Top film and tv composer reveals the products behind his compositions
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
It´s safe to say that reading Miguel d´Oliveira´s bio is like travelling through a maze – you travel down one route, realise there are plenty more and try another, repeating the scenario several times until happily you find what you´re really looking for. Or, in Miguel´s case the project that would instigate his career as a popular and well-respected musician and composer...
To put it briefly, at the age of 19 Miguel went to medical school, he then got lost for 6 months at a quasi-tutorless jazz school and 7 years later he studied at the National Film+TV School. In between, he had the odd job as cartoonist and scuba diver instructor, not to mention stints playing with various genres of band from country, to ethnic fusion, to rock. Then, one day, a student from The London Film School asked him to score his graduation film, and there was no turning back.
Miguel went from short film to short film, learning the language as he went along and picking up the odd TV scoring job along the way until he landed a place at the prestigious NFTS for a 2 year MA in composition – usually only awarded to composers with an solid academic background in music. The NFTS years produced a dramatic change of truly Wagnerian proportions in his approach to scoring. Since then he has been working (as co-composer or music programmer) for some of his scoring heroes (such as Adrian Johnston, Jocelyn Pook and Rob Lane) and scoring a myriad of projects – from feature films to TV documentaries - on his own.
Here, Miguel talks to us about the T+S products he uses, his involvement in the BBC’s Merlin and his wish for the virtual instruments of the future…
A number of Time+Space products have been used within your scores including Synthogy´s Ivory Piano, Spectrasonics´ Trilogy and the VSL Special Edition. Could you tell our customers about some of the films/productions you used these products for and why you chose to use them?
These three packages are amazing when it comes to realism. They are a constant presence on my scores. I still believe nothing beats a real piano, but falling that, nothing beats Ivory. Trilogy is superb on the acoustic bass presets. And Vienna is on a league of its own. All instruments are amazing. Well, almost all. The brass (loud dynamics) may still be their final frontier.
You´ve also used Zero-G´s Altered States, which, being a vast loop-based library of oddness, is significantly different to the afore-mentioned titles – for what did you use this product and why?
Altered States has long evolving pads that are absolutely brilliant. Nevertheless they have too much of a life/identity of their own, so I rarely get to use these sounds unadulterated. Sometimes I grab an audio fragment and go crazy grinding and squeezing it until I get an unrecognisable strip. I used it extensively this way, for example, when I was music programmer on Channel 4 series Cape Wrath. However, it is usually the shorter bursts that I’m a regular client of. Crazy percussion or more innocent sounds like finger cymbals are fantastic.
You´ve been involved in writing music for commercials – which products have been advertised to the sounds of your arrangements?
I haven’t been too keen on commercials as they can prove to be very high maintenance, but I have provided the scores for a few kids’ toys (such as Mervin’s magic hat) and to Centre Parcs
You´re currently working on the score for an episode of ´Merlin´ – BBC1´s acclaimed fantasy drama. How would you describe the music and what are you using to achieve this?
The first episode I am scoring – ep 8 - is about a druid boy called Mordred, who has telepathic skills and an ominous future (at least for King Arthur’s health). So the music needs to have a darker tone – eerie, mysterious and slightly disturbing. Although at other times it also has to deliver the typical in-your-face adrenaline-loaded action cue. There are many layers within most of the cues. For example Mordred has that disturbing aura but he also incites a very passionate response from Morgana (who at this stage has no clue as to why this happens), so the music has to play both sides.
On Merlin, the score plays a very important role in the story-telling process and all gestures need to be very clear and unambiguous. Which also means that these gestures are very tightly synched (3 frames leeway max) with the picture for most of the time. Thank God for computers. I am playing a few instruments live – viola, trumpet, low whistle, recorder, acoustic guitar, percussion, etc… - and singing basso profundo. On top of this, VSL special edition is pretty much the walls and ceiling on most cues.
Are there any major films from the past that you wish you could´ve written the score for and why?
There are many films I would love to have been involved with. Only time will tell if the “I wish I could have scored” will become “I can”. I am trying hard so that my voice can became a valid part of film music language.
How have the virtual instruments available today changed the way you compose music compared to 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I wasn’t composing yet. I pretty much got into composing about 7 years ago but that was for the rock band I was in. No need for virtual there. They were very much guitar based songs. When I started learning to score, software was absolutely crucial for someone like me, with a non-academic background. I taught myself to read music, orchestrate and conduct (or quasi-conduct) around that time. In my first years, picture still had to be synched between the master VCR and the slave computer via a time piece – which was a royal pain. Now all that has changed, tempo adjustments are easier, and so on. Nevertheless I’d say that if you’ve learned the ropes with all those Gordian knots you are in a much better position to tackle scoring with the technology available today.
In terms of future virtual instruments, is there anything you´d like to see that as far as you´re aware hasn´t been done already?
I’d like to see dynamics get better. Fortissimo still lack that extra shine and oomph – particularly in brass and strings. But most virtual instruments are already absolutely amazing. For example, whenever I get a clarinet player to replace my VSL clarinet tracks, they usually get very intimidated by the VSL sound. It can even fool clarinet players at times thinking it is already a live track. But even with small flaws, I always prefer to have a few live performances amongst the VSL bulk. Vienna and East West are great, but they sound like the real thing, only until you listen to the real thing.
I have also used VSL to top up and fix a few bits on orchestra recordings, and here once more they can be absolutely magical. VSL pretty much saved the day when I scored one of my graduation animations at the NFTS (which is now shortlisted for the Oscars and was the only British film in competition in Cannes last year) I had a small chamber orchestra of mostly music students. Although the director, very rightly so, didn’t want a very polished sound, the live recordings were somewhat inadequate for what the picture needed – at some point our anti-hero goes up to heaven thinking he is about to have sex with God – so Vienna came to the rescue to iron a few bumps and beef up some sections (strings in particular) that needed a bigger body of sound.
What do you have lined up in the coming months?
More Merlin for BBC one and 4 documentaries for BBC two
And finally, what is your greatest ambition for the future?
To keep getting better and deserve people’s trust and recognition.
Thanks Miguel!
Click the links below to hear mp3 excerpts of Miguel´s compositions
Cairo – From The Victorian Sex Explorer - Ch4 documentary with Rupert Everett about Sir Richard Burton
ChennaiXpress – From Whose Hair Is It Anyway - BBC3 documentary with Jamelia about the hair extensions´ trade
Newspaper & Routine – From For The Love Of God - multi award-winning short animation with Steve Coogan and Ian McKellan
Sun – From Solstice - art installation, Arts Council of England - Film and Video Umbrella
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