It’s not often that you get your work done for you. In this case, I had seen the duo that is Science Friction Scoring / Sound Design, listed on the web and after listening to their music samples and discovering via their bio page that we had similar interests AND that they were in New Jersey, I just knew I had to interview them for this webzine. Life can be strange at times; it was almost as if they had been expecting my call. Coincidence? Things became even more uncanny still- George had an interview ready with questions and answers.
Wow, talk about one stop shopping! This then is the interview I would have given to George and Frank had we been able to meet in person- it’s just written by George. Enjoy!
*This article has been edited for clarity and space.
Q: Who is Science Friction Scoring/ Sound Design?
A: My name is George Martindell and I am one half of ‘The Entity’ that is known as Science Friction Scoring / Sound Design. My partner is Frank Sonsini. We are both from Marlton, New Jersey.
We compose our music entirely utilizing electronic and acoustic instruments. Frank writes and composes music on synthesizers, guitar-synth, guitar and bass guitar. With the guitar-synth, for example, Frank can compose whole ‘string sections’ and ‘horn sections’ as well as playing anything from a ‘quiet flute’ to ‘metal guitar’. Our synthesizer and equipment list keeps growing, as does the direction of our music.
I
am the ‘percussive’ half. I incorporate and compose music using a
myriad of electronic drum sets. With these versatile electronic drums
and other various acoustic items, I use four different ‘drum modules’
that store sound banks that I create in order to mix - as an example -
orchestral drums with African hand drums, and then play these drums all
at once as they are set up as a drum kit with cymbals as well.
In addition to being musicians, Frank is our engineer and recording specialist and I am the music director and promoter.
Q: Where did the name Science Friction Scoring/Sound Design come from?
A:
At the time I was also recording music with a synthesizer player, Steve
Siers, a.k.a. Quad. We were creating instrumental music that was quite
strange with just synthesizers and drums/ percussion. Frank agreed that
the three of us together with him on guitar-synth would be a very
original sound.
The three of us together indeed was magical. Myself being into old Peter Jackson films and Ralph Bakshi animation, I had noticed that when played along with films, our new instrumental music just ‘jelled’ along with just about everything we watched - horror movies, science fiction, animation… you name it, and it fit!
I have always liked “ wordplay”, and I had this name for our music project that I thought seemed to fit us perfectly. Frank and Quad agreed to this name and we became simply, Science Friction.
Q: What was your first project?
A: I used to work for NFL Films. One day, I ran into the head of the company. It had been a while since I had seen him, as he was familiar with our music from years back. He asked me what we were doing and I told him that we were writing this ‘weird’ instrumental music that is “pretty creepy.” He told me to send him our music as soon as possible, as he was working on a TNT Network production starring the likes of [filmmaker] John Carpenter, [musician] Marilyn Manson, author Poppy Z. Brite, and various professors and historians. It was titled, “ The Faces of Evil,” a documentary on the realities of evil throughout the history of mankind, and was narrated by Malcolm McDowell.
T
he
three of us composed a dark blend of music that the producers, as well
as The Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment magazines, quite enjoyed.
Our first gig and it was a huge success. Sadly, after this aired, Quad
had to leave due to familial obligations, so Frank and I decided to
officially change our name to ‘Science Friction Scoring/Sound Design.’
Q. What does scoring a movie involve and what does a sound designer do?
A: It’s funny, because everyone that is a friend of mine that sees a [film], the first question I ask is, “How was the music?” They reply, “ I don’t really remember, I wasn’t paying attention.”
That
is when ‘scoring’ really works well. [Being a sound designer] involves
really being an important part of the process… composers have to
‘emote’ how the film is trying to make the viewer ‘feel.’ All the
emotional elements have to be there: silly, happy, sad, angry, tense,
evil, spacey, and the composer has to ‘create’ those moments to blend
together with the film - all without stepping on what the film and its
scenes are created to make you fee
l. Now,
if the music does not do this and is annoying or worse yet - really
bad, it really can damage a film. It’s not doing its job, so too speak.
