Charlie’s Music Production Lessons

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.