Lewis is founder of video and music production company Oscillator Media and has worked with the likes of Dolby Laboratories, MTV, Discovery Channel, VOX News and The New York Times. In our conversation he shared how composing music as well as editing video for projects shapes his creative process from the start. We covered several topics, including how involving an orchestra in a production is not only an aesthetic decision but also a practical and financial consideration. Are midi input and plug-ins going to take over? Or are they providing a bridge for non-classically trained creatives to cross over and explore writing for orchestra?
KAI:
Hi Lewis, thank you for your time today! To start with, how would you describe yourself as an artist?
LEWIS:
Well, I guess there are two sides to what I do for work, which is mostly editing documentaries and composing scores for documentaries and nonfiction TV shows. Besides that I make my own music and films. Sometimes the two paths cross and sometimes they stay separate – both are cool.
KAI:
Have you always been interested in both – composition and filmmaking?
LEWIS:
Yes, although I didn’t really start doing music professionally for film until later. I had several years working, editing and assistant editing – more post-production. Music was something I played in bands at clubs. It had been a part of my life from a young age but the two paths only crossed after around 5, 6 or 7 years of editing. Part of the editor’s job was choosing music and finding a vibe for a show; depending on the show sometimes it’s great to get to work with composers but oftentimes it’s more library kind of music. Part of it was also a frustration with libraries and another was me slowly trying to stretch myself. I started with a track or two for a show which then turned into three, four and five. It’s progressed like that over the years. Just sort of being in the edit room, working with music, working with the edit and bringing the many years of music that I had into that space.
KAI:
Is a lot of your work then from home now after COVID-19? Has that impacted your work in any way?
LEWIS:
Not really. A few years ago I moved to working from home anyways. Part of that was simply the type of things I was doing. At the time I was working with smaller production companies and they were cool with that. It was helpful not to have to rent a post-production facility. Earlier on though I worked for bigger companies and they wanted everybody in an office. So yeah, when COVID did hit I was kind of already set up with my own studio gear and was comfortable with working remotely with producers and directors without being in the same room. It wasn’t too difficult of a transition for me.
KAI:
That’s cool. And you started Oscillator Media, didn’t you?
LEWIS:
Yes, that was in 2017. I was doing a project with Dolby and Google. I was directing and producing… actually kind of doing all of it – music, editing and so on… and yeah, there wasn’t a production company associated with it really. So, I thought I would take it on. It was actually a really great project. It was one of their first Dolby Atoms ones. I got to conceive the score and the 3D sound for it. Playing with mixing music in three dimensions was pretty awesome. I still work for bigger companies for sure, but it’s through Oscillator Media then.
KAI:
What fascinates you about music? What attracted you to it?
LEWIS:
It depends on how far you want to go back. I feel like you just ‘got the bug’ or you don’t… it’s never really been much of a conscious choice. It’s more like there’s always an instrument so there’s always something… There’s always got to be a thing. That’s why it was somewhat serendipitous. Playing in bands and clubs around Brooklyn started to fizzle out as people were getting older and began to have jobs. I kind of picked up another wind with music, which was doing films and series and things like that. It’s a totally different experience to write and play music for a performance type situation versus a film. It also stretched me creatively to be like, “Okay, now we’re making music to live in this world of this story in this film.”
KAI:
Something I find interesting is your point about the creative process for writing songs for a band versus composing for a film and how they are different. How do you approach that, creatively speaking?
LEWIS:
Yeah, I mean part of it comes simply down to the difference of where inspiration is being pulled from. For a film there’s story and there’s characters, especially with documentaries. There’s always something tangible out there in the world. Whatever that subject is drives the music. Talking about bands, I have been in some that do have a concept or some sort of sound that they are going for, for sure. You are servicing that project, that idea, that sound… and with films it’s just whatever the content of the film is. That then becomes the primary inspiration, the thing to draw from and create something around.
KAI:
Do you find it easier to have something to work around, say a character, or start from scratch and have a sort of ‘blank sheet of paper’?
