Answer: I had worked for 2waytraffic before and they chose me based on that. It was a long time ago and I really don't remember exactly what was discussed at the time, but what I do remember is that they wanted me to make the music so that it would be somewhat similar, but it was certainly not allowed to make it sound too similar. There was of course fear of plagiarism, with all its unpleasant consequences.

Question:

1-How did you get into music and wanting to be a composer?

2-What libraries for synths did you use?

3-If you were given permission to update the “classic” and “Hot Seat” music would there be any changes and if so what?

Answer:

1- As a child I was already crazy about music. Due to lack of money and a small house with no room for a drum set, let alone sound insulation, I used cardboard boxes from the supermarket and used the lids of the pans as cymbals. My father's mother was an opera singer and my father studied piano at the conservatory. My mother played guitar and sang. For as long as I can remember there was a piano in our home on which I regularly tried to play something that sounded good. I had some lessons in playing the piano over the years, but had no patience to learn to read music. I do everything by ear and feeling. I always had music in my head and could easily distinguish the different instruments. At some point I discovered that I am not a musician, but a composer. With the advent of the computer and virtual instruments it finally became possible for me to start composing all by myself. Before that you needed a studio space and very expensive equipment. I didn't have that. At one point  (1989) I was working at Endemol (TV production company) and a director there shouted during a program that he wanted a different music because he thought what was being used was so bad. I then made some music with a friend that he started using. That was the start of my commercial musical career.

 

2- For the production of WWTBAM I mainly used the sounds of Spectrasonics, namely Atmosphere, Stylus RMX and Trilogy. That had just been introduced at the time. Of course I also used a few other sounds.

 

3-I can keep it short about Hotseat. I would make all Question beds completely different. There is too much middle and high end in the spectrum and I would turn the rhythmic sounds much quieter. Also less sounds. It's too full. And, I would add more variety to the different questions. It's very monotonous now. And the rest...I would leave it as is, but improve production with today's better VSTs.

 

The only thing I would like to renew, not adjust, is all the tension underscores of the 'classic' version of WWTBAM. Not because they are not good. On the contrary. This music is used a lot in the program and  in my opinion it should be replaced every three years or so. This of course also applies to my tension music.  I think it would be a challenge  to create new ones.  I wouldn't change anything else! What is good and recognizable should be left as it is. I think the intro leader and the cues are much more decisive for the program than the Question beds.  ps .And.... to be honest, I like my version of Q1-5 better so I would replace that.

Question:

1-Why are all question beds for Hot Seat format so generic and it’s essentially the same tune from Q1 till Q15?

2-Why doesn’t the music become more dramatic while climbing to higher steps on the money ladder,as it does on classic format?

Answer:

1- Good question. I have to admit that I haven't listened to Hot Seat's music very often anymore. When I hear the question beds now I find it quite monotonous and quite boring. That's why I wrote in the answer above that I would like to replace all these question beds.   I don't remember that the assignment was to keep the question beds very generic. However, the request was not to make it too 'heavy'/dramatic  and not with too much tension like that for WWTBAM because it was a daytime program.     

Answer:

1-After the original assignment for the question beds, I was asked if I could make a version with fewer sounds in it. Why? I don't know, but I can imagine that I had put too many sounds in it that were too dominant compared to the 'classic' version and that they found it too distracting.

2- I'm not sure I fully understand what you mean. Q16 is intended for the 1 million question. That's why this one is a little different from the rest. As far as I know, this question was already included in the original assignment I received. But I might have made that later, but I really don't remember.

Question:

1-What are the origins behind the unused opening titles on your old website - was there ever more elements to that package and could you show them off?

 

2-Hot Seat beds are perfect loops while the Millionaire tension beds have proper ending - what’s the reason for this difference?

 

3-What was the inspiration for Hot Seat music? Since the Millionaire tension beds are very clearly inspired by the originals

 

4-You linked to your website which features a webshop. There are some WWTBAM beds which haven’t officially been used (eg. Q6A-D variants, WWTBAM level 1…) - could you explain what those were intended for? Did you know that WWTBAM Level 2 was used in India despite not being featured in any other official version?

 

5-How many revisions did you exchange with 2waytraffic before settling on the final versions of the beds?

 

6-Could you possibly show the Logic Pro project for one of the tension beds and show different layers and processing?

 

7-Did you make the 15/30-second clocks together with the rest of the 2007 package or were you asked to make them separately in 2010?

Answer:

1-I was asked to make a new version of the opening leader. This was absolutely not good enough to replace the original and was therefore not used. There was also no time to make a new version. And no, there are no other elements.

2-I also made loops for WWTBAM. This was more convenient for production than making an extended version of the original. For Hot Seat I immediately made the loops.

3-When creating the music for Hot Seat I had a lot of freedom. After all, there was no example. It also had to resemble WWTBAM as little as possible. I can still remember that. Only the use of a single classical instrument refers to WWTBAM. It also had to be faster and 'lighter'.  At that time, Jungle as a music style was somewhat popular and that is why I used Jungle drum samples. It gives the leader a lot of energy.

4-About the Q6 A-D variants, I can tell you that I was asked if I could add four levels that had to be used before question Q6. These go down a semitone. They are on my website, but now under Question 6-16 complete. It's the first four.

-No, I didn't know that WWTBAM Level 2 is used in India. I think I only sent it to 2waytraffic for my pitch.

5-I don't remember because at one point I had problems with my computer and unfortunately some files disappeared. I do know there weren't many revisions. I would have liked to hear them myself.

6-Yes, but later.

7-That was later in 2010.

 

Question:

1-Was a Rave version of the top prize win cue ever made? I’ve noticed that versions that adopted the soundtrack played the classic cue instead, so I assume one was never made. Then again, I could be wrong.

2-This also somewhat leads to my next question: were other cues created for the Rave soundtrack that ended up being replaced by the classic ones (stuff like the lights down, final answer, etc.)? Again, I don’t think these were ever made as we would’ve heard them by now, but I am curious.

Answer:

1-No, I didn't make any cues at all. Only the Question beds. And a (not so successful) attempt to replace the intro leader.