Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/737949
CW SUPERHEROES www.postmagazine.com 31 POST OCTOBER 2016 What is the state of the cut you are provided with? "I don't have finished visual effects. I'm working on the music at the same time [VFX] is working on a show. Sometimes there is just a card that says 'ex- plosion here.' Sometimes it's a very rough animation that's been laid in." Do you have other composers helping you? "I have four additional composers: Nathaniel Blume, Sherri Chung, René G. Boscio and Daniel Chan. We all write on these shows together. I couldn't do it without them. It's not humanly possible to turn out three hours of music a week by yourself." Tell us about your Cow on the Wall Studio? "It's in North Hollywood. My set up is a three-com- puter system. I have a main computer, which is a Mac, and it runs Logic for my sequencing. I also use Ableton Live as a rewire application behind that, and within that, I use tons and tons of plug-ins and sample libraries and custom patches and synths — anything I can get my hands on. "Then the second computer is another Mac run- ning Pro Tools. And in Pro Tools I run video, and it's also where I record my mixes and stems, because I do send the dub stage stems. It's sitting to my left. It's a tape recorder, but it's an awesome tape recorder. "My third computer is actually a PC and what it's running is a program called Vienna Ensemble Pro, which is basically a sample holder. You can go load all types of plug-ins and instruments. It connects over Ethernet to my sequencer, and that's where I hold all of my standard sounds that I always come back to again and again. I think there are over 500 or close to a thousand instru- ments loaded in it, so that takes all of the processing power off of my main computer. I can just say, 'I want oboe,' and it's sitting there waiting, and it sounds like the oboe with the right reverb and the right panning. It's a time saver and it's also a RAM saver." Could you talk the superheroes' sound profiles? "I think of Arrow as being very dark, very tragic, be- cause that's the character, but heavy instrumentation because he's a powerful guy. When I think about The Flash, it's much lighter. In his non-superhero character — Barry Allen — he's kind of klutzy. He's kind of goofy. It's much lighter, but there's always sort of a mo- mentum and a scientific thing about it. I don't know how 'scientific' translates to music, but I always think, 'Does this sound scientific, because he is a scientist?' "Supergirl is a little bit easier because it has the feeling of flying. It's hard to translate, but if I keep that in my head, it will give me the parameters of how to score that show. Supergirl is very much light and comedic, like The Flash. Arrow rarely has its funny moments, although it is a really fun show. It's just not 'ha ha' funny." WE MAKE TAPE DEAD SIMPLE. Unlock the benefits of LTO storage with the world's most reliable, cost-effective and easy to use LTFS storage solution, designed for today's intensive content production. Build a Better Archive with Dternity: Fastest LTFS NAS on the market Extreme power for complex workflows Built-in data protection Scalable file and object storage Free from vendor lock-in TRY IT FOR FREE | .com Unlock the benefits of LTO storage with the world's most reliable, cost-effective and easy to use LTFS storage solution, designed for today's intensive content production. Build a Better Archive with Dternity: Cow on the Wall Studio WILLIAM SHORT PHOTOGRAPHY