Ok. Hands up. My bad etc.
I’ve spent the best part of two newsletters being a little shy with information about my intentions. It’s been MA this, singing lakes that. No meat.
Well, here’s the rub. By this time next year (Rodney…), I will be a composer.
Not in the Wagner sense, I don’t think I’ve got a four-hour opera in me, but in the very modern sense.
What the hell does that mean? It means interesting, organic, emotional soundtracks for film, TV, games, environments, and art installations. It means sonic branding and sound design for brands and advertising. It means a side chain of music tracks as an artist myself. All fuelled by a quest to produce big memorable themes fused with interesting sound techniques - both electronic and organic, new and retro - with a smattering of found sound and synthesis.
Woah. Let’s rewind for a moment.
Previously on this show, some of you may know me as a branding, designer type with a photography side hustle, and hey - I can still do all those things, and I’m really good at them. But, my background is musical. Back in the heady days of the 90’s (if you can remember it, you weren’t there), I wrote music, formed a band, played gigs, made a single and got radio play (thank you, Mary Ann Hobbs). However, in the truest of band cliches, it all fell apart and I ended up going into graphic design.
Fast forward nearly 30 years and the music landscape is a very different place. You’ve now got an orchestra, studio and everything else you need on a laptop. I’d become increasingly drawn back to a world where I could create emotional moments through sound and music and now I could do a big part of that without a label to release to an audience, or a huge studio or that bass player not showing up. The opportunity is huge.
I’d also gathered a massive amount of skills in the branding and marketing world to apply to all this - how people react to certain cues through certain mediums, how to tell a story with creativity, and what ‘fits’ with a scene, look or brand.
Plus, there’s an added edge for me. I have a particular loathing for ageism in the creative industry. It’s rife. So, this is me doing it for us late 40s creatives - slightly greying at the temples but with loads of experience, ideas and energy. In whatever field we’re working.
I’m truly, wildly excited about it all. From a place of knowing one industry and practice, I’m now learning, reading and being open to a whole new landscape of interesting people and experiences. Because if you’re not doing anything new, what’s the point?
And I’ve already been tinkering away - down below are a couple of work-in-progress tracks. One of the main tenets of the MA is to get out ‘into the wild’, so as i’m developing this year, I’ll be regularly putting all sorts of soundtrack themes, standalone pieces, set to film tracks, sound experiments, developments and curios on SoundCloud and other platforms for you to listen to. See it as an ‘artist in development’ with a real-time feedback loop, so do subscribe!
Right. Some tunes. These first two tracks aren’t soundtracks per se, more the ‘theme’ end of the spectrum.
Enjoy, and let me know what you think! A fun game I’ve been playing so far is guess the genre and production: Underwater-themed Studio Ghibli animation? James Bond turning up at an Orbital gig? Happy to hear your ideas…
Finally, a request. I’m a newbie in this particular part of the world. I’m the stranger in town. If you know anyone who can help - be it yourself or a composer, commissioner, creative, director, or writer - who I can talk to about my new world, that would be amazing. I want to pick brains, ask questions, learn and connect. I want to make music with people, for people. I want to make great music for great stories. That’s the fun bit.
Thanks for listening.