Bill Brown, compositeur sur CSI NY

Bill Brown est le compositeur officiel de CSI NY depuis 2004.

Sur CSI NY, il fait un boulot absolument sublime !!!

En effet, c'est à lui que l'on doit toutes les musiques d'ambiance ... vous savez, celles que l'on retrouve le temps d'une expérience, celles qui nous font frémir en rendant les scènes d'action et de suspens encore plus captivantes et stressantes , celles qui nous émeuvent ou nous attendrissent en rendant l'émotion d'une scène plus palpable et intense !!!

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Voici deux exemples dont je me souviens sur le vif :

La même magnifique musique a été utilisée pour le DL (Et ouiiii, le DL a sa zik ! ) :
- dans le zod 5.09, quand Lindsay annonce à Danny qu'elle est enceinte
- dans le zod 5.10, à la fin, quand ils vont l'annoncer à Mac
- dans le zod 6.01 quand Lindsay va parler à Danny de ses 10 % de chance de remarcher un jour.

Une autre zik, elle aussi sublime, a été utilisée :
- Dans le zod 5.17, quand Danny et Mac parlent de Linds et Claire.
- Dans le zod 5.25, à la fin, quand Stella dit à Mac que ce sont les prochains jours qui seront les plus difficiles. (Et elle ne croyait pas si bien dire ! Stella doit être voyante

Et il y en a plein d'autres !!!

Voici une interview récente (septembre 2009) de Bill Brown au sujet de son travail sur CSI NY :

http://blofeldscat.livejournal.com/106066.html

Citation :

TV GENERATION: Bill Brown's CSI: New York
September 30th, 2009 (12:00 am)
Tags: television

This interview is part of a series with composers of all the three CSI shows. Links will be provided for the other two installments when they are added.

CSI: New York is the latest series in the CSI franchise and was launched in 2004, focusing on a group of investigators who work in the Big Apple, solving seemingly unsolvable crimes. Most episodes open with a bizarre act of violence - a naked man running through the street claiming to be a time traveler, exploding flowers that lead to the homicide of a judge, a series of murders transpiring in the virtual reality of Second Life... All these cases have to be solved by Mac Taylor and his team of experts in order to find the real culprits, not to mention come up with logical solutions for each case. The music for CSI: New York is provided by Bill Brown. His previous credits include various epsiodes ofthe Command & Conquer video game series, the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six video games and various songs for Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday and Michael Mann's Ali. With the 100th episode's recent airing and the release of Season 5's DVD, let's see how he remembers back on the years.

How did you get in contact with your CSI show?

I started out in the mid-90’s scoring primarily for video games and also worked on commercials, and started meeting directors. Back in 1998, one of the commercials I worked on was a spec spot for Budweiser directed by Deran Sarafian (dir: Terminal Velocity, CSI, etc.) which went very well. About two years later, I worked with Deran on a film called "Trapped" for USA Television. In 2004, Deran was filming the pilot for CSI:NY and gave me a call. We met with Anthony Zuiker (the creator of CSI) the next day over at CBS. That was a cool meeting.. Anthony was so excited about the show, and he and I talked about our shared interests in music. I think Sondheim even came up at one point, and that was a surprise for me because I rarely mention it, but Sondheim was a big inspiration for me growing up.

Did you have to write any demonstration material for the producers? If yes, what?

I composed about 15 minutes of new music in a style that was inspired by the pilot, and put together a DVD with the music synced to aerial footage Deran had just shot of New York City for use in the show. We shared that DVD with the producers at CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer’s office and the next thing I knew, I was scoring the pilot, and then the show!

What were the official guidelines you received at the beginning of the show about what the music should sound like / achieve?

I hadn’t really watched the series up to that point, so before we got started, I rented every season of CSI in existence at that time and watched every minute of every episode, and honestly, I was hooked. CSI had this wonderful mood about it. Everything contributed to it; the writing, the cast, the direction and pacing, the music, the locations.. Everything. I was honestly a big fan of the show after watching it for something like a week straight on DVD. Once I was hired to score the pilot for CSI:NY, I learned our goal was to bring something really fresh to the franchise, and to take it in a totally new direction. The producers for CSI:NY were already listening to a lot of orchestral film music in preparation, and when I came on board we folded all of my orchestral music from games into the mix of ideas (some of those cues even became temp score for the pilot and subsequent episodes). There was definitely something darker and grittier about the pilot of CSI:NY compared to the other two shows and the score needed to reflect that.

