Alex Baranowski talks about writing for a variety of media and the enormous impact his grandparents had on him

The show where I chat with composers, songwriters, and musicians about what they're up to before going back in time to find out how it all began. Actually I say, I. But if you go back and episode composer, singer, songwriter, and musician, Charlotte Hatherley. Yes. The Charlotte handily. Guest hosted and had a brilliant chat with composer, kali parody.

Who on top of scoring things like line of duty and the rising has toured with Clint Mansell and Nick cave and the bad seeds well-worth listen that you can hear it right there on your podcast app or. At music, green podcast.uk.

In this episode, you're going to hear from a wonderfully inventive UK based composer, Alex Baranowski, he's worked on everything from the BDC to ident and the hip BMC, one comedy staged with David Tennant and Michael sheen to the delightful BAFTA nominated the Windemere children for wall-to-wall and Warner brothers. I'll introduce him properly in a bit, but rest assured it's a great listen. So, so music stories.

Uh, Paul has picked up the worldwide rights to flora and son, John Carney's musical load to motherhood that features a breakthrough performance by Eve Hewson. The movie is Connie's first since his 2016 sensation sing street. Remember that, which also premiered at Sundance and just like sing street. It two features original songs by Connie and his frequent collaborator. And music queen guest, Gary Clark.

Next. I asked the music room group on Facebook to share some quick tips with their fellow music reamers. Uh, Janet Overfield says how to make your cello or Viola sound like it. Isn't in a toilet. Gently wide depth at around 2.5 to 3.5 K. And gentle wide booster around 250 to 400 Hertz. Someone here could have probably told me that if I'd asked, but working out slowly for myself this week was quite satisfying. That's great.

Nice little tip, Janet. Uh, Mike Langley, you can make a banjo out of an acoustic guitar by sticking a balloon inside and inflating it. Till it touches the strings. Play with caution. There you go. What a great tip. If you don't have a banjo. Ruben Cornell dip your master at 500 Hertz to make it sound more open. Again, Very easy, very simple, very effective. Thanks Ruben. Bali Bali, man, this week's tip for me is try harder. Uh, we can all do that.

Got. Bali, uh, as a motivational device, I've bought a page two a day diary and log everything I do in it at the end of the day, I think, oh, I've done four hours guitar practice today. And then realize I've been awake for 12. So two. Yeah. Uh, Joe Kendall says play from the heart and don't be afraid to hold notes outside of the timings. As I'm finding this as sounding more raw and emotive this week, that's absolutely spot on Joe. Yes. It's very easy to rely on the quantize button. Isn't it.

But it's much better to pay from the heart. Isn't it? Absolutely. Robin Sherlock Tomayo says, make rules, then break them. Wow. Great little tip that I don't usually like using presets, but made a point of using some Arturia ones this week. Freshen things up. No end. Why not. Fantastic tips, everyone. Thank you so much for those. Alex Baranowski is a composer based in London.

He recently scored eight part series rain dogs releasing this year and his ballet legacy variations with choreographer, David Dawson. Premiered at the Dutch national ballet in December of last year. Recent film scores include a Gaza weekend directed by Oscar nominated basil Kaleel. For film for releasing in 2023. And Ruth Wilson and Jude law produced true things. As well as three series of hit BBC. One comedy staged, starring David Tennant and Michael sheen.

BAFTA nominated the Windermere children for wall-to-wall and Warner brothers and burial uh, world war II drama. For altitude film, starring Harriet, Walter let's find out how it all began for Alex. And stick around as he'll be leaving at nighttime and a piece of advice for you to find

Um, just literally just doing copying of schools with surveillance, something like that. And, , I adored every second of being in that building. It was just sort of, it was just this, having been in this room on my own, desperately trying to find work, get a job, do Australia, and meeting these amazing people in this incredible room. Um, and I learned about theater and I, this wonderful thing of theater is where you can. It's not like we're working on a film or a tv.

