Justin R. Durban: new audio interview
Justin R. Durban, composer and filmmaker, was interviewed this month by NDB Media. It's an hour long audio interview, and was born out of the fact that Justin scored the film Star Trek: Of Gods and Men. I'm sure he is better known to most of our readers as a composer for X-Ray Dog's library.
Click here if the player does not work for you.
The interview is a little strange at times, but it's very candid and informal. Sadly, the host talks much more than Justin, but if you're a fan of Justin's work, as I am, it's an interesting, albeit sometimes awkward, listen.
On the trailer music end of things, Justin's music was recently licensed in the theatrical trailer of The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I'm not exactly sure where his cue is though. Can anyone point it out? Watch it here.
Read a little summary of the interview after the jump...
New X-Ray Dog releases announced and a new single available to buy.
X-Ray Dog have three new releases on the way
- Muttseeker - "family action adventure"
- Pet Shop - "commercial advertising "
- X-Rack - "action adventure "
Now, used in the Showtime branding campaign for Weeds, Californication, Dexter and
Nurse Jackie, Codi Caraco has briefly stepped out of her band Frank and Derol with
Brandi Cyrus and recorded a single with writers Jono Brown and bro Jaco Caraco. X-Ray Dog released the "sinlge life is a game". You can purchase it on Amazon for $0.99.
On The Scent of Evil
It looks like things have finally settled down around my place after my Dog, Frankie, turned into a giant man-devouring skeletal beast. I have a brand new puppy named Sparky, who keeps looking into the water at his reflection. He seems to be somewhat afraid of what he sees, but I'm sure the giant man-devouring wolf is only the scrubbing brush that automatically cleans the pool. But I thought that was blue...... why does this always happen to my doggies?
Hot on the heels of their previous album “Bare Bones”, X-Ray Dog Music has announced another brand new album, “Scent of Evil!” They've sniffed out something wicked, and this release is a Dark Action and Horror disc perfect for the advertising campaigns of any horror flick. Like the previous album, we don't know the exact style of the cues yet. No matter what X-Ray Dog churns out, the results will certainly be chilling!
Throwing A Dog Some Bones
Everyone should give their good little puppy a bone when they....wait a minute. Oh no Frankie! Why have you suddenly become a giant, skeletal dog of death?! Please don't eat me. I gave you a bone remember?
X-Ray Dog has announced their newest release, "Bare Bones"! Built for Action, Suspense and Thrillers, the album will offer music which is "perfect for campaigns like Inception, A Team, Salt, The Expendables, Unstoppable, Red Dawn and The Next Three Days." We don't know the exact style of the album, but the results are sure to be electrifying!
2010 will be fine: At least 3 more epic CDs!
Hoy, hoy! Tho' I am really busy nowdays at the university I still keep one of my eye on trailer music news. So let's see:
- X-ray Dog released a new album named 'Seeing Eye'.
- Globus announced that the live CD of Globus concert will be released on the 18th of January. "Just finished mixing the last of the tracks!! Off to mastering now. Fun stuff..."
- Another news from Immediate Music: "3 Epic CDs coming over the next 3 months....starting with Globus Live on January 18. Pre-release offer on our website. And we're signing new artists as well. Busy time. We're working hard to bring REAL and EMOTIONAL music to the market!!!"
- An interesting article on Film Music Mag pictures the death of composing.
- Experimentalsounds.com revealed E.S. Posthumus 3rd album's name and its release date! Makara will contain 15 tracks and will be released the 2nd of February 2010. And those who intereseted what makara means, click. thx to shuyan & Tim
- TML lunched a new website! thx to azras11
- Thomas Bergersen confirmed that the so called "Blade Blade" track that is spreading amongst fans for a while now called "Black Blade". He also mentioned that "The albums [Nemesis2, Genesis, etc] will be available worldwide and be quite affordable, don’t worry. We are doing this purely to please our fans"
Random News
Here are some fresh news from the scene:
- Future World Music's newest album, Immortal Empire, is fully auditionable (choir and non-choir versions of tracks) at BeatBoxMD.
- A new album has appeared at X-Ray Dog's site, Seeing Eye.
" Seeing Eye is a variety of light drama, dramedy and comedy tracks..."
- Volume 12 and Family, Adventure and Comedy Vol.2 by Brand X music is available at Ravenwood Music.
- Extreme Music has updated their database. Now it includes album Devil Wears Nada by Two Steps From Hell. Furthermore there are new albums from series Directors Cut, e.g. Epic Themes 3.
A Winter Fairytale
Hoy, hoy! Summary of recent news we missed or didn't have time to write about it.
- Future World Music uploaded a track, A Winter Fairytale, on Facebook from their upcoming release Immortal Empire.
