Days in the Life of a Film Composer

Saturday afternoon I attended a woodwind quintet concert featuring local composers by the Waterloo Sound Conspiracy. They performed my piece "Five Rings: An Olympic Celebration" and did an excellent job. It was the first time I had heard the work performed live. It was recorded for a CD several years ago but I had never heard it performed live until this past weekend.

It was a great thrill to hear it. "Five Rings" was the first piece on the program and it was a good choice in a program full of diverse works from local Austin composers.

This past Saturday night I had the extreme pleasure of emceeing and conducting four pieces on the Cinematic Symphony STAR WARS concert. I had been working with the group for the past couple months on the four pieces I was responsible for: "The Asteroid Field," "The Throne Room," "Parade of the Ewoks," and "Cantina Band." These were not easy (neither were the other eight pieces that Jesus Torres conducted) but the ensemble did a superb job and I was beyond blessed to have had this opportunity. It was the first time in 16 years that I have ever conducted in front of an audience (I do have many hours conducting in the studio). It was such a thrill!

I was also the emcee for the evening which was simply added to the rush. We had a packed house (maybe 500 people?) and my favorite thing about the entire evening was seeing all the kids in the audience and many were dressed up as their favorite characters with lightsaber or blaster in hand. It was a STAR WARS fanatic dream come true.

Here I am introducing the show with my original 1977 STAR WARS LP that I listened to when I was 4 years old. This album kick-started my passion for cinema.

I got a call today from Déjà Bernhardt who directed a beautiful short film I scored last year called THE MIDWIFE'S HUSBAND (2012). She told me that the film is in contention for best narrative in the national Student Academy Awards. It's regional winner making it qualify for the national award. There is a screening of all the regional winners in Chicago next week and then we'll find out next month whether or not it's the overall winner.

I'm extremely excited by this news. I've never scored a film that is a Student Academy Award nominee. I'm very proud of Déjà and her work. I fell in love with the film as soon as I first saw it and now its receiving some recognition and I'm a part of that. It's always a special honor to be recognized like that.

I can't wait to hear what happens next. Cross your fingers we'll win.

For the past few days I played host to film composer Cliff Martinez and Beth Krakower of Cinemedia Promotions. Cliff was the special guest for my next film composer event screening at the Alamo Drafthouse. We had two screenings of DRIVE (2011), one on Monday night at the Alamo Ritz and the other on Tuesday night at the Alamo Village. The first screening was sold out and the second was 90% sold making them both a great success. I lead the Q&A with Cliff after each screening and afterward he signed autographs and mingled with fans. They were both incredible evenings.

I was also able to convince Cliff to come to my UT class early Tuesday morning to speak to my students. That was a pretty incredible experience as well and I was extremely happy for my students to have the opportunity to talk with a composer of Cliff's caliber. After class I recorded an episode of "Film Score Focus" with Cliff featuring his music.

We did a lot the last three days and I had an absolute blast. The highlight for me was taking Cliff and Beth to the Salt Lick where we feasted on BBQ (to rave reviews from our LA-based guests).

I'm already scoping out prospects for our next event so keep your eyes and ears open...

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Things are going great with me over at Mondo. I've really been enjoying working for them on their new vinyl soundtrack releases. Below are the latest albums we've put out. So far all of these they had locked up before they hired me (it takes a considerably long time to get an album mastered, designed, and manufactured). I've been able to get four titles signed since I started. A few of these are slated for later in the year. I can't wait to announce what they are.

As with all Mondo products, these albums are already sold out. They don't stay on sale for very long.

MOND-004, POLTERGEIST (1982) by Jerry Goldsmith

MOND-008, DRIVE (2011) by Cliff Martinez

MOND-009, OBLIVION (2013) by M83 (Anthony Gonzalez) and Joseph Trapanese

SWITCH (2012) was released on DVD today. I scored the film in 2011 and also helped with the editing a little bit. This is a great documentary about the challenges we face concerning global energy. It's one of the single most comprehensive films I've ever seen on the topic of energy. It's a must see for anybody who lives on planet Earth and likes using energy.

BSX Records has just released Richard Stone's rousing horror/western score for SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN THE RETREAT (1989). I wrote the liner notes for this album marking my fourteenth album and first with BSX Records. I was not familiar with this film before I was offered the assignment to pen the notes. I'm thrilled I was because it's a fun movie with an absolutely incredible score! A true late-80s gem.

