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| Harry Gregson-Williams' Kingdom of Cubase - Film composer's new facility centered on Steinberg's Cubase SX | ||||||
Based in the artsy seaside community of Venice, California, Wavecrest blends a creative atmosphere with cutting-edge technology; both key ingredients in today's world of film scoring. The two story building houses composition and editing rooms and well as live recording and meeting spaces. Steinberg's Cubase SX not only serves as Gregson-Williams' main composition and arranging palette, but is also command central for the various sample libraries, VST Instruments, and outboard gear in his vast arsenal of creative tools. However, Gregson-Williams was not always composing on the bleeding edge, "I didn't own a computer, let alone use a computer for music, until I came here to L.A. I made that transition simply because it seemed that this was a way I could help express myself." Gregson-Williams, a veteran of Hollywood dubbing stages (Shrek 2, Man on Fire, Spy Game), notes that computers have made it possible for film makers to get a near-final impression of the score early on in the process, and can manipulate it far faster (and less expensively) than in the past. "Its music made to order. With the advent of reasonable sampled libraries, one can get a really decent mock-up going. There is plenty of room to express yourself, but it's really a collaboration. Computers in music allow one to include the film makers in your thought process." He also notes that providing realistic and effective scores demands a talent for the medium combined with knowledge of the tools. "You can be using the best library in the world, but you still have to know how to manipulate it – to make it sing and dance." Stating that variety in the films he works on helps "keep me on my toes", Gregson-Williams relies on the flexibility and speed the workflow in Cubase SX gives him. On a film such as Domino, a "band-oriented" score with a lot of guitars, drums and electronics, he must work very fast and keep pace with the films aggressive editing. Conversely, on The Chronicles of Narnia, where an open, sweeping orchestral score is called for, Cubase lends itself to the intricacies of the orchestra and can be called upon for instant arrangement changes. Summing up his experience in converting to computer-based composition, "I was a computer virgin when I came to this and Cubase was my first. Cubase is my tool for composition – without it I feel a bit naked." For more information: www.steinberg.net |
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