Preparing for Mahana

I had the great pleasure of working on the Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper and Tama Waipara score for Mahana - a new feature film opening in cinemas on March 3. It's directed by Lee Tamahori and based on the Bulibasha book by Witi Ihimaera. The best place to read more about it is probably the movie Facebook page, so check that out. I was doing the music preparation, some orchestration and also flew to Wellington for the main day of recording to ensure everything worked a treat.

The score is really stunning, has a unique New Zealand flavour and it's so great to see new voices coming through in New Zealand film scoring. It was my first time working with Mahuia and I definitely hope not the last.

Each new project brings new challenges and things to be learnt, and it's always a great sense of achievement to be a part of such projects, even when in the scheme of things my contribution is only a small one.

Do ensure you get along to the film, I've seen most of it and it really is a goodie and of course quality New Zealand filmmaking needs to be supported.

Here's the trailer:

And here's some images from the recording:

Orchestrating 'Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses'

I was delighted to recently orchestrate Rhian Sheehan's score for 'Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses' - a new film premiering at this year's NZ International Film Festival. The film is about the 2007 Wainuiomata mākutu lifting of Janet Moses. I haven't seen the film myself yet but everything I've heard is that it is an impressive production.

“This impressive doco disperses the fog of shame and sensationalism to shed light on the tragedy that made international headlines in 2007 when a young Wainuiomata woman died during a mākutu lifting.”

There were seventeen cues of varying lengths to work on and all for strings. The feel we were after meant there was a lot of experimenting with extended techniques, bow pressures, textures and so on - such fun! I flew to Wellington to conduct the session comprising of a very fine group of NZSO musicians.

Can't wait to hear how it all came together. There are two screenings as part of the NZ International Film Festival. Auckland's SKYCITY Theatre, Tuesday 28th July, 6:30pm and Wednesday 29th July 1:45pm. Full details here.

'The Forest Room' reaches Auckland finals

The 48Hours film-making weekend is always one to look forward to and this year we struck 'mystery' as our genre - good fun. Compared to previous years, the team was cut to only four crew and rightfully so one of those was a composer! This year we managed to make the Auckland finals and the guys picked up an award for best editing. Yay.

The film has very little dialogue and so I managed to create a single piece of music to last the whole film. Here's how it was looking in Logic:

With merely hours to compose the music, there's always things you wish you'd had time to do, but generally I'm reasonably pleased with the results. The goal was to keep an intensity throughout the film, matching a few key moments, but also to create an underscore which leaves enough room for the viewer to ponder their own mystery. Have a listen:

'School of Fools' makes it to Tropfest finals

Last weekend we went to delightful New Plymouth to the Tropfest NZ finals. Sideways Productions has got into the finals the last three years, and I have enjoyed being part of the team. We finally had the chance to head down and see what all the hype was all about. It was a great event with some wildly good films (see all the finalists here).

Our film was called 'School of Fools', directed by Allan George and produced by Ben Fowler and Lisa Fothergill.

When power-suited motivational speaker Clive Doring is confronted with his epic delusion at the ‘School of Cool’, he finds himself lonely, without hope …or a muffin.

I put the music together in the few days before we left for Europe. It is uplifting and inspiring, yet there is sadness and disappointment - mix that all up, and you have the score. Have a listen to the music below, view the logic session or watch the whole movie:

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Musical adventures in Europe

If you have been following my twitter page you will know that I have just got back from an absolutely wonderful seven weeks in Europe. While most of the time my wife and I were doing our best to elegantly float from historic building to museum to gallery..., we did manage to make the most of the amazing musical offerings that Europe provides. We saw two orchestral concerts - the first being the London Symphony at the Barbican playing Brahms' 3rd symphony and 2nd piano concerto (photo above). Daniel Harding was at the helm with Emanuel Ax on piano. The second was the Czech Philharmonic in Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum. Jiří Bělohlávek conducted Martinů's "What Men Live By" and then Dvořák's Slavonic Dances. Such a thrill to hear Dvořák played in his own concert hall by an orchestra that he conducted the first concert of in 1896. Amazing also to hear how two of the world's top orchestras can sound so completely different.

We of course also snuck in the obligatory West End show - The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre. While it certainly impressed we couldn't help but notice a lack of spontaneity and freshness that comes with performing a show every... single... day of the year. However, it WAS great, and we loved checking out West End and neighbouring Covent Garden.

