The Screen Composer's Studio (The Screen Composers Guild of Canada)

Called “One of the most compelling acts Canada has to offer.” by Time magazine, Sarah Slean has been beguiling audiences since she first appeared on scene in the late 90’s, when she was signed to Atlantic/Warner at just 19 years of age.  Her infectious combination of piano forward pop and cabaret, and her singular voice propelled her to acclaim.  The 4 time Juno nominee with 11 albums under her belt was classically trained and fascinated by sound and orchestration early on.  She wrote arrangements and instrumental pieces for her albums, and eventually went on to provide orchestral arrangements for the likes of Dan Mangan and Hawksley Workman.  A storyteller in the truest sense, she also works as a painter, a poet, a broadcaster, and even did a stint of acting for which she was nominated for a Gemini.  Now, Sarah is taking all of her talents and background and applying them to help tell stories for the screen.  In this endeavor she has already met with success, winning a CSA for Detention Adventure alongside collaborators Ari Posner, Amin Bhatia, and Antonio Naranjo.  Deeply philosophical and highly articulate, Sarah is able to speak about her work and life as an artist in a way that is both illuminating and inspiring.

www.sarahslean.com

Season 3 is coming on July 13, 2022, and features the incredible Cristobal Tapia de Veer!

 Cristobal Tapia De Veer is a maverick whose consistently unique approach to scoring has finally, and deservedly, thrust him into the spotlight.  His family fled the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile shortly after his birth, and while they returned for a time, they eventually made a new home in Quebec, where Cristobal still lives and works.  While the folk music of Chile was “always in the background”, he was more into Michael Jackson and “more extreme” forms of metal.  But the rhythms and instruments of his birthplace still find their way into his music, contributing to the rich tapestry of his sound.  Before getting into scoring, he completed a Masters of Music as a percussionist, and even had a small dance music hit called Supersex with a group called OneTon.  In 2006, he self-produced a bedroom recorded album called “The Spider in Charlie’s Box” which was intended to introduce him to producers as a “true individual unwilling to follow the rules”.  This caught the attention of showrunner Marc Munden, who hired Cristobal to score the period drama The Crimson Petal and the White.  This led to Utopia which was a breakout for De Veer, who was noted for his novel scoring.  More shows would follow, including Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Humans, and Black Mirror.  It feels as if he’s been consistently working on a musical thesis, which has culminated in his much lauded score for The White Lotus.  We chat about his early days, his instinctive approach to music making, his punk attitude and feeling that music should be noticed like another character on the screen, and strange time spent working with Kanye West that ultimately provided the materials for his groundbreaking sound for The White Lotus. 

 @CristobalMusic

@FreeRunArtists 

At first, Winnipeg-born Ari Posner set out to build a career as a songwriter.  After discovering that perhaps his abilities as a lyricist did not match his musical gifts, he moved into the fast-paced world of ads, which gave him the training to work in myriad styles and deliver on a deadline.  Now, he is one of Canada’s most respected and prolific screen composers.  In collaboration with Amin Bhatia, he has scored award winning hit shows such as Anne with an E, Flashpoint, and X Company, and with Ian Lefeuvre shows including Carter, Johnny Test, and Supernoobs.  In this episode, we talk about his stirring solo  work on Northern Rescue, and get philosophical about the long-term effects that the pandemic has had on his working life, the upsides of having a studio in a commercial space, working remotely, and ask: “is the spotting session dead?”  We also dig into his methods for capturing and re-purposing ideas, using the “mirror test”, the amount of emotional information a scene can have and how music fits into that, dealing with client feedback, when collaboration goes wrong, plus an incredible insight about screen music from Canadian acting icon Colm Feore.

www.arimusic.com

At the tender age of 11, Rob Duncan dismantled a piano in his experimental music class.  This must have been a spark for him, as he is now known for recording scores on decommissioned nuclear submarines, finding his next instrument in a junkyard, or being asked by a producer to write a theme using a toilet.  Though he was equally interested in computer animation, he ended up pursuing music at York University, and worked writing jingles before making the jump to Los Angeles, where he landed his first breakout gig: writing the score for the final season of the cult-hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Since then, he has firmly established himself as a go-to TV composer, and has written hours of music for shows such as Castle, Timeless, and S.W.A.T., garnering 4 Emmy nominations along the way.  We chat about the importance of mentors, the responsibility a composer has for the emotion of every chord, the incredible lengths one sometimes has to go to to nail a show’s theme, trying to achieve work-life balance, the beauty of imperfection in sampling, and how he has managed through some of his biggest career ups and downs.

