Personal stories of inspiration from professional composers, songwriters and musicians.

In this episode, Gareth chats with composer Alex Baranowski about writing for a variety of media and the enormous impact his grandparents had on him.

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• Website – Alex Baranowski | Composer
• Alex Baranowski - IMDb
• Alex Baranowski (@alexbaranowski) / Twitter
• Alex Baranowski (@alexbaranowskimusic) • Instagram photos and videos

Speaker: 00:00:00

Welcome to the music room.

Speaker: 00:00:18

This week in the music ring.

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:20

I'll do everything is live as I, I can, even if it's in

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:24

my, I have mic set up all the time, stuff flying around all the time.

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:28

Uh, you know, you can see some stuff in the background, but literally in the

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:31

hallway, in our, in our hallway, just full of instruments every day as if, I'm sorry.

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:36

I'll keep it, put it somewhere

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:39

Hello, music rumors.

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:40

And welcome to another episode of the music room podcast.

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:43

The show where I chat with composers, songwriters, and musicians about what

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:47

they're up to before going back in time to find out how it all began.

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:51

Actually I say, I.

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:53

But if you go back and episode composer, singer, songwriter, and

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:56

musician, Charlotte Hatherley.

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:58

Yes.

Alex Baranowski: 00:00:59

The Charlotte handily.

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:01

Guest hosted and had a brilliant chat with composer, kali parody.

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:05

Who on top of scoring things like line of duty and the rising has toured with

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:10

Clint Mansell and Nick cave and the bad seeds well-worth listen that you can hear

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:14

it right there on your podcast app or.

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:16

At music, green podcast.uk.

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:19

In this episode, you're going to hear from a wonderfully inventive UK based composer,

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:24

Alex Baranowski, he's worked on everything from the BDC to ident and the hip BMC,

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:30

one comedy staged with David Tennant and Michael sheen to the delightful

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:34

BAFTA nominated the Windemere children for wall-to-wall and Warner brothers.

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:38

I'll introduce him properly in a bit, but rest assured it's a great listen.

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:42

So, so music stories.

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:48

Uh, Paul has picked up the worldwide rights to flora and son, John Carney's

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:52

musical load to motherhood that features a breakthrough performance by Eve Hewson.

Alex Baranowski: 00:01:57

The movie is Connie's first since his 2016 sensation sing street.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:01

Remember that, which also premiered at Sundance and just like sing street.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:05

It two features original songs by Connie and his frequent collaborator.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:09

And music queen guest, Gary Clark.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:12

Next.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:13

I asked the music room group on Facebook to share some quick tips

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:17

with their fellow music reamers.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:19

Uh, Janet Overfield says how to make your cello or Viola sound like it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:23

Isn't in a toilet.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:26

Gently wide depth at around 2.5 to 3.5 K.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:31

And gentle wide booster around 250 to 400 Hertz.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:35

Someone here could have probably told me that if I'd asked, but working out slowly

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:38

for myself this week was quite satisfying.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:40

That's great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:41

Nice little tip, Janet.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:42

Uh, Mike Langley, you can make a banjo out of an acoustic guitar by sticking

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:46

a balloon inside and inflating it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:48

Till it touches the strings.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:50

Play with caution.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:52

There you go.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:52

What a great tip.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:54

If you don't have a banjo.

Alex Baranowski: 00:02:55

Ruben Cornell dip your master at 500 Hertz to make it sound more open.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:00

Again, Very easy, very simple, very effective.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:03

Thanks Ruben.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:04

Bali Bali, man, this week's tip for me is try harder.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:09

Uh, we can all do that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:10

Got.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:10

Bali, uh, as a motivational device, I've bought a page two a day diary

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:14

and log everything I do in it at the end of the day, I think, oh, I've

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:18

done four hours guitar practice today.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:20

And then realize I've been awake for 12.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:22

So two.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:24

Yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:25

Uh, Joe Kendall says play from the heart and don't be afraid to

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:28

hold notes outside of the timings.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:31

As I'm finding this as sounding more raw and emotive this week,

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:34

that's absolutely spot on Joe.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:36

Yes.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:37

It's very easy to rely on the quantize button.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:40

Isn't it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:40

But it's much better to pay from the heart.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:42

Isn't it?

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:42

Absolutely.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:43

Robin Sherlock Tomayo says, make rules, then break them.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:47

Wow.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:48

Great little tip that I don't usually like using presets, but made a point

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:52

of using some Arturia ones this week.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:54

Freshen things up.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:55

No end.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:56

Why not.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:57

Fantastic tips, everyone.

Alex Baranowski: 00:03:59

Thank you so much for those.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:06

Alex Baranowski is a composer based in London.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:09

He recently scored eight part series rain dogs releasing this year

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:13

and his ballet legacy variations with choreographer, David Dawson.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:17

Premiered at the Dutch national ballet in December of last year.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:21

Recent film scores include a Gaza weekend directed by Oscar nominated basil Kaleel.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:26

For film for releasing in 2023.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:29

And Ruth Wilson and Jude law produced true things.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:32

As well as three series of hit BBC.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:34

One comedy staged, starring David Tennant and Michael sheen.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:38

BAFTA nominated the Windermere children for wall-to-wall and Warner brothers

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:42

and burial uh, world war II drama.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:44

For altitude film, starring Harriet, Walter let's find

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:48

out how it all began for Alex.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:50

And stick around as he'll be leaving at nighttime and a

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:53

piece of advice for you to find

Gareth: 00:04:55

Alex Barovsky composer, welcome to the music room.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:58

I'm very happy to be here.

Alex Baranowski: 00:04:59

Thank you very much for asking me to come.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:02

I enjoy your podcast very much.

Gareth: 00:05:03

Ah, that's always nice to hear.

Gareth: 00:05:05

Always nice to hear.

Gareth: 00:05:07

How are you today and, uh, what have you got going on

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:10

Very good.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:11

Very good.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:11

Um, well, I'm chatting to you.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:13

No, it's lovely.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:14

Um, how about yourself?

Gareth: 00:05:18

Hmm, well, I am, probably two thirds of the way through

Gareth: 00:05:21

a kid series at the moment.

