NEW !

In Part 2 of our look at the original Night of the Living Dead (1968), Jim Cirronella discusses the production of the soundtrack CD which features all the Capitol Hi-Q music that George Romero used to score the film.

NEW !

In Part 1 of our look at the original Night of the Living Dead (1968), we talk to director Jeff Carney and producer Jim Cirronella, makers of the new documentary Autopsy of the Dead, which gathers a bevy of never-before interviewed participants from George Romero's classic zombie film.

NEW !

Michael Wandmacher discusses crafting the nuances for his latest 3D film, Alexandre Aja's Piranha 3D.

D. Brent Nelson discusses the nuances of scoring for the iconic daytime soap series Days of Our Lives. Read the interview, and enjoy clips of unreleased music!

Christopher Gordon discusses writing a massive orchestral score for the Spierig Bros.' latest film, the vampire shocker Daybreakers.

The second part of our series on Stock or Library Music used in TV and films, featuring an interview with Monstrous Movie Music's David Schecter on the Valentino library cues used in the B-movies like The Brain That Wouldn't Die.

Intrigued by the sound of Legion (2010)? Then check out our conversation with composer John Frizzell, who discusses the music as well as scoring aesthetics, and the potential shift in returning to the organic roots of fillm scoring after a good twenty years of sound samples and pre-programmed keyboards.

An interview with CD producer Derek Lawton regarding the production & release of the new 3-disc soundtrack set, The Prisoner: The Complete Chappell Recorded Music Library Cues.

In our lengthy conversation, John Murphy describes his early years as a composer, his sound, and his craft. In addition to Armored, Murphy also talks about working with Michael Mann on Miami Vice, which alongside Danny Boyle’s 2001: A Space Odyssey riff Sunshine, is among his best work to date.

Joseph LoDuca's current project is writing the funk / jazz music for TNT's hit caper series Leverage, and in our lengthy conversation he describes the intricacies of crafting the show's addictive, rhythmic sound.

Winifred Phillips has built up a solid reputation as a composer comfortable in any media format, particularly interactive videogames, where she's been nominated for and won a number of awards for her work using orchestral, electronic and digital instruments and materials. In our conversation, Phillips describes the demands of the interactive medium, as well as the creative rewards in scoring narratives with alternate dramatic possibilities.

Composer Frederik Wiedmann discusses his entry into film scoring, mentor John Frizzell, and his latest horror score as a solo composer, The Hills Run Red.

Elia Cmiral talks about his latest film scores - the historical WWII film Habermann, and the horror thriller Forget Me Not - as well as working in the digital and classical realms.

Composer Richard Marvin (U-571) discusses his latest film score for director Jonathan Mostow, Surrogates.

A conversation with composer Douglas Pipes and writer/director Michael Dougherty regarding the art of crafting a perennial Halloween mini-classic, Trick 'R Treat.

Witty and BAFTA-nominated composer Daniel Pemberton discusses writing the addictive themes and songs for the TV series Monster Moves (aka Huge Moves, Impossible Moves, and Mega Moves).

Canadian composer Clinton Shorter discusses scoring Neill Blomkamp's intense sci-fi/drama District 9, and working with director Carl Bessai on Cole.

Prolific composer Bear McCreary discusses his score for Caprica, the latest (and another addictive) entry in the Battlestar Galactica franchise.

With a CD of music from Season 1 just released, fans can finally enjoy some of the most refreshing music in TV, and in our conversation with Lisa Coleman, you’ll get some insight into how the sound of Heroes was created.

Austin Wintory discusses the unique styles of his latest scores: the Jordanian film Captain Abu Raed (2007), the horror film Grace (2009), and a concert piece inspired by Joss Whedon's cult TV series, Angel.

Project X's recent DVD of Privilege is an important even in the indie label's history because it's the sixth volume in the Peter Watkins series. How Project X came about and its association with Watkins work marks the intro of a detailed discussion with label owner/producer Oliver Groom.

Actor Saul Rubinek discusses the themes, technical challenges, and distribution of his latest directorial venture, Cruel but Necessary, an alluring tale of obsession and redemption, filmed in digital video, and written by star Wendel Meldrum.

Composer/editor John Ottman discusses scoring Valkyrie (2008), and influential seventies thrillers.

2009 is cleary Year of 3D, and in her follow-up film to Deep Sea 3D (2006), producer/editor Toni Myers talks about film music, editing in 3D, and ecological themes in her latest IMAX film, Under the Sea 3D !

(Note: you may wish to read our prior interview with the film's composers - see below - for some backstory.)

A profile of the most experienced composers scoring the world's biggest film format, Maribeth Solomon and Micky Erbe, during the release of IMAX' Space Station 3D (2002).

Michael Wandmacher (Cry Wolf) discusses his latest pair of scores, My Bloody Valentine 3-D (2009) and The Punisher: War Zone (2008).

