TESTIMONIAL • ORCHESTRA
JIM WELCH
COMPOSER
THE STORY BEHIND JIM'S ORCHESTRA SESSION
Jim Welch, talks about our orchestra service, his own experiences with the OPEN ORCHESTRA RECORDING SESSION and about the final result – his track “Shifts”.
TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF. WHERE ARE YOU FROM AND HOW LONG DO YOU MAKE PROFESSIONAL MUSIC?
I´m originally from Portland, Oregon, but moved to Dallas, Texas about 8 years ago to take an in house composition position at FUNimation Entertainment. I started out in music through choir and theatre and then shifted into playing in rock bands. Gradually I realized I couldn’t rely on my band mates to chase music with the same passion and dedication I could so I began writing music as a solo artist. The material I was creating felt very ´filmish´ and this led me to start exploring composition and I attended college as a composition major with hopes to get into film music. My passions led me to shift into game composition and eventually I left FUNimation to pursue being an independent game music composer. These days I still write music on occasion but often will subcontract out my work to other talented colleagues I work with. I’ve shifted my early passions into a business but I still have a great love for the craft!
WHAT WAS SPECIAL ABOUT THE OPEN ORCHESTRA RECORDING SESSION?
It was so great to compose and orchestrate for live players again. I intend to share the footage created from the session to help sell future clients on using live players.
WHICH TRACK DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
I knew when I got this opportunity I would create something original. Most of my work is created for sampled instruments and creating idiomatic material for live players really warrants having that in mind from the pieces inception. I really love slow, evocative, minimalism. Even though I only had a minute of recording time I wanted to play with that aesthetic since I didn’t have a client telling me what to create.
Jim produced the track with sampler instruments in his studio. He sent us the mp3 and a midi file of his wonderful track. Take a listen:
WHAT DID YOU USE THE FINAL PRODUCT FOR?
Demo material. I am hoping it inspires more clients to let me use live players!
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE FROM THE ATTENDANCE OF THE RAFFLE TO THE FINAL RESULTS?
I think it was about 3 months though from my delivery of the music to getting back the finish work was only about 1 month.
WHERE THERE ANY CHALLENGES WHERE DYNAMEDION COULD HELP YOU?
I had never written a C score for players. I´m used to providing players music that is transposed. They helped guide me through that.
DO YOU LIKE THE RESULTS OF THE FINAL TRACK?
I do! I’ve worked with live players before and I had to do a ton of post work to make it sound ok. What was delivered to me sounded great out of the box!
On the 17th of January we recorded Jim´s track in Budapest with a full-scale symphonic orchestra. In our OPEN SESSION, we transformed Jim’s mp3 track to a real orchestra piece. Here’s the final result of the really beautiful recordings:
WOULD YOU RECOMMEND OUR SERVICE TO OTHER COMPOSERS?
Yes, the pricing is very reasonable and the delivery was of high quality.
WHAT IS SPECIAL FOR YOU ABOUT LIVE ORCHESTRA SESSIONS?
Players add something to the music samples just can’t. Orchestral sessions really bring the music to life and always remind me why I got into composition in the first place.
HOW WAS THE COLLABORATION WITH OUR TEAM?
It was great! I chose to orchestrate the piece myself but when I had questions I always got prompt feedback.
