# The Drive: title music from my new website.



## michaelv (Oct 5, 2010)

Just like to tell anyone who's interested that my new website has just been released. I should say that there's a small (and temporary ) issue with the movie clips section, clearly explained on that page: not a problem as long as you follow the instructions! There will be more clips to follow.

Here is a track from the site. It's the plash page music and track one of the noir section. http://soundcloud.com/michaelvickerage/the-drive

Website: http://www.michaelvickerage.com

Thanks for your time.


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## JohnG (Oct 5, 2010)

*Re: Splash track from the new website.*

sounds great, looks great. Congratulations, Michael!


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## nikolas (Oct 5, 2010)

Very very nice strings and movement! Beautiful! Dare I ask what library it is? :S

BTW, your website looks great, very nice, but with one comment. On my 17" old screen (don't ask), the width is fine, but the height is too much, so the menu on the bottom is hidden, until I scroll down... I guess not a problem for many, but for us with the very old computers, perhaps it's something to look after?


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## Guy Bacos (Oct 5, 2010)

*Re: Splash track from the new website.*

I will guess that those are real strings. :wink: 

The website and music are fantastic! 

I'm a regular fan of all your music, everything has depth and refinement, a rare quality, love that English style you bring in. 

You music is ripe for the big times!


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## michaelv (Oct 5, 2010)

*Re: Splash track from the new website.*

Gentlemen: thanks you so much for the charming words. Means a lot. Nikolas, the strings are real, as Guy guessed. Sorry to hear about your scrolling issue,lol! I recently spent the whole day re-optimising the site to a better ratio (on advice) for the modern computer. Tell you what though: if you pay me enough, I'll resize a special version for you and all the "oldies" out there, minimizing that RSI risk. How's that? :wink: Actually, I have the same thing with the Macbook Pro. Seriously, many thanks for your comments re the strings and site.

BTW, I've solved the film clip issue: don't use Safari, or even Chrome. This site performs best with Firefox. There are no sound anomalies with FF at all.


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## adg21 (Oct 21, 2010)

*Re: The Drive: title music from the new website.*

'The Drive' is really impressive. Great website too. Gallery - how about some pictures working people/musician/directors + some smiles, just looks deadly serious at mo.


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## Guy Bacos (Oct 21, 2010)

*Re: The Drive: title music from the new website.*



adg21 @ Thu Oct 21 said:


> 'The Drive' is really impressive. Great website too.



+1


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## michaelv (Oct 21, 2010)

*Re: The Drive: title music from the new website.*

Thanks very much for the comment on the piece and site, adg21. Deadly serious,eh? Lol! Well, I've spent most of my working life shut in a room full of equipment, with no daylight and very little human contact. I don't do jokes. :| Actually, I did do a Turkish comedy film last year; so, as I said, I don't do jokes. Still, the site's having some positive effect: I have several meetings coming up in LA, with a couple of top agents, a music editor and a production company, as result of visits. I hope to get some more set up before I leave.

Seriously, I'll consider what you suggest, and if I land a decent film then you'll see me grinning alright. But right now, I'm pushing the Noir thing.


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## George Caplan (Oct 21, 2010)

*Re: Splash track from the new website.*



Guy Bacos @ Tue Oct 05 said:


> I will guess that those are real strings. :wink:



yes that sounds classy and they sound like real strings to me. soudns great.


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## Alex Temple (Oct 21, 2010)

*Re: The Drive: title music from the new website.*

The site looks great, though I'm having a hard time pulling myself away from the music page to look at the rest of it. I think "The Drive" is a killer piece to start off with, as it makes me want to sit and listen through the whole playlist.


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## michaelv (Oct 21, 2010)

*Re: The Drive: title music from the new website.*

Well, thank you very much for the compliments, guys. With no disrespect to others here, who I may not cite, it means a lot to me getting positives from such insanely talented people like Alex, Guy, John, Nikolas,etc. There are some really great writers here, so it makes a difference.


Alex: I wouldn't get too worked up in anticipation about hearing the rest, lol! I feel The Drive is one of my best, but, in general, as I think I said before, I'm a journalist, compared to some of the novelists on this forum. I did wonder whether there was,perhaps, too much music on the site, but I wanted to show versatility. Not to expect favourable comparison, but people like Thomas Newman show an unusual degree of that. I think, at least these days, he's one of the exceptions.

Anyway, thanks so much for the nice words.


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## Dave Connor (Oct 22, 2010)

*Re: The Drive: title music from the new website.*

Very nice Michael! As you know I'm a big fan of your music and always enjoy your latest offering as I just did with The Drive.


