Congratulations to Shawn Clement whose score for Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey has been nominated for “Best Score” at the 2012 eWorld Music Awards held at Paramount Picture Studios. The score was written and produced in SONAR X1 and then recorded with the San Francisco Philharmonic Orchestra at George Lucas’ legendary Skywalker Ranch.
The 2012 eWorld Music Awards is a revolutionary music awards show that celebrates cutting edge artists on the world’s biggest platform – the Internet. The awards were created to promote and support the amazing work, technology and diversity in today’s vibrant independent music world. It’s the only event of its kind celebrating truly independent music. The eWorld Music Awards honor those groundbreaking forces who’ve been influencing this movement, and iconic individuals for their unique contributions to the art of music. This year’s 2012 eWorld Music Awards will be the 4th annual awards show, and will air live from Paramount Studios in Hollywood on Saturday, June 16th 2012. Live music performances and celebrity appearances will highlight this star-studded Red Carpet event.
CW AR: How did you get yourself in the space to create music for this show and what was the technical process for pulling it all together?
SC: With any project, you first have to understand the film. Meaning, really know the story, characters and what role the score is going to play. Every production has its specific needs. Say for instance when I created the Wounded Warrior’s Hymn, this was a live performance, so what I needed to do was realize a “mock-up” version of the music so that others could hear where I was going with it. For example, I would send my “demo” off to Jon Anderson so that he could put together what he was singing on it. Keep in mind that the “demo” needed to sound as much like the real thing as possible so that anyone involved could really believe in it. Beyond that, all the tracks in SONAR would then get broken down and sent out to my orchestrator so that it could finally be realized in written music form for the orchestra to play. We had 106 players with a 247 piece choir, and Jon Anderson singing on 2 of the movements.
From TV to Film to Video Games, Clement has used SONAR to work in a wide variety of genres and styles and has built a vast resume of over 200 credits. He began his professional career helping to originate and develop the musical foundation for the voyeuristic world of reality TV, but years before the phenomena saturated the air waves. By stamping his musical presence on shows like Most Amazing Videos and World’s Wildest Police Videos, he began paving the way for other composers to follow suit.
In the new-age of reality, his music which is always created in SONAR (now SONAR X1) has been featured on American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance as well as other major television shows. One previous noteworthy score that will forever be engraved in television history was the highly-acclaimed cult series classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in which he also supplied original songs as well as the score. His songs in that series were fan-favorites and helped expand the fan base for the show. Other credits include Women, a series on Showtime, The Savage Dragon, an animated series for Universal, A Rock and a Hard Place (Showtime) and One Way Out (Arrow Entertainment.)
In addition to music for major television shows, Clement is always busy using SONAR to score music for Films as well; some including:
– We Married Margo: (released by New Line and winner of the Audience Favorite Award at the HBO/U.S. Comedy & Arts Festal.) Cast included Kevin Bacon, Cindy Crawford an Tom Arnold,
– Last Chance: (winner of Best Original Drama at World Fest.)
– Bad Girls from Valley High: released by Universal (produced by Sid and Johnathan Sheinberg) with a cast that included Julie Benz, Christopher Lloyd, Johnthan Brandis and Janet Leigh.
– Finale: (released by Image)
– Virus X (released by Lions Gate)
– Play On (Sports Drama)
– Beyond the Mat (Sports Drama)
The polls are closed now, but we wish Shawn all the best at the event and hope that he brings home another award to add to his “ASCAP Most Performed Underscore Award” (alongside the other prestigious awards he has collected along the route of his musical voyage.)
Currently, Clement is busy using SONAR X1 working on music for the RAY BRADBURY Documentary, Live Forever: A Ray Bradbury Odyssey. For more information on Shawn Clement and to hear the music he creates in SONAR X1, visit www.clemistry.com.
Right now is the time to visit Cakewalk.com and participate in the “First Class Upgrade” program. From June 1st to June 30th, when you buy or upgrade to SONAR X1 Producer, Cakewalk will automatically bump you up to the flagship version, SONAR X1 Production Suite. In addition, Cakewalk is offering other great upgrades as well.
Vivek Maddala’s story is one that certainly does not lack one single ounce of excitement. From being a successful [modern-day] composer of music for film and TV, to his recent build out of a new state-of-the-art home studio, Vivek has continued to deliver world-class music on his own terms. He has always been on the vanguard of hip new projects, but now with the new studio, the sky is the limit for this seasoned – yet still young Los Angeles multi-instrumentalist/producer.
One might ask, “What is it that keeps him so busy writing and producing for such interesting projects?” Well for starters, very few people can pull together the diverse musical elements that seem to come so fluently for Maddala. On one end of the spectrum he is an extremely proficient musician, and on the other he is an expressive individual who seems to be able to tap into emotional components of film while gracefully tying everything together with unique global soundscapes. He also seems to land projects right in his wheelhouse; ones that lift the human spirit and elucidate the human condition. His works which have been noted extraordinarily diverse in style, stand out among contemporary compositions for their depth of expression, brilliance of sound, and profoundly humanist nature. It’s in this pocket where he has found so much success and respect scoring a plethora of [major] independent films.
Building off from his busy schedule — currently scoring a feature film, producing two albums, and soon scoring a TV series — it became clear to Vivek that he needed his own production sanctuary to work at any given moment of need or inspiration. Now, when figuring out how to build a so-called “home project studio,” it doesn’t hurt to have attended the Berklee School of Music, and also to have degrees in Electrical Engineering from major universities. That is when one’s “project studio” usually takes a turn for the better. 😉 Combining his skills and background in electro-acoustics, Vivek turned to acoustics consultant Kevin Lee Hughes who had recently worked on design for Capitol Studios in LA. The result was a stunningly beautiful and intricate professional work-space written about here in this month’s issue of Mix Magazine.
