My article on 60secondscloser.com

The other day I mentioned that I had written an article for 60secondscloser.com ... today it was published so go and check it out!

http://www.60secondscloser.com/post-production/film-music-think-before-you-plink.html

Interview on SFXSOURCE

Just (re)found this interview by SFXSOURCE.COM with Simon Tate about the soundtrack I did for The Point of Regret. Some nice sound bites in there...

Check it out here -> http://www.sfxsource.com/news/index.php/2010/06/08/interview-with-filmmaker-simon-tate-on-post-production-audio/trackback/

Upcoming article on 60secondscloser.com

I just submitted the first of a few articles I'm writing about film music composing - or at least my view of it and what I learned from my time spent on the feature film The Point of Regret.

It will feature on a new site by Simon Tate and Dave Francis, called 60secondscloser where they are sharing their experiences during the making of The Point of Regret. Their mission statement is this:

On this site you’ll find information on everything we’ve learned about making all types of films, from features to promos through documentaries and corporates. We don’t know it all and each day we’re always learning more, but hopefully by reading about the mistakes we’ve made, and sharing in some of our successes, it’ll take you that 60 seconds closer to producing your own film.

So, you should see my article go up sometime later this week, but for now here's a teaser to whet your appetite...

In a perfectly clear night sky, with a dazzlingly bright shining moon, your music needs to be like the millions of shimmering stars, providing the wide-angle backdrop… that’s the bit that people often get emotional about.  

That’s your goal.

Ok, it's short but sweet and sounds like it has nothing to do with music, right? Well wait for the full article over on www.60secondscloser.com and let me know what you think.

Bye for now.

My soundtrack to the feature film The Point of Regret - released at last!

The Point of Regret soundtrack - released at last!

First place you can get a digital copy is over at bandcamp... see the audio player below for track list and links to buy and share the news!

The album should be coming to iTunes and Amazon shortly too!

Review of TPOR by "Pick 'n' Mix Flix"

Pick ‘n’ Mix Flix is a highly rated movie review blogging website concentrating on lower budget, harder to find movies, as well as Oscar contenders and other award-worthy movies.

'The Point of Regret' got a deserved 8/10 with some specific comments on the sound - which I am totally grateful for, as I did the lot! It was hard work but a fantastic experience creating the audio environment including the music, foley and ADR that was all done in my studio.

"Tate couldn’t have done this on his own. Cinematographer David Francis helped out enormously with his atmospheric, hand-held camerawork and The Point of Regret is also aided by an original score by Andy Stuteley. Talking of sound, this movie reaches deep into its bag of tricks to provide some superb over-dubbing, the likes of which you would generally see in much larger movies. The sound, much like everything else here, punches well above its weight. 

Simon Tate, David Francis, AJ Nicol, Christopher Hatherall and others, take a bow. On what’s pretty obviously a limited budget* you’ve combined to make as good a film as it could possibly be as it brings us tales of sacrifice and love, an examination of suicide and regret, and even a debate about the morality of both the media and the death penalty. The Point of Regret really ought to be an inspiration to penniless filmmakers everywhere." Colin Harris - Pick 'n' Mix Flix

Check out the full review of the film here:

http://www.picknmixflix.com/p/point_regret.php

New Links to Videos

I've tidied up the links on the Video page as some were out of date, and also found some more of my films online, so have added new links to those.

You should now see embedded videos or links to the following films:

• The Point of Regret (trailer)
• Shatter
• The Last Piece
• Domestics
• Just For Fun

Cheers
Stootz.

The Point of Regret - Soundtrack

So, on Monday I mentioned something that I was working on, but couldn't say too much... now the cat is out of the bag from the Emanation Films guys post on their Facebook Fan Page

I am working to get my first ever album together and released in time for the same week as the film either hits the shops in DVD format, or the independent theatres around the country. Preferably both will happen and the album will also hit in the nick of time.

I have the artwork to complete (there are some changes being made to keep the branding / style consistent), the mastering to finish and finally, decide on who I am going to distribute the album through. It's not a huge amount of work, but I want to be able to do the final product justice, so will spend a bit of time getting the whole thing right.

TuneCore look favourites at the moment, but I'm putting the feelers out into some forums and asking my fellow composer types for their experiences.

It looks like I can get a global release thru iTunes and Amazon plus a number of other outlets as TuneCore release to some of the key B2B digital media distributors.

Anyway, this is a massive thing for me, it being my first album... and I'm really, really pleased with the music I did for TPOR. Listening back during the mastering sessions, I was surprised how much I'd put into all the tracks. Sometimes when you've heard them 10,000 times, all you hear is how you could improve them, so it was nice to listen to them again after a few months away from them.

