David Heymann is a prolific composer and orchestrator, currently living and working in Hollywood, California. His work ranges from orchestration in video games all the way to writing music for films, trailers and real-life games. We had a little chat with David to talk about his work and some of his projects in the past.
You have been the main orchestrator on a number of films that all have won several awards on international film festivals. What’s the difference between orchestrating and composing the music?
Well, composing sometimes just means providing a melody and chords, e.g. on a piano. But that alone doesn’t make a film score. The orchestrator’s task is to make an orchestral version (or whatever ensemble, instruments the composer has in mind) out of it. Think of the famous Star Wars main theme at the beginning of each Star Wars movie for instance. Imagine that theme being played on a piano. It would lose all of its magnificence and epicness when played on a solo instrument. So when talking about composition, the orchestration can be even more important than the composition, because that’s what’s giving the final music its shape. A good composer is often also a good orchestrator and depending on the available time during a project, a composer might either orchestrate his music himself or, as it is common practice in Hollywood, leave it to an experienced orchestrator. Like the composer, the main (lead) orchestrator sometimes has people working under him for more simple tasks.
For the real-life game “Prison Escape” that’s taking place on a regular basis in the Netherlands, you provided the music for the game and the trailer. Can you tell more about that project?
It was interesting being part of this project because it was so different than working on a normal video game. This is a real-life game taking place in a prison. So I composed music for different stages of the game which is played back on speakers placed in the prison at different locations. So as a player, while you try to escape from the prison, you actually feel like you’re in the game.
What do you like more, writing music for trailers or films and games?
It’s hard to pick one of those because they are all so different. When I’m working on one particular type of media, e.g. film, for a longer time, I notice that I often feel the urge to work for a different kind of media on my next project simply to have some alternation and not do the same kind of work over and over again. So far this works out great!
What’s your favorite style of music to write?
I prefer the big orchestral sound that we know from composers like John Williams or the Newmans. But here again, I’m always happy when my next project is different than my current one, so I’ll have some variety in what I’m doing.
Are you only working on projects for media or also making music that stands for itself?
Currently, I’m also writing a piano concert piece that will probably be performed next year.
Furthermore, I’m starting to work on a new album for piano and strings next year.
