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Busy composing music for TV series such as DirectTV’s  Rogue , Jeff Toyne’s latest project is the suspense film  The Privileged , his third score for writer / director Leah Walker. The film score also offered Canadian composer Toyne a plum opportunity to score a film set in his home province of Ontario, and use its premiere at the Canadian Film Fest in March of 2014 to discuss the recent talks reg...

In early February, composer & musician Ronen Landa spoke to KQEK.com about his latest scores: the comedy  Cavemen (2013), and  Home  (2014), his second feature film score (after  The Pact ) for horror director Nicholas McCarthy. Landa’s skills extend to scoring comedies, dramas, documentaries, and horror, but one of his major influences remains Ennio Morricone, whose work with the famed Gruppo di...

In Part 2 of a lengthy career & industry discussion, Fabio Frizzi discusses “Frizzi to Fulci,” his first concert in London, England, at Union Chapel on Oct. 31, 2013; the superb sound engineering of classic 70s and 80s Italian soundtrack albums; and the effects of evolving technologies on film composing. Special thanks to Fabio Frizzi for a lively discussion, and Stuart Kirkham at Fifth Avenue PR...

In Part 1 of a lengthy career & industry podcast, Fabio Frizzi discusses “Frizzi to Fulci,” his first concert in London, England, at Union Chapel on Oct. 31, 2013; the unwavering endurance of Italian film music & soundtrack albums from the 70s and 80s; adapting his own work for the special concert setting; and his unreleased film and non-film work. Special thanks to Fabio Frizzi for a lively discu...

Known for his break-though slasher score  Scream  (1996), Marco Beltrami has written music for every conceivable film genre – plus TV productions – and in our podcast he discusses scoring the zombie films  World War Z and  Warm Bodies , action movies, mentor Jerry Goldsmith, collaborator Buck Sanders, and one of his early credits, TV’s  Land’s End  (1995). Special thanks to Marco Beltrami for disc...

Podcast with up & coming composer John Piscitello regarding his work on the documentary  No Place on Earth  (2012). Special thanks to John Piscitello for discussing his latest work, and Chandler Poling at White Bear PR. The digital  soundtrack album  is available from Varese Sarabande Records, and the  DVD  is available from Magnolia Home Entertainment.   If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with...

After apprenticing under John Frizzell ( Legion ,  Whiteout ), Frederik Wiedmann has maintained multiple careers as an orchestrator, mixer, and composer of several graphic horror films, including  Return to House on Haunted Hill  (2007),  The Hills Run Red  (2009), and  Mirrors 2  (2010), but with  Green Lantern: The Animated Series (2011-2012), he’s written a multi-thematic, almost classic orches...

Although he’s only scored a handful of feature films, E.C. Woodley’s latest work, the music for Brandon Cronenberg’s  Antiviral (2012), may be his most impressive calling card, boasting an engrossing if not hypnotic marriage of analogue and digital sounds. Inspired by the film’s striking visuals and the performances of its cast, the music also reflects the peculiar struggle within the film as fans...

Michael Wandmacher is one of horror’s most in-demand composers, and this year’s he’s scored the latest entries in two successful franchises:  The Last Exorcism Part II , and  The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia  for director Tom Elkins, who began his career as an assistant editor for Wes Craven. Wandmacher has maintained a collaborative relationship with director Patrick Lussier, hims...

Since his debut in 1999 with  Maxwell's Demon , Jeff Toyne's scored a diversity of feature films, gliding between studio ( Hall Pass ) and independent visions ( Abel's Field ), and working steadily as an orchestrator - most prominently for mentor Brian Tyler on the  Final Destination  films. In our interview, Toyne discusses his collaborations with Tyler, and scoring  Rogue  -  DirectTV's first fo...

John Debney is one of the few composers able to drift between various genres and apply his gift for strong themes and craft either richly melodic orchestral works or large-scale works featuring orchestral dissonance with deft touches of electronics. Although he's been scoring film and TV projects since 1980, he's perhaps best-known for the hugely successful score for Mel Gibson's  The Passion of t...

Since his debut in 2003 with the indie film Westender , Rob Simonsen has evolved into a composer in his own right with credits spanning a diversity of genres in film and TV, but his formative years were spent learning the intricacies of composing, collaborating, and the realities of the film scoring business with Canadian composer Mychael Danna. With the Oscar for Best Original Score going to  Lif...

Since his debut in 1999, Spanish composer Fernando Velazquez has scored a wide variety of genres in film and TV, but he’s perhaps best known for a a handful of horror and suspense scores, including BackWoods  (2006) starring Gary Oldman, the Guillermo del Toro executive produced The Orphanage  (2007),  Devil (2010), and the box office hit  Mama , directed by Andres Muschietti, which the director e...

After enjoying a successful music career in his native Iceland, composer Atli Örvarsson moved to the U.S. and studied music composition at Berkley. Örvarsson eventually landed a plum scoring position on the hit TV series  NYPD Blue  with veteran TV composer Mike Post ( The Rockford Files ,  The Greatest American Hero ,  Hill Street Blues ,  Magnum P.I. ,  Murder One , and  Law and Order ). Orvarss...

Born in Bulgaria, classically trained composer Penka Kouneva has spent the past 13 years working primarily as a top orchestrator for some of Hollywood’s biggest composers. Her credits include the Transformers  films,  Angels & Demons (2009),  The Hole  (2009), and  Hostel I and  II , plus a multitude of video games. As a solo composer, Kouneva’s tackled several indie productions ( Midnight Movie )...

For over 20 years,  Immediate Music  has provided various media outlets with music specifically designed for commercial use – more specifically, trailer soundtracks – and if the company’s name or chief composer, Yoav Goren, don’t ring a bell, the music is instantly recognizable. Goren’s company, staffed with several composers, is known for a particularly epic sound – big orchestra and large choirs...

Podcast with composer Lorne Balfe ( Megamind ,  Assassin's Creed   III ) regarding his recent scoring of the BBC documentary  Harry Welcomes Arctic Heroes (2011) in which four British war vets ski to the North Pole under the sponsorship of Prince Harry for the Walking with the Wounded  charity.   If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter . Visit KQEK.com for...

Podcast with composer Bobby Johnston ( Mother's Day , No Impact Man: The Documentary ), who discusses his preference for using acoustic instruments, and working with iconic independent filmmakers such as Stuart Gordon.   If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter . Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews , soundtrack reviews , interviews , and read the Edi...

Interview with film composer Tony Morales regarding his Emmy-Nominated score (co-composed with John Debney ) for the History Channel's epic mini-series  Hatfields & McCoys , and his ongoing career as an arranger and guitarist ( Unstoppable ).   If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter . Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews , soundtrack reviews , inter...

Interview with film composer Alan Ari Lazar ( Jerusalema: Gangster's Paradise , TV's  Sex and the City ) regarding his film scoring work, and the founding of the Film & TV Music Library site  Lalela.com , showcasing music from South African composers and musicians.   If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter . Visit KQEK.com for additional film reviews , sou...

Interview with TIFF Bell Lightbox Programmer & Curator Rae Ann Fera regarding the June 17, 2012 installment of the bi-monthly series  Packaged Goods , of which the latest installment, " Girls on Film ," features a collection of commercials, music videos, and animated short films directed by women.   If you enjoyed this podcast, connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter . Visit KQEK.com...