Film, TV & Documentary Music Blog

50% Of All Sales To UNICEF’s Pakistan Flood Children’s Appeal

Simon — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:05:02 +0000

For the next week until 14th September, 50% of all sales of music and licenses from thebluemask.com will be donated to UNICEF to help in their Pakistan Flood Children’s Appeal.

The floods from July’s monsoons in Pakistan have left millions of people homeless and the health and sanitation conditions are now critical.

Hunger, skin disease, respiratory infections and other waterborne diseases are putting the lives of millions of people at risk, including nearly 9 million children who are among those most vulnerable to disease and dehydration. UNICEF are trying to raise £90 million to help with the immediate needs, so until 14th September, half of all sales (everything, including mp3 tracks, music licenses and royalty-free music collections) will be going directly to their Pakistan Flood Children’s Appeal.

Click here to visit the shop.

You can read more about UNICEF’s mission here and if you’d rather donate directly to the appeal, click the link below:

Donate directly to UNICEF’s Pakistan Flood Appeal.

This is the worst humanitarian crisis to hit Pakistan so even if you’re not interested in buying any music, please donate what you can to this, or any of the other flood charities (e.g. OXFAM, DEC etc.)

Scorpio Now Available On iTunes & eMusic My track Scorpio is now available to buy and download...
New Sound Logos Available For Your Audio Branding Just added to the shop are a range of limited...
25% Discount On Complete Royalty Free Music Collections Buy all four volumes of my Royalty Free music collections...
About me Simon Wilkinson, Cinematic composer for film, documentary and TV My...
Copyright infringements I’ve just been made aware of a website that has...

New Sound Logos Available For Your Audio Branding

Simon — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:38:59 +0000

Just added to the shop are a range of limited edition sound logos for use in audio branding for your business or film company. Sound logos are an essential part of a brand’s image and generally used at the start or end of commercials, adverts, trailers, idents, DVDs, business presentations, promotional videos etc to give personality and branding to a company’s image (think of Intel’s famous 4 note ident for example).

Click here to listen to the sound logos in the shop.

These sound logos will be exclusively licensed to one licensee per logo on a first-come first-served basis. Once a logo has been licensed, it will be permanently removed from the shop and yours to use forever in all of your company branding. For that reason, they’re not available to buy directly from the shop in the same way that my other music is – contact me here to license any of the sound logos for exclusive and unlimited use for your business or personal logo branding.

I’ll be adding more sound logos to the shop in future and I can also create custom sound logos and audio stings for your business or branding – please contact me to find out more.

Fox TV Promo Trailers For 24 Featuring My Music: Zahara www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1WQqVnyDcs www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUK679mfpZ8 My dramatic orchestral action track Zahara is currently...
Fox’s 24: Season 8 TV Promo Trailers Use My Music Again! www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzjF6onxSiY After being used last year in trailers for season...
Audi S8 Car Spec TV Ad www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzLzpyLAoig For promo purposes only: this is a test demo...
25% Discount On Complete Royalty Free Music Collections Buy all four volumes of my Royalty Free music collections...
Royalty-Free Film & Documentary Music Vol. 1: Piano & Atmospheric Beds I’ve just released a new low-cost downloadable royalty-free collection of...

£5 Off All Royalty-Free Music Collections!

Simon — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:08:13 +0000

All royalty free music collections have been reduced by £5 for a limited time. Or buy all 4 collections (with a total of two and a half hours of music) for under £100 (just add all 4 to your shopping cart and you’ll automatically get the discount at a total of £97.46).

All my royalty free music collections include a license to use the music in an unlimited number of your films, videos, trailers and documentaries. Great deal for independent film makers looking for atmospheric and cinematic music.

