EXCLUSIVES

Alan Pasqua is a talented, well-respected film composer and musician. With several of his own feature film score credits, including Sleepless In Seattle, Mr. Wonderful, and most recently, The Waterboy, Alan has also worked as a synthesist, programmer or pianist with such illustrious composers as John Williams and Quincy Jones.

Aside from film, Alan has also composed numerous commercials and co-composed the award winning CBS Evening News Theme. As a musician, he has played with such diverse talent as Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Santana and Barbara Streisand.

MacDirectory: What kind of things do you use your Macintosh for?

Alan Pasqua: "I use my Mac for composing, editing music, compiling, burning CDs and, of course, all the other office-type applications that go along with that. I use it for hard disk recording as well."

MD: How long have you been using computers for composing?

AP: "I was into it in the early MIDI daysprobably around 1985."

MD: Do you think some composers are hesitant to rely so heavily on the computer?

AP: "I dont know actually. Once you realize how powerful it is its such a radical departure that I guess it might scare people. But if you can get past that, it blows anything else so far out of the water. Its not even close."

MD: What kind of software are you currently using?

AP: "Well, I recently switched to [Emagics] Logic Audio last year. I had just finished working on a Lee Ritenour record and Lee was a big fan of Logic. He said, 'Man, youve got to get this. Its the greatest.' I would always hear my colleagues mention that their sequencers didnt feel good. I never was sure what they were talking about.

As I was playing I saw the notes show up on the score page - and that freaked me out. (Laughs) Then, I played it back and I couldnt believe the incredible degree of sensitivity. I finally heard it! From all the incremental pedaling that it would accept, to the touchit was just insane."

MD: What are some of the ways that the Mac benefits film composers and makes your work easier?

AP: "I couldnt even imagine trying to write the score for The Waterboy without the Mac, because the music needed to be re-arranged with every change the directors made to the film. There is a high level of instant gratification when you use a very sophisticated sequencer program. You play an idea in and you can hear it back immediately. You can hear it as an English horn. You can hear it as an oboe, a bass clarinet or whatever. The old-school composers that sat at their piano with a pencil and a score pad never really got to hear their music until they where in a studio - and then they would have to make changes. I did MIDI mock-ups for the director, for the producer, for Adam Sandler and then recorded them to two audio tracks. When they came over we just synced up the music to the certain area of the picture that we were looking at. I just makes it so much easier. You dont have to go back in on the next day and rewrite everything for each minor change."

MD: How pervasive is the Mac in your industry?

AP: "It really is the only platform. The PC is beginning to play a larger role. But for now, the Mac is what the professionals are using."

AP: "I am getting ready to do a jazz record with Kenny Warner, a great jazz pianist from New York. He and I are doing three nights in Los Angeles at the Jazz Bakery, and are going to record all three nights live. Its a series where they are taking one pianist from the West Coast and one from the East coast. Its interesting because we are only allowed to speak on the phone - well have never had a rehearsal and well have never played together. Well just walk out on the stage, hit record and were going put out a CD of that. I also just signed on with a film agency called the Kordek Agency, and we are actively pursuing our next feature film. There is a lot of stuff in the works, but too early to report."