Location: Hamburg, Germany
Member since: December 19, 2010
Tracks in portfolio on MusicRevolution.com: 55 (click here to hear all tracks) http://www.musicrevolution.com/search?artist=441
–Background—
Jon Mortimer is a professional musician with over 30 years of experience in theater, film and television as composer, arranger, musical director and keyboard player. Jon’s music is descriptive and evocative and embraces everything from classical orchestral to present day electronic styles.
–High profile projects or clients you have worked for?
I recently did a 10 part DVD/TV documentary series for Mercedes, otherwise diverse music for ARD and NDR TV in Germany. I compose and arrange a lot for theatre and live shows too, among them being a water circus called Crescend’O which ran for two years at Euro Disney.
–Primary instrument?
Piano
–Favorite music-making piece of gear or software you currently use?
Cubase 7. I’ve been using Cubase in its various versions since 1996 and I find I can totally rely on it. I couldn’t do without Sibelius for score writing either.
–Piece of gear or software you wish you owned?
The Cinesamples library and Berlin woodwinds.
–Film score or song you admire? Why?
There are many of course, but the film Ratatouille with music by Micheal Giacchino comes to mind as the music is so full of character and of course superbly orchestrated.
–Music education background?
My high school had a very good music department, so I played guitar with the big band, percussion with the symphony and wind orchestras, keyboards with my own bands, then went on to study piano, conducting and composition at the Leeds College of Music and the Birmingham Conservatoire.
–Memorable “Aha!” moment during your musical education?
Realising you can get totally different chords just by changing the bass note.
–Most embarrassing music-related moment?
Probably when I turned up to a gig and opened my flight case to find there was no keyboard inside. That was embarrassing.
–Moment you first knew you would be a musician?
From the age of 11 I was totally absorbed in music. From then on, music was it for me I think.
–Advice you would give to a younger family member interested in a music career?
Develop your skills and knowledge as early as possible in the area that you want to make a career out of, and then get to know as many professional people in that area as you can to inspire and help you step in.
–Five songs or albums you’d take with you to a desert island?
Beatles White Album
Beethoven complete Piano Sonatas by Willhelm Kempf
Noa
Gino Vanelli Night Walker
Rachmaninoff 3rd Piano Concerto played by Vladimir Ashkenasi with the LSO
–If you could master another instrument, what would it be?
I play guitar reasonably well but always wish I could play it better.
–Favorite time of day to work in your studio?
Anytime is good really, but mornings are definitely good.
–Any studio collaboration you experienced that stands out in your mind?
My first big studio production to record a full soundtrack with pretty much everything still to learn about hard disk recording.
–Some of your favorite tracks that you would want us to feature in the blog.
Dramatic Opener http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=14976 is a very bad title for a piece that was actually written a long time ago as an overture for a Musical called Rias Wish. It features solo trumpet by Larry Elam, a friend and great player of international status, who sadly died in a car accident a few years ago.
To Look Back On Love http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=23903 was originally intended as a song, but I reworked it as a violin solo with strings and classical guitar accompaniment and would make a strong theme or closing music for a serious dramatic film. The solo is played by Matthias Bromman, who recorded it in one take with great expression and phrasing.
It Had To Be http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=53319 is the last piece I submitted. There’s a trend to begin pieces with a repeated open 4th figure so I thought I’d do one too and see where it went to.
The Burden of War http://www.musicrevolution.com/search/?trackid=23902 was a track that I wrote as a MusicRevolution track demo for a video about war veterans and it ended up in an industrial film produced in South Africa.
I’d like to thank Music Revolution, Mike and Chris, for your support and interest in my music.
We thank Jon Mortimer for sharing some of his musical background with us and for contributing his tracks to MusicRevolution.com, the Royalty-Free Music Marketplace. If you need dramatic, descriptive and evocative music ranging from classical orchestral to present day electronic styles, check out Jon Mortimer’s music on MusicRevolution.com.
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Chris Cardell is the co-founder of MusicRevolution.com http://www.musicrevolution.com, a royalty-free music marketplace with over 32,000 tracks online where media producers, video producers, filmmakers, game developers, advertisers, businesses and other music buyers can license high-quality, affordable royalty-free music from an online community of professional musicians. MusicRevolution.com also provides custom music production and custom music streams. The entire MusicRevolution.com production music library is available for third-party distribution and bulk licensing for background music for retail, restaurants, hotels and businesses, and for other commercial applications. Cardell has been involved with digital content and E-Commerce since the mid-1990’s.