It's a busy time working on this release and the other feature film projects ("The Lost" and "Low")... but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Keep yer peepers peeled for the posts!

The Point of Regret - DVD availability

I found that there are now multiple online shops that will be selling the DVD for The Point of Regret.

I haven't heard of some of them so can't vouch for them or their delivery commitments, so just check things out first.

Anyway, here is the list I found so far:

HMV
Amazon UK
The Hut 
DVD Source
Base
CDWow
Pick A Book 
ASDA 

The UK release date is still touted for the end of March 2011, but there are ongoing discussions about an event that may delay the DVD release for a short while. If it happens, it will be worthwhile but more on that when I find out which way things will go.

The Point of Regret - More Exciting News

Today I received confirmation of some more exciting news about the feature film The Point of Regret by Emanation Films.

Right now, I can't say too much... but for me, it's pretty special.

There are some things to work out but I should be able to tell you more in about a week's time.

Keep them peepers on the posts people!

Emanation Films - Viewers

Hot on the heels of The Point of Regret, Emanation Films are already well on their way with their next feature length film "Viewers".

Here's a snippet from the synopsis...

"Will has the key to unlocking something that will stop hunger, poverty, disease, the destruction of the planet and create peace for the entire human race.  Turning the key is simple.  All he has to do is kill himself.

Remote Viewing is used by intelligence agencies worldwide.   Most notably it was used by the CIA in operation Stargate which began at the Stanford Research Institute in April, 1972.  They claim Stargate was closed in 1995.
 
Ted has always been at the forefront of developing Remote Viewing.  Remote Viewers can project their sight, and other senses, to anywhere in the world, in the present . . . or the past. 

Now Ted’s obsessed with finding the secret link between Remote Viewing and the next phase of human evolution.  A step so significant it’ll dwarf the point at when fish came out of the water to live on land."

Sound good?

Read more about it at the temporary web page for Viewers

The Point of Regret - DVD release - confirmed

The DVD release of The Point of Regret has been confirmed for the end of March 2011 (not June as stated on Amazon) so you should be able to get your grubby mitts on it soon!

The guys at Emanation Films have also started a new Twitter ID for anyone interested in following them @emanationfilms as they now have another film in production... more on that soon.

The Point of Regret - DVD release

I've been told by the director of The Point of Regret that the DVD release of the film is imminent i.e. the next week or two.

So, I did a quick Google search to see if there were any updates and found that the DVD has been added to Amazon, with a release date of June 1st 2011. I'm guessing this date will come forward based on what Simon and Dave from Emanation Films told me.

Check it out and pre-order your copy from Amazon today!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Point-Regret-DVD-AJ-Nicol/dp/B003ZIWRTG

(No I won't be getting any of the proceeds as it will go to fund the next film that Simon and Dave make... but more about that soon...)

Dave also mentioned that Empire magazine may be doing a review in the coming months, but I'll keep you posted on that if it happens.

Happy New Year! It's been a while...

Happy New Year!

It's been a while since I posted, so thought I would give a quick update... 2010 was a tough year!

The Point of Regret
The ADR recording for the feature film, The Point of Regret, was completed a while back in 2010, then it was just onto the integration of those parts and the final mixes etc.

That is all done now and the film has been back with Simon Tate for a while for him to sort out the packaging and publication malarkey. The last I heard is that we would be seeing the film released in January 2011, so I'll post again when I get that confirmed.

Break - Switch - Move
After TPOR I decided to take a bit of a break from film projects, to allow me to focus on finishing my course, Cinematic Orchestration which is taking a lot of time - it's tough but good!

I then found myself changing my day job, so that's started to eat into my free time quite a lot whilst I was getting used to the new company and work.

Then to top it all, we finally got around to renovating our home which took us about 3 months in all - so the studio came down and was moved to its new location, but it took a while!

.... and Relax....
Anyway, I'm now in my new studio (I'll try and get some pics at some point) with more room and better acoustics - just a better environment overall.

So, now things have settled a bit with the new job and the studio is sorted, I'm ramping back up to full speed with the composing and looking for some new projects.

I'm also hoping to get the next module of the course done this month - I'll post up some examples of previous units to give you a flavour of what it's about.

Cheers
Stootz.

Working on TPOR ADR editing

Currently working on the ADR integration for The Point of Regret. Been a bit slow going this week but nearly there. Hopefully all finished tomorrow!

