We recently had the pleasure of talking to one of those people responsible for the music we enjoy—the music that makes us jump, cheer or quiver in fear. Born in 1980 in a suburb outside Chicago, John Seguin has played many musical roles. He has performed as singer, musician, vocal director, musical director, conductor and composer. Most recently, John has created music and sound design for video games such as Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa, Bounty: Special Edition and the upcoming games Venture Arctic and Harmonic Convergence. Sci-fi fans may recognize his work from the fan film Starship Farragut. Join us as we discuss music with this talented, young composer.

SFS: John, at the ripe old age of 11, you took your first steps down a musical path. What was it that sparked your interest in music?

John: I'm not entirely sure. Probably just "peer pressure." At my elementary school, they started students interested in band in the 4th grade. Many of my friends at the time were also interested in band. So, naturally, I went with my parents to the orientation session where the band director checked over my jaw and height and such for a good fit. I was interested in playing a brass instrument and I was a pretty tall kid even at that age (I'm 6'2" now) so trombone seemed like a good fit. So there it was. I was never the best at trombone, but I wasn't the worst either. I enjoyed playing it through my freshman year of high school, at which point I shifted over to singing. Around 14, I started playing piano and guitar as well, out of personal interest. My parents claim they tried to get me to do piano when I was really young, but I had no interest so they stopped pushing me. Go figure!

SFS: Just in case there are some people out there who don't understand the importance of music, do you think that video games and fan films need music?

John: Oh, absolutely. Have you ever seen a film or video game without music? It's a pretty dry and boring thing to sit through. Music is wonderful for these mediums because through orchestration alone you can instantly convey a particular mood or feeling that you want the audience or gamer to experience. Yes, I think it's a very crucial element to both video games and film.

SFS: You spend so much of your time creating music. Is it hard for you to relax watching a movie or playing a video game without getting caught up in the music?

John: Ha! Well, usually—no, I don't have this problem. However, this is usually because professional films are scored by professional composers and the same with video games, so they know what they are doing and there is a nice balance of interest without upstaging what's happening on screen. When there is particularly bad music, however, this does detract from my viewing experience, but I think it would detract from other non-composer viewers as well! The only difference might be that someone with more composition experience will probably know what that composer did "wrong," whereas someone without this experience may just let it reflect poorly on the movie as a whole.

SFS: You have composed music for video games as well as fan films. Which medium do you prefer? Have you noticed any differences between the two?

John: They are both exciting mediums and yes, there is quite a bit of similarity. In both, you are always trying to draw out the emotion of a scene. Music should act like another character in the medium, providing subtext of the action at hand. After that, the mechanics are pretty different.

With film, you can be pretty precise as you milk every last nuance from a scene because you have the benefit of linearity; the film plays back, and your music with it, the same way every single time. However, in a game, you have to write a bit more ambiguously because you don't really know what exactly will be happening in the game when your music is playing.

Music in games is often looped as well because, you can't predict how long a player may be at a certain level or stage or place in the game where music is playing. Finally, you need to contend with sound effects possibly cuing at any time, so you need to make sure your music "matches" them to an extent and things don't sound too out of place.

They are both fun for me to work on and it's kinda refreshing to bounce back and forth between a linear and non-linear medium, so I don't think I really have a preference for either as much as "both"!

SFS: One of your most recent projects has been to compose for the fan film Starship Farragut. Does this mean you have a special connection with sci-fi?

John: Not particularly. I do like Star Trek and other sci-fi films, comics, books, etc., but it is not my sole genre of interest.

SFS: The Starship Farragut Theme hit #13 on the Classical > Fan Film chart. What song from the "Starship Farragut: The Captaincy" was your favorite to compose and why?

John: There were many fun cues to write for Starship Farragut. I think the most fun one to work out however, was the final action scene where the crew is aboard the Farragut and attempting to destroy the Klingon weapon. The music is very action-driven and plays very well, I think, against the dialog, sfx and action on screen. We didn't have a lot of time to score the film, but this was one key area where the producers wanted to make sure the music worked well, so I devoted extra time to this section, and I think it paid off in the end.

SFS: In composing for Starship Farragut, you wrote 26 minutes of original music in just 10 days! How in the world did you manage it?

John: Yeah, that was pretty insane and not really a production schedule I'd like to repeat anytime soon! I also work a full-time "day job" which I plan on sticking with for the next year before I go into full-time music production work, so this was pretty difficult to balance with that. It was basically a combination of many late nights with a bag of Nestle semi-sweets and Coke Zero that kept me going to 3-4 a.m. For pacing, I first spotted an act at a time to try to help make sure we got music everywhere even if it wasn't "ideal." The team had a deadline in place and so, we decided it was best to have music everywhere as opposed to stellar for only 1/3 of it! There were motifs and components that we recycled throughout different parts, though now that I've been watching more Star Trek (original series), I've noticed that they recycle as much or possibly more than I did!

