Part 3 of the Full Tilt interview with Kaveh Cohen & Michael Nielsen is here!
Trailer Music News presents the third and final chapter of the interview with Kaveh Cohen and Michael Nielsen; composers for the Full Tilt Library, distributed by Groove Addicts.
In this part Kaveh and Michael discuss the aspects that make composing for trailers unique, and what other projects outside of trailers they have worked on. They conclude with a message for their fans.
The cue "The Fallen", from their newest release Full Tilt: Rising, is used in the video. You can listen to more of their music on Facebook or Kaveh's MySpace.
You can watch the interview in HD below, on Vimeo, or on YouTube. (Part 1) (Part 2)
We did the interview at Kaveh's studio, but Michael was kind enough to send some pictures of his studio, and you can check them out below, by clicking to enlarge.
Interview with Ray Li
You're not the typical trailer music composer that we usually interview. Tell us a little about yourself! What's your musical background? How did you become interested in trailer/production music specifically?
My musical background pretty much doesn't exist. I took a few weeks of piano lessons when I was around 7-8, but that's about the extent of my musical training. Since those lessons, I haven't had any experiences with music until about two years ago, when I just sat down at my family piano and started messing around. Everything I know about music I've taught myself, and I'm fairly proud of that.
My intention has never been to create trailer music. When I was working on my CD, Final Horizon, I really just wrote tracks that appealed to my tastes... And those tastes just happen to correspond with trailer music style.
How did you get involved with Alexandar Dimitrijevic's Teddy Bear Music?
It was actually TrailerMusicNews.com that started the whole thing. You guys were kind enough to include a link to my website in a short article on TMN, and in a great stroke of luck, Alex visited my site. After listening to some of my songs, Alex contacted me via the AIM that I listed on my website. At first, I was really skeptical that the person talking to me on AIM was really Aleksandar Dimitrijevic. Haha, I put him through a torturous amount of confirmation tests to verify that he was who he said he was. I just couldn't believe that this could be happening to me.
What tracks from your Final Horizon album were chosen for Smash the Screen? Did you make new versions of them for Teddy Bear Music? What was that process like?
Alex chose my songs "Life" and "Forsaken" to include on his CD. I sent Alex MIDI files for those songs, and he re-arranged and produced them for the CD. I'm very impressed with what he's done with my songs. It shows just how much I still need to learn about music production.
Being self taught, and making a public CD must have taken a lot of dedication. What drove you to produce Final Horizon? Do you have any favorite tracks of yours?
Really, just a love of music, and a need to express emotions that I can't express any other way. When I'm working on a song or improvising at the piano, it's a great experience. Sure, the production and tweaking is a lot of work, but the whole endeavor has taught me a lot about myself and has been very fulfilling.
Hmm... favorite tracks... I pretty much like all of my tracks equally, but if I had to choose I'd say some of my favorites are "Forsaken," "Edge," "Life," and "Starlight Grace."
Do you have any favorite composers, or trailer music companies?
The odd thing is, I only discovered trailer music AFTER I had finished with my album. It wasn't until a friend of mine listened to my music and suggested that I listen to Immediate Music that I became interested in this whole trailer music stuff. I still have a lot of listening to do, so I'll hold off choosing favorites. But so far Immediate Music and Aleksandar Dimitrijevic's stuff is great!
What are your plans or hopes for the future? Will you be pursuing music as a career?
Right now, I am in the midst of the college application process... (Applications are due in less than a month!) I most likely will not be studying music in college. At this point in my life, taking on music full-time just seems too risky. Also, I've kind of dedicated myself to exploring music on my own, so I wouldn't really be interested in music theory classes anyway. In college, I plan to study physics or engineering. I'll always be working on new songs in my free time though, and hopefully one day my music can become a real way for me to make a living. It would be my dream job.
Any last comments or words of wisdom for our multifarious readers?
I still have a lot to learn, and I really appreciate the comments and support that everyone at TMN has given me! I'd like to apologize for not coming out with anything new recently. As soon as I finish this whole college application process I should be pumping out songs on more a regular basis. Thanks for reading, and I will try to deliver newer and better songs!
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You can check out Smash the Screen here; it's the first epic release from Aleksandar Dimitrijevic's Teddy Bear Music. Also, be sure to head on over to Sycross Music for Ray Li's CD Final Horizon.
Interview with Ray Li
Here at TMN we were pleasantly surprised to see Ray Li's name appear on Aleksandar Dimitrijevic's website for Teddy Bear Music. We had written a brief article about his CD release, and just two months later he had music on Teddy Bear Music's first release, Smash the Screen! Ray kindly took a few moments for an interview, and we're excited to share it with you all.
You're not the typical trailer music composer that we usually interview. Tell us a little about yourself! What's your musical background? How did you become interested in trailer/production music specifically?
My musical background pretty much doesn't exist. I took a few weeks of piano lessons when I was around 7-8, but that's about the extent of my musical training. Since those lessons, I haven't had any experiences with music until about two years ago, when I just sat down at my family piano and started messing around.....
5 minutes with FIRED EARTH MUSIC’s ‘Cyanite’ composer, Aleksandar Dimitrijevic
You've delivered a chilling collection of Horror, Thriller and Suspense for FIRED EARTH MUSIC's second album. Did you have to go to a dark place to produce sounds that will reflect and complement the most vicious moments of today's horrors?