Gareth: 00:05:22

based on, the wind in the Willows, which.

Gareth: 00:05:26

Lovely, really enjoying that.

Gareth: 00:05:28

Um, so I will be straight back to that.

Gareth: 00:05:30

Once we we've, uh, we've done, and you know, it's that typical mider.

Gareth: 00:05:35

Um, once everyone's happy with what they're doing, then it,

Gareth: 00:05:39

it really becomes a, a kind of a production line, doesn't it?

Gareth: 00:05:42

Of this comes to me, then goes back for notes, comes back

Gareth: 00:05:46

and onto post-production and.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:48

it's mine.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:49

I like that rhythm.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:49

I like that rhythm.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:50

When you've sort of, you've got the seams, you've got ideas,

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:52

you know what you're doing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:53

You still wanna sort of do, try and do new things.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:55

No, it's lovely.

Alex Baranowski: 00:05:57

It's lovely.

Gareth: 00:05:57

And it does become, if it's well oiled, it does become a, an opportunity

Gareth: 00:06:02

to really hone in on little bits as well.

Gareth: 00:06:05

Um, the, I had some, extra little notes, some fine notes this morning.

Gareth: 00:06:09

Um, and the director actually wrote to me and said, I'm so sorry cause I previously.

Gareth: 00:06:14

Said, I was happy with this episode, but I've just noticed this, this, and this.

Gareth: 00:06:18

And I had to say to him, it's, you know, it's fine.

Gareth: 00:06:20

It's part of the process.

Gareth: 00:06:22

You

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:22

It shows the director's got a love for it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:24

It's not just sort of, especially with music, sometimes you find

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:26

people just going on need tot that on, put this on if that's, but

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:29

actually it's, it's nice people.

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:30

I, I, I feel, I find that really lucky when people actually

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:33

want spend time with crafty.

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:35

Cause that's what we wanna do.

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:35

We wanna make the best thing we can make.

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:38

Right.

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:38

That's,

Gareth: 00:06:39

Absolutely.

Gareth: 00:06:40

Yeah, very

Gareth: 00:06:40

much.

Gareth: 00:06:41

Uh, speaking of which, I had a couple with, the music room Facebook

Gareth: 00:06:46

group this morning, and I mentioned that we were meeting and chatting

Gareth: 00:06:50

and so they have a couple of questions for you if you don't mind,

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:54

Of course,

Gareth: 00:06:54

So Ruben Cornell, he says Hi asks,

Alex Baranowski: 00:06:57

Hi.

Gareth: 00:06:59

also, it's like a, like a Saturday morning phone in, isn't it?

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:03

Oh, Ruben's lovely.

Gareth: 00:07:04

Yeah.

Gareth: 00:07:05

Uh, how does your writing process work with surround

Gareth: 00:07:08

sound in a theater environment?

Gareth: 00:07:09

Because you've done theater work and you, you've done

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:11

wow.

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:12

We're getting, we're getting right.

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:12

Stuck into the

Gareth: 00:07:13

We, we are, yeah.

Gareth: 00:07:14

Straight in at the deep

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:15

Um, well, I'm, I'm, I guess to give a bit of background,

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:17

I'm, I'm very lucky that I do, I work in various bits of film and theater

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:21

and dance and adverts and working.

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:24

So, and, and theater is a thing that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:26

She started it all off.

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:27

When I first got moved to London, the first thing I did was meet with some

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:32

composers and I, I met this lovely, um, lovely composer called Adrian

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:35

Sutton, who gave me an assistant role at the National Theater.

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:40

Um, just literally just doing copying of schools with

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:42

surveillance, something like that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:44

And, , I adored every second of being in that building.

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:47

It was just sort of, it was just this, having been in this room on my own,

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:51

desperately trying to find work, get a job, do Australia, and meeting these

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:54

amazing people in this incredible room.

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:56

Um, and I learned about theater and I, this wonderful thing

Alex Baranowski: 00:07:59

of theater is where you can.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:01

It's not like we're working on a film or a tv.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:03

You're like, you can put a speaker wherever you want and you can make a

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:07

sound come out of it whenever you want.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:09

It's amazing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:11

Um, so set.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:12

Yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:12

So Ruben's question surround sound.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:14

Yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:14

I, I'm obsessed with it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:15

I love it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:16

I've hidden speakers on the seats in theaters and put them in roofs and put

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:20

them in corridors and put them behind stages, above the stages outside.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:25

On stage hidden.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:27

Um, so you can put them anywhere and it's wonderful and it can help tell

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:30

the story and, and the one, sorry, you were saying you wanted to ask me a.

Gareth: 00:08:33

well, well, I guess the question in that context is did

Gareth: 00:08:36

you actually write in multichannel

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:40

Well, yes, so, so a lot of the time in theater, I'm

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:43

not just being hire as a c compos, I'm been kind as a sound designer.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:47

So you sort of mix the two very, in a really interesting way

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:51

and it really changed the way I've worked in film as well.

Alex Baranowski: 00:08:54

And because you're sort of using sounds as musical, you know, making sounds

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:00

of music or making music at sounds.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:01

And if you know you are going to be writing music for this, it's, it's almost

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:05

as simple as sort of writing steps.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:07

So I want this to go out, this speaker.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:08

I will make a stem of it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:09

I'll do this.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:10

So you having knowing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:11

, I guess it's quite similar to writing a computer game.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:13

Not that I've ever written a computer game, um, in that sort of way, but I

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:17

guess it's, it's writing ideas isn't, you're not writing a linear piece of

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:20

media that starts here and then in three minutes maybe you are writing

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:23

a piece that starts in a certain way.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:26

And when an actor says a certain thing or something happens on stage, you can make

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:29

that as a cue and then the next queue will come along to add another layer to it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:33

Another, this, you could add some sound.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:35

And you can just build up sound scripts.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:36

There's, there's a, a very clever program called Q Lab, which is.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:40

, um, both simply use that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:41

It's actually free to download just the normal stereo version so you can do,

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:45

it's, it's, um, yeah, check it out if you're interested to get to the theater.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:49

But it's amazing because you, you can just play, audio files.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:53

You can put fades in, you can send things to here, send things to there.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:56

And it's a really, really simple system.

