Musicians vs the World

Joining us today is Violist, Educator, and Coach Laura Sinclair. We are talking about one of my favorite topics: music teaching! Specifically, we’re talking about reshaping the way we think about teaching to make it sustainably work within our own musical career goals and our portfolio of musical income. Topics include: -Seeing where the "yeses" come from -Breaking the cycle of perceiving teacher...

In today's episode I chat with artist, composer, and record producer Prateek Rajagopal about building bold, immersive music. Prateek breaks down how he balances "feel" with technique, why rhythm is his north star, and how hardware synth/modular workflows can turn raw electric current into musical building blocks for composition and world-building. We also focus on Prateek's experience composing fo...

In this fascinating Part II of our conversation with multi-instrumentalist and composer Alexander Parsons, we explore how spatial audio and virtual reality are revolutionizing the concert experience. We chat about combining VR, augmented reality, and liver performances to create memorable and meaningful experiences for audiences. Alexander shares his groundbreaking work with The Room is Not Silent...

Our guest today is Etienne Forget, the award-winning French film composer renowned for his innovative fusion of synthesizers and neo-classical elements. He is known for his work on Netflix's "The Forest," "Missions," "Last Journey of Paul W.R.," "AKA," and many more. In this captivating conversation, we discuss Etienne's unconventional path into film scoring, starting with chance encounters on bul...

Creating Without Limits: Saam Gabbay on Finding Harmony in the Human Experience by Frosted Lens Entertainment

Award-winning film composer Juan Carlos Enriquez shares his career journey from progressive rock bassist to scoring Disney+ projects. In this episode, discover the pathway from assistant to lead composer, essential organization systems using Google Sheets for managing 40+ cues, and techniques for adapting musical themes across genres - from Cumbia to orchestral scores. Topics Include: - The compos...

Today we’re talking to Egee, the captivating rock 'n' roll cabaret artist taking Austin's music scene by storm! We chat about her life as a performing musician and her journey into curating her cabaret rock persona and developing her sound, which she displays in her most recent song “La Mer.” Topics Include: -How COVID changed Egee's perspective on pursuing music professionally -The psychology beh...

Discover the cutting-edge world of music technology at The Georgia Institute of Technology! Dr. Jeff Albert, Interim Chair of the School of Music, reveals how students combine engineering brilliance with musical creativity to shape the future of music. He'll take us inside Georgia Tech's Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, whose timeline for submissions runs from now through October 10, 2025....

Discover the secrets behind Netflix's most acclaimed sound design! My guest today is Andrés Silva, Sound Supervisor, Sound Designer and Founder of La Tina, an international audio post-production and film scoring studio, exporting services globally since 2010, whose latest projects include Narcos and One Hundred Years of Solitude for Netflix. In this interview, Andrés reveals how he approaches soun...

Today I chat with Columbian composer Juan Cortés Arango as he shares his creative process behind The Head Season 3 and his innovative approach to extended techniques. In this episode we discuss *Juan's transition from cello performance to composition due to tendinitis *Creating organic sounds that feel electronic using extended techniques *Working with prepared piano, unusual woodwinds, and unconv...

Veteran composer Brian Steckler takes us through his fascinating 30-year journey in the ever-changing music industry, from his unexpected start with the iconic Budweiser Frogs Super Bowl commercial to scoring the Sundance Film Festival selection “Sunfish (& Other Stories from Green Lake).” In this episode, Brian shares: • How a piano performance degree led him from Nashville to LA’s music scene •...

Today is the first of a two-part series with our guest, musician and composer Alexander Parsons. In Part I, we’re discussing Alexander's score to the upcoming film, "Flight 149: Hostage of War," the extraordinary story of passengers and crew who become unwitting hostages during Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. We also discuss the impact of music teachers on their students, and how his own teac...

