We recently connected with Vincent Ott and have shared our conversation below.
Vincent, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
One project I loved working on in the past was writing the string arrangements to Tom Odell’s latest album ‘Black Friday’ which was released in February this year. I spent two months in London, in Tom Odell’s studio, in the autumn of 2023 and worked on the scores and parts for his songs. Tom and his producer Laurie Blundell had a very specific vision for the sound of the album and how the string orchestra was to fit into it. We took an unusual approach, using the strings mainly to create interesting textures and soundscapes.
For a lot of the songs I ended up employing techniques such as microtonal pitch bends, or detailed divisi (splitting the orchestra up into several smaller sub groups) to create a sound bed that blends in with the rest of the track, rather than adding on new melodies. It was a fascinating process being given complete freedom and having the opportunity to employ techniques that I wouldn’t normally use in a song context.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Vincent Ott and I’m a German born composer, arranger and producer currently living in LA. I produce and arrange music for artists and I compose and produce music for film & TV.
After graduating from high school in Wiesbaden (a town in Germany) I moved to London to study music. I completed a Bachelor in Music at City University London, and a master in Composition at the Royal College of Music. Shortly after graduating I got offered a job, working for two film music composers that had just relocated from LA to the UK. During this time I got to write music predominantly for animated Dreamworks and Warner Brothers Series, such as ‘Scooby Doo and Guess Who?’ or ‘Spirit Riding Free’.
After a while I decided it was time for me to make the move to Los Angeles, the place I knew most of the work I was doing was coming from. I applied for an O-1 artist visa and, upon approval, made my way across the pond. Since moving here my film music work started picking up – currently I write a lot of the music for Game Shows on the Game Show Network, I have scored two German feature length documentaries and I am working on short films.
Aside from my work in film music I produce and write songs with several artists in LA. Song writing had always been part of my creative output, but coming to LA I started devoting more time to it, given the abundance of talented singers and artists here. I think my background as a composer & arranger of classical orchestral music allows me to take a unique approach when it comes to song production. I’ll often work with artists that want orchestral colours in their music, so knowing the ins and outs of both arranging and producing allows me to interface the two elements in an interesting way.
In short, I create bespoke music regardless of the medium, having the advantage being well versed in orchestral arranging and song production.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I spent a lot of time studying music theory and arranging techniques – the natural result of which is to always want to stretch the fabrics of music as far as possible at any given moment. The lesson I’ve learnt a while ago is that having the ability to do something doesn’t mean it’s the best idea to do it. Sometimes the best creative ideas are ones that come from spontaneous imagination or improvisation. And if there are two creative ideas I always pursue the idea that evokes the more immediate emotional response, regardless of whether it is the most eloquent idea, theoretically speaking.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think a big misconception is that creative thinking is demanded only of people working in the world of arts. In fact, I find the category ‘creative’ in and of itself to be is misleading.
I would argue creative thinking is equally important in any given profession. I think someone who approaches their field of work creatively and with an open mind is much more likely to thrive than someone who doesn’t. And perhaps many people don’t realise just how creative they are in their day to day life.
I would argue the decision making process of, say, a teacher resolving a dispute between students is no less creatively taxing to a musician deciding on the expression with which to to play a musical phrase.
Conversely, often day-to-day work life does not involve creativity at all – regardless of whether the profession in question is one we consider to be ‘creative’ or not. I spend a lot of my time doing things like ‘stemming’ (exporting individual elements of my music), formatting parts (changing the layout of music notation), answering emails and submitting writer’s splits to my PRO. None of these tasks are creative in the slightest.
I would argue there are ‘non-creatives’ in every field of work, even in the world of the arts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ott-music.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vincent_0tt/
- Other: A Song I released recently: https://open.spotify.com/track/2xXZRDrLfHcJPWXjhuzrBc?si=cc87adee7aaf4966 Tom Odell’s Album, which I arranged strings for: https://open.spotify.com/album/0OTRd577BEHU8WNfrJ24aB?si=HUBP2tMXQiafbOwFyFdiTQ
Image Credits
Michael Newsted for pictures where I wear the red shirt Joseph Campos for pictures where I wear the orange jacket Johannes Lay for the picture where I wear the black suit jacket