Alex Baranowski: 00:09:57

But most, most datas use, Q Lab.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:00

Um, and so as a Samsung designer composer, I will sit in a, in a technical

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:03

rehearsal or even in rehearsal room before we've gone into the theater and.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:07

Start putting things into this, into the queue.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:09

I want a laptop and pay things through.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:13

Um, so nor normally I'm quite organized, so I can, I've just, I did a show, at

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:17

the end of last year, called Orlando, which is on now in the West End.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:21

Until the end of February and I, I'd sat in the rehearsal room and I wrote

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:24

lots and lots and lots of music.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:25

It was a very big music show and sounds and we programmed everything really there.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:29

So I knew before I went into theater where everything was

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:31

gonna go, I designed the space.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:33

So we had surrounds, we had had speakers on stage.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:36

I put a speaker in the roof.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:37

This amazing theater.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:38

It's incredible.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:39

So when you have things like rain, you there was a, There was

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:41

a, um, Scene in Istanbul where we have sort of called to prayers.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:44

And it's amazing putting this call to prayer, like through a roof.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:48

And in the theater sort of, it's not coming out the speakers,

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:50

it's not coming behind me.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:51

It's coming.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:51

It's, and it's really amazing kind of just to,

Gareth: 00:10:54

Really

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:55

you don't really put it in words.

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:55

And I think as, as an audience like you, probably most people wouldn't really

Alex Baranowski: 00:10:58

notice cuz you're sort of, you're in it, you know, a theater show's done well.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:03

You are just so absorbed into action.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:05

You don't think, oh, that's a nice, I, no, I do because I sit in it like, like

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:09

we all watch films and think, oh, that was a nice music cue or a bit different.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:13

Um, so yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:14

I, I love that aspect of, sound in, in theater.

Gareth: 00:11:16

Yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:17

um, yeah, use sound, use music.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:19

Yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:19

Great.

Gareth: 00:11:20

Fantastic.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:21

Sorry, that was a really long-winded

Gareth: 00:11:23

a, that's fine.

Gareth: 00:11:24

No, that's, that's it.

Gareth: 00:11:25

Is gold dust, honestly.

Gareth: 00:11:26

Getting people who actually have.

Gareth: 00:11:28

A wealth of experience to explain something like that

Gareth: 00:11:30

for listeners is, is wonderful.

Gareth: 00:11:32

So thank you.

Gareth: 00:11:33

And

Gareth: 00:11:33

Reen.

Gareth: 00:11:33

I hope, that answers your question.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:36

But I have to say like theater is a, it's a bit of a mystic art.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:39

Like a lot of composers.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:40

In recent years, I've How'd you get in theater?

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:42

You know, you just meet people.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:45

You know, I've, the wonderful thing, the wonderful thing about that was, um,

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:48

working at the National Theater, which is this wonderful, huge, big theater.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:52

I was, I think I was 25, 14 years ago.

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:55

And, I met so many people, but all the assistants to the

Alex Baranowski: 00:11:58

directors, all the assistants to the designers, all the assistant

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:01

composers, we all knew each other.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:02

And we went, made films above a pub for no money.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:05

You know, we, we, we learned how to do it all.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:07

And now all these guys, they're directing shows, they're directing

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:10

films, they're directing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:11

This is kind of how I'm quite lucky in being able to do so many different things.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:17

Cause I guess you sort of meet people along the way and you think, I'll do that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:20

I'll do this.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:20

Come on, I'll have a go at.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:22

. Um, and it's, yeah, it's wonderful.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:24

And that's what I really loved about theater is it just got me out and

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:27

meeting people, but not meeting people.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:29

Cuz I'm a networking event.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:30

I have to meet someone cuz I don't do that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:31

if I've ever go to one of them, I will go to the corner and I will

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:34

hide in the loo and Ill leave.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:37

Um, because that's my, that's what's me.

Gareth: 00:12:40

That's your networking style.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:42

yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:43

Any sort of, I hate, I'm terrible.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:45

I'm terrible with all that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:46

Meeting greets as well.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:47

But yes, it's sort of meeting people by accident and saying,

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:50

oh, you did that and it's great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:51

Oh, should we do this?

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:52

And let's, you know, let's catch up for a cup of tea and let's go for, you know,

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:56

go to the pub afterwards, after the show.

Alex Baranowski: 00:12:58

And like, it's, it's really amazing kind of having that little network

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:02

of people to do that in Yeah, in, in, and theater was my way.

Gareth: 00:13:06

Yeah.

Gareth: 00:13:06

Fabulous, fabulous.

Gareth: 00:13:08

Um, going over to another medium, of television.

Gareth: 00:13:11

Janet in the music room group, uh, Janet Overfield.

Gareth: 00:13:14

Hello Janet.

Gareth: 00:13:15

She asks about, uh, the series staged with David Tennant and Michael Sheen, um,

Gareth: 00:13:19

because it started during the pandemic.

Gareth: 00:13:21

How did the writing process.

Gareth: 00:13:23

Differ in that situation.

Gareth: 00:13:24

Cause everyone was kind of trying to figure out how to do

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:28

All a bit confused.

Gareth: 00:13:29

Were they

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:29

Well that sort of came about cuz the director, um,

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:32

Simon, who was actually in it and he wrote it, we were due to do a

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:35

theater show which got canceled.

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:37

And he was a bit niff about it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:38

And instead of, being like everyone else, like we were like, I was just

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:41

kind of complaining about it and going, oh crap, what we gonna do now?

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:44

He was like, right, I'm gonna write a sitcom, um, on Zoom about

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:48

a theater show that got cancel.

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:50

And that's how it came about.

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:51

So I got this call from Simon saying, GE Fancy, just, just try this pilot.

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:55

So he, he managed to convince, David and Michael to try this pilot.

