Composing

Hi everyone,

I’d appreciate some guidance from fellow composers and producers here in the Lounge.

I’ve produced an original song titled Brother that I believe could be a strong emotional fit for certain TV or film projects. I wrote the lyrics and developed the concept, and I used AI-assisted vocal production as part of the final recording process.

Before I formally pitch or offer it for sync consideration, I’d like to understand how AI-assisted music is currently being received within the Stage 32 community and among industry professionals here.

My goal is to be fully transparent while presenting the work professionally. I’m less interested in debate and more interested in understanding current industry sentiment, particularly regarding:

• Disclosure expectations

• Licensing considerations

• Perceived value compared to traditionally recorded tracks

• Any potential red flags I should be aware of

I come from a background of producing independent music projects and am now exploring sync placement opportunities more seriously.

I’d truly value the perspective of composers, music supervisors, and producers in this community.

Thank you in advance,

Jon

Most composers think authority comes from talent, credits, or gear. It doesn’t. Authority begins the moment you establish clean boundaries around your creative process.

A composer without boundaries becomes a technician.

A composer with boundaries becomes a collaborator.

The difference is simple:

- You define how you work

- You define what you need

- You define what the project requires from you

- You define the conditions that protect your best output

When you don’t set these boundaries, the production will set them for you — and they will always be downstream, reactive, and chaotic.

Creative authority isn’t loud.

It’s not ego.

It’s not defensiveness.

It’s clarity.

Clarity about your workflow.

Clarity about your timelines.

Clarity about your revision structure.

Clarity about your emotional bandwidth.

When you articulate these cleanly, the room relaxes.

When you don’t, the room fills the vacuum with noise.

A composer’s job isn’t just to write music.

It’s to stabilize the creative environment so the music can be written at its highest level.

Boundaries aren’t barriers.

They’re the architecture that protects your brilliance.

For a story about existence before time — what would the sound be?

Silence? Low-frequency pulse? Choir?

Exploring tonal ideas for a mythological sci-fi series.

What's a good composing software and some composing tips for beginners?

Most composers think they’re struggling with melody, harmony, or orchestration.

But the real friction usually starts before any notes are written — at the level of the emotional container.

When the emotional container is unstable, the composer ends up:

- chasing references instead of leading

- rewriting cues that were never anchored

- reacting to notes instead of interpreting them

- drifting between tones

- composing from instinct instead of clarity

The emotional container isn’t the genre.

It’s not the tempo.

It’s not the instrumentation.

The emotional container is the identity, entitlement, and pathway of the score:

- Identity: What the score is emotionally — and what it is not

- Entitlement: What emotional territory the score owns — the promise it must deliver

- Pathway: How the score moves emotionally — the inevitable progression, not the improvised one

When the container is unclear, the cue collapses.

When the container is locked, the cue becomes inevitable.

Upstream clarity for composers isn’t about fixing notes.

It’s about stabilizing the emotional architecture so the notes have something to stand on.

If you’re developing a score and want the emotional container locked before diving deeper into cues or revisions, I run an Upstream Clarity Diagnostic that stabilizes the identity, entitlement, and pathway so the music can move forward without drift.

I’m curious how many of you compose visually.

When I’m writing piano-driven pieces, I almost always see a scene unfolding — sometimes very clearly, sometimes just an emotional outline.

It’s less about melody and more about arc.

Do you hear first?

Or do you see first?

I recently completed a re-scoring and sound design study for a scene from Spartacus. My focus was on creating a modern, darker atmosphere using EastWest orchestral libraries while also restoring the overall audio quality in Cubase. I tried to balance cinematic tension with sound clarity. Would appreciate any technical feedback on the mix or the arrangement

Most composers think the cue breaks at the level of notes, harmony, or orchestration.

But cues rarely collapse at the point of writing.

They collapse at the point of orientation.

A cue only becomes confusing when the composer is solving the wrong problem:

- fixing melody when the issue is identity

- adjusting harmony when the issue is entitlement

- rewriting structure when the issue is pathway

- chasing references when the container is unstable

- polishing details when the emotional physics are undefined

A cue is not a musical object.

It’s the expression of an emotional system.

If the system is unclear, the cue has no choice but to drift.

If the system is stable, the cue becomes inevitable.

Upstream clarity isn’t about improving the cue.

It’s about governing the emotional architecture the cue must obey.

When composers stop solving downstream problems and start stabilizing upstream physics, the work stops feeling like guesswork and starts behaving like a governed emotional progression.

If you’re developing a score and want the emotional system locked before writing or revising another cue, I run an Upstream Clarity Diagnostic that stabilizes identity, entitlement, and pathway so the music can move forward without drift.

I wrote this song years ago, after losing my cat during a difficult stretch of my life. At the time, I didn’t know the song would stay with me the way it has — or that it would quietly resurface when loss showed up again.

This week, after losing Shade, I found myself thinking about how certain songs don’t belong to a moment so much as they hold one. They become a place you can return to when words aren’t enough.

Creativity doesn’t fix loss. But sometimes it gives it somewhere to live.

This is July.

https://youtu.be/6A3JstGlHO4?si=aICYmAxAWX6VJdXV

Figure skating might be one of the best reminders that music is storytelling.

Before a single jump, the audience already feels something —

because the score sets the emotional frame.

It’s fascinating how pivotal the right piece can be.

A routine can be technically flawless…

but if the music doesn’t carry it, something feels missing.

I’m curious — did any Olympic routines stay with you specifically because of the music?

Would love to hear favorites.

The Oscar-nominated sound team behind Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein" explore the film’s epic and deeply expressive soundtrack. Sound designer and supervising sound editor Nathan Robitaille, supervising sound editor Nelson Ferreira, re-recording mixer Brad Zoern, and production sound mixer Greg Chapman break down their long-standing collaboration with del Toro and the bold creative choices that shaped the film’s sonic identity. From early sound exploration and practical effects to dynamic use of Dolby Atmos® and the creation of the film’s unforgettable creature voice, this conversation offers a deep dive into how sound drives the emotion, scale, and storytelling in one of the year’s most ambitious films.

“Guillermo is really, really great about wanting to fill the space. This comes from working with him for a long time. We were able to anticipate all this stuff. There's moments where he wants the concentration on the screen and he wants to pull everything back in the room. Dolby Atmos allows us to do that so beautifully and separate stuff and make it where we can focus. This movie lends itself to Atmos… It's just such a great tool and it was so much fun on this mix to use all that. We have such a beautiful visual to work with. We have to meet that standard with the sound.”

—Brad Zoern, Re-recording Mixer, “Frankenstein”

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc7Ah8Uw1Gw)