Award-winning composer, sound designer, and PhD researcher in spatial audio. Michael’s work spans film scores, TV productions, and immersive soundscapes, released through his label imprint Aurora Eclipse Productions and showcased internationally through the Royal Society of Arts.
All in Talking Technology
A breakdown of spatial configurations across streaming platforms and what they mean for immersive audio workflows.
Reflections on the work environments that shape the way soundtracks are conceived and realised.
Exploring how video blogs offer a richer, more human way of sharing ideas and creative reflections beyond text alone.
Behind-the-scenes reflections from a visit to Sony Pictures in Los Angeles, including encounters with iconic scoring stages.
Lessons learned from scoring my first film — balancing vulnerability, deadlines, and the realities of sharing early creative work.
Who remembers the opening raining blood scene from the 1998 movie Blade? I certainly do as Blade was an important movie for me as a then youngster at a time when the the big screen was just starting to fascinate me. Until yesterday, I had been totally unaware that the music from that scene was composed by Junkie XL and licensed for the scene; cue his initial interest in becoming a film composer.
Seasoned electronic music producer-turned-film composer Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL is being discussed more and more now in the film music world, what with his recent and ongoing collaborations with Hans Zimmer at Remote Control Productions for movies such as Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and of course his amazing solo work on Divergent and 300: Rise of an Empire, but it occurred to me that I had never really taken the time to look into his work.
Yesterday while doing my usual scout, I stumbled across a Collider interview with Tom (below) and found myself immersed in hearing about his start as both an electronic music producer and his transformation into a film composer. I found it humbling to hear that for him, at the time of entering the film score production circuit, his tracks were at number one in several countries and despite this, he took up work as an assistant for the likes of Harry Gregson-Williams to gain a better insigne of just how scores are produced in Hollywood, an amazing level of dedication and respect for an industry he clearly admires…
It was during the interval of a Ligeti Qaurtet concert in Brighton earlier this year where I was amazed to watch a short introductory trailer for a movement known as the "Post War Orchestra" screening in the venue...
I may be posing this a little late as it went out on TED Talks over a year ago, but I really think it is something worth sharing. The Internet is such a powerful tool and can be used in a really creative way as composer Eric Whitacre shows in this video. It proves that music really is a global language!
TED Explains: “In a moving and madly viral video last year, composer Eric Whitacre led a virtual choir of singers from around the world. He talks through the creative challenges of making music powered by YouTube, and unveils the first 2 minutes of his new work, “Sleep,” with a video choir of 2,052.
The full piece premieres April 7 (yes, on YouTube!).” Watch the video here!
I should imagine there comes a point in every contemporary composers career where a larger MIDI master keyboard is required, for me that day came this week. I had been flirting with the idea of upgrading for some time, but what with the vast volume of products available on the market and just sheer size of a full format keyboard in general, I found myself trawling through the internet and never really coming to any sort of conclusion on what the best solution would be.
I had been using the M-Audio Oxygen 49 for the past two years and found the assignable faders and pots very useful, especially when working with sound design and electronic based composition. The synth action keys on the other hand and general lack of them were beginning to frustrate me.
Most modern orchestral sample libraries contain patches called ‘key-switches’, essentially this enables the composer to change the articulation of the loaded instrument during the performance at the touch of a piano note; These notes are usually placed outside the playable range of the instrument. In other words, should the composer be using a solo cello for example, using a key-switched patch would provide the ability to switch between a sustained and pizzicato note articulation at the touch of key instead of having to move to a different track with the pizzicato articulation loaded in order to play that part of the composition. This makes playing ‘live’ much more of a possibility and is a great way of adding realism to your sampled instruments. I found that using a 49 key MIDI controller made using these patches very difficult to use as I had to hit the octave button down on the keyboard every time I wanted to change articulation, a frustration which is no longer an issue with an 88 key controller…