- X-ray Dog released a new album: Bite Size. It's a 4 CD set and the offers wide range of music style from hot latin to teen pop hits in 30sec cuts. Of course there are some epic choral tracks among them. Thx to DP
- West One Music added four new album to its library. At first sight I think I only emphasize Tribal Journeys here.
- Quote from 2SFH site: ""Power Of Darkness", coming in February 2010."
Kidney, liver and pancreas...
Interview with Chris Field
Trailer Music News: How did you get in the trailer music industry?
Chris Field: I was a guitar player and was playing gigs around L.A. and had met Mitch Lijewski,also a guitar player. We were both getting into film music and technology was really starting to make it possible for us to create this kind of music. I started with the Roland X-p50. One day Mitch got a call from Tim Stithem who was a drummer and had been working as a film/t.v. editor to start a music company that specialized in film trailer music. At the time, this was in the mid 1990's there wasn't a lot of this kind of music around and Tim being an editor could see a need for this music. Mitch asked me if I would be into writing music for the first cd and so thats how I started.
TMN: What is the story behind the name "X-Ray Dog"?
Chris: X-Ray Dog was picked by Mitch and Tim and I think it was a third choice for a name but it was the one that was available for a publishing company. I think one of the other names was Parched Penguin! Imagine the art work for that after 30 CD's!
TMN: As a manager for production music company X-Ray Dog do you plan to make a public release of some trailer music? (e.g. Immediate music did it with Trailerhead)
Chris: X-Ray Dog is a film and advertising music library and we create music for that purpose. We are happy to have fans of the music and receive lots of positive emails about our music. Maybe someday We can do something like that but for now it is not available for purchase.
TMN: What has been your best experience in composing trailer music?
Chris: I have had lots of great experiences. I try my best with all the music I write. Some music gets used over and over in a lot of trailers and others not so much. My first trailer was for the Full Monty and was a surf guitar piece that I did with my friend Mark Griskey also an X-Ray Dog composer. Also Gothic Power got used in the Lord of the Rings trailers and that was really cool. Ben Stiller even used the theme in his movie Tropic Thunder during his character's film trailer in the movie. There's a piece called the Vision that I really like that was used for the Atonement trailer. It is the string music at the end of the trailer. Also working on The Pirates of the Caribbean trailers was a lot of fun.
TMN: How do you start to compose a new trailer song?
Chris: When we start a new project we already have a theme for the CD. It might be drama, action, horror etc. So if it is drama I will start to improvise on my keyboard and come up with several ideas over the course of a week or two and then play the ruff ideas for Mitch and Tim and get their feedback. It is great to have these guys listen because they always give great suggestions on how to keep it trailer friendly. Then I fill in the music with orchestration and mix it.
TMN: Are people interested in your album " Sub-concious " ?
Chris: Yes. I have had luck with digital sales such as Itunes.
TMN: Do you consider other public releases?
Chris: Yes. I am working on another album right now.
TMN: Do you have any ideal? Who?
Chris: Yes I really get inspired by all kinds of music. There's the classical composers and film composers and even the competition. It has been interesting seeing trailer music grow into what it is today. It started for a need for energetic inspiring music that could get your attention in a short amount of time so it iss almost like a song rather than a long film cue or symphony. It has brought modern elements to classical music adding power and groove and I think has influenced TV commercials, film scores and even pop albums. When we started there wasn't a lot of this music but now there are a lot of people doing it and it is taken on a life of it's own.
TMN: What advice would you give to someone hoping to compose for trailers someday?
Chris: I think everyone's story is a little different and so it's hard for me to give advise but on a musical level its about honing your skills as a composer/producer and then trying to put something of your own into it, at least that is what I try to do.
TMN: Why does the trailer music genre appeal to you more, rather than other types of music? Does it?
Chris: I love creating trailer music. It's natural for me to create dramatic music and there is a lot of variety in the music. I also like to do other projects as well. It keeps things fresh.
TMN: A tough question, what is your favorite part about your job?
Chris: The initial inspiration and then someday sitting in a movie theatre or watching TV and seeing a trailer with the music in there. That is always rewarding.
TMN: What are you working on now and what are your plans for the future?
Chris: I am updating my studio a bit, getting some new stuff and learning some new software. I also am working on some songs as well as trailer cues.
TMN: Chris, thank you very much for the interview. We wish you good health and luck. And Happy Holidays!
Hello again!
Finally the new site is launched. During the off-line there were few news which have been missed here. Let me summarize them:
- 3 tracks from Full Tilt: Rising by Groove addicts
- a new production music company, Anti-Hero
- a new track, Seraphim, by City of the Fallen
- X-Ray Dog got an official page on FB
- Nemesis II blog has been updated, TSFH relocates their studio.
- Michael Nielsen got a personal webpage. His MySpace profile has been remade and updated with tracks from Full tilt.
