~ composing ~

One branch of my work is to compose music for visual media, such as commercials and short film. Over the past few years I’ve worked as a freelance composer for Black Cat White Cat Music, based in Tokyo. Below are some of the Japanese commercials I wrote and produced original songs for.

Panasonic Technics - a woman stands on a subway train platform, puts in her earbuds, and is transported to a magical world.

h&s (Head & Shoulders) - a cute, fluffy dandruff monster follows the main character from boyhood to adulthood. finally our hero buys some head & shoulders shampoo, and says goodbye to his furry childhood friend.

Onward - an impeccably dressed woman takes in a modern art gallery and enjoys the view from a Tokyo rooftop.

Coleman - This one was really fun. The director sent over a poem about the essence of camping, which said something like “even though we may not be comfortable, and its not always easy, the important thing is that we’re together.” I wrote the song based on that sentiment and it was sung beautifully by Hana Hope.

This spot for Am@#$on didn’t go at the last second - hope its ok I’m putting it here hehe.

Out and Back (Short Film by Chad Corhan) - This was my first time scoring a short film, and I really enjoyed it. Early in the process, Chad explained the plot to me over the phone. Since my background is songwriting, the way I approached the score was to write songs inspired by the film, with words and everything, and then use the musical themes from those songs to create the score which ended up being all instrumental. I’d like to share those songs I wrote someday soon.

~ producing ~

In the past few years I’ve really enjoyed getting to produce songs for other artists. I love the process of collaborating, arranging, and sharing the joy of creating music. These are a few of the projects I worked on recently.

Jahmiu - Almost Forgot How To Swim

Foxtrails - Mirage

Jess Meilman - Guilty Soulmate

Hope Waidley - Stars

Summer Winter - Blame Game

~ mastering ~

Some people consider mastering to be the “dark art” of music, bringing to mind wizardry or spell casting to put that final touch on a song before it goes out into the world. To me, it can just be as simple as taking the mixed song as the starting point and making it sound even better. I’ve had the honor of mastering a few tracks for other artists.

Gardens & Villa - Rosie

Shane Tyler - Lemurian Promenade, The Clouds Cleared The Way, Clio EP

Warm Brew - Staples Center