Perhaps one of the most special offerings was my afternoon spent at Abbey Road Studios. Through my work on two of The Hobbit films I met with the legendary Jill Streater - she has worked as music copyist on about 102 films including The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Casino Royale, Alice in Wonderland, The King's Speech, The Chronicles of Narnia and Gravity. I got in touch and she happened to be working on a project at Abbey Road while we were in London. It was so wonderful to meet her in person, chat about music prep, check out the studios and then observe the session. Oh, and I tried really hard not to have a 'crazy-teenage-fangirl' moment in the corridor as I passed Alexandre Desplat. Such an incredible place and so special to be able to spend some time there.

Everything else in this post will seem completely insignificant after the last paragraph, but I will continue... While we may not have seen concerts at these venues, we made sure we checked out the most impressive of the concert halls, including the Berlin Philharmonie - where we missed a Sir Simon Rattle led rehearsal by about 5mins (oh, the heartbreak, seriously), Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, Royal Albert Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

Musical instrument museums were in abundance - the one beside the Berlin Philharmonie was particularly impressive, as are the statues of the greats which make a great photo spot. I think we got to Strauss, Schubert, Bruckner, Mozart and Beethoven. We got to some old homes too - Handel's apartment in London, Mozart's apartment in Vienna, and his birth and childhood homes in Salzburg. It seems Vienna and Salzburg have a battle going on about who owns Mozart - either way, he earns both cities a lot of money as you can buy Mozart ANYTHING, from stress balls to underwear, chocolate to coffee, and of course the obligatory coasters and tea towels.

Well, let's leave the commercialisation of music and return to two final experiences that were absolute highlights. We'd been told to head up the hill in Florence to the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte where each evening at 4:30pm you can listen to the monks from the adjoining Olivetan Monastery singing in the crypt. While people came and went, we couldn't help but stay for the whole 50mins or so - we were absolutely captivated. Who knows what they were saying, but musically it was incredible.

Finally, in Salzburg on Christmas Eve we waited in the freezing temperatures to get a spot at the Midnight Mass in Salzburg Cathedral. It ended with four soloists singing "Silent Night" (which was written in Salzburg) by candlelight, accompanied by acoustic guitar, and with interludes from the divine organ and church choir. You could have heard a pin drop in the capacity-filled cathedral. Magic. As was every taste of music we had, and the whole trip.

Prepping music for The Hobbit's "The Last Goodbye"

I was delighted to play a small role on the final song on the soundtrack for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. As was the case in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the tremendously wonderful Victoria Kelly was called on to write the arrangement and orchestration for the final track, “The Last Goodbye”, and so I landed the music preparation role.

This time around there was a lot of going back and forth with revisions, tweaks and rewrites so there was plenty more time to enjoy the process, as opposed to the work-through-the-night-marathon of the first film.

So from a combination of audio and MIDI parts I transcribed and prepped the vocals, horns, choir, harp, dulcimer, piano, acoustic guitar and mandolin (both as TAB and notation), and strings for the recording. What a ridiculously amazing job I have.

It was such a pleasure to work with Victoria once again and to be involved in such a special project.

The song is sung by Billy Boyd (who plays Pippin in The Lord of the Rings), who co-wrote it with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens. It was recorded in Wellington and Auckland, and then the orchestra at Abbey Road in London.

You can read more about the song here (Billboard) and here (Entertainment Weekly).

"Sounds Perfect" at Cannes

I am deeply honoured that Sounds Perfect, a film that I wrote the music for and that has already appeared at a number of festivals, has now been selected for the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival in France this month.

The film, an adults-only comedy, was made for the inaugural Tropfest NZ Festival in 2012 and was a finalist, winning several awards. It has since gone on to play at about seven festivals around the world.

Dave Dobson is a self -proclaimed 'audio enhancement engineer' in the film industry. While his uninspiring workmates are happy to churn out the same clichéd slaps and squelches film after film, Dave hears a higher calling.

I put the music together in a matter of hours (they got it to me a day before it was due) and it definitely isn't characteristic of any other writing I've done but it makes me laugh and serves the film well.

It's amazing how we creators just do what we do and then sometimes a film just gets picked up and has a life of its own.

Cannes takes the cake, but it is also about to screen in the:

• Wet Your Pants Comedy Film Festival in Indianapolis
• Iron Mule Comedy Series in New York
• LA Comedy Ninja Film Festival

Congrats to the Sideways Team (www.sidewaysproductions.co.nz). Bring on our next project!

"On The Rocks" off to Tropfest!

An accidental ‘serial pet killer’ thinks his luck has changed when he stumbles across a beautiful mermaid – but he soon finds she’s no fairy tale girlfriend.

Just before Christmas I had the pleasure of working once again with the guys at Sideways Productions on the music for their new short film, On The Rocks. After having great success with our efforts last year on Sounds Perfect...

