Composer Cribs: Bill Brown – Los Angeles, CA
“Something soulful” – that’s what Bill Brown searches for when he’s composing music-for-picture.
It’s a quest that’s paid off. He was the music man of record for the full nine-year run of “CSI:NY”, SyFy’s “Dominion,” Michael Mann’s All, Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday, and a host of hot game titles including Captain America: Super Solider and Wolfenstein.
So how do you locate the soul in the often soul-less land of LA? Brown hunts it down with old-skool acumen, often hand-writing scores while he’s in the idea phase. Once its time to lay ideas down, he’s got a cadre of custom instruments that almost no one else has, and he puts them to good use.
What are Brown’s secret weapons, and how does he wield them so effectively? How does he game-plan a game score so it builds in complexity? And what four essential tips does he offer up to emerging composers who want to make a Hollywood go of it? Dig in to this “Cribs.”
Do a double take on this light speed bass — it’s low end is the real deal.
Composer Name: Bill Brown
Website: http://www.billbrownmusic.com
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Soundtracks Served: Films, TV and Games
Clients/Credits: “CSI:NY” (9 seasons), Lineage 2 (The Online MMORPG – Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), Captain America: Super Soldier, Wolfenstein, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon, Dominion Season 2, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, etc. / Currently working on a Chinese MMORPG (to be announced) and two independent films for director Joshua Caldwell.
Bill’s IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0113119/
For Example…
and…
https://soundcloud.com/billbrownmusic/sets/tv-music-for-crime-dramas
https://soundcloud.com/billbrownmusic/sets/captain-america-super-soldier
https://soundcloud.com/billbrownmusic/sets/bill-brown-the-demos
Room Inspiration: It’s basically a big room with nice views. Lots of light, room to record musicians with me in the room and a big corner filled with custom analog modular synths and effects!
Key Personnel: Dan Martinez is awesome and has been my assistant for years.
Workflow Requirements: All of my furniture is custom with the exception of the client couch.
I have a movable side desk off my main composing desk that I can place anywhere in the room for collaborators or for additional synths. The modular corner is all custom, the desks specifically built for each system with a one-of-a-kind custom Moog effects pedal rack that I can move anywhere in the studio.
Brown’s custom Moog pedal rack is mobile.
Major Modular: My first synth as a teenager was a minimoog. That’s the sound I fell in love with first.
These modulars are really unique in the way they create sounds, everything is handmade in them. My System 55 uses the same vintage parts as the original Moog modulars, but was custom built for my studio just last year by Gene Stopp at Moog. It’s a sound you can’t reproduce in a computer, it’s organic and wild.
And the same goes for the larger, more complex “Club of the Knobs” modular. It’s fun layering them into larger pieces, they fill a space in the mix totally their own.
Outstanding Instruments: Jonathan Wilson custom made my guitarviol a few years back. There are only one or two like it in the world. He since went in new directions with his instruments, so this one is very unique. It’s designed to be bowed like a cello, but has an electric guitar fretboard and sound. I’ve used it on films and more recently on Dominion S2.
The Rebel Bass (my Millennium Falcon bass) was custom-made for me by a guy in London that has been building them for a few years. I’ve already used it on recordings in the studio here. It has a true Fender neck and internals, so the sound is pretty great — and it’s the Millennium Falcon!!!! Here’s me playing it in the studio:
Picture This: I have the editors or developers deliver QuickTime movies and sync them up in Logic Pro. The movies play on a larger monitor that hangs in front of my composing desk, as is the case with most composing studios. It’s all happening on one system basically.
Audience Accommodations: I have a nice couch in the back of the studio with room for everyone to put their feet up and hang. And lots of coffee!
Gaming the System: With films or games, after I’m signed onto a project I’ll meet with the team to discuss the direction of the score. Once we have a creative direction in place, I’ll go into the studio and create either a series of themes, or create underscore for specific scenes that will show the direction of the score.
Usually after a week or so, I’ll either have the director or producers over to the studio to go through the new material, or I’ll use QuickTime movies via the Internet for the same process. And then it’s back to creating more score and repeating that creative process until the project is complete.
For Captain America: Super Soldier, I met with Next Level and Marvel to discuss the direction of the score and came up with a rich, complex thematic concept for the characters and the levels. Specifically that the opening levels would have a more traditional orchestral feel, and then as the Sci-Fi technology is slowly introduced, the score would reflect the mystery and the technology by introducing strange analog / synthetic sounds and textures with each level.
I hand-wrote notes during our meeting and brought them back with me, then created a huge spread sheet that spanned all of the levels and characters.
Light and flexibility were key components to Bill Brown’s space.
Complex Cue: Probably Captain America was one of my most challenging projects yet, as far as asset management and complexity goes.
And I think some of the most complex acoustic recording I’ve done over the years in my own studio has been recording live winds with Steve Tavaglione, guitars with George Doering and Peter Maunu, and acoustic and electric cello with Tina Guo on all of my films as well as on “CSI:NY” and “Dominion Season 2.”
Priceless Advice: I would say to emerging composers: Be yourself, don’t try to be someone else (they’re already taken). Stay true to and stick to what really moves you as an artist. Understand you’re going to have to work really, really hard to make it happen for yourself, as well as being readily available and reliable along the way. Also, try to stay humble, put your ego away. Keep listening, learning and innovating.
Most of all, I would say have fun with it and open yourself to collaboration, that’s the key. I’ve learned over the years that an essential ingredient to my job is truly listening and really honoring what the director, producers or developers are looking for when collaborating. Then I bring my soul, knowledge and expertise to the project and listen to my own intuition about it all — so I can create something soulful that elevates the project.
Recording with Tina Guo.
Synths…
…workstations…
…and six=strings all play a part.
Pretty massive modular.
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