@robertduncanmx

Alberta-born Jonathan Kawchuk is interested in where and how we live as a means to give his music context.  He completed a Bachelors of Music at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, worked with Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, and the Philip Glass Ensemble, as well as studying wildlife field recording with Chris Watson.  The environment, the sounds that arise from it, and how his own music interacts with the environment are themes that permeate his music over the course of several albums.  The most recent, Everywhen, takes his ideas to the most extreme, allowing for only 3 sound sources - the human voice, sine tones, and the sound of the Kananaskis Rockies.  The resulting work, which required pre-market software to fully realize, was mixed for Dolby Atmos and uses no compression, EQ, or reverb.  In his film work, which includes NFB feature Memento Mori and the indie hit Clara, he is equally daring.  We chat about the incredible (and unintended) technical complexity of creating Everywhen, his interest in environmentalism, athleticism, exhaustion, and fear in his music, his recent score for Niobe Thompson’s documentary, Carbon: The Unauthorized Biography, and the bridge he navigates between being a recording artist and screen composer.

http://jonathankawchuk.com/

@jonathankawchuk

In this episode, we’re going to change things up a bit.  My guest is a composer, musician, and engineer, but his primary vocation is as an entertainment lawyer with a specialty in IP and copyright.  This is your hour of pro-bono legal advice, and a masterclass drawing back the curtain on some of the things most creative types fear and neglect: contracts, negotiation, and making sure the business of your art is well taken care of.

Like many kids of Chinese-Canadian immigrants, Jeff Young was urged to go into a pragmatic field of study.  While he did follow his musical passions, he also studied business and law, and was called to the bar at the early age of 23.  He also worked in various capacities on projects for Warner, Universal, CBC, and most notably, engineered mixes for some of Vivendi Universal's most successful video games: The Hulk, Dark Angel, and The Simpsons Hit and Run.  The tough life of 20 hour days left little time for much else, and so he turned to entertainment law as a means to support his family and lead a more balanced life.  A member of the Law Society of British Columbia and the State Bar of California, he has represented Grammy winning artists and negotiated with the likes of Virgin, BMG, Disney, Sony and Warner/Chappel.  While Jeff spends the bulk of his time as a legal professional, he now balances it with a growing scoring career, which has seen him recently completing 3 feature length films.

In this chat, Jeff reveals the specific language and approaches he uses to respond to some common “problem” clauses found in composer contracts, red flags and other things to watch for, dealing with fear and anxiety around conflict, and the concept of leverage in negotiations, including the biggest lever of power a creative person can have. Jeff dispels some myths and notes that getting a professional to help you avoid serious missteps can be less costly than you might think.  His unique perspective as a musician and lawyer, and his passion and energy make for an engaging and informative conversation, perfect for anyone wanting to get a better understanding of this part of our business.

Originally from Hamilton, Ontario, Carly Paradis has made a name for herself as a first call screen composer, scoring huge TV hits such as the BAFTA nominated Line of Duty, Sick Note, and Netflix’s The Innocents.  After a stint in Toronto’s burgeoning indie rock scene in the mid-2000’s, a cold email to Clint Mansell on Myspace turned into an opportunity to work with the famed composer on his score for Moon, and to tour in his ensemble.  This led her to making London, UK her home base, and from there she has built an enviable career writing for top shelf film, TV, and trailer projects.  She also finds time to write and produce her own albums, including her latest, Nothing is Something, and most recently, to land the job as the touring keyboard player for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Summer 2022.  We chat about her minimalist studio approach, surviving the pandemic, her art school and songwriter roots, working with the London Contemporary Orchestra, her work on the massive British hit and cultural touchstone that is Line of Duty, how she funds and creates her ambitious albums, using unsung, imagined lyrics to guide her scoring, and much more.

www.carlyparadis.com
@carlyparadis

Neil Parfitt’s wonderfully diverse career sees him working at the highest levels as a composer for animated series, as well as designing custom synth sounds for some of the biggest blockbusters on the planet.  He started out as a kid who was equally fascinated by how music was produced as he was with the technology that was used in the process.  Neil began his scoring journey in anime, with titles like Bakugan Battle Brawlers, and Beyblade.  This multiple Canadian Screen Award nominee is now known for his music on series such as Ranger Rob, The Remarkable Mr. King, and Bravest Warriors, where he writes everything from Golden Age orchestral film music, to 80’s cheese, to chiptunes. We talk about his early days figuring out how things worked by dismantling them, getting his start in Toronto as a dialogue editor, and how dogged persistence led to his entry into animation with Nelvana, working with Japanese creators on anime shows and adapting to musical cultural differences, a terrifying surprise meeting while he was on vacation, the joys and challenges of working on animated series, where you have to “turn on a dime  [and produce] a million different cues”, becoming an accidental Youtuber, and being terrible at self-promotion.

