Articles

Chris Egan has just finished recording a Cinematic Blockbuster Movie Extravaganza with the full Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (all ninety of them) at Abbey Road Studio One. Audio Network talks to the man behind the music to find out how he does such a thing…

What inspired you to create this type of score?

The inspiration is drawn from the wonderful old-school 'Popcorn Movies' that I've watched since I was a child. I've always written from a media composer point of view, working from a brief conveying third-party feelings and imagery.

Imagine ET, on a horse, being chased by Darth Vader.

That pretty much sums up my brief for this project.

What is the desired outcome for the audience?

I want people to feel excited. It has to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, otherwise there is no point. Like any great themes you have to be turned on; you have to follow the journey of the piece. When the orchestra are playing full-out you need to take the audience on that adventure with you.

What sort of instruments will we be listening out for?

My palette is the traditional symphony orchestra; however I use more than the traditional amount of instruments. In the brass section for instance, there are six French Horns instead of four and four Trumpets. I'm even using two harps instead of the usual one. You can get infinite colours by using different combinations and techniques; it's endless. Each instrument creates such a breadth of different sounds you can create any mood.

How complicated is it to prepare something like this?

It is extremely hard to write music this intricate. When recording a huge symphony orchestra, the audience are expecting it to sound massive. You have to make sure you deliver with every note. 

For this project alone, there will be around two thousand bars of music spread over five thousand pages and not one of those notes can be wrong.

Balance is also a really big thing for me. When we record ninety players in a room, there's not much we can fix in the mix. What we record on the day is pretty much how it is going to sound. If it needs to be heard on the recording, then it needs to be heard over everything else on the day.

Who is your musical hero?

I'm a huge John Williams fan. You only have to hear a few notes of any of his famous themes and you know exactly what piece they're from. Can you imagine Indiana Jones without that music behind it? No, it's inseparable. Jaws is another example. It takes a lot of genius to come up with something so simple, menacing and synonymous.

What do you see as your greatest achievement?

I'm hoping it hasn't happened yet. I'm very lucky to have such a diverse career. When I was 12 I wanted to spend my life being a professional musician, playing in, and maybe even orchestrating West End Musicals. By the time I was 18 I was already playing piano in West End Shows such as The Lion King. By the age of 25 I was lucky enough to be an established arranger, working on amazing projects with extremely talented people (one of my favourite gigs was re-arranging and orchestrating Shirley Bassey's music catalogue for a major Television Special). Whenever I feel I'm getting close to reaching my current ambition, I move the goalposts further away.

Best Rewards?

For me, the best buzz you can possibly get in this industry is when you stand in front of a ninety piece Orchestra and they play your music for the first time; there isn't a better feeling. If they could bottle that, it would sell for millions! I wish everyone in the world could experience it. But a composer works really hard for that moment, pouring over pages and pages of scores and staying up all night.

It's that winning the Monaco grand prix moment

What would be your dream recording session?

Frank Sinatra at Capitol Studios.

How do you feel if someone uses your music in a way you didn't envision it?

I am creating a scenario in my head when I'm writing music. If someone chooses to interpret that in another way then great, if it fits their requirements.

What is your favourite use of your music?

I don't really have a favourite. Usually I just tend to think 'wow, that's interesting' or 'OK, that's a little weird'. I was watching Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson driving a Ferrari around, using some of my music, which I had never envisaged being used over those images, but oddly, it worked.

What made you want to do what you're doing?

There are two pieces of music that made me want to be a Composer/Arranger. The last five minutes of E.T. and Johnny Mandel's arrangement of Here's To Life (Shirley Horn). I heard both of these pieces in the same week and was just blown away by how powerful music could be if executed perfectly.

By: Chris Egan

Date: 07 Dec 2011

What does a Composer do in the lead up to a huge recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Abbey Road Studio 1? Drinking lots of Red Bull, staying up all night and finessing hundreds of pages of score…Audio Network chats to Chris Egan.

What does recording at Abbey Road Studio 1 mean to you?

It's the best sounding orchestral room in the world. It's as simple as that. There aren't many studios in the world that can hold a full Symphony Orchestra and a full Symphonic Chorus simultaneously. The room was purpose-built for this type of production, it makes the orchestra sound massive and it really comes alive.

It sounds like nowhere else in the universe, it sounds beautiful.

Have you always recorded there?

For years I have been recording here out of choice. It is the finest recording studio in the world. We are recording Hollywood Blockbuster Music in the same studio where John Williams recorded the music for Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter, alongside thousands of other iconic Composers and Movie Scores. That awesome sound is embedded within the room.Also, Abbey Road has a wonderful atmosphere which makes it an inspiring place to work.

Is it always orchestral music?

In Studio 1 the room is designed to make an orchestra sound big. Everything you see on the wall, every angle is designed to make that sound. If you walk into Studio 1 and clap your hands, you get the most beautiful natural reverb. The room brings sounds to life like no other.

