u/pap272

A while ago, a student in my class asked, “I want to make music for movies. How do I do that?” I said, “Hold my Starbucks Grande oat latte.” And this was the result after 45 minutes of work - as a joke, of course, for the amusement of the students. Plus, the second phrase is even more epic than the first, and all utter nonsense 😂

Bad news: the oat latte got very cold.

As a performing musician, I’ve been getting back into composing again. I posted an earlier version here a couple of months ago, which was essentially the Logic Pro project itself. And thank you for all of the supportive comments and the previous discussions! Since then, I’ve made quite a lot of progress on the larger work for symphony orchestra. Plus, I'm almost finished with a behind-the-scenes video looking at the compositional approach in more detail, as well as showing how I’ve used the orchestral libraries in Logic to try to make the orchestral mock-up sound as realistic as possible.

As background, my passion for the Homeric epics was re-ignited by the trailers for the Odyssey film. But my project is inspired by Homer’s original Odyssey, and not a rescore of the current movie or previous motion pictures. I’ve been working through the epic poem, and one of the most interesting challenges has been deciding what not to score, and also where the same thematic material can represent different moments in the story. The Peril theme, for example, can apply to several very different episodes without needing a completely new musical idea every time. For many reasons, Odysseus does seem to end up in some ridiculously dramatic and dangerous situations a lot!

The suite here showcases four main themes from the larger work tied together in various ways by the same basic tonic–dominant interval: 1) the Wanderer (Odysseus trying to get home), 2) Ithaka, 3) Longing/Family, and 4) Peril.
The majority of the orchestral patches are EastWest Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition; the solo violin is me. A full list of instrument plug-ins is at the end of the video. A friend also created some images that I’ve used as backdrops during the Ithaka and Peril themes, and you can see me playing the violin during the Longing Theme.

Anyway, this is where the project has got to since I last shared it here: interested to hear your comments and what you folks think for discussion!

I’ve pulled together some work-in-progress highlights from a longer orchestral concert-suite composition I’ve been writing in Logic Pro, inspired by Homer’s original Odyssey.

This isn’t intended as a trailer rescore or as music for the upcoming film. But with the movie coming out soon, I was reminded how much I love the original 8th-century BC epic tale — and The Iliad as well. I wanted to write something in a more traditional full-orchestra style: a concert-suite inspired by the world of Odysseus as created by Homer.

The video shows the Logic Pro project, orchestral template, tracks, and instruments/libraries, mostly EastWest Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition. The solo violin is me, and is the only “real” instrument in the mockup. I’ve included a few small images from the recent trailers in the corner, but they are not intended to line up precisely with the music or function as a trailer edit. I used them more as visual reference points while thinking about Homer’s text.

One thing tying the material together is that each theme begins with the same basic two-note cell: either a rising or falling tonic-to-dominant gesture. That intervallic relationship connects the main characters and themes across the piece, and it also appears at other points in the longer score, including themes that aren’t part of this highlights excerpt.

The excerpt includes four main thematic ideas:

1. An opening theme representing wandering, exile, and Odysseus’s long, uncertain journey.
2. A more noble/majestic theme representing Odysseus as King of Ithaca — his home, his status, his family, and the world he is trying to return to.
3. A more tender theme for Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus: the sadness of separation, but also the love and longing that keep them emotionally connected. This section uses solo violin and cello colours, and although it sits in a minor-key world, I wanted it to feel warm rather than bleak, hence the low choir and low strings as accompaniment.
4. Finally, a larger, more tense and dramatic section connected with the danger, violence, and chaos that seem to follow Odysseus throughout the story.

Very much a work in progress, but I thought it might be of interest here.

Artemis II — and especially the phrase “For All Humanity” — inspired me to write a large cinematic orchestral score. This video is the opening section of a 20+ minute work I wrote to accompany footage from the full 10-day mission, set here to NASA launch footage. Hope you enjoy it. All footage is from the NASA Image and Video Library.

After the kind response to my launch sequence video, I thought I’d share the finale of the larger symphonic score I wrote for Artemis II. This Logic Pro project covers command module separation, descent, splashdown, crew recovery, and celebration.

Built using Spitfire Audio and EastWest libraries, along with KV331 SynthMaster 3, Surge XT, and u-he Zebra. Happy to talk through my approach, workflow, or orchestration choices — or share the full 20-minute version if anyone’s interested.

After the positive response to my launch sequence video, I thought I’d share the final section of the larger symphonic score I wrote inspired by Artemis II. This part focuses on command module separation, descent, splashdown, crew recovery, and celebration. I paired it with mission footage because that final stretch of the mission felt especially dramatic and emotional to me. Hope you enjoy it!!!

The original launch sequence music is here if you are interested!