LEWIS:
I like having a little something. What’s really special in my situation is that I edit as well, so I enter the process quite a bit earlier then a composer traditionally would. I don’t know if that’s necessarily true for big narrative features, I haven’t worked on those before, but at least in my world what usually happens is that the film gets cut, locked and at the very end you’re sending a kind of already made film to the composer to do something with. In my case I start where the edit starts. The film has been put together, certainly things have been shot, subjects, characters… there’s ideas floating around. But for me, the initial spark for creativity in music comes around the same time as the initial spark for the edit. “What’s this film going to be?”, “How do we want to put this together?” The music kind of involves from the start and to have that has got a kind of energy to it for me. It’s like making something and not really knowing what it is, but there are all these signposts to pull from. That’s definitely easier than a complete blank sheet of, “Okay… what…”
KAI:
So while you’re editing you’re already asking what would work musically. Do you think there are advantages for composers to be editors too? Obviously not everybody has both skill sets. Whereas traditionally composers would get a locked edit of the film, you seem to have more flexibility through entering the process much earlier. Can you see advantages?
LEWIS:
Absolutely, I mean you’re choosing and creating a feeling to the film and music is essential for that. It impacts the pace of it as well and a lot of that usually takes place in the edit, particularly with documentaries. Without it you would normally choose temp tracks, whether they’re from a library or from your favourite bands or composers. You’re trying to use all this music from elsewhere out in the world to fit and help propel what you have in front of you. If you’re creating a completely original score while the story is being made as well, you definitely have the advantage of being able to take the film in an original or new direction. Things develop organically and originally.
You can also start treating themes earlier on in the process, making the film feel more cohesive, because you’re not pulling music from all these disparate places that weren’t created in service of that. You start creating themes, ideas and characters that relate. It definitely helps to mould the film earlier on, rather than trying to either slap on original music at the end or, I think what happens more frequently, for composers to get a, “Here’s the temp track and we love this… could you do something like this, but not totally like this…”
KAI:
Part of my research is thinking about orchestral music. Some of my colleagues who are coming more from an electronic music background often ask, “Why are you interested in classical music?” Firstly, I explain that ‘orchestral music’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘classical music’. There is a lot of contemporary film music that I wouldn’t consider classical. We have had discussions like, “In a world of more and more electronics, is there still a place for an orchestra?”, I wonder what your perspective is on that.
LEWIS:
For sure there’s a place for an orchestra. I mean there’s a place for anything and everything; it’s whatever serves the film. I was part of a composer’s collective for a while and I remember one guy shared this story. He was working on a film with someone and they finally had the budget to work with a big orchestra. They were super excited and wanted to go ahead. He put the whole thing together, arranged it and recorded it. Then the filmmaker said, “Wait…. I actually don’t think I want an orchestra…” On the one hand it’s an annoying showbiz thing, but on the other hand it was that process of ‘just because you can doesn’t mean you should.’ The flip side of that is that there are different types of scores for different types of movies. Depending on what the vibe is that you’re trying to go for changes whether you should have an orchestra or not. I hope orchestras keep being in films. I feel like they are a primary source of income to keep orchestras going.
KAI:
Do you have any thoughts on how the orchestral sound might change as composers include more electronics and other things?
LEWIS:
I think it is changing already. I’m not a super expert on this but I feel like there’s a good amount of contemporary classical composers and musicians that are pulling from both traditions and integrating more orchestral instrumentation into modern contemporary types of scores. Also, people have access to software to score very easily now. I don’t have to be a music theory head and full on into writing on paper for a whole orchestra to get started. People that aren’t traditionally trained as orchestrators can start doing that sort of thing. I think it’s both; people who are classically trained are becoming more interested in contemporaries to move orchestral music forward and on the other side people who are more used to working on a laptop with MIDI are starting to play around with those types of tools. As that continues people will certainly think, “Cool, I did that for a while in Logic… what happens if I start hiring some musicians? What is it like to actually hear this played by an orchestra?”
KAI:
When you are composing then, do you use sample libraries or do you try and get musicians in, if the budget allows?
LEWIS:
It’s a budget thing and it’s often also a time thing, particularly with TV shows. Sometimes the pace of the show is very fast and things are shifting and shifting… you don’t want to pay to record something to then have to change it later on… I noticed for sure market difference with something that I’ve arranged in software or just in my own studio to then giving it to musicians to play. It’s like, “Wow, now it really pops.” So whenever possible, yeah for sure.
KAI:
Is there something you would really like to do in your career going forward?