What a difference a month makes. A month ago I was just coming off my performance of DR. CALIGARI in Dallas. I had written 72 minutes of music in four and a half weeks and I was pretty frazzled after the performance. What's amazing is that not only did I compose all that music for CALIGARI (and orchestrate, copy, extract the parts, preparing the videos, etc.) but I also scored another feature film and I did it all in one night.

Kyle and Cliff Bogart who directed ARTOIS THE GOAT (2009) came to me knowing I was insanely busy asking for advice about what to do concerning music for their latest feature film YEAR OF THE FROG (2013). It was extremely low budget so they weren't expecting that I would be able to do it.

I watched the movie in anticipation of giving them some advice and instantly liked it. I was sure I couldn't squeeze in a feature film score in the middle of scoring CALIGARI so at first, I wasn't even thinking about working on it. Once I started liking the film, my brain started turning to figure out ways that I could it. An idea popped in my head.

This is the type of film that would really benefit from a unique scoring approach. I wouldn't have suggested it if it were not appropriate to the film; however, in this case it was. My idea was to score the entire film in one night. We'd rent a studio in town with a piano and I would proceed to improvise live to picture the majority of the score. The director Kyle, had been experimenting with a couple of electronic pieces for the film that I felt worked really well so we would also include those.

The plan worked out pretty well. I improvised the entire score to picture in about four hours. While the film is not yet completed and we still may have some holes to fill, I think the score will work out well. It was an interesting approach which I feel will yield interesting results. Keep your eyes and ears open for YEAR OF THE FROG.

Here's my setup at the recording studio as I improvised the score live to picture.
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In February, D Magazine (popular entertainment and culture magazine in Dallas) ran a story promoting the upcoming DCS concert featuring my score for THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. To spice things up they even did a photo shoot with maestro Richard McKay dressed up as Dr. Caligari himself. Pretty cool!

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About forty-five minutes before DR. CALIGARI concert in Dallas, I gave a pre-concert talk out in the lobby about the film and the music I composed for it. I gave the surrounding crowd a little "behind-the-scenes" taste of what my process was and the thoughts that raced through my brain while composing.

Here I am talking with attentive patrons
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From another angle
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My two biggest fans
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Here's the second episode of season 2.

So far two reviews have been posted online from major sources. All in all, I'd say these are great reviews even if the writer had some critical things to say. In both reviews, I can't completely disagree with them. As a composer you start off every project with a concept in mind and an approach you hope you'll be able to execute. Half the battle is simply executing that concept. Whether it worked or not is another thing entirely. With both of these reviews, the writer touched on several things that I set out to do from the very beginning. I've seen several scores for this film and they're all pretty wacky, wild, uncontrolled type scores. Let's face it, this is the type of film where you can write all kinds of crazy music to it and it would work on some basic level. I knew from day one that I didn't want that kind of score. I wanted it to be simpler, more controlled, more traditional, and something that keeps the film the star of the show, not the music.

These two reviews are a delight because they prove that I executed what I set out to do. Now, whether or not this was the right decision or not, that's debatable; however, I'm thrilled that I succeeded in my conceptual approach to the film. That's not always easy to do.

I agree, it's not as flashy or filled with gimmicks as much as I've heard other scores approach this film. That was my intention. I think the rest is a matter of taste. I prefer this type of score. Others could not. Both completely valid.

Needless to say, whatever the writers wrote about me specifically, these reviews are absolutely fantastic for the fledgling Dallas Chamber Symphony. I don't think they could have asked for better. Congratulations again to Richard McKay and the DCS on a fantastic performance.

Here are the two reviews:

The Dallas Observer - "Last Night We Learned Dr. Caligari's Twist Ending: Dallas Needs Chamber Symphony" by Jamie Laughlin Wed., Feb. 27 2013

TheaterJones.com - "Express Yourself: The Dallas Chamber Symphony goes after an interesting niche with film scoring, giving the silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari a memorable new score by Brian Satterwhite." by Gregory Sullivan Isaacs, published Tuesday, March 5, 2013

And here's a nice little blurb at the very end of this article about the passing of Van Cliburn...

The Classical Note: Remembering Van Cliburn

Last week was the premiere of my score for THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919) by the Dallas Chamber Symphony at City Performance Hall. It was a complete and total success! I was so incredibly thrilled with the way it turned out and I think the audience enjoyed it as well. There was easily twice as many people (maybe three times?) in attendance as there was for A SAILOR-MADE MAN (1921).

