Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ishaan Tyagi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ishaan, appreciate you joining us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

We hear about these incredibly inspiring stories of how people get where they are through some really rough patches. But my road hasn’t been one with overwhelming struggles. There have been some hurdles of course, a major one being trying to convince my family that this is a viable path for me to take and while it’ll have its own bumps, it’s what I want to do and it’s not a thoughtless endeavor but a meaningful pursuit. Safe to say now that they have gained a lot more faith in me than they had when I first started and I’m sure it’ll continue to grow. Another struggle could be my lack of formal music education which is always scary when you’re up against people who have years of training and the knowledge to back them up. I had to really make use of every single minute of my time before coming to USC to make myself familiar with the language of film music and classical music while also studying about the modern technological side of things required in this field. While it was a lot of work, it definitely set me off to a better start than I could’ve imagined.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In simple words, I’m a film composer and a music producer. Which essentially means I write music for films, shows and other media – Video Games, advertisements, etc. I personally love working on films that allow me to write emotionally strong and bold music. Action, thriller, and animation are some of the genres I dearly enjoy working on. I’m a huge fan of the work done by John Powell, Michael Giacchino, James Newton Howard and take a lot of inspiration from their music.

I started out as a performing artist working as a keyboardist and pianist with a number of live acts in India. Along with that, I was also pursuing a certification in Audio Engineering and Music Production from Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, Delhi which really helped me lay the foundation for my studies and experiences in the film music. I was always fascinated by film music and always had the desire to work as a film composer more than anything else.

I started working as an additional writer in Mumbai on some highly acclaimed shows and feature films. After working for a few months, I realized I needed to go for further studies in film scoring as my interests didn’t seem to line up with the industry in Mumbai and I wanted to be in an environment where film music is more deeply rooted and where I could learn from the top industry professionals.

There have been certain collaborations with filmmakers where I was able to come up with ideas that I’m really happy about. Which is difficult because as far as composers go, we are our worst enemy. It takes a lot of effort to feel good about your own work. But looking back at some of my work definitely makes me feel good about myself. I’m particularly proud of a choir piece of mine where I got to record 16 of LA’s finest session singers. No idea how that piece came together but so happy how it turned out!

I believe it’s difficult to say this early on in my career if there’s something that sets me apart from others. I’m still very much figuring it out myself. I do think that my love and passion for films make me a good collaborator. I think I sometimes love movies more than I love composing for them. And I do bring that in when I’m on a project. The only goal ever is to make the film better and help the story and not make it about the music and about you.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

As a film composer you’re constantly looking for some great resources to learn from and expand your knowledge. Some of them I stumbled upon way later than I should have and I highly recommend –

For Orchestration and Score Study – Sam Adler, Omni Publishing Scores, Hal Leonard.

For production and mixing – Mix With The Masters, Produce Like A Pro, Junkie XL Studio Time.

Some general practices that I’d also like to mention is creating mock ups of existing scores and try to match your productions to the level of those high quality pieces, find stems of different styles of music online and try to get your mixing chops stronger, take piano sketches of your favourite pieces and practice orchestrating them for different ensembles.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the entire process of working on a film is highly inspiring and rewarding but if I had to pick one aspect then I’d say when you are able to connect with the film and the director on a deeper level and your work is then received so well that you can literally see on their faces that you’ve just elevated their film and their experience. Nothing’s more rewarding than finding that your work has had an impact and made a valuable contribution to someone’s vision.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ishaantyagimusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ishaan_tgi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ishan.tyagi.56/