ADR for The Point of Regret

I hosted the Simon, Chris and Dave from the feature film "The Point of Regret" on Monday for an ADR session. We re-recorded a number of lines of Chris's dialogue where the on-set mic's didn't capture the audio cleanly enough.

It all went really well and it provided a great opportunity to try out my new SE Electronics 2200a mic and the Reflexion filter... and both were absolutely brilliant.

I'll be working on selecting the best takes, treating with the necessary ambience and producing the final mix thru this week and next.

Special thanks to my wife, Sam, who worked away in the background and prepared some wonderful food for us all, so we could concentrate on the recording session.

New Commission - The Point of Regret

I've kept this under wraps for a while... until I was well into it and felt like I'd really got my feet under the table. I've been commissioned to produce the score and sound design for a really cool feature length film called "The Point of Regret". Written and directed by Simon Tate of Emanation Films, "The Point of Regret" is a thriller with a twist, which has also broken new ground in gaining permission to film in Worcester Cathedral.

Everything about this film is really, really good from the story, to the direction, the actors and the production values... I've now got to match it with a great soundtrack!

I've been working on it for a number of weeks now, but only a week ago got the final locked edit, so now I'm syncing the music I already have to the picture - I think it does live up to the film, and both Simon and Dave really like what they've heard so far.

I've got about 5 weeks left til the first test screening (unfortunately I'll be away on holiday when it happens) but I've no doubt I'll get lots of feedback and probably some re-work. There may also be another test screening before the final version is locked for premiering and distribution.

Check it out www.emanationfilms.net

What I'm Using...

I thought I would post more about the process I'm going thru, the libraries I'm using and the challenges I'm facing as it may help others. For now I thought I'd quickly mention some of the great sound libraries I'm using...

I've been using a combination of the following sound libraries:

VSL, Special Edition

Native Instruments Kontakt3, Absynth4

Cinesamples "Drums of War" - (amazing value)

...and a number of the excellent Tonehammer libraries: Anti-Drum2, Epic Toms, Bamblong and the icing on the cake is Barbary which has really lifted the soundtrack.

Bye for now

Taking things for granted... OR... I wish I had a UPS...

Its a lazy Sunday morning and the sun is out... only its not a lazy morning (I'm working) and the Sun is blazing. So much so that its taken out the power in our street... 3 times so far and its not even midday yet.

I'm in the middle of writing the soundtrack for Simon Tate's feature length film "The Point of Regret" and have already lost work in 2 of the three mini-blackouts.

"Autosave!" I hear you cry in unison... well its on but its set to every 10 minutes so it doesnt interfere too much with the creative flow, anything less and it becomes a pain as it introduces a brief stutter into the proceedings. Not something I can tolerate whilst playing live instruments like a guitar, because you can guarantee that the moment it does hiccup, it'll be the perfect take I wanted.

So now I have a dilema... here are my options:

1. Continue working bravely on and potentially losing work every so often
2. Change the autosave setting to be more frequent (but then what about disk caching in the OS... hmm)
3. Go out and buy a UPS for around £100 but really I need an air con unit too as me and my computer are melting in the heat, so that'll be £200-ish
4. Throw in the towel for today, go out in the sun and go clean my now "green" quick-up pool whilst quaffing a few gallons of cold lager

I never thought I'd seriously consider buying a UPS but the same kind of thing happened a few times last year in the heatwave. So maybe this is a sign of future things to come and I should "embrace change" and get my ass into gear to find a solution.

As I move into the more professional end of being a working composer it's amazing how many things I've taken for granted that previously I would have "just lived with", power is one of them. The reason for this is simple... as an amateur you can tolerate the little (and not so little) hiccups as you dont have a deadline and a whole film crew waiting on your talented outputs.

The experience has made me question a few things about my working methods, like:

• backing up my song data, which I do, but probably not as seriously or frequently as I should
• recovering from a disaster... how long would it take me in reality to rebuild my computer(s)? I have over 110,000+ (120GB) worth of samples alone, not including virtual instrument libraries (VSL, Opus II, Kontakt, Tonehammer etc)
• can I find all of the disks with my original installations on (probably but I may need to hunt out a few from the hundreds of disks I have stored)
• I'm writing this faster (and saving a little more often) than I normally would in case the power goes again... and I'm sure I will be working quicker during the rest of today in my composition and recording, for a similar reason. I'm fairly sure quality won't suffer as I can write and produce very quickly, so maybe I could increase my workflow speed in general?

So maybe the whole thing has been of some use as I've stood back and learned from the experience.

I'll have to cling onto that thought so that the next time the man comes to read the meter, I don't share my frustration with him, my mains supply and some jumper cables :-)