ScoreNotes: Please introduce yourself to the ScoreNotes audience by telling us a bit about your yourself and your style of music.

Carlos: My name is Carlos Martinez, I am about to graduate with degree in music composition from the Moody Bible Institute. I've always loved movies growing up so as soon as I got to school as a freshman I looked for student films to work on. They ranged from highly character driven stories, to action, suspense, and thriller films. So I would have to say my music has an epic sound to it. I love combining orchestral and electronics elements into my writing, sort of making a hybrid as my composition professor would categorize it.

ScoreNotes: When did you first know that you wanted to pursue the art of film composing?

Carlos: I grew up playing piano and remember asking my teacher where the Beethovens of today were. I wanted to play new music. I loved Beethovan, Brahms, Revel, etc. But I wanted to play new music, things people have never heard before. From then on I had the urge to write my own music. I wanted to express myself through music, but not through music that has been heard over and over again. Then I remember seeing a billboard ad for the movie "The perfect storm." I bought the soundtrack, my first soundtrack ever,  before watching the movie. It completely changed the way I watched movies. I had never, up that point, even realized that music was there. I started reading everything I could about film music and started to write my own music. From then on I went from wanting to be a pianist to a composer, because I new this was the medium for composers to showcase there music. In Mozart's and Wagner's time, it was play's was operas. Today, its the movies!

ScoreNotes: What are some of the challenges that a young composer like yourself faces while trying to make it in the business?

Carlos: Getting paid! Directors and producers think just because young composers are so desperate to score a movie and gain exposure we will do it for free.... or peanuts. They tell us we will get a credit, the film will be in festivals (if it even gets expected) and it will be a great network opportunity. All that is great! But it takes a long time to do this stuff. It means time off from work or no sleep...or both! I'll be done with college soon and I wont have a dorm room to live in all my life. We composers need to make money too. And as the joker would say, "when you're good at something, never do it for free" 

ScoreNotes: Can you tell us about some of the projects that you have worked on recently?

Carlos: I just finished a score for a film called "Coopersville" It's about a family going through some difficult times, financial and marital, and then having to deal with their house being haunted by ghosts. Before that I wrote the music for a radio program called "In Context" for the Moody Broadcasting Network. Basically they needed various opening and exit cues for the program and a theme song for the show. The music was a combination of lite rock and orchestra. I was also hired as an orchestrator for a film called "Men In White" for the Creation Museum.

ScoreNotes: Who are some of the film composers you look up to?

Carlos: The big two: John Williams and Hans Zimmer.

ScoreNotes: Best case scenario, where do you see yourself in ten years?

Carlos: Scoring the next superhero movie!

ScoreNotes: As we wrap up, can you tell us where we can sample your work as well as any future projects we can look forward to?

Carlos: I'm pitching some romantic sounding music for a short film and working on a CD of new music I've writing on my free time. As far as my music, you can listen to music I re-wrote (for demo) for the new Fast and Furious and Transformers 2 trailers at filmscorerevolution.com. And you can listen to music from all of my recent gigs, including "Coopersville," at promusiccues.com.
 
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