Happy 5th Clashiversary! and … Composing Music Outside the Studio!

I’m excited to have worked on this series of videos for Supercell’s Clash of Clans! Little known fact – These pieces were composed in California, Washington and Costa Rica as well as on a number of airplane flights between destinations. Over 70 million views so far!

So, how did I get all this work done in such cramped quarters? Writing music on an airplane can definitely be a challenge. My external hard drive almost unplugged itself several times; even my headphone jack was at times practically poking the guy next to me. On one flight, I was able to use my Arturia KeyStep since I was lucky enough to end up in an exit row. Otherwise, I had to resort to Logic Pro’s virtual keyboard window that allowed me to use a musical typing function where the keyboard would input musical notes.

Additionally, carrying around 35 pounds of audio equipment on my back was exciting but could be exhausting, especially on long hauls as we were running between terminals to catch our flight. Anyway, it was refreshing to be able to compose music outside the studio, especially when it’s 6AM in the rainforest, at the base of a volcano or at another breathtaking location.

For anyone interested, here’s my mobile equipment rundown:

MacBook Pro 2.8 GHz i7 w/ 16 GB RAM
Tons of USB3 adaptors:(
UAD Apollo Twin Thunderbolt interface
Arturia Keystep MIDI Controller
Fostex 6301NX 4″ Monitors
audio-technica ATH-M40fs Headphones
Samsung T3 Portable SSD

…and, for good measure, here’s one more: