'The Crow Girl', Composer, Adam Price

0:09Jawad MirWelcome back, everyone, to another episode of Kingdom of Dreams Podcast, the Making of Stories. I'm your host, Jawwad Mir. Today my guest is Adam Price, who is a composer of a series that launches today, The Crow Girl, on Paramount+. And he's worked on a bunch of different projects as additional music composer. He's been part of orchestra for projects like Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Life on Planet, who have had directors and DPs, from that series on this show, on the, on the podcast, and many others. We talked about the series, we talked about life, and a whole bunch of other stuff. So without further ado, here's my conversation with Adam Price. Hey, how's it going?

0:48Adam PriceYeah, good. Wow, a lot of books. That's a cool little frame you've got around you over there.

0:55Jawad MirYeah. It's a…

0:56Adam PriceTell me about it

0:57Jawad Mir... Collection over the last... Actually, it started about, I would say 25 years ago.

1:05Adam PriceOh, wow

1:05Jawad MirAnd then it sort of stopped, and then it kind of restarted again a few years ago, so.

1:10Adam PriceI love that.

1:11Jawad MirBut yeah. Yeah.

1:12Adam PriceBooks are probably…

1:12Jawad MirHow have you been?

1:13Adam Price... One of those things you can't throw away. There's a lot of things I try and throw away. I try and be quite minimal, but books is just one of those things that grows. But yeah, no, I'm really good, thank you. Yeah, it's, really good to chat. And, yeah, whereabouts are you in the world?

1:28Jawad MirToronto. And yourself?

1:29Adam PriceOh, nice. So Southeast London.

1:32Jawad MirAmazing.

1:33Adam PriceA very gray Southeast London, to be honest.

1:36Jawad MirWell, London is always raining. I mean, but having said that…

1:41Adam PriceI know

1:42Jawad MirHa-ha-having said that, the last few times I've been there, it's been quite good. And I think Toronto is now, like, in winter, I mean, it's one thing to have snow, which is fine by me personally, but just the gloomy weather.

1:55Adam PriceSure.

1:55Jawad MirIt's, it gets a little too much sometimes, but that's just how things are.

1:59Adam PriceThat's true.

1:59Jawad MirYou can, you can hear me fine, right?

2:02Adam PriceYeah, crystal clear. Can you hear me?

2:04Jawad MirAmazing. Yeah, no, thanks for reaching out, Adam. I'm not sure if we reached out or you reached out, but regardless

2:12Adam PriceI think you reached out ages ago, actually. Like, be… sort of maybe even a year ago now, actually. So it's

2:17Jawad MirOh, okay. Okay

2:18Adam Price... Finally good to say hi.

2:19Jawad MirOkay. Yeah, no, it's, it's good that you reached out again because, about The Crow Girl, which comes out today, I think, on Paramount+.

2:27Adam PriceYeah.

2:28Jawad MirDidn't know anything about it. As soon as you, sent out the email, I looked up the trailer, which I was, which I found quite interesting. Something different.

2:37Adam PriceYeah.

2:38Jawad MirAnd, then I listened to the tracks that you sent and I, and then I went to your website and I, after I listened to the tracks, I went to your website and I saw your, work and the, you know, the tracks were incredible because they had this eerie feel, they had this soothing feel, they had this techno music feel. And a combination of... And then I, when I, after I listened to it, then I saw your work, you know, having to work on, and please correct me the ex… exact credits, but I know you did additional music for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, correct?

3:12Adam PriceYeah. Yeah, correct.

3:13Jawad MirAnd then there were a couple other big titles which are just escaping me right now. Please fill me in.

3:21Adam PriceBla… Black Adam, Dungeons and Dragons. Yeah, the m… the majority of sort of the big name ones are with composer Lorne Balfe, who I'm sure…

3:31Jawad MirYeah

3:31Adam Price... You're aware of. So yeah.

3:33Jawad Mir100%.

3:33Adam PriceThe big juicy ones, with the wonderful looking posters are normally associated with him. So yeah, he…

3:40Jawad MirYep, which is good because I know Lorne Balfe, I've been listening to him since he did the 13, was it 13 Hours? With, for Michael Bay.

3:50Adam PriceYeah. Yeah.

3:50Jawad MirYeah.

3:51Adam PriceHow many years ago was that now? They all blend into one, but

3:54Jawad MirYeah, it's been about 10 years.

3:55Adam PriceYeah.

3:55Jawad MirBut he was working with, Hans Zimmer as more or less your capacity that you are now, and plus doing a lot of orchestra work and your own music now. So it's a great path that you're on. And speaking of that, tell me your journey. How did this all start, you wanted to be a composer?

4:15Adam PriceYeah, good question. It's, yeah, I wasn't from a musical family per se. Yeah, music, like 99% of us, is obviously a big part of our life. I can remember listening to sort of Dad having music on 24/7, sort of '80s music mainly, Phil Collins, Genesis, that vibe. And then, yeah, they, I, none of my family are musical, but, I kind of hit the jackpot with my parents, who are amazing, and they just kind of chucked us in, me and my brothers, into everything. And, one of those things was, music, basically. Pi… so piano lessons, trumpet lessons. And yeah, unlike my brothers, music kind of just stuck with me, which is kind of a blessing and a curse really. But, yeah, it just kind of worked. I didn't really realize at the time, but it just felt very, yeah, at home really. Whereas other things, you know, some things stick, some things don't. Swimming didn't stick, but piano lessons and music did.

5:16Adam PriceSo yeah, I just, I just loved it really. And it became kind of day-to-day life. P… performed a lot. I then later went to Cardiff University in Wales, when sort of music was gonna be that, yeah, that was the plan. In what sense, I didn't know. This was before sort of writing music for film and TV was a thing. Went to Cardiff, which was amazing. So sort of did the academic side of it, which has been great to have as a toolbox kind of thing. Obviously it's, it's not a essential in the world we're in as composers, but, yeah, that was hugely helpful. And it had a big contemporary classical scene in Cardiff. So that was really cool. It, contemporary classical composition, so really helped me think differently about music and sort of opened my eyes basically, And yeah, one thing led to another, and y… yeah, the one thing with sort of contemporary composition, it was a lot about the process, how you thought about music, as opposed to kind of the end product.

6:21Adam PriceWhich, I mean, for my family, for example, whenever they heard any of my contemporary classical stuff, they were like, "This sounds awful." it just wasn't as accessible as I probably would have liked. And film music obviously is a complete opposite to that in sense of the end product is essentially all that matters, as opposed to your process. So yeah, long story short, started writing music for different, sort of at Cardiff, people got in touch from different departments at the university. St… started un… to understand what this world was. Although there's no rule book, which, I wish there was. It would have made life much e… I mean, it's the same with your dis… any discipline really that we're in. There's no rules or things to do and, you know, one plus one equals two. That's not always the case in our world. But I knew this was the kind of thing I wanted to do. I managed to get into the National Film and Television School here. Which, and this all happened very quickly.

7:23Adam PriceLike, I was quite young for the NFTS, so it wasn't kind of the plan. Had to find a way to afford it. Al… you know, all the practical things that go on that you've gotta think of. Sort of make a l… make a living while sort of trying to improve, 'cause obviously this is a long game. And then yeah, went to the NFTS, which was great to meet all the other disciplines. I… I get an understanding of film, and filmmaking. It has been like, just crucial really. And then yeah, it snowballed essentially. I started assisting people, and that, the number of pe… people I've assisted grew and grew, while carrying on doing my own stuff. And then before you know it, you've got this kind of ripple effect thing, and then you're in this wonderful mess of an industry that we're in at the moment. And now I'm here talking to you. So that's the A to Z of it at the moment.