How long is the process between beginning to write and getting here?

I'm a composer that works well with tight deadlines. That's the way I've been bought up. I've been in a situation many times when I've got the call - we need to do something in 2 days time with an orchestra. So, you just stay up all night and do it.

I started writing this score about 1 month ago. But I'm always jotting ideas down. There is one little melody that I wrote about a year ago in my sketch book which is the basis for one of the pieces on this session. When I write I'm surrounded by technology, but I always find the best results come from sitting behind the piano with pencil and paper.

Tell us something about Abbey Road Studios that we don't know?

All the microphones the Beatles used are still there. We will be using some of them on Friday. I have a favourite pair of ribbon microphones built in 1932 by EMI - 80 years ago; they are meticulously maintained by the Abbey Road staff, and they sound glorious.

I am also lucky enough to be based at Abbey Road. I have a fantastic space here; my writing room has a beautiful roof terrace. It's a really inspiring place to come to work.

What sort of things go on behind the scenes that we wouldn't even think about?

Printing alone for this whole project will be around 5000 sheets of music that need to be taped up and copied. It's an incredibly important job. There cannot be one note wrong amongst all of that; there are no mistakes, there is no margin for error.

It's also impossible to work on a project of this scale alone and I couldn't do that without the great team I work with.

How do you feel the week before a big recording session at Abbey Road Studios?

The same way I have for the last 10 years. I love doing it. It doesn't make me nervous. As a Composer, if I don't walk into the room with faith in my music, then nobody else will have faith in it either. I always do my best work when I'm under pressure. I won't go to bed at all on Wednesday or Thursday night; I'll be going through scores.

For me, the best buzz you can possibly get in this industry is when you stand in front of a ninety piece Orchestra and they play your music for the first time; there isn't a better feeling. If they could bottle that, it would sell for millions. I wish everyone in the world could experience it.

By: Bob Bradley

Date: 02 Dec 2011

Trip Hop changed my life more than any other music style. It was the movement of my generation. Down tempo ultra cool beats fused with classic old samples, sparse female vocals and lush string arrangements. It all kicked off with Bristol's 'Wild Bunch' (otherwise known as Massive Attack) and their first record 'Blue Lines'. But it was their follow up 'Protection' that got me hooked and mildly obsessed.

Shortly after, Tricky (kid) left Massive Attack and released his very own debut Maxinquaye, which was such an inspirational record. Listening to it even now there is a magic and timeless quality that fills me with nostalgia. It fused the Bristol Trip Hop sound with elements of New Orleans swampy blues and 70s cinematica. There were many artists who followed with their own brand of Trip Hop such as Morcheeba and the Sneaker Pimps, but the band that really nailed the British Trip Hop sound and became thee band of 90s urban Britain was another Bristol collective…

Portishead
My good friend sat me down back in 1994 to listen to something he guaranteed would blow my mind. It was Portishead's Dummy and it completely blew me away. It somehow managed to fuse classic old film music that I loved so much (John Barry etc) with otherworldly cutting edge production that bizarrely didn't sound electronic but organic, merging eerie theremins, vibraphone, stunning orchestration and dark brass arrangements. I remember thinking, "Wow, that's just like the music that I create in my mind". It was that moment, album and Massive Attack's 'Protection' that inspired me to become a producer.

Influence from the US
Across the water, California had its own ideas on Trip Hop. Sampling pioneer Josh Davies (more widely know as DJ Shadow) was busy cooking up his debut 'Endtroducing', a sparser affair but equally impressive. This was due mainly to his sourcing and genius use of sampling vinyl but also of his clever beat manipulation using the classic AKAI MPC sampler/sequencer. It was after reading about him in a magazine that I got my hands on an MPC60 (which I still proudly own) and spent many months mastering it and subsequently going on to programme drums for some big records.

Sugababes 'Angels with Dirty faces' was created and programmed solely in my MPC although it had a more R&B/Urban approach, it still retained that legendary MPC feel. A better example perhaps is Oceanlab's 'Miracle' which was also programmed in my trusty old MPC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGTWaUV6Z10

The names Hop, Trip Hop
It's no surprise that the current Bond composer, David Arnold was also one of the talents to emerge from the Trip Hop scene (namely with his work with Bjork on the track 'Play Dead'). You can hear influences of the Bristol sound on Bond soundtracks since Arnold took the helm. It also found it's way into the mainstream pop world with the likes of Madonna employing William Orbit to mould her into a Trip Hop queen with her ground breaking track 'Frozen' (with strings arranged by none other than Massive Attack's Craig Armstrong)

To create a Trip Hop production music album was such a wonderful project to tackle for me. Especially with the added bonus of recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the legendary Pheonix Studios at Pinewood (Fittingly where all the James Bond movies were filmed). To keep things authentic, drums were recorded live with the musician who played beats on the first Unkle album and the classic 'Planet of the breaks' sample series in his own retro fitted studio.

