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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...
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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
- rewri...
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Hi Baron Rothschild,
This is incredibly well articulated.
What you describe as the emotional container feels very similar to what many of us experience on the storytelling side—the moment before words e...
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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...
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I missed the figure skating, Kat Spencer. They might have it for replay on Peacock. I'll check. I'll pay attention to the music too.
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...
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Must-watch video, Pat Alexander! Thanks for sharing it. It's always exciting to hear how sound designers use different things like hammers and lettuce to make sound effects for movies....
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I came across this video featuring Liza Beck, and it’s such a compelling reminder of how composition, sound capture, and spatial audio can completely reshape how an audience feels music.
Liza talks openly about challenging assumptions,...
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I'm not surprised that Ludwig Göransson got top honors for his score to Sinners and shared an award for original song written for a dramatic project, Amanda Toney. The score and song are incredible! T...
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Yea me either Maurice Vaughan he has really exploded on to the scene in the past few years, working on The Mandalorian, Oppenheimer, Black Panther and now Sinners, also working in many games too. Quit...
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I still need to check out The Mandalorian and Oppenheimer, Mark Gosney. I'm looking forward to hearing more of Ludwig's work!
Are you someone who hears the cue before touching an instrument…
or does it reveal itself note by note?
I’ve noticed both approaches lead to very different results.
I'm more of a screenwriter than a song writer, but I do write poems and songs sometimes, out of interest and it varies sometime its the cue, sometimes note by note or many different notes merged together and sometimes the lyrics and the concept and then the musicals.
Visual material and scripts give me fuzzy ideas but it's not really musical, rather I feel beats and what kind of instruments I'll choose, whether it's fully orchestral or blended with synthesizers, v...
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I’m a bit late to this thread, but for what it’s worth I always discover musical ideas while writing. I might have an idea (e.g. I want something staccato and jolly sounding) beforehand – but I have n...
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Ditto to that Libby Wright !!!
That's exactly how I compose Thomas Owen!
Have you ever found yourself so immersed in one sound, artist, or musical world that everything else fades into the background—not from being stuck, but from a kind of quiet contentment?
Kat Spencer OMG Kat you are talking one of my love languages, haha. It happens so frequently that I wonder when it doesn't happen if I am not investing myself emotionally. When I first saw The Gentlem...
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All the time!! And I count myself very lucky that music does that to me.
Haha Darrell Pennington! Yes . . . I swear I'll spend decades on a favorite band. Never bother with the radio.
Thomas Owen Ditto!
I wanted to share this short but fascinating video where Hans Zimmer talks about discovering the unforgettable voice behind Dune.
In the clip, Zimmer explains how a friend stumbled across Loire Cotler on YouTube and immediately recognized something extraordinary. What struck me most wasn’t just her t...
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I feel most tempted to play it safe with scenes I write, Ashley Renee Smith. I've written scenes that were risky choices for the story, and they ended up being better than the safe scenes I planned....
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Composers!
I'm visiting in from the acting and screenwriting lounges, since I also studied music, composition, and can boast to absolutely obsessing over certain movie and television soundtracks, recognizing the instruments, the type of conducting, and even occasionally pretending to be the conductor...
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Hey Juliana Philippi - as far as favs go..
The Asteroid Field: The Empire Strikes Back
Ignition: Man of Steel
Gap: X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Surprise Attack: Star Trek 2:TWoK
Vespertilio: Batman Begins
Anything A...
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Leonardo Ramirez Oh yes! STAR WARS! How could we forget that epic music? Hans Zimmer...everyone here...he just has connected with stories and humanity so viscerally, it's amazing so many different peo...
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Yes Juliana Philippi - I do love me the pew-pews! #YaSabes
Leonardo Ramirez #wegother , #wefoundone...#alientango? lol!!!!
2025 had many great scores, and composer Max Richter just spoke with Finneas to break down his score for HAMNET. Read their conversation here: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/max-richter-takes-finneas-inside-his-hamnet-score
I found it interesting that he found using a female voice, such as Ch...
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Thank you Maurice Vaughan - I appreciate that!
You're welcome, Kat Spencer.
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Hey it’s 3:10am EST and I’m staying up researching everything there is to know about songwriting especially after everything I went through with my Autistic boyfriend. You’re absolutely right. Music i...
Expand commentHey it’s 3:10am EST and I’m staying up researching everything there is to know about songwriting especially after everything I went through with my Autistic boyfriend. You’re absolutely right. Music is indeed carthetic. I’m so terribly sorry to hear about your cat. My deepest most sincere condolences.
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By the way I listened to your song on YouTube it’s beautiful. I was deeply moved by it.
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I just subscribed to your YouTube channel, and I wanted to say how deeply moving “July” is. It must have been incredibly difficult to write, and as a fellow cat lover, I truly understand...
Expand commentHi Kat Spencer
I just subscribed to your YouTube channel, and I wanted to say how deeply moving “July” is. It must have been incredibly difficult to write, and as a fellow cat lover, I truly understand how much of your heart they carry with them.
The way you described the song becoming a place you can return to really stayed with me. That idea—that creativity gives loss somewhere to live—is powerful, and you can feel that truth inside the music.
I’ll be watching the rest of your work when I get the time, and from what I’ve seen so far, it’s absolutely beautiful and honest.
I’m truly sorry for your loss. Shade’s presence clearly continues through what you’ve created.