Composer Talk

Composer Talk is a podcast hosted by Matthew Wang where you’ll get to know acclaimed composers who are making the soundtracks of our lives. We all watch films, TV and digital media and know the important role that scoring plays in storytelling. In this podcast we learn about the artists who are creating the music.<br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

Ep 82: Jonathan Sadoff (Chimp Crazy, The Peanut Butter Falcon)

This next composer recently scored HBO Original Chimp Crazy and is the composer behind Ingrid Goes West, The Peanut Butter Falcon, and Dollface among other projects. I’m so excited to welcome him on to the podcast. And the composer is… Jonathan Sadoff Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

09-27
37:16

Ep 81: Christophe Beck (Agatha All Along, Frozen, The Instigators)

Our next guest is best known for his work scoring huge films from Frozen and Ant-Man to The Hangover films, Nimona, and way more. He recently scored Doug Liman’s The Instigators and Marvel Studio's Agatha All Along and I’m so excited to welcome him on the podcast. And the composer is… Chris Beck Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

09-20
41:18

Ep 80: Bryce Dessner (The National, Sing Sing)

Our next guest is best known for his work in the band The National as well as scoring movies including Sing Sing and Cyrano and TV shows Manhunt and Photographer among others. He's one of my favorite composers and guitarists and I'm so excited to welcome him on to the podcast! And the composer is... Bryce Dessner Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

09-20
21:23

Ep 78: Daniel Pemberton (Fly Me To The Moon, The Bad Guys, Across The Spider-Verse)

Our next guest started his career writing for the video game magazine Games Zone to afford his first synthesizer. From there, he has scored films from Ocean’s 8, Steve Jobs, The Man from U.N.C.L.E and Ferrari to Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse and Across The Spider-Verse. He recently scored Fly Me To The Moon and I am so excited to chat with my musical hero today. And the composer is… Daniel Pemberton Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

07-27
25:39

Ep 77: Nikhil Koparkar (Dead Whisper)

Our next composer is a recent friend and amazing composer who is behind the music of the 2023 Riot Games’ League Of Legends - Lunar New Year Campaign. He has worked as an additional writer for composer Lorne Balfe on projects including The Wheel Of Time, Life On Our Planet, His Dark Materials, and Victoria's Secret: Angels & Demons among others. He is the composer of the psychological horror feature film Dead Whisper and I am so excited to welcome him on to the podcast. And the Composer is…Nikhil Koparkar Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

07-03
28:09

Ep 61: Sandro Morales-Santoro (The Secret History of Venom, Explant)

Our next guest is an award-winning Venezuelan composer based in Los Angeles, CA who specializes in film, TV, Interactive, and New Media music.His sensibility as a composer is evidenced in his lush orchestral scores, always infused with hints of his diverse upbringing and culture. His eclectic style is the consequence of his development as a musician, going from pop and rock bands, to a classical music education, to jazz and electronic influences from his studies in the US.​He recently scored the film “The Secret History of Venom” for Marvel Animation, and has written for many feature films including the Venezuelan box office hit “Papita Segunda Base” and the Daytime Emmy Award winning Documentary “Out of Iraq”. His music can be heard on the feature documentary “History of the Emirates”, and on hit TV shows like Netflix’s “Outer Banks” and “What/If”, AMC’s “Dietland”, Bravo’s “Girlfriend’s Guide To Divorce”, Freeform’s “Good Trouble” and HBO’s “Adventure Time: Obsidian”. Other recent projects include the feature films “Christmas Comes Home”, “Farm to Fork to Love” and “Stranger In The Attic”, as well as the Venezuelan film “Plástico”.The composer is... Sandro Morales-Santoro--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

08-28
37:50

Ep 60: Brittany Dunton (A Cinderella Story: Starstruck)

Our next guest is a media composer, pianist, music educator, and music theorist. Studying under composer Dr. Scott Meister and pianist Dr. Bair Shagdaron, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Music Theory/Composition from Appalachian State University in 2012. Immediately following, she enrolled at Columbia College Chicago’s Master of Fine Arts program “Scoring for the Screen”. She was a Follett Scholar (Columbia’s highest honor) and studied under composers Gary Chang, David McHugh, and Andrew Edwards. To conclude her time at Columbia, she recorded four works Capitol Records and earned her degree in May 2014. Following her time at Columbia, she began an internship with film composer Mark Isham then interned at Kraft-Engel Management. She met composer Jake Monaco while there and assisted  him for a number of years before "graduating" onto writing additional music for projects including Dumplin' and Human Discoveries. She has recently co-composed the score for A Cinderella Story: Starstruck with Jake and I'm so excited to talk with her about it! The composer is... Brittany Dunton--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

07-25
27:12

Ep 59: Nicolas Repetto (The Sound of Identity)