To hear previews of all royalty free music collections in the mp3 shop, just click here: royalty free music

25% Discount On Complete Royalty Free Music Collections Buy all four volumes of my Royalty Free music collections...
Royalty-Free Collection Vol.1 Promo Video Clip www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNXwOxdx_08 Here’s a promo video clip for my first royalty-free...
Royalty-Free Collection Vol.2 Promo Video Clip www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlWn-UCYedE Following on from my last video promo clip (Vol.1),...
Royalty-Free Film & Documentary Music Vol. 1: Piano & Atmospheric Beds I’ve just released a new low-cost downloadable royalty-free collection of...
Royalty-Free Collection Vol.2 Released I’ve just released the 2nd in my series of Royalty-Free...

Casshern Trailer Rescored: Orchestral Action Track ‘Titan’

Simon — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:11:35 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuYZRCc_Ezs

Another video in my series of movie trailers rescored with my own music soundtrack (for promo use only). This clip is from the cult 2004 Japanese futuristic fantasy movie Casshern written and directed by Kazuaki Kiriya.

The movie itself is a beautiful stylised mix of stunning CG and live action and is well worth tracking down a copy of. I got hold of the beautifully packaged 3 disc box set a few years ago and I’ve been wanting to do a track for the trailer for a while.

Similar in style to the orchestral music of Hans Zimmer, the track is a new orchestral action piece I’ve written called Titan which is available from my mp3 music shop to download or license for use in your own film or trailer:

http://www.thebluemask.com/shop/titan

Attack Of The Machines: Updated Promo (Orchestral Action) www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v7BmG_kL4g After my previous quickie promo video for my orchestral...
John Carpenter’s The Thing Rescored: Outpost 31 www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7rjtroVAO0 For promo purposes only: here’s another ‘rescored’ video, this...
Watchmen Promo Trailer Featuring Scorpio Soundtrack www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLn1Lma52AA For promo purposes only: this is the film trailer...
Fox TV Promo Trailers For 24 Featuring My Music: Zahara www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1WQqVnyDcs www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUK679mfpZ8 My dramatic orchestral action track Zahara is currently...
Full Length Track Previews Now Available In The Shop In a response to requests to provide full length previews...

Evolution: The Grand Experiment Documentary Wins 3 Awards!

Simon — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:20:57 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QckOT7vk-8I

The documentary that I wrote the music soundtrack for, Evolution: The Grand Experiment, has just won 3 awards at the Visual Media Catalyst Conference held in St. Louis, Missouri.

The show picked up Crown Awards in three separate categories. The documentary won first place in “Best Youth Film”, first place in “Best Curriculum”, and second place in “Best Documentary over $50,000″.

Evolution: The Grand Experiment Documentary On Sky TV The first episode of the documentary series I recently scored...
New Documentary Project I’m starting work today scoring music for a new documentary...
Royalty-Free Film & Documentary Music Vol. 1: Piano & Atmospheric Beds I’ve just released a new low-cost downloadable royalty-free collection of...
Antarctica: Atmospheric ambient documentary music soundtrack www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKdXJYEHZEQ BBC documentary footage of icebergs and glaciers in Antarctica...
Harry Partch – Composer: A BBC Documentary BBC documentary in 6 parts about Harry Partch, an ‘idiosyncratic’...

Dark Ambient Space Music: Through The Ergosphere Promo

Simon — Thu, 13 May 2010 23:30:53 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFB3SS9-qa0

New promo video clip for my dark atmospheric ambient space music Through The Ergosphere.

The track is a dark and slowly evolving seven minute atmospheric ambient soundscape set to a film of ethereal dark space visuals and other worldly imagery from the European Space Agency Hubble Telescope project.

Quietly dramatic, the music is ideal textural underscore for films and documentaries or simply for fans of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, Brian Eno’s ambient music, Biosphere, Stars Of The Lid and other similar ambient artists and drones. Put it on headphones and drift away to dark and atmospheric sci-fi landscapes.

