Bill Baird

Film & TV Composer at McBaird Studios
Music Composer

Victoria, Canada

Member Since:
September 2016

Last online:
> 2 weeks ago

Invites sent:
0

About Bill

At an early age, British born Film & TV Composer William Baird discovered his gift of translating story and emotion into musical notes.

William started writing music at the age of 13, after being inspired by 80’s synth band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. It was their 1980 album ‘Organisation’ that ignited his passion for music. Throughout his teenage years, William wrote numerous synth pop songs and in the early 80’s he formed an electronic duo band, Pseudo Art. He became completely absorbed in the British electronic music scene.

The band's passion for electronic music led him to Los Angeles in the late 80’s. At the young age of 21, through hard work and serendipity, his band had the pleasure of working with mixing engineer Frank Wolf (Cher, Randy Newman), the legendary record producer Peter Asher (James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Diana Ross, Cher, 10,000 maniacs), as well as with Island Records.

Upon return to the UK, William completed a Sound Engineering program at the University of Kingston, London, and studied composition, harmony and orchestration under private tuition. He worked with renowned record producer and film composer Steve Levine, (Culture Club, China Crisis) who scored the feature film “Mister Frost,” starring Jeff Goldblum, and the American TV series “She-Wolf of London.” This was a profound time in his life, being introduced to the world of Film & TV music composition. William had finally found his true passion.

Whilst based in the UK, William scored numerous short films, commercials, TV Channel idents, animations and TV documentaries. Highlights included composing the music to “Winston’s War” a 2-part documentary series on the Channel 4 TV network, the BAFTA award-nominated Channel 4 documentary series “Time Team,” as well as a UK feature film “Web of Deceit.”

Since moving to Canada, William has worked with numerous Film & TV Production Companies, and he continues to use his natural ability to determine the language of musical ideas, to enhance and compliment the stories being told.

For Spotlight Productions, William scored the original music for Film Director Mathew Embry's multi award-winning feature documentary film “Living Proof,” which premiered in September 2017 at TIFF and at the Calgary International Film Festival. ().

In 2018, William was nominated for an AMPIA Award, for Best Original Score for “Living Proof”

Recently, William worked with Montreal-based Production Company Pixcom to provide the original music for a new Discovery TV Series “Hellfire Heroes.” Season 1 was broadcast in May 2018, and Season 2 is now showing on Discovery Channel. (https://www.discovery.ca/Shows/Hellfire-Heroes).

William wrote the score to the CBC Documentary Film “Eviction Notice,” directed by Laura O'Grady. This film premiered at Toronto Hot Docs and was broadcast on CBC in July 2018. (https://www.cbc.ca/shortdocs/shorts/eviction-notice)

Additionally, the award-winning short documentary film “Mule – Living on the Outside” was also scored by William for Director / Producer, John McDonald.

William recently scored the music to the award winning feature documentary, “The Secret Marathon”, for Director’s Scott Townend and Kate McKenzie. William also teamed up with Mathew Embry to score the feature documentary ‘Global Warning’ which was released on Super Channel on Oct 20th 2019.

William is a member of SOCAN, CAVCO and the Screen Composers Guild of Canada. William is a Canadian Citizen located in Victoria, British Columbia.

Unique traits: I compose unique music to compelling stories, and I have a real passion for documentaries. My approach to writing music is all about finding the 'emotional core' of what the film maker wants the audience to feel and how this helps emphasize the story being told.

Gender:
Male

Ethnicity:
Caucasian

Badges

Photos

Videos

Credits

The Secret Marathon (2019)
Music by Townend Films Composer Inspired by a story of courage, a filmmaker and her legendary marathon mentor train and travel in secret to join the brave Afghan women who are standing up for equality and freedom, by running in the Marathon of Afghanistan.
Global Warning (2019)
Music by Mathew Embry Composer Global Warning offers a much needed balanced and hopeful approach to the climate change debate. Set in the epicentre of Canada's energy industry where the debate is having more impact than perhaps anywhere in the world, audiences are swept into a learning experience that takes them into private meetings at the UN and US Congress, into the world of Canada's First Nations and further to explore the issues. In-depth interviews, compelling characters and little-known science, this is a must see for those ready for a new journey that might challenge their perspectives on this highly polarizing topic.
Hellfire Heroes (2018)
TV Series Composer
Eviction Notice (2018)
Film Composer
For a Better Life (2018)
Film Music department
Living Proof (2017)
Film Composer
Cocaine Conspiracy (2016)
Video Composer
Web of Deceit (2007)
Film Composer