Heads up - this episode does contain a bit more strong language than usual.

www.neilparfitt.com

Originally from the Netherlands, Lodewijk Vos’ approach to music making is very much his own.  One half of the scoring duo Menalon (with Joseph Murray), the Canadian Film Center grad has worked on TV shows such as Diggstown on CBC, documentaries including HBO’s The Slow Hustle and Mr. Tachyon for VICE TV, and films like Level 16 and The Void.  We talk about the wild new instrument/effects box he’s building, his roots playing rock in the Netherlands (but being more interested in the effects pedals than the guitar), starting as an in-house composer for MTV, his move to Toronto and the differences between European and Canadian mindsets, the power of working away from a computer screen, his world-traveling, site-specific modular synth explorations, committing completely but then throwing out film scoring concepts and hours of work, the power of documentaries, dealing with anxiety and fear, rejecting hustle culture, his meditation practice, and sound as healing.

www.lovosmusic.com

Ottawa born Lora Bidner combines her background as a singer-songwriter multi-instrumentalist as well as affinity for folklore in her music for the screen, which includes the BBC/Family Channel series Malory Towers, mini series Hogtown, feature thriller Don’t Click, and Family Channel series Ruby and the Well, which she co-composes with Rob Carli.  The four-time SOCAN Foundation winner completed a Bachelors of Music from Carlton and a Masters of Music Technology from the University of Toronto, and is an artist in her own right, who released the critically acclaimed To The North in 2015 and is currently working on a new album.

We talk about how she got her start singing and writing songs, the surprising film score touchstone that we both share as a favorite, the demanding high school program that got her started writing music early, and the winding educational journey where she overcame tremendous obstacles toward a career as a  singer-songwriter.  In the end, she returned to her first passion - scoring for film and TV.  Since then, Lora graduated from the Canadian Film Center’s Slaight Family Music Lab, where her formidable work ethic helped her meet the intense challenges of that program, preparing her for the real life pressures of being a screen composer.  We talk about the joys and struggles of her recent projects, how she manages the interpersonal aspect, and how folk music and her voice become part of her scores.  Lora’s new challenge is as a new parent, where she juggles the demands of motherhood with a busy scoring career.  She offers valuable perspective for anyone who is thinking about, or living, in that tricky balance.

www.lorabidner.com

They may not often bask in the limelight, but you've definitely felt the power of their work.  Composers for the screen are the “hidden giants” who help breathe life into the stories you love.  Join me, Adrian Ellis, as I take you behind the screen to meet the musical magicians behind some of your favorite films, shows, and video games. Why does music work the way it does?  How do composers help shape emotional journeys, give color and shade beloved characters and worlds, and enhance the viewer’s experience in a way only music can?  Find out in The Screen Composer's Studio, a new series brought to you by the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, coming soon wherever you find your favorite podcasts, and follow us @screencomposers

 "If you can come up with music, who cares how you come up with it.  Just go for it.  Trust your instincts.  Learn the process."

In this episode, we speak to Amin Bhatia, who is probably best known for his award winning work on the massive hit series’ Flashpoint, and Anne with an E, which he co-composed with his longtime writing partner, Ari Posner.  Amin’s life story is worthy of its own movie, including narrow escapes from a violent African dictator, going from being a self-proclaimed “nerd” recording analog synth epics alone in his basement in Calgary to making an appearance on one of the biggest pop albums of all time, and the truly weird, risky, and hilarious way he wrote the theme for a show that would earn him an Emmy nomination.  We chat about his ups and downs, and how this unstoppable optimist deals with disappointment, and why I end up calling him “the comeback kid”.  Passionate and humble, this talented, multiple Gemini  and Canadian Screen Award winner is also one of the kindest and generous people I know, who notes that through it all he draws strength from his actor wife, Danielle Nicole, and daughters Angie and Kel, who are also pursuing careers in music and storytelling.

Follow Amin online at:
www.aminbhatia.com
twitter:  @aminbhatia
Facebook/Instagram  @aminbhatiacomposer

“It’s really all about musical freedom for me. I like to push the boundaries and take chances. I’d like to do the unexpected, and avoid clichés as much as I can. I like the wrong notes. So horror seems to be a good fit for me.”

