ANDREW MORGAN SMITH.

What would you say are your earliest recollections of music of any kind?

My earliest memory of music was actually me making some music. I’m not sure where I got it, but I distinctly remember singing “boom, chick, boom, chick” as a young kid. Some kind of super primitive beatboxing when I was probably 4 or 5.
Was there music in your family, by this I mean were any of your parents musical?

I’d say so. My father’s side of the family played instruments and sang together. My father had a Bachelors of Music in Tuba performance. Despite having that he became a lawyer.

My sisters and I took piano lessons each starting in 1st grade throughout elementary school and Junior high.

So it was definitely around us.

 

YOU MIGHT BE THE KILLER, is in my opinion a very good score, its a pastiche if you will of styles and sounds that are associated with the horror movies of the 1990.s, Was this something that you set out to do, or did the director
ask you to write in this way for the movie?

Thank you so much, I really enjoyed working on Killer.
The whole movie is a send up of the 80s/90s horror genre. So at the first meeting with the director we sat down and started going over tone and ideas. From the start we intentionally wanted it to be more retro. They had taken great care to do the same to the movie, so I needed to match that in the score.

What size orchestra did you use for the score for YOU MIGHT BE THE KILLER?

Believe it or not, there are almost no live elements in the score. That mostly came about because of turn around time. I ended up scoring the movie in about 3-4 weeks and couple that with being an indie movie, the resources just weren’t there. The only live element is an exotic percussion part that a buddy of mine, Joe Martone tracked. After he tracked it I processed it heavily so it almost feels textural during some of the more intense creepy scenes.

You worked on JEEPERS CREEPERS 3, how did you become involved on this picture and had you seen the first two films in the series or heard their scores?

I ended up working on Jeepers 3 through the editor, Misty Talley. I’ve worked with her for years, both on movies she’s edited and directed. When the original composer dropped out, she recommended me and I got on the gig. I hadn’t seen the first two when I was first approached, but when I got onto it I immediately watched them. Checked out the scores and how the score felt in the movie. I wanted to make sure it felt like it was in the same world as the previous movies, but updated to match today’s changed tastes.

Do you think that the horror genre in particular needs more music than most other types of movies?

It definitely can go that way. It’s important for sure. So many times in horror you’re making up for some deficiency that has cropped up. Especially in the indie world. On the other hand, there are some truly masterful horror scores that know how to build up tension then drop out and let the quiet really bring you to the edge of your seat.

Do you buy soundtracks at all?

I do. I recently jumped on an Apple Music subscription though, but if I really think a score is great, I’ll pick up the album as well.

When you are working on a score for a movie, do you try to come up with a sound or even just a phrase that the audience will after seeing the film associate with it.

For sure. On every project I like to know basically where I’m going. So whenever I start out I’m always trying to lockdown a general palate of sounds that I’m going to use. That would include themes or soundscapes if it’s a textural based score. It’s important for my creative process as well as giving the project its own identity emotionally and sonically.
What musical training did you have and were there any areas of music or individual instruments that you focused upon?

I started piano lessons in 1st grade. Joined band playing saxophone. Dabbled in different instruments through high school. I attended college pursing a Music Media and a Music Composition degree (All the while playing saxophone). I also attended the Aspen Music Festival’s film scoring summer course while they still had it.

How did you become involved in the writing of film music did you set out to become a film music composer or did this just develop as your musical career progressed?

Around sophomore year in high school I started to want to become a film composer. Once I got that stuck in my head, I seemed to push everything I could into that direction. My first project was for a guy making commercial and promo videos that I lived by. From there I just kept putting myself out there and it kept progressing.

What composers either from the world of movie music or from other genres of music that have influenced you or indeed may have inspired you to write in a certain style of fashion?

From the classical side, Gustav Holst is always a great influence. There is a concert band composer named David Maslanka that I’ve loved.

On the film side, not to be cliché, John Williams is amazing. John Powell, Jerry Goldsmith, and Dennis McCarthy are favourites as well. I’m a huge science fiction/science fantasy soundtrack person. So anything in those genres I love usually.

When you worked on YOU MIGHT BE THE KILLER did the director have a temp track on the movie when you were first seeing it, if so do you find temps helpful or maybe at times distracting?