Get the full mp3 track or license the music for your film or documentary from my music shop:

http://www.thebluemask.com/shop/through-the-ergosphere/

Antarctica: Atmospheric ambient documentary music soundtrack www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKdXJYEHZEQ BBC documentary footage of icebergs and glaciers in Antarctica...
Royalty-Free Collection Vol.1 Promo Video Clip www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNXwOxdx_08 Here’s a promo video clip for my first royalty-free...
Royalty-Free Collection Vol.2 Promo Video Clip www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlWn-UCYedE Following on from my last video promo clip (Vol.1),...
Fox’s 24: Season 8 TV Promo Trailers Use My Music Again! www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzjF6onxSiY After being used last year in trailers for season...
25% Discount On Complete Royalty Free Music Collections Buy all four volumes of my Royalty Free music collections...

Fox’s 24: Season 8 TV Promo Trailers Use My Music Again!

Simon — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 06:46:26 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzjF6onxSiY

After being used last year in trailers for season 7 of Fox’s 24, my music is being used again in trailers for season 8! Check out the promo clip here for season 8 / episode 19 of the hit show starring Kiefer Sutherland featuring my music.

Zahara is a dramatic instrumental orchestral action track that is also available to license for use in other commercials, trailers and TV advertising spots. The track can be instantly licensed for non-broadcast purposes or contact me directly for broadcast licensing queries.

The full length music track is just under two and a half minutes long in total. More information about the track as well as a full length preview is available in my online mp3 music download shop here:

Download Zahara mp3 / license from my mp3 music shop

Fox TV Promo Trailers For 24 Featuring My Music: Zahara www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1WQqVnyDcs www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUK679mfpZ8 My dramatic orchestral action track Zahara is currently...
Antarctica: Atmospheric ambient documentary music soundtrack www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKdXJYEHZEQ BBC documentary footage of icebergs and glaciers in Antarctica...
Watchmen Promo Trailer Featuring Scorpio Soundtrack www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLn1Lma52AA For promo purposes only: this is the film trailer...
Royalty-Free Film & Documentary Music Vol. 1: Piano & Atmospheric Beds I’ve just released a new low-cost downloadable royalty-free collection of...
Attack Of The Machines: Updated Promo (Orchestral Action) www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v7BmG_kL4g After my previous quickie promo video for my orchestral...

Attack Of The Machines: Updated Promo (Orchestral Action)

Simon — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:00:33 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v7BmG_kL4g

After my previous quickie promo video for my orchestral action track ‘Attack Of The Machines’, I decided to try and produce something a bit better looking. As I’ve said before, I’m no video editor; I usually leave that part to my clients and focus on the music but I thought it’d be good to try and improve my video editing skills. So I bought a copy of Sony Vegas and with the help of some trailer footage from Terminator Salvation, I’ve recut the video to try and fit with my music. It’s not perfect but hopefully my video editing skills are slowly improving.

As usual, download and license the orchestral action track for your films & trailers from my music shop:

http://www.thebluemask.com/shop/attack-of-the-machines/

Casshern Trailer Rescored: Orchestral Action Track ‘Titan’ www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuYZRCc_Ezs Another video in my series of movie trailers rescored...
Fox TV Promo Trailers For 24 Featuring My Music: Zahara www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1WQqVnyDcs www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUK679mfpZ8 My dramatic orchestral action track Zahara is currently...
Royalty-Free Collection Vol.2 Promo Video Clip www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlWn-UCYedE Following on from my last video promo clip (Vol.1),...
Fox’s 24: Season 8 TV Promo Trailers Use My Music Again! www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzjF6onxSiY After being used last year in trailers for season...
Dark Ambient Space Music: Through The Ergosphere Promo www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFB3SS9-qa0 New promo video clip for my dark atmospheric ambient...

The Greatest TV Series Ever: The Sopranos And Its Music

Simon — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:47:54 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2DShC4GhVc

John Cooper Clarke: Evidently Chickentown

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXU-e37aL-I

Fred Neil: The Dolphins

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhiAOyh-NNs

The Rolling Stones: Thru And Thru

Thanks to the joys of DVD boxsets, I’ve been catching up on loads of great TV shows over the last six months: Battlestar Galactica, House, The Wire. They’re all amazing shows, the cream of modern TV, but they all make me realise I still haven’t seen anything to top what is (for me) the greatest TV series of all time.

