Composing Film Music Tips: The Pedal Note
Due to popular demand (aka the poll in the right sidebar), my next few posts will be tips on composing music, with an emphasis on writing music for film in particular.
Today’s tip is all about the ‘pedal note’ or ‘drone’. It’s really a very simple concept: a single, sustained note or tone.
Pedal notes [...]
YouLicense White Label Music Download Store Set Up
The poll is still up to the right for what kind of posts you’d like to read on this site for the rest of my 30-day challenge. Let me know what you think ————————->
I’ve been working for a while now on getting my back catalogue of music that’s available to license for synchronisation [...]
What Kind Of Posts Would YOU Like To See?
Take a look at the poll at the top of the sidebar to the right: I want to know what YOU want to see and read here. You decide what I write about next. ————->
The categories are pretty self-explanatory, but if there’s something you’d like to know about that I haven’t put in [...]
Performance Awards At BAFTA
So here’s the ‘Moth To A Flame’ gang at BAFTA for the Performance Short Film Awards, with our Certificate of Honourable Mention:
right to left: Kevin Tam, the director, John Hunter, the writer, and me!
The evening went very well despite my usual trepidation at networking events (see my previous post ‘What to do when you hate [...]
What to do when you hate Networking
I’m the first to admit it. I’m rubbish at networking. I’m quiet, hate talking in public, have no idea what to say to people I don’t know, feel seriously intimidated by anyone who may been even slightly useful to talk to business-wise. I’m really not built for it at all.
So I’ve developed [...]
Prioritising your Time
Read a very interesting post yesterday on a blog for Startup Businesses.
Conversations With Myself: What Should I Work On
I sympathised with the writer wholeheartedly. There are never enough hours in the day for one self-employed freelancer to get absolutely everything done and still retain their sanity.
His gripes really do refer to anyone with a [...]
Inspiration
inspiration n
stimulation or arousal of the mind, feelings, etc., to special or unusual activity or creativity
the state or quality of being so stimulated or aroused
someone or something that causes this state
an idea or action resulting from such a state
the act or process of inhaling; breathing in
From English Collins Dictionary – English Definition & Thesaurus
Inspiration is [...]
Do You Live Your Life Creatively?
Had to share this blog post about creativity and the myths that surround it: Myths about Creativity | Tickled By Life, by Shalu Wasu.
Go have a read… then come back here if you like.
I particularly enjoyed reading his attitudes about the application of creativity to all aspects of life, not just so-called creative [...]
Early Bird or Night Owl?
Image via Wikipedia
Or more specifically – do you work better in the morning or later in the day, or later on, into the evening? It appears I’m definitely the former. I’ve left it until the evening to write this blog post and it’s proving a lot harder to form some sort of coherent structure!
Now, don’t [...]
What Is The Value Of Your Music?
The more I think about this, the more the strands of the argument grow and overlap and evolve.
I get more questions than answers and I want to know what you think.
So… what is the value of your music?
Or the value of any art you create?
Aesthetic Value
The value given to any piece of music or art [...]
How to Compose Science Fiction Music: My Personal Recipe
Image via Wikipedia
If you been reading my posts for the last week or so, then you’ll have noticed that I’ve recently been spending my days writing science fiction-related music.
If you’ve not been reading… why not?
Also, a lot of the search engine terms used that send traffic here are along the lines of ‘how [...]
Translating the Director’s Ideas into Musical Reality
I have to be honest.
It’s day 8 of the 30 Day Challenge to myself to blog a-post-a-day and I was completely stumped on a topic.
So today’s subject comes from John Hunter, my lovely man. Ta!
8 Pointers
When it comes to chatting to the director during the initial meetings for a project, it’s good to keep [...]
A Day In The Life Of A Composer
Today is going to be a pretty typical day for me. As in hectic. And exactly the kind of work I like.
Although composing is now my bread and butter, I also do other work to keep the roof over my head. Today is a pretty good example of how I live day-to-day. It [...]
SCOREcast
Image via Wikipedia
It’s Sunday so I’m gonna keep this short and sweet
SCOREcast is a podcast series that I’ve just recently discovered, started by Deane Ogden, a fabulous film composer from LA that I recently became twitter-friends with. Why not follow him too: @deaneogdenmusic; and Scorecast is also on twitter as @scorecastonline.
It’s been [...]
Contingency: Planning for the Unexpected
When planning your time, or if you’re asked for an estimate for your delivery, it’s well worth including ‘contingency’ time: this is in addition to the length of time it’ll take for you to actually physically do the work…
Beyond The Front Line – Trailer for a Slunglow Show
Beyond The Front Line is a new show by Slunglow, currently in development and due to play at the Lowry, Manchester in October. Below is the new trailer…
Writer’s Block? Impose Restrictions.
Sometimes, if I’m a little stumped as to how to proceed when composing music for any sort of media, I realise the reason is that I’ve too many options. To help me out, I impose restrictions on my options.
Starting A New Project
Today I get to grips with a new project. This is the one of the more exciting parts of my job… and possibly the scariest!
30 Day Challenge – A Post A Day
I’ve become a fan of the 30 day challenge, where you pick a habit that you’d really like to create (or even one you’d like to lose) and you concentrate on doing that habit day in, day out, for a month.
The idea is that it takes 20 iterations of an action (or so) to [...]