An Argentinian-American composer, conductor, orchestrator and violinist, our next guest is a two-time Global Music Award-winning composer. His latest project, the documentary The Sound of Identity features the first-ever transgender woman performing an opera lead in the U.S. with a professional company, in a standard work. The film is about a profile in identity sprinkled with Mozart, but Nicolas rejected the idea of imitating Mozart’s sound. Instead, he gravitated towards a neo-romantic feel and decided on a string orchestra, soloists within the string orchestra, and the addition of a few synths for movement and added interest.Nicolas' music is a blend of Argentinian/Latin/world influences, classical training, electronics sensibility, and modern film and television soundtracks. He has scored numerous films and projects such as Phil Donlon’s drama The Reunion, James Kicklighter’s short Angel of Anywhere, and a Circle City Film Festival award-winning short Tijuana. He also has music placements on TLC, HBO, and in various advertising campaigns. In addition to Sound of Identity, James’ upcoming projects include the documentary The American Question, fantasy feature Empire Queen: The Golden Age of Magic; and indie horror feature, Spider.The Composer is... Nicolas Repetto--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

07-02
33:49

Ep 58: Max Aruj (The Ice Road, Crawl)

Our next guest is a composer born and raised in Los Angeles. His latest projects include Eytan Rockaway’s Lansky, starring Harvey Keitel, and Jonathan Hensleigh’s The Ice Road, starring Liam Neeson. He joined the Assassin’s Creed universe for Wrath of the Druids (2021). He co-produced Gryffin’s Deluxe orchestral album (2020) and composed additional music on Mission: Impossible - Fallout for Lorne Balfe, and on The Crown, for Hans Zimmer and Rupert Gregson-Williams. He also wrote additional music on HBO’s His Dark Materials.The composer is... Max Aruj--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

06-25
36:35

Ep 57: Volker Bertelmann aka Hauschka (Your Honor, Stowaway)

Our next guest is an Oscar-nominated composer and experimental musician known as Hauschka who is behind the score of Showtime’s acclaimed crime drama Your Honor (starring Bryan Cranston) and most recently, the Joe Penna directed sci-fi thriller Stowaway. The film follows a three-person crew on a mission to Mars that faces an impossible choice when an unplanned passenger jeopardizes the lives of everyone on board. *Starring: Daniel Dae Kim, Anna Kendrick, Toni Collette, and Shamier Anderson.Stowaway differs from most sci-fi films, which are generally action-packed, high-energy, and loud. Stowaway takes place entirely on the spaceship, and the four crew members are the only people featured. The focus of the film is the crew’s communication with one another—detailing their raw and humanistic conversations, as they decipher their options for survival.--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

06-24
46:23

Ep 56: Maggie Phillips (Music Supervisor - Fargo, The Handmaid’s Tale)

Our next guest is a Music supervisor who has lent her expertise to the creation of some of television and films’ most unique sounds. She is the music supervisor on FX's Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe-winning series Fargo; Hulu’s Golden Globe and Emmy-winning series The Handmaid’s Tale; FX’s Snowfall; Hulu's Shrill; HBO Max’s dramedy series Generation; and Amazon Prime's Bosch. Other credits include FX’s Legion; Hulu’s The Great and Normal People; Apple TV’s Ron Moore series For All Mankind; USA Network’s Mr. Robot; and many more. Her upcoming projects include Patrick Brice's horror/thriller There's Something Inside Your House; Shawn Levy’s Netflix sci-fi film The Adam Project; Peacock's mini-series Angelyne; Sam Esmail’s ABC crime series Acts of Crime; and Apple TV+’s drama series The Shinning Girls and animated series Harriett The Spy.The music supervisor is... Maggie Phillips--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

06-23
31:03

Ep 55: Amanda Jones Part 2 (A Black Lady Sketch Show, Good Trouble)

On this episode, we welcome back Amanda Jones to the podcast! Since we last spoke, she has written music for From Cradle to Stage, Good Trouble Season 3, and Adventure Time: Distant Lands among other projects! Welcome back to the show! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

06-18
27:15

Ep 54: Vidjay Beerepoot (Disney's Minnie's Bow-Toons, El Houb)

Our next guest is a composer from the Netherlands who has worked internationally as one of Europe's youngest established professional composers on some of the most popular TV shows and biggest films in Europe. Now located in L.A., he is known for his score for Disney's Minnie's Bow-Toons show. The composer is... Vidjay Beerepoot--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

06-12
31:41

Ep 52: Brian H. Kim (Panic, Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil)

Our next guest is a Composer for film and television. He is known for his scores for Star Vs. The Forces of Evil,  BH90210, and Hello My Name Is Doris. We recently chatted about his time working with Napoleon Dynamite and How I Met Your Mother Composer, John Swihart, as well as how he has gotten to where he's at in his career! The composer is... Brian H. Kim--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

05-29
52:14

Ep 51: Siddhartha Khosla (This Is Us, Runaways)

