yes i'm still alive

Sorry for lack of posting (as if anyone cares). Been a bit busy for months and months on a big TV project. I understand that I will get an 'Additional Music' credit on this one which is very exciting for me! Though it will probably be on screen for about 0.2 of a second. Don't want to jump the gun in talking about the show so I'll remain enigmatic for now.

At the moment I'm keeping fairly busy (but not too much to be honest!) MDing the big band, teaching a bit, and just practicing quite a lot.

Also, my big plan is to learn trombone! Our big band is always short of bones, so often I play 1st or 2nd on trumpet - then it occurred to me that if I could sort out the embouchure (perhaps no small task) then I could play valve trombone! Only problem is that there's virtually no second hand market for valve trombones, and I'm reluctant to fork out lots of money on a new one and then perhaps find that I can't get to grips with it. So the current plan is to borrow a slide trombone from my lovely, talented and beautiful friend, hopefully develop a reasonable sound on it, then get a valve bone. Having said that, I'm told by another lovely, talented and beautiful friend that slides are much sexier, so perhaps I'll stick with that. Anyway I've gone out and bought Tune A Day for trombone and hopefully will have the instrument in my hands tomorrow! Oh my poor neighbours.

Today I'm off to First Class Brass in Luton to retrieve my lovely Eclipse trumpet which I asked Leigh to do a couple tweaks to. Also he's been sorting out my Yamaha flugel which had seized up due to lack of use - oops. Must play more in future!!

Primeval starting tonight!

The second series of Primeval starts tonight, at 7pm on ITV. As with the first series, I've worked with composer Dominik Scherrer on the score, orchestrating and programming for several episodes (although not tonight's one), and playing trumpet (on all episodes I think).

I must say, I'm a bit of a fan of Primeval, so have really enjoyed working on it!

Life Line - this Tuesday BBC1

Look out for Life Line, on BBC1 this Tuesday 24th and Thursday 26th evenings. It's a two-part (well, obviously) supernatural love story starring Joanne Whalley and Ray Stevenson. I assisted Dominik Scherrer with the score, doing the notation, plus editing and a spot of orchestration.

DVDs on amazon

Gosh! How terrible, I haven't blogged for a whole month! I've been really busy working on a couple of TV things, doing the music copying, audio editing and a bit of orchestration and playing.

Anyhoo, thought I'd mention that a couple of things I worked on previously have recently become available on DVD.

First there's Scenes of a Sexual Nature, starring Ewan McGregor, Sophie Okonedo, Catherine Tate et al. It's a romantic comedy set on Hampstead Heath. I had to sign a release because apparently there might be a picture of me in the recording studio somewhere in the DVD extras - so if anybody buys this I'd be interested to know if they can see me!

Also there's Primeval Series 1, starring Douglas Henshall. Gotta say I'm a bit fan of this series, so perhaps I'll add it to my amazon wishlist!

Primeval coming this Saturday

Look out for Primeval, which will be broadcast this coming Saturday, 10th February at 7:45pm on ITV1.

Quite excited about this, as I worked with composer Dominik Scherrer on this series last Summer, doing orchestration, programming and playing trumpet.

ITV have also got their Primeval micro-site up and running here (it's pretty heavy on bandwidth though).

Ooh I'm all excited!

Just saw a trailer for ITV's new sci-fi drama, Primeval, right after tonight's first instalment of Coronation Street (OK, I admit it, I'm a fan). I worked on the music for Primeval last year, doing most of the orchestration and programming, and also playing trumpet on it.

They're not saying yet when it's on, just that it's coming soon..

OK, better get back to the TV for the next instalment of Corrie (hope Chesney and Schmeichel turn up...)

Bored (and sleepy)

This week I've been busy doing the notation for the recording of the score for a popular ITV drama.. Now I'm sitting here at 4:14 am waiting for the score and parts to print off...

78 more pages to go

..ho hum...

77 more pages to go

...What to do... what to do...?

76 more pages to go

..it's about time I invested in a laser printer..

75 more pages to go

..I suppose I could browse Amazon for laser printers..

74 more pages to go

..but that sounds terribly boring too.

73 more pages to go

...hrummphhhh

Dracula on BBC1 tonight

Look out for Dracula tonight on BBC1 at 9pm. The music was written by Dominik Scherrer and I did some of the orchestration and music editing.

Dracula

My latest project with Dominik was for the BBC's new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. The cast includes Marc Warren as Dracula, Sophia Myles and David Suchet. Think it will be on some time over the Christmas period.

Once again I was orchestrating, and also editing the recorded audio (which involved another all-night working session - yuk. And I wasn't cheered up much by the occasional check on how the test match was going either. Still, the Traditional Breakfast at Wetherspoons in the morning was very tasty, and only £1.99.)

Primeval

Hmm... I don't think I ever actually blogged about this project which kept me busy over the summer and into autumn - apart from one mysterious entry I made about having been up all night working on it..

Anyway, Primeval is ITV's new £6m six-part sci-fi series, and I assisted Dominik Scherrer with his score for it, by doing orchestration, programming, and playing trumpet. The series was made by Impossible Pictures - the people who made Walking With Dinosaurs - and stars Douglas Henshall, Hannah Spearritt (formerly of S Club 7 - hurrah!) and Ben Miller. Think the series will be out in early 2007.

good morning

Eughhh.. just finished an all-nighter preparing music for a recording session tomorrow. Oh I mean today. My brain is starting to malfronction... And it's still going to be pretty intense over the next couple of days I think, so I've got the fridge well stocked up with Red Bull. I must say, though, this project has been really fun!! I'll blog more about it when I get the nod from the Important People..

This Sunday on ITV: Miss Marple

The Miss Marple episode which I worked on will be showing this Sunday (April 30th) at 9pm on ITV. Here's the blah about it from the ITV listings. (Just in case I have any visitors from the US, I think it shows there on PBS on July 23rd.)

The episode has a very creepy feel to it, which Dominik's music enhances greatly, so definitely a nice way to spend your Sunday evening.

I'd also like to apologise to all my regular readers for not blogging much recently: sorry Stu. There, that's done.

Miss Marple: The Sittaford Mystery

I've been doing a couple more night shifts working for composer Dominik Scherrer. Dominik has scored the music for the recent Miss Marple films starring Geraldine McEwan, which have been showing on ITV. The latest one that he has been working on is called The Sittaford Mystery, and he asked me to help out by doing editing and mix preparation at his studio on Brick Lane. There was alot to do: around 46 cues amounting to an hour of music, but there are not many distractions when you work through the night, so I just kept on ploughing though it.

At the risk of sounding like a brown-noser, I think Dominik did a great job with the music for this, and I really recommend looking out for it when it airs.

I'm also pleased to report that I discovered a great place for full English breakfast in the morning (I decided my usual place, Ponti's, was a bit drafty). There's a huge Wetherspoons pub at Liverpool Street station called Hamilton Hall, and their breakfasts are very fine and also excellent value for money.