Composing : Composers and Branding by Alessandro Mastroianni

You have a great point.

"Branding" is an interesting 'topic' and I consider that totally different than 'defining my sound' or 'my evolving sound'. So for example Zimmer has a brand but does he have a 'sound'? You may think you can recognize a sound from the last few years of superhero style scores - but in my opinion that is more of a 'brand' - something that the public expects to hear from him and his team. In fact - if you listen to the score of the 1992 film "A League Of Their Own" would you recognize the music in that film as the "Zimmer" sound?

The other thing to consider is that film music trends are not so different from the way other music genres change over time. Film scores in the 1990s 'sound' different than they do 20 years later/today. Some film composers 'follow the trend' with a style and 'brand' that conforms to the current public expectation of what film music should sound like. Others, follow their own paths.

I prefer to create music with my own 'individual' sound which may or may not sound like anything else you currently listen to. It's not just about instrumentation and arrangement but also style and melodic content. The motifs and styles I 'borrow' from often come from the pop and jazz of the 1930s - 1950s and from earlier well known film music styles and sounds created by the likes of Goldsmith and Newman.

I believe that branding for me at this point on my journey is unimportant. In fact, I believe that anyone writing music outside of the greater LA area (except people like Williams who live in Boston, of course :) ) does not require a 'branding' - just write to their sound and style and be true to themselves - not the expectations of the audience.

My 2 cents of course....

Thanks Joel, I'm glad you replied, this was exactly the kind of conversation I was trying to create on my blog (but let's do it here on Stage32, it's probably better).

I agree with you on some points and strongly disagree on others but I think you missed my point, stated at the very end of the post:

"I like to think that our personal sound is the reason why another creative person decides to work with us, and our brand is the reason why they want to stick with us."

Which I think it's very much along the lines of your comment when you say "just write to their sound and style and be true to themselves".

I was trying to make a difference between sound (a definition which, as you say, includes melodic content, style etc.) and branding defined as the sum of other's experiences with you.

Hans Zimmer has a brand, something that the public and, more important, the producers and directors he works for, expects from him. But I would argue that he does have a sound: the Batman trilogy definitively has a sound, Interstellar most definitively has a sound and I could go on for a long time. He invented an idiom in film scoring, which you might dislike but he did invented it.

And btw, Zimmer is not my favorite film composer, I'm just saying that that brand he has, definitively comes with a sound and I believe both are essential.

My main contention composing is more of a business in socal / LA than outside and here in Texas for example, people get hired based on relationships/work interactions and their previous projects. Maybe that's what you call 'brand'. I get hired because they like my music and hear good things about how I work on a team.

I enjoy Zimmer's stuff - but his work in the 90s is much closer to my 'style' than say his last 5 or years worth.

And BTW, my favorite composer (both for film and theater) is Marc Shaiman. You are next going to hear him in Dec in "Mary Poppins Returns".