You're like, you can put a speaker wherever you want and you can make a sound come out of it whenever you want. It's amazing. Um, so set. Yeah. So Ruben's question surround sound. Yeah. I, I'm obsessed with it. I love it. I've hidden speakers on the seats in theaters and put them in roofs and put them in corridors and put them behind stages, above the stages outside. On stage hidden.

Um, so you can put them anywhere and it's wonderful and it can help tell the story and, and the one, sorry, you were saying you wanted to ask me a.

So I want this to go out, this speaker. I will make a stem of it. I'll do this. So you having knowing. , I guess it's quite similar to writing a computer game. Not that I've ever written a computer game, um, in that sort of way, but I guess it's, it's writing ideas isn't, you're not writing a linear piece of media that starts here and then in three minutes maybe you are writing a piece that starts in a certain way.

And when an actor says a certain thing or something happens on stage, you can make that as a cue and then the next queue will come along to add another layer to it. Another, this, you could add some sound. And you can just build up sound scripts. There's, there's a, a very clever program called Q Lab, which is. , um, both simply use that. It's actually free to download just the normal stereo version so you can do, it's, it's, um, yeah, check it out if you're interested to get to the theater.

But it's amazing because you, you can just play, audio files. You can put fades in, you can send things to here, send things to there. And it's a really, really simple system. But most, most datas use, Q Lab. Um, and so as a Samsung designer composer, I will sit in a, in a technical rehearsal or even in rehearsal room before we've gone into the theater and. Start putting things into this, into the queue. I want a laptop and pay things through.

Um, so nor normally I'm quite organized, so I can, I've just, I did a show, at the end of last year, called Orlando, which is on now in the West End. Until the end of February and I, I'd sat in the rehearsal room and I wrote lots and lots and lots of music. It was a very big music show and sounds and we programmed everything really there. So I knew before I went into theater where everything was gonna go, I designed the space. So we had surrounds, we had had speakers on stage.

I put a speaker in the roof. This amazing theater. It's incredible. So when you have things like rain, you there was a, There was a, um, Scene in Istanbul where we have sort of called to prayers. And it's amazing putting this call to prayer, like through a roof. And in the theater sort of, it's not coming out the speakers, it's not coming behind me. It's coming. It's, and it's really amazing kind of just to,

And, I met so many people, but all the assistants to the directors, all the assistants to the designers, all the assistant composers, we all knew each other. And we went, made films above a pub for no money. You know, we, we, we learned how to do it all. And now all these guys, they're directing shows, they're directing films, they're directing. This is kind of how I'm quite lucky in being able to do so many different things.

Cause I guess you sort of meet people along the way and you think, I'll do that. I'll do this. Come on, I'll have a go at. . Um, and it's, yeah, it's wonderful. And that's what I really loved about theater is it just got me out and meeting people, but not meeting people. Cuz I'm a networking event. I have to meet someone cuz I don't do that. if I've ever go to one of them, I will go to the corner and I will hide in the loo and Ill leave. Um, because that's my, that's what's me.

So I got this call from Simon saying, GE Fancy, just, just try this pilot. So he, he managed to convince, David and Michael to try this pilot. We all work for free. Just sort of just read, just, just try it. Let's just, let's see an episode, see if it works. It's lovely editor called Danage. And we put it together and it was great. It was really, really good. Very quickly they managed to get the BBC to commission it said, right, you're off.

And it was then a very, very rush, like Right, we've gotta do it, we've gotta get this out there cuz you know, who knows when the hell long this pandemic's gonna last. Like, we might all be out in a week. So it was, it literally got to the point where I'd be given a cup on a. Thursday night, I'd watch it and make notes and start writing. And I'd have Friday, maybe morning and I'd get some notes back from the director.

And yeah, to, I'd record it live with a lovely, based town at play called Ben Castle, who was based on, I, you know, it was all done on, on, you know, email and zoom and so it'll all be mixed by the end of the night. So I do have to do a, literally a whole episode in 24 hours and turn it around and ready for the sound mix. What if it was the Friday or, you know, like it literally was like, no, it was no, no time.

