Jack Hughes is the director of the newly formed Northern Film Orchestra, based in Manchester, UK. Their mission is to break down the barriers to entry for composers, making orchestral recording accessible to composers from all types of backgrounds. I was really excited to bring Jack onto the show to talk about what composers can expect from an orch…

If you recognise the name “Ben Osterhouse” that’s likely because you’ve used one of his sample libraries. For a while they were the best kept secret of the composer world, until someone let the cat out of the bag and they became a favourite for so many people. I had to get Ben on the show to talk about his approach to creating libraries, and I was …

This week’s guest is the wonderful Gunnard Doboze. Gunnard has scored some of the most challenging type of documentary subject matter that you’re likely to come across as a composer. Projects like: Septem8er Tapes, about the search for Osama Bin Laden in the wake of 9/11, Saving Face, about a plastic surgeon helping victims of acid attacks in Pakis…

If you recognise the name “Steven Melin” it could be from one of many different places! Steven is primarily a video game composer - and in the show you’ll hear us chat about niching down into specific topics like he’s done - but he’s also an author, online instructor, YouTuber, Podcaster… …you name it, he’s done it! One of the really wonderful thin…

Nainita Desia has achieved so much in the last few years that I don’t even know where to begin. So let’s just start with 2019 - she was the IFMCA’s Breakthrough Composer Of The Year, nominated for Best Score at the British Independent Film Awards, and was the composer for Oscar nominated and BAFTA, Cannes, BIFA and SXSW winning documentary “FOR SAM…

Jamie Salisbury is a composer who loves keeping his career as diverse as possible. From production music to music for live events with everything in between, he seems to have a found an amazingly balanced way to make a living from composing, while satiating his love of exploring the various avenues of music. Visit https://soundtrack.academy/jamiesa…

Welcome back to the soundtrack.academy podcast after some time off! Here's the plan for 2020: the podcast is coming back regularly. I already have some absolutely amazing guests lined up. But I'm going to slow down the release schedule a little bit. Honestly, I was really struggling to keep up with releasing a new episode every week, particularly a…

Miriam Sternlicht is a media composer who’s actually fairly new to the game, but I think you’re really going to get a lot out of this episode as I’m sure many of you listening are in a very similar boat to Miriam. If you recognise her name that might be down to her excellent work as an administrator for the Global Composer’s Network, and we’re actu…

So many composers dream of being able to quit their day job to pursue music. Maybe you do too? The problem is : taking that leap of faith is a big deal. You need to have a huge amount of faith in yourself, as well as a mechanism to support yourself as you work towards your dream. Well, today’s guest, Rob Hicks, took that leap of faith just a couple…

Michael Kruk is a composer specialising in documentaries, having worked extensively with the BBC on a number of their programmes including those narrated by the wonderful David Attenborough. Join my Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup In this episode we discuss the ins and outs of composing music for TV and documentaries, a…

Composer Bankey Ojo shares some advice that is almost GUARANTEED to help you find more composing projects. Listen in to this week’s episode now! Join my Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup Bankey Ojo has scored programmes for Sky, ITV, Channel 4, amongst many others and has worked on award winning short films, branded conte…

Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres lives and breathes the creative life. Talking about her process made me desperately want to be a fly-on-the-wall while she works, as it sounds like such a natural, exploratory method of creating music. Join my Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup Listen in to hear how her father’s background in film …

Hear how soundtrack.academy was born, and the film music process I’ve been teaching, practising, and developing since 2008. Join my Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup It’s a bit of a different week this week - instead of my usual format of interviewing a guest, I decided to interview myself! I’ve had a lot of people asking…

Chris Wirsig is a composer and music supervisor specialising in dark intense soundscapes. His advice on specialising in a niche and what music libraries are listening for is all in this episode! Join my Facebook community: https://soundtrack.academy/facebookgroup Many of the guests I’ve had on the show so far compose in all kinds of styles and genr…

Bonnie Janofsky is one of those multi-skilled musicians that seems to be able to turn her hand to absolutely anything. Originally coming from a performance background, she’s then worked as an orchestrator, arranger, transcriber, and composer. We’re going to talk about some of the advantages and disadvantages of working with notation and composing f…