Creating the sound
The beats were manipulated DJ Shadow style and saturated with some extreme tape compression to get that pulsating Trip Hop sound. Steve Dymond is one of the writers who collaborated with me on this album and like myself, he fell in love with the Bristol sound from the very first moment he heard it. Steve also pulled influences from some of his favourite artists such as Air and Pink Floyd which fitted perfectly into the album we wanted to create. My other collaborator, Matt Sanchez was only 10 when the Bristol sound struck, yet that didn't stop him getting involved in the action. By the time he was a teenager Massive Attack had become a force to be reckoned with and their 3rd album Mezzanine became one of the most sync'd albums of the noughties. What Matt has brought to the table is his love of the current crop of artists who are obviously influenced by the Trip Hop sound. James Blake, Mount Kimbie and Eskmo to name a few.

As one of the most used styles of music in television, film and advertising, the sound of Trip Hop continues to influence current musical trends. To listen to our latest Trip Hop release, click here.

 

By: Carrie Russell

Date: 30 Nov 2011

Synaesthesia - how does music affect our senses? How can a certain chord or song make us see a certain colour or conjure up a particular image? Audio Network explored these questions with an 'Evening of Music and Pictures' at the Soho Hotel last week along with a room full of TV producers, creative directors and music experts.

First up was Ruth Dockwray, Muscologist and Lecturer in Popular Music at Southampton University. Ruth explores 'the sound box' - in this case how we hear music in our heads when listening through headphones. Ruth provided an amazing insight into how music and technology have changed significantly over the last 50 years with the move from mono to stereo and how recordings have changed to deliver a different music experience to the listener.

It is hard to imagine in text but if you are listening to a certain track and the drums are on the left and the vocal is on the right, or the rift seems to go through your head...this is no accident. Dave Grohl whispers to us in our 'intimate zone' at the beginning of 'All my life', as if he is sharing a secret. Once the band kicks in he noticeably moves back into the 'social zone' and we are no longer privy to his whispers. The next time we were listening to a track from our favourite album, Ruth encouraged us to listen carefully to pick up these subtle cues. See if you can pick out specific tracks that really move you in this way and leave a comment below.

Our next musical treat took us seamlessly from Mozart to Tchaikovsky to Ragtime, a journey through 200 years using only one chord. Harry the Piano breaks the tracks down as we see how Mozart uses light notes and tension/recovery notes to create the soothing melody. Tchaikovsky uses the same principal but uses the elongation of the left hand chords to give depth to the right hand sequences which no longer are delicately played, but all played as chords. To move onto ragtime we have a simple lesson in counting, emphasising the weak notes on the 4/5 count of a 4 bar 8 count sequence (are you still with me?!) gives this upbeat melody that bought a collective smile to the room.



Harry then seamlessly takes requests from the audience to create a Womble national anthem, Corrie as a dance track and 'Enders as reggae. Sitting alongside the second row, the feet tapping away showed that the audience were totally appreciative of this man's amazing talents.

Finally we were taken to Merseyside via Essex with Tony Wood, Creative Director at Lime Pictures and creator of such shows as Hollyoaks and The Only Way is Essex.  He demonstrated how a certain track can punctuate emotions more effectively than any dialogue. Nothing can instantly tell us how a character is feeling better than the soundtrack accompanying a scene. But how do you get the audience more involved in this? Enter the Daytona Lights, a talented 5 piece band discovered by Steve Levine and Tony Wood. A great way to introduce more engagement is to introduce an aspect viewers can interact with in and outside of the show. The band were introduced in Hollyoaks playing themselves acting out student life in the village while trying to make it as a band - in the real world they are also doing the latter. This new approach could pave the way for talented musicians to launch their future careers so watch this space.



There was one final surprise left for the audience - a live performance by the Daytona Lights. 5 tracks, 7 guitars, one foot operated tambourine and a lot of love in the room for the group. I'm sure there will be a few more people tuning into Hollyoaks this weekend…



To see more images from the evening, head over to our Facebook page - don't forget to leave a comment!
Interested in finding out more about this sensory sensation? Head over to Wikipedia.

By: Carrie Russell

Date: 11 Nov 2011

The Virgin Media Shorts Awards
Last night the Audio Network team attended the Virgin Media Shorts Awards. This is the first year we have been involved with the awards, offering all of the film producers and directors' who are entering use of our production music library for their shorts, meaning they can have a high quality, multi platform cleared soundtrack - made really simple.

On arrival we were greeted with champagne and canapés before being led into the auditorium for the ceremony - but not before we took the opportunity to walk the red carpet.

Audio Network loved the mini champagne bottles and popcorn. Predictably this was swiftly polished in true short style in approximately 2 minutes and 20 seconds!

The Awards
This year there was an additional category - the TiVo award, this was along with the People's Choice Award and the climax of the evening, the Grand Prize; awarding the director of the winning film £30,000 of funding for their next project, along with expert advice and mentoring from both Virgin and the BFI.