• Official selection, AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL 2013
• Official selection, TROPFEST NEW ZEALAND 2013
• Official selection, WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL (NZ) 2013
• Official selection, imagineNATIVE
• Winner, best actor, TROPFEST NEW ZEALAND 2013
• Winner, best Maori director, TROPFEST NEW ZEALAND 2013

...the pressure was on. But we're very happy that On The Rocks has made it again into Tropfest with its world premiere being on 16th Feb at the TSB Bowl, New Plymouth.

If you're around New Plymouth, go and check out the festival.

"Sounds Perfect" goes to Austin

I am super proud of my friends at Sideways Productions who are enjoying success with their film, Sounds Perfect, including selection for the Austin Film Festival.

• Official selection, AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL 2013
• Official selection, TROPFEST NEW ZEALAND 2013
• Official selection, WAIROA MAORI FILM FESTIVAL (NZ) 2013
• Official selection, imagineNATIVE
• Winner, best actor, TROPFEST NEW ZEALAND 2013
• Winner, best Maori director, TROPFEST NEW ZEALAND 2013

Dave Dobson is a self –proclaimed ‘audio enhancement engineer’ in the film industry. The adult film industry. While his uninspiring workmates are happy to churn out the same clichéd slaps and squelches film after film, Dave hears a higher calling.

I did the music - an interesting mix of styles and themes.

It's a hugely enjoyable yet slightly disturbing watch. Not for younger viewers or those with sensitive eyes!

The best of 2012

2012 was a year full of great things, cool things, intriguing things, wonderful things and things to completely knock your socks off. Here's my list of the best (musical and digital) things of 2012. MUSIC BLOGS

One of the first things I do each day is read all of the blog posts that are waiting eagerly for me in Google Reader. There are three feeds that, without fail, I will read and learn something from every time.

• Of Note - a Sibelius and Finale blog by the legendary Robert Puff.
• Sibelius Blog - hints, tricks and interesting stories about Sibelius by Philip Rothman (originally Daniel Spreadbury).
• Technology in Music Education - if you're a music teacher of some description you'll love hearing about how the latest technologies can be used in music education.

MUSIC BOOKS

I'm usually not a big reader of actual books but there are some that sit pride of place on my shelf, actually, only when they're not sitting open on my desk.

• Behind Bars by Elaine Gould - my bible of music notation. I'd really love a digital version too!
• How to Write for Percussion by Samuel Z Solomon - the title sounds very underwhelming, but is a wonderfully comprehensive guide to writing for percussion.
• Essential Dictionary of Orchestration - mine is looking old and tatty - a good sign! It's an essential reference for instrument ranges, general characteristics, tone quality descriptions, technical pitfalls and more.

MUSIC RESOURCES

The internet is just one big overwhelming resource! There are four in particular that I have used a lot this year and deserve a mention.

• Spotify - gone are my days of wasting money buying music only for a specific occasion or to only listen to a few times. Now I can access everything, anywhere, for only a small fee.
• MusicNotes - I've been buying a fair bit of sheet music lately and you can't go past MusicNotes for the best range, quality and easiest website.
• MacProVideo - a massive range of resources for users of pro audio (and other) software.
• MusicPrep.com - has wonderful resources for Sibelius and Finale and even links to books on scoring, notation and orchestration.

MUSIC INSPIRATION

You're procrastinating and you find yourself mindlessly surfing the internet - these are probably the places where I would end up.

• Scoring Sessions - for any orchestral film soundtrack fan this is a wonderful site of photos, news and videos from scoring sessions in Hollywood, London and more.
• YouTube - most of the world's pro audio software and hardware companies have channels on YouTube. A recent great watch was the Vienna Symphonic Library Artist Videos.
• TED - amazing talks from amazing people.

MUSIC SOFTWARE

Most of my job would be a nightmare, or quite simply not possible, without the help of some wonderful computer software so a much deserved shoutout goes to them.

• Sibelius 7 - they've had a rough year but a big salute goes to the number one notation software.
• Logic 9 - the stalwart DAW in my studio, always impressing.
• Pro Tools 10 - a new acquisition and some great projects done already, clearly some big steps forward since I last used it a few years back.

MUSIC APPS

I rely on my mobile device rather a lot, here's my top three "I could not live without" music apps. I did a full post on musical iOS apps earlier in the year, click here to visit it.

• FiRe - a professional field recorder wonderfully adequate to do a great recording when out and about.
• Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music - dealing with music notation and teaching students all the time means I'm always checking this great app.
• Dr Betotte - a metronome like no other. 5 volume sliders and mute buttons to, tap tempo, halftime feel, adjustable swing feel functions, multi beat mode...

CLOUD SERVICES

The "cloud" is a hot word at the moment and rightly so - there are some fantastic ways how you can have your data anywhere, anytime and on any device.

• Evernote - probably my most opened app. Most databases, documents, lists and resources are all on Evernote and thanks to the cloud they are all universally accessible.
• Dropbox - constant backup of my system and access to it anywhere via the iOS app. Also great to email large attachments to clients for download.
• Xero - my in-the-cloud accounting software. I can write and send invoices, amongst other things, on my iPhone and have access to it at all times.

WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

Every musician needs an online home and maintaining mine, learning about the finer details and marketing it is a real hobby - three things make it an absolute joy.

• Wordpress - always makes developing the website a breeze. Special mention goes to Automattic who has produced many of my most loved plugins this year including the breathtakingly-good VaultPress.
• MailChimp - I have a newsletter, which evidently you can sign up to here(!), and they always impress me with the service they provide.
• SoundCloud - could easily fit into several categories mentioned in this post, but I'll add it here. I remember the days when it was such a huge deal (and sometimes expense) to embed audio on your website, but now SoundCloud makes it quick and easy and it looks beeeeautiful.

I hope you enjoy checking out some of these. Got any to add? Leave a comment below.

I survived 2012. This is how it was!

The New Year means it's time to have a look back over the past year and see, through my blog posts, what has taken shape and what I have to say for myself! January started with a very well deserved "Shout-out to VaultPress" after they marvellously got my website back up and running after a meltdown!

February is the start of the school term and I posted about the preparation work I do for schools.

My typing fingers must have been tired at the end of March - it started with two popular posts, iOS apps for music professionals and Digital music stands vs iPads, following on from, again, two very popular posts I did in 2010.

Following that were four posts on current projects - "Working on workshops" looked at some teaching workshops I was involved with, "An opportunity to make the floor rumble" talked about my upcoming new work for the Auckland Philharmonia and the Auckland Town Hall Organ. I conducted at the Bay Of Plenty Music School once again and my post, "Bay Of Plenty music school hit Rotorua!", pre-empted my visit there, and finally "Opening up an orchestra" reviewed the first two Auckland Philharmonia Open Days were I ran the "meet the composer" area.

In April I reviewed my time at the Bay Of Plenty Music School in "Making music in Rotorua" and posted photos in "Checking out the pipes" after an inspiring tour of the Auckland Town Hall Organ.

May is music month and "A month of New Zealand music" checked out the events me or my music was involved with. It's also 48 Hour Film Festival time and our film this year was "My Confession…".

In June I talked about my involvement with Auckland Symphony's "Night Of The Proms" concerts in "Promenading in the colony" and I posted "Questions for a composer" after answering questions for a student's school assignment.

In July I posted my one word review of each piece from the "Nelson Composers Workshop 2012" where I was very happy to go this year as a mentor.

August is KBB Music Festival time and I also posted on the ongoing saga regarding the future of Sibelius in "What the heck is happening with Sibelius!". My piece, Tiraki, started to take shape after another workshop with the Auckland Philharmonia.

September was rather dormant on the blog front but in October I reviewed “What Lurks Among Saints” after being invited by a student I met earlier in the year.

In November I had the privilege of "Playing my role in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", and I posted about the experience.

December was busy with a number of projects. In "Little pieces of Christmas" I talked about a bunch of Christmas arrangements I did for the Auckland Philharmonia and Auckland Symphony orchestras. I also talked about a film I was involved with, called "Sounds Perfect" and its selection into the Tropfest final in “Sounds Perfect” to be in a final". I then prepared music for some very fine New Zealand singers and talked about it in "Preparing for some legends!".

Finally, no year is complete without a "Merry Christmas" post thanking you for all of your support during the year and the compliments of the season.

Another year ticked off the list, another year doing my absolute dream job - let's get ready for an even better 2013!

"Sounds Perfect" to be in a final

I recently wrote the music for Sounds Perfect - a short film by Sideways Productions which has made it to the finals for Tropfest New Zealand 2013. Tropfest International is the world's largest short film festival.

Dave Dobson is a self –proclaimed ‘audio enhancement engineer’ in the film industry. The adult film industry. While his uninspiring workmates are happy to churn out the same clichéd slaps and squelches film after film, Dave hears a higher calling.

A disturbingly amusing and enjoyable film.

All finalists will be screened at an outdoor gala event at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth, on Sunday 27 January. This is a free event and you are welcome to come along, bring a picnic and join in that buzz that is the inaugural Tropfest NZ screening. The winning film will be announced on the night. Venue opens at 5pm, films start 6.30pm.