Frozen Glory: Nice! Nice riff, great guitar tone, pretty good mix overall (though at the end during the big cymbal hits it becomes obvious that your master compression is a bit heavy). The only real criticism I have is that I want to hear more action in the strings. You've started off with this really high-energy riff--why stagnate the energy with the sustained strings? The strings are a great idea--especially considering the subject matter--but if they were staccato, faster, and provided more than simply following the guitar's lead (i.e. adding a melody--bringing them to the forefront of what's going on, rather than just another texture), this track would really benefit from it. Try thinking outside of the "4 bars -> repeat -> something else but still similar -> repeat" sort of form. Instead, always sit back and listen while you're writing as if you were an audience member. When would they get bored? Why are they getting bored? Writing and arranging are all about that. Manipulate the audience's attention span via keeping the energy of the track up and keeping them guessing, and baby, you got yourself a stew.

Tour de France: Since it's a cover there isn't much to say in regards to writing, but the mix is a bit less clear than the last one. Consider taking the drums down a bit--the cymbals and hi hats are fighting with the guitar. And try cutting around 300hz on your master output to help open up both the low and high end. I could go in to more detail in regards to mixing if you'd like, but I don't know your current knowledge level.

Overall, nicely done. A couple tweaks and you're there. I can't wait to hear your newest piece!

1) You don't have to be anything or anyone to create something or worth. As Mr. al Guhl says: "Your training is nothing. The will is everything."

2) If you don't have time work, listen. Find some great classical works that have inspired the great film composers and go from there. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Holt's The Planets Suite, etc. Blast it, soak it up, and write when you can.

I give private lessons in composition, harmony, production, etc, so if that interests you I'd love to help you out. You're already clearly on your way--Reaper is awesomely powerful and is quickly becoming a contender in the DAW game. EWQL stuff is incredible (I've got Gold--amazing woodwinds). Reason rocks as well.

Any place I could hear your stuff?

I'm stoked, man. This'll be great.

auralstimulation wrote:

Fuck and yes. Dude, you're doing exactly what I wish I had the wherewithal to do.

What DAW are you using? VSTs?

Really great stuff!

Mac running Logic Pro. I have a slave PC running Windows 7 with all sorts of VI's...LASS 2, CineBrass, etc. Lots of fun stuff. I tried the Cubase trial a little while ago so I may be switching over to that soon (Logic pisses me off to no end), but it runs much better on a PC than a Mac, and moving my whole rig over would be quite a clusterfuck. We'll see.

Edit: Also, I just realized that (I presume) Holden gave me the subtitle of The Harbinger of Doom. I'm ok with this.

You may remember my drunken piano noodling from the "The World of Film Scores" DIF (may it RIP). Well, that's generally what I do with myself all of the time and I'm working on making a career out of it. Teague provided some VFX for my most recent film, and he liked the music a lot and wanted me to post it on here. Unfortunately, festival restrictions...er...restrict me from posting anything about this film for quite a while. So in the meantime, I thought I'd post something just for shitz n gigz.

So here's two things I did back in 2012. The first is short and sweet: a re-score of the Final Fantasy XIII trailer. https://vimeo.com/66788345

If you want to hear the music just by itself: https://soundcloud.com/alexsmith-10/fin … trailer-re

So...video games are fun, but movies are better.

Here's my re-score of Saving Private Ryan's D-Day scene: https://vimeo.com/66788346

I say "re-score," but really, it's just a score--John Williams and Steven Spielberg mutually decided that this scene works best without music. Which is precisely why I tackled scoring it (even though I still think they're right).

I hope you guys enjoy, and if you do, there'll be more to come in the near future. Hopefully some real movies, when I'm finally allowed to show them.

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(359 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I couldn't help thinking the entire time

  Show
this is The Dark Knight but in space.

I just realized that not only was my first podcast the longest in DIF history--it was also the last under the DIF name.

Anyways, "Friends in your head" or whatnot is pretty cool. DIF is just perfect, though, so it might take a little while to adjust...

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(8 replies, posted in Movie Stuff)

avatar wrote:

Interesting that Waltz got the Oscar again for much the same performance he got his first Oscar for. He's charismatic nonetheless.

I'm with you on that. He was incredible, but man, it was such a similar role (a completely different character, but handled the same way).

avatar wrote:

Weird use of rap songs. Uneven tone. Editing was both disconcerting and a little loose. Tarantino needs an editor that can stand up to his ego. The last act was predictable cliche. Great cinematography. Strong performances, although the females were underwritten this time. Wasn't convinced by Tarantino's cameo as an Australian miner. He probably should resist the temptation to cast himself. When it was violent, it was deliciously over-the-top. All up, another very watchable Tarantino flick.

Hold on, one second...

avatar wrote:

1. Weird use of rap songs.
2. Uneven tone.
3. Editing was both disconcerting and a little loose. Tarantino needs an editor that can stand up to his ego.
4. The last act was predictable cliche.
5. Great cinematography.
6. Strong performances, although the females were underwritten (this time/as usual).
7. Wasn't convinced by Tarantino's cameo (as an Australian miner). He probably should resist the temptation to cast himself.
8. When it was violent, it was deliciously over-the-top.

...yeah, I think you just described every Tarantino movie ever  big_smile

134

(48 replies, posted in Episodes)

bigmoneygrip wrote:

I have to repeat what other good folks have said here in that this is one of my favorite Formerly-Known-As-Down-In-Front shows.  The four hours just flew by.

As someone who knows the mechanics of music but has zero natural talent, this show was such a treat.  Thanks for giving us a great "inside baseball" look at music in films.  You guys pointed me to many soundtracks that I must now listen to. 