In this episode I’ll be chatting with Mark Korven, whose long and successful career recently skyrocketed with the wild success of The Witch, and more recently, The Lighthouse, both of which he worked on with filmmaking maverick, Robert Eggers.  Mark says his greatest fear is being boring, and the lengths he goes to prevent this have yielded amazing results, including his invention of a new musical instrument in The Apprehension Engine, to his recent move to “free scoring”, where he doesn’t use a metronic click or measures to guide composition.  We trace Mark’s journey from The Beatles, Punk, Prog Jazz and Pop, to Thomas Newman, from Winnipeg to Edmonton and finally Toronto where he worked on the sci-fi horror cult-hit Cube, to recent outings In The Tall Grass on Netflix, and AMC’s The Terror: Infamy.  This Gemini and Genie award winning multi-instrumentalist is blazing his own path, breaking the rules as he goes along, and creating some of the most striking scores as he does it.

https://www.youtube.com/user/bigwhitehouse1

www.markkorven.com/

Mark Korven TIFF Masterclass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i489qybkS1I

**WARNING - this episode does contain some spicy words, so be aware if you’re listening with kids or anyone sensitive to not-so-safe-for-work language.**

“If you do good work, people will always speak well about that.  That’s the best word of mouth you can get”

In this episode, we speak to Darren Fung.  Born of Chinese immigrant parents, he started his musical education at a very early age, and had his first orchestral work performed when he was only 15.  He eventually found his way to Montreal where he studied at McGill University, and finally to LA where he currently makes his home.  All along the way, this savvy entrepreneur has found himself helped by many amazing mentors, and has himself long been giving back to the community that helped him get his start.  His stunning work on Niobe Thompson’s The Great Human Odyssey and Equus: Story of the Horse won him Canadian Screen awards in 2016 and 2019, and he has led orchestras across Canada in highly acclaimed concert performances of both mini-series.  We chat about the intensity and pressure of live orchestral recording sessions and what it takes to pull them off, his work on a piece of music that could have made him the most hated man in Canada, the journey that led him to Hollywood, and his thoughts about living and working in the mecca of filmmaking and music.

Visit Darren at:
www.stinkyrice.com

“The work that you’re most nervous about presenting is always the best stuff.”

Tom Third loves to push against creative limits and break convention.  Known for his modern, hybrid electronic scores, he started out as a hip-hop loving art school kid who was eventually signed to Nettwerk records, where he produced sample-heavy trip hop and drum n bass.  As a songwriter, he also co-wrote Meryn Cadell’s cult hit "The Sweater".  Transitioning from ads to film and TV, he cut his teeth on the massive hit show Queer as Folk, and is now known for his work on fan-favorite shows like The Listener and the breakout hit, Coroner.  This Gemini-winner’s working style is creative and experimental, and he loves to color outside the lines.  Whether scoring surrealist art house cinema or hit TV series, he is happiest when slightly out of his comfort zone.

Visit Tom at:
www.tomthird.com

“Composers often pressure themselves to find their “voice”.  That’s ok, but it’s a long-term ideal. You don’t need to revolutionize music with every note you write.  Instead, practice the craft and stay open.”

Maxime Goulet’s work spans genres and formats, from video games to opera to weather-inspired poems set to music, but is all connected by the themes of curiosity and play.  Working as an in-house composer for Gameloft, he composed the music for a multitude of titles such as Dungeon Hunter, Amazing Spider-man 2, and Warhammer 40,000, as he adapted to the constant evolution of interactive music through ever changing mobile platforms.  His interest in games, play, and interactivity translated to his concert works such as Three Games for Orchestra and Beach Ball, and Level Up: (a concerto for Orchestra and 8 bit sounds). He brings an innovative, entrepreneurial spirit to ventures such as Symphonic Chocolates, where the audiences’ experience of each movement is heightened by a chocolate tasting.  Aiming to surprise and engage, his work is always innovative and intriguing.

https://maximegoulet.com

"Film music always walks a fine line of needing to not draw attention to itself and away from the film and yet to also give voice to the soul of the film. Some of what I consider to be my best music cues rarely make it to my demo reel because the music sounds incomplete without the cadence of the dialog and sound fx."

