve performers. The Costs ofthese extras can soon add up, so ts ‘tal that you establish from the outset who wil pay fr them and how much they likely to be. ‘Similary charging per minute of music produced can nave ts drawbacks you geta fussy director who asks or lots of rewrites and keeps reediting the visuals. meaning more work for you. Only you canjudge how to handle these problems and which payment model sults you best, but whichever you choose, make sure that you've agreed in advance on time scales and Costing. It's better to under promise and over deliver than to leave yourself short on time and lend up turning in sloppy produced cues that don't represent your rue talent.em