The Overcast Podcast - #25

In this neato podcast on Machinima, I get a short but incredibly sweet mention. Now, watch as my head expands to the size of a halloween novelty pumpkin.

Thanks to Ricky for letting me know :)

-s

Qinazer - 'Protocol' (YouTube)

A couple of friends of mine back in Ozzieland and their funky brand of music - QINAZER, the bane of Kanye West! Check them out!

-s

Hmm... here is a film which obviously isn't Shakespeare - 'Hitman', the recent release from 20th Century Fox and based on the popular computer game of the same name.

It isn't Shakespeare, and rightfully so; the premise of Hitman has always been about the shooting and the killing, and the various methods of doing so. In this respect, Hitman achieves 5 stars. Sure, it ain't that amazing Kung Fu choreography you see in awesome Asian films, but it's full of guns and girls and lots of fake blood. Hooah!

Where this film let me down was the large amount of hybrid orchestral/electronic music underscoring pretty much 96.7% of the film. Composer Geoff Zanelli sculpted a fairly cool score (albiet very John Powell/ Bourne-esque), but in my opinion there was just too much of it. Quite a number of scenes would definately have had more dramatic tension and grounding if there wasn't any music to mickey mouse the unfolding drama. God knows the film was predictable enough without help!

For once, I would like to see a blockbuster film that uses music sparingly, and only when it's going to add something to the scene, not take away. I remember a scene in 'Ronin'; an amazing car chase sequence of probably 10 minutes of screen time- completely music free. The only underscoring was the roar of the cars' engines, and the steely looks of the drivers' faces. I wonder, if Ronin was made a few years later, would such a decision have been made... or would the music supervisor just smack a rock-tronica cue over the top and call it action?

Perhaps I'm forgetting that it was probably some other film executive's fault that Hitman was overscored and not Geoff Zanelli's. Perhaps I'm also forgetting that Geoff probably had some crazy close-to overnight turnaround and that it's a miracle in itself that the film got scored at all (as always). But the moral of this story brings me to one of the GOLDEN RULES OF FILM SCORING, which composers and filmmakers alike should take heed of. And that is a question of -

'Does this scene require music?'.

If not, it makes my life easier ;)

-s

My boss just yesterday got a pair of brand new monitors - the Klein + Hummel 0300 active studio monitors.

Now, I'm pretty naive about all things top end, but I'd never heard of KH until yesterday. Unbeknownst to me, this speakers friggin' rock. Apparently Stevie Wonder used to buy these all the time, but kept on blowing them up. There ya go.

Anyway, now I get the hand-me-down monitors, which I have no problems with because they sound better than the stupid Sony sound system Im using to write on at the moment, which at one point harboured a dangerous looking black spider which could have been a Black Widow. Nasty.

Sleep time...

-s

Thanks to Aussiecatalog.com, Mandy and I were able to acquire some jars of that black gold we Aussies like to call Vegemite. Breakfast is now far more enjoyable. I gave a jar to my American employers - I think they were a bit confused about what they were supposed to do with it. 'Eat it' I suppose doesn't quite cut it for these people...

Well - for all you non-Australians, here is the rundown:

"Vegemite is an Australian-made spread made from yeast extract, and is one of the worlds richest concentrations of Vitamin B, also known as Folate, or Folic Acid. Knowledge of this led silly American stockists everywhere to take it off their shelves because by US Law the only products allowed to have high concentrations of Folic Acid are breadstuffs and... uh... something else. Whatever...

Vegemite is great on hot toast with melted butter, or as is on a sandwich, or with cheese or avocado. The trick is to use sparingly - Vegemite is a strong beast and too much can make you pull strange faces, although many Australians are immune to the stuff in large quantities too... just takes time!"

The last few days at work have been fun - I did a couple of remix tracks for a Madagascar computer game ad, and I did a prelude intro to 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' for a film trailer. Silly small things make me smile.

*Snoooooze*...

-s

Finally, I come around to making a post on this damn thing...

HI GUYS! I'm writing from my computer at work, in the grand ole town that the locals call Los Angeles. It's a pretty neat town... I have my likes and dislikes, but LA is not without its definate charms.

I do like that I can get away with alot of things by just playing up on the naive Australian thing. Works like a charm.

I currently work for a small music studio focusing on writing music for film trailers. It's an awesome job... so awesome that I can hardly call it a job. I get to write music all day and get paid for it, so thats pretty much all I can ask for really.

I've only been here a few months, but already I've experienced so much music-wise that its hard to keep up, and is rather daunting. University teaches you alot, but so much is also learnt from actually doing in a professional environment. I'm pretty much treating this as a 2nd music degree... so much to learn!

I have a cute little 1-bedroom place not too far from work. I've learnt how to get around on the bus network, and I've also bought a bike, which has lead to me loosing quite a few kilos from all the riding I've been doing. Can't complain there... I could always stand to loose a few!

The best thing is that in about a week's time, my fiance Amanda will also be joining me over here, which will probably help alot in combating the home sickness I experience at even and frequent intervals.

Anyway... now that I've actually gotten around to making this first post over here in the US, I will hopefully do this a little more often. So much I'm learning and seeing - alot of which I can't really share with the outside internet world, but I'm sure there will always be something interesting to post about.

Cheers guys!

-s

Well... that dreaded time has come for me to board a plane and become an Alien in the US! Most of you know that TODAY (Sunday 17th June) is the day I fly out of Brisbane, headed for the glossy city known as Los Angeles.

I'm bloody anxious about it all, but hey... progress! This blog will probably change a little in focus, from being just about music, to just about ME! So, I'll be posting stories, photos and knick knacks from my travels in the LA LA Land... yeah... that might be interesting :)

So... until next time!

-s

'Leavin' on a jetplane... I don't know when I'll be back again...'

I recently got wind of a pretty darn cool composition competition being run by Sibelius, open to Secondary and Tertiary students.

Alongside some awesome major prizes (including pretty much a full semi-pro M-Audio/Digidesign studio setup to take home), you also get the opportunity to have your piece played by 'Ensemble Offspring', at an awards concert held at the Sydney Conservatorium.

I think anyone with even a hair of a flair for writing music should think about having a go at this. I dare say its definately worth writing for!

Check out the details here!