Olafur Arnalds

So. I thought I might as well introduce you to some of my favoritest music ever.

Olafur Arnalds is an Icelandic composer and instrumentalist. He primarily just plays piano in performances but often has an accompanying band of several strings and sometimes another on the keys playing synth. His music is often described as "neoclassical" but speaking in pop culture terms it's more of an ambient experimental electronic. Yeah ... it's a lot easier to listen to than classify.

So, I suppose I'll show you two of my favorite tracks of his (so as not to waste too much of your time, especially in the case that you don't care for it) and if you like him enough you can explore the rest of his work.

This first one is from his "Living Room Songs" a small 7 track album he released for free to the public. He also uploaded videos of the performances to his YouTube channel, which is really cool. Here's my favorite track:

If you're interested, the entire album can be downloaded from his site, here. http://livingroomsongs.olafurarnalds.com/

The second is a track from the soundtrack to a British detective drama miniseries he scored.

Well there you have it. Olafur Arnalds. As you'll hear, his music is slower moving than most modern stuff, and so if you find it somewhat boring, no worries. I think it's just capital.

Cheers!

Daniel

Hiatus, or not?

Where to begin?  I haven't been very active on this blog for many months.  Should I return and continue posting, or abandon this site to be lost in the crevices of the interwebs?

Lots has happened since my last visit here.  I scored yet another short film; revised the score to Gabriel Everson's short film Unmerited (which I originally composed in May of this year); joined the forces of seven other composers in producing a cinematic album of Christmas music; and begun collaboration with composer James Everingham of the UK.

So back in August of this year, up-and-coming director Michael Payne Jr. had posted on an online forum about needing a composer to work on his short film Jamie Douglas: A Scottish Martyr.  I messaged him, we talked about what he was thinking music-wise, and before I knew it I was composing full speed ahead on the score!  The film is a historical drama based in The Killing Time of Scotland (1600s) and, as the name implies, follows the life of a young martyr.  As you can imagine, the film provided a setting for some very dark, heavy music.  The trick, though, was not in creating a dark soundscape, but in using this darkness as a contrast to light and ultimate victory.

The film has not yet been released, but it should up on YouTube for free viewing pretty soon.  For now, you can listen to the soundtrack on my SoundCoud page (I've embedded it below) and even buy it on BandCamp!  (It's only $5.00).  https://composerdaniel.bandcamp.com/

For more details on the film and to see the trailer, visit http://www.scottishmartyr.com/

Moving on.

Rehashing old work is never fun, but after Gabriel Everson re-edited Unmerited, a revision of the score so it could fit the new edit was a must.  It wasn't easy, but I'm glad I did it.  The film is now available for public viewing online, so I have it embedded below.

Right after finishing up the final touches on Unmerited, I moved straight into making an orchestral arrangement of the traditional carol "Greensleeves" to be published in the cinematic Christmas album Exaltation: A Cinematic Christmas Collection.  This was a very exciting project to work on and was the first collaborative music project put together by composers exclusively from the Rhapsodize Music Network.  Every one of us had different skill sets and thus were able to contribute to the production of the album in different ways.  The album is now available for purchase on iTunes, CD Baby, Google Play, and pretty much any other place that sells music online.  The still time to get it before the holidays are over!  https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/exaltation-cinematic-christmas/id763593891

Last but definitely not least, I have been collaborating with composer James Everingham of Bristol, UK in producing a few tracks for his music licensing company.  My jobs have primarily been orchestration and programming (basically, making the orchestral parts of the music sound realistic).  So far, you can hear one of these tracks which he's published on his SoundCloud page:

Working with him has been great fun and I hope to collaborate more with him in the future!

Well, that about wraps it up!  I hope you've enjoyed these ramblings on my latest endeavors.  Heck, I might just have to keep up this little blog.

Cheers!

- Daniel

Forgiveness

It's been awhile, but things have been busy lately!   Which is very good.  On the 13th of May I headed down to Charleston, South Carolina to compose the score to a short drama film directed by Gabriel Everson.  Unfortunately, the film is yet to made available for public viewing, so I can't show it to you yet.  But I do have one track from the soundtrack online.  So you get a better idea of what the music is attempting to convey, this particular track is from a part of the film where a man is forgiving wrongs done to him by his own brother.  Dramatic.

Any thoughts?

Cheers!

