Composing : What is your most recent composition? by Kat Spencer

I am working on a duet i co-wrote which originally came from the final third of a animated film score that I received a best score nomination for. As I posted here a few days back, I'm going to experiment with the software "Ace Studio" to substitute a virtual male and female virtual voice to an already completed instrumental adaptation. I will pull out the flute/female and clarinet/male leads for the two virtual voices.

Here is what I am starting with:

https://soundcloud.com/joelirwin/pooh

For demos, as with musicians, live singers can be quite expensive. A virtual singer is really imho no different from virtual instrument which I have been using for almost 25 years. May not be quite as good as live but good enough for a demo.

Hi Kat,

Mine is a Latin piece supposed to be on a music project, not necessarily for Film, last year.

Long enough for film, there’s one section I think the percussion needs to shine - so - probably a 1-2 hr session soon will suffice to make it awesome.

I spent 2 hours last night fixing many things- one was - from listening in the car - removing all the reverb. Added a new compressor plug in for the bass ! Amazing … it really changed the whole sound - think it’s a “Premium” type plugin.

Yes, do have one finished instrumental needs to find a new home ! ;-)

Joel Irwin That's a nice melody, do you have lyrics yet? I guess I'm spoiled being a singer, I don't have to hire anyone. :D

Kerry Kennard ohhh the fixing and listening in the car. Now I remember why I haven't composed anything new for a while. Lately, I've been singing live on YouTube and just looking for homes for all of the songs I've already created. I've done creation and production since 1998. Needed a little break. Although I will admit, now that my daughter is getting into it, and doing her own, I'm a little envious. I do enjoy making everything blend perfectly. Do you have your music somewhere to listen to?

Kat - yes there are lyrics to the duet. That is what makes it a prime candidate to try two virtual singers (software is likely less expensive than the cost of hiring two live singers). Demos are about realization of potential and imho, the difference between virtual and live is not as important.

Joel Irwin I agree for doing a demo. I was in a class today with musicians and a couple of us singers groaned when a fellow musician said he used AI rather than reaching out to a real vocalist. Budget is one thing, but there are a lot of us out here (who do need money) who would rather sing and work within another artist's budget than have AI do it.

Hi Kat, I worked on this a couple of weeks ago. It's a Secret Agent fan film opening sequence called Vesper that's in the Jame Bond genre. And the second track is from for a clip that I composed to the open sequence to the movie Oblivion but I can't show the movie here just the music!

https://youtu.be/F92_7NgQ-EI?si=1HP_2jbov58K7qge

https://soundcloud.com/media-composing-unlimited/sets/showreel-1?si=3c4e...

Kat Spencer - yes … music from my website and I’ve released a few singles and an EP Last year called Rhythm n Keys.

Timeless Cad is a nice one! 19k streams for me !

Hear you about adding vocals to projects - I may use a library sound, though the real voice is so much warmer. (Thumbs up).

I hired a tpt and Violin player for this one tune -

It helped so much. My best master guy says …

“It’s best to use real instruments for Lead parts”.

Yes - so true.

Mark Gosney Those were both awesome! I'm gonna have to share them with my son and daughter who are both getting into composing too. And my son is also getting into films and editing. Thanks for sharing!

Kat Spencer You're very welcome, I hope they enjoy them as well!

I don't have anything currently but pretty soon I will have a sample of something I am working on with a vocalist and guitar, where she will be using her voice as an instrument without words!

Hello ! i have no project a this moment !

I'm releasing my first english lyrics vocal composition

Hi all, I released a track recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXA4USbKzk4 It is intended to be the backing track of a bullet fight!

Hello!!!

I’m currently working on a video game project, and my last scoring work was a Japanese-themed orchestral piece—kind of like a Ghibli-style score, classic but simple. Right before that, I was working on my score for Film Audio Faceoff 2025: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3_qJl2i3h4

How about you? What have you been working on lately? Also, if you don’t mind sharing some insights, I’d love to hear your thoughts—maybe on my scoring technique or even career advice on how to land a real professional film project!

Pablo Narvaez Very well done! It fits your intention well.

And thank you Pablo Narvaez for the memory, right after yours played, my cover of the Psycho theme came on. That was so many moons ago. A piece I learned by ear for a friend of mine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOcxTkVLbl8

Chandra Cheung That was really good! Very intense. The music fits it perfectly. Lately, I've been mostly working on finding placements for all the music I've already written and helping my daughter with her songs. My next goal is to create lyric videos for all of my songs and some more music videos. Beautiful Addiction is my latest. https://youtu.be/aNc9_jXoINM

Very cool Henry Mashtots! Would love to hear it.

Kat Spencer you know what Kat ? I really like it! please do tag me sometimes again tho, would be happy to hear more updates, anyway, nice to have you in the circle ! :)

The dreaded Spitfire re-score.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkIfxpHg1ls

Chandra Cheung You too!!

Just finished an adaptation of a biography of Cherokee "Beloved Women" Nanyehi. Written by one of her descendants. We connected through Stage 32!

HI Kate, Thank you so much for your interest. I'm working on a few projects. This acoustic piano piece I've just recently uploaded on Bandcamp: https://nadiacripps.bandcamp.com/track/bittersweet-memories

Hi Insiya Foda - I checked out your SoundCloud music - really nice - Penumbra is especially nice !

What are your plans with this music ?

Congrats finishing - 1/2 the battle ! - ha ha

Have a great week!

K. Kennard

@chandra -

Are most video games now all orchestrated?

Any band sounding pieces - Rock or pop Rock genres to place on games ???

Hello Kat, Stage 32 newbe here, one of my last compositions is from a documentary film which I recently fully scored about the transition from the US administration to Panamanian Administration of the Panama Canal that took place 25 years ago.

If anyone wants to take a liaten you're welcome

https://open.spotify.com/album/0Yx07SJz0ZFFhrmTm17ExD?si=EaxPBMzYT_-liIE...

Yes it is, Insiya Foda - :~) Need to follow and listen to Michele Maslin - she's quite a lady with lots of wisdom in this area.

Me and Leanne greeman just completed this experimental work! It's me on the nylon string guitar, where I altered the sound, a little sound design I guess I could say, and Leanne contributed haunting vocals using her voice as an instrument with very few words. This is a more ethereal haunting and cinematic sounding peace. We are going to do simple vocal and guitar cinematic scores. We will also be adding some other instrumentation as needed.

https://johntinger.bandcamp.com/track/light-the-stars-with-lee-loo-on-vo...

I’m doing my Artist music project.

I did finish a Latin piece, from last year, and this contemporary piece also (string and tpt melody)

Yep definitely drum set in there.

Kat , I just listen to your peace beautiful addiction! That's a beautiful composition! I could see that being used in a variety of films by virtue of its vocal as well as piano arrangement, and the mood it presents. It's hard to describe music in words for me sometimes.

Agreed, your song Beautiful Addiction is emotionally supercharged! Excellent work!

Nadia Cripps Your piece is beautiful!

John Tinger Thank you! That means the world to me. And that is my goal, to get it placed. I really appreciate your listening and your comment.

James Wunderlich Thank you!!! I appreciate that so much!

Gian Carlo Feoli Listening now! It's beautiful and so powerful. Wonderful job!

You're welcome

@Kat Spencer Thank you so much for listening and for your kind opinion.