How do you remember back on scoring your first episode?

It was a very exciting time. I was involved very early on in the summer of 2004, so we had about 6 to 8 weeks to flesh out the score for the pilot. It was more like scoring a film actually in the time that was available to work on it. The pilot’s score was very traditional "film music" in its essence… lots of melodies, counterpoint, orchestra, piano, leitmotivs; the whole nine yards. Not to mention, we must have gone through three different full iterations and approaches before we landed on the final score for the pilot.

How did you find the sound palette to use for the rest of the show?

I listen back and can hear how much I was stretching and growing during that time. We all worked really hard together that first season to find the voice of the show. It was challenging, and interesting, and fun, and very hard work, - and worth every minute of it. The melodic, ambient / orchestral sound that I presented in the pilot still exists in the show today, and at the same time, it has evolved as my writing has evolved and as the show has evolved. I also enlisted the help of some incredible musicians early on. Steve Tavaglione, Peter Maunu, Judd Miller and George Doering (among others) continue to contribute their amazing talents and unique voices to the score of CSI:NY. It wouldn’t be the same without them and I feel blessed to be able to come back each season and continue working with them.

Could you explain about some of the recurring ideas / themes / instruments of the show?

I started with a subtle leitmotiv in the first episodes, these descending fourths, usually on piano, they were even in the original demo DVD we sent to CBS, etc.. It was nice, but Anthony didn’t recognize it as a "theme" for the show.. and he wanted CSI:NY to specifically have it’s own theme. Together, we all came up with this idea that I would go home one weekend and write a bunch of themes, and present them so everyone could pick "the one". So I sequestered myself to the studio and wrote six of them that weekend. One of them was this lilting, almost Irish-sounding melody that I thought might come in handy for something more romantic, or dramatic down the line. But I thought certainly some of the stronger, muscular themes I put together would "win". I was actually really surprised when the reaction to that "lilting" theme was unanimous. That was the one! In season 3, the sound of the whole score, along with a new orchestration of that theme (what we now call the NYC theme) fell into place. There is a suspenseful, filmic, orchestral element that is most always present, along with this layered, almost orchestrated ambient rock sound that evolved over the first few years into a very specific sound that really works for the show. My guitarist, Peter Maunu has always remarked on the amount of time I’ll spend arranging and recording the guitar parts for the show. Sometimes we’ll spend six hours on one section of one cue just to get the sound right. And I do approach the guitar more like instruments in an orchestra contrapuntally and sonically, also letting it muscle its way through when it needs to. Piano is my main instrument, so that still finds its way into many moments and works well along with the ambient and orchestral material.

What kind of gear / software do you use for composing?

I’m just switching over to my new 8-core Apple Mac Pro and I’m running Logic 9 with lots and lots of plug-ins. And I mean LOTS – it’s taking weeks to port them over (and I’m still waiting for the Samsung 27" monitor to go with it... should be here in a few days!) I also have a few PC’s with my orchestra libraries loaded up all of the time.. Makes it easier to write orchestral parts on the fly and open sequences quickly. I use Avalon tube pre’s and DI’s for recording here in the studio and ADAM S3A’s for monitoring.

Who makes the musical decisions on your program?

I share that responsibility with our head of post production, Geoffrey Hemwall, as well as with all of the writers and producers on the show. Geoff joined us at the beginning of season 2, and I feel we are so fortunate to have him at the helm. I share the full score for each episode (as soon as it is complete) with him and he will sometimes call with notes that help me to enhance and improve the score. The producers and writers bring wonderful ideas to the table for every episode. Jason Alexander and his team bring amazing songs to us, and our music editor Josh Winget creates a masterful edit of those songs integrated with my score for every mix. Everyone is involved – it’s truly a team effort.

What does your weekly schedule look like for an episode of CSI?

After we spot the episode, usually on a Thursday, I’ll get locked picture and notes in the next day or two. That weekend I work out a direction for the themes and sonic palette of the episode so that by the time I begin sessions on Monday, I have a foundation to work from. Sometimes, the sessions are very much improvisatory, regardless of the instruments, and sometimes I have very specific ideas for themes and parts that we need to record. Both are great, because inevitably somewhere in either of those scenarios, some happenstance occurs, and some cool new sound comes out of it. That’s part of what keeps it exciting and fresh. Once I watch through the episode, my brain starts working – even when I’m not working. I’ve often worked through entire sequences in a dream. Then I wake up, and head right out to the studio to map it out. Essentially, the work never stops for me while I’m on, and that’s ok because I love it and I wouldn’t have it any other way. When you wake up excited and ready to dive into your day, head first, even without coffee.. I think that’s a pretty good thing. As I’m doing these sessions, my assistant is helping me with setting up the episode's cues as the material comes together to speed up the process. I’ll usually have between 2 and 4 sessions before the score is totally dialed-in and ready to send to the producers (in QuickTime movie format) on Wednesday through Josh. Thursday we all meet again to spot, and Friday they start mixing. I’m already well into the next episode when we meet on Monday to watch the mix playback together. And that continues (with a few breaks in between) throughout the season.