Yeah, there was temp music. On fast turn arounds, which Killer was, temp can be extremely helpful. This holds even more true if the temp has been very carefully selected. Usually what ends up happening with temp is I’ll watch something with temp one or two times. Then only hear it again if it’s ever referenced in notes. It’s definitely useful when communicating with non musical people. They can point to the temp and say, “I liked when the temp turned as she said [xyz]” and you can go back and reference and take away something that they may have trouble expressing without that music background.

How much time were you given to complete the score for JEEPERS CREEPERS 3, and what is the normal amount of time you are given to work on a score for a movie?

Jeepers 3 was a bit of a weird situation. Originally the Jeepers 1 and 2 composer was going to do the score, but during the edit it didn’t work out. So I was brought on as they were trying to get reshoots done and the edit done. So I would get reels as they locked and I’d work on them. This ended up being a hurry up and wait situation. I had 6 weeks to score the movie total, I believe, but I wasn’t working continuously on it. Sometimes, I ended up waiting on the next reel to lock. This culminated in the last action laden reel getting dropped on me 3-5 days before the deadline. So I furiously wrote 18 minutes of action music for that reel till the last second.

Most of the projects I work on run about 3-6 weeks. Sometimes it’s longer, but TV runs on a pretty strict schedule.

You worked on projects for SYFY channel, how much effect does it have upon a score if say the budget is not that great, are there ways of writing to make a score sound larger or grander than it actually is?

It does have an effect for sure, but I’ve found I always have to produce at a high level. I don’t want to turn in anything I don’t feel comfortable putting my name on.

No one knows how long you worked on something or how much you were paid. They just hear your music. The last thing I’d want is for someone to see a movie I worked on and they just hear a score that doesn’t sound good.

That being said, samples sound pretty great and knowing how to use them pretty well can get you fairly far. Add in some soloist live parts over good samples and it can do a great deal to trick the ear into making your score sound more real and large.

 

Do you think that a central theme is important within a score, or at least a theme that acts as a foundation to the remainder of the score, or a theme that you can develop the remainder of the score upon?

I think a musical identity is really important to a project. I always prefer for that identity to be a traditional theme, but that can even go for a texture. Themes and textures are so integral to telling a compelling story. Giving the audience something to connect to emotionally as our characters go on their journey. Also, having a cohesive theme and texture for the movie will allow the audience by suspend disbelief more and buy into whatever is happening on screen.

Were you involved in the compilation of the music tracks for the soundtrack releases of JEEPERS CREEPERS 3 and YOU MIGHT BE THE KILLER?

Yes, I personally made the JC3 and Killer albums, although my audio mixer did the mix on the Killer album. I wanted to make sure that the right sections of the score remained and all the tracks flowed nicely.

 

What do you think is the purpose of music in Film?

Music in film allows the audience to experience the ride in the movie. It fills in the blanks that we need to better understand the concepts and characters that they’re watching.

 

What is next for you?

I’m wrapping up some indie films that have been a nice change of pace. Moving onto a cool branded music library for an app after that. We’ll see what the rest of 2019 holds.

AMUNDSEN.

 

At last a new score from multi talented composer Johan Soderqvist, I have for many years admired this composers work, his music for LET THE RIGHT ONE IN being the score that blew me away and convinced me to watch out for his future scores. The latest addition to the composers impressive list of credits is the soundtrack for the movie AMUNDSEN. This is an inspiring score for a true and even more inspiring story, it is a historical epic about a hero of Norway Roald Amundsen who is best-remembered for his achievement of reaching the South Pole in 1911. The score is one that is filled with atmospheric sounds and themes, the composer creating some wonderfully haunting and melodic passages that seem to come from nowhere, his style is so original and fresh, he is also a composer who experiments with sounds as well as music, fusing the two to fashion effective and innovative nuances and motifs. For example he will utilise synthetic sounds and over these he will introduce a plaintive and melancholy piano solo then support this with melodious and romantic strings as in track number three on this score entitled TWO BROTHERS. In this fairly brief cue the composer purveys so many emotions and fills the listener with hope, sadness and romanticism all at once. Soderqvist, is a master at the use of unusual sounds within his film scores the usual becomes the innovative and musters the interest of either the watching audience or the film music collector who is listening to the score just as stand alone music. Maybe there is a touch of the drone style of scoring within this particular score where score melds into sound design, but in this case it is warranted and also well executed. The cue THE ICE RAVINE/NAMING THE MOUNTAINS is such a track, mostly consisting of atonal sounds but from time to time there is a glimmer of a melody or at least a hint of it, I thought towards the end of the three minute cue there were certain attributes that could fall into the Morricone style of scoring, being dark but at the same moment containing a lilting theme underneath the atonal elements. AT THE SOUTH POLE is a near anthem like piece and I suppose is the closest that the score comes to being lush or lavish, the theme builds to a crescendo of sorts that is quite emotional, then fades back into a piano led piece underlined by strings. There is also action cues within the score, as in the thundering and urgent sounding ICE BEAR ATTACK, which although short in duration is relentless in its ferociousness. Soderqvist has created a score that conjures up a feeling of desolation and one of loneliness and listening to the music one can imagine just a little how vast an area that Amundsen found himself in. THE CHILDREN is another cue that I was attracted too, piano again with underlying strings augmenting then the piece moves into a poignant theme performed by guitar and piano, delightful This is a score that I think you will enjoy very much, there are so many emotions purveyed throughout its duration that it is hard to fully describe, but I will say it is a score to take a listen to, released by MOVIE SCORE MEDIA  now on digital platforms and soon to be released on CD by Rosetta.