Alex Baranowski: 00:13:58

We all work for free.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:00

Just sort of just read, just, just try it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:01

Let's just, let's see an episode, see if it works.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:03

It's lovely editor called Danage.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:05

And we put it together and it was great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:07

It was really, really good.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:09

Very quickly they managed to get the BBC to commission it said, right, you're off.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:12

And it was then a very, very rush, like Right, we've gotta do it,

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:15

we've gotta get this out there cuz you know, who knows when the hell

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:17

long this pandemic's gonna last.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:18

Like, we might all be out in a week.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:20

So it was, it literally got to the point where I'd be given a cup on a.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:25

Thursday night, I'd watch it and make notes and start writing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:28

And I'd have Friday, maybe morning and I'd get some notes back from the director.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:32

And yeah, to, I'd record it live with a lovely, based town at play called

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:37

Ben Castle, who was based on, I, you know, it was all done on, on, you

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:41

know, email and zoom and so it'll all be mixed by the end of the night.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:44

So I do have to do a, literally a whole episode in 24 hours and turn it

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:47

around and ready for the sound mix.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:50

What if it was the Friday or, you know, like it literally was

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:52

like, no, it was no, no time.

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:54

But it was kind of fun and cool and so, so it was, it was just, the

Alex Baranowski: 00:14:57

idea behind it was to make it sound like it was made in a pandemic.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:02

Like I, I, I wanted to have some big brush thing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:05

Like I wanted it to sound like, well, I've got a piano in here, so I have a piano.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:08

I think a little quirky based cla No, let's do it like it sounds.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:11

It was done in my back bedroom, which it kinda

Gareth: 00:15:13

And, and actually you didn't really need to imagine, did you,

Gareth: 00:15:16

because you were making it in a pandemic

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:18

Exactly.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:18

Exactly.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:19

Exactly, exactly.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:21

So I, I just love the lofi of it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:23

I love the silliness of it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:24

Um, and it, it's been amazing how, how well it's come.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:28

Like, you know, so many people ask me for the score to play the piano, so

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:31

I just put it up for free on Twitter.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:33

I was like, great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:34

It's like you wanna play it, put it like play it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:36

Send me a video.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:36

If you played it,

Gareth: 00:15:37

That's wonderful,

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:38

it, it was great fact.

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:39

We, there was an amazing video that did come true that was, um, this amazing

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:43

band of, music graduates and they did big arrangement of it with bubble

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:46

bass and clarinets and piano and touch with one of the guys and becoming my

Alex Baranowski: 00:15:52

assistant he'd been working with me for.

Gareth: 00:15:54

It's how it happens.

Gareth: 00:15:56

Wonderful.

Gareth: 00:15:56

Well, thank you Janet.

Gareth: 00:15:58

I hope that answers your question.

Gareth: 00:15:59

Uh, I've got my own question because, I think I was made aware of you with the

Gareth: 00:16:04

BBC two I dents, that were I'm sure a wonderful experiment in sound design.

Gareth: 00:16:09

But what really put you onto my radar was the film, the Windier Children.

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:14

Oh yeah.

Gareth: 00:16:14

is based on the experience of child survivors of the Holocaust,

Gareth: 00:16:18

a camp set up near Lake Windier and the score is suitably emotive.

Gareth: 00:16:22

What was it like to write that and how did the sound of the film come into being?

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:29

Oh, well that was, oh, I was, that was such a beautiful film

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:31

and it was really, so the, the film like about these Polish refugees that came

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:35

over from Poland to the late district and I, from all my grandparents were Polish

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:41

refugees who, they didn't go to the late district, but they ended up, in the uk.

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:45

After the war.

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:46

and it was really interesting cause I, my grandparents were

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:48

these amazing creative people.

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:49

My, my granddad was a, a poet, a musician, and, my grandmother

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:53

and a amazing oil painter.

Alex Baranowski: 00:16:55

And, they really, really wrote and painted about their experiences in the war.

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:01

And it was so moving to.

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:03

To read and to see these paint and, and to think of it in context and

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:06

sort of, and the film was very good at making that feel a bit more real.

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:11

And so I put my grandmother's paintings up and there's some really harrowing

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:13

paintings that she, she made of her time around there that's sort of half

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:17

abstract, half figurative, with sort of quite harrowing details that, um, I

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:24

need, I need to sort of work from this.

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:26

And, um, I use my granddad's instrument like, so that's this accordion

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:29

they obviously see on a podcast.

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:31

But I've got an accordion in my room that my granddad bought in, um,

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:34

in Italy, I think in So, so all my grandparents were, they were taken

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:38

to Siberia and they were taken to Siberian labor camps, prison camps.

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:41

And the only reason they were, Released is because, uh, Stalin switched sides

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:47

from, you know, obviously working with Hitler, invading Poland, and

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:49

he switched sides to the alley.

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:50

So he said, right off, off you go, you need to go and fight.

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:53

And they made them march from Siberia to Palestine to Italy.

Alex Baranowski: 00:17:58

So it, it really, really affected me thinking about their experiences and

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:02

experiences on the, on the children in the film, and I used, my granddad's

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:05

instruments and I, I, like I said, I, I put the paintings of my grandma around

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:09

the studio and I, I genuinely was sort of crying through writing a lot of cues.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:13

It was, cuz it was, it was a really, so yeah, it was a

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:15

really emotional experience.

Gareth: 00:18:18

in a, in a way, adding to their creativity through time.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:23

It's really, and it's, it's made me actually write, write more.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:26

And I just recently released actually a.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:28

A piece that a Canadian violinist, commissioned, um, called Debo.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:33

I wrote a piece called Spring, which is based on one of the

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:35

poems that my, my granddad wrote.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:37

They're all in Polish, but I sort, my is terrible.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:39

So I have to use Google Translate and then get a family member to

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:42

sort of translate a bit better.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:43

It was the most beautiful sort of, you know, he wrote it in Siberia when.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:48

It must have been so bleak, like living through a Siberian

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:51

winter in a labor camp thinking.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:53

And I, and I've heard his account, there's, he's a recorded account

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:56

of his on, um, Imperial War Museum.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:57

It's, it's really incredible.

Alex Baranowski: 00:18:59

Um, and I remember talking to him about it and we was, we were really close and he

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:02

brought me my first violin when I was six.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:04

He was, he had a choir into his nineties.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:06

He was incredible.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:07

Incredible man.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:08

But no, it was, it was really wonderful.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:10

It was like, it was, it was great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:11

Yeah.