How much music do you have to write in how much time?

Somewhere between 15 and 30 minutes in about 5 days, give or take..

The investigation montages are special scenes in a sense that there's almost no dialogue / sound effects - the music propels the action. Do these cues possess any special challenges with the music being so upfront?

I just have to say here how totally cool is it that we have the opportunity to do these process scenes?? OMG. But, I digress. The challenge is of course that the music is driving it..The beautiful part is I can use a theme that I’ve already tied into the narrative of the episode, and really open it up and expand on it during a process scene.. That’s probably my favorite thing to do. I love the elegance of it. Or there are times when I’ll feel like creating something that plays against what we’re expecting to hear.. Anything that really gets underneath the scene and adds another layer that isn’t on the film already – that’s what I’m looking for.





What was your most favorite episode from a musical point of view?

There are too many favorites in those 117 episodes to figure out which would be my favorite-favorite... But recently, Melina Kanakeredes (who plays Stella Bonasera on the show) actually helped pen an episode called "Grounds For Deception" which was really enjoyable for me because most of the episode was based in Greece, and it opened up this whole exotic-intrigue thing to play with. Chasing the evidence musically and thematically was really interesting to do with that story-line and Stella’s narrative was filled with emotion, and with some really important new information for our audience about her mother, it was a compelling canvas to work with for me. Every episode has a soul of its own for me, the music is just a reflection of that.

What was the most problematic cue (something that took multiple tries to get) during your work on the show?

Since I was just talking about the pilot, it brings me back to the last scene / cue in the pilot. I think we went through like 20 versions of that.. But like I said, we had about 2 months to work on it.

Have you ever missed out / skipped an episode? If yes, what happened?

I’ve been fortunate in that I haven’t missed an episode since the beginning. I’m very grateful for that.

Writing for a long-running TV show takes up a lot of time. In what timeframe can you work on your other projects?

Last summer, for instance, as soon as we wrapped season 4, I started working on a film called "The Devil’s Tomb" with director Jason Connery. The day after we mixed the film, I was starting season 5! That was a beautiful thing. I also just wrapped up Wolfenstein this summer – it’s coming out in August and then I’m on to season 6!

How would you describe the evolution / changing of the music from the first season to the latest one?

The sound and character of the score for CSI:NY really solidified in season 3. Since then, it has been less about re-creating the wheel, and more a matter of my making sure each episode has a score that feels unique to that episode, supports that episode 110% and still lives in the musical universe we've created for the show.

Do you think CSI brought you more visibility / more commissions as a composer?

I think it’s a very specific thing, being the composer for this franchise. It is undoubtedly the biggest thing that has happened in my career to date, and I think the CSI franchise is recognized in the industry as a pretty amazing achievement by all of those involved with it. I’m not being chased around by paparazzi (every day), but my colleagues have been really supportive. And for me, it feels great to be doing it. Sometimes I sit and watch the show, 2 days after we mixed it, and it’s this amazing feeling of accomplishment for me. That’s cool. Whether or not it will open doors in the future is sort of a mystery.. But I love that about this industry. I love that at any point, around the corner there could be some unbelievable, magical thing waiting down the road, something you never thought was even possible. In the meantime, I am all about huge amounts of gratitude for my life right now.

Do you follow the other two shows? If yes, what do you think about them / their music?

There are other shows?? (beat) Like I said earlier – I was a huge fan out of the gate of the other shows, and of their music. And I’m still a fan. And I consider myself a friend to the other composers as well. They are great guys and I have so much respect for what they have created. The artistry, craft and the care behind the writing, the production – I’m a fan of all of it. I’m not able to catch a lot of the other shows much at this point because of my schedule, but when I do I truly enjoy it - these shows are like going to see a slightly-shorter-than-usual film.. These guys are not f*#king around.

What do you think is the secret of CSI's success?