VAN GOGH-OF WHEAT FIELDS AND CLOUDED SKIES.

 

Sedona International Film Festival have presented the Great Art on Screen series with “Van Gogh: Of Wheat Fields and Clouded Skies”. This event was shown in Sedona on Wednesday, Feb. 13 at 4 and 7 p.m. at the festival’s Mary D. Fisher Theatre. Great Art on Screen is a series of seven documentaries featuring an in-depth look at the most extraordinary and groundbreaking art masters of their time. Take a fresh look at Van Gogh through the legacy of the greatest private collector of the Dutch artist’s work: Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939), one of the first to recognize the genius of Van Gogh. In the early 20th century, Kröller-Müller amassed nearly 300 of Van Gogh’s paintings and drawings now housed at her namesake museum in Holland. The Basilica Palladina exhibition in Vicenza, “Amid Wheat Fields and Clouded Skies,” with 40 paintings and 85 drawings on loan from the Kröller-Müller Museum, lends the basis of this program, revealing Van Gogh’s art and his genius, while allowing audiences to understand the importance of drawing as part of his craft. Van Gogh’s seemingly instinctive canvases were the result of long, preparatory studies very rarely exhibited – not just sketches but stunning works of art in and of themselves, where the broken flow of lines that characterize the style and strokes in Van Gogh’s paintings can already be seen.
From the Sedona Film Festival web page.
https://sedonafilmfestival.com/event/van-gogh-of-wheat-fields-and-clouded-skies/2019-02-13/

The music for this film was composed by Italian born composer Remo Anzovino, it is a soundtrack that is sublimely beautiful and alluring, the Maestro creating wonderfully lyrical musical poems that not only enhance the images on screen but also bring a sense of emotion and poignancy to the proceedings. His music gives the artistry and stunning imagery as created by the master even greater life and vibrancy, the musical score purveys an aura of vulnerability, fragility and also weaves an intricate and compelling musical web, that itself could be seen as a brush of sorts that is applying colour, depth and textures to a blank canvas. The composer utilising solo piano and strings that at times soar or entwine to bring to fruition a heartfelt and highly emotional result, the themes the composer has written seem to surround the listener and are affecting as well as effective in the context of the film. The style is at times classical but there is also present a slightly more contemporary sound which although is fleeting proves to be attractive and emotionally powerful. Emotive and poignant with touches of splendour and melancholy describe this work. The piano performances are haunting and mesmerising and verge upon the achingly touching. There is also accordion which seems to fade in and out of cues adding even more atmosphere to the score. The instrument being given centre stage in a handful of cues, LOVING PEOPLE being one of them.
ARLES SYMPHONY is a personal favourite of mine from the score, it has subdued but at the same time driving strings that are a background to more strings which perform the central melody, this is also enhanced by use of percussion and punctuated by Accordion, it is an energetic and vibrant piece which I know will be returned to by many listeners. It is however the piano performances within the score that tantalise and hypnotise, overall this is a recording you should own and I recommend it without reservation. The composer has worked on numerous projects all of varying genres, he has been particularly successful in re scoring silent movies and is known for his film scores, sound design and music for theatre. His music for VAN GOGH OF WHEAT FIELDS AND CLOUDED SKIES is a masterful work has affiliation’s to and evokes the styles and sounds as created by the likes of Morricone, Bacalov, Frisina and at times Vangelis. The soundtrack will be released on Sony music. Also check out his soundtracks for, WATER LILLIES-MONET-THE MAGIC OF WATER AND LIGHT and  HITLER VS PICASSO AND OTHERS.

