Podcasts about composer quest

Reach out! Let us know your questions & comments.In this episode, Dave shares five more "Inconvenient Truths" for sync composers, including insights on how to stand out in an increasingly competitive industry, and reveals some hard-to-hear realities every production music composer should know. Plus, we reveal the winner of the "What's Your Superpower" Composer Quest, and Dave talks about rekindling the spark with drumming.The Inconvenient Truths About Production Music | 52 Cues Podcast, 2022 Week 35https://youtu.be/-TPllxYYFUgA.I. - Time To Throw In The Towel??? by  @TheCrowHillCo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhkdpnD-jFcMore from Michal Sinkahttp://michalsinka.comJoin the 12-week Mastermind with small group accountability and weekly meeting sessions that give you focused, personalized mentorship. Plus you get a private, 1-on-1 Zoom session where we work towards your goals as a production music composer.Head over to 52cues.com/mastermind and sign up today! Registration ends soon, and seats are limited! Cymbal SFX - Bowed! Elevate your soundscapes with Cymbal SFX - Bowed—a masterful collection of 68 unique bowed cymbal performances, meticulously recorded for tension-filled tracks and cinematic trailers. Now available exclusively at Production Music Tools!https://productionmusictools.com/products/bowed-cymbals-by-52-cues Support the Show.Join the 52 Cues Community for FREE! – https://52cues.comBe a 52 Cues FRIEND – https://my.52cues.com/plans/290656?bundle_token=b6502231ec464e7fbe3205c28c27269d&utm_source=manualJoin the 52 Cues FAMILY – https://my.52cues.com/plans/290660?bundle_token=ba116c19700ddb0183c85c707a4a558a&utm_source=manualOne-on-one coaching sessions and video critiques also available! – http://52cues.com/coaching.Note: Links may be affiliate links which generate a small commission but at no extra cost to you!

Reach out! Let us know your questions & comments.The quest:  showcase your particular, extraordinary abilities! Whether your strength lies in crafting compelling rhythms, enchanting melodies, masterful mixing, innovative sound design, or anything in between, in this episode we listen to the 10 submissions and you get to vote!Voting is open through June 9!https://www.52cues.com/voteWatch this episode on YouTubehttps://youtu.be/ZTnDzugndvwJoin the 12-week Mastermind with small group accountability and weekly meeting sessions that give you focused, personalized mentorship. Plus you get a private, 1-on-1 Zoom session where we work towards your goals as a production music composer.Head over to 52cues.com/mastermind and sign up today! Registration ends soon, and seats are limited! Cymbal SFX - Bowed! Elevate your soundscapes with Cymbal SFX - Bowed—a masterful collection of 68 unique bowed cymbal performances, meticulously recorded for tension-filled tracks and cinematic trailers. Now available exclusively at Production Music Tools!https://productionmusictools.com/products/bowed-cymbals-by-52-cues Support the Show.Join the 52 Cues Community for FREE! – https://52cues.comBe a 52 Cues FRIEND – https://my.52cues.com/plans/290656?bundle_token=b6502231ec464e7fbe3205c28c27269d&utm_source=manualJoin the 52 Cues FAMILY – https://my.52cues.com/plans/290660?bundle_token=ba116c19700ddb0183c85c707a4a558a&utm_source=manualOne-on-one coaching sessions and video critiques also available! – http://52cues.com/coaching.Note: Links may be affiliate links which generate a small commission but at no extra cost to you!

The quest - create a cue with the provided bowed cymbal samples, much like a sushi chef expertly prepares their ingredients!This challenge encouraged participants to slice, dice, stretch, and creatively manipulate the samples in any way imaginable, transforming these sounds into something uniquely theirs, and showcasing their ability to innovate and design sound with precision and creativity.Voting is open through March 10!https://www.52cues.com/voteWatch this episode on YouTubehttps://youtu.be/agcNaFTRIqA  Cymbal SFX - Bowed! Elevate your soundscapes with Cymbal SFX - Bowed—a masterful collection of 68 unique bowed cymbal performances, meticulously recorded for tension-filled tracks and cinematic trailers. Now available exclusively at Production Music Tools!https://productionmusictools.com/products/bowed-cymbals-by-52-cuesUse the code "52Cues" until March 11 to get 15% off! Join the 52 Cues Album Accelerator – a self-paced program with over 6.5 hours of video content, discussion threads, articles, and resources which guides you through the entire process of creating a production music album. Plus you'll receive a 90-minute, one-on-one session to listen through your album and discuss strategies for library placement. Head over to 52cues.com/accelerator to sign up today!