Judith Gruber-Stitzer is wonderfully articulate about how music affects moving images and narrative, and yet her approach is often very intuitive.  She started her journey in New York and Jersey learning harmonies by ear from her brother’s Doo-wop group before moving to Montreal to work with poet-singer Marie Savard and the band Wondeur Brass. She eventually became one of the National Film Board of Canada’s most prolific composers, scoring Oscar nominated films Animal Behaviour, Wild Life and When The Day Breaks (which also own the Palme D’Or at Cannes), among many others.  Judith is quick to point out that she does more than animation, and indeed her resume boasts many live action projects including two films by the legendary Robert Altman.  We discuss her work with that iconic director, as well as her perspectives on working both as a composer and sound designer on projects, her take on how rhythm affects audience perception, and what it means to be a woman in an industry still dominated by men.

http://www.gruberstitzer.com

 "Your voice is precious and important, and needed. There are great stories out there that deserve your insight, your value." 

For Amritha Vaz, the path to becoming a screen composer was full of twists and turns. Her musical family’s ties to Bollywood had her immersed early on, but after a severe case of tendonitis cut a potential career as a violinist short, she pursued the academic path, earning degrees in poli-sci,international development, law, and more. She studied Indian classical music in India, did international development work in Sierra Leone, and finally ended up in Vancouver where a chance meeting with Mychael Danna prompted a move to LA to become his assistant. Amritha is now firmly on her own musical journey, blending the rich music of South Asia with electronic and Western classical orchestral sounds. We talk about her enchanting work on the AppleTV+ docuseries Home, and the colorful musical tapestries of Mira, Royal Detective, which she scores for Disney Junior. She also describes navigating being a visible minority in Hollywood, the challenge of finding work-life balance, and why she feels hopeful despite the current state of the world. 

www.amrithavaz.com 

“Everyone has aspirations.  But there are things I get from my career: choice and freedom. To me, that’s everything”

Over 1700 episodes of television.  150 feature films.  To call Michael Richard Plowman prolific would be an understatement.  He has also proved to be quite the nomad, setting up shop in places like Vancouver, LA, London, and the South of France.  While his portfolio is diverse, his big love is animation, and his work can be heard in hit shows like Sonic Boom, Tree Fu Tom, and George of the Jungle, among many others.  He also has a considerable list of credits in video games, and scored the first of the hugely successful Splinter Cell series, and would later work with the legendary Tommy Tallarico.  We talk about his humble beginnings in a non-musical family, how he got his first commercial credit at the age of 14 and a recording contract at 16, how he builds relationships and asks for what he wants.  As Michael says: “Just buy the lunch!”.  Indeed, this is a masterclass in creative business for the screen composer that’s sure to inspire you to think much, much bigger.

www.michaelplowman.com

“You don’t need to follow all the rules to be successful.  There is a certain advantage in having an individual path that is unique”

Mychael Danna is one of Canada’s most successful film composers, a national treasure and a unique talent who has reached the highest levels of global success.  His illustrious career hit a pinnacle in 2013 when he won the Oscar for his dazzling score to Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, but his path leading to that moment is rich with powerful films accompanied by equally powerful scores.  His career was kick started by early successes with Atom Egoyan, and the two would become evergreen collaborators, working on now classic indie films like Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter, and Ararat.  His integration of non-western musical colors and love of early music set him apart, and Hollywood soon came calling.  Now the list of notable films stretches on: The Ice Storm, Girl, Interrupted, 8MM, Being Julia, Capote,  Little Miss Sunshine, Moneyball… among many more.  Mychael has recently moved into scoring marquee animated films like Storks and The Good Dinosaur, often collaborating with his brother, Jeff.  We chat about his early days studying and discovering world and ancient music in Toronto, and uncover his approaches to music and storytelling.  Mychael is remarkably humble and candid, and this chat is sure to delight longtime fans as well as be an inspiration to composers at any stage in their career.

Erica Procunier is a rising star in the screen composing scene.  After deciding early on that composing for picture was her passion, she completed a Masters in Music Composition from the University of Western.  While building her credits, she was accepted into prestigious programs like the Canadian Film Center’s Slaight Family Music Lab and the highly competitive Berlinale Talents which is held in Berlin each year.  She now splits her time composing for independent films including And Now A Word From Our Sponsor (starring Bruce Greenwood), television shows such as Apple TV+’s Emmy winning Ghostwriter, CBC’s Detention Adventure, and teaching film scoring at Humber College.  We chat about the intense sink-or-swim adventure that was her first apprenticeship, how she pushes her ideas to their full potential without worrying about getting turned down, and her thoughts on one of the big threats to screen composing and human culture in general: artificial intelligence.

www.ericaprocunier.com

"Hearing Morricone’s score for The Mission was a spiritual moment.  That’s why I got into this: if I could ever make something that moved someone else in the same way, that would be a gift."

