Words: Anna Lord
Photography: Sanna Charles
Turning his back on a life of rock-and-roll, Richard Mead, 29, embraced electronica, set up his own studio and composed the soundtrack for the car in front.
Music can do so much to fuel our emotional connection with the moving image. Sometimes it’s barely perceptible, quietly doing its thing in the background, but occasionally production music becomes iconic. Take the menacing notes that signal the shark’s approach in Jaws, or the high-pitched strings accompanying Janet Leigh’s grisly demise in the shower at Bates Motel. Music can make or break the atmosphere of a scene, and yet the talent behind the composition is all-too-often unsung.
One such production music hero is 29-year-old Richard Mead. Starting out playing in a band, he soon developed an interest in electronica and music production, setting up a small studio in his house, recording and occasionally playing live. After composing a piece for a short animation, commissions started rolling in and Richard promptly quit his day job.
Beyond the staples of film and TV, advertising and increasingly new media have a growing need for composing talent. Working under the moniker Cranium Sound, he has crafted the music for numerous short films, and recently, along with his writing partner, had an album published by EMI’s production music library KPM Music House.
His versatile creations blend styles from industrial electronic beats to serene piano compositions. “It’s really important to get the tempo and pace of the track right in the first place,” he explains. “After that, it’s a matter of picking up instruments, plugging in synths and playing around with melodies – trying to create something that is memorable, but that won’t detract from spoken words on screen.”
Working into the night to meet a deadline can numb your sense of perspective, and Richard advises anybody hoping to break into the field to find a trusted mentor: “After hours of listening to the same track, your ears get tired,” he points out. “It’s really important to get another perspective, especially from someone who knows their stuff.”
He draws inspiration from a broad range of material, but name-checks Michael Andrews and Thomas Newman. “I love a lot of things on the Warp label, like Chris Clark and Jackson and his Computer Band,” he adds. “Philip Glass and Max Richter are great, and so’s Mr Oizo – he wrote Flat Beat for that Levi’s ad, but also does some amazing progressive electronic music.”
Currently working on music for a computer game ad and adding the finishing touches to a joint album of production music album with another composer, his career ambition are simple: “It’d be great to be at the stage where I have an established reputation as a ‘go-to’ guy,” he reflects. “It’d also be nice to find time to write an album just for me.”
