On the road again...

After clearing the decks here in the homestead and the studio, things are somewhat settling down. There are still plenty of open action items, but now I can  shift gears a bit to work on the to-do list for LPHovercraft. Aside from the always-going sound design and general music making, there’s a ton of logistical work that needs to be done roughly in parallel to the creative. Well, I’ve been putting that off for a while and now it’s time to get that on track. And actually, it feels good to have some of those things either under way or out of the way. I’ll be wrapping up an agreement for digital distribution of the stereo mixes of my work, and have everything in place for using DTS format for rendering the surround mixes. With that kind of “housekeeping” under control it feels like more room has been made for the creative/fun part of the job – but in truth something else likely takes its place after too long. For now I’m enjoying the moment and trying my best to capture musical ideas as they come flooding in. Some I’ll keep, some I’ll change, and some I’ll toss away. It just feels good for “the spigot ” of ideas  to flow after a brief hiatus to focus on the “mundane” life and woodshed on keys a bit.

LPH placeholder logo

There’s also progress on the artwork/graphics front – for producing web site and album cover art for LPHovercraft. That’s another task that will take some time to completely bear fruit, but it’s good to have the ball rolling in that area, too. Marie Meier, the French rock-and-roll artist that I’ve hired for the intial phase of LPHovercraft’s public face, has been swamped with other commissions – which is certainly a good thing for her! We just had a meeting via email and our schedules will start to mesh in the next few weeks, so some focus will come to that part of the project. There’s nothing to show, yet – but as things develop I will do some visual “hinting” on the LPHovercraft web site as those works get closer to being production-ready. Also, Marie is consistent in sharing her in-progress works online, so there will be a steady diet of visual material along with some audio snippets on the LPH site as the songs mature and get closer to being ready “for the wild”.

Also, on a completely unrelated project – I just got a call from a friend on a small film project that seems like it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s a promo piece for a museum and theater here in California – and they’re also talking about cutting a longer version of the piece to circulate as a short film for the festival circuit. It has both spoof and straight-ahead music in it, and so far the schedule is a good fit. Like just about everything else – not much more I can say about it at the moment, but keep your eyes and ears peeled and I’ll update everyone as soon as I’m able.

However, every once in a while you’ll find that exception to the rule. Even in the cut-throat world of the film music biz, there are a few kind souls that feel confident enough to put all of their cards on the table. Deane Ogden is one of those people. He was one of the first composers that I met after moving to Los Angeles. I was surprised by how candid he was about *all* sides of the business, and how forthright he was about his own perceptions and experience. With his easy-going demeanor and open-book approach (to nearly everything), it can be easy to overlook that he’s not only a talented composer but also a world class drummer/percussionist. I would even call him a prodigy if there weren’t so many pejorative connotations associated with the term. It’s been several years (and a handful of successful collaborations between us) since then, and in that time Deane has scaled up to publish his own audio blog about the art, craft and business of music for film. The “Scorecast” podcast on iTunes (and Gcast) gained a worldwide following. And now has recruited a team of like-minded souls (myself included) to join in on writing a blog to have frank discussions about the myriad aspects of working in the film, television, and new media business as a musician today. Scorecastonline has quickly developed into a highly valuable resource for budding composers (and I’d imagine that a few seasoned vets can get something from it as well).

The reason why I’m publishing this blog entry now is that there’s a particular article that Deane published on the site recently that has really put hits the nail on the head. Deane covers the “verboten” territory of what to do when there’s no gig in the queue. That topic seems to be a really radioactive subject, like the 800 pound gorilla in the room that most groups of composers are loathe to discuss. It’s articles like that (and the online discussions that follow) which makes it so rewarding to know and work with guys like Deane as well as the rest of the Scorecast crew. They’re all guys that relish the “keep it real” vibe, and makes it a lot of fun to work with them.

I’ve learned a lot by hanging out with Deane, and continue to pick things up along the way. Anyone that’s interested in seeing “a day in the life” of a film composer, the Scorecastonline blog is a great place to start. I’m proud to be a part of it.

The red cave on St. Patrick's Day

I’m still working on some updates to my Tango console – re-programming the Edit Panels for the new software model they just released. It’s a bit of a slog to program 10 panels of key commands in a 10X10 grid (plus all of the hardware buttons makes for more than 1300 locations to set – YIKES!) but at the end of the day it will be well worth it. Once it’s done I’ll also be able to export my settings so that other Tango users can import what they need to use for their own setup (and save them the trouble that I went through).

Later today I *should* be starting a new project – if it’s ready for me. If not, there’s plenty of other stuff to do – some menial like the task described above, and some more creative – including laying the groundwork for an album project that will both return me to my roots and push forward in an intersting new creative direction. I can’t share too much about now but hope to have the deal in place soon so that I can talk about it publicly. Until then, lots to do! Have a happy and safe holiday!