Sync Music Matters Podcast Jim Hustwit - Larp Music

In this episode of Sync Music Matters I’m interviewing Jeanie Finlay







Jeanie Finlay is a documentary filmmaker. 







She has made films for HBO and the BBC including four commissions for the acclaimed BBC Storyville strand such as BIFA nominated The Great Hip Hop Hoax and BIFA winning Orion: The Man Who Would Be King







She directed the Emmy Nominated Game of Thrones: Last Watch which was a behind the scenes look at the making of the final series. 







Her most recent film, Your Fat Friend, is in cinemas now and is a documentary following author and blogger Aubry Gordon who writes about fat acceptance and anti fat bias. 







During the course of this interview we also delve in to Jeanie's rich musical past and her general love of creating.

Interview with Jed Kurzel







This week on Sync Music Matters I'm talking to Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist and film composer Jed Kurzel







Jed originally started out as the singer and frontman of the blues rock duo The Mess Hall before turning his attention to composing for film.







He won the Screen Music Awards Film Score of The Year for his debut film Snowtown. The film which gained international recognition, explores the relationships between the murderous gang members behind a spate of killings in Adelaide, Australia in the 1990s 







Jed has since gone on to score feature films like The Pope’s Exorcist, The Babadook, Slow West and Macbeth to name but a few.







In this interview with Jed Kurzel we chat about his childhood obsession with sport and somewhat unplanned foray into scoring film. 















Listen to Jed Kurzel on Spotify

In this week’s episode of Sync Music Matters I’m talking to multi award winning composer, artist and producer Hannah Peel



Last year Hannah Peel won the Ivor Novello Best TV Soundtrack award for her score to Sky’s Midwich Cuckoos starring Keely Hawes.



Having previously won awards with the Royal Television Society and Music Producers Guild



She was Nominated for an Emmy for work on the documentary Games of Thrones - The Last Watch and is a regular collaborator with Paul Weller



She is currently collaborating with Anne Nikitin.



Also dabbles in a bit of theatre including productions at Sadler's Wells and as if that weren’t enough, she also presents the BBC radio 3 show Night Tracks



Often inspired by the connections between science and music, her solo record career includes the shortlisted 2021 Mercury Music Prize electronic album, Fir Wave; 2016's Awake But Always Dreaming, which became an ode to her grandmother’s mind as she lived with dementia; and connecting our brain neurons to stars in our solar system, the space-themedMary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia, scored for synthesisers and a 30 piece colliery brass band.



A regular collaborator with Paul Weller, in 2018 she conducted and wrote all the orchestral arrangements for his shows at London's Royal Festival Hall and contributed to his new no.1 album ‘On Sunset’. A year later Peel composed and recorded the soundtrack for Game of Thrones: The Last Watch which earned her an 2019 Emmy nomination for ‘Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)’.



Hannah Peel Website



Jim Hustwit is a music producer and composer specialising in trailer music, production music and music for TV ads

Cristobal Tapia de Veer is a Chilean-born Canadian composer and producer who shot to fame in 2013 with his score for the deliciously sinister and mysterious TV series Utopia.



Since then he’s scored the 2016 film The Girl with All The Gifts, Black Mirror’s Black Museum and of course White Lotus season 1 and 2 for which he won a ‘Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music’



Cristobal brings a real sense of irreverence to his scores and seems to delight in making the viewer feel uncomfortable.



If you listened to the first ever episode of Sync Music Matters when I interviewed Stephen Warbeck you might remember we talked about Cristobal Tapia de Veer and his score for the first White Lotus. So what a thrill to have the man himself to chat about



The White Lotus Soundtrack



You can follow Cristobal on Twitter @CristobalMusic



Jim Hustwit is a music producer and composer specialising in trailer music, production music and music for TV ads

In this episode of Sync Music Matters I’m talking to Producer, Editor and Post Production specialist Stephen Haren about working on His Dark Materials and other award winning TV series and films.



Stephen wears a number of creative hats so I was keen to understand how that informs his application of music.



We go under the skin of His Dark Materials, the series based on the books by Philip Pullman.



Stephen talks about the active role he played in re-temping the series so that music had more gravity to it. 



He used temp score by the likes of Trent Reznor (The Social Network), Marco Beltrami (A Quiet Place) but also preprepared cue ideas provided by the series composer Lorne Balf. 



Temping movies with the composers own score is something I chatted about with editor of The Crown, Paulo Pandolpho in Episode 8



We also go under the skin and talk about the very different approach to soundtracking Northern Soul, the Elaine Constantine film starring Steve Coogan. The soundtrack for which was made up entirely of original songs.



As with a lot of my interviews we talk about the lack of melody in modern film score. I chatted to Isobel Waller Bridge about it in episode 5 and Nanita Dessai in episode 8. Nainita offered directors’ reticence to commit emotionally as a reason. Stephen has some fascinating alternative theories!



We also chat about the pitching process for composers for major TV series and films, the revealing process of watching audience previews during the production process. And Stephen and I share our love for the epic guitar riffs of the late Dimebag Darrell of the band Pantera



Stephen Haren's Website



His Dark Materials Soundtrack



Some of Stephen Haren's Musical Influences



Logan Soundtrack



Social Network Soundtrack



Mindhunter Soundtrack



Northern Soul Soundtrack



Johnny Dankworth



The Good The Bad and The Ugly Filmscore



Bernard Herrman



Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power



Jerry Goldsmith - Alien (Original Score)



Jim Hustwit is a music producer and composer specialising in trailer music, production music and music for TV ads

In this episode of Sync Music Matters I’m talking to Emmy Award Winning Michael Price.



Michael talks about his journey from the music department of WHSmith’s to composing for shows like Sherlock and Unforgotten. 



He reveals the challenges of composing music over multiple series and how his creative approach changes when writing music as a solo artist. 



He talks fondly of his time working with the late great Michael Kaman who apparently used to try and improvise action cues in a single take. 



Several life milestones that have changed the ways that he wants to create and write music. In Episode 7 Danny Mulhern talks about improvisation and flow state which Michael also draws on heavily to be at his creative best.

Michael Price Biog

Emmy Award winning Michael Price has composed music for TV shows such as Sherlock, Dracula, and Unforgotten. He has received numerous award nominations and was recently nominated for a BAFTA and an Emmy for his work on Dracula with David Arnold.



His film scoring work includes films such as Eternal Beauty, Cheerful Weather and Just Jim 



As well as being a master of music for TV and Film, Michael releases music as a solo artist. 



His solo work takes the form of beautiful improvised piano works, as heard on albums like Diary, or via the more lush, grand orchestral work, that you might hear on critically acclaimed releases Entanglement (2015) Tender Symmetry (2018) from via Erased Tapes’



His lastest release, The Hope of Better Weather, is rooted in the piano world but also exists as a bridge crossing into new terrain, including reworks and remixes from the likes of Yann Tiersen, Bill Ryder-Jones and Eluvium 



And his forthcoming album, Whitsun, is an exploration of the connection between sound and memory. 



Michael Price's website



Some of Michael Price's Musical Influences:



Michael Kaman



Keith Jarret - Concert in Koeln



John Tavener - The Protecting Veil



Arvo Paert



Japan - Ghosts



 



Jim Hustwit is a music producer and composer specialising in trailer music, production music and music for TV ads