In Part 2 of our Q&A, composer Lalo Schifrin discusses writing his new autobiography, Mission Impossible: My Life in Music, and the early years in Argentina.

Montreal-based Maurice Devereaux, writer/director/producer of the horror film End of the Line, discusses End of the Line (2006), and the careful steps in finding a distributor for one's film.

In our follow-up interview with Andrew Lockington, the composer discusses his second big orchestral score of 2008, City of Ember !

Way back in 2001, Andrew Lockington was orchestrating Jeff Danna's exquisite score for The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002), and in the passing years he's made the transition to composer, scoring a number of TV and theatrical projects, but New Line's expressive Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (2008) may be his best work - a richly harmonic, classically written fantasy/adventure score that is happily available as a downloadable album in North America, and as a CD and MP3 album via Europe's Silva Screen. Click on the CD cover to read our interview with Andrew Lockington!

Interviewed in June for Kritzerland's latest CD release, the original recording for Stephen Sondheim's Evening Primrose, Bruce Kimmel provides some backgound on this rare Sondheim work that's pretty much been hidden from view since it's telecast in 1966 on ABC, as part of the network's short-lived Studio 67 series.

Want to know more about Doc Martin series music? Then click on Martin Ellingham's already bruised head, and read how Colin Towns composed the theme and found the right groove befitting a socially challenged soul in need of a good hug.

Veteran composer Lalo Schifrin talks about his music for the comic book series Spooks, and the latest release from Aleph Records: the complete score to Sudden Impact.

In the second of our three-part interview with Monstrous Movie Music producer David Schecter, we discuss the premiere release of Ralph Carmichael's original score for The Blob (1958).

Herman's Stein's robust dramatic score for Charles Beaumont's The Intruder (1962) is discussed in the first of our three-part interview with Monstrous Movie Music producer David Schecter.

Soundtrack producer Tim Ferrnate discusses Elysee Productions' debut CD release, Tito Arevalo's Mad Doctor of Blood Island, and the nature of releasing rare soundtracks composed for cult exploitation shockers.

Composer Elia Cmiral (Pulse) discusses his latest film scores for two movies in the latest After Dark Horrorfest film festival, Dario Piana's The Deaths of Ian Stone, and Mark Young's Tooth & Nail.

Canidid, humorous and affable, Jaye Barnes Luckett has the right instincts to compose and perform music that transcends genre limitations, and in the primary works showcased in her CD - May, Sick Girl, The Woods, and Roman - she demonstrates a balanced use of original score and songs, and shows a rare gift in combining two components of a film that, when composed by disparate talent, often battle for dominance in the final mix: the original score, and songs.

With the release of Jeff Toyne's soundtrack album for Chris W. Smith's Shadow in the Trees (2007) as a downloadable album and limited CD, film music fans have another up-and coming composer with a dramatic, refined, and measured style to discover.

Murray Gold recently took time out during his intense schedule to chat about his career as a composer and playwright, composing for television, and scoring the subtleties of comedy - the latter perhaps his greatest contribution to the new Doctor Who series, given so much of each episode's success comes from the exploitation and support of each character's wry and sometimes daffy eccetricities.

Perhaps best known for scoring Hiro, Last Wedding, and the cult films Rollercoaster (1999) and Kissed, we interviewed Don Macdonald before the release of Fido, and the compser talks about his witty soundtrack, and some of the diverse projects he's scored since the 1990s.

Since 2001, Larry Tuczynski has been sharing discographical info from his Japanese monster soundtracks online at godzillamonstermusic.com. In our original and lengthy Q&A, published here in complete form, as a collector you'll undoubtedly find similar shared experiences, views on soundtracks, and frustrations in trying to maintain a collection that keeps expanding...

Unlike John Frizzell's prior horror scores for Dark Castle's graphic Thirte3n Ghosts and Ghost Ship, The Reaping is a major shift in pacing and style, and is less overtly infused with experimental concepts and harsh, bristling cues. In our discussion we touch upon aspects and conventions of the theological thriller, and the qualities that make the music for The Reaping a noteworthy entry in this oft-visited genre. _

When Sweden's first vampire film, Frostbite, premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, audiences also got their first exposure to the film's versatile composer, Anthony Lledo. Lledo's music was a wonderful treat for genre aficionados, and film music fans in search of a refreshing voice in symphonic film composition. In our Q&A interview, Lledo describes the uniqueness of his breakthrough score, and his position in being one of the few Scandinavian composers whose work is slowly reaching international audiences.

Since his first feature film in 1999, filmmaker Dante Tomaselli has been working hard to establish a career in the horror realm by creating sometimes impenetrable works which don't follow the conventional three act template. This interview reveals a passionate and determined filmmaker with a deep interest in experimental and surreal film, yet with each completed production, he's a bit wiser to the vagaries of the industry, and realistically addresses the business aspects of the process to ensure each project is followed by another to keep the creative juices flowing, and the career moving full steam ahead.

