Episode 15: Neko White

Composer of the Witcher Soundtrack Mikolai Stroinski sat with us to talk about his work co-scoring the game and on other titles like Mouse Craft and the much vaunted The Vanishing Of Ethan Carter. 

Show Notes, Links and an Updated Episode coming soon with a couple of Corrections, including an error in the crew notes: Aaron Dowd is a wonderful Editor, but not the Editor of this episode. That's handled by Matthew Broderick. Thanks to Aaron and sorry for the mistake, we'll have it fixed up in no time. 

This week we had the pleasure of interviewing the wonderful Voice Actor Rob Paulsen, as hinted at in the intro... he has done so much work, we couldn't even fit it into the intro!

From the one and only 'Got, Milk?' advertising campaign, to Pinky and the Brain... The Animaniacs and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fame... we'd only be at the tip of the iceberg. 

On top of that... well, he's just a damn fine guy, gosh darn it! And it was our great pleasure to have him on the show. Listen closely and you'll hear how giddy Elias is... oh wait... you don't have to listen closely it's pretty damn obvious, gosh darn it!

That's why you need to take a moment, press play on the episode, kick back and enjoy hearing the story of one of the most illustrious careers in V.O history. Think I'm exaggerating? Go hit that Wikipedia button... if you feel lucky...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Paulsen

You pressed it didn't you? You saw that epic list of credits that he has put his talent and dedication to didn't you? Now you feel like you should put more effort in at work don't you? Don't say I didn't warn you! I didn't really, I sort of dared you but there we go apples and oranges. 

This week we have our friend Silas Hite return to the show to talk about his work on Chef's table. 

Elias and Silas cover the process a composer may use when approaching the writing of music for different kinds of projects. 

Also on the show we talk about Silas's upcoming workshops and his new album Silas Hite and The Seven Deadly Sins!

For regular listeners, this is an interview originally recordered sometime ago, before the hiatus and if you pay attention closely, you'll enjoy hearing Note's manflu kick in and progress during the show. It's like Where's Waldo, except for nasal sounds and fairly constant and obvious. We hope you enjoy playing. 

As we mention, the new series (new and springloaded with lots of interesting things) is coming soon - it's taking longer than we originally thought but as we approach our 2nd Anniversary, all of us on The Note Show team are excited to bring you a whole programme for 2016.

Thanks For Listening Everybody! Stay Tooned!

A wee announcement for ye laddies and ladies (non-gender specific)!

My guest this week is Winifred Phillips.

Winifred Phillips is a composer for video games, television, radio and film. She is a winner of the Interactive Achievement Award from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, a two-time winner of the Hollywood Music in Media Award, and the winner of several Game Audio Network Guild awards, including Music of the Year.

She's also a published author of a comprehensive resource book about the field of game music, A Composer's Guide to Game Music. Her book offers a practical guide that leads an aspiring video game composer from acquiring the necessary creative skills to understanding the function of music in games to finding work in the field.

In this episode, we talk about the future of music in VR games, essential job skills for game composers, the difference between composing for mobile vs consoles, her work on Little Big Planet games and Assassin's Creed Liberation, why she wrote A Composer's Guide to Game Music and some of the challenges she overcame to get it done.

My guest this week is Mark Brennan. Mr. Brennan is a film director from the UK here to talk with us about his new short film, Tea for Two.

Tea For Two is a throwback to classic British comedy with a modern twist. The story centers on the eccentric Jim & Alice, a long-retired couple running a seemingly quiet village tea shop. When the empty shop finally gets some customers, the couple’s peculiar behavior ensures it’s more than a pot of tea and slice of cake being served.

Mark talks about the process of making Tea for Two, the challenges of shooting a short film in only three days, the inspiration behind the plot of the film, and more.

Aaron Dowd is a professional podcast editor who quit his day job in 2013 to help people make podcasts full-time. Since then, he's worked with dozens of professional podcasters and recently started his own podcast about podcasting called The Podcast Dude.

Since he edits this show, I thought it would be fun to have him on to talk about what he's learned about podcasting and what he thinks I should be doing better.

We also talk about struggling with creativity, ways to make money with podcasting without taking sponsorships, how to start a podcast, how to make a podcast better, great gear for podcasting, the best way to record conversations, and so much more.

I'm joined this week by the phenomenal composer Jason Graves. He is more recently known for his musical scores for Dead Space, Tomb Raider, and The Order 1886.

In this episode, we talked about dealing with creative pressure and deadlines, staying humble, and the importance of good relationships in the game design industry.

Jason also talks in depth about his musical contributions to The Order 1886 and Tomb Raider, the writing process for those games, the first two questions he asks every game developer when he starts a project, why he chooses to limit his options, and why he prefers live musical performances over software.

Jason also shares some great advice for aspiring composers.

"I want to grow, I want to try something different. I don't want to remain in the same place. I want to try new things and grow as an artist; that's what keeps me happy.

I'm actually a fan of figuring out what instruments I don't want to use *before* I figure out what instruments I *do* want to use.

Live is great, and what's appropriate for one game is completely not appropriate for another"

Tommy Day Carey is an actor/artist from Los Angelos, CA.

We talked about his recent role in Hand of God, how he got started as an actor, some of his recent projects, the new role of actors and social media in promoting shows, and more.

My guest on the show this week is Robbie Sherman. Robbie's father was Robert B. Sherman, one of the famous Sherman Brothers, who are responsible for some of the most well-known songs of the 21st century. They wrote more motion-picture musical song scores than any other songwriting team in film history.

We talked about what Robbie's currently working on, his thoughts about Saving Mr. Banks, the legacy of the Sherman Brothers, Mary Poppins, and so much more.