Hrishikesh Hirway removes as much of himself as possible from his interviews with musicians in Song Exploder. In today's episode of Composer Quest, we get to hear from this mysterious podcaster about his own songwriting process. He also shares what he's learned from all the talented songwriter guests on Song Exploder.
In honor of the 100th anniversary of Alexander Scriabin's death, Composer Quest and UniqueSound are teaming up to bring you a collaborative music production quest. We'll be creating an "audio quilt" based on Scriabin's Prelude in A minor, Op. 11 No. 2. Your goal is to record one measure from the score using whatever instruments or synthesizers you want. I'll unveil our stiched-together masterpiece on the Composer Quest podcast on April 27th.
Roger Dumas was a synthesizer whiz kid back in the 70s. He wrote manuals for early Moog synthesizers, and he helped out Prince, Janet Jackson, and even John Lennon. He's also the guy behind the catchy synths in the disco hit "Funkytown." Now Roger has a new passion: studying the brain's response to music. He's done some pretty amazing work, including re-creating a melody out of the pure data from brain sensors. In this season premiere episode of Composer Quest, I talk with Roger about his research, his album based entirely on brain data, and his glory days in the music business.
In honor of Composer Quest turning 2 today, I thought it would be fun to present some totally subjective podcast awards.
Welcome to this special Christmas episode of Composer Quest! Since I'll be taking a break from interviews (until I find a few more patrons...wink wink), I thought I'd share a few of my favorite music composition and music production podcasts. If you've been listening to Composer Quest, you've heard from many of these podcast hosts before.
It was an honor interviewing legendary composer Grant Kirkhope about his time at Rare, where he worked on some of the most popular video game soundtracks of all time. In this episode of Composer Quest, Grant talks about composing within the very small limits of the Nintendo 64 cartridge, and he shares some stories behind the soundtracks to Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, GoldenEye 007, and Perfect Dark. We also talk about Grant's more recent orchestral work for Kingdoms of Amalur and Civilization: Beyond Earth, and he shares his favorite chord progressions that keep coming back in his music.
In today's episode of Composer Quest, I talk with fellow Minnesotan Ben Burnes, who has been writing chiptune music for games (12 games in 12 weeks, as a matter of fact). He just released them in his album Three Red Hearts, and in our talk he shares some tips on creating video game music. We also talk about creativity and the business of indie game composing.
For the next Composer Quest quest, we're partnering with Opera on Tap Twin Cities again to premiere new arias and art songs. You can write for up to 4 voices accompanied by electronic piano. Optional additional instruments are clarinet, bassoon, and euphonium. Send your new composition to charlie@composerquest.com and twincities@operaontap.com on or before December 28 at 11:59pm central time.
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.