Gareth: 00:19:12

Well, with that in mind, because you are actually going back in time

Gareth: 00:19:15

with your violin at six years old.

Gareth: 00:19:17

Uh, why don't we go back in time and, uh, find out how it all began.

Gareth: 00:19:22

If you are ready, I.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:27

Wonderful.

Gareth: 00:19:28

Okay, so you.

Gareth: 00:19:29

Mentioned about, your grandfather buying you your first violin.

Gareth: 00:19:33

Was that the first time that you had experienced music?

Gareth: 00:19:37

Or was there a time before that that you can remember?

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:39

so, so that, that accordion that, um, I mentioned

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:41

that my, my grandma bought in Italy in sort of like forties.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:45

I remember him playing it to me and sort of singing and, when

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:48

I must have been really little.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:49

I remember it sort of towering over me and now it's.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:52

Sort of, you know, I think, oh that's, but I remember it being this huge thing, this

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:56

huge special thing that lived upstairs and every now and again, he'd play it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:19:59

Cause I sort of spend my summers, with them, you know, summer holidays,

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:03

that was sort of my childcare.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:04

I sort of realized, you know, sort of painting and listening to music and, and

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:07

that was, I guess that was really lucky.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:09

And I kept quite unusual I guess.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:11

But they, they really did a lot in that, Creativity and just sort of thinking,

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:16

well, of course we can be creative.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:17

That's what we do.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:18

It's funny, I sort see my kids and they, my, their seven year old comes in and,

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:22

well, of course that's what dad does.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:23

He just does music for stuff, you know, , it's what?

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:26

There's no question for it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:27

There's no question that, you know.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:30

Yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:30

I love it.

Gareth: 00:20:31

Yeah.

Gareth: 00:20:31

Yeah,

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:32

It's very lucky.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:32

Really.

Gareth: 00:20:33

very much so.

Gareth: 00:20:34

What were the circumstances of him buying you a violin then?

Gareth: 00:20:40

What

Gareth: 00:20:40

was all that

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:40

don't, I don't know why he, he was always sort of like,

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:42

you, I think you need to pay the violin.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:44

I thought, okay, great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:45

That, well,

Gareth: 00:20:46

Okay.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:46

And I've still, I've got it like it's a little sort of

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:48

half size, quarter size little violin.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:50

My, my kid plays in it now.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:52

And then I ended up, it ended up not being the right violin to learn violin.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:55

I think it was too small for even at six.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:56

It was too small.

Alex Baranowski: 00:20:57

So I ended, getting another violin.

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:00

Um, and Jetta started, started lessons and

Gareth: 00:21:03

you enjoy that or

Gareth: 00:21:04

were you doing

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:05

it, absolutely loved it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:06

It's only when it got a bit and I got bit older and I had to practice and I had to

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:10

do that, you know, when you were 11, 12, 13, like, wow, I don't wanna do this.

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:14

But by then I'd sort of discovered the piano and I didn't really

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:16

wanna practice that either.

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:16

I'd, but I'd sort of loved to sort of just listen to stuff off the TV and try

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:20

and copy stuff, try and write my own, you know, really loved the piano and

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:23

discovered jazz, discovered everything, and then talk to the piano practice 20

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:27

minutes before the Planet two arrived.

Gareth: 00:21:29

You, did you transition from the violin then?

Gareth: 00:21:32

Did you, are we kind of doing them in

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:33

No, I kept, I, I think I kept playing it until I was about,

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:36

um, 15, 16, the violin, and then I sort of, the, the piano took over.

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:40

But it, I, I'm obsessed with strings.

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:43

If anyone's heard my music, they're probably

Gareth: 00:21:45

a little bit.

Gareth: 00:21:46

Yeah.

Gareth: 00:21:46

It comes across

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:49

Um, but that's why, and I genuinely can't

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:52

play it, but I wish I could.

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:54

Every time I meet people, you know, young composers who play things like violence

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:57

and cellos, just use it, use it, use it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:21:59

Cause I, you know, I wish.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:01

I have tried.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:01

I thought, you know what, if I just try a little bit and like add it, layer it

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:04

like no, no, it's just, it's just bad.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:05

It sounds like some cat being,

Gareth: 00:22:08

With your piano then, you mentioned you went for lessons.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:10

yeah, so, well, I think I started kinda lessons a bit later.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:12

Maybe like nine.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:14

Nine or 10.

Gareth: 00:22:16

Yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:17

I, and I loved it and again, my granddad sort of had lots of

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:19

instruments lying around like mandolins and guitars and accordions and so it's

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:24

just, I just love playing things and again, sort of string instruments is

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:27

sort of what I'm kind of obsessed with.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:29

I love sort of playing, I've got lots of random string instruments as

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:32

well, and that's again, from, from that, like again, I've never had

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:35

lessons in all these Mandos and, all the stuff, electric guitars, but I.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:40

Just trying and pretending and playing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:42

And then when, when I've gone traveling again, I've sort of

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:46

traveling with my, my wife resource lived in India for four months, so

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:49

of course I came back with a sit.

Alex Baranowski: 00:22:54

But again, it just sounds wonderful with adding some sort of thing to a,

Gareth: 00:22:59

Yeah.

Gareth: 00:23:00

And if you have a basis in, something strings like the violin or the guitar,

Gareth: 00:23:03

see guitars on your wall, then you've got a starting point, haven't you, of

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:07

Yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:07

Absolut.

Gareth: 00:23:08

And, you know, piano accordion, it's not too far a stretch, um, except

Gareth: 00:23:13

you're, you're kind of pulling the piano apart and putting that together,

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:16

Yeah, Absolutely.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:18

It's all kind of the same thing, isn't it?

