Charlie’s Music Production Lessons

Charlie McCarron

In this sub-podcast of Composer Quest, I break down tracks of mine and give techniques and tips I learned while creating them. My goal is to give you production ideas for your own composing and songwriting.

  1. 06/29/2016

    30. Drone Variations

    A common request from directors is to provide mood-setting music that doesn't call attention to itself. One of the best ways to do this is with long, held tones. Making these drone tracks can be quick and easy, but there's also an art to getting just the right emotional flavor. In this episode I share some of my drone variations for the film Twin Cities. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 153, my roundtable discussion with the creative team behind the film Twin Cities. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

    14 min

  2. 06/07/2016

    29. MIDI Remix Quest

    What would you do if you were given a barebones MIDI file, and told to fill it in with whatever sounds you want? That's the challenge I posed to Composer Quest listeners, and in this episode we'll get to hear from them about their experience completing our MIDI Remix Quest. You can download the full tracks at composerquest.bandcamp.com. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 150 with UBK. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

    21 min

  3. 06/01/2016

    28. SEGA Counterpoint

    Early video game music was in some ways a revival of Baroque counterpoint. In this episode, I share one of my video game-y tracks inspired by counterpoint techniques, and inadvertently inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 149 with Jess Scherer and Peter Lund. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

    8 min

  4. 05/11/2016

    27. Surfing from A to B

    What do you do when you've written an A section and B section that don't quite fit together? In this episode I analyze my surf-inspired chiptune track to figure out how to smooth this transition point. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 145: Game Music Melee. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

    11 min

  5. 04/27/2016

    26. Skydiving Payoff

    To have any real emotional impact, music has to have some sort of payoff, through repeated themes, sounds, or lyrics. When you're scoring a film, you should also keep this idea of musical payoff in mind. Where are the moments in the story when you can resolve the themes that were only hinted at earlier? In this episode, I share some examples from the skydiving documentary I just finished scoring, called Beyond the Thrill. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 143 with Crystal Grooms Mangano. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

    10 min

  6. 04/20/2016

    25. Film Scoring Puzzles

    When you're scoring a film, some scenes have an obvious emotional direction to follow. Other scenes leave you with a puzzle to solve. In this episode, I break down my scoring for two of the hardest scenes to figure out in a film I'm working on. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 142 with Sage Lewis. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

    12 min

  7. 12/09/2015

    24. Doritos Melody

    How would you score a scene where a guy looks longingly at a bag of Doritos stuck in a vending machine? That was one of my recent scoring puzzles I had to solve. In this episode, I share some tips on writing an effective melody in the brief amount of time you're given in a commercial. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 136 with Garrett Hope. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

    10 min

  8. 11/25/2015

    23. Tropical Island VGM

    Video game music seems to have cliche sounds for different types of levels: ice world music, jungle world music, etc. In this episode, I talk about how I approached making a stereotypical tropical island tune for a video game, with Mario Kart 64 as my inspiration. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 134 with Lena Chappelle. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

    8 min
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About

In this sub-podcast of Composer Quest, I break down tracks of mine and give techniques and tips I learned while creating them. My goal is to give you production ideas for your own composing and songwriting.

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