Growing up in the south of France studying fine art and design before moving into music composition has given Mathieu Karsenti a really unique understanding of the relationship between music and visuals. Get “The Media Scoring Guide” : https://soundtrack.academy/ebook Mathieu is another fine example of someone who has worked ultra hard to put himse…

Described by none other than Hans Zimmer himself as an “incredible artist”, Suad Bushnaq is an an award-winning Arab-Canadian film and concert composer who is making some serious waves in the film music world. Get “The Media Scoring Guide” [FREE] : https://soundtrack.academy/eBook I’m not really sure where to begin with the intro to this episode as…

In this week’s episode Jenny J Nam discusses the differences and crossovers between performance, composition, and songwriting. Get your FREE eBook: https://soundtrack.academy/ebook Jenny is an award-winning composer, songwriter, and pianist. We’re going to talk about how different her thought process is while she’s improvising on jazz piano compare…

From working as a staff piano player at Disney, and session musician for Mike Post, to scoring some of the most iconic movies, and now writing and directing his own documentaries, Stephen Edwards truly has some fascinating stories to share. Get the FREE eBook: https://soundtrack.academy/ebook Let me introduce Stephen by listing just a FEW of the fi…

Oscar Fogelström is a two time Swedish Grammy winner, has had over 100 million streams on Spotify, and has worked with Academy Award nominee Lasse Hallström on Sweden’s Oscar entry, "The Hypnotist”. Let’s hear how he got started, whether he recommends that composers also work as songwriters, his creative process, and advice on working as a film com…

Sian Elizabeth Selway got into film music in what many would consider the wrong order - she gathered her industry experience first and then went to study. We’re going to talk about the pros and cons of that, and also explore the differences between writing for shorts, features, and documentaries - because Sian’s done it all! Get my FREE eBook, “The…

Tristan Noon is a media composer, orchestrator, and music preparer. His list of recent music placements is literally pages long, and as an orchestrator he’s worked on everything from LEGO movies to Gary Numan’s live tour. Get a MASSIVE discount on my string orchestration course: https://soundtrack.academy/stringscourse This week’s guest is Tristan …

Leanna Primiani used to be a conductor working at the highest level, but then discovered a love for film composition. In today’s episode we’re going to explore the crossover between conducting and composing, and how really understanding an orchestration adds to your own voice as a composer. Get my FREE eBook: soundtrack.academy/ebook Being a conduc…

Trailer music composer Michael Cristian, better known as "MCR", has had his music placed in all kinds of trailers, TV shows, and commercials. Having pitched on over 300 projects per year, we’re going to talk about whether he’d recommend that for new composers, and what other advice he has for those getting started. Get my FREE eBook, "The Media Sco…

Edith Mudge is about to turn you green with envy! Let’s hear what she has to say about the pros and cons of working as a SALARIED in house composer... Get your FREE eBook: soundtrack.academy/ebook Today I’m joined by Edith Mudge. Edith is an in-house composer for a library music company where her task is to write three new pieces of music every day…

Sean Staples is here to talk about how his diverse musical and entrepreneurial background has influenced his career path as a media composer, Nashville songwriter, and staff writer. Get your free eBook: https://soundtrack.academy/ebook When you have someone as diversely skilled as Sean on the show, it’s hard to know what to focus your time on! Whet…

Four time Emmy nominated composer and VP of the Alliance for Women Film Composers Sharon Farber joins me this week. We explore both her film music and concert music works, and Sharon so openly shares her advice for new composers. Get your FREE eBook: soundtrack.academy/ebook When I first mentioned my podcast in the PERSPECTIVE Facebook Group - whic…

In today’s episode Italian composer Giovanni Rotondo talks about how foreign credits don’t have the same impact as local ones, and how he’s ended up convincing Oscar winning composers to feature on his website: filmscoringtips.com Get your FREE eBook: soundtrack.academy/ebook Giovanni Rotondo is an Italian composer living in London, and if you’ve s…

Daisy Coole is a founder of Two Twenty Two - a film, documentary, and media composition company - and a huge advocate of composers working as a team. Listen in as we explore her unique way of finding projects. Get your FREE eBook: soundtrack.academy/ebook Daisy had an extensive background in music performance, particularly jazz, before entering the…