After studying Business Administration and Recording Engineering, Gary Koftinoff spent 10 years in post-production at the Toronto facilities of Film House, which would later become Deluxe.  There, he got a crash course in the art and craft of filmmaking, storytelling, and client relations, and got to peek behind the curtain while working with some of the biggest names in the business.  It was also the perfect place to meet editors, producers, and other people who would later become instrumental in helping get him his start as a film & television composer.  We chat about the powerful moment that turned him onto his path, unusual ways to find themes and get gigs, and how he approaches his work on hit shows like Saving Hope, Life With Derek, and Hudson & Rex, which he co-scores with Phil Bennett.

www.koftinoff.com

"I’m an optimist by nature, and I really believe in the Guild and our community.  We’re facing a lot of challenges, but we’ve got a lot of creative, motivated people working really hard to move us in the right direction."

John Welsman comes from a family that is not only musical, but is practically a Toronto institution.  His roots go back to the first iteration of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, founded by his grandfather, Frank.  Though John went on to study composition in university, he found the environment stifling, and instead followed his love of roots and folk music down a different path.  He played keys and guitar in various groups, also providing string arrangements for recordings; a skill he lent to other acts including Sarah McLaughlan and Loreena McKennitt.  But it is undoubtedly his work on Road to Avonlea that John is best known for - a show so popular and successful that it is used as a case study in US film schools, and still sees fan conventions held all around the world.  In this candid interview, John and I chat about how he came to land his first TV scoring gig, his experiences on Avonlea, and his recent work on a beautiful series of documentaries about the Group of Seven.  John is also the current president of The Screen Composers Guild of Canada, and we discuss what it means to hold that position, the challenges facing screen composers today, and the hard work that the Guild is doing to protect our rights and value in the digital age.

www.welsmanmusic.com

We’re back, and kicking it off on July 14th with two-time Emmy winning composer, Trevor Morris.

Trevor is best known for his work on The Tudors, The Borgias, and Vikings, as well as massive studio films like Immortals, and London Has Fallen.  In a wide ranging and candid conversation, he talks about getting his start in Toronto, the tough move to LA, his time with Hans Zimmer, how he approaches his scores, the dangers of being honest on social media, and so much more.

Be sure to catch the episode when it premieres on July 14th!

Are you all caught up on past episodes of The Screen Composer’s Studio?  Check out season 1 for fascinating and insightful long-form conversations with some of Canada’s best and brightest in screen composition.

Whether you're a seasoned pro looking for a sense of shared experience, or an up-and-comer hungry for inspiration and encouragement, you’ll find it all in The Screen Composer’s Studio.  

[Episode contains some strong language]

Trevor Morris is without a doubt one of Canada’s most successful exports in the screen composing world. 

After cutting his teeth writing jingles in Toronto, he made the jump to Los Angeles, where a chance meeting landed him a gig with his hero James Newton Howard. This led him to Media Ventures, where he put in 4 years of incredibly hard work and learning under Hans Zimmer.  At the dawn of the Golden Age of television, his music was part of the winning formula that saw The Tudors revolutionize the costume drama, and become a massive international hit.  His music also graces blockbuster shows like Vikings, video games including Dragon Age: Inquisition, and big studio films like London Has Fallen and Hunter Killer, starring his buddy Gerard Butler. 

This two-time Emmy winner shares his candid perspective about the ups and downs in this tough and competitive business, being a Canadian in Los Angeles, the dangers of being honest on social media, and how he sees the industry changing.

Check out Trevor's Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS3-GV2KR8LsDjsDjy_C22Q

https://www.instagram.com/trevormorriscomposer/

https://twitter.com/MorrisTrevor

https://www.facebook.com/TrevorMorrisMusic

[Episode contains some colorful language]

Classically trained as a vocalist, Red got her start in cabaret and musical theater before she was bitten by the film scoring bug - a craft she says “combines all of the things”.  She and her musical partner Maya Saxell won a Leo award for their work on Charlotte’s Song, a first in the category for female composers.  She also received a Leo nod for her music for White Raven, which she scored using only the human voice.  We talk about the challenges of the music business and her time as a singer-songwriter.  She discusses the film she could score for the rest of her life, innovating her process, and what the pressures of the pandemic have revealed for her, musicians, and the community.

