Dave Kavanagh's Lounge Discussions

I sense that the agreement is: when appropriate for the film, it is best to offer the director and producers the opportunity to have live players. We should present the options: various layerings of live players, from a single soloist to whole sections, etc., and include the budgets and timelines that would go with them. It would also help to provide the director and producers examples of both sampled score productions of a similar style, and live scores, so they can sense what they are getting for their additional investment (assuming they are not already familiar). If they simply do not have the budget, then they know that this, just like every other aspect of their film production, will suffer to some degree for lack of that blank check which would make the ideal film possible. But if they do have the budget, and are convinced of the payoff for that investment, they will probably go for it. The film, the industry, and everyone will be better off for it.

Well I just heard the soundtrack To The Book Thief, by John Williams, and that made me excited to go and see the movie. Music makes a movie; b i g g e r

My Friend Mark Isham (BATMAN composer, and so many more features..) still uses a live orchestra. There is no comparison with sampling, depending on how the soundtrack is reproduced in a theater or at home. You can get away with it for 'Webisodes', as the picture and sound are compressed heavily when transcoding to H.264 formats, and there is no budget for an orchestra, but feature films have a unique requirement. Imagine listening to a compressed .mp3 (example: Apple iPod file), track in an IMAX theatre? It would be a disaster.

I will gladly provide any file format to any director, whatever they find easiest to work with and handle. And i make sure there is no difference in quality, it's my music and their film.

Simple answer: Just look at the top, say 10 or 20 films, are they using real orchestras? I'm guessing, and I feel it's a safe bet, 80% of those films are using real orchestras; maybe in another country, but real.

lol, i hate when that happens, you get yourself all geared up and then nothing.

The worst part about it Matt, was that after almost a month of writing the incidental music and all; I had to sell a lot of hardware to keep myself afloat. A twelve string guitar, An Alessis keyboard,Ect. I was so angry, I could have chewed the guys face off. After that, I always demand a ryder or just forget it. Huh, how's that old saying go, "First I check the purse". Amen.

Oh man that's really hard, I'm sorry to hear you've had that experience, especially if you sold gear to keep going. People like that need to have their bad reputation spread. For future reference it's always worth getting a contract together which stipulates payment or partial payment if it goes tits up, or of-course a lump-sum at the start. I'm lucky to have learnt this lesson the easy way (with low-risk projects and small losses) but it still makes you angry as hell to be left in the lurch like that.

Merri, I have worked on several promotional productions. That one was shot and edited on the spot during a sales meeting for Patagonia. We shot during the day and I edited that night to deliver for the clients proposal the next day. I used to do the same thing for Tony Robbins all over the globe.

Wow! That is awesome. It must have been cool to work with Tony Robbins.

You get to see some interesting things.

@Derek: I am sure! What were a few of the interesting things you have seen?

There are plenty to choose from. Tony is a very animated and emotional man.

Hi, Matt. Perhaps it's just me, but it seems perhaps not the most elegant form to thank someone's offer to help by relegating their arena to bread and butter. That would hugely dampen my own enthusiasm, in all events. Also, here in the States, advertising is not only some of the best-paying work, but frequently some of the most fun and innovative, allowing composers to pull from various skills and styles in their arsenals of training and experimentation, including electronics. So, perhaps all that colors my reaction. Wishing you much success in all your creative endeavors.

you can certainly do electronica. do a little album of a dozen different tracks and see how it goes.

Hi Deon, your comment is confusing, there was a Matt in this conversation but he joined after your comment. Otherwise you sound like you were directing the comment to me and I think you misunderstand me. Bread and Butter is not an insult, it's a way of saying a fundamental source of income, something vital and reliable. None of that suggests anything negative, just frequent. I'm genuinely grateful for Tim's offer, I hope a cross of a saying's meaning doesn't mislay that.

And thanks Matt, that's encouraging to hear! I have 3 new tracks very nearly completion and a handful of others in the works but I'm currently having an equipment failure so everything's on pause!

Nothing wrong with bread and butter. Without it, there's nowhere to put the jam and honey!