Deranged in San Diego

Last week I received a message from a friend asking if I was available to provide music for their entry into the Sand Diego 48hr film festival. I have been so busy and overwhelmed with my current workload that I immediately said, yes.

The title of the film is "Deranged." I never actually received picture to work from. I had the script, and a couple of conversations with the director.

As a general rule, I don't like working from the script. What I picture in my head is not necessarily what I will see on the screen. So the entire time I was writing I kept thinking, "I really hope we are making the same movie..."

So I started on Friday night and read through the first scene and imagined the doctor nervous in his office, trying to decide what to do, and walking hurriedly out of the hospital. And I came up with a little motif that became the main theme. It mostly revolves around the 2nd so it starts off feeling a little off kilter, but it's catchy enough to give the listener something to hold onto.

That night I composed and orchestrated 10 minutes of music. By midnight, which was my original goal for delivery, I was recording the MIDI into audio tracks to start mixing. I ended up delivering it all by 6AM.

Part of what held me up was a lack of time invested into my mixing template, so as soon as this project was done, I went through that thing and made sure everything was set up in a much better way: making sure every track had its EQ and reverb set, so I just have to plug in the audio files and start mixing.

My MIDI track template was pretty in tact, but I made a few minor tweaks to that as well, just to future-proof it. I immediately move into working on the music for the Elements show (look for a future post about that), and will be putting all my new template tweaks to the test.

I plan to clean up the mixes for "Deranged" and post a couple of excerpts on Soundcloud later this week, once my ears and fatigue have settled back into their normal routine.

Creating the music for Emo Dad

As the series of Emo Dad draws to a close, I did a little video about the process of creating the music.

Leave a comment thanking the musicians. And also, there's a freebie download in the store!

Dancing About a Shoe Store

I joined twitter yesterday. And now I'm blogging about it. Maybe I should post this blogpost on facebook about having joined twitter.

And you can like it, and I can like your like that you like it.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this, but the urge to be nothing but a smart ass is overwhelming. I intend to rein it in, though. I went with the twitter handle @josephcomposer since all the other ones were taken.

Okay, back to work on the orchestration task at hand.

ASCAP I Create Music Expo 2013

It is year 3 of the Expo, and it honestly took me a while to get in to it. I did meet some really cool people, and ran into some old friends.

It was just a whirlwind of inspiration, desperate frenetic craziness and a combination of hot messes and ridiculous talent, people who need to consider new careers, and people who will be on the national stage any second.

I feel that I learned a lot, both about myself and the industry. But as inspiring as it was, I have to say that I often feel that kind of inspiration. Especially lately. And I'm not sure if my experience was either tamped down overall, or if my threshold for inspiration has been raised to a more consistent level.

Now it is Monday. Now what?

I need to go through the business cards, the receipts, my brain, and figure out what is what. After an exhausting frenzy of energy, what is the takeaway? I'll tell you when I figure it out. I'm still riding the high.

I do have a three minute orchestra piece to compose, orchestrate and copy by the end of the week, so it there is little time for rest. More on that opportunity later.

New webseries: Emo Dad

I am very excited to announce the new Fine Bros webseries Emo Dad is now live. It was very exciting to work with Benny and Rafi again, and I had a great time composing the score for them. One of the other exciting things about the score is it features live players.



I have restrictions on how much I can say about them, as they are union members and therefore only do union work. So their time and talent contributions to this project must be done so anonymously. I am dying to make a video though, so I'll have to figure out a creative way to make them a part of it.

A Week In The Life

Yesterday had a dilemma like Monday in spades
pushing pulling with weapons and fists of the flame
courage was needed but strength pulled us through it again
why don't leave me so you can come back home at ten

Tuesday and Wednesday fell silent more aimless than me
watching the dark shadows grow and letting it be
sitting in winter as bitter tears fall in their hands
if you had a moment to spare then we wouldn't be sad

Thursday was tough and she fought for every last breath
after she forcibly beat six o'clock half to death
casual tension that just pulled us through at the end
gristle and severity choke on the tears of a friend

Friday played you wrong and left you feeling low
he raped you with alacrity and then just let you go
never regretting the time left was hardly enough
laughed in your face and then stripped you of all of your stuff

Saturday started too late and then ended at three
gloried your smile and gilded your lilies with rain
nothing but sunsets and horrible blue skies would do
pushing your face to the glass as she smashes it through

Sunday only hung around for a couple of hours
flirting in sunlight and braids, and stained purple flowers
she tried to observe it but misery failed the attempt
my heart once was open and empty now filled contempt

-JMC

Jessica's Journey, Retitled Closer To God: Jessica's Journey, Now Available

I am excited to announce the feature film Jessica's Journey, now retitled as Closer To God: Jessica's Journey, is available for purchase Walmart. I believe they are even responsible for distribution, which is interesting.

I really enjoyed scoring this film, and I feel like I learned a lot. It is the fastest I have ever composed/orchestrated. Six minutes per day, which is unheard of for me. There wasn't much music requested for this film, and I only had about a week to make it all come together, but I was able to come through, and the filmmakers were happy with my work.

The score is mostly piano, harp and strings. There are some light winds and percussion. One of the biggest discoveries sample-wise was the use of the Spitfire harp. Spitfire is a sample company from the UK, and this harp is one of the most detailed instruments I have used. Its lower strings are a little quiet for my personal taste. I typically prefer more body in the lower notes (love to clang on those lower strings!), however the emotional quality of it is something I am hard pressed to find elsewhere.

The film's subject matter became deeply personal to me, since a week after completing the project, my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. That is a whole separate topic, but I feel important to mention in passing despite the fact I intend to keep this blog to music-related topics only.

The cancer of the protagonist is never identified, and her symptoms are somewhat nebulous, as is the Christian denomination the family gravitates toward to deal with their grief. Although I am not religious, I do recognize how people in a time of duress can find comfort, or an avenue to seek answers through religion. I feel that time is usually the greatest enemy and

Visit the official website: JessicasJourneyFilm.com

Buy the film at Walmart.

Buy the soundtrack on iTunes.

Soundtrack to Jessica's Journey: Now Available

I'm so excited that the soundtrack for Jessica's Journey is now available on iTunes!

I plan to do a vlog about it soon, but for now, click here to preview tracks and download the album.

Choir Module

I hesitate to call this a full on module, but I did three short videos discussing how I create a live choir by overdubbing myself:

Setting Up:


Recording Individual Voices:


EQ, Pan and Final Mix


I'd like to do more choir work, but could really use the help of a lyricist or poet. Enjoy!

New Piece for Concert Band: Over The Edge

After a long gestation period, my new piece for concert band is done.  I did a short video about it prior to leaving on my week-long vacation, wherein I also show and demonstrate my new iPhone mic, MiC by Apogee. I'm still getting situated after the trip, though. It was quite a weekend. We got home from the airport at midnight and had to be at work the next morning.



Incidentally, something that has come up again and again is the need for a kind of autonomy. It is nerve racking to think of that sort of liberation, but it's the kind of thing that just has to happen and soon. So I'm aggressively trying to line things up to make possible. More to come on that...