Ready for a bone-chilling journey through soundscapes from comedic to terrifying? We promise to thrill you with 19 mind-bending cues as we navigate the murky depths of horror and comedic music. Not only that, but we're putting the power in your hands to vote for your favorite track, ensuring that the most spine-tingling tune gets the love it deserves!Watch this episode on YouTube!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t2amtX_T7AThere's still time to vote!https://bit.ly/52CFrightNight Join the 52 Cues Album Accelerator – a self-paced program with over 6.5 hours of video content, discussion threads, articles, and resources which guides you through the entire process of creating a production music album. Plus you'll receive a 90-minute, one-on-one session to listen through your album and discuss strategies for library placement. Head over to 52cues.com/accelerator to sign up today!

Ben Burnes is a musician, producer, and game developer. Every week for years, and nearly 400 times, Ben has live streamed his production of a new song in two hours. He is a prolific creator and also has a large collection of sample packs to help fellow producers create their music.  This is my fourth conversation with Ben on the podcast! We covered a wide range of topics, including how to finish songs, creating a discipline around music production, and how to find a artistic balance that is right for you. Be part of Ben's next Two Hour Album Challenge, April 12-16, 2023! Go to Two Hour Album Challenge for more information. Listen on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, or watch on YouTube Show Notes: Official Site - https://www.abstractionmusic.com/ Ben's Twitter - https://twitter.com/ben_burnes Ben's Gumroad -https://gumroad.com/ben_burnes Ben's Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/ben_burnes Ben's Patreon - https://patreon.com/ben_burnes Ben's YouTube - http://youtube.com/ben_burnes Ben's Spotify - http://abstraction.rocks/ Playlist of all Two Hour Track Challenge (finished songs) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW08UHPY2AEr3wGlMfheNxj_Kri3h8HJy Playlist of all Two Hour Track Challenge (full production) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW08UHPY2AEq9MvNNqOSpRTP4Cx92ZNId Two Hour Album Challenge Info - http://2hac.abstractionmusic.com/ Two Hour Album Challenge Music - https://2hac.bandcamp.com/ Jalapeno Hot Chocolate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yicGnzyst4s&list=PLW08UHPY2AEr3wGlMfheNxj_Kri3h8HJy&index=4 Geomorphology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64Y7uYJ5sMw&list=PLW08UHPY2AEr3wGlMfheNxj_Kri3h8HJy&index=3 Petrified Wood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvmgNsO8yxM&list=PLW08UHPY2AEr3wGlMfheNxj_Kri3h8HJy&index=25 The Moon Seems Unaffected: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTnRhMYlN3Q&list=PLW08UHPY2AEolvJeORMO1jAcUFy3gRuXk Ben's First Appearance on the Music Production Podcast - https://brianfunk.com/blog/2017/3/28/9-ben-burnes Ben's Second Appearance on the Music Production Podcast - https://brianfunk.com/blog/2019/10/9/ben-burnes-wisdom-on-200-2-hour-track-challenges-music-production-podcast-131 Ben's Third Appearance on the Music Production Podcast - https://brianfunk.com/blog/ben-burnes-3 Composer Quest - https://www.charliemccarron.com/composer-quest/ Disasterpeace - http://disasterpeace.com/ Tom Cosm - https://www.cosm.co.nz/ Mr. Bill - https://mrbillstunes.com/ Adam Rokhsar's Aesthetic Candy - https://www.instagram.com/aesthetic_candy/?hl=en Brain Candy Max for Live Video Device - https://aestheticcandyshop.gumroad.com/l/braincandy Alex Walker / Human Synthetics on the Music Production Podcast - https://brianfunk.com/blog/alex-walker Brian Funk Website - https://brianfunk.com Music Production Club - https://brianfunk.com/mpc  5-Minute Music Producer - https://brianfunk.com/book Intro Music Made with 16-Bit Ableton Live Pack - https://brianfunk.com/blog/16-bit Music Production Podcast - https://brianfunk.com/podcast Save 25% on Ableton Live Packs at my store with the code: PODCAST - https://brianfunk.com/store Thank you for listening.  Please review the Music Production Podcast on your favorite podcast provider! And don't forget to visit my site https://BrianFunk.com for music production tutorials, videos, and sound packs. Brian Funk  

