David Lawrence (Composer of films: High School Musical 1 & 2, American Pie 1 & 2, National Lampoon's Van & Wilder, TV series include: Jericho, Beverly Hills 90210) |
"Sample Logic is unlike anything else out there.” -- [David Lawrence] |
How did you start composing? |
I started out composing Pop and R&B music in the 1980’s. Songwriting with my partner Faye Greenberg led to gigs writing for artists from Stephanie Mills to Earth Wind and Fire. In the 1990’s I began orchestrating for small independent films. The people I worked with introduced me to other people, who in turn, introduced me to more people (which is how you get work in this business), and that’s how I landed the job composing for Disney’s Camp Nowhere. Soon after, I was brought on to compose for Beverly Hills 90210. One thing led to another, and I began working on the scores for the American Pie movies, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder and High School Musical. |
| How did you get involved with Jericho? |
| When approached by John Turteltaub, the director of Jericho, to compose for his series, I eagerly took the opportunity to work with an old friend. With all the recent success of Jericho and High School Musical, and Cane, my feet have become nicely planted in both movies and television, both, which I have been fortunate to compose for. |
| How did you go about developing the musical themes and motifs for Jericho? |
The score comprises a hugely dense orchestration of orchestral, orchestral trance, Americana, folk, and other genres. The cinematic score is all over the place! It took many weeks to lock in the show’s musical motifs and set of thematic characters. It was an incredible challenge to prioritize which themes and characters get what type of orchestration, intensity, and thematic drive. “It’s unquestionably the best job I’ve ever had, which I have been very lucky to compose for. The characters in Jericho were drawn and created so richly, that it was very easy to follow the arcs of the characters. The producers, to their credit, gave me a very long and trusting leash. So we were able to come up with some very special things for the show. Developing their themes, though, involved a lot of trial and error. |
| Can you discuss how you incorporated A.I.R. in your music? |
| I use A.I.R. all over Jericho. You’ll find it in obvious places, but most of the time it’s embedded in the synthetic orchestral fabrics. You’ll also find it in action sequences in the driving and pounding mid-range frequencies of the orchestral strings. A.I.R is an unbelievably transparent character that provides the exact palette you’re looking for, but isn’t sonically obtrusive. It finds its own bandwidth home without getting in the way of other orchestral elements. The ability to use the instruments flexibly is due to the frequency ranges that don’t occupy other space. This makes it inventive, creative, and incredibly usable. It is very sonically friendly, and I intend to use it for years to come. |
| What role did you take with High School Musical? |
| I was originally brought on to work on the underscore for High School Musical, but director Kenny Ortega and I found spaces that needed some songs. Specifically, we needed a story-driving song that was a classically designed big pop style production number (Stick to the status quo); lyrically taking us from point “A” to point “B.” Disney then brought us back for The Cheetah Girls and High School Musical 2, where we wrote the song Fabulous for Ashley Tisdale’s character, Sharpay Evans. |
| How much do you rely on midi-mockups for your composing? |
I rely almost exclusively on midi mockups when I’m composing. I also prefer to include as much air (the harmonic beauty and distortions of real live musicians) as possible—what happens literally up in the air when sound tones are generated. It creates a magic and ambience that is challenging to provide with samples. Every opportunity I get, I try to overlay with live instruments. That being said, my produced scores are 99% done when I deliver the mock-up, except for the occasional addition or supplement of live orchestral sessions. For Jericho, I worked with Peter Manu, creator of Bizarre Guitars, as the only live musician who helps create ambient textures. Everything else is all sample generated. Once we came up with the pallets we like for the show, we relied almost exclusively on samples, to help turn out a 45-minutes of music score each week. Composing for High School Musical 2, we needed a blend of orchestral and samples, leaning heavily on orchestral for the ambient room tone. |
| What sequencer software do you use? What are your favorite plug-ins? |
| I use Digital Performer sequencer software, and am a huge fan of Native Instruments plug-ins. I believe in Ivory Pianos and use a lot of Stormdrum. I also use Access Virus B—the greatest synth ever created on the planet— and occasionally I use Reason software, although more for records than film scores. Probably the most important part of my pallet is Sonic Implants Symphonic Collection—the best sample library on the market. I also am a big fan of Project Sam Horns and True Strike Percussion and Trumpets. |
Edited by:Jeremy Serkin
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