Our next guest is a two-time Emmy-nominated film and TV composer, singer/songwriter, and producer of the critically acclaimed band, Goldspot. He received Emmy nominations in 2020 for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for his original song "Memorized" (shared with Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith) and in 2019 for Outstanding Music Composition For a Series for his work on NBC's Golden Globe and Emmy-winning drama series, This Is Us, now in its fifth season. He has the distinction of being the first South Asian person to be nominated in the Primetime Emmy score and song categories. The Composer is... Siddhartha Khosla--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

05-07
34:56

Ep 44: Joshua Moshier (Looney Tunes Cartoons, Special)

I'm so excited to welcome on this next composer whose work includes the HBO Max series Looney Tunes Cartoons; the DreamWorks series Dragons: Rescue Riders, and the viral animated hit Sidewalk, directed by Celia Bullwinkel.Born in Baton Rouge, LA and raised in the midwest, this composer credits the public school arts program in St. Charles, IL with helping him imagine a life making music. With an eye on joining the Chicago music community, he studied music at Northwestern University, also dabbling in literature, computer science and sound design. His time after school was spent performing in bands and collaborating with directors and improvising actors.He further segued into scoring to picture as a fellow at the Sundance Institute Composers Lab at Skywalker Sound and the BMI Conducting Workshop. He has since operated studios from both coasts working on films, television and interactive projects.His television work includes scoring the FX series Baskets, starring Zach Galifianakis; the Netflix series Special from Jim Parsons’ That’s Wonderful Productions; the Adult Swim series Three Busy Debras from Amy Poehler's Paper Kite Productions; Sky One’s Sick of It from Richard Yee & Karl Pilkington; and the main title music for the IFC series Documentary Now! starring Fred Armisen and Bill Hader.On the feature film side, he has scored the Netflix film Happy Anniversary from writer/director Jared Stern, Good Enough from writer/director AnnaRose King, and Beneath Us from writer/director Max Pachman.An early adopter of new technologies, he created the interactive ambisonic music and sound design for Google's Earth VR, which won a Cannes Lion for innovation and was recognized by Ars Technica as "VR's killer app."The Composer is... Joshua Moshier--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

02-19
47:17

Ep 24: Reema Iqbal (BMI - Broadcast Music, Inc.)

Our next guest is a music executive with a passion for both creative and administrative endeavors. As a Creative Director for Film, TV & Visual Media at BMI, she has forged and nurtured relationships with emerging composers, songwriters, artists, film/TV execs and more!The exec is... Reema Iqbal--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

09-04
16:27

Ep. 09 Jongnic Bontemps (United Skates, College Behind Bars)

Our next guest is a uniquely modern film composer, harmonizing a classical education with his rich tech background as a maestro of Silicon Valley to write everything from the hip-hop infused score for the Tribeca-favorite documentary United Skates, to rousing additional music for Creed II. He’s been the go-to composer for the latter film’s director, Steven Caple Jr., including the score for the coming-of-age drama, The Land, where he also produced the song “This Bitter Land” for Nas and Erykah Badu. His music can be heard on dozens of features, documentaries, shorts, and videogames in all genres including the Toni Braxton-starring drama, Faith Under Fire, and the Sundance selection Leimert Park, produced by Charles King (Mudbound).  He grew up in Brooklyn, learning the piano and soaked up his gospel and jazz surroundings. He studied music at Yale, then found himself at the heart of the tech industry as a software developer and entrepreneur. He has since decided to pursue his deeper passion and jumped head-first into the film scoring program at USC and the Sundance Film Music Lab. He apprenticed as a programmer for numerous A-list Hollywood composers, before breaking out as a singular solo composer. The composer is... Jongnic “JB” Bontemps--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/composertalk/support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

06-05
51:50

Ep 79: Matt Bowen (The Binge, The Boys, Gen V)

Our next guest is an ASCAP award-winning composer who has written music for The Boys, Gen V, The Bachelor and It's A Wonderful Binge among other projects. He got his start working for producer Matt Wallace before pivoting to Emoto Music and then meeting composer Christopher Lennertz who has been a mentor and later co-composer on a number of projects.And the composer is... Matt Bowen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

08-02
44:43

Ep 76: Dominic Lewis (The Fall Guy, Bullet Train)

Our next guest was born and raised in London England, where he studied at the Royal Academy of Music and was mentored by the iconic Rupert-Gregson Williams. In 2009 he moved to Los Angeles to join Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions, where he worked on the music departments of various major studio films, before transitioning to solo work.Since then he has made a name for himself composing projects such as the Amazon series Man In The High Castle, the Disney+ Monsters Inc. franchise series Monsters At Work, and Sony Pictures films Peter Rabbit (2018), Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021), and Bullet Train (2022). Most recently he completed the score Universal Pictures Film The Fall Guy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. I'm incredibly excited to chat with him on this episode!And the composer is… Dominic LewisThis episode was produced by Morgan Craig Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

05-10
31:39

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