This week we interview the multi skilled Ben Burnes & get some excellent advice for every creative. Ben is a music producer, video game developer, YouTuber, Streamer and more. Ben's advice this week covers lots of topics and will surely provide lots of help to all us creatives out there! Links mentioned in the episode: Pat Pattison on Composer Quest: http://www.charliemccarron.com/2014/01/songwriting-theory-with-pat-pattison/   Agile Trello Dashboard: https://trello.com/b/nrKGFiB7/agile-dashboard   The Agile Composer: http://www.videogamemusicacademy.com/agile-composer-project-management-game-audio   Color Jumper on Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/594810/Color_Jumper/    Abstraction Music on Spotify: https://t.co/jPNDQv9lOF   Creationism Album: https://abstractionmusic.bandcamp.com/album/creationism   Find Ben Burnes on the web here: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ben_burnes   Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ben_burnes   Mixer: https://mixer.com/ben_burnes   Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ben_burnes   Today's song is... Pompous Platypus By Ben Burnes, available on https://www.patreon.com/ben_burnes!

One of the great podcasts for songwriters and producers is Composer Quest. The show tackles making music from all different angles and takes wisdom from the host, Charlie McCarron, and a wide array of guests. Recently the show finished its final episode with a 12-city world tour. I had the pleasure to speak with Charlie about music, his work, and the community of musicians he met while hosting Composer Quest.  Listen on iTunes or Stitcher or Google Play Support the Podcast on Patreon Show Notes: Composer Quest - A Songwriting and Music Composition Podcast, hosted by Charlie McCarron Charlie's Music Production Lessons - A shorter, tutorial-style podcast Train Jam 2017 - Musicians and game developers travel from Chicago to San Francisco, creating the entire 52-hour journey. Homesick by Charlie McCarron Film Score Fest Isotonik Studios - Max for Live devices for visuals and much more Helium Requiem - Music and art from Charlie, inspired by Salvador Dali's work Visit Charlie McCarron on Twitter and Instagram

Episode 10 is a special episode because it's the first conversation! I had the privilege to speak with Ben Burnes about creativity, chip music, growing as an artist and more. Ben is a composer and active YouTuber with some very interesting ideas on making music and the creative process. I first heard of Ben on the late, great Composer Quest podcast. It was a real treat chatting with Ben. He is no joke. Ben is putting out tons of useful content every week. Listen in to his words of wisdom and be sure to click on some of his links in the show notes. Support the Podcast on Patreon Show Notes: Support Ben Burnes on Patreon Ben's Work: Abstraction Ben on YouTube, where he streams live, twice per week! Ben's Free Kalimba Ableton Live Instruments Reddit 2-Hour Track Sundays Video Game Music Academy Video Game Music Academy - The Agile Composer:  Andrew Huang - YouTube How To Use Famitracker Wind Chimes Ableton Live Pack Some Related Videos: Music Made with Famitracker Ben's Two Hour Track Challenge Creative Explorations with Ben Burnes Andrew Huang - Making Music with Electromagnetic Fields WindChime Ambience by AfroDJMac More about the Wind Chimes Ableton Live Pack

Charlie McCarron shares music and stories from his tour of the U.S., Australia, Japan and Taiwan to make music with composers around the world for his podcast, Composer Quest. The final episode of Composer Quest published this week. You can support Level with Emily Reese on Patreon.

It’s finally here. Four years and 166 episodes later, we’ve arrived at the finale of the Composer Quest podcast. Before I get too sappy about it, I want to let you know what you’ll be in for in this monster episode. It rounds out the end of my world tour, after my journey home to Minnesota. This episode is definitely one for the fans; most of my interviewees in this episode have been prior Composer Quest guests, and I ask them what they’ve been up to. I don’t want to give away too much about how the episode unfolds, but I am really excited for you to listen, when you have 4 hours and 42 minutes to spare.

Ever since I heard music psychologist Dr. Diana Deutsch on Radiolab, I’ve been fascinated by musical illusions. In this penultimate episode of Composer Quest, I got to visit Diana in person! Join me on a trip that starts at a Halloween organ concert in San Diego and ends in Phoenix with an unprecedented songwriting/podcasting experiment.

