Music for Media

Check out soundcloud

2011-05-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

I'm just taking a moment to tell you about a link I've put up on my site...
If you check out my samples link on my website www.gunnarddoboze.com you will be taken to a samples page, each player has been embedded from my Soundcloud account....
Check them out...

Lost a good friend...

2011-04-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

After returning from the Cleveland Film Festival...I received some very upsetting news, my friend Kirk Hassig, passed away. I met Kirk when I signed on to score "Project Blackline", over the next couple of years I had a chance to hang out with him, in addition to "Project Blackline", I went to Africa with Kirk and Chris Johnston assisting in the production of a commercial. We had a blast...it was a one of a kind opportunity, and the energy and enthusiasm that kirk brought could only be described as infectious and endearing.
About a year ago, one of the projects I had written music for had been nominated for an Academy Award, Kirk was kind enough to arrange for a place for me to stay, this kind of generosity was just one of the many ways that Kirk ended up-in only a good way- getting under my skin. His laugh, irreverence and verve were infectious, I'll never forget it and I'll always miss it. At the end of the day he always told me how lucky I was, and how the most important things in life were the people that are closest to you.
This past November, I was in Santa Monica, on the day I was leaving, I wandered past Kirk's place and gave him a call, it just so happened that he was walking through the lobby of his building, looked down at his phone and answered. I said Kirk, "I'm right in front of you". He looked up, and with a smile, hello and a laugh we wandered on down to the Miramar hotel to have breakfast. Upbeat as always, Kirk talked to me about some of his projects, asked me about how life was, bantered with the wait staff and then asked me to help him steal all the newspapers in the hotel lobby. With his own brand of surly disregard, he wandered through the lobby collecting nearly all of the newspapers. I walked back with him towards his place, we talked and with a hug and a laugh we bid each other adieu. I look back on that moment with poignancy and gratitude..we ended that visit laughing........

I'll miss you buddy, and as so many of us do I wish I had more time to hang out with you.

Be Part Of The Story - The 35th Cleveland International Film Festival

2011-03-27T06:19:00.000-07:00

Projects past, present and future....!!!

2011-02-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

I've got a couple of things happening this year...First off "Sundance" what a way to kick off the beginning of the year! Last year, I had an opportunity to score a feature length doc called "Connected" directed by Tiffany Shlain which was premiered at this years Sundance Film Festival. The Documentary includes 60 minutes of orginal score which can be best described as a combination of classical, electronic, ambient and world music styles. I finished mid december we mixed printed and then flew off to Sundance!

Also released this year was a narrative feature, "Circle" directed by Michael Watkins, very bloody and very atonal.

Rounding out Last Years work was "State of Control". A Tibet documentary with Directors Darren Mann & Christian Johnston, this project is currently in post production.

Later this year, I'll be teaming up with Daniel Junge and Davis Coombe (Director and Editor of HBO's "The Last Campaign" ) for another work called Saving Face, which will be going into post towards the end of Summer.

A great review in "The Hollywood Reporter"

2011-01-29T22:55:00.000-08:00

Hey folks, I apologize for taking so long to update my blog, but I've been busy lately which brings me to the topic of what I'm working on...Well, this is a great review of the most recent film that I have scored.
Check out this Hollywood Reporter article!

I'm off to Sundance Again!!!!!

2010-12-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks....great news, the film "Connected" has been accepted to the 2011 Sundance Film Festival....we are thrilled!!!!!!

back from the Oscars!!!

2010-03-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

The HBO project I scored "The Last Campaign of Booth Gardener" was officially nominated for an Academy Award this year.
We didn't win, but it was still a great time!

Gunnard Doboze's Composer Reel - Gunnard Doboze's MySpace Blog |

2010-01-22T22:24:00.000-08:00

Gunnard Doboze's Composer Reel - Gunnard Doboze's MySpace Blog |

2009-09-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

So, if your all wondering what my music sounds like...you can feel free to listen to a sample
http://www.myspace.com/gunnarddoboze
Take a listen

2009-09-04T20:49:00.001-07:00

I am about to hear the Neville brothers I am so excited!!!

Back From Africa....