SVEN EINAR ENGLUND.

Composer Sven Einar Englund was born on June 17th 1916, in Ljugarn Gotland Sweden, Englund was one of the most important and prolific Finnish composers. He was active writing music for the concert hall and also contributed scores for theatre and cinema. His first film score was Omena Putoaa (1952) which was followed by his music for the highly thought of Finnish movie THE WHITE REINDEER which was also released in 1952. Englund began to study music at the Helsinki Conservatory at the age of seventeen. After graduating from the conservatory he began to have further instruction on piano from Ernst Linko and Martti Paavola, whilst doing this he also took more lessons in composition from, Bengt Carlson and Selim Palmgren. In 1941, the composer was conscripted into the armed forces and during the Finnish Continuation War he received a wound in his hand. The injury almost stopped him pursuing his dream of becoming a concert pianist. His first major work was just after the second world war when he wrote his First Symphony in 1946. This was to later become known as the WAR SYMPHONY, it was not after this that the composer finished his second symphony THE BLACKBIRD SYMPHONY. In 1949, after receiving a grant Englund travelled to America to study with composer Aaron Copland, whilst in the States the composer also played jazz with Leonard Bernstein. During the 1950’s Englund wrote the ballet’s SINUHE and ODYSSEUS, plus he composed his first piano concerto .

 

The 1950’s also saw the composer starting to write for the cinema, his score for the film THE WHIT REINDEER attracting much attention and earning him a Jussi Award which is the Finnish equivalent to the Oscar. His music for the play, THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA also created a stir amongst critics and fellow composers, between 1952 and the late 1960’s he composed the sores for twenty five motion pictures and also continued to write for the concert hall well into the 1980’s. As well as this Englund also taught music at the Helsinki Conservatory which had then become the Sibelius Academy a post he held till 1982. His third symphony took twenty three years to come to fruition, with his fourth and fifth symphonies following in 1976 and 1977 respectively. He published his memoirs IN THE SHADOW OF SIBELIUS in 1997. The composer passed away on, June 27th 1999.

ALTAMIRA THE ORIGIN OF ART.

 

From the opening notes it is apparent that the music from the documentary film ALTAMIRA THE ORIGIN OF ART is a soundtrack of immense quality, depth and originality. The score is the work of composer Arturo Cardelus, it is a beautifully crafted work which has to it so many colours and musical textures, the thematic excellence is evident as I say almost instantly. The composer tantalising and inviting the listener to be engulfed and immersed in an undulating but mostly calm sea of emotive and poignant compositions. There is a pureness and also a fragility present that to be honest is rare these days in movie music. The delicate and melancholy sounding tone poems are simple but effective and at times invade ones sub conscious making this soundtrack linger in ones head long after you have finished listening to it. But there is more to the score than just the elegant themes and the lilting melodies, for me the music creates a plethora of emotions and has a strong musical persona that I feel connects with the listener away from any images it was intended to enhance, it is a delight to listen to and has to it so many atmospheres and nuances that it at times oozes so much emotion and warmth it can be overwhelming. The composer is certainly a Master at purveying, wonder, mystery and numerous sensitive levels of emotiveness which at times relay feelings and senses of many varieties in just a few notes. To say that this is a soundtrack that you should have in your collection is an understatement, so I employ you to please check this out, I know once you have heard a fraction of it you will be smitten as I was. Piano, solo violin, woodwind and strings are predominant in the score, each instrument fitting perfectly in with each other, fusing together and complimenting one another, The composer also utilises, Female voice which is affecting, The recording also features tracks from the 2016 short, SWIMMING IN THE DESERT, again the music is emotive and filled with an atmosphere that is compelling, alluring and melodious. This is a release that I cannot recommend highly enough. Available now digitally from Movie Score Media and soon from Rosetta records on compact disc.