Two of our composers, Christian Henson and Paul Thomson, own and run Spitfire Audio.
They’ve recently interviewed the awesome John Powell who won International Film Music Critics Association Awards for Best Original Score and Film Score of the Year for his score to How To Train Your Dragon as well as nominations for both a BAFTA and an Academy Award. Without his compositions the movie would not be as magical as it turned out to be and is definitely one of my favourite animation movies. He also worked on the soundtrack to Hancock, Shrek and Antz amongst many others.
The interview made us like John even more, due to his frankness and sense of humour.

Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

SA: You have been writing film scores for animation, among other things, for many years now – how do you keep your approach and your scores sounding so fresh with each new picture? What for example are your overall differences and similarities in approach to films as diverse as “How to Train You Dragon” and “The Lorax”?
JP:Apparently I don’t. And apparently they aren’t.
SA: When you are writing do you try to take account of what you think the audience will expect to hear? And in what way do you think that has changed recently?
JP:Not really… and Not really?
SA: What do you do for inspiration?
JP: Drugs.
SA: What is your way of continuing to learn about music? Do you study scores in your downtime or consciously try to acquire new knowledge or skills?
JP: I just “retired” a bit, so I can now catch up on all the classes I didn’t know I could go to at college.
SA: How do you think young composers can find their own voice? Is it just a process that evolves from having you own taste in music or is there a conscious element to it as well?
JP: All I know is that if I do have my own voice, it is entirely due to my own “musical fetishes”. I feel we should all ignore what the Vicar says on Sunday and indulge ourselves.
Oh, and STOP LISTENING TO FUCKING FILM MUSIC FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!!
SA And here’s for the most uninspired question, but the one everyone at our site will analyse the deepest. What’s your set up, can you tell us about the kit you have? What are your favorites, both hard and soft…?
JP: I use exactly the same shit everyone has and I do exactly the same things that everyone else does… It didn’t use to be that way… but now everyone can get great gear and incredible sounds. We have all been “equalized” so no one has any excuse for sounding shitty.

You can find the full interview here

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