upcoming Visions & Voices project – live multimedia spectacle
I’m looking forward to working with Mike Patterson, creator of this very special Visions & Voices project. The scope of the project includes a collaboration between live music, video and animation featuring the work of several artists including; D-Fuse, Scott Pagano and music by Brian King. The presentation takes place on April 22, 2011. As the project develops I’ll be sure to post updates. In the meantime, here’s a copy of one of the ads for the project.
The many facets of the SMPTV program
We’re now into our 2nd week of the new semester of the USC scoring program. At this time of the year, I am flooded with emails and phone calls from prospective students as they look ahead to the application deadline of December 1st. They have many questions about the application process, the curriculum, and the opportunities to prepare them for a career in the scoring industry. One of the most frequently asked questions, “How successful is the program – how many of the recent graduates are working, and what are they doing?” There’s a story in development that addresses this question, in detail, so I thought I’d include it in this post. If you’re able to take a few minutes to read this story I think you’ll see why the SMPTV program at USC is considered to be the very best of its kind. Click here to read a copy of the story (PDF)
LA MUSE EN CIRCUIT / EXTENSION X in Creteil, France
The concert in Creteil was CHUTES, the music of Michael Jarrell, Martin Matalon and Raphael Cendo as performed by the German contemporary group, ENSEMBLE MUSIKFABRIK, from Cologne. I will update this post to include the concert selections – great music! Here’s a link to the venue
and an english translation of the introduction by Mark Texier
The last shutter of a trilogy of video operas, after An Index of Metals and Il Diluvio, Fall (s) reunites video director Paolo Pachini with three strong personalities and great musical worlds: the ideal beauty of Michael Jarrell, the sound luxuriance of Martin Matalon, strong sound saturations of Raphael Cendo. This show illustrates three visions of an universal archetype: the idea of fall.
As three supplementary sound colours superimposing that which recreates light.
SA 05 JUIN 20H30
Dernier volet d’une trilogie de vidéo-opéras, après An Index of Metals et Il Diluvio, Chute(s) réunit autour du vidéaste Paolo Pachini trois fortes personnalités et autant de mondes musicaux : la beauté idéale de Michael Jarrell, la luxuriance sonore de Martin Matalon, les saturations furieuses de Raphaël Cendo. Ce spectacle illustre trois visions d’un archétype universel : l’idée de chute.
Comme trois couleurs sonores complémentaires dont la superposition recrée la lumière.
Marc Texier
MUSIQUES : MICHAËL JARRELL, MARTIN MATALON, RAPHAËL CENDO
AVEC L’ENSEMBLE MUSIKFABRIK
CONCEPTION ET VIDEO : PAOLO PACHINI
COPRODUCTIONS : FONDATION ROYAUMONT – GRAME/LYON, LA MUSE EN CIRCUIT/ALFORTVILE, CESARE/REIMS,
GMEA/ALBI : CENTRES NATIONAUX DE CREATION MUSICALE – FESTIVAL WHY NOTE /DIJON – ENSEMBLE MUSIKFABRIK/COLOGNE – MANEGE/CECN ET MUSIQUES NOUVELES /MONS – AUDITORIO NACIONAL DE MUSICA/MADRID. AVEC LE SOUTIEN DE PRO HELVETIA.
On stage, in Paris, with film composer, Jean-Michel Bernard
Film composer and musician extraordinaire, Jean-Michel Bernard, recently gave a concert as part of festival for French composers. In addition to his work with directors like Michel Gondry (“Science of Sleep” “Be Kind, Rewind” and “Human Nature”) Jean-Michel worked extensively with Ray Charles until Ray passed in 2004.
SMPTV Workshop on Mixing for Composers
Today, perhaps more than ever at some point in the process, composers are faced with the challenge of creating and mixing their music. In some cases, we’re talking about synth mock-ups and other times it may be the final mix. In either case, we’ve come to realize a wide range of skill level when it comes to mixing. Dennis Sands, with generous support from BMI. came up with a 4 part series to address many of the concerns and pitfalls for composers as they find their way in the stereo, and multi-channel field. Here’s a clip from a recent press release from BMI’s web site. The workshop was a success and I plan on continuing with this format next semester.
USC rescores “Copycat” with Chris Young at Warner Bros.
For this assignment, Christopher Young and director, Jon Amiel worked closely with the USC students to rescore the film, “Copycat” with a 35 piece orchestra at Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage. Jon spotted the film with the student composers. Here’s an example of a cue from the session, by Clinton Rusich.
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la neige tombe à Paris – décembre 18
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Upcoming Scoring Sessions for USC
We have a great schedule for this semester;
February 13th at East/West Studio in Hollywood with SMPTV instructors, Patrick Kirst and Sean Dougall focus on romantic comedy. Bob Fernandez will be the scoring mixer.
February 27th we’re back on campus with Sally Stevens and the Hollywood Film Chorale. SMPTV instructor, Freddie Wiedmann is set to produce this hybrid session. Bob Fernandez will mix.
March 13th is truly one of the highlights for the semester with SMPTV instructor and feature film composer, Chris Young and director Jon Amiel working together with the students to create a new score for “Copycats”. We’ll be at Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage with a live 38 piece orchestra, contracted by Peter Rotter of Decrescent & Rotter.