But it was kind of fun and cool and so, so it was, it was just, the idea behind it was to make it sound like it was made in a pandemic. Like I, I, I wanted to have some big brush thing. Like I wanted it to sound like, well, I've got a piano in here, so I have a piano. I think a little quirky based cla No, let's do it like it sounds. It was done in my back bedroom, which it kinda

And, they really, really wrote and painted about their experiences in the war. And it was so moving to. To read and to see these paint and, and to think of it in context and sort of, and the film was very good at making that feel a bit more real.

And so I put my grandmother's paintings up and there's some really harrowing paintings that she, she made of her time around there that's sort of half abstract, half figurative, with sort of quite harrowing details that, um, I need, I need to sort of work from this. And, um, I use my granddad's instrument like, so that's this accordion they obviously see on a podcast.

But I've got an accordion in my room that my granddad bought in, um, in Italy, I think in So, so all my grandparents were, they were taken to Siberia and they were taken to Siberian labor camps, prison camps. And the only reason they were, Released is because, uh, Stalin switched sides from, you know, obviously working with Hitler, invading Poland, and he switched sides to the alley. So he said, right off, off you go, you need to go and fight.

And they made them march from Siberia to Palestine to Italy. So it, it really, really affected me thinking about their experiences and experiences on the, on the children in the film, and I used, my granddad's instruments and I, I, like I said, I, I put the paintings of my grandma around the studio and I, I genuinely was sort of crying through writing a lot of cues. It was, cuz it was, it was a really, so yeah, it was a really emotional experience.

It must have been so bleak, like living through a Siberian winter in a labor camp thinking. And I, and I've heard his account, there's, he's a recorded account of his on, um, Imperial War Museum. It's, it's really incredible. Um, and I remember talking to him about it and we was, we were really close and he brought me my first violin when I was six. He was, he had a choir into his nineties. He was incredible. Incredible man. But no, it was, it was really wonderful.

It was like, it was, it was great. Yeah.

Cause I sort of spend my summers, with them, you know, summer holidays, that was sort of my childcare. I sort of realized, you know, sort of painting and listening to music and, and that was, I guess that was really lucky. And I kept quite unusual I guess. But they, they really did a lot in that, Creativity and just sort of thinking, well, of course we can be creative. That's what we do.

It's funny, I sort see my kids and they, my, their seven year old comes in and, well, of course that's what dad does. He just does music for stuff, you know, , it's what? There's no question for it. There's no question that, you know. Yeah. I love it.

I'd, but I'd sort of loved to sort of just listen to stuff off the TV and try and copy stuff, try and write my own, you know, really loved the piano and discovered jazz, discovered everything, and then talk to the piano practice 20 minutes before the Planet two arrived.

I love sort of playing, I've got lots of random string instruments as well, and that's again, from, from that, like again, I've never had lessons in all these Mandos and, all the stuff, electric guitars, but I. Just trying and pretending and playing. And then when, when I've gone traveling again, I've sort of traveling with my, my wife resource lived in India for four months, so of course I came back with a sit. But again, it just sounds wonderful with adding some sort of thing to a,

I'll keep it, put it somewhere, but

So we sort of went to the same school and when, when they did a, um, a Dr. Win about recently they interviewed. Our headmaster was the same guy, and he's wonderful. He's so supportive and wonderful. And I've, I've gone back quite a few times to sort of talk to students, things like that. And obviously they couldn't get a famous guy come in. Um, he was a bit too far, but then, um, and it was, he always asked, he always knows what I'm doing and I, it's really wonderful.

And the, the teachers there, they're really supported. Really wonderful. That's kind of really where I really. Cubase really learn how to get my way around a door, and really work out. And that sort of gave me a love. And I ended up going, leaving there and I went to liquid in Liverpool, which is Paul Carney's old school, which he then turned into a sort of music college and they did their music and dance and sound technology, which I sort went and sound technology.

I thought, well, I do, I wanna go and do music or do I wanna go and do. Of course it sort of helps, you know, understand how to record music and still do music, but then I can sort of record my own music and maybe I can make more money by having both things. Um, so that was my thought processes. So I sort of learned about technology and recording as well as the music and. And that was really inspiring.