Honestly, there is some magical chemistry in each one of these shows that is difficult to quantify. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it. (Luckily, there aren’t any other crime shows on TV right now – whew!) Obviously, we like a good mystery; a good suspense-thriller can be a lot of fun to watch (and especially to work on). Anthony Zuiker brought something fresh to the genre almost ten years ago, and it is still an exciting and fresh way to tell these stories, and to experience them. Our job is to continue to push our own boundaries as artists working on these shows, and to bring something of our own soul to every episode, and to have fun doing it.

Si jamais vous avez le souvenir de musiques qu'on entend dans des épisodes différents, vous pouvez nous en faire part dans ce sujet, en précisant les épisodes et les scènes en question.

Merci pour toutes ces explications Lindsay, c'est très bien expliqué et détaillé !

Merci pour les explications!!!

Citation :

Interview: Bill Brown
Posted by Kristine Huntley - 02/11/10 at 01:11 pm
Composer Bill Brown has been with CSI: New York since the show’s first season, scoring the music that highlights the show’s twists, turns and character moments. Most recently, Brown was tapped by CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker to score the cyber-bridges for his new Level 26 novel, Dark Prophecy. The soundtrack to Dark Prophecy was released the same day the book was published, October 14th, from Moviescore Media, which comments that the score “fuses live orchestral elements with electronic and ambient textures, and features a number of thematic ideas. The album features dark suspense music and contrasting reflective underscoring, as well as some exciting action.”



Brown took time out of his busy schedule to share with CSI Files his experience scoring both Dark Prophecy and CSI: New York:


CSI Files: Congrats on the release of the Dark Prophecy soundtrack! How did you come to be involved with the project?

Bill Brown: Anthony Zuiker (the creator of the CSI television series and Level 26: Dark Prophecy) contacted me this past summer and asked if I would be interested in scoring Dark Prophecy. I said, “Of course!” Anthony and I first worked together on CSI: NY.

CSI Files: Steve Dark (Dan Buran) goes through a pretty powerful emotional arc in the movie, and has a big breakthrough at the end. How did that inform the scoring of those scenes?

Brown: We knew that the score needed to connect things thematically in our initial meeting, but I don’t think any of us knew how “Henry’s Theme” would become such an integral part of the storytelling until the project was almost completed. The really dark moments for the main character [Steve Dark] were more internal struggles and challenges that I supported texturally, in a more visceral way. But the bigger story was about the key relationships in his life, which are supported with thematic development in the score. A recent review of the CD said it’s not a score you can listen to passively, it demands your listening attention. I think that is true because some of the score is more about the physical experience, and getting underneath that experience in an organic way (like in track 5, “Deeper Waters”—all of these bending, discordant acoustic instruments creating an atmosphere). The tracks that relate to the arc of Dark’s relationships; “Henry’s Theme, ” “Hangman, ” “Dark’s Decision, ” “Five Of Pentacles, ” “Death and Life and finally, “I Choose Life, ” use more thematic development to help the audience relate to the characters—something I’ve always been quite fond of in film scores myself. As a side note, one of my favorites is track 7 “The Fool. ” I just decided to take that scene in a different direction and love the haunting sound that came out of the strings… kind of eerie, but strangely grounded at the same time… go figure!

CSI Files: There’s some pretty dark material in the movie! Does that take you to a dark place when writing those cues?

Brown: I think part of my job is that I have to be able to empathize with the characters on an emotional level in order to get inside the scene and support it, or play against it… or whatever we are trying to achieve in telling the story. I would just say (to put it simply) I work to understand what they are going through and the music I write reflects that.

CSI Files: How much did you collaborate with Anthony Zuiker on the project? How involved was he in the process of writing the cues?

Brown: Anthony helped clarify for me what in the score needed to be intimate and internal, and what needed thematic support. Our initial meeting was really helpful in that regard. Once the scoring process was underway, Anthony, and Josh Caldwell (the film’s editor) helped clarify where we needed to get more specific thematically, and where we needed to pull back and create more textural, internal moments. Listening to the CD, it’s almost like an opera where you can hear the story unfolding in the music.

CSI Files: What was the actual scoring session like?

Brown: For Dark Prophecy, I used a remote recording facility here in LA called Orchestra.net. After the score was approved, I turned the midi sequences and my audio demos over to my orchestrator to prep for the session, which took us about a week to do for Dark Prophecy. We sent the scores and parts files to Prague so they could print them out a day before the session, and then I showed up at 10:00 am at the remote recording studio here in LA (7:00 pm in Prague) and we started recording.