The TiVo Award was first up - and one of our favourite films of the evening won - the fantastic 'Coasting', a film about two elderly ladies enjoying a brisk walk in the welsh countryside to see one of natures true beauties. We won't spoil what this beauty is - see it for yourself.

The People's Choice award was next up. Over 1.4 million people viewed and voted for the movies online and through the Virgin Media Channels. The winner of this was 'Inanimate', a charming piece about an orange alien looking for the one.

Finally John Hurt graced the stage to present the Grand Prize. It really was impossible to call a winner from such great entries. In the end it went to '2.20' - a short about special glasses that give the wearer the ability to view t he mortality rate of those they are looking at (not sure I would fancy a pair of those…). Danny Wallace, the fantastic host of the evening wrapped up and we headed to the dance floor.

Paloma Faith took to the stage for a DJ set - and spoke on a very cool stiletto phone.

We are very proud to be a part of these awards, helping to support new and emerging talent in the film industry, and we are honoured to be able to give a helping hand for the music production side of these incredibly talented directors and producers endeavours; creating what is hopefully the directors of the future.

Until next year…

By: Carrie Russell

Date: 25 Oct 2011

The Audio Network team take on Cannes.
After battling what felt like everyone else in the UK heading down south en route to the airport on one of the hottest days of the year; running through check in and being waved through a special fast track security, the Audio Network team made it to the departure lounge by the skin of our teeth. We were en-route to Cannes.

The whole team comes together (almost!)
MIPCOM is one of the biggest events of the year for Audio Network. It allows us to meet Film and TV producers. We are one of the only music suppliers at the event, so it allows us to identify the upcoming need for music in film and tv. It is also a great opportunity to get together with our sub-publishers from around the globe.

For the second year now, we hosted a summit to share the past years' progress and our future plans. Representatives from the global offices and sub publishers were presenting their growth and development and sharing insight in to the day to day workings of the different teams. One of the reasons we are able to grow so successfully is because we are interacting and operating in such a close knit way and sharing these experiences.

One of my favourite quotes of the day from the summit was from London's very own (Doctor) Simon Anderson; 'We are the shop window for composers'...a real sense of achievement in the room when we are reminded how far the catalogue - and company have come since it was made up of a binder of 10 CDs, now we are providing music for film and TV globally, answering the need for original stock music.

What we've all been waiting for
Following the conference, it was time for the unveiling of the stand, a culmination of months of preparation, and on arrival it did not disappoint. With a large presence in the Palais it looked amazing. Definitely standing out from the others; it was going to be hard for anyone to walk by and not sit up to take notice.







The Cannes sunrise peeking over the Palais and yachts, fantastic. We had a sense of 'the calm before the storm' with the stand all ready to go, the professional barista was ready, speakers were pumping out Audio Network tracks and the iPads were poised with a sneak peak at the new website (more on that later). Come show opening it wasn't long until our fantastic teams were taking meetings and spreading the good Audio Network word!



It was also today that Audio Network launched a creative collaboration deal with top TV producers. An exceptionally busy day on the stand, in meetings and at various networking and launch events between the team we were ready to go and support our sponsorship of the C21 beach club.

High expectations for No Expectations
The music was provided not by Audio Network however, but by No Expectations; a band made up of  ITV programming chief Peter Fincham and Endemol UK topper Tim Hincks. After playing some fantastic hits and getting everyone on the dance floor No Expectations called it a night...the Audio Network team however did not! A fantastic day and evening to be repeated on day 2.

By: Kristen Harold

Date: 20 Oct 2011

We live in an era of portability.  From your iPad, iPhone, Tablet or Smart Phone you can access anything from anywhere as you need it.  The production world is no exception.  Post-production is no longer tied to an edit suite, footage can be viewed anywhere, editing can begin on-set and decisions can be made on the go.  We kept all of this in mind when creating the new Audio Network website.

Music Anywhere
When we began production of our new site, we knew we had to shift into the "iFriendly" world.  Having music for production available on the iPad or iPhone was key.  Now running in HTML 5 the new Audio Network site is fully compatible with Apple products.  Producers and editors can audition tracks right on set, send project files to their team or even download tracks right to your iTunes library.

Production made simple
We want to help streamline the production process to be as simple as it can be.  Choosing music for television, film or advertising can be a delicate process, one that takes time, energy and a lot of decision-making.  The new Audio Network website is designed to not only be available from anywhere, but makes finding the right sound for your production easy.

From a larger, more responsive waveform, new search functionality, and clearer more intuitive track results, we've designed our new site with the user in mind.

Whether you're in the field or in the office accessing Audio Network should fit seamlessly into your workflow.

To see more of what our new website has to offer, click here.

Power to the Pixel - The Cross Media Forum.
I always get a little nervous going to these events on my own for Audio Network, but the Power to the Pixel crowd is always a friendly and inviting one.

