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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Challenging yourself to re-arrange a piece of music is a good way to practice your composing skills without having to start from scratch. For this episode, I made it my goal to transform a cheesy soap opera theme into something that I’d actually want to listen to. In the end, it turned into an old-school video game track. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 124 with Jon Brantingham. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

If you were asked to channel The Beatles and write a new song in their style, how would you do it? That was the challenge I gave myself in creating a jingle for my patron from Liverpool, Luke Thomas. In this episode, I explain my thought process behind each layer of this Beatles-esque song. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 122 with the TV composers Fil Eisler and Mac Quayle. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

Sometimes you have to expand your horizons as a producer and just experiment with as many different crazy effects as possible. Here are some mixing ideas I used in a sound collage I made for one of my Composer Quest patrons. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 121 with Noah Keesecker. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

I often start a song idea on guitar, but sometimes I add so many layers I have to pick and choose which ones should be highlighted, and which ones should be subconscious background layers. In this episode, I talk about my process mixing a commercial soundtrack. This production lesson originally aired in Composer Quest episode 119 with Lisa Walkosz-Migliacio. For more music production lessons and composer interviews, visit composerquest.com.

When I’m composing at the piano, I often start by playing chords over and over until a melody pops into my head. In this episode, I talk about how I apply that method to a chiptune video game score. I also test out my new collection of chipsounds.

Sometimes the best way to tug at people’s heartstrings through a film score is by using familiar melodies. In this episode, I talk about scoring a short film by creating new arrangements of classical themes.

I started a stock music project that was part joke, part business venture, and part musical experiment. In this episode, I break down one of my sunny, ukulele productions designed to fit a cheesy commercial.

Musical chills have been on my mind lately, since I listened back to a past song of mine and got chills in the same spot I always do. In this episode, I share some of the science behind musical chills, to try and answer why this song gives me goosebumps.

I just got a new orchestral sample library, and I’m really enjoying messing around with these surprisingly realistic instruments. In this episode, I share some things I’ve learned while working on an orchestral score for a new video game.

I had the privilege of watching Rich Vreeland (aka Disasterpeace) give a live music production demo at Gamer’s Rhapsody. In this special CMPL episode, you’ll get to hear Rich composing a track on the fly. He shares his secret ingredients in scoring the video game FEZ: the Massive synth, with heavy amounts of reverb, bitcrushing, randomness, and tape warble. Here’s the video of this demo.