Composing

I saw Sinners on Sunday, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. The soundtrack and score have been on repeat all week. It’s one of those rare films where the music doesn’t just support the story; it is the story. The score is so emotionally rich and narratively woven that it feels like its own character.

Composer Ludwig Göransson, collaborating once again with Ryan Coogler, crafted a soundscape that blends Delta blues, gospel, doom metal, and even Irish folk. He performed much of the score on a 1932 Dobro Cyclops resonator guitar, the same model carried by the film’s protagonist, Sammie Moore. They recorded live on set with musicians like Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, and Cedric Burnside, capturing the raw, spiritual energy of the 1930s Mississippi Delta.

Coogler emphasized that music was central to the film’s soul, describing it as a “spiritual language” that connects past and present. He and Göransson even jammed together during pre-production, with Coogler learning guitar to better understand the musical heartbeat of the story.

One standout moment is the climactic scene where Sammie performs a blues number that seems to collapse time itself, a moment Coogler described as aiming to make the audience feel “like you’re outside your body.” It was one of the most captivating things I've seen on screen in a long time.

If you’re a composer, musician, or just someone who appreciates the power of music in film, Sinners is a masterclass in how score and story can become inseparable. I highly recommend giving the soundtrack a listen! It’s available on streaming platforms, YouTube, and as a vinyl release.

Have you seen Sinners yet? What did you think of the music?

Currently, there are important features and tools such as have the enough expertise in many things such as technology, music theory, contacts, have the knowledge about contracts and so on.

Think about those moments in your films where the air thickens, a subtle shift occurs in the audience's understanding, yet no character utters a specific line, and the visuals remain seemingly neutral. Often, it's the score that carries this weight, communicating unspoken layers of meaning, foreshadowing impending events, or subtly revealing a character's hidden motivations.

The power of film music extends far beyond simply providing an emotional backdrop. Consider the strategic use of a recurring motif, perhaps initially associated with a seemingly minor detail, that subtly evolves and intensifies as a character's inner turmoil grows. Or think about a dissonant harmonic shift that precedes an unseen threat, creating a sense of unease long before it visually manifests. Even the choice of instrumentation – the fragile vulnerability of a solo cello versus the ominous weight of low brass – can speak volumes about a character's true nature or the underlying tension of a scene.

These aren't just "pretty tunes"; they are carefully crafted sonic brushstrokes that add depth and nuance to your narrative. As a composer, my focus is on understanding the subtext of your story, the unspoken emotions that simmer beneath the surface. By employing subtle scoring techniques, we can enrich the audience's experience, allowing them to feel and intuit elements of the story that lie beyond the explicit.

I'm curious, what are some instances in films that have particularly struck you with their use of score to communicate subtext? I'd love to hear your thoughts and discuss how music can become a powerful, unspoken language in your cinematic storytelling.

What's your go-to habit or routine that sparks your inspiration?

Do you usually compose from a place of joy, melancholy, tension... or total chaos? Share your thoughts, and if you want to drop in a link too as an example, please do!

Musical composition is a creative and technical process that involves different skills and tools depending on the case.

Academic composers use musical scores and pencils; more modern composers may use Sibelius or other software on an iPad or computer. Still others simply open their favorite DAW, load a virtual instrument, and start playing.

However, composing music isn't the same as creating music.

The creative act can happen at any time, and with no other tool than our own imagination.

If I had had the opportunity to record all the melodies I've created throughout my 50 years of life while I was in the shower, I would surely have a huge collection of compositions because, of course, ideas must be captured in some form.

Creation is something innate. As artists, we are capable of creating whatever we do at any moment, without thinking or planning.

A photographer sees art practically every time he opens his eyes: landscapes, people, objects, all the life around him is his backdrop. The same with a painter.

A writer imagines stories from a word, a phrase, a conversation, a sound, or a situation.

Those of us who create and compose music live surrounded by symphonies.

I often read articles—well, actually, just the titles—about "how to get inspiration"... Wow! Go outside! Listen to the wind, the voices, the noises, the sirens, the horns, the rain, the sounds of construction, the train passing in the distance, the birds, the people walking, the kids playing in the park, or even absolute silence!

If at any time, for whatever reason, you feel lacking inspiration, remember that music is nothing more than "the art of combining sounds."

And sounds are all around us all the time.

Here's a little inspiration and wisdom as you head into your weekend. Feel free to share how you prevent burnout and keep yourself in flow state.

A very interesting article about the subject. What are your thoughts?

https://www.production-expert.com/production-expert-1/the-myth-about-imp...

I have certain 'processes' when I search for new software.  This 'methodology', I use is based on 30+ years of IT experience (19 of them where my primary job was to evaluate new hardware and software technologies for Exxon).  I do not look for software by first identifying the candidates and then select based on criteria.  But in a way perhaps I do - depends on what you call criteria.  I first imagine what the solution I am looking for will look like and behave.  And in the case of my search for a virtual singer solution, I judge that today, predominantly, software claiming 'artificial intelligence' has put some of the 'intelligence' of the solution in its 'underpinnings'.  But most of the intelligence and actions must still be customized and invoked and 'shaped' by the user of the software.   Again, some of intelligence is in the software and most remains in the user of that software.