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:19

And then there's this wonderful thing called Melaine, which

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:21

makes everything better for me

Gareth: 00:23:22

Oh yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:25

whenever it comes to me trying to

Gareth: 00:23:27

spilling the production secrets.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:29

anything.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:29

Oh God, yeah.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:31

But I, but again, I love it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:32

Like I'd rather do that than try and find a sample or try and find a thing at this.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:36

That sort seems to be my ethos.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:37

So if I'm not doing orchestral things, I'll do everything is live

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:41

as I, I can, even if it's in my, I have mic set up all the time,

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:45

stuff flying around all the time.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:48

Uh, you know, you can see some stuff in the background, but literally in the

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:50

hallway, in our, in our hallway, just full of instruments every day as if, I'm sorry.

Alex Baranowski: 00:23:56

I'll keep it, put it somewhere, but

Gareth: 00:24:01

Fantastic.

Gareth: 00:24:02

So your grandparents clearly a massive influence on you early on.

Gareth: 00:24:06

Were there, you know, music teachers or other people, perhaps in school

Gareth: 00:24:11

or clubs or anything like that, that might have influenced you as well?

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:17

Yes.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:17

I guess I, you know, I think it's, it's, it's having strong, strong people who

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:21

sort of really love doing the same thing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:23

I, I remember really loving music lessons as at secondary school.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:26

I think it was only when I went to college, Doing a Apples.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:29

I went to this really wonderful college.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:30

There's, there's one, very famous composer alumni who went

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:33

there that I knew very well.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:35

I knew of very well when I got there, who was hands immer.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:37

So we sort of went to the same school and when, when they did a, um, a Dr.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:41

Win about recently they interviewed.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:43

Our headmaster was the same guy, and he's wonderful.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:45

He's so supportive and wonderful.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:47

And I've, I've gone back quite a few times to sort of talk

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:50

to students, things like that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:51

And obviously they couldn't get a famous guy come in.

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:54

Um, he was a bit too far, but then, um, and it was, he always

Alex Baranowski: 00:24:57

asked, he always knows what I'm doing and I, it's really wonderful.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:00

And the, the teachers there, they're really supported.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:03

Really wonderful.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:03

That's kind of really where I really.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:05

Cubase really learn how to get my way around a door, and really work out.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:11

And that sort of gave me a love.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:12

And I ended up going, leaving there and I went to liquid in Liverpool,

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:15

which is Paul Carney's old school, which he then turned into a sort of

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:17

music college and they did their music and dance and sound technology, which

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:21

I sort went and sound technology.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:24

I thought, well, I do, I wanna go and do music or do I wanna go and do.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:28

Of course it sort of helps, you know, understand how to record music and

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:31

still do music, but then I can sort of record my own music and maybe I can

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:34

make more money by having both things.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:36

Um, so that was my thought processes.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:37

So I sort of learned about technology and recording as well as the music and.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:41

And that was really inspiring.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:42

The people on there were wonderful cuz it's sort of going to a, a university

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:46

like that and Paul McCartney got literally rang up his mates and got people to

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:51

come in and, just give guest lectures.

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:53

There's a, we had an amazing guest lecture in Glen Johns who was the one

Alex Baranowski: 00:25:57

of that Leo, the amazingly dressed guy on the, like the get back documentary

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:00

doing You record all the, let it be.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:02

And he sort of came and listened to our material and some diagram around how he

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:06

sort of invited the stereo technique.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:07

And, um, just really amazing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:09

Like we have so many people like that come in and Paul himself like

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:12

gave us to degrees and sort of came in and did some master classes.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:14

And so it was a really incredible time.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:17

So the college and university, this sort five years of being so

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:21

inspired and that it, it's not about going, this is how you make a

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:24

guitar, this is how you make a thing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:26

They sort of said, look, these are the tools we.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:30

And look, you can do this.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:31

This is a compressor, but it's sort of, you know, you need to figure

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:33

out how you do this compressor.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:35

How you wanna mic this guitarist.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:37

You don't just say, right, you put on the 12th threat and it's done.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:39

You go, well look, you can, you can tune it this way.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:41

You can, you know, you see how resonant is.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:43

Try micing it around the back.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:44

Try doing this, try playing it in a bathroom.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:46

Like we really learn all these amazing, just, it gave you so much creativity.

Alex Baranowski: 00:26:51

And that's something I do every single day now

Gareth: 00:26:54

was gonna say that it seems to be something that, you've kind

Gareth: 00:26:57

of put your own stamp on, and use.

Gareth: 00:27:00

I think as a, we both know as a modern kind of media composer, you need a ru

Gareth: 00:27:05

at least a rudimentary knowledge of recording techniques and stuff like that.

Gareth: 00:27:10

But to have that kind of background, to bring into your work,

Gareth: 00:27:14

It shows in your

Gareth: 00:27:15

work.

Gareth: 00:27:15

Definitely.

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:16

Oh, that's really good for you.

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:17

It was so useful.

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:18

And I think once I left the, you know, once I left Leper, I said I

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:23

went traveling for a year, you know, with, uh, went to India places,

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:27

um, bought lots of instruments.

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:28

But, um, when I came back, sort of letter says what I wanna do,

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:30

I wanna, I wanna write music.

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:32

Like, but how am I gonna do this?

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:33

I dunno, anyone, I don.

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:35

I don't have any contact, I don't have any money . So, I ended up moving in

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:40

with my then girlfriend, now wife's parents and her granddad had an, uh,

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:44

a house a couple miles down the road.

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:46

And this is in south, northern Liverpool, nowhere near where I'm from.

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:50

And, my mom gave, gave a bit, let me a bit of money to buy a, a Mac and I had

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:55

all these instruments and I bought a mic.

Alex Baranowski: 00:27:57

Um, and I just learned again, like, so I've, I'd sort of learned how to recall

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:02

in as studio situation and I learned again how to everything, how to write, how to

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:07

make a sound, what my sound was, what I wanted to say as a composer, what my.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:11

What did I sound like?

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:12

How did I record?

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:13

How do I, so I spent, I literally spent like year, year in a quarter

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:17

doing that seven days a week.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:19

And I was obsessed.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:20

And this is the days before Twitter.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:22

This is the days before.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:23

You know, I didn't, I didn't have , internet access on my computer.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:26

I was in this attic.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:27

It's really cold with a gas heater, with a gas, c gas sort of heater.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:32

But it was, it was sort of my little space and I adored that space.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:36

It was my bad, you know, instruments, computer, and I, it was just

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:39

about learning my craft and that was the best year I've ever

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:43

had for myself, for my career.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:45

Like learning what I do, like figuring out how I do it and

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:50

figuring out what plugins do.