Expansion

In recent times I've been working to increase the amount of genres I can compose with confidence.  I naturally tend towards drama and epic, but if I'm going to be versatile, I need to be confident in all manner of music.  I've already tried my hand at Jazz, which thus far has turned out okay.  But one of the cinematic genres which I previously had never composed much anything in was comedy.

Just recently I had the opportunity to score a short comedy sketch.  Tada.  I had about four minutes of music to compose in just under a week, which really, is quite reasonable.  But it was a stretch for me, in a good way, noting my previous inexperience in the genre.  The director liked what I came up with.

You can watch the sketch here if you like:



Before I worked on the score of this sketch I had written a comedic theme, potential for a future piece.  I  tried to incorporate it into the sketch but it never really seemed to fit very well.  So now, I've made a comedy piece out of it.



Cheers!

The Beginning of the End

Hey peeps.  God is great!  I've been having a lot of inspiration for all kinds of music these days.  I think part of it comes from the fact that I just got back from the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival last Sunday.  Through that I was able to meet and fellowship with all manner of filmmakers as well as film composers (as well as watch all sorts of amazing movies).  One of the highlights of the festival for me was that the founder of the Rhapsodize Music Network (a network of christian composers and musicians), Daniel Lamb a fellow composer and friend of mine, had a booth set up at the vending hall of the festival.  This allowed filmmakers as well as other composers to become connected with similar people.  Networking with all these people was super exciting and very encouraging to, hopefully, all of us.  In case I haven't made it clear, it was awesome.

Anyway, if you'd like to check out some of these other composers' webpages, head over to the RMN website and click on Artists: http://www.rhapsodizemusic.com/network/

Also, I have a new song!  It's called The Beginning of the End.  As a side note, I have been studying a lot about audio mastering recently and so, hopefully, you can hear noticeable improvements in the sonic quality of my tracks.

Cheers!

You Name It!

UPDATE: After much ado and advice from others (online and in person) I finally worked out a name for this piece: Memories. Hope you like it!

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So-o-o.  I just finished a piece.  It's different, but then again, I seem to be always going for different.  Attempting to expand my skills.  I wrote this piece with particular emotions or feelings in mind but nothing to name it by.  At least, nothing I would like to name it by.  So here's the deal: I want you to name it for me.

When you listen to this piece, what immediately pops into your head?  Eh?  A scene from a book?  A movie?  A place?  An emotion?  It can be anything.  If the piece does indeed evoke something (and hopefully it does) leave a comment describing it.  It might end up being, or inspiring, the future title of the piece!

Enjoy!

Run!

This Christmas was awesome, as well as far too short.  By the time all the wassail was drunk and the last day of Christmas rolled around, I was ready to keep going!  But ah well, there's always a next year . . . or is there?  O.o

Anywho, I've written something as epic, cliche, action-packed, gigantic, and cinematic as I can make it.  This  is the kind of composition that comes fast and furious because there's so much music already out there that is in the same style, so I have a lot to draw from.  Of course, every soundtrack fan out there just says "I see you got the Hans Zimmer thing going on there".  Bless them.

EDIT: I removed this track from my SoundCloud page, so if you wanna hear it, message me or something.

Sentientes

Things have been busy recently with Christmas and such.  Carols, presents, family, the celebration of the Child, I'm enjoying it.  I've considered whipping up a Christmas piece but also have several other pieces in the works right now.  We'll see.

Anyway, I just finished up a very emotional piece.  I have pictures of prodigals and forgiveness in my head when I listen to it and I thought about naming it "Forgiveness".  I wanted something a little more general and obscure so I went with the Latin word for sentiment: Sentientes.

Enjoy!

Narnia, and the North!

Have you read the book The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis?  If your answer is no, then I would highly recommend that you not bother with the rest of this post and go straightaway and read it.  No joke.  Not only is it a great book, but having read it will possibly further stimulate reverie when you hear the piece I am about to show you.

But first let's back up a bit.  About a year ago, my friend Jonathan Maiocco composed two pieces meant to portray various parts of The Horse and His Boy.  He is an excellent composer and so naturally these pieces were well written and picturesque of the book.  You can listen to both "Main Titles" and "Tashbaan" by clicking on their names.

That said, I've taken (with his permission) some of the themes he's written for these pieces and incorporated them into a piece I've composed for The Horse and His Boy.  The title of this new piece is "The Fight at Anvard" and it is meant to be picturesque of the chapter in the book by the same name.



I have previously written a piece for The Horse and Boy titled "Lions!".  It was a lowly first try.  Heh-heh.



Enjoy the tunes!