Where They Are Today

More About Our Composers

In a previous blog we’d proudly boasted about the CSS Music composers and their adaptability to ever-changing music genres. While we’d love to mention every composer by name and their current accomplishments, suffice to say the list would be too lengthy for this blog.

We will however take the time to mention three of our most prominent writers and their current projects. First and foremost is the very talented and prolific David Wurst.  David not only created our massive and diverse Super Themes library, but he’s also contributed tracks to many other CSS libraries. As an L.A. based film composer, David, along with his brother Eric Wurst (who has written 10 discs for us,) have scored over 50 films and are working on a new one now. In addition to writing film music and library tracks, both David and Eric are working with a major entertainment company creating music for popular theme parks around the world.

Marshall Such began writing for CSS Music in 1988 when he debuted the PowerTrax library. Since then he’s also composed tracks for our other libraries as well as developing his own library, Project Platinum. Coming from a radio background, Marshall wrote and produced “Radio! The Musical” with his lifelong tunesmith friend, Stephen Taylor. The show premiered in Dallas in 2002 in partnership with two of DFW’s most prestigious radio stations. Today, Such and Taylor are in development of a new musical, “American Muse,” a time travel tale that incorporates new arrangements of Public Domain material as well as original songs.

And our other writers? Their secondary jobs read like a Yellow Pages ad: a copier repairman, studio musicians, a music supervisor, computer programmers, alarm sales person, stereo equipment sales and many are music teachers. And like David, Eric and Marshall, we’re very proud of every one of them!

Classically Gassed

A Look At Quasi-Classical Music

Have you ever run into a situation where a piece of classical music seems appropriate but when you fly it in, the familiarity factor raises its ugly head? Yeah, it helps the scene but that Bach piece has been used to death. Might we suggest looking at the CSS Music original, quasi-classical tracks?

On the CSS Music search page,  you will find our list of hand picked genres for your perusal. Click on “Classical” and you will find 400 tracks from our library in a variety of styles, tempi and arrangements. Besides the “Greatest Hits” from the Masters, there are original pieces like “Classical Touch” (Super Themes, Vl. 37,) a gentle guitar piece with a nod toward the great Andre Segovia. And on Super Themes Vl. 13 there’s a playful original piece by David Wurst entitled, “Scherzando in C Major” that could work extremely well in place of a more familiar Mozart or Bach piece.

Need something that’s totally whack? Listen to “Information Explosion” (Super Themes, Vl. 18) that incorporates classical themes over a busy electronic sequencer bed. And for the Holidays there’s a quasi-classical piece from Project Platinum, Vl. 10, “The Christmas Waltz.” Speaking of waltzes, there’s an interesting piece in Repro-File Potpourri called “E flat Waltz” that evokes a scenic, travelogue vibe.

Of course if you need something from the classical era, CSS Music has an assortment  of some of the most popular themes ever composed. From Bach to Vivaldi, we have conventional classical to suit any situation you might encounter. Oh! If you’ve never heard Mason William’s “Classical Gas,” Google it. J

More Cue!

Further Exploration of the Music Cue

If you’ve ever witnessed a band’s sound check you may have heard someone yell, “More cue!” Well, this post has nothing to do with that. J We had discussed before the difference between how a song is structured versus how a music cue is composed. Here are a few other thoughts on how you guys can optimize your use of the CSS Music tracks when scoring a scene.

We know nearly all of you are working with digital workstations and can see the waveform of the music track. If you’ve found a perfect track but it’s structured in a song (A-A-B-A) format, you can view each section and quickly mouse to each section to hear which one works best with your picture.

Let’s say you only need :15-:20 and you want to use the “first verse” of the song because it’s the sparsest. You can most likely highlight that section from the full-length version, then copy and paste into another track. Job done!

Sometimes with a “song structured” track you’ll find a C section that’s usually a breakdown. And often time this portion of the song will offer some new ear candy elements that you may want to use in another section of the same show. It will give a sense of continuity yet provide freshness to the scene.

And don’t forget that with both our PowerTrax® library and some of the new tracks in Project Platinum®, CSS Music provides you with alternate mixes—usually rhythm mixes. These stripped down tracks can be invaluable when you need a cue-style section. Happy post production editing!

To FX or Not FX, That Is The Question

When Does An Electronic Effect Make Sense

Have you noticed in some popular sitcoms that a non-musical effect, like a bell tree run, is used as a transition? Maybe that effect (FX) is followed by a musical stinger? Perhaps the Director of a show you work on has asked you to add a little sizzle to the production?

CSS Music’s 6-disc library E-EFX has you covered when you need FX. Each track usually contains multiple versions of each effect giving you a choice in style and length. And we’ve attempted to make each disc style specific for your needs. For example, the original disc one of E-EFX is a potpourri of effects with some fun cartoon elements. Disc II is more “whooshes and zaps” while E-EFX III provides light swooshes and sparkles. Disc IV introduces some Alternative Rock thinking while Discs V and VI are your solid workaday FX.

The big question is: Will an electronic effect work? The nebulous answer: “It depends.” If you’ve been working on a show that’s been on the air for years, will introducing new sounds freak out your audience? Or will adding a light swoosh to a wipe transition elevate and advance the production value?

While it’s impossible to hook your audience up to people preference meters, you CAN get consensus by asking people in your office as well as friends and family for their feedback. They may not even notice you’ve used something new or they might say, ”What’s that?” Focus group testing of this nature will probably provide the answer.

Of course, the show’s original creator may be the final arbiter. At CSS Music we always say, “The boss is always right.” ;-)

Watching The Babies Grow Up

Our Composers Rise To All Challenges

When CSS Music first opened its doors in 1982, the primary musical genre that put us on the map was corporate-industrial. Of course this included different moods, orchestrations and tempi from this school of music. We also offered occasional humorous, World, specialty, novelty, etc. tracks that gave the library some variety.

Some of our composers have been writing for CSS Music nearly 30 years. Their music has always been engaging and served our library well. But as the saying goes, “Things change.” As the 1980’s faded away and Alternative, Grunge, Hip Hop and Electronica (to name a few) came onto the music scene, these new genres of music created new musical challenges for composers.

Factor in the demands of learning how to effectively use new MIDI machinery along with learning computer-based programming plus mastering (pun intended) home recording/engineering, and the composer’s world was suddenly upside down.

Luckily, our guys and gals are pretty sharp people and they adapted to the changes with ease. Before long, CSS Music offered a whole new sound thanks to the advent of very realistic-sounding samples and more powerful computers. And the composers continued to turn out well-crafted music that embraced the new musical styles of the 90’s.

But alas, along came the 2000’s with a plethora of new music styles that meant new challenges. Where live players were still being used throughout the 90’s, music software engineers were now creating “modeled” instruments that were virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. We again tested our composer’s mettle. Could they once again step up to the plate and tackle the increasingly popular variety of Indie music styles? Could they trick the ear into believing they were hearing a real instrument? How about dealing with the evolution of film music? Not to mention the craft of learning to properly write music cues?

You make that call. We’re pretty darn proud of the job we’ve done acclimating to the ever changing music scene and the new music genres you guys request. And hats off to the CSS Music composers, who for an average of 20+ years, have stayed up with the times and continue to provide excellent music!