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:51

And I, I, cause I was sort of, I, I went over to pros when I was at, at

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:55

Lipper and learned sort of pros and then that's how I, I, I still use Pros

Alex Baranowski: 00:28:59

now, sort of, I, I wanted to figure out how I could make things sound great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:02

And then I sort of bought some, I think it was the, the original East.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:06

Gold library.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:07

Um, which, you know, of course they had no lato things in those days.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:11

They had nothing like that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:12

Um, and it was just, I just spent my time obsessing, how do I make this sound real?

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:16

How do I make this sound, the string sound interesting with, with

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:20

adding some guitars, adding some pianos, adding what, what can I do?

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:23

And I just, I, I've completely obsessed and I ended up putting

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:26

music on my MySpace, I think.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:29

And I got people sort of contacted me saying, oh, can you do this,

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:31

film, you know, we know well, well, I say film was student film

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:35

stuff, so then I, I learned, you know, made all the mistakes on a student film

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:38

and like, I'd had the best time ever.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:40

I loved it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:41

Um, you know, no money involved.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:42

You don't even, I didn't even think about that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:44

But, it was, yeah, like I say, it was the best.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:45

And I, I know I'm saying, as I'm saying, I know I'm saying this from a

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:49

immensely middle class, white male, p.

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:53

A position to be in this, because I know a lot of people don't have the

Alex Baranowski: 00:29:57

opportunity to go and spend a year living on someone else's dime without having

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:01

to, you know, after, like it's, it's a really, really privileged position to

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:04

be in, and I completely understand that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:05

And I, and I, I can understand why having done that, why it's so difficult

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:10

for people who aren't able to afford to do that, to, to get in this, because

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:14

look, it, it is this kinda interesting where, you know, you as, as we all

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:19

know, listen to this, however, Little long, we've all done this thing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:23

It it, it takes so much to do this.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:25

Like no one, no one comes in.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:28

He goes, oh, great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:28

You can read it now.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:29

You've done it great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:30

Do you wanna come and do this?

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:31

Like it is, but that's what's kind of wonderful about it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:34

And, um, you know, it's, it's about learning and learning and learning.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:37

And, and even in my twenties I thought, oh, I can score films now.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:40

I've been doing this for a few years and, and it's looking back now like I.

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:45

There's so much I know now that I didn't know then that I, you, you

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:49

learning all the time and I'm sure in 10 years time I'll look back at

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:51

what I'm doing now and think, oh, you were so naive, You know, it's about,

Alex Baranowski: 00:30:56

it's about learning all the time

Gareth: 00:30:58

Yeah.

Gareth: 00:30:59

But then if you go into it, knowing what you're in for, I, I'm, I'm not sure many

Gareth: 00:31:05

people would actually decide to go ahead,

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:09

no,

Gareth: 00:31:09

See, for me, it was totally unexpected.

Gareth: 00:31:12

You know, the amount of graft and the amount of the, the amount

Gareth: 00:31:15

you have to really dig deep and think, is this really what I want?

Gareth: 00:31:19

You

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:19

I completely agree.

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:20

And, and, and we all have many moments like that.

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:23

And I remember, you know, thinking that now, like it really affected.

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:27

You know, mental health, you know, when you sort of go up for jobs and

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:29

you don't get them with this, and it's frustrating cause you then you move

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:32

to London and you can't pay the rent.

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:33

Like, it's just so, so, so hard.

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:36

And, and then, you know, you, you maybe find a way out, you know, I'll pitch

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:39

this advert, pay my rent for three months and then you don't get it and you, and

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:44

you just, all you can think about is not being able to pay your two months.

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:48

And so it's, it's a really really hard thing and it, you can see why

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:52

everyone struggles because we all struggle and it's what's really bad,

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:56

you sort of look at other people and you can compare yourself with them When

Alex Baranowski: 00:31:58

you think why it all looks so easy.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:01

And even sometimes I look at my own.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:03

Terrible website and go.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:04

Got it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:05

It looks, looks quite impressive actually.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:06

I mean, but it doesn't feel like that when you do it.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:09

But everything looks, looks better on the, on the outside and I

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:13

think you need to remember that

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:14

and I remember sort of being in studios and, and seeing composers and who were.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:18

Many, many wrongs above me and working on these incredible films, and it's

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:22

sort of being satisfying that they're having a really hard, difficult timing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:25

Okay, great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:26

Like I always imagined it'll be easy.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:28

You just be drinking coffee and getting assistance to help, you

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:32

know, but actually, it's, it's not, it's a hard, the whole way through.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:35

And that's, okay.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:36

As long as we, we know that, I think it's not about taking your eye off the ball.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:39

There's never a moment you can just go, yeah, I'm done Now.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:41

Just

Gareth: 00:32:41

Exactly, and there's a massive responsibility on

Gareth: 00:32:44

your shoulders, isn't it?

Gareth: 00:32:45

You know, you get into a position where you think, yes, I've got a gig, I've got a

Gareth: 00:32:49

commission, and then you are responsible.

Gareth: 00:32:52

You know, you, you are . Then the sleepless nights start because, oh God,

Gareth: 00:32:57

you know, you gotta get everything right.

Alex Baranowski: 00:32:59

Absolutely.

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:00

And it's, and it's not something I think, I think, again, and I, I'm

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:03

guilty of it, I know when I was younger, but I think as a, when you

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:06

are as a young composer, you sort of.

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:08

You, well, I know I can do this.

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:10

I'm, why aren't I doing this?

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:11

But, but you think about it like you are as a composer for a film.

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:14

You're, it's the equivalent of being a CEO of a, of a multimillion pound project.

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:20

You know?

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:20

Or a head of department of a of a very, very big, you know, you

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:23

this, this just writing music is, you know, in charge of hundreds of

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:28

thousands of pounds of, of budget.

