OstinDrais.com » Film Music

Confirmations of Doing the Right Thing or The End of SAD?

Ostin — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:00:52 +0000

Tuesday was easily one of my most productive, and happiest, days in months. I composed a new instrumental, a new choral piece, then restarted the Zetaman webisode demo track I was working on. Yesterday I composed yet another instrumental and completed the demo track.

At the same time, summer has decided to show up here now. The sun’s been out since at least Tuesday.

My mood since that time has definitely improved. Quoting Radiohead, I am definitely fitter, happier, more productive. Now I’m wondering if the improved mood is because I’m doing what I need to be doing, or is because the sun has returned and my mild Seasonal Affective Disorder has disappeared.

Perhaps a bit of both.

One-Hour Challenge

Ostin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:47:54 +0000

I’ve recently started writing something each day. One thing with the film music business is the necessity of not “owning” a track after completing it. You can make the best track ever, but if it doesn’t fit the needs of the film it becomes utterly useless. In fact, it’s less than useless because the hours/days you spent on that track are gone. Granted, you’re also closer to knowing what is needed because you then know what’s not, but it still is an interesting feeling.

I was thinking of what to make today when I remembered something I saw last night. On his Facebook page, Bob Stark, a highly-regarded (and darn good, if I do say so myself) Portland-based audio engineer made an oblique comment about seven flats being a relatively common key for what he’s seen lately. (For those who don’t know music, seven flats is actually not very common.) So I made something with seven flats. But then I thought it would be even more interesting if I made something quickly, say in just an hour.

So, presto! A new idea is born: the One-Hour Challenge. What can be made from nothing in an hour? By made, I mean from the start of writing to rendering the final product in 60 minutes. To start, we have this:

‘Tis a simple little bit, but all great ideas and things are, at heart, a simple thing.

Late-night thinking

Ostin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:33:27 +0000

Wanting to do a lot of things in life is tough. Prioritizing things can be difficult. But I know what I want to do, but I also know what will enable me to do what I want. Unfortunately, right now those are two separate things.

Music is a part of my life, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. But right now it’s not enabling me to take care of business, i.e. not paying the bills. I know, in my heart, that it will do that in the future, but I don’t know when that transition will happen. And that not knowing is annoying at best, heart-breaking at worst.

Things will get better, I know. It’s not helped from the stress of moving to a new place. I want things to get fixed, but I know it’ll take time.