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Composing

Discuss, share content, offer tips and advice on hardware, software, style, strategies, process, work-flow and the business of scoring a film, video or theater production

PSWIFT - Short Script FIN

Liked by Alejandra Gedovius and one other

Kat Spencer
Do You Finish Songs Fast… or Let Them Breathe?

Some pieces come through in one sitting.

Others take weeks… or years.

There’s something interesting about both.

Fast feels raw and honest.

Slow feels intentional and refined.

Which one is more true for your process?

Liked by Morgan Aitken and one other

Kat Spencer
Perfectionism vs. Progress

You ever spend way too long getting one tiny section right…

and then realize no one listening will even notice it?

Perfectionism… maybe.

But it still has to feel right.

Do you keep tweaking—or move on?

Michael Dzurak

My tweaking has both decreased and/or become more streamlined since I spent much less time on it than in my early scripts. I was once on page 60 of a script, had watched some interesting vlogs concern...

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Morgan Aitken

Great Q, Kat Spencer ! I tend to be in the perfectionism camp. What about you?

Emmanuel Obiejemba

Kat Spencer I have discovered that when I ignore those 'perfectionistic tendencies' at the early stage of composing, I usually end up going back to that point after mixing and mastering to do what I w...

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Morgan Aitken

Ah, the tight schedule, Emmanuel Obiejemba ! I know it well, and the accompanying line, "We'll fix it in mix!"

Emmanuel Obiejemba

Morgan Aitken The delusion of "fix it in the mix"

Liked by Michael Dzurak

Morgan Aitken
Your *Inspiring* (NOT) Quote Of the Day

"Just as the synthesizer, Photoshop and CGI revolutionized sound and visuals, AI will be a boon to the creatives who are ready to lean in,"

Mark Zukerberg

Anybody with a difference of opinion?

Michael Dzurak

If he means that AI is a tool to be learned and mastered, then I agree. It's not some miracle tech that will just make magic happen. Photoshop takes time to learn. As does a synthsizer. The possibilties are cool though. Same with AI.

Morgan Aitken

The title says it all. Although I am interested in knowing how a synthesize...

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Liked by Ioannis Gogonas and 3 others

Kat Spencer
Instrument / Medium for composing

What do you use most when you’re composing?

Piano, guitar, voice notes, full DAW… something else?

And is there a different instrument or setup you wish you used more?

Morgan Aitken

Phone. It's easier to carry than a pipe organ.

Harold Ferré

I'm not a music composer, but I still love playing guitar and piano. To all you production guys who can play every instrument? I love you guys. But I'm also a killer DJ!

Ioannis Gogonas

Hello!! My name is IOANNIS GOGONAS. I am using mostly my MIdi keyboard, I FOCUS A LOT and I use CUBASE. I LOVE MUSIC !!

Morgan Aitken

Hiya Ioannis Gogonas ! Cubase is the bees' knees. What makes it your all-caps DAW of choice?

Ioannis Gogonas

CUBASE IS VERY GOOD IN THE USER INTERFACE. IT IS A GREAT DAW!! I LIKE IT AND YOU CAN DO MANY THINGS WITH VIRTUAL LIBRARIES ( VIRTUAL STUDIO TECHNOLOGY LIBRARIES ).

Pat Alexander
Super Mario Galaxy Movie Composer Brian Tyler Worked on the Movie While in the Hospital

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie composer Brian Tyler kept a secret from the team behind the new Nintendo movie: He worked on “a lot of the main themes” while in the hospital.

(https://www.ign.com/articles/super-mario-galaxy-movie-composer-brian-tyl...)...

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'I Didn't Want to Let Anyone Down' - The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Composer Brian Tyler Worked on the Movie While in the Hospital
'I Didn't Want to Let Anyone Down' - The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Composer Brian Tyler Worked on the Movie While in the Hospital
https://www.ign.com/articles/super-mario-galaxy-movie-composer-brian-tyler-worked-on-the-movie-while-in-the-hospital
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie composer Brian Tyler says he worked on "a lot of the main themes" for the film while in the hospital because he "didn't want to let anyone down."
Michael Teisan
Short Video Game style Animation

Hey folks! Just finished the music for this little gem Created by Blender and scored by moi. Hope you like it!

