First of all, why don't you introduce yourself to those of us who don't
already know you?
My name is Frederic Mauerhofer and I've been a soundtrack composer since 1994,
I've been composing original music for different film projects, television
and documentaries from all over the world. I have been born on October 2nd, 1972.
Do talk about your music as such for a bit, your prefered style(s)
and sound? I like to do very different styles of music,
classical, electroacoustic music, and electronic music. I like creating
beautiful harmony, big orchestration, and very emotional soundtracks,
impressive music, darkness or light. The music soudtrack has a very
important place in a film, and I like scoring the emotional theme in a film! What got you into making music to begin with,
and film scores at that, and what can you tell us about your musical
training? And what instruments do you play? Scoring films
has opened my mind in different directions, creating music adapted to different styles (comedy, thriller, horror,
spiritual, etc …), and a
capacity to creating very different styles of music for different demands! I have
created my brand Polygone Sound Designer in 2010, to have a direct buisness with
filmmakers, and I love have a perfect
coordination working with filmmakers, to score beautiful music adapted
in films with perfection! I have learned solfege harmony and piano at the music school of Versailles, and electronic music
producing at SAE Paris,
for soundtrack work and to record my music on MAO, I have learned to use all
VST plug-in, and scoring the soundtrack with my computer. I play keybord
piano and synthesizer. For two year now I've been studying, autodidactically, the
history
of music and the musicology to discover more styles, I study the source
of historic music and the inspiration of past times! Any genre(s)
you especially love to score?
I love scoring genre films
with big emotions, (darkness thriller, horror or light comedy, spiritual
films), the most important for me is that the music soundtrack is
perfectly adapted to the film! And I try to give big emotions with my music! I love to
score films about possession or exorcismn because I think
it's a real event. Do take us through the
process of composing for a movie, how do you find the right tunes for the
right scenes, and how much or little input from the director and/or
producer do you, or would you like? I ask the filmmaker for
all information about film, I look at the acting styles, I study the story, I watch
the movie or pictures from the film, I look at the poster of ther film,
I read the script, and after, I take my emotion, and translate it into the
soundtrack. First I record the main theme, and the first part
soundtrack proposition! I love make a different propositions when scoring,
for the filmaker to have a choice! I like to print my scores or send
scores as pdf-files. The filmaker can record the scores in a studio, or I record
on an MAO computer. Sometimes, the filmmakers have a precise style of music in mind, and I score
to that very demand! This is a collaborative work to make a perfect emotional film! For me, a soundtrack
is the invisible actor of fthe ilm, directed by the filmaker, but I add more
ideas, more emotion with my
composer experience! So what's a studio
session with Frederic Mauerhofer usually like?
A studio
session with me is a maximum of music element, experimentation,
inspiration and organisation. I like big orchestral record sessions,
and MAO computer orchestral recording, I like to create beautiful
harmony, big orchestration. I work the solfege harmony all day for
scoring, and work with a lot of book method solfege for evolution,
sometimes in the studio!
Do talk
about your early days as a composer/sound designer for a bit, and what can
you tell us about your first film score, and how did it come into being? I recorded
different demo tunes in home studio, and all styles of experimental music I
had in my mind, I tested different types of musical sound, I recorded on different types of
synthesizers. When I had a
lot of titles (more than 400 titles), I used the social network to upload my music, and make a long list of
links. One day, I found the IMDb, and sent this list of links with my music to
various filmmakers
in the USA. The first filmmaker who sent me one main theme demand was David R. Williams [David
R. Williams interview - click here] for the film Red Scream:
Nosferatu. I thought
real piano worked very well for the story of Red Scream: Nosferatu,
so I sent to David R.
Williams the melody, and after I have scored a big dark orchestration on
computer (choral, full orchestra), this was my first film score! Over
the years, you've worked with director David R. Williams [David
R. Williams interview - click here] quite a bit, so what can you
tell us about him and about some of the films you did with him? David
R. Williams is a very proffessional film maker, he have a full concept in mind when he makes
a movie, so it's very easy to
understand waht music he wants, and I score with precision to the demandd of
David! I have recorded for David all styles of
music, orchestral, dark, electronic music, rock, metal; for the the
film Scarlet Samurai:
Incarnation, Cleric,
Red Scream: Nosferatu, Disintegration,
Optica, I made a proposition soundtrack for
Manifestation and I do hope to work with David again before long!
He has, in all these different films, a really experimental mind, I like
working with David R. Williams!
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Other
films you scored you'd like to talk about, and how do you think you've
grown as a composer over the years? For
director Christopher Di Nunzio [Christopher
Di Nunzio interview - click here] I have scored the soundtrack of
for Delusion (2016),
a very good experience working on a neo-noir horror-thriller indie
feature. I scored Desired, a film from New Zealand, it's a film with big
emotions and needs a very emotionnal impressive soundtrack, and
Le Casse des Casses, a French film, it's my film comedy, it needed a really
lively orchestral! A big experiment for
me, after which I have scored music trailer for Mac Daddy & the Lovers,
another
comedy. Finally I've scored varioous comedy TV-series in the past 5 year
(Autoroute Express, A Votre Service ) and I have
opened my mind in
different artistic directions. I have grown as a pro-composer over the
years, with a lot of works, and I have scored a wide variety of styles of
film, and I have more experience! Any future projects
you'd like to share? The future projects I'd like to share
are The Possessed, directed by Shawn Anthony, I'm creating a
terrifying score, dark ambiance, Way to Abbottabad (pre-production)
by Tom George, I score an
impressive orchestral soundtrack for this hard-hitting political and family thriller, and
The Jungle
Demon and Dead End Town Movie by director Saul Cajacuri, mysterious and dark
orchestral soundtracks. And more film
soundtracks coming soon... As far as I know, you live in
France but have scored quite a number of American movies - so how did that
come about, and what are the challenges working with people who're
literally on another continent and thousands of miles away? Yes
I live in France, and all organisational works are done using technology,
transfer files via internet, discussions via email or Skype, messenger etc …
I am really indepedant for working on my music and I have experience in understanding the
demands of USA filmmakers! With technology, thousands
of miles are not a difficulty! I hope to score a music soundtrack one day
and record in USA Abbey Road Studios for fun! How
would you describe yourself as a composer? Motivated, inspired and working composer! Musicians who
inspire you? Hans Zimmer, Joseph Bishara, Alexandre
Desplat, Jean-Michel Jarre. Your favourite movies?
Constantine, The
Exorcist, The Boy, The Conjuring 2, As Above, So Below
etc... ...
and of course, films you really deplore?
The remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street
from 2010 - but I really loved the Jablonsky score. Your website,
Facebook, whatever else?
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2964742/
https://fr.linkedin.com/in/frederic-mauerhofer-composer-67ba3740
https://www.youtube.com/user/polygonemusic Anything else you're dying to
mention and I have merely forgotten to ask? Perhaps speak
about my future first visit to Vienna, I like the musical story of this
fabulous town, and legendary composers Gluck (1714-1787), Haydn
(1732-1809), Mozart (1756-1791), Beethoven (1770-1827), I like Vienna! Thanks for
the interview!
Thank you too, dear Michael Haberfelner!
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