Interview with Castimoniae
Meet composer Eirik Jacobsen, founder of Castimoniae, a Norwegian trailer music company signed to Zone Music, one of Boost Music’s labels. Castimoniae’s first public album, From Northern Lights To Southern Darkness, will be released in March/April 2013 and will feature orchestral music.
Trailer Music News: Can you introduce yourself? How did you get into trailer music?
Eirik Jacobsen: My name is Eirik Jacobsen and I’m at the head of Castimoniae. I’m the first composer, writing all of the music and in charge of the economics, including contracts. Castimoniae is basically a product of mine. Along is Sindre Hotvedt who is in charge of orchestration, and to some extent also a co-composer. Castimoniae is a Norwegian company situated in Sortland – a small town above the Arctic Circle in the northern part of Norway.
My music is inspired by Rachmaninov, Wagner, Orff and Grieg. I’ve been a huge fan of Grieg since early childhood. He’s been my musical guidance throughout the years.
During the recordings in Prague I’ve got to know James Fitzpatrick at Tadlow Music really well. James is the head of Tadlow and organizes all of the non Czech Republic recordings in Prague. He has been our agent and though his network introduced me to Jez Poole at Zone Music / Boost Music (back in October 2011). So far Castimoniae has released 9 tracks on the Zone 031 Horror album and will probably release the same amount on Zone Epic Cinematic Trailers scheduled for early 2013. I’m hoping to release approximately 15 trailer tracks pr. year.
TMN: How and why did you start this trailer music company? Why the name “Castimoniae”?
EJ: Initially it wasn’t a trailer tack company. I started off writing songs to a studio project. This project was doomed to fail. In retrospection it was an immature project mixing metal and philharmonics, as if that hadn’t been done before. Oh, my God! Eventually I started looking for a better arena to write epic music that relied 100 % on my compositional skills.
I’m in general fascinated by everything that is epic – ranging from BBC’s nature and wildlife series with David Attenborough to blockbuster movies by Steven Spielberg, or just simply watching TV shows on Discovery about great engineering, search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Everything that is “larger than life” contains some sort of magic that I’m trying to reflect through my compositions.
The name Castimoniae had to reflect my musical intention. Being a Latin nerd at the time Castimoniae seemed like a natural approach as its Latin for “purity”. I blame the obsession on my DVM studies (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine). 8 years later I still believe the name is suiting my musical intension.
TMN: What are the particularities of this company? What sets it apart from the other trailer music companies?
EJ: From a technical point of view, Castimoniae is using live orchestra and chorus. The mix is done in renowned studios (Angel Studios in London and Pickles in Cambridge). Nowadays many trailer companies are only using samples and they end up sounding very much the same (simply because they use the same samples). From a musical point of view Castimoniae has a very classical approach – which you may either like or dislike. Personally I think the music stands out by rock sold production and catchy melodies and arrangements.
TMN: Do you record all your music live or do you use samples as well?
EJ: The strings, woodwinds, and the brass section are all recorded live, and to some extent percussion as well. The main thing is splitting these into smaller sections, like recording brass and percussion separately. On top of that chorus is recorded separately, giving us more alternatives in the mix. The use of samples on percussion is mainly to spice it up and to make a more distinct sound, as all of the recordings done in Prague tend to sound very much the same.
Personally I would prefer recording everything with live orchestra and musicians, but as the samples improve so does the budget decrease. The discussion will probably never end. And what’s best between live and sampled orchestras isn’t definite. I guess it depends on what’s the purpose. Samples will never outmatch live orchestras when it comes down to emotions, on the other hand – some orchestral sounds will never outmatch samples when it comes down to punch. We try to implement the best from both worlds.
TMN: You are currently preparing your first public release, entitled From Northern Lights To Southern Darkness. It will go out in March/April next year. Can you talk about this album?
EJ: As the title implies this album is filled with light and darkness. It has a very strong relation to the Artic environment. During winter there’s very little daylight here, and during summer there’s basically 3 months of sunlight 24 hours a day. Musically speaking I’ve tried to capture some of these emotions in my music. I’m still not sure whether or not this album will be a one or two disc release, as it depends on the record company. The album is recorded with a 90 piece orchestra and 90 piece chorus from The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.
Here is a preview track from the album, “1031”:
TMN: Do you have particular plans for the future?
EJ: Like I’ve previously mentioned my intension is to compose at least 10-15 trailer tracks pr. year – hopefully more. This depends on whether or not we´re expanding, and including more composers into our staff. If you’re a talented composer or orchestrator, please get in touch! Hopefully we´ll manage to create a brand that people relate to with quality. These things take time, and in time I would like Castimoniae to compose music regularly for both movies and public releases. The ultimate goal is of course a cliché – and that is taking Castimoniae to Los Angeles, working in the perfect musical environment. One step at the time!
TMN: Anything else you would like to share with us?
EJ: Please, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook and stream our music on YouTube. More music will be uploaded soon. At the moment our masterpiece “1031” from our upcoming public release named From Northern Lights To Southern Darkness is available on YouTube. Thanks a lot for the interview!
TMN: Thank you!
Castomoniae is indeed on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
