Hollywood composer Rolfe Kent on the joys of throwing out quality work

“You should write down what you would like your future to look like, because otherwise you will be on autopilot.” – Rolfe Kent

In Episode 3 of Deviate, Rolf discusses music and the creative process with accomplished Hollywood film composer Rolfe Kent (@rolfekent), whose recent project, The Zen Effect, is available on iTunes.

To download a free track from The Zen Effect, visit Rolfe’s website.

Links:

Tools:

• FS Binaural Microphone
• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, by Steven Pressfield
• The Artist’s Way Morning Pages Journal, by Julia Cameron
• Ketogenic diet
• Oblique Strategies, created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt
• Pomodoro Technique (time management)
• Melodica (instrument)
• Mixtapes as a Lost Language: A Brief Cultural Primer

Rolfe’s film and TV scores discussed in the interview:

• Dexter theme (television series)
• Sideways (film)
• Up in the Air (film)
• The Hunting Party (film)
• Mexico City (film)
• Reign Over Me (film)
• Mean Girls (film)
• Wedding Crashers (film)
• Legally Blonde (film)

Notable film music discussed:

• James Bond theme (by Monty Norman)
• Star Wars theme (by John Williams)
• Mission Impossible theme (by Lalo Schifrin)
• Blade Runner theme (by Vangelis)
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly main theme (by Ennio Morricone)
• Lawrence of Arabia main theme (by Maurice Jarre)
• Paris, Texas theme (by Ry Cooder)
• Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ remix (which uses music from The Social Network)

Notable people mentioned:

• Alexander Payne (director)
• Richard Shepard (director)
• Jason Reitman (director)
• Brian Eno (music producer)
• Mike Binder (director)
• Thomas Newman (composer)
• Rick Rubin (music producer)
• The tune “Hippie Christmas” from Rolfe’s song-shop, as heard in the episode, was written by Craig Richey

Show Notes:

• Purpose of a movie score (11:45)
• Career path and early influences (23:22)
• Rolfe’s muscial style (27:18)
• Collaborating with filmmakers (37:30)
• Letting go of completed work (43:40)
• Accidental versus intentional creativity (47:50)
• On different instruments offering different opportunities to convey a message (50:32)
• On inspiration (52:30)
• Organization and focus techniques (54:20)
• Creative process (59:25)
• Mid-career creativity and “success management” (1:12:10)
• Restrictions as a catalyst for creativity (122:19)
• Immersive music theater (1:24:30)
• Scoring one’s own life (129:40)
• Musical structure and its function in everyday life (1:30:55)

Free download from Rolfe’s Kent’s Zen Effect.

This episode was sponsored by the Paris Writing Workshop, an intensive one-month course in the artistic heart of Europe.

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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