Today we learn about the Alexander Technique and improving our musicianship with the incredible Jennifer Roig-Francolí! We talk about the power of awareness, the sneaky thoughts and obstacles we put in our own way, and Christine even gets a quick lesson on a tension/awareness exercise we can all use in our own practice! Jennifer's Website: https://artoffreedom.me/

Composer James Allen Roberson has a great quote on his wall by Ira Glass that explains that the gap between our ability and our taste is only bridged by a lot of work. In today's episode, James sits down with us to discuss his own creative development and the hard work that went into it. We talk about maintaining and attitude of humility and learning lessons from unexpected places, living in the s...

Today we visit Middle Earth and discuss the score to "The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim" with Emmy award-winning Composer Stephen Gallagher and Grammy award-winning Producer/Engineer Mark Willsher. Their goal in this project was to “honour the narrative of the film by blending the beloved design and musical language of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy with ideas befitting Kamiya...

Renowned German film composer Christoph Zirngibl joins us today to talk about his recent projects AppleTV+ “Where’s Wanda” and the animated adventure film “The Hero of Centopia.” We chat about the difference between a Palette Composer vs an Artist Composer, his own composing process, and what makes a good melody. Christoph Zirngibl is a renowned German film composer based in Munich, Germany. Among...

Collaboration is the cornerstone of a musicians’ creativity and career. This is especially true in media composing. And here to talk with me about it today are my guests Ari Posner and Joel Schwartz. They worked together composing the score to the acclaimed drama series “Sullivan’s Crossing” whose 2nd season premiered in the US in October 2024 on the CW, and kicks off its 3rd season on Canada’s CT...

Today we are honored to have Deva Anderson and Rachel Lautzenheiser, two renowned music supervisors, joining us to share their insights on the film adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Piano Lesson. The two have worked together for more than a decade. Deva leads the music department at Tom Hanks and Gary Goeztman’s Production Company, Playtone, where she has overseen musi...

Today we’re talking with accomplished composer, Andrew Morgan Smith who has successfully navigated the world of both film and concert composition. We are diving into the technical details about work flow, working with orchestrators, scoring sessions that span the globe, and keeping up with latest technological innovations in the music world. https://www.andrewmorgansmith.com/

Musicians often get stuck in the mindset of 'being chosen.' We practice and hope we are chosen for the masterclass. We audition and are chosen to fill a seat in the studio, or in the orchestra. We submit a demo and cross our fingers that we win the project. Kate Kayaian, Career Coach for High Performing Creatives, has made it her life's mission to help creatives thrive in their careers and take th...

The score for the BAFTA and Annie-nominated film, Kensuke’s Kingdom, is big, traditional, and symphonic. Directors Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry initially conceived the project almost as a silent movie, as there is very little dialogue between the two lead characters, who do not speak each other’s language. The music plays a pivotal role in the story-telling, featuring a 60-piece orchestra and a 35-p...

Steffen Thum is a German composer for film, TV, games and advertising, based in Berlin. With over 70 credits to his name, he has extensive experience across high profile studio films, independent cinema, TV and advertising campaigns. Max Aruj is a composer born and raised in Los Angeles. His recent projects include MoviePass, MovieCrash (HBO), Lansky starring Harvey Keitel, and The Ice Road (Netfl...

Robert Arzola is a freelance composer and music supervisor for Phantom Power based in the Atlanta, GA metropolitan area. After injury interrupted his plans of being a classical performer, Robert pivoted to composing. As a freelance composer, Robert has scored feature films for Reel One Entertainment, Lifetime, Lionsgate, and Feifer Worldwide along with the video game Tactical Breach Wizards. Rober...

David Naroth is a Composer, Sound Designer, and all-around creative person. He loves creating and audio is his favorite outlet of that creativity! He loves experimenting with the traditional and non-traditional to create new perspectives in his compositions. He also loves to push himself to explore different genres of music and loves to work on all types of visual media formats. Today David joins...

Austin Weber first gained attention in 2018 with his original records and boundary-pushing music videos. His music and videos are vibrant collages of early YouTube blogging, David Attenborough documentaries, and heartbreak. His theatrical live shows feature puppet monsters, lucha libré matches, and Gregorian chant ceremonies. With an upcoming solo record set to release in November 2024, and his in...