Julian Guidetti's background is mostly in music for advertising. He's worked on countless campaigns as part of a full post-production team. Listen to this week's episode to learn the full post-production process, and advice on how to create amazing tracks with tight deadlines. Get your FREE eBook: soundtrack.academy/ebook The world of advertising i…

Daniel Suett was handpicked out of literally thousands of people by Hans Zimmer, Lorne Balfe, Junkie XL, Jacob Shea, Russell Emmanuel, and Steve Kofsky to be part of the Bleeding Fingers Music Team. https://soundtrack.academy/ My guest this week is Daniel Suett, who works as part of Hans Zimmer and Steve Kofsky’s Bleeding Fingers Music team. You mi…

Claire Batchelor - a media composer specialising in both film and production music - joins me for this week's episode. Visit the website: https://soundtrack.academy/ We talk about how the 2008 recession caused her to almost accidentally end up as a full time composer, how the schools and education system needs to encourage more girls and women to p…

This week’s guest, Jordan Killiard, works in a really interesting, and hugely overlooked field: creating music for audiobooks. https://soundtrack.academy/jordankilliard Jordan first got started in the audio world by recording voice-overs and ADR on all kinds of projects: including major motion pictures, animations, and corporate videos. It was fasc…

For this week’s episode I’m joined by the multi-talented Neil Spencer Bruce. https://soundtrack.academy/neilspencerbruce Neil has a wide-ranging creative background: having toured the world as a gigging guitarist, studied soundscapes and psychoacoustics at PhD level, directing over 700 commercial film projects, AND creating sound design and product…

This week’s guest is James Asher, who has a fascinating background in all kinds of music, but with a particularly interesting focus on world music. https://soundtrack.academy/jamesasher Having been leant his first 4-track recorder by Pete Townshend of The Who, James has gone on to create over 50 albums, one selling over 200 thousand copies. He has …

My guest this week is Brian Stephen Adams. Brian runs a studio in Worthing, UK helping people develop their ideas into full tracks. More recently, he’s taken the leap into library music and is with me today to share his experiences so far. https://soundtrack.academy/brianstephenadams Thanks to his years of working in music production, Brian has hea…

Italian composer Francesco Berta joins me this week to talk about his views on how social media steals your time, how he learned to compose as a self-taught musician, and his approach to composition. https://soundtrack.academy/francescoberta Francesco was originally self-taught, but through meticulous study has learned how to create gorgeous hybrid…

I’m excited to be joined by Michael John Mollo, who has worked closely with John Powell, Michael Giacchino, and Giorgio Moroder. https://soundtrack.academy/michaeljohnmollo Michael is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music and the University of Southern California and early on in his career was part of Hans Zimme…

This week Chris Presswell, film writer/director, shares his views on the relationship between director and composer. https://soundtrack.academy/ChrisPresswell Despite being musical, Christopher ISN’T a music composer or producer, he’s a film writer and director. That’s what makes this week’s episode so exciting: we’re going to hear first hand how a…

This week I’m joined by Si McGrath, a producer, sound designer, and composer who has worked in many areas of the music industry. A particularly interesting area of his work is the sound design that he creates for productions and live events alike. For show notes visit: https://soundtrack.academy/podcast Those of you that have played the Broken Swor…

This week I’m joined by Martin Gratton, an amazingly prolific media composer specialising in library and production music. Find out how Martin releases 150 tracks per year! For all podcast links, resources, and episodes, head to https://soundtrack.academy/podcast If you own a television, you’ll have almost definitely heard Martin’s music at some po…

This week I’m joined by Andrew Potterton, founder of Perception Music Publishing, who has a fascinating music career spanning all kinds of genres and industries. For the video version of this podcast visit: https://soundtrack.academy/andrewpotterton Alongside music credits on Oprah Winfrey, Top Gear, MTV Cribs, The Discovery Channel, and National G…

This week I’m joined by composer and educator Neil Myers, who shares his insights into the differences between working with orchestras and sample libraries, how to communicate with directors, and shares his composing process. For the video version of this podcast visit: https://soundtrack.academy/neilmyers Neil’s website: https://www.neilmyersmusic…

Welcome to soundtrack.academy!This is an introductory podcast giving a brief overview of who I am, what soundtrack.academy is, and what you can expect from this podcast.If you're looking to get started or improve your knowledge about film music composition, production, and the film music industry subscribe now.The weekly podcast begins in January 2…