The people on there were wonderful cuz it's sort of going to a, a university like that and Paul McCartney got literally rang up his mates and got people to come in and, just give guest lectures. There's a, we had an amazing guest lecture in Glen Johns who was the one of that Leo, the amazingly dressed guy on the, like the get back documentary doing You record all the, let it be. And he sort of came and listened to our material and some diagram around how he sort of invited the stereo technique.

And, um, just really amazing. Like we have so many people like that come in and Paul himself like gave us to degrees and sort of came in and did some master classes. And so it was a really incredible time. So the college and university, this sort five years of being so inspired and that it, it's not about going, this is how you make a guitar, this is how you make a thing. They sort of said, look, these are the tools we. And look, you can do this.

This is a compressor, but it's sort of, you know, you need to figure out how you do this compressor. How you wanna mic this guitarist. You don't just say, right, you put on the 12th threat and it's done. You go, well look, you can, you can tune it this way. You can, you know, you see how resonant is. Try micing it around the back. Try doing this, try playing it in a bathroom. Like we really learn all these amazing, just, it gave you so much creativity.

And that's something I do every single day now

I don't have any contact, I don't have any money . So, I ended up moving in with my then girlfriend, now wife's parents and her granddad had an, uh, a house a couple miles down the road. And this is in south, northern Liverpool, nowhere near where I'm from. And, my mom gave, gave a bit, let me a bit of money to buy a, a Mac and I had all these instruments and I bought a mic.

Um, and I just learned again, like, so I've, I'd sort of learned how to recall in as studio situation and I learned again how to everything, how to write, how to make a sound, what my sound was, what I wanted to say as a composer, what my. What did I sound like? How did I record? How do I, so I spent, I literally spent like year, year in a quarter doing that seven days a week. And I was obsessed. And this is the days before Twitter. This is the days before.

You know, I didn't, I didn't have , internet access on my computer. I was in this attic. It's really cold with a gas heater, with a gas, c gas sort of heater. But it was, it was sort of my little space and I adored that space. It was my bad, you know, instruments, computer, and I, it was just about learning my craft and that was the best year I've ever had for myself, for my career. Like learning what I do, like figuring out how I do it and figuring out what plugins do.

And I, I, cause I was sort of, I, I went over to pros when I was at, at Lipper and learned sort of pros and then that's how I, I, I still use Pros now, sort of, I, I wanted to figure out how I could make things sound great. And then I sort of bought some, I think it was the, the original East. Gold library. Um, which, you know, of course they had no lato things in those days. They had nothing like that. Um, and it was just, I just spent my time obsessing, how do I make this sound real?

How do I make this sound, the string sound interesting with, with adding some guitars, adding some pianos, adding what, what can I do? And I just, I, I've completely obsessed and I ended up putting music on my MySpace, I think. And I got people sort of contacted me saying, oh, can you do this, film, you know, we know well, well, I say film was student film stuff, so then I, I learned, you know, made all the mistakes on a student film and like, I'd had the best time ever. I loved it.

Um, you know, no money involved. You don't even, I didn't even think about that. But, it was, yeah, like I say, it was the best.

And I, I know I'm saying, as I'm saying, I know I'm saying this from a immensely middle class, white male, p. A position to be in this, because I know a lot of people don't have the opportunity to go and spend a year living on someone else's dime without having to, you know, after, like it's, it's a really, really privileged position to be in, and I completely understand that.

And I, and I, I can understand why having done that, why it's so difficult for people who aren't able to afford to do that, to, to get in this, because look, it, it is this kinda interesting where, you know, you as, as we all know, listen to this, however, Little long, we've all done this thing. It it, it takes so much to do this. Like no one, no one comes in. He goes, oh, great. You can read it now. You've done it great. Do you wanna come and do this?

Like it is, but that's what's kind of wonderful about it. And, um, you know, it's, it's about learning and learning and learning. And, and even in my twenties I thought, oh, I can score films now.