During the recording, I talked with the conductor through a direct Internet connection as they performed the cues to discuss things like dynamics, and other performance notes so the cues were performed exactly as I was hearing them in my head when I thought them up. We had a 4-hour session with 10-minute breaks per hour for all of the cues in Dark Prophecy. A bit of a breakneck pace but I’m happy with the results! The next day, I received the audio files from the mix via the Internet and took the next few days to mix and integrate the live orchestra into the cues.
 After the film dub, I went back and re-mixed most of the cues for the CD release.

CSI Files: You’ve also done the music on CSI: NY since the show’s beginning. Is it challenging to keep the music fresh for a show in its seventh season?

Brown: I have to put a lot of work into every episode for sure, but it doesn’t feel (especially) challenging to me because the show itself feels fresh this season. I’m really enjoying these new episodes—I feel like we’re telling stories as well or better than we ever have in the history of the show. I’ve been working very hard every season to bring my best to every episode, and I’m very proud of the work. I’m also really proud of everyone involved in the making of the show, it feels great to have accomplished so much in collaboration with everyone involved.

CSI Files: How has the music evolved over the course of CSI: NY‘s run?

Brown: The first season was very dark, and actually, just a bit of trivia, had the most comedic score material out of the 7 seasons so far combined! I established the orchestral/ambient/rock vibe pretty early on. That sound has been evolving over the seasons. I think the full score ‘sound’ of the show really came together in season 3. Everything had matured and the score was really firing on all cylinders by that time. During the past few seasons, I’ve been bringing more acoustic elements to the score. In season 6 of CSI: NY I was recording and experimenting with various live instruments in my studio constantly—and have a whole bunch of photos on my Facebook fan page of the process. I really like how the score has evolved, and continues to evolve!

CSI Files: Do you have any episode scores that stand out as particular favorites? Which ones and why?

Brown: To be honest, I usually like the one I’m working on currently the most. But just looking at last season, I enjoyed scoring Carmine Giovanazzo‘s episode “Sanguine Love” last year. Lots of interesting sounds that were fresh for the show in that one including some nice cello work by Tina Guo. Tina also played on some of my other favorites from last season including “Manhattenge” and “Point of View”. The later score was one of my favorites. A brilliant story written by Pam Veasey inspired by the films of Alfred Hitchcock. We decided to score this wonderful five-minute action sequence at the end of the episode by threading the score in and out of a live string quartet performance. So you first hear the score, which gave way to the live quartet performing in this wonderfully orchestrated and filmed ball in a Manhattan Conservatory, which led back into the score as a chase ensued, and finally they are all playing at once—the sound of a big orchestra and the quartet all sawing away together creating this wonderful cacophony… I had a lot of fun scoring that one. Tina’s performance added so much to that episode… really brought the cello parts in those cues out and breathed life into them. I also found a very fresh sound for the ending action/suspense cue in “Manhattenge,” a very sparse, modern cue with a focus on string orchestra and specifically Tina on cello once again… in the style of John Adams or Steve Reich, and then more open for the suspense, like you would hear in [Alban] Berg or [Arnold] Schoernberg‘s work. And that’s only 3 episodes! I enjoy giving this kind of attention to each episode because it winds up being more fulfilling for me, and I hope it serves the show well.

CSI Files: What is the process involved in scoring episodes of CSI: NY? How much time do you have to write the cues and score each episode?

Brown: I get together with the producers, writers and editors of the episode, the music supervisor and my music editor and we’ll watch through the episode and talk about the music and sound in detail. I usually get the locked picture in the next day or two, and then deliver the score about 4 or 5 days later. I usually get at least a few live sessions in during those 4-5 days, and then the day after I deliver the score, we all meet again to spot the next episode! Good times…

CSI Files: You’ve also scored video games. How do those differ from scoring television?

Brown: I’m working on one right now and the fact that we had the opportunity to record this huge, modern orchestral score with full (live) orchestra was really a blast! I’m just finishing up the final cues for now and it’s all sounding amazing. (TBA in 2011.) There are a lot of technical things with writing for games that are 180 degrees from writing for film and television. You have to understand how the music will work in context, in real-time. We’re basically creating a 4+ hour reactive continual score experience… it’s exciting stuff. I look forward to hearing it all in context, with the live orchestra in 5.1… delicious!

CSI Files: Do you have a dream project? If so, what is it?

Brown: Whatever David Fincher is currently working on!