People Watching
Sitting at the Riverside Café at the BFI sipping my skinny latte, I looked around to see if I recognised anyone. I love people watching at the best of times but watching a huge group of 'creatives' excitedly greeting each other and chatting about their next digital film and which media project they're working on was very engaging!

My good friends Tishna Molla, Ines Braga and Liz Rosenthal from Power to the Pixel run the event and as usual it was incredibly interesting and informative.

Transmedia
The conference kicked off with a fantastic presentation by Jeff Gomez - CEO of Starlight Runner Entertainment who highlighted the power of transmedia storytelling.

In fact, the buzzword for the day was 'Transmedia'. Around 450 people sat and learned how to tell stories to audiences on the many different platforms that we use today - mobile, social media, videogaming and even books.

Digital Age
At one point I noticed there was a sea of iPhones, Macbooks and iPads all tweeting about the event -Steve Jobs would have been proud!

By: Simon Marett

Date: 12 Oct 2011

The new and improved music website from Audio Network
It's been over 12 months in the making but today, Wednesday 12th October, we're delighted to unveil our new music website at beta.audionetwork.com.

We've listened to our customers' feedback from around the world and we hope we've created a website that provides a better music and customer experience right across the site. 'Easier, Quicker, Simpler' is what you asked for so that is where's we've invested our time and energy - helping you access the high-quality music you want for your video production in a number of ways, in less time, with minimal frustration.


A fresh look and feel - finding music is now quicker and easier
So, 'what have we done?' you may ask. Well, firstly, you'll notice we've given the site a fresh, new clean design that now gives you a faster page load with multiple ways of accessing the 43,000+ music tracks on the site. You can continue to search by Keyword or use our Category buttons but you now have the option to find music via our Top 40, Playlists or our Team's Favourite Tracks of the week. And with 1,000 tracks added every month, we hope you'll find the Latest Albums listing on the home page a useful addition.

You'll also notice the Keyword search tool has increased in size and we've introduced a series of example searches e.g. Fast Guitar Indie Rock Energy Driving that are designed to help you with your keyword searches. Our music team always tell us to use the MISS acronym when searching - Mood, Instrument, Style and Speed - so give that a go when you're next on the site.


The new iPad friendly Audio Player and Waveform
One of the improvements we're really happy with is the new iPad and iPhone friendly Audio Player that we've anchored to the top of the page so that it's always visible. We've simplified the control panel and accompanied it with a brand new uber-responsive Waveform that's 3 times the size of the original, allowing you jump in and out of the track at precise points.  We know our Editors out there love the original Waveform so we're hoping this goes down a storm, especially as the sound's improved too.


Music track results - cleaner, clearer and more intuitive
When we ran our Web Focus Groups earlier this year, one message came through loud and clear: we want our music and we want it now! So, with that in mind, we've revamped the Track Results pages so you're now in control of how the results are displayed. Choose how many tracks you'd like to view per page (up to 75) and decide how you'd like to sort them - by A-Z, Randomly or by Latest Release.  Also, from the main Track Results page, in one click, you can instantly see Mixes, Related Tracks, Album listings and Composer tracks - pretty nifty eh?


Favourites, Recent Searches and Advanced Search
If that wasn't enough, we've also added a couple of new bells and whistles to the site including Favourites, Recent Searches and a simplified Advanced Search. Favourites does what it says on the tin: it allows you to save and store your favourite tracks for a later stage while Recent Searches enables you to revert back to your previous searches from that session. We understand this is very helpful if you're spending hours on the site and you'd like to revisit your first search of the day and see the tracks returned in that same order.


Testing, testing, testing…
The new website will be in Beta mode for the next month or so and we'd like all of our customers to start using it and test it thoroughly over this period. You can access the Beta site from anywhere on the existing site at www.audionetwork.com by clicking on the link in the top left hand corner. You can switch back to the old site as and when you wish to but you can tell us what you think of the new site and/or report a bug by clicking the Feedback button on the left hand side. This will instantly deliver feedback to our web development team and our plan is to then collate this feedback, make the necessary amends and improvements and launch the Beta site as our main site in the month of November - but only when we're good and ready.


I hope you agree that the new site is a huge step forward in improving our customers' website and music experience with Audio Network. Please feel free to contact the team at support@audionetwork.com if you'd like discuss any of these changes in detail.

Happy searching!

 

By: Simon Marett

Date: 30 Sep 2011

I always love travelling to Scandinavia and I visit Norway on a regular basis (my wife is Norwegian) so when the opportunity came up to attend Nordisk Panorama, a major annual Nordic documentary festival in Aarhus, Denmark, I jumped at the chance. This was a great opportunity to learn more about the use of music in documentaries from the Nordic region and practice my NorwegIan language skills - much needed!

The Nordic region is a vital territory for Audio Network and I wanted to gain a good understanding of the documentary music needs and requirements from the 1000 or so producers, directors, distributors and filmmakers that attend the event.