Following the completion of the horror film Stay Alive, John Frizzell shifted from that score's more experimental, aleatoric style to a fusion of more accessible action-suspense music for Primeval. Like his prior scores, however, nothing's conventional in John Frizzell's latest score, which incorporates traditional African music supervised & recorded on location by the composer.

Best known for their startling 2002 documentary, Horns and Halos, directors Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky have formed their own label to release their first two films: the docu-drama Half-Cocked (1994), and the improvised Spanish language film Radiation (1998). To read our interview with the filmmakers and learn about their forays into the docu-drama and mockumentary genres, just touch the Half-Cocked cover !

After learning the intricacies of film composing with Howard Shore on the Lord of the Rings films, Jeff Grace has slowly been making a name for himself as a daring new film composer. In 2006, Grace scored a trio of horror flicks: the harsh, brilliant music for The Roost, as performed by the Flux Quartet; the haunting ambience of Joshua, and co-scoring, with Anton Sanko, the latest shocker from Larry Fessenden, The Last Winter. Click on the poster to read more !

Our detailed 2-part profile of filmmakers Carl Schmitt and Mark Cairns, and the production of their Emmy Award-winning documentary Das Leben geht weiter / Life Goes On, covering the last film effort produced by the Third Reich, lost during the final cataclysmic days of WWII.

MovieScore Media label producer Mikael Carlsson talks about his pioneering steps to establish an online soundtrack service, and the success he's enjoyed in making available fresh film music from up-and-coming composers as downloadable MP3 albums. There's several key reasons why the digital format continues to make inroads on the traditional CD format - click on the logo to find out more!

John Frizzell discusses writing for the horror genre, the use of experimental concepts, and fusing electronic and symphonic elements in works like Thirt3en Ghosts, Ghost Ship, and Stay Alive. Also highlighted is the score for Lucky Mckee's long-delayed The Woods, and Frizzell's latest work, Primeval !

Lukas Kendall talks about Film Score Monthly's latest release - the megaset of Elmer Bernstein's legendary Film Music Collection! Spanning 13 albums released during the seventies, the series was funded by the composer himself, and recorded with first-rate musicians and recording engineers.

Long a Holy Grail among collectors, Bernstein's re-recorded suites were the only source to enjoy rare, previously unreleased music by Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, Alex North, Miklos Rozsa, Dimitri Tiomkin, and Franz Waxman, and after a nearly 30-year absence, they're back in a limited set!

During the 1970s and 1980s, Kerry O'Quinn, co-founder of Starlog Magazine, produced a series of notable soundtrack albums that today remain benchmarks of quality and production, plus time capsules of a period when the commercial viability of film music was deemed by some as 'foolhardy.'

Showcasing the music of Bernard Herrmann, Ferde Grofé, and the still-forgotten Albert Glasser, our lengthy WKME-enhanced conversation chronicles the launch of Starlog Records, it's unique projects, and O'Quinn's eventual decision to change careers after a long and fruitful involvement with Starlog's diverse enterprises.

Stu Pollard not only wrote, directed, and produced his first film, Nice Guys Sleep Alone, but self-distributed the production and found a successful formula for shepherding his work through thearical, foreign sales, cable TV, online rental, and home video markets. In this lengthy, WKME-enhanced interview, Pollard discusses his approach to self-distributing his latest film, Keep Your Distance, starring Gil Bellows, Jennifer Westfeldt, Kim Raver, Christan Kane, and Stacy Keach.

From the Music from the Movies archives comes a chronological examination of Sir William Walton's dismissal from The Battle of Britain, and the 2-disc Special Edition from MGM Europe Home Video, which contains dual soundtrack mixes: the theatrical soundtrack, featuring Ron Goodin's replacement score, and an alternate mix with Sir William Walton's cues from the original multi-track masters.

While we're preparing a revised version of the complete article, which featured detailed comments from sound engineer Eric Tomlinson, sound & picture editor Timothy Gee, and soundtrack music producer James Fitzpatrick, we've placed the short version online, which features additional comments not featured in the original print version.

From the Told You So Archives, All Day Entertainment's David Kalat discusses the ambitious DVD release of Edward Dmytryk's long-lost film, Christ in Concrete, including the fortuitous events that enabled All Day to assemble a treasure trove of interviews from surviving members of the film's production. Also touched upon is the 1950s Blacklist period, Edgar G. Ulmer's Daughter of Dr. Jekyll, and the Dr. Mabuse series.

From the Told You So Archives, Don May from Synapse Films, talks about the company's high-profile venture into vintage seventies erotica with Radley Metzger's classic 1976 film, The Image (aka The Punishment of Anne). May discusses the risks in transferring the original camera negative to DVD, the creation of an isolated music track, and the publicity-shy director himself. Also in our conversation is the DVD production of Jeff Lieberman's 1976 weirdfest, Blue Sunshine, and the misfortune that can befall original source materials when they're stored, forgotten, and unceremoniously junked by an uncaring corporate entity.