SFS: Since the majority of us are not composers, we don't know how music is written. We have no idea if you play the video games or watch the fan film and then write the music, or if the music magically appears on the paper when you wave your hand. Can you fill us in on the music creation process?

John: Unfortunately, there is no magical hand-waving. The basic process is that for a video game, I usually play an Alpha or Beta version of the game or at least look at a GDD (Game Design Document) to get an idea of the game mechanics. When these are well written, I've played enough video games that I can accurately predict what the game may be like so I may be able to start working something out then. For film, the film pretty much needs to be done, editing-wise, since timing is so very critical to my writing. Next, for a film, I'll establish tempos for particular scenes. This is a somewhat mystical process in which I watch a scene then move my metronome around to find a good "pace" for the scene and note any changes in that pacing. I then set my sequencer (Logic Pro) to reflect this. The film clicks by in a separate monitor hooked up to my computer so that I can write music to sync along with it. Next, I often imagine the orchestration needs (strings, bassoon and percussion, for example) of a scene and then improvise some things on piano into the sequencer. This might be rough melody ideas with some supporting harmony, or maybe key rhythms. It really depends. If it's a particularly nice melody, I'll make a note of it on paper in a notebook. Later, when I'm stumped as to what we'll fit, I may look back at this notebook for pieces of the melody to weave into a piece. In this way, the score is more unified, whether the listener consciously realizes it or not. Then, from the piano part, I'll fully orchestrate it out using different instruments.

SFS: Everyone has to have a little downtime from their work. What music do you listen to when relaxing? What video games do you play?

John: I don't listen to much music. I'm so very involved with music that listening almost sounds like "work," unless I'm in the car. I have XM, so I'll listen to the stations that have the "Top 20" type things playing so that I can keep a finger on what lots of folks are listening to. I also teach guitar lessons, and my teenage students often introduce me to new music they are listening to.

I do play video games fairly frequently. Currently, I'm playing Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath (an older XBOX game), the new Zelda (Wii) as well as Sly Cooper 3 (PS2). I tend to pick up a lot of "classics" games—you know—the ones available for $20 after they've sold a zillion units. They typically are the best games and they are also cheap! Other favorites include music games, like Donky Konga (Game Cube) and Lumines (PSP).

SFS: Most people have one person they admire, someone who has inspired them to follow their dreams. If you could sit down and talk to the person you most admire, whether living or not, who would it be and why?

John: Hmm... Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian conductor who led the Berlin Philharmonic for many, many seasons. He memorized every score he conducted and recorded all nine Beethoven Symphonies three different times. I have a DVD of him conducting towards the end of his life and he was simply amazing! I love watching people who truly internalize music into their bodies, and you can tell he does this amazingly well. Composing is a ton of fun but conducting (something I also do) is simply magical because, with the wave of your hands, you can create seemingly any sound from thin air.
 

SFS: It's always hard to pick favorites, but if you could compose the music for anything (video game, TV show, or major motion picture) what would it be?

John: I think it would be a blast to write for a TV series. I enjoy working quickly and on a deadline and I think this would be a ton of fun. However, I would also "settle" for a major film or TV special such as seen on the Discovery Network.

SFS: This can be a difficult question for musicians but... If you were stranded on a desert planet and you could only have one song, which would you choose?

John: Oh, brother. Well, I'd have to go with Brahms' 4th Symphony. It's a great piece and enormously complex, and at times challenging for the ear, while at the same time remaining very beautiful. You could listen to this piece a dozen times and still find many new things to hear in it each time. I heartily recommend it!

SFS: Where do you see yourself in your career in the future? Taking on more sci-fi projects, perhaps?

John: Sure. I am definitely going to work with Starship Farragut, at least through their next episode, "For Want of a Nail." Of course, I will need to make room eventually for non-fan films (aka "paying gigs"), but for now, it's a lot of fun and, I'm still working my day job so I'm happy to do it, and I'm sure it will be a ton of fun. It looks like this time around I'll have more than 10 days for the score as well! If there are readers who are interested in dropping me a line about a paid film project, I'd be happy to chat with them if they would like to e-mail me: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

SFS: Most people hope to leave a lasting mark on the world during their lifetime. What would you like to achieve musically in your lifetime?

John: It would be fantastic to score a major motion picture that is performed by a professional Hollywood orchestra. That alone would be a dream come true!

Thank you, John for taking time out to chat with us. It has been a pleasure! Good luck in all your future endeavors. We can't wait to check out your work in the next episode of Starship Farragut.

To learn more about John Seguin, check out the following websites:

http://www.seguinsound.com/ and www.soundclick.com/seguinsound