What music do documentary filmmakers prefer to use?
What struck me immediately in our meetings was that music in documentaries is a vital component of the creative process and it is taken very seriously by both the director and the producer. This is also reflected in the production budgets for documentaries where music will often have a figure of 20-30k set aside.

The Director - who has the overall creative vision for the film - will generally almost always want to use a composer that he or she has worked with before. This doesn't only apply to music in the documentary but many other aspects of the production too including script writing, editing and post.

The benefits of rights cleared music
Familiarity with a composer you've worked with before is not the only benefit of going down the Specially Composed route. It also helps with rights clearance because the producer can feel safe in the knowledge that by signing a deal with a single composer there will be no hidden costs cropping up in the future when the distributor sells the doc into a new territory or platform. This is crucial because international sales distribution is vital for any documentary filmmaker looking for a return from their film.

A few of the filmmakers I met had used music libraries in the past but generally they had had poor experiences. These experiences fell into 3 categories: inflexible pricing, variable quality in the music and poor customer service. This was encouraging because even though Audio Network is relatively unknown in the region, our model and music addresses many of these issues.

Our favourite Docs at Nordisk Panorama
No documentary festival visit would be complete without seeing at least a couple of Docs and I managed to see a number of excellent films at Nordisk Panorama, including my pick of the bunch 'Love Always, Carolyn' directed by Maria Ramstrom & Malin Korkeasolo and produced by WG Film AB in Sweden. For a full list of the Film Award Winners visit the Nordisk Panorama website.

Next year, the Festival moves to Oulu in Finland and I'm already looking forward to it. That gives me 12 months to brush up on my Finnish!

 

By: Andrew Sunnucks

Date: 30 Aug 2011

An Englishman going to New York

For the first time in my life I am about to become a foreigner.

In a couple of weeks' time I am moving with my wife to New York City.



We will be there, on and off, for the next 6 months. My children are being put into storage in an English boarding school and will be posted to us during half terms and holidays. At 14 and 16 they see this as an exciting, unpredictable and exotic adventure. I tend to agree with them.

Musical Talent
The purpose of the relocation is to find musical talent from all around the States and to produce totally authentic American music in the American way.

I will be travelling the country, from sea to shining sea, going to gigs and trying to find the best musicians, writers, players and producers the country has to offer. I will base myself in our rapidly expanding New York office  from where I'm very much looking forward to meeting our clients already established in the US.  Then, like the prospectors of old, I will head out West in a quest for musical gold. Not a bad job. Not bad at all.



'Comfort Zone'
I am always telling composers that in order to keep on top of their game it is important not to be isolated.

Music composing is a solitary and potentially insular business and there is a danger of getting into a rut. Real creativity relies on new inspiration, ideas and experiences. This is why I always encourage composers to collaborate with each other and share their experiences, it keeps them fresh.

It's high time I was given a bit of freshness, so I hope and believe that by immersing myself in American music and culture for a few months I will learn things that will also change my perception of what I do at home.

American Music
I have always loved American music and like to think that the Brits and Americans have always influenced each other. A country with some 300 million inhabitants is likely to have influenced us rather more than we them, but I feel we've held our end up pretty well and have generally matched them even if we didn't actually invent Jazz, Motown/black soul, early Rock n Roll, Blues, Cajun, Classical Minimalism, Country…..

I am also looking forward to finding out what the Americans think of me/us.

Culture
I am about as English as it gets (I have Labradors) and I know I will find elements of American culture difficult to understand.  I wonder whether the British stereotypes will work in my favour (should I say favor), or against me.

What is English?



I'm not sure I want to be thought of as 'quintessentially English'. In the US,  Englishness is probably defined by Tony Blair, Bertie Wooster, rioters, Benny Hill, Ozzy Osbourne and Elton John. If they represent Englishness there is presumably some sort of common thread through them all, but I'm not sure I can see what it is and certainly not sure that I want it in me.

In days of yore it was quite exotic to be a Brit in the US. They thought our tea room accents were kinda cute and that we stand for fair play, decency and good manners. I fear the game might be up on that score, but I remain hopeful that our friends across the Atlantic notice our good points more than our questionable ones. In truth of course, few of the stereotypes will do at all.

In the same way, I mustn't expect 'American' to mean anything in particular. A pride in their country perhaps, a certain 'brusqueness' in Manhattan probably and an overriding 'can do' approach certainly, but they are no more David Hasselhoff, Joan Rivers, Boss Hogg or Zsa Zsa Gabor than I am Simon Cowell.

What I hope and believe the US will mean to me is a huge, limitless mine of wonderful, exciting, inventive and passionate music and I simply can't wait to get stuck into it.

Ever upwards
The New York state motto "Excelsior" roughly translates to mean 'ever upwards'. Thomas Wolfe said "One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years." I do hope these both turn out to be right.

I shall blog again in a few months' time and report whether I think they are or not.

By: Rose Adkins

Date: 25 Aug 2011

Audio Network, the first 10 years

By: Andrew Sunnucks

Date: 19 Jul 2011

I'm often asked where Audio Network comes from and how it got going. Since we are now 10 years' old, now seems to be as good a time as any to try and tell our story.

In the beginning
It all started in the summer of 1999 when Robert Hurst and I were in LA. We were both working for a major music publisher - me as the Media Director and Robert as the Finance Director.

At one meeting with a well known producer, we were given a particularly hard time about how difficult and complicated it was to license music for films and TV - he told us that clearing music was the most difficult part of the production process and more or less said we should be ashamed of ourselves for not thinking more about our customers.

Robert and I fled, chasten. We couldn't help agreeing with him, but because of the complexity of pre-existing agreements and contracts with composers and agents around the world we couldn't think of any way of making it right.

The Idea
On the long flight home we pondered the issues and concluded that the only way to solve the fundamental problem was to build an entirely new catalogue of music in which all the rights were held centrally and could be licensed without the traditional restrictions.

We decided a straight forward subscription model was the answer. Removing barriers to people using the music would give producers and editors the creative freedom to use as much music as they wanted and the extra usage would lead to better broadcast 'public performance' royalties for both the company and its composers. Performance royalties are paid as a matter of course by the broadcasters and don't effect the producer in any way.

Full of beans, we rushed back to our board and told them we wanted to do it. We were greeted with deathly silence, a bit of shocked wheezing from an elderly colleague and white eyed horror from the lawyers.

So started a 2 year process of working out how we could make it all work and who would be needed to make the idea become a reality. Gradually each of the problems was resolved and we were ready to go.

Getting the composers
The plan was to create the best quality production music library ever recorded. This meant getting the top writers, producers and players involved. Since we knew we wanted to be a creative company we decided we wanted to be owned by creative people so we drew up our dream composer list and asked them if they wanted to be shareholders.

The first to embrace the idea were jazz legends Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine who not only wanted to join as composers but also put the initial cash investment necessary to get the project started.

We were rapidly joined by other composer luminaries including Dame Evelyn Glennie, Tim Garland, Terry Devine-King and Paul Mottram. Every single composer on the initial hit list joined in and their commitment and enthusiasm encouraged the all important financial investors to put up the rest of the cash. The idea became a reality in July 2001 & Audio Network was born.

Early Days.
Initially things were tough. 9/11 stopped US musicians flying to the UK, some of the initial investment fled amid the global financial panic and the expensive process of recording a world class catalogue from scratch was a big drain on resources. There was no point in trying to get customers until there was music to give to them, so the first 3 years tried the patience of the long suffering investors who nevertheless kept faith and stood by us loyally.

The company's staff grew and almost everyone who joined in the early days is still with us. Initially it was slow - people weren't used to working in the new way and were suspicious that there must be some kind of a catch, but by 2003/4 we slowly turned a corner and broadcasters and more production companies started signing up.

A Different Way of Working.
As with anything new, the Audio Network way of doing things has been controversial in the music industry. There was a perception that composers would earn less money because Audio Network does not charge 'synch' fees (the initial fee to the producer for using the music). As time moved on and Audio Network composers became increasingly successful it became apparent that the company's model works as well for the composers as it does for the music user and the company itself. Easy, straightforward access to the music has grown the market which benefits everybody.

There are still pockets of dissent but now most in the industry accept that other ways of working are inevitable and are necessary in the rapidly changing media world - and since all our composers want to keep working with us, we must be doing something right!

10 years on
Audio Network is now a global publisher with its own offices in most key territories and sub publisher arrangements around the world. We have 50 staff, 300 composers and around 40 submissions from composers wanting to join us every day. Although the company is in some ways unrecognisable 10 years on, it is also exactly the same and certainly its core beliefs haven't changed:

•    The belief in recording the music ourselves with the best composers, musicians and facilities possible
•    Make things easy for customers
•    Building long term, close relationships with everyone we work with

The next 10 years
Now it's time to make sure we continue to adapt as the media industry changes around us so we have some exciting new plans and ideas, watch this space and I hope you'll see them starting to emerge in the coming months and years.

 

Audio Network Mixes at Cannes Lions

By: Nick Woollard

Date: 02 Jul 2011

Cannes Lions
I genuinely love Cannes Lions.  It conjures up a real mixture of excitement and trepidation - excitement at the opportunity to soak up some Mediterranean sun, but, trepidation at the prospect of plenty of sleepless days whilst retaining the wherewithal to forge new friendships and business opportunities.

CFP-E Young Director Awards
I arrive with the Audio Network team on the Wednesday and head straight to the CFP-E Young Director Awards. There were some amazing films on show but my particular favourite was from South African duo Pieter Hugo and Michael Cleary, with their amazing promo for Spoek Mathambo's Control. The dark religious undertones and play on black and white imagery provided a stunning backdrop to the stomping township house Joy Division cover.