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## hbuus (Oct 22, 2010)

*Re: The Drive: title music from the new website.*

Hi Michael,

I've been listening quite intensely to your music the past few hours while been playing Civilization V ( :D ). It sounds great overall. Very, very nice.

If I should point at one thing, though:

Are you using HollywoodWinds?
It appears to me that the woodwind runs and trills stick out compared to the rest of the music.
But maybe that's just me?

Either way, I'm enjoying listening to your stuff.
Good work, and good, easily navigatable website too.

Best,
Henrik


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## michaelv (Oct 22, 2010)

*Re: The Drive: title music from the new website.*

Thanks very much ,Dave: a compliment from you is always a pleasure, and great to hear from you again, after a while. Hope all is well. I'm going to PM you about my LA visit.

Hi, Henrik, many thanks for spending so much time on the site! No, I'm not familiar with Hollywood Winds (yet). The runs and trills are mostly VSL, with a little East West,too. Some of these pieces are now quite old (as much as five years), but I still feel that they sound good, particularly in terms of their purpose/composition. I think it might that there's perhaps not enough reverb on them for your tastes,right? Woodwinds can be tricky to balance sometimes: some people say they should be quieter, and others the opposite.I know that,say, on Trouble, 07 they're slightly exaggerated for effect, but on Afternoon Of The Gods, they're more realistically presented. I think, because this is not concert music, liberties can be taken. 

There was a famous story about Bernard Herrmann pushing up the alto flutes in the mix, and everyone was saying: "Oh no you can't do that! Alto flutes aren't that loud!" Herrmann, being the pioneer, and ahead of his time, said he could do the what Hell liked with his sound balance, so long as the intended effect was realised, This is a guy who would score for about 10 bassoons and a cello section ,and nothing else, but still made it sound great.

I don't know, I'm generally OK with them. Were you listening in headphones, because that is an entirely different experience,right? I remember listening to Danny Elfman's Spiderman score once, and they made the sound so in your face and so dry, that in places it sounded like an incredibly good mockup!

Thanks for the observations, though.


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## hbuus (Oct 22, 2010)

*Re: The Drive: title music from the new website.*

Ups, Michael, you are right, I was listening in headphones; I forgot to mention that. I do not have any monitors right here, so I can't hear how the music sounds that way. It's primarily the volume level of the woodwinds that drew my attention. Also I wasn't aware that you were using WW in a slightly exaggerated way in some places for effect which may also explain what I've been hearing.

Thanks for explaining!

Best,
Henrik


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## michaelv (Oct 22, 2010)

*Re: The Drive: title music from the new website.*

Headphones are a killer. A real test of one's mix. But, for most purposes, the real world is not headphones-based. I would never mix in cans: the sound can be misleading, and most people,especially for film and TV would listen on their speakers. Woodwinds are definitely tricky, particularly for film and TV; they're not being placed like a concert piece, in those situations, and nowadays, the emphasis is on strings, brass and percussion, which is a shame.

Appreciate your input!


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## michaelv (Oct 22, 2010)

Me too, Guy. Headphones "do my head in", as we Brits say. However, they're great for technical things, like: detecting distortion/clipping and accurate panning/placement issues. I've checked mixes, alas, sometimes too late, to find shortcomings that would have been avoided with a simple run through on the cans.

But for day-to-day listening pleasure, I'd prefer the room experience. Trouble is, you can't take the room on public transport....


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## Frederick Russ (Oct 22, 2010)

Great stuff Michael and nice site you have there, good job all around. The Drive is really well written and orchestrated - kudos!


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## michaelv (Oct 23, 2010)

Really appreciate your taking the time, Frederick. Coming from you this means a lot.


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## poseur (Oct 23, 2010)

nothing to say other than:
i really enjoyed that piece!
will find some time to peruse your website.....

d


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## michaelv (Oct 24, 2010)

Thank you for that, sir: peruse away!


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## michaelv (Oct 25, 2010)

Poseur: you're welcome.
Greg: really appreciate the kind words there.
Guy: you embarrass me.


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## dedersen (Oct 26, 2010)

Marvelous piece of music. Wonderful, and very impressive use of harmony throughout the piece. I've always wanted to be able to pull off a track like this, but I can never seem to find the right harmonic development. It's really an extraordinarily well-crafted and emotional piece of music.

Definitely makes me wanna browse through the rest of the music on your page.


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## dedersen (Oct 26, 2010)

Having spent some more time with the rest of the music on your page I am left even more impressed. You seem to be able to work in a quite wide range of styles, which is something that always really impresses me.

