September Tapes Soundtrack

More about September Tapes...

I sometimes forget how one of the most emblematic disasters of post modern America (and the world) helped foster my way into the world of film scoring. I had seen both towers fall while staying at a hotel in Salem Massachusetts, I remember the "I can't believe this is happening" thought that had continuously looped around my brain as I saw the carnage unfold, I had no idea that this disaster would be the seed of my creative and professional foray into the movie business. Later, when I went to work on this (about 14 months after 911) all of my ideas and attitudes that I picked in school regarding Hollywood film scoring where either thrown out the window or left at the curb, I knew nothing!

My experience working on September Tapes took on its own shape and design. ST (as it came to be affectionately known as) brought me deep into the contradicting realities that can sometimes guide the chaotic world of film making. Once you add the whole "commerce meets art" aspect that comes with bringing a film to market, the process becomes so convoluted that its hard to keep your head from spinning off! In a small film it's very easy to get mixed up in all the other aspects of the movie. In retrospect, the lessons I learned are as follows: Keep it simple, stick to the score!

Upon first seeing a print of the movie I was immediately struck by the brazenness and ferocity of how Christian Van Gregg and Christian Johnston, developed and produced there story. With few compromises and no big studio support, production pretense, and a budget that would barely cover craft services for one day on a big movie, they tell us the story of a character who's life became intricately woven by circumstance to an event which eventually brings him to a place that few of us-even in the best of times-would dare to venture, bringing the viewer to a point of observation, seeing the inner turmoil of character placed in the rugged and dangerous setting of Afghanistan.


I always admired both Christian Johnston and Christian Van Gregg for following their vision, bringing us a story that very few filmmakers would even attempt to adapt into a film, let alone placing the character (as well as themselves) into one of the most harrowing places on earth. Although many films have leveraged actual historical events, embedding them into plot lines, few films actually put you in the real center of conflict, in this case the center being Afghanistan!


The Actual Production of the Film Score....
All of the preproduction was started in Northern CA, at my best friends (and sometimes benefactor) Chris Bero's house....after my "Hell" period (More about that later) in Boston, I moved to California crash landing at Chris's house with nothing more then my computer, horns, Keyboard and clothes.

I had been contacted by the filmmakers, who had expressed interest in my music and were wondering if I would be willing to score their film. As soon as the video's arrived...I went about scoring it.....at around the same time, I had become mysteriously ill (which I now believed was caused by a very protracted strain of unfortunate events-known as my "Hell" period) and bedridden...unable to move without being in pain, I collapsed into a state of complete hopelessness and despair, thinking I was dying of some mysterious disease...I thought that the score may end up being nothing more then some penultimate statement of my work.....so despite the intense physical and emotional (the broken engagement thing to be mentioned later) pain, I started scoring. After the basic framework was completed, my friend Chris had decided he wanted to sell his pad and move to Singapore so he could spend time with his then girlfriend.

One May day....amidst a pile of house rubble that had been left in the wake of Chris's first and final remodeling effort, (Chris had decided it' be easier to sell his place if he remodeled before he put his house on the market) I said goodbye and good luck to Chris....jumped into Chris's van-which would later become known as the exploding bus- and I drove down the 5 ending up in Hollywood....


When I arrived in Hollywood...I did some couch surfing, setting up my little studio in a friends bigger studio, sleeping on a couch trying to remember why I was here....feeling desperate, wondering if it would work out and how that would look uncertain I spent alot of time thinking about the last year of incredible highs and even greater lows.....that had included a stint studying music in Japan, and engagement a breakup, performing in Boston for several months at the Huntington theatre relocating to California becoming bedridden, but finally I felt as though-after having recovered my health -I was really ready to tackle a project again.......

My first day.....if I can remember was visiting Chris Johnston....Chris had this beautiful place up in Hollywood Hills....and Peter Finestone was the main editor on September Tapes...Peter and I started placing music into the timeline of the movie. After a couple of weeks, the score began to develop it's own parallel narrative, which helped support and give shape to that of the filmmakers. Chris and Peter would offer suggestions and criticisms and I would go back to my little studio, and continue to write cues' make adjustments to other ones and spend my time and energy capturing the ambiance as best I could of Afghanistan within a musical framework.
The most fun was working with Peter....we had many laughs! Many trips to Baja fresh (at the corner of Sunset and Crescent blvd.) sitting around talking about all of the various events, characters, and personal subplots the kind of stories that are rarely found anywhere else but Hollywood, the kind that are full of bizarre anecdotal twists, which always kept things interesting and entertaining.


I recorded the Armenian Duduk parts myself, the keyboard parts, and drone creating was all done using Digital Performer.......I also had a few other musicians including Nils Van Otterloo, who played percussion parts and Mehranz, and Jhene who had contributed vocals.

Final Production.......back to the Bay Area...!
The final production was done back in San Fran, Jhene Canody (also the love of my life!) recorded vocal parts for the film in my newly relocated project studio.........The end credit music was done...and now the big wait!


On the Technical Side.......
I used Digital Performer (Version 3.1) as well as several wonderful mics (thanks to Mr Van Oterloo) to record most of the music. Everything was recorded on a G4 silverback 733 mac!
All of the affect processing was software driven. and there where very few keyboards used, mostly just the instruments which where then heavily processed.

By the end of November 2003 the score was done.......and now the wait!

January 2004......I stepped off the southwest flight into Salt Lake city airport.....I grabbed an airport shuttle and made my way to park city........I phoned one of the crew and asked where everyone was meeting, I walked into a restaurant saw the crew, Jason our sound mixer, Jeffro and Peter our editors...Darren Mann, all of us together....ready to see our movie premier at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.....amazing journey even made even sweeter that finally, this movie was going to be seen by many more individuals. As thrilled as I was...it was bitter sweet.....I often think about how the tragedy offered me this strange chance....I try not to over think this and just see it as an opportunity to voice my talents and be apart of something that will spur dialog among people of differing opinion's.


Fast Forward Jan 2007........

I've got a lot of new toys.....new sound libraries, New Virtual instruments new mics and a whole new scoring system.....no more processor bottlenecks...no more limits !
So first plan was to figure out what songs to lift out of the movie and adopt into a soundtrack album......what's most listenable, also, what can I spend time developing...? What new sounds should I employ...what about creating new compositions or using old one's as say "source music" for the score? Where did it begin and where will it finally end........

so now I'm 3 months into it, fitting this into whatever space is made available....working around other newer projects......