Aspen Clips on YouTube

For any stragglers who may still be catching up on my blog, I wanted to announce that the clips I completed in Aspen are now posted on Youtube. You can view them on my YouTube page, which is linked on the left. They are titled "Heroic Chase Demo" and "Creepy Sci Fi Demo". Hope you enjoy! Thanks again to all you loyal readers!

Farewells and Reflections

So here it is, the last day at Aspen. Tomorrow I get up at the ass crack of dawn to return to the sweltering mess that is New York City. I can't say I am overly thrilled to leave. It has been such a jam-packed five weeks not only with music, but with a plethora of new connections, friendships, and opportunities swinging open at every corner. Even today I have met people for the first time. It makes it very difficult to leave such an environment when you know it will keep going for four more weeks after you're gone. 

Needless to say there have been some emotional moments today, but luckily they have been coupled with some enormously good times. After alot of running around and packing during the day, there was a large gathering at the local dive, Zane's Tavern, which I have to say has some ridiculously good tater tots. Most of you know I am not the biggest fan of bars, but tonight was an exception. We started a table outside and people kept trickling in until a whole mess of us had taken over the patio. We were really able to enjoy each other's company without having to battle a noisy mess, which I really appreciate. I couldn't think of a better way to go out. 

Overall I really did have the time of my life. The opportunities I've had to enhance my career were in themselves reason to go and be thankful for going. But, the people I've met and the friends I've made are what made my experience so supremely memorable. It is those connections that will last a lifetime. Yes, it may be cheesy, but it's true. 

I want to thank all of you who have been faithful readers of my trek to Aspen. It has been such fun blogging to the world. Until my next adventure! 

Showcase

Tonight was the big night. We got to show our finished products on the big screen to the public... well, the public of the Aspen Music Festival. We had a very good crowd and I have to say the whole thing went very well. The composers got up before each of their clips and talked about what they did and how they went about doing it. It is such an interesting thing to see the same two clips scored by five different people.  Our personalities and influences really shone through in our music. Perhaps the most striking thing about this program shone through in our work as a team. As much as the composing was independent, we really did work as a unit. There was no drama, no conflicts, just total support from all ends the entire time. This evening was the perfect culmination of our efforts. Personally, I had a blast. 

Film Composer Pianists?

A funny thing happened on the way to the studio... well, sort of. When we first were given the instrumentation for our Jimmy Neutron cue, we were told that we could use piano. So, three of us incorporated piano into our cue. When the recording engineer arrived he decided that having a piano on stage would present too many recording and logistical problems. So he told us that rather than having the piano on stage we would record without it and lay the piano tracks in later in the studio. Of course this was decided without any thought as who would do this or when they would do it.

Sure enough I and the other two composers get a call late in the day yesterday asking if we would be able to play our own piano parts. Luckily mine was not extensive, so I was happy to do it. In fact, it was kind of fun to be playing again. I even played the part for my fellow composer Nick.

Once that was over, I got to once again sit with the engineer and splice, shift, and polish. I have to say the recordings turned out really well - there was minimal work to be done, which made the engineer very impressed. Now we await our showcase on Monday night!

Mixing

After two supremely successful recording sessions it comes time to buckle into the studio, splice everything together, and make it all sound as good as possible. Today was the first day of two sessions at Great Divide Studios where I sit with the recording engineer and make decisions/comments/requests on how the music sounds and where it needs to fall in relation to the film.

We completed editing the first cue, which I was very pleased with. Definitely learned a few lessons in terms of aleatoric techniques and how to execute/notate them successfully for the musicians. The Aspen Contemporary Ensemble is a great group and really hauls ass when it comes to performing, so really we can be nothing but grateful. I also got the chance to do preliminary editing for Jimmy Neutron, which sounds really fantastic.

Below is a picture of the house in which Great Divide Studios lives. Quite the dump as you can see. ;)

Big Recording

So today was D-day. The day where all of our hard work, sweat, tears, cursing, yelling, screaming, laughing, all manifested itself before our eyes in one 25 minute slot with the biggest group of musicians any of us have had the privilege of working with. It is perhaps the most exhilarating and simultaneously the most vomit-inducing experience one could possibly have. Let me put this into perspective. You toil over this score day and night, proofing everything over and over, taping parts, placing cues, trying your damndest to get everything where it should be, knowing all too well that you are under an impossible deadline that has bound to let a few errors slip by you. At some point you have to let go, hand all the parts in, and kiss your sorry ass goodbye. You show up at the session and this is what you see:

On stage are 45 musicians, all with the parts you spent countless hours working on. When it's your turn, all attention is on you. Each composer has 25 minutes to record their 3 minute cue - nearly no time at all. One shot. No second chances. Now or never. Even the slightest error could be the difference between getting the perfect take or utter garbage. Intense? Yes. Crazy? Yes. Surreal? Most def. One of the most incredibly exciting experiences anyone could ever have? Hells yeah.

