F ilms are a delivery system for emotions.

As a kid growing up in a small town in Mexico during the 80’s and 90’s, I would save up every peso and go watch whatever was playing in one of the 3 theatres in town. Each theatre only had one giant screening room, and they’d play 2 films back to back on rotation for the whole day.  This is my clearest memory of true happiness. Once you entered the theatre, you stayed as long as you wanted. So I’d smuggle in some food (yes, Mexican food), and watch the same movies over and over until the end of the day when they drew the curtains and kicked everyone out. 

Sweet oblivion being on my side, I was on a ride that had nothing to do with camera angles, orchestral arrangements or marketing schedules. It was pure emotion. And because I never knew what I was about to watch, I was never affected by the bias of expectation. Pure bliss.

I’d come out of a Bruce Lee movie feeling 5000 times better at fighting than I actually was. I had no doubt about a few hundred scenarios where a whip would save my life. And knew for a fact that if I just focused hard enough, that flashlight would move just a little bit closer to my hand. Pure magic. 

I started playing violin when I was 3. Switched to classical guitar when I was 12. By the time I was 14 I had a band and was playing events all around the country a few times a week all through high school and university. I finished a degree in Music in Puebla, Mexico – chased it with a degree in Audio Engineering in Vancouver, Canada. Had extended schooling in New York, Montreal and Havana Cuba. I know the nuts and bolts.

But I will forever be chasing that sense of wonder I had as a kid. I haven’t found anything evocative that isn’t music. We get overwhelmed with production. It’s hard. But I don’t let it distract me from what truly drives our audience – an emotional connection. The stakes, the conflict, the laughter, the fear, the feeling of adventure and possibility, the character’s transformation.  It’s all elevated with music. 

I find that for music to be evocative it takes playing real instruments, and not always orchestral instruments – using a cello bow on a saucepan lid in just the right way takes us somewhere canned sounds can’t. I rather re-invent music genres with real instruments than imitate old genres with canned orchestral sounds. This approach requires a proper recording setup, so I hired a professional acoustician to build me a studio from the ground up. Custom built for my workflow. I bring in players from the VSO, Vancouver Opera, and all walks of specialized players. Always evocative. Never sterile. Real life. Real emotions. That’s what we remember. 

Stock Music and AI-Generated Slop

The TV dinners of music. The lowest form of nutrition. It’s bad enough that music can be sterile and useless, hoping that stock and AI generated music will bring emotion to your work is like using wallpaper as a barrier to keep the weather out out your home. It might initially feel superficially satisfying, but your house will be ruined. Stock and AI music will ruin your film. Even after you’ve spent hours browsing and prompting, when you eventually settle on something that’s half usable (unobjectively), you won’t be able to make any important changes. You won’t have any ownership over the music. What a wasted opportunity.

The Midi Score

Midi samples are canned sounds, but at least you’re now working with a composer. Canned music instruments keep improving, same as taxidermy, and I have the exact same issue with both. Something alive is infinitely complicated and beautiful. When we’re interacting with things that are alive, we end up in places we didn’t know we were going. Anyone who’s had pets understands this. Real instruments take us places we can’t fully plan, and that’s where emotion lives. All the improvements in taxidermy are of no interest to me, same as with all the improvements in midi samples. You can recognize a taxidermic animal is a golden retriever, great. You can also recognize that the sampled instrument is a cello, also great. But that’s not the goal. The goal is to bring life to the production. We end up with another missed opportunity to drive emotion. Music should be alive.

The Full Live Orchestra Score

It’s a beast. The super high costs are buried in maintaining centuries old workflows. A reason we’ve settled on this sound for film scoring, is that orchestral musicians can read music. When we only had 4 channels and recorded to tape, this was the simplest solution for moving music ideas from a composer to the players. But this hasn’t been true for a few decades. Orchestral procedure has become a stranglehold on creativity. Composers write scales and arpeggios because musicians practice scales and arpeggios. Musicians practice scales and arpeggios because composers write scales and arpeggios. And because orchestras are so expensive, we’re inclined to keep it safe. All decisions should be about the story, not about the orchestra. These scores have been sounding the same for a long time. Emotion and creativity drive audiences. Simplicity is a hidden jewel.

What I Do

I record live orchestral instruments only when truly useful. And I also work with amazing players who don’t read music. Every take, the players are watching the movie and understanding the story. I don’t want them to simply play the right notes, I want them to know why the notes have to be played. Think of a composition as a screenplay. What’s being said and how it’s being said drive the performance. Same with music. How the notes are played drive the emotion. So it’s carefully crafted. This is my only priority.

Don’t settle for AI slop and stock. Don’t rely on sterile midi samples. Don’t budget for symphonic Orchestras. Call me instead.