The Professional Composer's Guide: An E-Book by Paul Thomson

Your New Comprehensive Guide to Working as Media Composer — Written By Renowned, Award-Winning Composer and Spitfire Audio Co-Founder, Paul Thomson.

“MUSIC BRINGS SUCH JOY TO LIFE.

The act of creativity has many benefits, and composing can enrich your life in so many ways. At Spitfire Audio, our mission is to inspire a generation of composers — and I really hope that this book will help you towards that goal.”

— PAUL THOMSON

The Professional Composer’s Guide looks at both the business and creativity of making music. This engaging and informative book is split into two sections; the first half explores elements of the business, whilst the second covers creativity, including strategies to develop the craft of composing and producing music. Written by renowned composer Paul Thomson, this comprehensive book is for anyone who is interested in becoming a professional composer, or anyone who would like to refine or develop their technical and creative skills when writing music. Interleaved throughout the book are exclusive tips from composer friends on the frontline of media composition, as well as advice from the recording engineer and orchestral contractor perspective.

‘Paul has written a book SO complete, that were I starting out in this business, I would immediately choose another profession for fear I could never possibly learn all this stuff!’

— JOHN POWELL, Film Composer

How to Train Your Dragon, Bourne, Solo: A Star Wars Story, A Prussian Requiem

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Thomson is an award-winning composer who has written for film, television and games. He also co-founded British technology company, Spitfire Audio, who originally provided exclusive composing tools for A-list film composers, and has now grown to become the market leader in soundware, with a global community.

“When I was studying music back in the early 1990s, there was no public internet, and very few books about film or television scoring. I would have loved a no-nonsense book that explained in a concise and clear style how to go about the business of being a professional composer. So, in 2006 I sat down to write it. I got as far as a general plan and outline of the contents – and then life and composing intervened. Over the past year, I returned to this project and started to write this labour of love — imagining I was writing to my younger self…”

— PAUL THOMSON

He started his musical training at an early age, playing the piano as a child and touring the world as a chorister in Worcester Cathedral Choir. While still at school he achieved the highest grades of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in four instruments, created his first theatrical score for a piece by acclaimed French playwright Henri Ghéon, and wrote the official fanfare for the 900th anniversary of the granting of Worcester’s Royal Charter.

After studying with the Elgar specialist and renowned choral expert Dr Donald Hunt OBE, with Dr Wyndham Thomas at Bristol University and Professor Stephen Deutsch at Bournemouth, Paul obtained an MA in Music and moved to London where he quickly established himself as a versatile producer and composer, working with most of the major and large independent record labels. He has produced albums for a number of artists.

Paul has been commissioned to create music for feature films, including the multiple award winning independent movie ‘Love, Sex and Missed Connections’ and the Slate Films/BFI production ‘Half Of A Yellow Sun’. He also scored the BAFTA winning BBC Drama production ‘The Fades’ (a coproduction with BBC America) for which he won the RTS Award for Best Original Theme Music, the BBC1 Drama ‘The Interceptor’, ‘The Marvellous World Of Roald Dahl’ for BBC Scotland, ‘Ways To Save The Planet – Discovery: Project Earth’ – the Impossible Pictures production for Discovery Networks – the most expensive production ever undertaken by Discovery in association with Bank Of America – and the acclaimed RDF documentary ‘The Genius Of Charles Darwin’. Other work includes ITV’s gameshow featuring Chris Tarrant ‘It’s Not What You Know’ and six series of the popular ITV drama ‘Where The Heart Is’, along with other shows including ‘A&E’ (ITV).

His music is in huge demand for many of the top rated shows on TV including ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians’, ‘Alan Carr’s Chatty Man’, ‘The Apprentice / Celebrity Apprentice’ (in which he appeared as the composer for the advertising task several times), ‘Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood’, ‘America’s Got Talent’, ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’, ‘X Factor’ and many more.

He has composed and produced for Extreme Music, starting with a number of albums worth of content for Hans Zimmer’s ‘Director’s Cuts’ collaboration with Extreme and Sony ATV, and now has his own label under the name ‘Spitfire Audio’ through Extreme. In the games field, Paul has worked extensively with Media Molecule and Sony Computer Entertainment in Europe and the USA as lead composer on the Little Big Planet franchise.

Paul co-founded the music technology company ‘Spitfire Audio’ with fellow composer Christian Henson which has grown from its beginnings, providing exclusive composing tools to A list film composers, to be the market leader with a global following. For Spitfire, he has collaborated with musicians and soundsmiths as diverse as Hans Zimmer, Chad Smith (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Ólafur Arnalds, Roger Taylor (Queen), Eric Whitacre, BT and posthumously with the legendary explorer and musician David Fanshawe.

Paul also created bespoke orchestral sounds for James Horner’s score to the highest grossing film of all time, ‘Avatar’, and for Hans Zimmer’s score to the Chris Nolan hit ‘Dunkirk’.

For more information please visit: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/the-pr...mposers-guide/









Attached Thumbnails