2009-06-11T13:35:00.001-07:00

Hi Folks...I'm back from Africa......and it was an experience. I'll write more later...

My album is finished

2009-03-21T20:28:00.000-07:00

At long last my album is finished! (the first one anyway)
Check it out...

http://cdbaby.com/cd/gunnarddoboze

New twists, turns and other such developments...

2009-02-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, Sorry folks I know it's been quite a long time since I've done the old blog update...
Good news a little sad news...and hopefully more interesting things....
First the good news..."September Tapes" has been in regular broadcast rotation on the Showtime television network-off and on-for several months now! Finally folks will get to see this film in all of its hair raising, hubris driven insanity....Also the Good News front "The Iron Ladies of Liberia" has been broadcast on nearly all of PBS's affiliates through Independant Lens, Oh, and "They Killed Sister Dorothy" will be airing on HBO this Spring (I've got an additional music credit on that one)....I'm going to be scoring another project for Just Media and I am also hoping that I'll start work on Chris Johnstons newest production later this spring. Also, Michael Watkins "Circle" which I scored will be out for all to see very soon.....!! Oh...and I've made a foray into the world of animation! more about that later .....

Now for some sad news...(nobody died....well literally....It's more of a metaphorical death of sorts)
Over the course of my budding career as a film composer I have heard my fair share of horror stories....fortunately outside of having a few "doing business" headaches (comes with the territory) I've been pretty lucky, and grateful for having the opportunity to "do my thing". Recently, a project that I had been attached to, (for roughly 15 months) just succumbed to some rather unfortunate events which caused such an irreparable degree of harm that the film-as it stands- appears to be shelved (that is, removed from IMDB which in database parlance means death).......... nuff said about that....
This brings me to my next point...
When is a credit a credit...?

Getting attached to a project early on is great, but in this crazy mixed up business it can take several years from being attached before the project is actually finished (my first film is a shining example of this)....as the composer you ride in the caboose....your the very last individual to finally get to your part of the project.........in most cases films are shot, edited, re edited sent to post sound mixing, composing, color corrected, screened re edited then shopped for distribution (not necessarily in that order) and as one can imagine, it's a long time before the film may even see the light of day.
What gets any individual noticed by a larger audience and by other producers, directors and the like, is a project that is broadcast and/or distributed theatrically in other words .the credit becomes actualized when the project is seen beyond that of the screening room.

Which brings me to my next point....BE CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC when your brought on to something early on.....Even if your given a retaining fee or something like that it's no guarantee that money spent will equate to a project either being completed or for that matter being distributed. Keep looking for work.....it's the talent, probability and attrition factor that determines your success......
be good....
spread yourself around ...
and hang in there....

Tonight.......on Showtime "September Tapes"

2008-11-12T19:24:00.000-08:00

Hi...
Yes tonight if your a subscriber to the Showtime network, you can watch the September Tapes, the first movie that I scored....

The Iron Ladies of Liberia at The Cleveland International Film Festival

2008-03-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

This past week I had a chance to go back to my hometown of Cleveland to participate in the Cleveland International Film Festival.
The Iron Ladies of Liberia ended up recieving the Greg Gund Memorial Standing Up Film Competition Prize ! Siatta-one of the directors-was also in attendance she fielded questions from some of the attendees which included a number of Liberians who left Liberia durring its civil war, and had relocated to Cleveland. Durring the question and answer period that immediatley proceeded the screening, one of the audience memebers-a 12 year Liberian girl-said "When can I go back home?" Siatta's response was "you can come back now". Hearing that really touched me as well as other members of the audience.
So, after having participated in numerous panels, as well as schmoozing with the masses it's time to get back to my studio! I've got a whole bunch of projects that are waiting to ruin my social life so back to the world of scoring!

Happy Holiday....

2007-12-25T13:42:00.000-08:00

Just a quick merry xmas....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next Year.......

