EXCLUSIVES

Gary Remal Malkin, six-time Emmy Award-winning film and television composer, has been playing the piano since the age of four and composing since the age of twelve. Garys intense love for cinema is wholly apparent in his work. His ability to capture the underlying emotions of on-screen images has resulted in an intense, emotional writing style that can be effortlessly adapted to television or the big screen. We were fortunate to find Gary at home and inquire about his favorite computer.

MacDirectory: How do you use your Macintosh?

Gary Malkin: Its the centerpiece of everything. Nothing happens without the Mac. We do all of our sequencing, digital recording, editing, sound processing and mixing automation levelsbasically, every single function that is conceivable for composing and creating music is done in the environment of the Mac.

MD: Do you do most of your actual composing on the Macintosh as opposed to using a pencil and paper?

GM: I was trained conventionally. I used to compose on a piano or by singing something and then Id write it down on paper and bring it to live instruments. This was before MIDI and synthesizers existed. However, as the timelines of projects have became more and more pinched, which is the hallmark of the business these days from film to television to commercials, its really helped me to just play on a keyboard thats connected to the computer. Especially, when I started doing weekly television shows and had to write forty-five to fifty minutes of music a week. Now, thats how I always writeby sitting at the keyboard just coming up with different ideas.

GM: Well, these days the composers friend can even be CD-ROM material that you load into your sampler or computer. Sometimes Ill find an unusual texture or sound and create an atmosphere that will take me out of the realm of conventional composing, meaning the linearity of melody, harmony and rhythm. Its really a great way to work. Sounds can drive the compositional process incredibly, and I can scroll through many different sounds on my Mac.

MD: How long have you used Macintoshes?

GM: As long as there has been MIDI. In fact, its the only thing Ive used. I actually met Steve Jobs on a plane going to Hawaii. He was with his son and I went up and just thanked him. (Laughs.) I felt like I owed so much to him because everything Ive written since about 1988 has been on the Mac.

MD: What kind of projects are you currently working on? GM: I just worked on a wonderful retrospective of the history of San Francisco. Its a documentary called "Bay Area 2000" that covers the years 1850 to 2000 of San Francisco. I created the music for the flagship episode that documents 1850 to 1900. Its a very classy, beautiful show in the tradition of Ken Burns and the Civil War documentaries. Also, Ive created a completely new opening theme and all new original music for the CBS show "Unsolved Mysteries" with Pete Scaturro. Its fresh and modern and something that Im really proud of. Another project that Im working on is creating a line of CDs called "Graceful Passages" that combines evocative spoken word with a film-scoring mentality to help support people through difficult times and life transitions. We have used some well-known experts and authors such as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and Ram Das on the project. Its fantastic. And lastly, theres a feature film called "Ricochet River" that I scored about a year ago. It was just purchased and will be released theatrically sometime in the next six months and stars Goldie Hawns daughter Kate Hudson and some other young stars.