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:30

That, to go to orchestras, I, it takes so much experience and knowledge and.

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:35

No one gets given a CEO job when they're in their twenties.

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:38

And if they are, God help you because you know, like it's about working

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:43

on those smaller projects, isn't it?

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:44

And learning and figuring it all out bigger.

Alex Baranowski: 00:33:48

And they get bigger and

Gareth: 00:33:50

Yeah, so not to end on a despairing note , I ask, all of my guests

Gareth: 00:33:57

to leave an item and a piece of advice, in the music room for others to find.

Gareth: 00:34:02

So have you got an item that you'd like to leave in the music room?

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:06

So I was thinking about this and I was listening

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:08

to what other people left behind.

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:11

And I was thinking, so one of the most useful things is a little black book.

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:14

And in that little black book is people.

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:18

And it's not my people.

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:19

I'm not giving you a black book full of people.

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:22

I'm giving you a black book for you to fill with your people.

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:25

Cuz I think what you do is all about people.

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:27

Like we sit in our little rooms on our own most of the time and we, we write,

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:33

we, we want the stuff to come to us, but it doesn't, you know, we have to go

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:36

out and do it and I love writing music.

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:39

I love getting musicians to, to play and collaborate with.

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:42

And so I have a, a lovely, lovely group of people now that I sort of like, but at the

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:49

moment I'm like ringing up people saying, can you put this some cello on this?

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:52

Can you do this?

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:52

Can you write, you know, can you help me with this?

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:55

Can you do some, some surveillance things on this one?

Alex Baranowski: 00:34:57

I'm doing it and directors and people, like I said, that you meet assistants

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:01

when you are really young and they end up becoming their own directors.

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:05

And I, I was sort of starter when Facebook was really just in it, in its

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:09

infancy from, um, For the masses like us.

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:12

I remember, you know, before Twitter, and I remember sort of being recontacted

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:15

with all these, you know, people from Mays and school and going,

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:18

oh, you've worked in the BBC now.

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:19

Can I ever do

Gareth: 00:35:20

Yeah,

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:21

now even more connected, I guess so, and Twitter

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:25

getting some wonderful work and meeting wonderful people on Twitter.

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:29

I guess it's just about connections and not being on your

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:32

own and having a little book.

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:34

Remind you of all the, it doesn't have to be a physical, it can be in

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:36

your head, it can be, it can be in

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:37

your

Gareth: 00:35:38

no.

Gareth: 00:35:38

It's a, it's a physical black book.

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:41

and, and in

Gareth: 00:35:41

go

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:42

book, and it's a, and and to be fair, there's a little

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:44

black book of people that are, have not been particularly pleasant or not

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:47

be, you know, that I, I, I've been, I've been very lucky that I've had a

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:51

lot of positive experiences and there's been a few negative experiences, but,

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:55

you know, whether, whether it's people working with, whether it's a musician

Alex Baranowski: 00:35:59

being a complete ass about something, or it's about this, or it's about,

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:02

you know, no, no one's gonna, you.

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:04

I, I wanna try and be as fair and wonderful and you wanna be with everyone,

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:09

you know, but, but it's, you wanna surround people with you, be positive.

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:12

And it's about, it's about trying to figure out the way through it.

Gareth: 00:36:16

Fantastic.

Gareth: 00:36:17

Well that's going in.

Gareth: 00:36:17

Uh, what advice would you like to leave in the music room?

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:21

um, so I.

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:24

Said it before, but I think the, the biggest bit of advice is not comparing.

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:29

There's a wonderful quote, I, I dunno who said it, so I'm sorry it's not

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:33

mine, but like, don't compare your beginning with someone else's middle.

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:38

Like, don't look at other people and think.

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:40

Why am I not doing that?

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:41

Why am I not doing this?

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:42

Why am I, you know, I don't think, um, I'm young.

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:45

I'm young.

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:45

I need to get an agent.

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:46

I need to do this.

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:46

Like, you need to, like, you don't, you just need to keep going and meeting

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:49

people and finding avenues to write music, whether it's above a pub, whether

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:54

it's, whether it's just writing some library music, whether it's pitching

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:56

for some adverts, whether it's doing some theater, whether it's doing a load

Alex Baranowski: 00:36:59

budget doc, um, doing a dance piece.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:02

Like I, I did it all.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:03

That's how, I guess, I'm so lucky to work in so many.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:07

Avenues now is cuz when I was a young composer, I just wanted to

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:11

meet as many people as I could.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:11

So I met choreographers, I met, you know, documentary makers and theater

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:15

makers, and I just wanted to make as many connections as possible.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:18

I was very lucky.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:19

I had income by, you know, doing a theater job or getting the odd advert pitch and

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:24

doing, you need, you sort of grab your income from other wear or do other jobs.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:28

So, yes.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:28

So that's what it, my advice, you know, it's about trying to be you.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:32

And it's not trying to, you know, we know, of course we get, we get

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:35

influences from here, there, and everywhere, but figure out who you are.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:38

I always have this horrible analogy, which I always say.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:41

Composers and I, there's, there's two types of composers.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:44

There's one type of composer like, oh God, we need to get someone to do some music.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:48

Like, you, you, you, you, yeah, you, you're great.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:50

Done.

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:51

Well, there's other site where you go, okay, I really like what you do,

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:54

and I want you to come and do this because I really love what you've

Alex Baranowski: 00:37:59

done, and I think we all all start.

Alex Baranowski: 00:38:01

In the one, the first one we all start and just wanna be a composer.

Alex Baranowski: 00:38:04

But the, the, the aim is sort of get onto that side and go,

Alex Baranowski: 00:38:07

oh, people wanna come to you.

Alex Baranowski: 00:38:08

And the only way of doing that is by being you not trying to copy

Alex Baranowski: 00:38:12

someone, not trying to do this, like trying and just figure out your own

Alex Baranowski: 00:38:14

way of, of getting through stuff.

Gareth: 00:38:17

Alex Barovsky composer.

Gareth: 00:38:19

It has been a joy chatting with you.

Gareth: 00:38:21

Thanks for joining me in the music room.

Alex Baranowski: 00:38:22

Thank you very much for asking