You mentioned that The Drive was real strings. I am wondering what you use for brass in your horror pieces? The brass in those pieces sounds really, really good. Of course helped by some truly impressive compositions. I really enjoy horror music when it is done this well.


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## michaelv (Oct 26, 2010)

Hi,dedersen. Really, pretty overwhelmed by your generosity. The brass in the pieces you mention was mainly Symphobia, but I also had VSL,SAM and East West at my disposal. Glad you approve. 

I think to "survive" in this business it helps to be versatile, but left to my own devices and career aspirations, I would prefer to be working in the thriller/horror/sci-fi & fantasy genres.

Appreciate your time and kind words.


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## Allegra (Oct 26, 2010)

I think you just picked up another fan Michael. I especially like the arc you created with The Drive to go along with matching arc of your website. They compliment each other. Great job on both. Your site is so full of wonderful music...will return. :D for you.


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## Allegra (Oct 26, 2010)

I also wanted to state that your piece..."Femme Noir" is so reminencent of Bernard Herrmann's sytle of composition. I liked it very much, as I like Herrmann. Passages of it reminded me of scenes in the film "Marnie"... 8)


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## fido94 (Oct 26, 2010)

Another fan here. You are really gifted and I love the music. I hope you can keep us up to date with you latest compositions. =o


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## michaelv (Oct 26, 2010)

Thanks so much, people. I live for compliments, lol! Seriously, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm full of self-doubt, on a regular basis, about my worth as a composer, but it's funny how some kind words help! I'm never satisfied and always want to improve; I feel there's a lot of room for that.

Allegra: you picked up on the Herrmann thing. He was a genius, in the true (but nowadays overused) sense of the word. Yes, he was the model for that and Lost Island, and the Drive, of course. Also Through A Darkened Mirror. I appreciate your "locking into" the theme of my site. Nothing, for me, will replace, or approach, the "golden era" of Hollywood. How incredibly exciting it must have been to work in that period of technical and artistic innovation. I feel it's akin to the eulogised periods of European artistic history, eg: the origins of the Germanic Film Noir and, further back, the Classical and Romantic periods of music and art.

Anyway, lecture over, lol! It seems that the site (and its contents ) is paying off in the LA circles. Not to tempt fate.... 

Really appreciate your time and taking the trouble to respond.


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## dedersen (Oct 27, 2010)

Do you have any of the music available in mp3 format?


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## David Story (Oct 27, 2010)

Thanks for a beautiful, intriguing site. Love the photos from the Hollywood Hills, did you say who did them?
Welcome to LA


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## michaelv (Oct 28, 2010)

dedersen @ Wed Oct 27 said:


> Do you have any of the music available in mp3 format?



Dedersen: I'm afraid the music isn't, strictly speaking, available, because it's all published, and it would breach my publishers' agreements to allow it to be downloadable. I know it's impossible to keep track of things like that when posting on places like Sound Cloud, Box Net,etc. :wink: ,but all my publishers allow me to use the works for the purposes of promotion only. All the music was upload to the server in mp3 format.

Is that what you were talking about?


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## michaelv (Oct 28, 2010)

David Story @ Wed Oct 27 said:


> Thanks for a beautiful, intriguing site. Love the photos from the Hollywood Hills, did you say who did them?
> Welcome to LA



Thanks for that David: appreciated.I have two words regarding the images resources on the site: _research_ and _ Photoshop!_ Of course, the website and its impact (should there be any) is entirely subservient to the music.....

Also, thanks for the LA welcome!


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## dedersen (Oct 28, 2010)

michaelv @ Thu Oct 28 said:


> dedersen @ Wed Oct 27 said:
> 
> 
> > Do you have any of the music available in mp3 format?
> ...



Yeah, I wanted to be able to listen on my mp3 player on the way to work.


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## michaelv (Oct 29, 2010)

Lol, I'm really sorry: I'm unable to help you there, but thanks for your enthusiasm. Seriously, that kind of thing is gold.


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## ricother (Nov 7, 2010)

michaelv @ Tue Oct 05 said:


> Thanks for your time.



Thank YOU for the music. Especially the "noir" ones o-[][]-o 
I also like the web design, its darkness fits that noir music.


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## michaelv (Nov 9, 2010)

ricother: No, thank YOU,lol! I appreciate your posting, and "getting it".
Sherief: Thank you, also. Mahler: an interesting and super-flattering comparison! It wasn't a conscious influence: I guess the real model for it was Bernard Herrmann, but, in that case, the Viennese shadow would still loom large.


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