Morgan Aitken

Just finished? I'm thinking the wrong video got linked. What played is something I saw on Blender Studio years ago. But it's brill animation and soundtrack.

Michael Teisan

Morgan Aitken Haha, yeah the video was made a while ago, but the score is original and done by me. I kept the credits proper at the end. The only thing that's different about it is all the music and s...

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Pat Alexander
The Music of Project Hail Mary, with Composer Daniel Pemberton

Composer Daniel Pemberton discusses his inventive new original score for “Project Hail Mary.” He breaks down how he built a custom musical language for the film using everything from wooden blocks, body percussion, treated vocals, bowls of water, and even a squeaky water tap recorded on his iPhone....

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Morgan Aitken

Music concrete - something I recall from my heady uni daze. Running around getting real world sounds, usually from construction sites, bringing them back to the studio and sequencing them into somethi...

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Leonardo Ramirez
FREE Webinar – April 1st: How to Navigate the Cannes Film Festival Marché du Film

This Wednesday, April 1st, Stage 32 is hosting a FREE webinar you don’t want to miss:

How to Navigate the Cannes Film Festival Marché du Film

We’re bringing in Guillaume Esmiol, Executive Director of the Marché d...

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Morgan Aitken
Is Melody Dead: Have We All Become Loop Zombies?

Hey, how many of you still collect little musical gremlins?

A riff. A motif. A strange little tune that wanders in, lights a cigarette in your brain, and refuses to leave.

Do you squirrel those things away and later build something properly obscene out of them? A cue, a song, a score, a whole piece?

Or...

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Bruce Bray

Melody is not dead to me. at least when it comes to composing that is. I still have an old school approach and try to mix that in with the new way of composing as well. I find it now filmmakers are mo...

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Morgan Aitken

I'm glad to hear it Bruce Bray ! It's definitely not dead to me, either. In fact it's the movie soundtracks that are built on melody rather than sound design that I remember the best. For instance I m...

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Navid Lancaster
Ted Nichols, Famed Hanna-Barbera Composer on ‘The Flintstones’ and ‘Scooby-Doo,’ Dies at 97

He may not have been a Film Composer but he was very influential. We heard his works every Saturday morning. RIP https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/ted-nichols-dead-scooby-doo......

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Ted Nichols, Famed Hanna-Barbera Composer on 'The Flintstones' and 'Scooby-Doo,' Dies at 97
Ted Nichols, Famed Hanna-Barbera Composer on 'The Flintstones' and 'Scooby-Doo,' Dies at 97
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/ted-nichols-dead-scooby-doo-flintstones-hanna-barbera-1236544041/
He also worked on 'Jonny Quest,' 'Space Ghost,' 'Wacky Races' and many other other shows at the cartoon factory for nearly a decade.
Morgan Aitken

So sad, the greats are leaving us.

Harold Ferré

My deepest condolences! Rest in peace, Ted Nichols!

Kat Spencer
Songs You Don’t Just Write… You Live

There are songs you write…

…and then there are songs you live.

I wrote this piano piece, Ember, during a moment where I felt something deeply… but couldn’t act on it.

That quiet intensity.

That ache that doesn’t go away.

That kind of feeling that just… lives in you.

Music became the only place it could ex...

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Marie Hatten

Kat Spencer It's beautiful and haunting.

Morgan Aitken

Gave it a listen. Thanks for sharing this, Kat Spencer !

What I liked is that it doesn’t lunge for cheap drama. It stays in that suspended ache, like a thought you can’t quite put down and can’t quite...

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Keon Wu
AI in composing?

What do you guys think about AI use in composing and songwriting? Do you think that it should be limited/banned from commercial use, or embrace it with open arms? I do understand the difference between AI generated songs and AI tools.

Robert D. Carver

Morgan, I research the pre-existing music most closely associated with the historical period and location in which my script is set. For example, If the musical takes place in the High Medieval (14th-...

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Nico Abondolo

To echo, Robert D. Carver's point, researching pre-existing historical music might well enhance a period script. A trained ear can pair styles beautifully. On the other hand, a historical contrast mig...

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Robert D. Carver

Nico, AI is only a tool and should be used with discretion, if at all. Composers--or songwriters--should rely on their own talent and training.

Nico Abondolo

I definitely second your view.

Robert D. Carver

I would no more trust AI to write lyrics than the man in the moon!

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