This episode marks my return to the US after my trip to Australia and Asia. Despite the jet lag, I was able to get 5 interviews in for this Composer Quest episode. Also, Jeff Goldblum?! And you’ll just have to listen for yourself to find out why this episode is called “Squirrels in California.”

Join me on a musical tour through Taiwan in today's episode of Composer Quest. I stumbled into a music festival celebrating Hakka culture, and I got to record a bunch of interesting ensembles, including the Taiwanese jazz group Sizhukong. Plenty of other surprises come up in this episode, including an impromptu flight to another country...

For the final season of the Composer Quest podcast, 110 Kickstarter backers decided it would be fun to send me on a two month trip around the world, interviewing composers and songwriters. I'm thrilled to announce that the first episode of my Composer Quest world tour is here!

How does a composer write music that doesn't draw attention to itself? How can a director convey scoring ideas if they're not a musician? Why is temp music important for an editor? When should sound design reflect the real world, and when should it be from a character's psychological perspective? Will the dialogue editor choose the lavalier or boom mic recording, or both? These are just a few of the conversation-sparking questions we discuss in today's Composer Quest podcast episode (the season six finale!), featuring the team behind the upcoming film Twin Cities. You'll get to hear perspectives on film sound from a director/writer (David Ash), producer/editor (Jason P. Schumacher), sound designer (Mike Hallenbeck), and composer (me). We dissect the entire post-production sound process, from a spotting session with all four of us, to our experimental on-the-spot scoring session, which was very productive and slightly nerve-racking for me as the composer.

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.

St. Thomas professor Dr. Vanessa Cornett-Murtada specializes in teaching piano, creativity, and performance anxiety reduction techniques. In this episode of Composer Quest, Vanessa shares some tips on getting past mental blocks as a composer, and she explains how hypnotherapy can be helpful in reducing stress, increasing productivity, and sparking creativity. She also explains why Brahms is her favorite composer.

Erik Ostrom was working at a Silicon Valley startup when he realized songwriting was his true passion. He has since moved back to Minnesota and found another passion: the improv comedy world. In this episode of Composer Quest, Erik and I talk about his recent performance with The Local Music Scene, a song-based improv comedy troupe. Erik also shares some great stories behind his songs and insights into writing interesting lyrical rhythms.

For this special 150th episode of Composer Quest, I got to talk with Gregory Scott, co-host of my favorite music production podcast, the UBK Happy Funtime Hour. Gregory answers my tough music production questions like: “what effect would you use if you could only choose ONE?” He also shares his process in creating the upcoming Sneaky Little Devil record with his wife Sarah. Also in this episode, you’ll get to hear the results of our MIDI Remix Quest, where composers swapped MIDI data and blindly added their own sounds. You can hear and download all the resulting tracks at composerquest.bandcamp.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.

Jess Scherer and Peter Lund faced a songwriting quandry: what do you write about when you've been happily married for several years? They decided to stretch their imaginations by writing a magical concept album about wizards, and it turned out to be great songwriting fuel. In this episode of Composer Quest, our conversation covers songwriting tips, circuit-bending a teletubby, and a nomination for the greatest Texas jingle of all time.

Composer Bryan Schumann has embraced self-imposed deadlines; he’s been consistently making at least one “thing” every week in 2016 and blogging about it. In this episode of Composer Quest, we talk about what he’s learned from this experiment. Bryan also talks about his eco-friendly music projects, like a bike-powered electric band and his future solar-powered recording studio.

Since the recent episodes of Composer Quest have been about electronic and video game music, I thought we could do a composing quest related to it. So here's your challenge, should you choose to accept it: create a loop-able piece of music that's under 2 minutes, using MIDI. Send me your audio file and MIDI layers (charlie@composerquest.com) by May 25th. Next, I'll send your MIDI layers to another random participant in this quest, and they will add their own sounds to your MIDI data, with no knowledge of the sounds you used. You will also receive someone else's MIDI file to do the same. When everyone's done with their remixes (June 3rd deadline), I'll reveal the original and remixed versions of each track. I think it will be a fun experiment!

