I spent the first week of this month scoring the first episode of the mini-series Dark Frontier: Operation Deliverance. Unlike the main series the episodes in Operation Deliverance are only 15 minutes in length. It usually takes me a week to score a 15-minute video but I hope to half this eventually as I won't always get the luxury of this much time.
After watching the episode for the first time I was very impressed. There were improvements left, right and centre. The sound was much clearer (a big plus for me!), the CG work was stunning, the acting was really good, the plot was well-written, the humour was just right, and the whole episode really felt like 'Trek.'
My first thought was "What the hell am I going to do?!" "If I smother this episode with sound, I'm going to ruin the visual experience." I had to choose very wisely where to place my cues, and I tried really hard to capture the mood of the scene. I think us composers are all guilty sometimes of going off on a tangent when something works musically instead of describing what we see. Listening back to the first episode I scored, I discovered some cues I'd wrote that didn't really capture the emotion of the scene, but it would be a different story with "Voice From The Past".
Obviously I'd already set the tone of the music for Dark Frontier in "Out of Shadows" so I had no trouble creating my sound palette. However, I had two major problems with that score: 1) Overdose of harps 2) Awful mix. I must admit I hate mixing! When you've spent four weeks recording and writing a score, the last thing you want to do is listen to it over and over again, and it's really hard to use your "mixing ear" and not your "composing ear." But I devoted the last day to mixing and the harp barely features. The producer commented on the well-balanced mix so I can't wait to hear it when the episode's released. I'm splashing out on a new mixing interface for my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) in a couple of months, it's a worthy investment and it will take my mixes to a whole new level!
I used the melody from the Dark Frontier Main Theme towards the end of the episode and re-used the "Red Alert" cue from "Out of Shadows" just for familiarity, but apart from these, every other cue is unique to "Voice From The Past". I generally want to avoid using previously heard cues as this is not a film, it's a series. The visuals aren't going to be the same each episode so why should the music be?
Casey also wanted music for the end titles. I tried a few ideas with a dark, military theme akin to the DF main themes but they didn't really work as they all used pre-existing melodic ideas and it didn't sound fresh. So I wrote something in the same musical DF style but more melodramatic.
At the end of a lot of shows on TV today the end credit music starts and it immediately takes away any mood the show left you with. However with heartfelt, sentimental music you can mull over the emotion in your mind, think about what you've just seen and ultimately leave in a good mood, or the mood/(s) the show set out to instill in you.
Overall I am very proud of this score, and to be a part of this production. The entire cast are in one giant boat, all striving for excellence! We continually inspire each other and even in this short space of time we've evolved in to one of the best sci-fi series on the web!
If you appreciate great talent, and love Star Trek I encourage you to register on the Dark Frontier Forum and contribute to this growing community. The producers of the show are always looking for new faces, for acting, voice-over's and plot ideas so please visit:
"Voice From The Past" will be released sometime in the Summer. For updates visit:
You can also download several musical cues and themes from the show on the main site and you can listen to them all on the Dark Frontier Soundtrack page at:
Also this month, Scott decided he wanted to go back to JJM Studios to re-record his vocals for the track 'Indigenous Pride.' He felt he could do a lot better if he had another go, so I booked him in the studios once again, and he did a much better job! Joel wasn't available on the day so it was all in the hands of a young engineer named Dan, who as it turns out went to the same high school as me...small world!
The last recording was a little dry in the reverb department, and considering this was supposed to be an atmospheric song I spoke to Dan about it and we ended up with a decent reverb on the vocals and a much better mix. This time the vocals sat with the backing track as opposed to on it. Dan and I share the same ideology when it comes to mixing so he was great to work with...even if he did wear a hat covering his ears, which is like wearing a blindfold to walk! Nevertheless he did a good job and Scott and I were extremely happy with the final mix.
As soon as I get a copy of the CD, I'll post the artwork and hopefully a clip of the song!