Wakeboarding& Little Black Book
Some quiet drinks at the Rushes beach party and a relatively early night enabled us to Catch the Early Bird with German film company Helliventures, at their annual 8am waterside gathering. This allowed us a spot of wakeboarding before we had lunch at the Little Black Book Plage Courage. I think this event is now established as the go-to Cannes fringe day location for the UK industry. A great networking opportunity and we met up with the boys from Compendium Media who recently licensed music from Audio Network for a 3D Nintendo commercial they produced.

Late Night Networking
Thursday's highlight was the acquisition of our Shots Party tickets and free drinks tokens courtesy of the very generous Conor Dignam, my old boss at Broadcast Magazine ( now MD at Emap - Media and Architecture.) The flowing conversation (and alcohol) had the inevitable effect of a hike up the Croisette for some late night networking on the pavement outside the notorious Gutter Bar. Typical Cannes; and par for the course!

Suffering..
The true impact of our late night schmoozing was only felt the following morning when lugging 10 kilos of Audio Network beach bags up to the Star Cinema for our Straight 8 sponsorship.

Straight 8 Sponsorship
Thankfully, the films were, as always, super- not least A Wonderful Terrible Thing by Nick Carew, a dark tale of love and betrayal, shot in film noire style and accompanied by a surprisingly effective synth-pop sound track. Straight 8 founder, Ed Sayers, kindly thanked Audio Network for the free music licenses we had offered entrants for their films; it's something with which we're proud to be involved.

Last Night Musings
Our final night was deliberately more subdued, but we had a wonderful dinner with the lovely Claire Leaver from Kuncklehead, at La Brochette de Grand-Mère (Grandmother's Wheelbarrow). We were joined by James and Benny, two young guys who had just walked for two hours back from the Finger Music villa; and despite their blisters and sunburn, were absolutely convinced that the party was such good quality, it had been worth the pain!

Home Soil
Late drinks at the Carlton and several more "hellos" to London based agency contacts eventually signalled the end of our trip.  Another successful Cannes Lions under the belt.  Met some great people, existing clients and potential new ones. And -  we even brought the sun home with us.. for a few days anyway!

Music in Filmmaking - Sheffield DocFest 2011

By: Juliette Squair

Date: 14 Jun 2011

Sheffield DocFest
Just back from a highly successful visit to this year's DocFest.   Audio Network held two music rights workshops, "Clearing Rights and Creating Revenue" hosted by our Rights Manager, Simon Anderson and guests, lawyer Andrew Baker from Rights TV and Glyn Middleton from True North Productions.   I was delighted to chair our panel debate, "Making Music Work in your Film:  Drive the Narrative".

Making Music Work in your Film
Our aim was to provide an environment for creative networking and I believe our panel was a prime example of this.   Producer of award winning film, 'Erasing David' Ashley Jones joined us, as did expert sound designer, Dennis Wheatley and director Jez Lewis, whose socially motivated debut feature 'Shed your Tears and Walk Away' has won many plaudits.

With such an esteemed panel, it was enlightening to hear how these guys worked with their film music as they explained the process to the packed Adelphi Room.

Erasing David
For 'Erasing David', a documentary that explores how easy it is to just disappear off the face of the earth, leaving no paper trails, Ashley explained they wanted composer Michael Nyman to do the music - not daunted, they approached him and by coincidence, loss of privacy was a pet hate of Nyman's and he was delighted to support the project.  Ashley's top music tip?  Don't think anything's out of reach!  

The Bengali Detective
Sound Designer Dennis Wheatley was a revelation.  The way he thinks about sound taught all of us a thing or two.  Sometimes, he said, it really is more to have less.   It's imperative to think about sound and music as part of the film from the beginning.  Working on the More4 documentary, "The Bengali Detective" he went back to India after filming and recorded authentic sounds of the area to work alongside the chosen music clips.   His top music tips?  Think of the microphone as another camera lens and plot an audio board as well as a storyboard.  Simple but powerful.

Shed your Tears & Walk Away
Film-maker Jez Lewis whose debut feature was the harrowing and compelling, "Shed your Tears and Walk Away" about untimely deaths in the beautiful Hebden Bridge area of England where he grew up,  said idealistically he'd made a list of great commercial music to use in the film.  Then he worked out his budget. Which eventually limited him to the use of just one commercial music track which he complemented by the use of some high quality production music.   Jez's music tip - be realistic!

Music Choices in Film - Do they drive the narrative?
Personally, I think film-makers are in a strong place nowadays, they have lots of high quality music choices to suit their budgets and yet they need to be mindful of music rights and clearance issues.   It was a privilege to learn how these directors worked with music and whether they felt the music did drive the narrative - Ashley and Dennis did, but Jez felt it was the other way around.   What do you think? 

The audience stayed behind to chat as Audio Network then hosted another of their successful networking drinks.  A really stimulating afternoon.