2007-12-12T00:10:00.000-08:00

So, whats next....well this coming year I've got several projects moving towards the front burner, One of them's a film and one-let's not hold our breath-is an ALBUM....! Yes at long last I'm going to release my first digital compilation.........I've had this dc* in mind for nearly five years....and I've waited for many reasons...First, as I was getting ready to release it last year....However, I ended up starting work on a couple of other projects many of these new compositions inspired still more which I thought should appear on this compilation....
*Why am I calling this a Digital Compilation? Well, if your one of the many folks who downloads music you'll know that cd's are becoming ancient history.....So I thought Digital Compilation would suffice.

Mill Valley 2007

2007-09-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

The Iron Ladies of Liberia will be premiering this week at the Mill Valley Film Festival......

Toronto Film Festival 2007

2007-09-11T05:02:00.000-07:00

And so it was, at long last "The Iron Ladies of Liberia" Made it's premier at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival! As I sat in my sat anxiously waiting to see how it would finally look on the big all I could do was thing about the work that went into it.....having spent a great deal of my summer working it was something of an event to see this up there....needless to say with a great sense of accomplishment and relief, everything went well..

Also, I loved Toronto....a city I visited many times in my youth was still as I had remembered it, friendly clean cosmopolitan and hospitable. Kudos to the Canadians!!

Instruments.......

2007-05-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

On the new score......I'm using a bunch of instruments....

Clarinet, Harmoniom, talking drums, Djembe, Marimba, Ngoni Donso, Kalimba, string orchestra, acoustic and electric guitar........as well as numerous other goodies....more to come later...

Nifty tips and helpfull hints....

2007-05-11T01:06:00.000-07:00

Delivering media for any project in the media realm super tricky....

Spotting a scene is tricky....but the really tricky part is making sure that your music fits perfectly with your spotting scene notes....now my recommendation is always to create a quick time movie with the cue....since most projects are constantly being re edited its important that you show the producers and film editors how your score looks to picture rather then just delivering cues...it gives things a better context........

Best inexpensive high quality mics around!!!!!

So you set up a home studio and you've just realized that you have no mics...and you can't afford to spend 20 grand on a couple of Neumans well fear not! check out Studio Projects Microphones they rock!!!!!!!! www.studioprojectsusa.com/

Sunny days but I'm stuck inside composing...

2007-05-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

80 Degrees!!!! un heard of hear in SF....however it happened this week just as I was knee deep, working on a score for a Documentary/feature about the first female president of Liberia....
As the tempature soared, so did my stress level as I frantically tried to incorporate all the new notes that I had recieved from the producers...but as it so happens all of the sunny days spent in my studio paid off.....at last I feel as though I'm in sync with the projects vision......
I did manage to go for a few bike rides through the Presidio......across the bridge over into the Marin Headlands.......

fun fun fun.....

So I guess I should spend some time talking about things as they relate to my craft.........most recently I've been spending time wondering what in the heck's going on with my royalty checks as more viewers turn toward internet video on demand versus are current draconian system of cable network broadcasts....I plan on devoting-soon hopefully- an entry related to all of this....New Stuff...but for now...back to notes, mixes, stems and delivery......

Projects and stuff....

2007-03-25T22:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the title....
Just wanted to give an update regarding new things....I'm currently begining work on a documentary.....about the president of Liberia......back playing and composing music full time.....what funn......

anyhoo...more to come later....

September Tapes Soundtrack

2007-02-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

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......

2006-08-31T09:07:00.001-07:00

Hello and welcome, I've decided that it would be a good idea to keep everyone posted on my projects as well as some of the more boring and incidental details of my life. I recently relocated my studio to a spot fairly close to the ocean and i'm loving it! 2004 was a big year for me, I spent much of my time involved in several different projects. I had just finished up scoring the film "September Tapes" after that I spent time working in a production house composing and producing music and audio for all types of media-web, tv, film, and whatever else landed on my digital audio workstation. Thus far 2005 been the year of tying up many loose ends, finishing projects that I haven't had time to finish and making house with my girlfriend. If your visiting this blog for the first time, check out this link-www.SeptemberTapes.com-it was my first feature and it's now available on dvd and vhs at numerous retail and online stores. Also the logo "Tripping Across The World" is the title of my long awaited upcoming record. More on that later.

Welcome......

2006-08-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

New and improved....hopefully!
It's taken me quite some time to decide "where" the blog should go....So now, I'll start updating.