Four For Music the Soundtrack Podcast

Four for Music the Soundtrack Podcast is a podcast for film and game scores that George Strezov from Four for Music is hosting. The guest of this episode of S3 is Forest Christenson - a composer and a scoring mixer, known for his work as an additional music composer with credits including The Last Of Us, Aquaman and Catherine the Great. As a scoring mixer, famous for projects such as Wonder Woman, The Crown, Back To The Outback and many more. One of the main themes of focus on this podcast is the score mixing. Technical skills needed, top plugins for orchestral mixing that Forest and George are using, challenges and creative ideas are some of the topics discussed. Forest also talks a bit about his work with Alan Meyerson and Rupert Gregson-Williams and shares some thoughts on the relationships between the composers and their assistants and mixing engineers.   The specific characteristics of the recording rooms and spaces and the impact that they have on the musical outcome and its effect are mentioned as well. Forest is speaking of his experience and observations in that regard. Our 3 blitz questions, concerning Forest’s favorite soundtracks, his dream project and his advice to a younger version of himself - are answered at the end of the podcast. You’ll also listen to a track from ”Sisyphus” a popular South Korean drama series on Netflix, so don’t miss hearing it out!

Four for Music the Soundtrack Podcast is a series of podcasts for film and game scores that George Strezov from Four for Music is hosting. The guest of this episode of S3 is Rob Westwood - a game music composer renowned for his work on: Asgard’s Wrath, Remnant: From the Ashes, Lego The Hobbit: The Video Game, The Lego Movie Videogame, Lego DC Super-Villains and many more. In the beginning of the conversation Rob shares how he has begun his composer’s journey. The speakers also discuss the challenges and the opportunities connected with adaptive music, as well as some specific aspects of their composing process and experience. Later we get an inside look at Rob’s work on Asgard’s Wrath - how he has handled the composition from a technical point of view and also what his approach was on the stylistic, instrumental and orchestral side of things. Then Rob and George share some stories and details about other interesting projects they’ve been part of.  Another theme on focus in that second part of the podcast is the orchestra recording sessions. Rob mentions which the tricky parts are for him and how he manages them.  The final minutes of the podcast are occupied with our blitz questions and the fantastic main theme of Remnant: From the Ashes. Enjoy listening!

The guests of this episode of Four For Music the Soundtrack Podcast are Yannick Süß and Robin Birner, renowned for their work on games with historical setting, city building and RPG genres like: ”Knights of Honor II: Sovereign”, “Victoria 3”, “Foundation”, “ Spacebase Startopia” and many more.  Yannick and Robin are talking about the way they got into composing music for games and how they started their company Audinity [https://audinity.com/]. They share some thoughts and details about their mutual work and creative process and what has helped them build a successful partnership for over a decade now. Finding a new angle on something you are used to and that you know that works well, keeping things simple, striking the right balance between too active and generic music when an ambient score is written and more - hear what the speakers have to say about the challenges in game music composing. Some of the themes on focus in the second part of the podcast are: what are the important  things and potential issues to consider when it comes to producing a soundtrack; the significance of arrangement and orchestration for the final outcome; recording on stems vs recording an entire orchestra.  Yannick also shares a bit about his experience with game music concerts. He is talking about the opportunities for a wider audience and the difficulties concerning the organization and the curation process for the concert program. In the final minutes you’ll find the answers to our blitz questions - which are the favorite soundtracks of Robin and Yannick, what their dream project is and what would their advice be if they were to start composing for games today.

Our next guest on FFM The Soundtrack Podcast EP2, S3 is Robin Hoffmann - a composer, arranger and orchestrator with vast experience. His recent credits include the scores for the award - winning films Hero and the international World War I feature A War Within. In the past years he’s written the music for A Father’s Job, which won several awards, including Best Score at Hollywood Gold Awards and Best Score at Long Story Shorts International Film Festival. Robin has orchestrated the score for an episode of Star Wars Visions and the blockbuster Anime feature Suzume amongst dozens of other projects he has participated in as an orchestrator. In the beginning of the podcast you’ll learn how Robin found his love for orchestral music and the way he shares the knowledge gained in a series of tips about composition and orchestration (patreon.com/robinHoffmann [https://www.patreon.com/robinhoffmann]).  Searching for unique sound, a way to put one's “stamp” on the score in time when sample libraries are dominant - hear what Robin and George have to say on the topic and find out more about their composing process. One of the themes in focus, in the second half of the talk, is challenges during a recording session and the practices and strategies that Robin has developed over the years in order to accelerate the process and achieve better results. Speakers are sharing some interesting observations concerning the recording aspects, the work with the musicians, sight reading, orchestration when combining a band with an orchestra and more.  “Gazing at the Night Sky” by Robin Hoffmann and the answers to our blitz questions - which are his favorite scores, which is his dream project and what would his advice be to a younger version of himself - occupy the last minutes of this episode, so don’t miss to hear them out!

Four for Music the Soundtrack Podcast is a series of podcasts for film and game scores that George Strezov from Four for Music is hosting. This first episode of S3 is with Seth Tsui, a musician and composer who has written scores for various films and games including China’s most popular game (王者荣耀) Honor of Kings. He has also been involved in creating sample libraries and is currently working as Composition Supervisor for Riot Games. The conversation begins with a couple of words for Jade Evolutions -  a sample library which gives the possibility to morph between different sounds on XY Pad and thus create playable textures. Seth Tsui is talking about what it was for him to be able to work on a signature library and shares some insider information on how it was recorded. In this first part of the podcast you will also hear about Seth's background as an instrumentalist and how it has affected his career and work. He also mentions how playing in a jazz band has helped him reading and responding to the audience's reactions. The specifics when it comes to game music composing is the next theme on focus. How people's expectations about the character influences the score, what kind of freedom composing for games gives compared to writing scores for films and TV series - George and Seth share some thoughts. Later, in the middle part of the conversation, Seth is telling a bit more about his professional path, which began with playing a trombone in an orchestra. He talks about the challenges and inspirations in his career and gives insights on how he had succeeded in starting to work in the game industry. George and Seth are discussing the opportunities that a young composer can take advantage of, especially when it comes to locations outside LA and London. Some of the topics in the second part include: the differences between Eastern and Western companies in terms of technology used and the composing process. Seth is also talking about his current work and shares some details on how he got hired at Riot Games. The final minutes of the podcast are reserved for our Blitz questions from which you’ll learn what is Seth Tsui's dream project and which his favorite soundtracks are. Enjoy listening!