Recent Projects | The Visitation

In the summer of 2009 I had the splendid fortune of being connected with writer/director Cameron Young through a chance connection at ASCAP (thanks, Charlyn!). Cam is the kind of guy who exudes passion and warmth, so I knew immediately that I would be thrilled to work for him no matter what the project. It turns out that his film, The Visitation, which came together through many of the same sentiments about him, was not only right up my alley, but it was one of the best projects I had the opportunity to work on to date on all levels - writing, acting, directing, production, everything. Behind it was a production company of equal warmth and welcome, Merit/Andrew, who proved to be incredibly supportive of what I wanted to do.

As a film composer I like to create a sound palette for whatever project I'm working on, that is, I like to establish a set of instruments, effects, ambiences, sounds, etc, before I begin writing anything. Often the palette will grow as I progress through the film, but I'm always thinking in a particular world. Without giving any of the story away, the bell you see pictured above is a central symbol in the film, which came to me as a fantastically obvious device to use in composition. Cam agreed with me that the score should be centered around bells. With this in mind I decided that I needed to start with one particular bell sound that the rest of the score would grow from. It turns out that that perfect, warm, resonant bell came from the bowl to my kitchen aide stand mixer. Yes, really.

From this bell grew all the other sounds used in the movie. I laid out all the cues in my sequencer, then I recruited friends to record some of the smaller parts. For example, I took my laptop to the home of my friend Alison Bjorkedal, an excellent harpist, and recorded her playing some cues to click. Thanks to a fantastic flute player friend of mine, Jenni Olson, who I recorded both in my apartment and hers, I was able to get both live alto and bass flute in my score with minimal effort. I also sang some vocal lines and mixed in various ambience effects from my own libraries. Last but not least was the string session, which happened on September 9 at Entourage Studios and was funded generously by Merit/Andrew (along with small contributions from myself and the director). All of the previously recorded effects and instruments were used as prelays for the string session. From there I had the whole thing professionally mixed and boom: a live score professionally produced and sounding wonderful.  

Overall I was really thrilled with the way it came out and what's better is the both the director and the producers were even more thrilled than I. I think that I speak for all film composers when I say that we live for projects where not only we are respected/appreciated, but are connected with people we want to work hard for and be connected with for the duration of our careers. I can't wait to see what's in store for The Visitation and what is next for Cam. 

Though I cannot post an actual clip from the film, I can share a few of the audio tracks, which you can listen to below. My custom bell opens the "End Credits" track. Hope you enjoy. 

Coward by Dave Volpe

  End Credits by Dave Volpe