I watched The Sopranos all the way through during its run on TV, and then watched the whole thing again when it came out on DVD. Apart from having the sharpest writing and dialogue of any TV show I’ve ever seen, one thing that really stuck out through the whole series was the use of music.

There’s no score, just songs, but they fit so perfectly it’s hard to imagine anything else working as well. The music supervisors did such an amazing job, some of the tracks feel like they were written just for the show. Some of the music highlights for me were:

John Cooper Clarke: Evidently Chickentown
Fred Neil: The Dolphins
The Rolling Stones: Moonlight Mile
Los Lobos: Viking
The Kinks: Living On A Thin Line
Elvis Costello: Complicated Shadows
Tindersticks: Running Wild
.

I could only find a few examples on Youtube, but the John Cooper Clarke track is one of my favourites. Sublime. Ever since watching the show, I started wondering what songs I might have picked if I’d had the dream job of The Sopranos music supervisor. These would be a few on my list:

Little Feat: Easy To Slip
Terry Reid: Silver White Light
The Action: Brain
Humble Pie: As Safe As Yesterday Is
The Hollies: Heading For A Fall
Mink Deville: She’s So Tough
Bruce Springsteen: Streets Of Fire
Bob Dylan: Gotta Serve Somebody
.

Man, I miss that show…

Fox TV Promo Trailers For 24 Featuring My Music: Zahara www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1WQqVnyDcs www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUK679mfpZ8 My dramatic orchestral action track Zahara is currently...
New Documentary Project I’m starting work today scoring music for a new documentary...
Asche & Spencer: The Making Of Monster’s Ball Soundtrack www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKHCcjCaAAo As promised in the previous post, here’s a great...
Fox’s 24: Season 8 TV Promo Trailers Use My Music Again! www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzjF6onxSiY After being used last year in trailers for season...
Still Life: London Feat. Leaving Paris Soundtrack www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1KXWZYOu1E Here’s a brief excerpt from artists Wyllie O’Hagan’s short...

Still Life: London Feat. Leaving Paris Soundtrack

Simon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:09:31 +0000

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1KXWZYOu1E

Here’s a brief excerpt from artists Wyllie O’Hagan’s short film: Still Life: London featuring my piano music soundtrack Leaving Paris.

Wyllie O’Hagan: “The moving image artwork, explores a quest for stillness in a hectic world. Two screens project moving images with piano soundtrack. One screen shows a personal collection of still, quiet life objects, beautifully considered and composed, revealed at a reflective pace. The second screen shows abstract energetic lines wildly drawn with light.”

Still Life: London has already had highly praised screenings at Toronto and London film festivals and has now been accepted in two more international festivals in Mexico and Melbourne:

Mexico’s Expresión en Corto International Film Festival
Melbourne International Animation Festival

More info:

Leaving Paris (buy the instrumental piano music from my mp3 shop):
http://www.thebluemask.com/shop/leaving-paris/

Wyllie O’Hagan:
http://www.wyllieohagan.com/

The 7th London Short Film Festival A short film which I provided the music soundtrack for,...
Asche & Spencer: The Making Of Monster’s Ball Soundtrack www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKHCcjCaAAo As promised in the previous post, here’s a great...
Watchmen Promo Trailer Featuring Scorpio Soundtrack www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLn1Lma52AA For promo purposes only: this is the film trailer...
Antarctica: Atmospheric ambient documentary music soundtrack www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKdXJYEHZEQ BBC documentary footage of icebergs and glaciers in Antarctica...
Royalty-Free Film & Documentary Music Vol. 1: Piano & Atmospheric Beds I’ve just released a new low-cost downloadable royalty-free collection of...