I had the privilege of watching Rich Vreeland (aka Disasterpeace) give a live music production demo at Gamer’s Rhapsody this past weekend. I recorded it for my new sub-podcast of Composer Quest, Charlie's Music Production Lessons. In the talk, you’ll get to hear Rich composing a track on the fly. He shares his secret ingredients in scoring the video game FEZ: the Massive synth, with heavy amounts of reverb, bitcrushing, randomness, and tape warble.
By day, he works for living legends Danny Elfman and Inon Zur. By night, he composes film scores himself and "re-scores" classic films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Inception, and Saving Private Ryan. In this episode of Composer Quest, Alex Ruger talks about his personal challenge to add score to scenes that, admittedly, should not have music. We also discuss his vegetable-based sample library, Lord of the Rings music theory, and how he got the gig with his longtime hero, Danny Elfman.
What do Chopin and Jimi Hendrix have in common? What do "Graceland" and "Yesterday" have in common? How do mp3s work? What is the purpose of music? These are just a few of the random topics Paul Cantrell and I talk about in today's episode of Composer Quest. He has a ton of golden nuggets for composers, and you'll get to hear him live at the piano, explaining the composing styles of Chopin, Brahms, and Paul Cantrell himself.
It isn't every day you hear about a CD release party at a nursing home. Music therapist Angela Johnson worked with some older folks to create a CD of songs that include everything from sage advice to dog barks. In this episode of Composer Quest, Angela gives us the lowdown on being a music therapist, and she shares what it's like dealing with death on a regular basis. She also plays some of her beautiful songs live.
Mike Olson schooled me in the ways of old-fashioned analog electronic composing, where you only have dials and cords to create music with. In this episode of Composer Quest, Mike shares how his creative process works when he's at his Moog modular synthesizer. We also talk about how to sound-treat your home studio, and what makes music go from merely "perfect" to "hair-raisingly transcendent."
For the 12th Composer Quest quest, I challenge you to write a piece of music for flute choir, with parts that can be performed by beginner, intermediate, and advanced students. We'll be collaborating with the Minnesota Suzuki Flute Teachers Association, who have some fun concerts lined up to premiere these Composer Quest submissions. For the inside scoop on this challenge, take a listen to my talk with two of our collaborating teachers (and exceptional flutists), Bethany Gonella and Andrea Myers.
For this special 100th episode of Composer Quest, I thought I'd invite back my songwriter guest from the very first episode: Mitchell Adam Johnson. If you heard that episode, you know Mitchell has a knack for bringing music theory into his pop songwriting. We talk about chord progressions, "bizarro" tritones, Motown bass lines, and deep questions like "What's the purpose of music?" Mitchell is releasing his first ever solo EP, Half Moon Lane, in just a few weeks, and this is a sneak preview of his beautiful new songs. Also, stick around until the end of the episode, and you'll get to hear a new song collaboration between Mitchell and me.
My latest Composer Quest episode features superfan Dan Wheeler's Top 10 moments from the podcast. As episode 100 approaches, I thought I would also reflect on the podcast and post my own list of podcast moments that have most influenced my composing.
I've been putting out more Composer Quest episodes over the past year and a half than most people can keep up with. So I was taken aback when I heard that Dan Wheeler had listened to all 90+ episodes TWICE (and some three times)! In this 99th Composer Quest episode, Dan shares his top ten moments from the podcast and talks about how they influenced his composing style.
After his time as a helicopter pilot in the army, Jon Brantingham returned to his love of music theory and composing. He’s been inspiring people with his practical approach to learning composition, which he’s been sharing in his blog and podcast, Art of Composing. In this episode of Composer Quest, Jon and I talk about what makes a good melody, how to modulate using “pivot chords,” and how to channel Beethoven without outright copying him. We also chat about what he’s been learning in his UCLA film scoring program. It’s a longer and more theory-heavy talk than usual, but it got my composer gears going, so I hope you enjoy it too!