8:20Jawad MirNo, that's good. It's, it's interesting you said one point, and I'm gonna kinda pivot from music and film, but to, more to just life in general. You know, you're talked, you talked about rules, right? Like, I think what sometimes happens, and I'm sure it happens to, has happened to you and it still is, it's happening to you, it will continue to happen to you, it happens with me, is that you're trying to follow this rule, right? Like you ha… you wanna be X, Y, Z, and you have to go through this path or that path. But sometimes organically you don't end up going through the tra… traditional path. But then mostly when the main rule that you're following of a trajectory that you're trying to go for is not working, then you're forced to figure out something else, right? And that's where the breaking of the rules kinda come into play. Ha… has that ever happened to you in life? Not just necessarily in career, but combination of both or one. And if so, do you, do you recall anything specific about that?

9:20Adam PriceYeah. I mean, I'm sure it's happened to all of us. We have this kind of rough idea of where we're going, and then things pop up that mean you can't. I suppose the first one for me was, I mean, I had to, I had to get to London to assist my first person I assisted. S… I didn't expect to go to London anytime soon. I was making all this up. And then, yeah, that popped up, so I needed to make it work and go to London. Yeah, but I think that's it. In retrospect, if I, if I like look back and think of all the little things that happened that have led me to where I am today, I mean, it's like all of us. We, you know, we, y… you can't predict it. But I'm also a big believer in, like, making your own luck to an extent. Like, put yourself in opportunities. So even if the original opportunity that you thought might manifest, it won't, that hasn't happened, but then because of that, something else happened, you know. I ca… I can think of many things. I won't bore you.

10:17Jawad MirYeah.

10:17Adam PriceBut

10:18Jawad MirNo. I, it's interesting. Have you ever seen that movie Sliding Doors?

10:22Adam PriceNo, I haven't.

10:24Jawad MirCheck it out. It's

10:25Adam PriceSliding Doors

10:26Jawad Mir... From the n… yeah. They made a similar series on Apple, but nothing to do with that. But the concept was it stars, Gwyneth Paltrow, and the whole film is about, there's a scene where she's going down the subway steps, and she, the doors open of the subway or the tube, and you, she walks in. And then it cuts to her going down the steps, and the doors open and she's trying to get in, and she doesn't get in, the door closes. And then the, from there, the flim… film splits into two different stories of what happens after she, once sh… the fact that she caught the subway, where did life take her? And the fact that she didn't catch the subway, where did life take her?

11:10Adam PriceSure.

11:10Jawad MirAnd I think that's what's so fascinating about like, you know, there's all these potential realities that could be, but because of one little action, they could even be me moving this book…

11:22Adam PriceYeah

11:22Jawad Mir... Can start a chain reaction of something that, you know, will happen 30 years later or 20 years later.

11:27Adam PriceD… do you believe in like the fate element of it? I know it sounds really corny, but...

11:31Jawad MirNo, it doesn't sound corny. I believe in it. I believe in fate…

11:33Adam PriceYeah

11:33Jawad Mir... And I think, but I also think that you can't just sit, I mean, which is obvious, but some people will probably say, you know, you can't just sit on your bum and expect the fate to happen. You have to work your butt off. You have to work hard and make it happen and take it that, in that direction. And you, it won't go exactly the way you want it to go, but as long as you have that goal and set and that's what your destination you believe it is, then it, I think it will. And you make your own fate, but it's already there at the same time. I don't know if that makes sense.

11:59Adam PriceYeah, this is really meta. This is su… super deep. But yeah, it's, it's, it's difficult to put your finger on, 'cause you could sit there and do nothing, and then by doing that, anyway, but who knows. But equally, I enjoy the process of getting stuck in and like trying to make things happen. Like, th… that's the more fun way of doing things as opposed to, See what happens

12:19Jawad MirYeah, 100%, 100%. Going back to The Crow Girl, how did, how did this come onto your lap? Was it through somebody you knew, a referral? Just run me through that.