In a way, yes. We all have part of ourselves that sits in the shadows. The more I’m in touch with mine, the better I can do projects like these. But it was always more natural for me to do darker side of music. Give me a comedy track to do and I'll start sweating.
Describe a bad or recurring nightmare that you have.
I guess that would be this post-apocalyptic dream, where everything is in ruins and rust. All the people that you see are in fear, dragging their old suitcases desperate to get somewhere, and I don't know where or what exactly happened for that matter. Only know that a lot of people are dead, and what survived is hurdling in fear. It’s hard to explain, but for me that’s one of the darker ones that pops up fairly regularly.
Which horror movie made a mark on you, growing up?
Too many to pick just one. But if I had to pick one it would have to be Hooper's "Texas Chainsaw"...but also Carpenter's work like "The Thing", "Halloween"...numerous Zombie flicks, and then there is "The Basket Case", perfect little horror from 80s ...
Cyanite Reel
Cyanite offers a diverse collection of sounds and moods. Which track did you enjoy working on the most?
I had great fun working on all of them, if I have to pick I'll go with Erotic Psychotic and Emerging Darkness.
Listen to Emerging Darkness from Cyanite
Listen to Erotic Psychotic from Cyanite
Which of today’s horror characters would you least like to have an encounter with?
Lady Ga-Ga!
Interview with Kaveh Cohen & Michael Nielsen | Part 2
Here it is! Tell your friends! Spread the word! The second part of the interview with Michael Nielsen, and Kaveh Cohen; composers for the Full Tilt Library, distributed by Groove Addicts.
In this part Kaveh and Michael discuss how they approach new releases, and the differences between custom work, and library cues. Kaveh Cohen also shows a mock-up of a cue, and describes the process from composing to live recording.
The cue "Salvation", from their upcoming release Full Tilt: Rising, is used in the video. You can listen to it in its entirety on Facebook or Kaveh's MySpace.
You can watch the interview in HD below, on Vimeo, or on YouTube.
If you missed the first part, you can watch it on here on YouTube.
Thank you Kaveh and Michael for taking time to do the interview! Thanks to Ray Borda who conducted the interview. Thanks also to Collin Perry for the awesome scoring session footage used throughout. Sorry for the delay in getting it up, but I hope it was worth the wait. (Part 3 should be up within the next two weeks)
Interview with Ryan Amon
Hoy, hoy! Ryan Amon kindly agreed to answer some of our questions so if you have any, feel free to write it down in a comment. I don't promise that all of them will be answered, but we will pick up some questions from here too, as usually.
Probably you remember thar Ryan Amon created the new library, City of Fallen, his tracks also can be found in Post Haste Music library and he composed music for various television products.
He also mentioned that he likes TMN and he hopes more and more people will take liking for this genre, but let me quote him:
Until this past year, I never knew that trailer music had such a big following. I really like the Trailer Music News website and I hope that this niche of music continues to grow in popularity.
Justin R. Durban interviewed on SCOREcast
Justin R. Durban was recently interviewed for the SCOREcast podcast. It is definitely worth listening to, if you're interested in learning more about Justin R. Durban, and how the trailer music industry works.
Go here to listen to SCOREcast #20: Shownotes
Justin talks about where he grew up, and how he made the move to LA. He also talks about how he got into the music business by writing for free, and getting his name out there. He met with Chris Field of X-Ray Dog, and it's a very cool story to hear how he got his music in his first major motion picture trailer. It's a very interesting interview because Justin talks about how it works to be writing music for a licensing house like X-Ray Dog. He also talks about his studio, which is based in his home, in Woodland Hills, California (I was just there this past weekend for TML!).
Justin's written music that's been used in trailers for Australia, The Mummy 3, and most recently Battle For Terra.
Check out his website: www.justindurban.com
According to his news section, he's recently been commissioned "to write a Full Orchestral Suite for the Admiral Nimitz Museum." He has 3 feature film projects pending as well!
The rest of the podcast includes an interview with Steven Richard Davis. He writes for daytime television, as well as film, trailers, and library work.
SCOREcast is a podcast produced by SCOREcast Online, which is a very unique community devoted to Film Music Professionals, and those who hope to get into the film music business.
Teaser of next video interview...
Hoy, hoy! As you probably remember we mentioned that we organized an interview with Kaveh Cohen and Michael Nielsen. This time Michael Morone teamed up with Ray Borda to have a conversation with the composers of Full Tilt music library. Michael and Kaveh talked about their background, about the trends of the trailer music industry, about their musical aspirations, about some of their recent projects, and more. For some unseen technical issues Michael finished a teaser for the upcoming interview just today. Just for you. Just for now. Here on TMN:
The full interview is coming in the next few weeks.
The interview with Yoav Goren
Hoy, hoy! Finally our mighty knight Michael finished his quest named "Post-production of Immediate Music" for which he got a lot of XP and a rusty sword. We are really thankful for his efforts. We are also really grateful for Yoav Goren for making this interview possible. So long live for the composer!
"Thursday March 5th, 2009. Forty-five minutes before the interview my friend Ryan Ramirez and I are standing outside the building that we had the address to. The small plaque next to the door said '300: Immediate Music'. I wondered if I was in the right place." Read more>>