Twitter: @redheartbreaker
Insta: @theycallmered
www.redheartbreaker.com

Andrew Lockington is known for the epic scale of the blockbuster films he’s worked on, as well as the incredible lengths he goes to to capture his sounds - things like venturing into the deepest jungle or risking injury and death to dismantle a piano.  But make no mistake - these sonic explorations are matched by his beautiful and evocative orchestral writing, and when you add all that to his humble, curious, and down to earth nature, it quickly becomes obvious as to why he’s one of the top composers in Hollywood.  We explore all of these facets and more in this wonderful conversation, including how he got his start assisting Mychael Danna, his fascinating career trajectory and how he went all-in to get his first big break, how he has found success with a diverse range of collaborators and projects, and how he thinks about sound and finds new perspectives that are the drivers of his work and growth as an artist.

www.andrewlockington.com

Steph Copeland cut her teeth in the Windsor/Detroit underground electronic and hip-hop scene, but her scoring career quickly developed alongside her successes as a songwriter and performer.  
With her dark, electronic sensibilities and production chops, she soon became known for her gritty work on indie genre films like Antisocial 1 and 2, Bite, I’ll Take Your Dead, and more recently the 80’s inspired, synth drenched Vicious Fun.  She has since had a chance to show a more light, playful side, scoring romantic comedies like Snowbound for Christmas and dramatic series like The Wedding Planners. 
We look at how she balances her love of scoring with writing and producing songs, the joy of genre films, how she deals with difficult situations, having a cinematographer as a partner, and her take on success and how she looks at her future.

https://www.stephcopeland.com/ 

Every time I chat with Peter Chapman (AKA Coins), I hear another amazing story, well told.  The pivotal moments in his life also connect in a narrative full of serendipitous events that have opened windows to let his talent shine through.  This multiple-Canadian Screen Award nominee started his diverse career producing hip-hop and electronic music, and got his breakout gig via the instructor of one of his electives, 8 years after attending the Ontario College of Art and Design.  That show was Durham County, and many more would follow: the sci-fi cult favorite Wynonna Earp (co-scored with Rob Carli), Bomb Girls, HGTV’s Leave It To Bryan, CBC’s hit, Workin’ Moms, and many more.  He’s also been a first call for developers, scoring games such as Guacamele 1 & 2, Little Big Planet Karting, and Soundshapes, among others.  We talk about how he left cassettes of his music in public bathrooms, the crash-course learning of first gigs, his airport-layover-created Beastie Boys remix that went hyper-viral and ended up being lauded by Maxim, Esquire, People, and Billboard magazine, how he bridged the gap between being an electronic producer to writing for orchestra, and why he thinks one of the keys to success is being able to take a good punch.

Donald Quan sees his whole life, including his career and businesses, as an improvisation.  As a composer, he is known for his work on shows such as Relic Hunter, Mutant X, and APTN’s Moccasin Flats.  As a musician and recording artist, he has toured with Loreena McKennitt and Lighthouse, and recorded his own music at Peter Gabriel’s iconic Real World Studios.  His incredible studio, Q Music, once housed over 400 indigenous instruments from 6 continents, and he has collaborated with groups such as The Toronto Tabla Ensemble, Samba Squad, M-DO Kathak Toronto Dance, and First Nations choreographer Santee Smith.

In 2007, I was lucky enough to spend time as Donald’s apprentice, and throughout this conversation I recount memories of that challenging and formative time, and get to thank him for being a big part of my development as a composer and creative person.

We talk about his growing up in Toronto as the only Chinese-Canadian kid in his school, his early start in music and how he ended up at the nascent film scoring program at Berklee.  There, he learned the traditional techniques of pen and paper scoring, as well as old school analog methods of syncing music to picture.  It was, however, his interest in the emerging use of computers in music that would help him stand out and get him his first breaks in the industry.  During a performance in 2009, Donald suffered a near-fatal stroke and was without vital signs for nearly 20 minutes.  He miraculously survived, but would spend weeks in a coma, after which a long journey toward recovery began.  Now, over 10 years later, I help Donald restore some of his memory as I share stories of our time together.

Janal Bechthold’s musical journey started not on the piano playing Mozart, but rather on the organ playing 50’s swing and Tangos.  Again sidestepping more well-worn paths, she studied music therapy at Laurier and spent years alternately in that profession, and as a church organist.  These activities were, however, both informed by and are now critical to her work as a musical storyteller - work which has now been recognized with an incredible 3 CSA nominations in 2021.  In our conversation, Janal describes her interesting musical upbringing, her work helping people heal using music, how she utilizes her diverse experiences in what she does as a screen composer, the issues and stories that link many of her projects together, the important work she spearheaded to push forward the conversation about women screen composers, and the holistic approach she’s taking to evaluate where she wants her journey will take her next.  Now, it looks like her relationship with the organ has come full circle, as she contemplates stripping the instrument down to re-contextualize it’s sound and her approach to making music.