12:33Adam PriceYeah. So, well, talking of sliding doors moment. So I think Lorne, working with Lorne has been a sliding doors moment for me. So this leads on to Crow Girl, but, yeah, I assisted tons of people, and each one kind of led to the other person. And yeah, I can very literally see that correlation, the lines between all the people I've helped out. And then Lorne was one of those people. During the start of COVID, I lost two gigs basically. And I was in London, which is not the cheapest place to live. So I put out a social media video, not really with the intention of working with Lorne, to be honest, but it was more like I was almost angry with life. And he was really, he's very generous in the sense of he releases a lot of his scores online, which are quite interesting to see. So then I did this really cheesy, it was his Dark Materials theme, but on like household objects, just because I fancied it. It was literally, I lost the gig that day and I just thought, sod this, I'm bored, I've got my rig up, blah.

13:37Adam PriceI've literally got nothing to do. Did that. That was fun. Didn't think much of it. Yeah, 'cause social media's obviously quite an important part of our day-to-day life really.

13:47Jawad MirYeah.

13:47Adam PriceBut then, yeah, Lorne literally messaged probably like two weeks after and said, "Do you orchestrate?" And obviously the answer's yes, regardless of, if you can or you can't. But luckily, I…

13:57Jawad MirYeah

13:57Adam Price... I c… well, I thought I could, a… a… and I, and I can, but it's that thing of what you don't know. You think you know, but now then when you get more knowledge, you realize how little you knew and then you're like, "How little do I know now?" which is a bit daunting. But anyway, enough of the, big conversations. So yeah, then I…

14:16Jawad MirNo, it's, it's all good. Please continue however you wanna continue.

14:20Adam PriceNo. And then, yeah, started, orchestrating for Lorne, doing some additional bits and pieces, additional music and that kind of grew and, yeah, Lorne's been super generous with his... I mean, I've, I've learnt a lot from Lorne just by, as a byproduct of helping him out. So yeah. And then this was probably five years or four years ago, and then, yeah, recently Crow Girl came up on his radar, and he messaged me and basically kind of said, "I think this might be your cup of tea." so I was like, "Okay, sounds good." Looked into it. I think there was a, the first line I read of like The Crow Girl when I like Googled it, was something like, "What's the w… what's the worst thing a human can do?" Or something along those line, like how bad does a human have to be before he becomes a monster or something. And I was like, "I'm not sure why Lorne thinks this is my cup of tea, but, hey…... I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll take it." and then yeah, it was, it w… it was a book.

15:23Adam PriceI knew it was a book, so, I thought I'd read the book. It was quite a chunky book, 800 pages long. But, yeah, read the book and yeah, dark, gritty, horrible with a, I mean, a definite sense of heart and, determination running through it, but like it was dark. And I was like, how the hell is this gonna translate to the small screen? Like it was super dark. There's some things I wouldn't even repeat from the book. But gripping, like it's still a massive crime fiction vibe, whodunit, vibe. So then yeah, I said yes to Lorne, and Lorne acted as score producer on it. And yeah, one thing led to another and I, yeah, s… started working on it.

16:09Jawad MirThat's awesome.

16:09Adam PriceAnd it was, it's been, yeah, absolutely brilliant. A great team, directed by Charles Martin and Rebecca Rycroft, and yeah, the whole Buccaneer team have been amazing. I mean, y… y… I kind of got, it sounds really cheesy now, right? But, we've all got the kind of a how did you get into film music kind of thing. And for my household, it wasn't really films, it was like TV dramas, like British TV dramas.

16:32Jawad MirYeah. Right. Right.