It started with my drive up to Dallas last Sunday. I was going to arrive a few days early so I could attend rehearsals and fulfill a speaking engagement I promised one of the performers. I arrived mid-afternoon and one of the first things I did was finish up taping the orchestral parts. Yes, this proves that even the greatest jobs have shitty tasks. I absolutely hate taping parts together and still had three to go before the first rehearsal Monday morning.

Before I completed them, Richard McKay, the music director of the Dallas Chamber Symphony, took me to dinner and we had a nice relaxing chat about the score and The Oscars (which was live telecast that night). After dinner I went back to my hotel and finished up taping the last couple parts while I watched the rest of the Oscar telecast (congratulations to Mychael Danna for his first Academy Award!).

Finally! All the orchestral parts are taped and ready for the first rehearsal.
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The next morning I woke up at the crack of dawn and drove to the University of Texas at Arlington where I was the guest speaker for Dr. Jack Unzicker's 8:00AM film music appreciation course. Jack is the principal bass player for the DCS. It was a great hour and I was the impressed the students were as awake as they were. I love speaking in front of people, especially enthusiastic college kids.

After the lecture, I followed Jack over to the Sammons Center of Fine Arts for the first of two rehearsals scheduled that day. This was going to be the first run through of the score. This is always a nerve-wracking time for me as I'm never sure quite how it's all going to come together. From the first couple solo notes from the principle cellist I knew things were going to be alright. The entire rehearsal went very smooth. Richard was not conducting to picture but rather just going through the entire score section by section to iron out all the kinks. It was already so incredibly well performed even though just about everybody was sight-reading it.

We took a break for lunch and proceeded afterward with our afternoon rehearsal where we wrapped up the read-through of the score. We were going to run through it to picture for the very first time at the dress rehearsal a mere couple hours before the actual performance. So far, the music sounded great, now could we get it to picture without any malfunctions?

DCS Music Director Richard McKay runs through the first day of rehearsal.
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After the rehearsal I went out for wings and then chilled hard-core in my hotel. I love chilling out doing nothing in hotel rooms.

The next day, Richard and I were scheduled to appear on THINK which is a popular radio show on KERA in Dallas. Richard was very excited that we were on as he himself is a big fan of the show. To hear the entire broadcast, click HERE.

Later that afternoon, I arrived at the Dallas City Performance Hall around 4:30 and helped get the two computers set up that were were going to use for the performance. One had the conductor's version of the movie which had all the conducting aides imprinted on the film while the other was a clean version for the audience. The DCS ran through the score to picture for the very first time and it was super exciting to see and hear it all come together for the very first time. It gave me chills.

At 6:45PM I was schedule to give a pre-concert lecture for about twenty minutes in the lobby to a crowd of about 60-70 people. It talked about the film a little but mostly about my music and shared some behind-the-scenes stories about how it was composed. Some friends from Austin showed up along with my mother and father who have always steadfastly supported me throughout my career. My wife and kids didn't make this trip unfortunately as they just couldn't miss the time away from school.

It's concert time!
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This concert was all me. My score was the only thing on the program. At the start of the show, I gave a brief introduction and talked a little bit more about the film itself. I didn't realize it until a few hours earlier (thanks to my buddy Walker Dollahon who pointed it out to me on Facebook) but the night of my concert was the 93rd anniversary of the world premiere of THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI in Berlin! I was blown away when I heard this. When I told the audience this, little gasps and whispers could be heard from the audience below me. I took this serendipitous moment as a good omen that we were going to have a great show.

The dress rehearsal just before the actual concert.
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Indeed the show was fantastic! Richard did an amazing job conducting. All the instrumentalists of the DCS were superb, especially the principles who all had their moments in the spotlight. I couldn't have asked for a better performance. I was nervous pretty much the entire time, but I was loving every second of it. I can't wait to get the recording of the performance so I can cut it into the film and watch it again.

These two experiences I had with the Dallas Chamber Symphony have been among the top highlights of my career. The idea that I was able to bring these two classic films to new audiences is something I'm extremely proud of. I hope I get to do it again in the near future. Richard and I have been talking and I don't think that Dallas has seen the last of me and my music for silent films.

Outside my new favorite building: the Dallas City Performance Hall.
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Here's the finished first episode of season 2. The bulk of the music was composed for bass flute, upright bass, vibraphone, and celesta.

A couple of weeks ago I signed on to start scoring the second season of Jeff Burns' popular web series SUPER KNOCKED-UP. The first season was extremely popular racking up more than a million hits across the web. I'm very excited to have been brought aboard for the second season and have already composed the music for the first episode which is set to go live online February 20th.