Brian and Caleb Chan bring a high level of emotional intelligence to everything they do, and believe that a focus on that growth is critical to success in both life and creative business.  When you understand that their attention to the inner world carries over into the work they do as musicians and storytellers, you realize it’s no accident that they’ve been so successful.  They also seem to avoid being pigeonholed, and their work spans from the horror of Sam Raimi’s 50 States of Fright, to the preschool fare of Hatchimals, to TV romances like A Homecoming for the Holidays.  The brothers have diverged and come together a few times over the years, collaborating all the while as they each followed unique but parallel musical paths.  While Caleb studied composition at the University of Toronto, Brian earned a Masters in Sound Recording at McGill.  Now, their complementary strengths blend beautifully, and by all accounts, they’re just getting started.  We chat about their early days in Hong Kong and Canada, how they work as a team, the joys and challenges of their diverse slate, and how a recent flurry of work has made them much more intentional about their approach, with an eye toward balance and sustainability.

https://www.chansounds.com

Suad Bushnaq has long struggled to answer the question “where’s home?” in simple terms.  The Jordanian-Canadian composer and polymath with Bosnian, Syrian, and Palestinian roots grew up in Amman, studied in Damascus and Montreal, spent time teaching in North Carolina, and now makes her home in Toronto.  Her work reflects her experiences and travels, as she explores Western and Middle Eastern musical traditions, and some of the places she’s lived both in times of war and peace.  She now splits her time between concert music commissions and her work as a film composer.  We discuss that dichotomy, how she balances being an artist and a craftsperson, her perspectives on studying in Syria and Canada, traditions of Middle Eastern music, and what changed for her during the Pandemic.  The Hollywood Music in Media award winner who Hans Zimmer himself has referred to as “an incredible artist” also talks about some of her biggest challenges, including the score for a demanding film that she worked on for almost 4 years.  The project concluded with a set of international recording sessions that saw strings captured in Damascus between bombings, while others tracked at Air Edel in London, North Carolina, and Toronto.  A mentor once told her never to second guess her gut instinct, and now Suad is making a home in music that is truly her own.

www.suadbushnaq.com

Todor Kobakov grew up in Bulgaria where at age 7 he was accepted into a music focused school so competitive that there were kids in the wings waiting to take your spot if you stumbled.  He began showing up to help out on the sets where his mother worked as a producer for the National broadcaster, sparking his interest in the intersection between music and the screen.  After high school, he moved to Canada and at age 20 completed a degree in piano performance at the University of Toronto, where he fell into a crowd of musicians including future indie darlings like Gonzales, Peaches, and Feist.  This led him to performing, producing, and arranging for artists like Stars, Metric, Sarah Slean, K-os, and many more.  At the same time, Todor was getting his foothold creating music for commercials and indie films, eventually landing a coveted spot in the Canadian Film Center’s Slaight Music residency where he would meet and work with iconic director Bruce MacDonald.  Now, he’s firmly established his reputation as a composer with films like Born to be Blue starring Ethan Hawke, and series such as Bitten, Ransom, and Most Dangerous Game, while his work on Cardinal has won him 2 Canadian Screen Awards.  

www.todor.ca

Michel Cusson established his reputation as a formidable guitar player and composer in the early 80’s with celebrated jazz-rock group Uzeb, whose tours were cultural journeys which gave Michel the opportunity to meet and play with musicians in places like Senegal, Morocco, and Southeast Asia.  In the early 90’s, the group disbanded and Michel turned his attention to scoring.  Early hits such as the mob-thriller series Omertà established his reputation and led to many more series and films, as well as scoring on an epic scale for IMAX documentaries such as Wolves, Ultimate Wave Tahiti, and Volcanoes of the Deep Sea.  He has also been the composer and musical director for massive touring live shows, including the equine themed Odysseo and Cavalia.  We talk about the challenges and joys of working across all these mediums, how his jazz background translates to his screen composing work, and how he’s kept the spirit of improvisation and performance alive even during the pandemic, with his Michel Cusson en direct streaming shows on Youtube, broadcasting from his studio which he refers to as “the spaceship”.

 https://www.michelcusson.com/english 

 https://www.youtube.com/c/michelcussonmusic/playlists