Anton Torres has been an electronic music hobbyist for over 20 years, using the very earliest incarnations of Apple's Logic and Ableton Live. In today's episode of Composer Quest, Anton shares some wisdom on living a creative life, even if you only have 15 minutes to spare each day. We also hear why Anton decided to leave his suit and tie job in New York to pursue his creative dreams, and how he ended up working at the board game company Asmodee North America.

A few weeks ago, I got to participate in a very fun live composing event at GlitchCon, called Game Music Melee. Three of us composers got up onstage to write video game music on the spot, based on game suggestions from the audience, in JUST 30 MINUTES. Not a lot of time. Emily Reese of the Level with Emily podcast hosted, and after two rounds of composing, she interviewed us about our process. It turned out so cool, I wanted to post it as this week's Composer Quest episode.

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.

Musician, neuroscientist, and author Daniel Levitin has brought music psychology to the masses with This is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs. For today's episode of Composer Quest, I got to interview Dan about why humans evolved to be musical. Dan also shares songwriting tips he's learned in talking with Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Sting, Stephen Stills, and Victor Wooten. In the second half of the episode, you'll hear Dan perform a couple of his own songs, including an exclusive debut of his new song "The Hole Inside My Head."

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.

Crystal Grooms Mangano recently scored the documentary Asperger’s Are Us, which follows a comedy troupe of four autistic guys. In this episode of Composer Quest, Crystal shares her process in deciding how to score this comedic documentary. I also ask Crystal about scoring the trailer for the Patrick Steward film Match, and we talk about the merits of flute in film scores.

When you're scoring a film, some scenes have an obvious emotional direction to follow. Other scenes leave you with a puzzle to solve. In this episode, I break down my scoring for two of the hardest scenes to figure out in a film I'm working on. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 142 with Sage Lewis. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

When I called up Sage Lewis on Skype, I didn’t realize he was a fellow Minnesotan. He’s now out in LA, composing for films like Operator, starring Mae Whitman and Martin Starr, and a VR film called The Surrogate. In this episode of Composer Quest, we talk about what it takes to move to and find connections in LA. I also ask Sage about his score for the short film Caterwaul, about an old man and his mutant lobster wife.

Are you a "gardener" composer or an "architect" composer? My new (almost) neighbors Michael Maiorana and Mandy Fassett came over to talk about their different composing styles for today's episode of Composer Quest. They decided that Mandy is usually the "gardener" and Mikey is usually the "architect."

In this episode of Tell Me About Your Song, I talk to Charlie McCarron about his song 'Womb Song'. Enjoy! You can also hear the song at https://charliesongs.bandcamp.com/track/demo-womb-song . Charlie is also the host of an excellent podcast named 'Composer Quest', which I highly recommend! You can get more information about Composer Quest at http://www.charliemccarron.com/composer-quest/ , or subscribe to it anywhere podcasts are found. Links and other notes related to this episode can be found at http://yoursongpodcast.tumblr.com/post/142622688229/for-tell-me-about-your-song-64-songwriter .

For the Season 6 Premiere of Composer Quest, I asked aspiring podcast producer Jenny Handke to guest produce the episode. Jenny was interested in gaining some podcasting knowledge, so I thought we could record our conversation and post it as kind of a Composer Quest behind-the-scenes. We talk about everything from interviewing techniques to the ethical question of editing conversations to make people sound smart. I also ask Jenny about her own upcoming podcast, which will either be infinitely fascinating or intensely cringeworthy.

Ethnomusicologist Colleen Bertsch is in Romania right now through a Fulbright grant to study Transylvanian violinists. I got to Skype with Colleen for this episode of Composer Quest, and we talk about her faithful recreation of Romanian folk music with her band Szászka, and the crazy time signatures (22/16!) she's played with her Balkan band Orkestar Bez Ime.

Tommy Kraft has been “living under a bridge” in order to finish his passion project, the feature-length Star Trek film Horizon. He’s doing almost everything himself: directing, writing, editing, composing, visual effects, and even making the costumes. The film is Tommy’s ode to the Enterprise TV series, which played an important role in his life by helping him sort through his struggle with depression. In this episode of Composer Quest, I talk with Tommy about his approach to scoring Horizon, and he shares words of wisdom on running a Kickstarter and producing a large creative project.

Garrett Hope has drawn composing inspiration from spider mating calls, Joan of Arc's trial transcript, oil spills, and rape survivor stories. In this episode of Composer Quest, I ask Garrett about these composing projects, and I ask what he's learned from his podcast Composer on Fire. He shares some words of wisdom from his interviewees, and things he's learned through his own composing journey.

