Where and when were you born?
I was born and raised in Norway, 21 years ago.
What were your earliest memories of any kind of music?
My earliest memory would be the sound of my Grandpa playing his accordion. At that time he was just making a noise to my very
young ears, but as I grew I began to appreciate his playing more
and more.
Were you always attracted to writing for film or games, or was this something that gradually began to interest
you as your career progressed?
I would say that it came gradually. My original idea of why I started out with music composing was pretty selfish. I wanted to
create music only for my own projects. As my main goal is to tell
Stories through motion pictures. But as my interest grew I really wanted to write for an actual film.
What musical education did you receive?
I have no formal education. I do however have the Internet. I love
reading about orchestrating, arranging and anything that can
Help me improve, really.
So you are self taught?
Yes I suppose I am.
When you are asked to write music for a film, at what stage of the
Proceedings do you prefer to become
Involved, do you like to see a script or do you prefer to come into
The process at the stage where the movie is being edited or rough cut?
Before I start my process I often want to view all available material to me (screenplay, synopsis, plot outline, rough cut, etc) so that I can get a basic idea of the entire film. I then proceed to have conversations with the director and sit with him or her to see where music would best serve the movie, it’s really important to get on the same page with the director; after all he is the one with the vision for the story.
How many times do you like to view the film before you start to write or create the music?
I will go over it a few times myself, playing the piano, writing down ideas and marking time codes where I know the music will
Be necessary to enhance the mood of the scenes. After I’m done, I’ll sit through it again with the director and hear his inputs,
Ideas and so on.
When viewing a movie if the filmmaker has installed a temp track at all and do you find this helpful or maybe a little off putting?
It’s not rare that they place temp music around in the film. In the
end I think It’s useful as it explains very clearly the mood and
Type of sound the director envisions for certain sequences to have. I’ve heard of directors and producers that kind of get used to the temp track after working with it for a while, then they try to force the composer to replicate a temp song,
Which I guess would be a big pain in the butt. Luckily that hasn’t
Happened to me…….. Yet
Your music is very lyrical, it’s romantic, haunting and has an epic sound to it which is almost heroic, to achieve
This you utilize a mix of conventional instrumentation and also electronic etc, on average what percentage of
Each do you use?
Thank you very much! It all depends on what scene, film or album
The soundtrack is for. I love playing around with the idea of
mixing genres such as electronica and orchestral as I love The
Matrix. I do feel however that I haven’t gotten enough playtime
to make more songs of this kind. You can notice that I am using a
lot more synths in my older days than songs from 2011 and
2012.
THE LAST LEGEND is one of your latest albums, this contains themes from a few films I think what is on the
album and did you compile it or oversee what music went onto the compact disc?
My new album “The Last Legend” contains two soundtracks both of which are from animated short films done by Wei Xing “WX Animations”.
Though the two soundtracks on the album are extended versions,
mixed and mastered for listening pleasure. I did every bit on
this album myself, which is something I am very proud of. Even the album art is designed by me.
You can check out the films on the internet,
http://youtu.be/gWtr9PAmbbc?hd=1
http://youtu.be/NnZ8uj0kuXI?hd=1
What composers would you say have inspired you or influenced you?
It’s odd, but I started out making film music, disliking listening to film music! As time went by I also feared that I would start
making music that sounded like some other famous composer’s
music or song, so I tried to stay away from listening to anything. For a
while it worked, but then I started to get really attracted to the sound of Thomas Bergersen, Howard Shore and of course the
Master of them all John Williams.
What in your opinion is the purpose of music in film?
Ever heard the theme in Jaws? When the two notes gets louder in terms of velocity. You just know It’s the shark approaching.
This is why we have music in films. It enriches moments, defines characters, and describes feelings and it helps tell the story.
You have scored films and also games, how does the scoring process differ for these two mediums?
The one major difference would be that games often have only some to none mickey-mousing moments (when the music is
Synchronized perfectly with the action). This allows the composer to have more freedom and it’ll let him focus all of his
attention on just creating awesome music!
What projects are you working on at this moment?
I have just finished my one year production on my new album “The Last Legend”. Which I would ask every reader to check out!
The album features epic adventure soundtracks about heroes and legends. Every minute, every song is filled with intense
emotions that will move your mood in all sorts of ways.
This album tells a tale about a young protagonist who goes out and experience life changing quests and moments that
transforms him from a young boy to a man, a hero. When he finally returns home, the gates of heaven open and he becomes
known as the as The Last Legend.
THE LAST LEGEND (2012)
Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/3w9vUpHKqz165zFxNvIESH
Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jonas-b.-ingebretsen/id373770993
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CinematicSoundtracks
I want to thank you John for asking me to do this interview, and to all the readers who willingly or unwillingly read this article,
thank you and check me out on itunes or spotify!
MOVIE MUSIC INTERNATIONAL. (MMI) . 