We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dan R. Howard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dan R. below.

Dan R., appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’d say that one of the biggest risks I’ve taken is leaving my steady, full time composer assistant job back in September 2022. I worked for this particular composer for a year and a half, and it was both a great and difficult experience.

I am so grateful for my time working as a composer assistant because I gained a lot of valuable experience. The job can often be very intense and on top of that it took up the overwhelming majority of my time and energy. I gained a lot of experience in studio tech, general film score practice, organization, and many other skills of which I am still utilizing today in my own work and studio setup.

However I began to feel that I was no longer growing as a musician. I felt myself becoming a studio tech worker instead of a composer. Those who work in anything technical are the unsung heroes of any industry, but it’s just not what I’m passionate about. This, coupled with the fact that the work environment made the job overly stressful and anxiety inducing, led me to leave the position and go fully freelance. This was very scary at first, it’s not like the moment I left I was swarmed with projects. However I can say now, almost 2 years later that I’m so glad I left when I did because I finally had the space to reshape my focus and eventually gain valuable experience composing music. This has come in the form of composing music for short films and feature length films as well as writing additional music for composers,

I would never tell someone to not assist a film composer, there is so much experience that is gained so quickly because of the intense nature of the job, but I would say it’s always important to trust your gut. When you feel it’s time to move on, it’s very much worth considering taking that leap of faith.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve been playing piano since I was 6 years old, but I don’t consider myself a piano player. I sit at the piano purely to noodle and dig, as I call it. I just love to improvise and search for a way to express how I’m feeling. Since a very young age I’ve been endlessly enamored with film and film music, so usually when I sat at the piano I was transcribing my favorite film themes or I was messing around and coming up with my own. I always had trouble practicing scales and existing music because I just wanted to let go and play however I was feeling in that moment.

Because of my love for film music, I ended up studying Film Scoring at Berklee College of Music and I drove from Boston to LA right after I graduated in September 2019. I had interned at two film score studios (Remote Control and Sonic Fuel Studios) during the summer of 2018, so thankfully I was familiar with LA and I had some connections. I began my time out here with some composer assistant work and lots of coffee meetings. I’d say lots of coffee in general! This is how I got my foot in the door with working in film music.

I love to compose music for any kind of visual media really, but film tends to be most of what I work on these days. I’m very passionate about my unique sound and I love to do a lot of sound design in my composing, as long as the film calls for it. I love a good orchestral score, and I love a fully electronic score too. Often mixing the two is the most fun! It just comes down to what kind of music the film really needs.

I would say that I thrive most when I’m coming up with a new and unusual sound palette for a project. I use to compose with the same set of instruments/sounds but eventually I transitioned to beginning the composition process with a blank slate, and then build as I write more music. I’m always willing to try anything to fully realize a Directors vision so I love to keep things modular and non-constricted.

Realizing what a director wants in the film score is one of the most fascinating parts of this job and I really enjoy it. In this modern world meetings with filmmakers tend to be over the phone/zoom or via email, but I also love to have the director come by to my place where they can listen to what I’ve written in real time and we can further tweak/adjust. The phrase I hear the most when working with directors is “I don’t really know a lot about music, so I hope what I’m saying makes sense”. It’s my job as the composer to make the Director feel comfortable expressing what they are looking for without knowing all the music jargon. I like to encourage any filmmaker to convey what they are looking for however they can and to not worry about it making musical sense. This translation process is where the magic really happens!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative is that each month, and sometimes each week, can be totally different then the last! Each project brings on a whole new world to dive into and I love when those world’s challenge me and teach me something new.

For as long as I can remember I’ve always been obsessed with growth. I love to be constantly improving myself and learning new things. Often when I’m brought onto a film, I’m propelled into something untried and strange and it’s the ultimate motivation to reinvigorate my compositional process.

For example, soon I’ll be co-scoring 2 short-documentaries about the people of Bahia, which is located in Salvador Brazil. I’ve already been studying Brazilian harmony, rhythms, and instruments in preparation. On another project the Director told me they want Steel Guitar, Choir, and Synths for the score. This unusual combination of instruments is inspiring and I’m now looking to buy myself a Steel Guitar and learn how to play it, even if I end up hiring a professional for the final product. There’s also a short film I will be starting that will be mostly solo piano for the entire score. The variety that each project brings is so stimulating and certainly rewarding.

A project’s idiosyncrasies will always be reflected in the music, so I love to hear the kind of music that I’m writing change between projects as well. I don’t believe that a film score has to sound like anything in particular. There is no “right” sound for a film score to me. A film score just has to be whatever the film (and it’s Director!) needs it to be.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I think the kind of art that garners the strongest responses from me is the kind of art that makes me say “I can’t believe this exists”. That’s not to say I don’t love anything that isn’t weird, it’s just I’m really inspired by art that bewilders me and staggers me. So my biggest goal is to be a part of projects like that. Every project is a chance to find out what your capable of, and you’ll end up surprised by just how much you’re really capable of. This is something that drives me forward.

Stories are a thing of beauty, and I love that a film score encases a film and helps the viewer feel all kinds of emotions to their very core. One of my favorite aspects of filmmaking is the screenplay. Writers birth these stories and worlds and then a huge team of filmmakers and film crew translate that into visual entertainment. I just come at the end of that process to wrap the film/tv show/etc. in music which can enhance the drama, create a tangible atmosphere, and further bring out a film’s best traits. This incredibly unique process is what drives me the most. I’ve never dreamed of fame or fortune, I’m just happiest when I have visuals in front of me that are asking for music.

Contact Info:

• Website: DanRHowardMusic.com
• Instagram: @drhoward.composer
• Other: IMDB Profile – https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10805395/?ref_=nmbio_ov LetterboxD Profile – https://letterboxd.com/dhow45/

Image Credits
Omar Salas Zamora