16:34Adam PriceSo like every Th… you know, Friday or Sunday night, 9:00 PM, there'll be a TV drama just there. And I loved it, like the immediacy of it. Yeah, they were just great. But Marcella was probably one of the first things I remember seeing and being like, I could hear the music, which in hindsight, I mean, Marcella music is mixed really quite strong at the forefront. Super dry, tactile sound. So it's no surprise really that I recogn… like acknowledged it. But yeah, obviously had no idea who Lorne Balfe was, who actually wrote the music for Marcella. Had no idea who Buccaneer was, Charles Martin, any of those people until, you know, eight, nine years later. And just by chance, Buccaneer worked with, Charles Martin again. So that was a kind of a satisfying little, tick box for me really. And then, yeah, it's, it's been a really great project and it's really good, genuinely. It's, yeah, I would've loved to have watched it nine years ago.

17:37Adam PriceUnfortunately, the magic is ruined ever so slightly by knowing how the sausage has been made. But, yeah, it's a, it's an absolute winner.

17:47Jawad MirThat's awesome. I'm, I'm looking forward to checking it out. And you know, I'm gonna c… while you were talking about, that part of meeting Lorne and how it went this way and it could have gone that with a sliding door, I recall the conversation I have, and I am horrible in pronouncing his last name. He's worked with Lorne and Hans quite a bit, and I had him on the podcast. Andrew, he did the score for Gran Turismo. Andrew…

18:15Adam PriceYes. I'm not gonna butcher his exact last name either.

18:17Jawad MirBut you know who I'm talking about, right?

18:19Adam PriceI know him as Andrew, yes. I've orchestrated… On a project before

18:23Jawad MirHis, hi… his story was very briefly was, which was again that sliding doors moment, is that if my, if my memory serves me right, that his... He had, he was into music and he was going to go into some school or he was gonna go do s… some job where it was gonna be paid job, like, doing music in LA. And somebody from his school came up and said, "There's an internship," which is obviously free, "You get to work with this music composer named Hans Zimmer." And he went to his parents and I don't think his parents knew who Ha… Hans Zimmer was either, neither did he. And his parents said, you know, "Go with the internship," and that completely changed the traject… I mean, i… imagine if he had taken the paid job, yeah, it would've paid the bills for a few months or a year, but…

19:12Adam PriceBut, well, I mean, Andrew's amazing so I'm sure he would've been around about where he ended up in a similar…

19:17Jawad MirI'm sure

19:17Adam Price... But yeah

19:18Jawad Mir... But still, it's just, it's just one of those things that it made it faster, let's put it that way, right?

19:23Adam PriceSure. Yeah.

19:23Jawad MirAnd he could've just been at the same, like, the fate thing, he could've been there the other way, but it's just that moment of decision, like, which one do you take, right? So…

19:32Adam PriceYeah

19:32Jawad Mir... Interesting.

19:33Adam PriceVery interesting.

19:34Jawad MirH… how did you meet, how did you meet Lorne?

19:37Adam PriceSo it w… it was through, that social media video that I did.

19:41Jawad MirOkay.

19:42Adam PriceBut, we had kind of mutual, so I was, I did a documentary with, Alex Harwood, who was, who's friends with Lorne, and we kind of had mutual links but he wouldn't have known, like, he, yeah, he wouldn't have known who I was. I obviously knew who he was at that time. But yeah, he just, again, sliding doors moment, he was looking for an orchestrator, and I…

20:04Jawad MirGot it

20:04Adam Price... Just so happened to be present and, yeah, the rest is kind of history as they say, without Lorne.

20:10Jawad MirI must, I must have missed that one you mentioned earlier, but no, that's great to know. And, you know, who are some of your favorite composers besides Lorne and Hans Zimmer?

20:21Adam PricePro… I mean, look, I don't listen to film music a to…... I mean, I do listen to film music, obviously, I'm, a… as most of us are, your John Powers and your John Williamses, I could listen to those all day, and the projects they're working with. But I do, I, do you know what? I'm a big fan of, like, super tactile, upfront, tangible, like, mixes. I don't know if that's 'cause it's kind of the opposite of big…

20:47Jawad MirYeah. That's fine

20:48Adam Price... Classical things that I've kind of been used to. On the classical front, you know, Mahlers, Stravinsky tick my box. But then I went through a stage of actually really liking, like, Mica Levi and Jonny Greenwood, that kind of stuff.