The music needs to reach one emotionally and dynamically, but in it’s
own aural way.
The sound effects or ‘Foley’, as it is called, is also very important when it comes to the sounds of film. Can you imagine a scene where a screaming ghost sounds like a yelping puppy? Not good! But if you combine the puppy sound with that of a hissing tea-kettle, you may get a great screaming ghost sound – that’s Foley work.
Q: What projects have you done that you are most proud of?
A: We are proud of all the productions we have done so far. Our first ‘Indie Film’ was a blast as it was an H.P. Lovecraft short story, “The Terrible Old Man”. This was certainly a case were in which the music was integral to the film. It’s [been playing] for years now on Canadian television airing on ‘BRAVO!’ and ‘The Imagination Station.’
Our work scoring, “ Dr. Shroud – Vampire Killer”, an animated series created by the very talented Robert Feldman and Ear Worm Media is very satisfying for me especially as I adore animation. “Dr. Shroud”, is currently being optioned by some very important Hollywood and New York City folks as we speak! Our music was given praise by the famous Dee Snider on his Fangoria Radio Show when he interviewed Robert recently when talking about the ‘Dr. Shroud’ productions. That was a great compliment to our music and how important it is to the productions [we compose for].
Another proud moment was collaborating with the great filmmakers, Fire Pig Productions on their short film homage to George A. Romero for a contest that George himself picked the winners. That short was called ‘Last Stand’ and we came in 15th out of three hundred entries. Although we didn’t win… knowing that Romero saw the film and heard our music was a true pleasure!
Q: Your music has been used in Taradise: The Tara Reid travel program on the E! Entertainment Channel. How did this come about?
A: One way we shop our music is through a publishing company. We have been with ACM Records for a few years now and they have been placing our music on various network television shows. We did a bunch of music based on different ‘ethnic/world’ sounds and styles. The production company that did the Tara Reid show was looking for ‘nylon string guitar / percussion’ sounding music [for an upcoming episode in Spain], and heard our tracks through ACM records. Recently our music was used in another E! Entertainment TV show called ’25 Celebrity Near Death Experiences’ where the production company this time used the sound of our ‘rock/metal’ tracks.
Q: When you are involved in working on a production, how involved do you get?
A: Well, that depends on the “creator” of the film or production. We really enjoy suggesting what styles of music should be used once we see a production. And more often than not, they enjoy our input.
Sometimes the filmmakers know what it is they want to hear before we become a part of the picture. There have been times where the producer has already heard a track of our music, and requests that style and genre of music. Either way is fine with us. We are quite easy to work with… considering that we are musicians! (laughs )
Q: Other than films and television, what other aspects of sound does your company get involved in?
A: We utilize our digital twenty-four track recording studio for other situations such as: voice-overs, for Dr. Shroud for example, radio promo bumpers for the Howard Eskin WIP Sports Talk Radio show based out of Philadelphia, and recently we have expanded our already extensive sound effects library that has well over a thousand sound effects that are strange and unique.
Last year we also did the music for a novelty Halloween CD for producers Robusto Records that is being shopped around to Halloween dealers across the globe. It’s [entitled] ‘Symphony of the Night’ and is an all around creepy CD – a bubbling cauldron of musical mayhem!
We are always writing and expanding our musical library also, trying to cover all genres and styles of music.
Q: Any advice for anyone wanting to get into the music scoring business?
A: Yes…never give up and don’t let them get you down! This industry is a ‘dog-eat-dog’ struggle, but at the sam
e time it’s great to work with such great and creative people who are clawing along with their visions and goals as well.
Work every avenue that is available. With the advent of the Internet, the world is literally at one’s fingertips. Reach out and talk to others in this industry and let them know that you exist and that you have music that you want them to hear.
Don’t let anyone try and ‘squash’ your dreams and desires, as they are life affirming and powerful.
But most importantly, create music that is unique and original - music that has your own DNA created into it. It’s quite electrifying when both the film and music worlds collide!
Remember… “Even silent films had music!”
For more information, follow the the link:
www.scifrimusic.com
