FFM the Soundtrack Podcast with George Strezov and Andy Hopkins, Ep.2

04/07/22 • 59 min

“Four for Music the Soundtrack Podcast” is a series of conversations for film and game scores that the composer George Strezov from Four For Music is moderating.

This podcast is with Andy Hopkins - a composer of film and TV series as well as bands and library music.

How Andy has started working as a composer and what is the creative process behind his composing today are the first topics of the conversation. Andy mentions the role of concepts and theoretical perspective in the planning phase. He speaks about the experience he had while working on “The Celts” – BBC series, as well as the project he is currently composing. George also shares thoughts on how themes, thinking about motives, characters and overall sound of the music are weaved in score writing.

The reference – to a genre, an era or to an instrument – as a tool is the next topic that Andy and George discuss, as well as the effect that contrast and sudden switches of the genre and mood have. Going from minor to major being a good, a bad and a funny move - George is giving some examples of his experience.

Later the conversation is about the library music - the importance of the genre and the specific harmonic language. Andy speaks about the interpretation and the original voice that a composer has in connection with a concrete genre or a theme and how that can be used in writing library music. Feedback as a part of the creating process and how one can use fresh perspective to achieve a better result is part of the themes mentioned.

How interaction with all participants in a film production affects the composing process and the music in its final variant in the movie and what could be the challenges and the potential benefits of working close with the director, plus some bitter experience is part of what you’ll hear in the middle section of the podcast. Andy gives some practical advice about composing around dialogues and George shares a story about an animated series gig that he had. He should compose music that practically would narrate the story for a whole scene after a short introduction, for 10 -15 mins or so with no narration, dialogues or whatsoever and at the premiere of the film he found out that the concept changed entirely, and the outcome was quite different than the expected...

The last part of the podcast mainly concerns the important aspects to consider during a live orchestra recording session. Andy brings attention to the key role of the orchestrator and the conductor, as well as the importance of working with people you have confidence in. The advantages that live orchestra has over the sampled orchestra are being discussed. Both speakers are talking about the sound that sometimes gets too perfect and ”overprocessed” and the cases when this could lead to not so perfect results.

Final minutes of the talk are dedicated to Harry Gregson - Williams’s score music which both Andy and George obviously love. They discuss their favorite soundtracks and what they fancy the most about them as concepts and methods of working.

“Keep doing what you believe in, work harder and strive for excellence in every part and maybe focus a little bit more on the execution than on the concepts. Trust your own voice and don’t be led into being more of a conformist” - that would Andy Hopkins advise a younger version of himself.

Stay tuned for ep. 3 of the “Four for Music the Soundtrack Podcast” when we’ll meet with John Graham! Cheers!

“Four for Music the Soundtrack Podcast” is a series of conversations for film and game scores that the composer George Strezov from Four For Music is moderating.

This podcast is with Andy Hopkins - a composer of film and TV series as well as bands and library music.

Stay tuned for ep. 3 of the “Four for Music the Soundtrack Podcast” when we’ll meet with John Graham! Cheers!

Previous Episode

Four For Music the Soundtrack Podcast - Intro

Four For Music the Soundtrack Podcast is a series of conversations about film and game music and how it is done. In the years of work on composing, orchestrating and mainly recording scores we from Four For Music had the opportunity to meet with incredible composers, complete professionals and the experience and stories they have shared with us are priceless. That is why we have decided that passing that experience on is kind of mandatory aside from being fun of course. The host of the show is George Strezov - an award winning composer and conductor.
The new episodes of the podcasts will be released every other week, so stay tuned! Cheers!

Next Episode

FFM the Soundtrack Podcast with George Strezov and John Graham, Ep.3

“Four for Music the Soundtrack Podcast” is a series of conversations for film and game music that the composer George Strezov from Four For Music is moderating.

The guest of this episode is John Graham - composer, known for his work for multiple feature films, video games, television series, documentaries, and trailers like: Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, the taiga drama Kirin ga Kuru and many more.

First part of the conversation is about a project that John Graham was working on in Japan called Kirin ga Kuru - a series presenting a historical figure - each year they make 40-50 episodes, which are very popular amongst different generations in the country. John is talking about the working ethics in Japan. Japanese teams are very collegial and that invites creativity according to him.

The score of the project was about 7 hours and multiple albums were released with the music. How you can succeed in writing this “ocean of music” - John answers that what he likes about the music for the series is that “they want sincere music, they want to know what you think and hear the ache when something is sad...” And that chance - to express real emotions and feelings, connected with one's own, personal experience - is exactly what has helped him cope with that enormous task, aside from sleepless nights and the weeks of work from 5 in the morning to midnight..

During the middle part of the podcast John and George are talking about the important things that can make a music stand out today, be distinguishable. They are discussing pros and cons about technical possibilities, how they affect the process and the outcome of making scores. When drones and soundscapes are effective and when one can get too deep in the trap of sound design are themes on focus.

You will also hear what the speakers think about live orchestra recordings and the music that goes “right to your heart”. According to John there is nothing like recording of even a small strings section or an woodwind section “something live” and that is vital in order to convince the audience and connect the live living performances of the actors to the music.

What is the importance of knowing and learning how to work with live musicians and communicate during recording sessions. What could influence the performance of the players, what are the technical differences that have changed the process of making score music in the last several decades - from composing and orchestration to recording - are some of the topics that are discussed in the second part of the conversation.

You will also be able to hear some behind the scenes details and advice from John concerning composing for orchestra and recording sessions, knowledge that he had gained working on enormous amounts and diverse projects.

Some specifics and differences in respect to stems and timeline, rhythm and scenes when composing for video games as opposed to films are mentioned in the last part of the podcast.

George and John are closing this conversation by sharing some experience and thoughts about the work of the composer and the moments of joy when a certain feedback and response is received.