LEWIS:
I’d love having more opportunities to work with more musicians. That would be my want. Because it happens, but as I mentioned before it depends on budget as well as time. I talk about this with other composers quite a bit in terms of session players, or players in general. I think this is true in popular music as well. Sample libraries, the packs, the computer writing and the sound of it has gotten so good that you really have to want it to say, “All right. The client thinks this sounds good, everybody thinks it sounds good… but I think I have to get a live take of this.” That takes discipline and usually means you’re spending money that could have gone in your own pocket. You have to really want it. I think for me, in the future I would like to be in a situation where budget and time wise I can take my music, go to a studio, spend a lot of time with musicians and see them bring their own thing to it. That would be what I would like to do more of.
KAI:
I’m sure the musicians would be grateful too.
I just want to briefly come back to you wearing different hats in productions, sometimes editing as well as composing. Do you find it easier to do the whole process yourself or is there space for you to pull other people into the boat too?
LEWIS:
Again, it’s budget and time. Things in the edit change so frequently from day to day, from week to week… So, in terms of bringing in other collaborators on the music side, it can be hard because things are changing. Work can be happening and then the next day there’s a whole new direction. I would say that I certainly love to collaborate with people but I think the initial edit and ideas for the show have typically been a more solitary process for me. I’m kind of in my own space for that. I’m not in an office chit chatting with people coming in and out. It’s usually a pretty lengthy debrief from a director or producer about what we’re trying to do and then a bit of hands off, doors closed, I’m in the space, what can I do with it.
KAI:
Do you find yourself get stuck sometimes creatively in that process? Do you think if you were in an office environment you would get ideas from others? Have you found ways to overcome those sorts of blockages if you work a lot by yourself?
LEWIS:
Creative blocks? Absolutely. In most cases I’m working with people I’ve worked with before or have a pretty good working relationship with, so it’s usually not so much hitting a brick wall. For sure, hey, raise your hand and someone will come and help. Everybody working on it wants that. People want to be involved in the process. They want to be as helpful as possible. It’s a creative and collaborative environment. It’s this kind of give and pull of giving the composer space to come up with something, but certainly if there’s any kind of wall being hit, let’s get other heads on it and figure out what to do about it.
In your own space you go for hikes or walks and try to find other things, whether it’s books or movies. You just keep feeding the brain things that are not necessarily what you’re working on and then usually that will dislodge whatever is being blocked. Walking around in nature in and of itself is always quite therapeutic and likewise with other inspirations, if you’re reading something else, watching something else, listening to something else, and just break away from trying to solve whatever problem you’re trying to solve, those other impetus, at least for me, often break through whatever I was frustrated with.
KAI:
You just mentioned listening to other people’s music. Is that something you do regularly to get inspiration or do you find yourself generally inspired in your own space.
LEWIS:
I would say it’s not that I am inspired simply by myself, but I am trying to find non-musical things to be inspired by. I find that works a little bit better for me. Of course, I have influences. You can listen to anything I do and pick out, “Oh, that sounds like this and that sounds like that…”, just like with any other musician. Having said that, I am rarely listen to something and am like, “Oh, I want to sound like that.” Of course, it comes out naturally but it’s less specific. So yes, I do find non-musical things to be more productive. It’s less of a direct line of, “He’s reading that book, therefore, it sounds like that”, or “He’s watching this so it sounds like that”, but it’s a part of the process and with that we are getting back to the very beginning of our conversation about documentaries. There’s a story, there’s characters and there’s whatever the subject matter of that film is. I try to use that as the inspiration for the music. Even if it’s not a musical inspiration, it still has some kind of a something that you can latch on to.
KAI:
… like a creative spark? I like the idea of having something that’s non-musical inspire you.
Is there something you want to do going forward in terms of your creative work? Any thoughts on looking ahead?
LEWIS:
You know, I feel like, as I was saying before, I am one of those people that just got the bug. I’m never going to stop doing it, whether it’s for work or for pleasure. When it comes to things being successful, I think in a lot of ways it’s out of my hands whether people like it or not. I just keep creating and keep creating… I guess the only thing that I could add to that would be to continue to evolve. Every year or every other year not to stick to one thing and repeatedly do that, but to keep evolving and keep pushing. Maybe you can do this a little bit differently this time, maybe you can do that a little bit differently this time… so that, at the end, the legacy would not only be all the years of work, but there would be changes too. Your life changes like that, so the music should too.
KAI:
Thank you, Lewis. It was very helpful and inspiring to hear from you and your process, in particular hearing from you about being music composer as well as film editor. Really appreciate your time. Thank you.
To find out more about Lewis and Oscillator Media you can visit his website.
Kai Vollprecht Media 