Done!

That's right: DONE. Today the parts for our Jimmy Neutron cue were due to the orchestral librarian. That means as of 2pm I was officially done with the hysteria of meeting the all-too-typically impossible film deadlines. I wrote 109 measures of fully orchestrated music (that's three minutes scored for over 35 instruments) in 5 days. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. Yes, I am tired, but more-so I am invigorated and am raring for my next project. I have to say it is really nice to be put in such an intense environment such as this only to discover (and be reminded) that you totally have the chops and the talent to kick frickin ass. 

Ahead of us is our recording session with the giant orchestra on Thursday, July 10, followed by mixing sessions for both our cues, then the final showcase of all our work on Monday, July 14th. I also hope to get a jump start on some concert music for some venues in the fall, including a trio for flute, viola, and  harp for my dear harpist friend Emily John - yay! 

I also would like to announce that I am now officially caught up on my blogging. I think one of the greatest features of this blogger is that you can edit the date and time of your posts. The three below that read Friday, Wednesday, and Tuesday were all posted within the last 24 hours. It's great for me since I can keep my entries date-relevant, but it may prove to be confusing for all you diligent readers who come here on a daily basis and suddenly find that there are three postings from days previous that you SWEAR you didn't see last time you were on. Worry not, you are not having a psychotic break, but rather are just witnessing my catch-up! Cheers! 

Wait, it's the fourth?

So when you have a huge fully-orchestrated score due on a particular day, you don't really notice what day that is - Christmas, your birthday, or in this case, Independence Day. Yes, our final full scores of Jimmy Neutron were due today at noon. Luckily I have been very on top of my writing and had mine done the night before. I spent the morning making some last minute changes, printing, helping out the other guys, and starting on my parts. By the time the afternoon rolled around I was able to regain consciousness to the outside world and partake in some low-key fourth activities. But, it was actually only until I called the local copy shop and listened to their out of office message stating they would be closing at noon on the fourth that I suddenly remembered it was indeed the day... I guess when one is focused... 

I am very lucky to have a lovely posse here in Aspen who, in my compositional exile, rallied together and made plans. Most of you know that I am not the biggest fan of fireworks, but, a group of us decided to plan a picnic and watch Aspen's fireworks show from a grassy knoll in the distance, which I can do. It was a really lovely time with food, fun, and shenanigans. Yay for my Aspen peeps!

Left to right: Casey, David, Aaron (apparently pronounced Earin), Hannah, Jord, Brighton, Courtney, and Molls 

Farewell Jack!

Today we said our goodbyes to Jack Smalley, who really has become a mentor and huge source of inspiration for all of us. Though we do wish he could stick around till we're done with Jimmy Neutron, we certainly have been given a whole lot to work with since he's been with us. I know this sounds like some sappy Hallmark card, but he really is a tremendous individual. I look forward to keeping in touch! 

Left to Right: Gavin, Taras, Jack, Kim, Nick, and yours truly in a very unflattering pose. 

Recording Session

Today we recorded our first cue! woot! It was a little bit of a shit show, but overall it was a fantastic experience with a really rewarding outcome. For those who may have missed it, we recorded at Great Divide Studios here in Aspen, a really stunning location. The guy who owns and operates it, Jamie, along with his staff were very warm and professional. Our players were the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, a really solid bunch of people both musically and personally.

As I noted, there were some shenanigans involved in this session. When we arrived the director of ACE (Sid, who is quite a hoot) informed us that he left his scores in the back seat of his car that his wife was now using to drive about Aspen. So, as Steve and James (the film scoring directors) got on the horn to fix that, we soon realized our bass player wasn't present half an hour after we convened. Unable to get a hold of him, we began frantically calling for someone else. Finally, after much angst, all was resolved. A bass player was contacted and swooped in to our rescue while Sid's wife got the message and delivered the scores.
In the end I was utterly ecstatic with how my cue went. ACE really hauled ass in their performance and Sid lined everything up perfectly on the first take. Bravo! I believe that all the composers were satisfied. The others had to record their cues in chunks due to tempo-change logistics, but I heard a lot of good things and will be anxious to hear how everything turns out. We record our Jimmy Neutron cue on the 10th. After that each of us will return to the studio to mix both cues with the audio engineer and voila - we will have our prize! I will surely be posting the cues once I have them. 

Some studio pics (all swearing and obnoxiousness involving photo uploads still apply):