One small thing, though, is that I was puzzled that there was no mention of Ennio Morricone.   I think he does pretty good stuff, but, like I said, I am musically untalented.  I was sort of hoping to hear from people who know what they are talking about as to their opinion of Morricone's scores.

I hope you guys do another show like that soon.  Thanks!

P.S.  I think Alex is secretly a wizard.

http://img.pandawhale.com/44059-are-you … -rjR4.jpeg

It's criminal that Morricone didn't come up. Though, he's just one of those guys that I've sort of skipped over. I mean, I know his big ones...The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, and all that. But take a look at his IMDB page. His body of work is massive. It's unfortunate that I don't know him as well as I would like, and you've just reminded me that he needs to be my next big study (and, you know...eargasm).

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(5 replies, posted in Off Topic)

paulou wrote:

Used to live a couple blocks from there. And now, regrettably, I know what that street looks like covered in blood and limbs. Gory mess made on the same paving bricks I would walk over at night holding hands with someone I loved. Same bricks I would have to run down to return something to the library before it closed. Same benches across the street where I would look up at the Hancock and the Trinity and sit content and delighted to be in such an amazing city.

Fuck.

Yup, same. I've been right there too many times to count.

Thanks guys, by the way.

136

(469 replies, posted in Episodes)

Teague wrote:

Post Script!

Yeah scratch my last comment. That's great.

137

(469 replies, posted in Episodes)

Cahuenga Labs.

Except no one can spell Cahuenga (I'm probably wrong too).

138

(5 replies, posted in Off Topic)

You all know what happened. I just want to make sure that any other Boston-based DIF-ers (is that a thing?) are okay.

I never thought I'd say this, but procrastination possibly saved my life. My school is anywhere between 2 and 6 blocks from the blast site and after class today I thought, "I should totally go check out the finish line." Decided to change my mind at the last minute due to the fact that a certain delicious beer(s) hit me particularly hard last night and kept me from writing music for film I'm working on. I was less than a mile from the blast site when it happened.

139

(48 replies, posted in Episodes)

HabeasPorpoise wrote:

One of my favorite episodes.  Any good discussion should open you up to reinterpreting some of your previously held beliefs.  I always hated Zimmer's score for the Batman films, but thanks to this episode I now see that they have quite a bit of depth to them.

That just made me so happy.

Minimalism really is one of those things that is difficult to appreciate (unless of course you find it aesthetically pleasing from the start) if you aren't involved in creating that same medium of art. If you'd like to check out some more, I suggest listening to Steve Reich ("The Desert Music" is one of my favorites) and Arvo Part (Spotify > click anything >enjoy). They're a good starting point for the movement that (I assume) inspires a lot of Zimmer's works.

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(255 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Finished up 2012 by reading LOTR for the millionth time.

Just finished House of Leaves not too long ago. Pretty cool concept and well-executed.

Before that was 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Amazing, to be honest, but I'm a sucker for King. I just finished his Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection of short stories. Not so awesome but there were a few gems.

Last week I burned through The War of Art by Steven Pressfield (twice). If you consider yourself an artist, read it. No question. It's brilliant (minus a bit of esotericism that crops up during the latter third of the book).

Now I'm reading an amazing book on Coltrane. I'm too lazy to go pick it up and look at the author's name, but it's cool because it's both a biography and a musical analysis.

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(48 replies, posted in Episodes)

Invid wrote:

Growing up, we had the original soundtrack album for the Broadway production of The Music Man. It had a great story by the creator, either on the liner or the back, about why he did it. See, he had this large trunk of songs he had written, but never used. The entire project was started as a way to finally use them, a framework into which he could just plug his existing songs.

By the time the last preview ended, the last of these songs was removed from the show and a final new song was put in to replace it. The Music Man was a hit, but all his songs were back in the trunk. He ends by saying he was thinking about doing a Music Man 2 as a way to finally empty the trunk smile

Haha, yup. Andrew Lloyd Webber does the same thing. I'm pretty positive Music of the Night was written that way, as were many of his other songs. I wish my quote-unquote "bad" ideas were that amazing.

Saniss wrote:

Alex, you're awesome.

That will be all.

You're French. I guarantee you're cooler in every single way.

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(48 replies, posted in Episodes)

First of all: Hello everyone! I'm glad you guys are digging on this podcast so much.

Second:

Zarban wrote:

To the composers: have you ever heard of composers saving a good bit for a movie that is better than the one they're currently working on (or, at least, doesn't feature a wet Shelly Winters)?

Sorry if this was asked and answered. I'm only 14 hours into the podcast....

Let me see if I get your question...have I ever written something during a movie and gone, "Eh, this movie isn't as good as my next one, so I'm just going to pass on using it in my current film and hold off till later?"

Sort of. Most composers I know have a "vault" of some sort. It's where we file away our (hopefully) awesome ideas that have yet to find a home. I have half a TB drive full of Logic and Pro Tools sessions plus a few plastic bins overflowing with random bits of manuscript paper. Literally 10 simultaneous albums have been being written for 3 years. Most of that music will never see the light of day. It's kind of absurd how few of my ideas I actually end up using.

That said, it's kind of nice to dig around in there if you aren't coming up with any score ideas for an awkwardly long time. "Uh, hmm, let's see...I used to know how to write music..."

Saniss wrote:

I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark again yesterday, and it struck me how Marion's theme was smiliar to Han and Leia's theme.

John Williams writes a lot of similar melodies. I'm totally ok with that.

Saniss wrote:

I haven't watched the first three Indy movies for more than ten years, so I was expecting Indy's main theme to hit me in the face, but it kinda didn't...These elements remind me of someone (can't remember who) who said in the podcast than Indiana Jones' soundtrack might not be one of the greatest John Williams' soundtrack. This at least might seem true to me for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Yup, that was me. It's a great melody, totally fits the character, and somehow it just never hits me in the gut.