The solution I am looking for is software where that balance is switched - where most of the intelligence lies in the solution and the user merely guides the software towards the solution.  I believe in real life that is how we operate.  We care primarily how a singer 'sounds' and often care little about how the singer creates the sound.  However, sometimes we ask the singer to make the modifications.   For example, if the singer sings "H AND" and we want them to pronounce each occurrence as "HA ND" (hopefully you get the difference in the two pronunciations) in the current generation of software, the user goes to every place the word is sung and assigns a different phoneme code to change the singing pronunciation.  However, in real life we just tell the singer "sing each occurrence of "hand" as ... .  The solution I am looking for allows we to interact with the virtual singer "in English" the way I would do in real life and not through a bunch of clicking to modify rectangles and curves in a piano roll.

This high level English language approach to creating AI-based software which places most of the intelligence in the virtual singing software and all the underlying customization is handled by the software as much as possible, has been over the years described as an "expert system".  I participated in expert system research while a graduate student at Rutgers from 1972 to 1976.  And here we are 50+ years later and music expert systems still need conception.  Again for my envisioned software solution, I want to interact with a virtual vocalist the way I do in real life - by communicating in English using the three basic audio entities the singer cares about - the audio file or other entity they used to learn the song, the instrumental track they will listening to while they do the singing and the singers vocal track (the 'output' which will be mixed with). Every other object other than those three should be hidden.

So before I delve into more details on what I believe a virtual vocalist expert system should look like versus the current piano roll-based Audio Engineering (AE) model, here is my personal list (from my own experience) of how I collaborate with singers.  Again, I am looking for software to handle most of the collaboration and what remains I should be able to tackle with little technical knowledge of the underpinnings of the singing.  Some of the software I am looking at (like Dreamweaver Synthesizer V) have an increasing amount of intelligent functionality and what they all (so far) seem to be lacking is an intelligent English interface that hides the technical underpinnings.

The Collaboration Process

•    Auditioning (Finding the Vocalist) – There are five basic methods by which a primary vocalist is determined: (a) Listening to demos/snippets of the vocalist singing, (b) filtering out a smaller subset of vocalists based on various criteria including singing style, genre, etc., (c) choosing a vocalist that ‘sounds like’ another vocalist (the later often is well known), (d) choosing a vocalist previously collaborated with, (e) asking vocalists to sing part or all of the song being recorded.

•    Learning The Song – (a) Many vocalists have no formal music training nor interest in learning the basic concepts or the theory.  They learn a song by hearing it played with a melody sung by some one else or perhaps by an instrument. (b) Other vocalists ask for lyric sheets which contain merely the lyrics and possibly chords on top of the lyrics. (c) some vocalists learn songs with ‘lead sheets’ (which contain melody, chords, and lyrics) or other codified sheet music.

•    The Sweet Spot – Once a song is learnt and ready to sing, there must be an agreement on where the vocalists ‘sweet spot’ is located.  That way, it can be determined whether the key of the song needs adjusting so that the vocalist can be most effective at the ‘highlights of the song’.  Adjusting the key the vocalist sings could impact the accompanying music track and may necessitate the music track be re-recorded.

•    Octaving – Sometimes the melody of the written song is way too low or high for the vocalist necessitating singing the whole melody an octave higher/lower.  Or perhaps, only parts of the song are out of range or at the ‘edges’ of the vocalist necessitating moving up or down an octave.  However, if there is too much movement/too many jumps, then it may be more effective to change the key to place the melody in the middle of the vocalist’s range.

•    Singing Style – Choosing a vocalist in the real world comes with a primary singing style.  If that does not match the criteria for the choice, there could be a certain amount of leeway for the vocalist. At some point, if the style does not match the criteria another vocalist needs to be chosen.

•    Tempo – The vocalist may prefer a particular tempo as they are better singing at certain tempos.

•    Articulation – Singers have a primary accent and many can sing in different accents.  The singing accent will impact the pronunciation of certain words. For example, the words “hand’ or “potato.”

•    Syncing – If the instrument track was created digitally, then the vocalist merely sings at a constant tempo.  However, analog tracks (not recorded with click track) especially live performances could vary slightly in tempo in various spots.  A quality vocalist can find a way to start and stop at the beginning of phrases so that the resulting vocal track does not have to have certain parts shifted/sync’d.

What’s Your “Desert Island DAW”?

If you were stranded on a desert island (yeah, I know—cliché), and you could only have one DAW—the last DAW you'll ever use—which one are you choosing, and why?

And yes, let’s assume your laptop never runs out of battery, and the island has an infinite supply of coconuts and rum (thanks, Jack).

Would you go with:

Adventurous Ableton Live

Crafty Cubase

Funky FL Studio

Legendary Logic Pro

Precise Pro Tools

Reliable Reaper (like me)

Or maybe something else entirely?

But here’s the thing—don’t just pick the one with the most features or the trendiest name. Think about the one that feels right. The one that gets you into that magical headspace, where your brain syncs up with your tech and creativity flows effortlessly. Which DAW would you get a tattoo of? Which DAW do you name your first born child after?

So… I’ll ask again:

What’s your desert island DAW?

What’s your ride-or-die?

Here’s a Blog by RB - !

Definitely know the feeling .. moving / shifting from writing music / producing to performing music.

Knowing your (my) experience and education sure helps to focus my attention at times.

Always keep learning !

I like how he mentions the relationships as well as Learning how the different teams within the film industry work - or .. how they work (together).

- how they should ! ;-). - smiles

Kerry Kennard

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https://www.stage32.com/blog/coffee-content-do-you-know-why-most-people-...

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