How would you score a scene where a guy looks longingly at a bag of Doritos stuck in a vending machine? That was one of my recent scoring puzzles I had to solve. In this episode, I share some tips on writing an effective melody in the brief amount of time you're given in a commercial. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 136 with Garrett Hope. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

Bubba Hollenhorst is a songwriter friend who I often only chat with during loud concerts or on the dance floor. In this episode of Composer Quest, I get to know Bubba a little better. He shares stories from his albums Enter the Enchanted Whiskey Forest and Space Love, along with tips on writing a post-apocalyptic space-themed musical. I also ask him about the dozen or so hilarious jingles he's written for segments on his podcast The Weekly Awesome.

In this bonus episode, I talk about Blind Willie Johnson's gospel/blues masterpiece 'Dark Was The Night', a nearly wordless song that was included on the legendary golden record included aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes. This episode evolved from a discussion I had with Charlie McCarron, of the excellent Composer Quest podcast. You can hear the entire recording of 'Dark Was The Night' at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8AuYmID4wc

Video game composer Lena Chappelle worked her way into the game business by starting as a quality assurance tester. Now she’s both designing and writing music for games like Guild Wars 2. In this Composer Quest interview, Lena shares some of her music and creativity tips, including her method of composing songs during her bus rides. She shares how to write a good melody, and how her experience as an author has influenced her musical storytelling. I also ask Lena about her perspective as a transgender woman in the video game industry.

Video game music seems to have cliche sounds for different types of levels: ice world music, jungle world music, etc. In this episode, I talk about how I approached making a stereotypical tropical island tune for a video game, with Mario Kart 64 as my inspiration. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 134 with Lena Chappelle. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

Sometimes you have to give yourself weird challenges to get out of your comfortable habits. In this episode, I describe a technique I'm calling visual MIDI improvisation, where I draw in MIDI notes in a visually-pleasing arrangement, without any regard for what they sound like. I also share some techniques you can use to make a listenable track out of these sketches. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 133 with Cyriak Harris. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

Cyriak Harris has wowed the internet with his weird YouTube animations, which often feature dancing, mutating animals, like his 34-million-views video "cows and cows and cows." But he's very rarely asked about his soundtracks, which are equally intricate and wild. In this episode of Composer Quest, I interview Cyriak about his composing methods and creativity tips.

I’m excited to announce our next composing quest, courtesy of Tim Cheesebrow and his forearm. Tim has been looking for a way to commemorate his family tree through music, and he’s decided to leave it to Composer Quest listeners to write a “Cheesebrow family” melody. Tim will then choose his favorite composition, and TATTOO IT ON HIS ARM.

Jonathan Rundman’s songs have appeared on the Ellen Degeneres show, the CBS Morning News, and NPR. He realized the success of these songs have been due in part to their narrow topics, like insomnia and wearing glasses. But Jonathan has recently shifted to writing songs with more “heart” than his journalistic lyrical past, after somewhat of a mid-life crisis and a purifying experience playing ancient Finnish music. In this episode of Composer Quest, Jonathan shares words of wisdom from his 25 years as a touring musician. We also talk about his podcast Creativity Drill, which he co-hosts with his wife Dawn.

Sam Matla admits that his hometown of Wellington, New Zealand doesn’t have a big electronic dance music scene. But he’s been hard at work producing EDM tracks and educating people about electronic music through his blog and podcast at EDMProd.com. For today’s episode of Composer Quest, I interviewed Sam about his production techniques and advice for new producers.

Reel spins, rollups, symbols, celebrations, underscores - they're all different sound ingredients that go into a slot machine. In this episode of Composer Quest, I interview three guys in the sound department at High 5 Games about their unique challenge of making music for casino slots. We talk about the composition techniques they use to hook players into these elaborate slot machine story worlds. I also ask them how they feel about using their musical skills to get people to throw down money and press that button again "like a monkey looking for that frickin' shot of espresso," as Aldo describes it. It's a fun and quirky interview, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Changing a single note in a chord can drastically alter the mood of a piece, like changing from major to minor. In this episode, I show how different types of seventh chords can give your song a different color. I also describe the technique Queen used in recording their vocal harmonies. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 128 with Kevin MacLeod. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.