March 27th at the Spielbert Scoring Stage at USC with Brad Dechter’s orchestration assignment in a collaborative setting. Steve Krause will mix this session.
April 17th takes us back to Warner Bros. with a 65 piece orchestra. SMPTV instructor and feature film composer, Bruce Broughton will mentor the students on this, our final scoring session of the year!
a live theater performance of Woyzeck/Le Cabinet Du Docteur Narcotique…
I worked closely with Philippe Vincent and Bob Lipman to create a live musical dialogue, in real-time, between the stages in Lyon and my studio in Pasadena, California. I’m playing drums (Roland V-drum series), as well as playing a small acting role with the lead character, Woyzeck. Here’s the advertisement for the production. There’s another post on this site with a video promo.
Woyzeck – Narcotique (video promo)
It’s taken me awhile to post this one… At first, we tried to make a connection via Internet 2 between the stage in Lyon, France and the campus of USC. The theater in Lyon didn’t have Internet 2 access so we decided to give Apple’s iChat a shot… so far, so good. We’ve just completed our 5th show. With 2 shows remaining, I hope to get a recording of the experience from my perspective in the studio in Los Angeles. If, and when I do I’ll post it but in the meantime here’s a promo video from the show’s creator and director, Philippe Vincent;
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USC grad scores NBC series, “Community”
This is an unscripted sample of a potential storyline featuring several SMPTV graduates, tracing the experience from student, to composer’s assistant, to landing their own television series or feature film projects. In this example, Ludwig Goransson, USC class of 2008, was hired immediately after graduation from the SMPTV program by, A-list feature film composer, Theodore Shapiro – initially, as a full-time assistant. Within 1 year Ludwig worked on several features with Theodore including, The Year One and Tropic Thunder, while also scoring the music for a television pilot. Subsequently, Theodore recommended him for the NBC series, “Community”. Ludwig’s music was approved and since then, signed on to do all of the music for the first season. Ludwig is originally from Sweden and came to the U.S., specifically, to study in the USC SMPTV program. He turned 25 in September, 2009. During this interview, Ludwig was quick to acknowledge that the USC SMPTV program made all of this possible.
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paris collage – jazz a la villette – vincent suzat
During my recent trip to Paris, I made some new friends – wonderful people. We shared in a weekend of great music, food and friendship. To preserve some of these moments, I took a few photographs. Upon my return to the U.S. Vincent Suzat, was curious to get a copy of the pictures. The day after I posted them to the server he sent me this video collage, with music. It’s a beautiful piece – thanks to Vincent. I know he would want me to share this, so here it is… enjoy! Brian
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USC Film Scoring Orchestra
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USC String Master Class
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USC film scoring student project
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Brian King, V-drum performance with Bob Lipman and Philippe Vincent from Lyon, France to Los Angeles
We have yet to sort out the details but the dates are set; November 5th – 7th, 10th, 12th-14th at Centre de Creation in La Croix Rousse – Lyon, France. And, believe it or not, while the musicians take the stage in Lyon, I’ll do the same but from my Internet 2 hub, here in Los Angeles. This plus the combination of Roland V-drum makes this a groundbreaking experience, personally speaking. BTW – Philippe’s theater company, SCENES, which has been operating in part with funding from the French government for more than 20 years has just been denied the necessary funds for the new season. Philippe has presented a letter, as well as a signed petition from many supporters, asking the French government to reconsider the decision to deny funds, and thereby forcing the theater company to terminate. Here’s a link to the performances, as well as a link to Philippe’s company;
Performances for ” Le Cabinet du Docteur Narcotique”
Philippe Vincent’s theater company, “SCENES”
Brian King’s video tutorial for the Roland V-drum series
This tutorial is an attempt to take a closer look at some of the audio and MIDI recording capabilities of the Roland V-drum. The video also sheds light on the power, and ease of performance of the MIDI profiles, and how they can be applied to 3rd party plug-ins. When I created this, I opted to use Battery, by Native Instruments, but the same technique applies to any other 3rd party plug-ins. I’ve recently added “Addictive Drums” to my plug-ins and I must say that Addictive Drums is, by far, the best sounding drum plug-in I’ve ever heard. FYI – it does require some MIDI mapping to use with the Roland V-drum. Thankfully, Big Fish included a PDF of the MIDI mapping for the plug-in. It took me a matter of minutes to quickly adapt the “A.D.” mapping to the V-drum. BTW – I played all of all of the intro drum tracks, as well as the closing track ,on the video tutorial with the V-drum triggering the default setup in Addictive Drums. At some point, I might consider doing another video which details all of the setups between the V-drum and Addictive Drums, or anything esle you’d like to see. Enjoy! Brian
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video – Marc Ducret’s Grand Ensemble – Jazz a la Villette – Paris, France 06 Septembre 2009
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Jazz Video Archives – billy martin, calvin weston and DJ logic at TONIC 12.20.03
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brian king quintet 1981
There’s an mp3 player on the sidebar of this page with 4 tracks from the 1981 smith street studio recording sessions.
The band members included; Rob Aldisert – bass; Mark Fineberg – saxes and flute; Bob Lipman – guitar; Steve Shebar – drums; Brian King – keyboards and compositions
So where are these guys, almost 30 years later…
