Morsel #27: Ode to Hairless Cat. It might seem a strange coincidence that someone who loves cats, volunteers at a cat rescue and generally enjoys all things feline would come to compose music for an animated series about cats. Superhero cats, no less. Strange, yes. Also, true. The series is called The Nine Lives of Claw, and a few episodes are streaming now, here. And here (actually, that’s a link to the Kidsflix app, which you need to view it there). My most recent Morsel is from the episode “Something Sphynx.” Also, check out the music with video on my Work page.
Author Archives: Tim
Morsel #26: And Now for Something Completely Different.
Morsel #26: And Now for Something Completely Different. You were expecting a Morsel O’ Film Music, perhaps? Nope. This time, it’s a Morsel O’ Song Demo. Song written by Patricia Bahia and Betty Lawrence; arranged/produced by me. Click on that button to hear it. By the way, if you have a song you want produced/arranged/otherwise spruced up, we should talk. What else…oh, right, there’s a new animation clip on my Work page, so check that out, too.
Morsel #25: One Minute, Many Moods.
Morsel #25: One Minute, Many Moods. Look, Tim’s Morsel O’ Music’s 25th post! No gifts please (which as you know, means, yes gifts, thank you). To celebrate, here’s a Morsel O’ Many Moods in a Minute, animation style. This was for an episode where I had to compose for very short scenes of an urban environment, drama, mystery and action — and make sure it all held together, stylistically. I hope you love love love it.
“Where’d You Dig Up That Old Fossil?”: Episode 4 – Hamburgers
The latest installment of “Where’d You Dig Up That Old Fossil?” takes us back to, I think, 1997:
Client: Hardee’s
Agency: Radioland
Creative Dir./Copywriter: Austin Howe
Producer: Cathy Curran
Lead Vocal/Overzealous Burger Chef: Austin Howe
Back-Up Singers: Can’t remember
Saxophone: Jeff Homan
Child Voices: Ryan Barcos, Trina Barcos, Ellen Berry
Cheesy synth sounds: Alesis QS8 keyboard.
Engineer: Tor Kingdon
Studio: Newton Bard
I have fond memories of this session. Even though I’m a vegetarian. Now, please enjoy, “Hardee’s Charbroil Burger.”
Morsel #24: Finally, Dogs.
Morsel #24: Finally, Dogs. See, you don’t know me. Just when you think it’s gonna be all cats all the time…dogs. Okay, to be fair, there is a cat in the scene — but it’s mostly dogs. And gangster dogs at that. I hope you enjoy the next two minutes and 27 seconds of gangster dog/superhero cat/balls-of-yarn-might-be-involved chase music.
Morsel #22: More Noir! More Cats!
Morsel #23: More Noir! More Cats! – Is there a connection between my love of cats, having three cats, volunteering/being a board member at a cat rescue and ending up writing more music for cats than your average composer person? I’m sure not. Here’s another piece I wrote recently for a very top-secret game about 1940s cat detectives.
Morsel #22: The Dentist
Morsel #22: The Dentist – Trigger Warning: If getting your teeth cleaned terrifies you, this music may hit too close to home. But definitely listen to it anyway. I wrote it for a new animated series I’m working on called The Nine Lives of Claw.
Morsel #21: Borzage!
Morsel #21: Borzage! – Sounds like something you yell right before you crash into something. Also, it’s the last name of a legendary director (first name Frank), who made a silent film I got to score a few years back for Fox, called Lazybones. Here’s some pastoral acoustic music to take the edge off. Featuring Bryan Pezzone, piano; Sheridon Stokes, flute; John Goux, guitar.
“Where’d You Dig Up That Old Fossil?”: Episode 3
For the third episode of “Where’d You Dig Up That Old Fossil?” we travel in the way-back machine to the ’90s, to my first TV spot: for Northwest Natural Gas. I was hired by KVO in Portland, an agency I’m pretty sure hasn’t existed there for a long time. They hired me because they had $500 and I needed the experience. In return I gave them the best music I could produce at the time, in my dark, dank basement, directly from my QS8 “Classical” Q-card and my brand-new Roland JV-1080 (which I still have, use and will never get rid of). Dig that horrible “JV Strat” guitar patch!
[Dorked-Out Music Gear Paragraph Ahead!] Other production tools included an Opcode Translator ProSync for SMPTE sync to the VHS, a cool version of Pro Tools that came bundled with my Audiomedia III PCI card, and my Metro sequencing software — all running on my PowerCenter 133 Apple clone computer. Oh, and my Mackie 1402VLZ mixer.
The TV spot involved a hypnotizing electric burner that they wanted scored like Vertigo, then, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, then generally western-ish as the gas man rides off into the sunset because, y’know, he gave them gas. So that’s what I was scoring to, even though it didn’t make much sense to me and they kept rejecting versions that were more original. This was my first experience doing this thing that I love to do, where I didn’t actually love doing it.
Still, after it was done, I remember sitting on the couch, and the spot coming on TV…it felt like being a rock star. Though in an analogous scenario it’s more like being on stage and throwing my own panties at myself while I perform. But you get the idea.
Here’s the score, in all its derivative, synthy glory. Obvious apologies to Bernard Herrmann and Ennio Morricone.