Craig Carnahan has been a part of the American Composers Forum since it was small enough to fit in a living room. In this episode of Composer Quest, he shares advice on writing grants, getting performances of your music, and arranging copyrighted material. Craig explains how ACF's Innova recording label works, and why it's such a great opportunity for composers. We also get to hear a few of Craig's original pieces.
In this episode of Composer Quest, Chris Kukla shares some practical advice about making a business out of video game composing. He talks about where to find gigs, how to get paid, and how to work well with your clients. We also talk about his "ugly guitar chord" game and his tribute to Hitchcock's film composer Bernard Herrman.
The infamous trio Lazerwülf joined me for a Composer Quest interview about their new charity single to raise money for children in Africa. We also unearthed some deep cuts from the Lazerwülf catalogue.
I put out a challenge to my composer friends and podcast listeners to join me in writing music inspired by fortune cookies. Here's the album we came up with.
Experimental songwriter Ben Simon (aka Felix Frost) caught my ear when I was judging the SpinTunes songwriting contest. His album Phineas Flux has a really shiny pop sound, but it almost never repeats the same phrase twice (in fancy composer language, that's called "through-composed"). We talk about his elaborate plot-driven songs about cowboys and pirates in this episode of Composer Quest.
Music Psychologist Victoria Williamson is an expert on earworms - songs that stick in our heads. In this episode of Composer Quest, she reveals her findings on what makes a melody sticky. Vicky also answers my other pressing music psychology questions.
Guitarist Dylan McFarling is obsessed with studying the work of other songwriters and composers, all the way back to Bach and his ingenious Musical Offering. In this episode of Composer Quest, Dylan shares his songwriting tips and explains how string quartets have inspired the way he orchestrates guitar and voice in his songs. Also in this episode, you'll hear some beautiful, previously unrecorded songs that Dylan performed live in the Composer Quest studio.
Composer Richard Russell is a philosopher at heart. In his mission to become a better composer, he went back to school to study the big questions surrounding aesthetics, music, and beauty. He has dug into both existential and practical composing topics in his podcast Creativity and Composition (one of my favorites). I'm pleased to bring you this Composer Quest podcast interview with Richard, in which we discuss everything from feminist musicology to Plato to getting performance royalties from ASCAP.
After nerding out about video game soundtracks for 20+ years, Michael Chadwick (aka Nebyoolae) finally started composing his own, a few of which are for games that don't actually exist. In this episode of Composer Quest, we chat about Michael's score for his made-up RPG Ebben Flow, his chiptune album Average Town, and his soundtracks he composes for his everyday activities (eating a muffin, doing the dishes, etc.).
DJ, opera singer, and film composer Brooke deRosa is making a name for herself around LA. She recently sang on Ghostface Killah's 12 Reasons to Die and appeared on Jimmy Fallon with the group. In this episode of Composer Quest, Brooke gives us some practical advice she's learned from scoring over 15 films and TV shows in the past five years. She also shares tips on composing for vocalists.