Last week I wrapped up the score for THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919) and tonight I finished extracting all the necessary parts for the February 26th concert. The score and all the parts have been delivered. The only thing left for me to do is prepare the conductor's video which will only take about a day. I'll probably do it next week.

I ended up composing and orchestrating 72 minutes of music in about four and a half weeks. That could be a new record for me. I was a little worried that I could get that much music written in that amount of time but I seemed to have done exactly that and I'm extremely happy with the score. I can't wait to go to Dallas to start rehearsing for the concert. It's going to be incredible!

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One of the coolest developments of my career thus far is my recent partnership with Mondo here in Austin. I have been hired to serve as primary consultant for their new soundtrack label. A subsidiary of the Alamo Drafthouse, Mondo is world-famous for their high-quality limited edition screen printed posters which are commissioned from artists around the globe. I've blogged about them before in praise of the prints I have in my own collection.

A couple of years ago, Mondo branched out and started to release soundtracks exclusively on vinyl. It's been slow-going the past couple years which is why they brought me aboard.

My job is to seek out titles for release, make contacts and connections, and generally serve as the "go to" guy for advice, knowledge, etc. when it comes to soundtracks and film music. It's a great gig for me. I'm currently pursuing some titles off my personal wish list and as of this writing am responsible for signing three titles to the Mondo label which will be released later this year. Many more are in the works. I'm immensely excited about all of them. Mondo also has some other titles releasing soon which were in the works before I was brought aboard.

Mondo really does it right. They take great care in their releases both aurally and visually. They commission new album art from their stable of artists much like they do their posters. The market for Mondo's products are very unique as well. While I'm sure there will be a good bit of crossover from the typical soundtrack collector's market, Mondo's loyal customers are generally film lovers and art aficionados. People will be buying these soundtracks as much for the album art as they will the music itself. One other trademark characteristic of Mondo, is how fast their products sell out. Their posters sell out in about 40-70 seconds after being released online. To date, Mondo has released three albums on LP - MANIAC (1980) by Jay Chattaway, THE BEYOND (1981) by Fabio Frizzi, and THE DEADLY SPAWN (1983) by Michael Perilstein. All three sold out in about a day or two.

I'm very excited to be part of the Mondo team and look forward to releasing soundtracks to fans all over the world.

MOND-001, MANIAC (1980) by Jay Chattaway

MOND-002, THE BEYOND (1981) by Fabio Frizzi

MOND-003, THE DEADLY SPAWN (1983) by Michael Perilstein

I'm twelve minutes away from finishing THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919) for the Dallas Chamber Symphony. That means I've composed about sixty minutes of music in the last four weeks. That's a considerable amount for me. That's a considerable amount for anybody. I've got two cues left and then I'll be done.

I need to finish up as soon as possible so I can deliver the score to Richard so he can start studying it. Then I'll dive right into part extraction which will take some considerable time to complete. Hopefully by next week I can be close to done with everything and all scores and part will be delivered.

The concert is on February 26th. I've booked my hotel for the trip and am starting to look forward to the concert. It should be very cool.

Several weeks ago, I attended a screening of THE LAST STAND (2013) with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Johnny Knoxville in attendance. It was pretty cool to see this Hollywood icon up front and personal.

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It's already almost February and I'm just now posting my first entry of 2013. So What I have I been doing? The short answer is...working. Hard. I wanted to start my score for THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919) early in December but that is a tough month to be busy. There were tons of distractions. If I was faced with the option of going Christmas shopping or composing, I chose Christmas shopping. Christmas party or composing? I chose Christmas party. Setting up decorations or composing? I chose the decorations. It's just a hard time to be busy.

I kept telling myself this was okay but it's going to mean that January will be extra packed and I was fine with that. When I started my score for CALIGARI, I was already considerably behind schedule. That just meant I had to play catch-up.

I've been doing pretty well too. When I started I was probably 10-12 days behind schedule. Today, I'm probably three. Not too bad. And that's some serious ground I made up. The score is pretty much chugging along so I don't worry too much about getting it done. I'm at the point now, where I know it will be. Technically speaking, I ALWAYS know it'll get done but now I can actually see it happening. I think I've composed just under 70% of the score. I've already exceeded the total amount of music I wrote for A SAILOR-MADE MAN a few months ago. CALIGARI has almost 30 minutes more music than the previous film I scored and the second most minutes of music for any single project ever.

I'm really digging what I'm writing and hope it'll be a cool experience to see it live on Feb 26th. I'm sure it will be. In the next few days I hope to post a few more details about the score itself and maybe post a pic or two of the score.