I've been doing this for a few years and, and it's looking back now like I. There's so much I know now that I didn't know then that I, you, you learning all the time and I'm sure in 10 years time I'll look back at what I'm doing now and think, oh, you were so naive, You know, it's about, it's about learning all the time

And, and then, you know, you, you maybe find a way out, you know, I'll pitch this advert, pay my rent for three months and then you don't get it and you, and you just, all you can think about is not being able to pay your two months. And so it's, it's a really really hard thing and it, you can see why everyone struggles because we all struggle and it's what's really bad, you sort of look at other people and you can compare yourself with them When you think why it all looks so easy.

And even sometimes I look at my own. Terrible website and go. Got it. It looks, looks quite impressive actually. I mean, but it doesn't feel like that when you do it. But everything looks, looks better on the, on the outside and I think you need to remember that and I remember sort of being in studios and, and seeing composers and who were. Many, many wrongs above me and working on these incredible films, and it's sort of being satisfying that they're having a really hard, difficult timing.

Okay, great. Like I always imagined it'll be easy. You just be drinking coffee and getting assistance to help, you know, but actually, it's, it's not, it's a hard, the whole way through. And that's, okay. As long as we, we know that, I think it's not about taking your eye off the ball. There's never a moment you can just go, yeah, I'm done Now. Just

Or a head of department of a of a very, very big, you know, you this, this just writing music is, you know, in charge of hundreds of thousands of pounds of, of budget. That, to go to orchestras, I, it takes so much experience and knowledge and. No one gets given a CEO job when they're in their twenties. And if they are, God help you because you know, like it's about working on those smaller projects, isn't it? And learning and figuring it all out bigger. And they get bigger and

Like we sit in our little rooms on our own most of the time and we, we write, we, we want the stuff to come to us, but it doesn't, you know, we have to go out and do it and I love writing music. I love getting musicians to, to play and collaborate with. And so I have a, a lovely, lovely group of people now that I sort of like, but at the moment I'm like ringing up people saying, can you put this some cello on this? Can you do this? Can you write, you know, can you help me with this?

Can you do some, some surveillance things on this one? I'm doing it and directors and people, like I said, that you meet assistants when you are really young and they end up becoming their own directors. And I, I was sort of starter when Facebook was really just in it, in its infancy from, um, For the masses like us. I remember, you know, before Twitter, and I remember sort of being recontacted with all these, you know, people from Mays and school and going, oh, you've worked in the BBC now.

Can I ever do

I, I wanna try and be as fair and wonderful and you wanna be with everyone, you know, but, but it's, you wanna surround people with you, be positive. And it's about, it's about trying to figure out the way through it.

Like, you need to, like, you don't, you just need to keep going and meeting people and finding avenues to write music, whether it's above a pub, whether it's, whether it's just writing some library music, whether it's pitching for some adverts, whether it's doing some theater, whether it's doing a load budget doc, um, doing a dance piece. Like I, I did it all. That's how, I guess, I'm so lucky to work in so many.

Avenues now is cuz when I was a young composer, I just wanted to meet as many people as I could. So I met choreographers, I met, you know, documentary makers and theater makers, and I just wanted to make as many connections as possible. I was very lucky. I had income by, you know, doing a theater job or getting the odd advert pitch and doing, you need, you sort of grab your income from other wear or do other jobs. So, yes. So that's what it, my advice, you know, it's about trying to be you.

And it's not trying to, you know, we know, of course we get, we get influences from here, there, and everywhere, but figure out who you are. I always have this horrible analogy, which I always say. Composers and I, there's, there's two types of composers. There's one type of composer like, oh God, we need to get someone to do some music. Like, you, you, you, you, yeah, you, you're great.

Done. Well, there's other site where you go, okay, I really like what you do, and I want you to come and do this because I really love what you've done, and I think we all all start. In the one, the first one we all start and just wanna be a composer. But the, the, the aim is sort of get onto that side and go, oh, people wanna come to you.

And the only way of doing that is by being you not trying to copy someone, not trying to do this, like trying and just figure out your own way of, of getting through stuff.