Dominion - 10 Questions with Composer Bill Brown

Premiering July 9 on SyFy is season 2 of "Dominion." If you aren't familiar with the show it follows the perilous journey of a rebellious young soldier who discovers he's the unlikely savior of humanity. Last year the series ran a short and sharp 8 episode season, but this year comes back for 13 episodes with some big changes presenting themselves in many different aspects of the drama. Below are a few questions the composer, Bill Brown, answered about the upcoming season. A little bit about Brown, his discography is packed with video game titles such as "Captain America: Super Soldier," "The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction" & "Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm." He also scored 9 seasons of the hit CBS show "CSI: NY" along with the films "The Devil's Tomb" and "Brother's Keeper" to name a few.

1. Firstly, how are things shaping up for Dominion season 2 in terms of your work with the score?
It’s going really well! After meeting with the creator of Dominion (writer / producer Vaun Wilmott) a few weeks back, I literally dreamed a handful of themes and the next day jumped out of bed and ran in the studio to start mocking them up. Since then, the score has evolved into this really epic mix of orchestra, ethnic instruments, rock guitars, electric and acoustic cello, etc. and I’m really excited about how it’s sounding and evolving!

2. What can fans expect from season 2? Are we talking bigger, better, bolder than Season 1?
I think the intention going into season 2 is to take it all to the next level. And what I’ve seen so far is so cool!

3. I hear there’s a bunch of new characters being introduced in season 2. Can you tease anything about them?
I can say it’s definitely not status quo. They are shaking things up in that writer’s room and on set.

4. Normally the same crew stays with a project from its inception through to the end. What’s it been like coming into Dominion after a season has already aired? Does that alter your approach at all?
I’m approaching Dominion as I would other film or television projects. The challenge is finding the tone of the score in the beginning, and the fun part is how it all evolves over time as you’re working on it. I’m really excited about how it’s all coming together.

5. Your bio is packed full of many video game titles. Talk us through the differences between scoring for a game as opposed to a movie or television show.
The real difference is that with games, the player is “directing” the action, so the score has to be adaptable – we call it reactive or interactive. So I end up writing different levels of intensity for a game soundtrack that are reacting to the player’s actions. Then there’s also creating the mood, the atmosphere for each level. And it can be taken all the way to having themes for each character in the game. With TV and film, the picture is the same every time you watch it, so scoring is very specific and can be creative in different ways – like playing against a scene, doing something unexpected that adds another dimension to the scene that wasn’t there without music.


6. Is there a particular genre or theme you look for when taking on new projects?
My style lends itself to cinematic, dramatic and emotional material for sure. In the case of “Dominion,” it’s also epic and cutting edge at the same time! I’ve also enjoyed stepping outside of those styles like on a recent film called “Layover” directed by Joshua Caldwell. That was an almost all-guitar score for a more emotional narrative. It worked out really well because the actors played the real-life situations very grounded and real and the score became this wonderful additional character that kept inserting optimism and hope into it. I love doing the darker cinematic stuff too. It’s fun doing this really epic, modern score for “Dominion” – really great opportunities for music!

7. What do you turn to for a source of inspiration for your work?
The great impressionists have been really inspirational for me lately. Like Maurice Ravel or Erik Satie. I’ve also been listening to some great Bela Bartok stuff. It’s all in there, everything you need to know about orchestration and counterpoint, re-working other styles of music and making it your own. That’s what they were doing. They had these voices that were totally unique and they were also paying homage to the music that came before them at the same time. I think we have music in our DNA somewhere. We definitely carry music through our lives with memories. It’s powerful, elemental – like another physical sense that we tap into when we hear it.

8. For the geeks out there, talk us through your setup and things such as software, hardware etc.
I’m using a sequencing program called Logic Pro with my digital orchestra and percussion template spread across a few systems. I beta test most of the new sample libraries so I’m using a whole lot of cutting-edge orchestra, percussion and ambient stuff including my own custom library. The studio has an Avalon front end for recording, and I’m in the process of building out a big modular synth section as well, including a newly-built all-vintage Moog System 55 modular with analog effects like the RE-201 and 301 and six Moogerfooger pedals racked up. It should be pretty epic when it’s completed. I also have a full scale, working R2-D2 just about completed for the studio. Not to give anything away, but I’m thinking of calling him R2-MG. Maybe you can guess what special options he might have? (Hint: his sounds were originally created with Moog synths back in the day)

9. Since you started out, what do you think are the biggest changes that the gaming, film and television industries have experienced from your point of view as a composer?
The biggest challenge is really something amazing. It’s how technology has completely changed our ability to create studio quality music – even if all you have is a laptop. The downside to this is the industry has gone from having hundreds of working composers 20 years ago, to tens of thousands of working composers now, which has changed budgets and how we use live musicians, especially in film. Just like with filmmaking in general, the 'mid' budget level has all but disappeared and now we have blockbusters and low to micro-budget independent films. Television and games have changed differently, but the same things are happening across the board. There’s also the whole physical to digital distribution topic which is changing how we’re paid as artists as well. It’s fun to play a vinyl record every now and then, I think it’s cool that some of that is still around. That it’s coming back into homes. It was sad when physical ‘albums’ and record stores were no longer a thing.

10. From your unique perspective, where do you think the gaming, film and television industries are heading in the near future. Are there any new innovations that are in their infancy that you think might shake things up?
I’ll be interested to see what happens with micro-budget films over the next few years. Like with new music technology enabling young composers to share their talents with the world, new technology allows young filmmakers to create films, share and distribute them, which is great. This might be how the next wave of talented directors, etc. are discovered – then hopefully they move on to direct their first studio project and hire me to score it! That’s pretty exciting stuff.

That's all from Bill. A big thanks from us here at SpoilerTV for his time and the detailed answers. Check out Bill's website, www.billbrownmusic.com, and follow him on Twitter, @billbrownmusic, and on Facebook. You can also listen to his work on SoundCloud. You may also enjoy reading my interviews with Castle composer Robert Duncan, Criminal Minds composers Marc and Steffan Fantini, and Z-Nation composer Jason Gallagher.

Thanks as always for reading! Your comments on the interview and Dominion are welcome below.

About the Author - Jimmy Ryan

Jimmy Ryan lives in New Zealand, and works in the IT industry. He is an avid follower of drama television and has a keen interest for television ratings and statistics. Some of his favorite shows right now are Person of Interest, Scandal, House of Cards, Orphan Black, The Blacklist, The 100, How To Get Away With Murder, Elementary and Castle. You can visit his television ratings website, www.seriesmonitor.com or follow him on Twitter, @SeriesMonitor.

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