21:02Adam PriceThis, I mean, I w… y… you probably got a handful of s… scores yourself, music scores that kind of don't leave the head. But, Jackie for me, for Mica Levi, for some reason I just… ... Can't, there was just something about it, the mix, how it worked with the visuals. I t… I knew they were written away from visuals completely, which is also how I work just by chance as well, and I mean, it's not revolutionary, a lot of people do. But yeah, Mica Levi, Jonny Greenwood. But on a day-to-day, if I'm honest, m… the music I listen to is kind of, like, just '80s pop essentially, to almost detach. I tend to listen to the exact opposite of what I'm working on, whether that's subconsciously or just, yeah, beneficial.

21:48Jawad MirThat's interesting because I find, and I think it's different for everybody, right? So I know when I was, I was in the post-production phase of two of, two documentaries that I was directing, narrative feature documentaries simultaneously, and this was during COVID, like, early COVID. And because COVID was so, you know, had an impact on all of us, and the films that I was working on were extremely depressing and human rights violations and all that, following two indivi… indi…

22:18Adam PriceYeah.

22:18Jawad MirI started watching all this stuff, like, Fast and the Furious, and like, you know, just comple… nothing wrong with it, they're entertainment, but just completely non-story driven, mindless, without any arcs or anything, and that had a direct impact on the post-production of the films that I was working on because I started going…

22:37Adam PriceReally?

22:37Jawad MirYeah, and I started going in that direction, and I, it didn't hit me until maybe a month later, I'm like, "What am I doing?" And…

22:44Adam PriceDid you do it deliberately? Like, were you, were you watching those deliberately…

22:47Jawad MirNo

22:47Adam Price... Or just subconsciously?

22:48Jawad MirNo, it was just to kinda get out of the whole depressing thing, right?

22:51Adam PriceSure.

22:52Jawad MirLike COVID plus films. But then I started watching Breaking Bad, and then that had a complete opposite effect and it worked.

23:00Adam PriceOh, wow.

23:01Jawad MirSo it's, it's, it's weird how those things work. It wasn't deliberate, it was just something that goes in your brain at a subconscious level and it j… you just start outputting that in a very unknowing way.

23:12Adam PriceSo are you aware of what you're watching and listening to now when you're on a project?

23:15Jawad MirAfter that, now, yeah.

23:17Adam PriceYeah.

23:17Jawad Mir100%, 100%. I know how, like, I just be very careful. Very careful.

23:21Adam PriceIt's ru… it's ruined you for life. Yeah.

23:24Jawad MirYeah. No, but, yeah, so going back to Crow Girl, Adam, working with the team, the creators, the directors, what was that experience like? Was this something different than anything else you had ever done? If so, how? And working with them as well.

23:45Adam PriceThe, Joe, the one big thing was the fact it was a book. This was the first book that I read, even if others had been based on a book, I hadn't read them, j… pro… probably 'cause of time reasons. But this I had time to read the book, which sort of provided an extra opportunity to kind of, sort of experiment musically before engaging with the visuals. Even though they're different mediums and different, you know, the, it's not a replica, they're not attached so literally in that sense. But yeah, it just, I think it enabled, like, a lucky acci… I try to do that anyway, which is why I write away from picture to, like, hope something you do can…... Creates some kind of lucky accident that works even though it shouldn't. Whereas as soon as you see that visuals, and you've got that immediate reaction, going forward then that's, that's, that's it, your mindset. So this sort of gave that extra opportunity of let's see what happens. So yeah, I mean, for example, we, it, the book is like a Scandi book, whereas the series is set in Bristol.

24:49Adam PriceSo I remember sort of like loss of innocence was definitely a major theme in the book. It, these aren't any spoilers, I hope. No, they're not spoilers. It's, it's very im… the first thing you see, essentially. So y… we're experimenting, like, voices, and, like, frozen voice, that kind of sat really well. And I also did some, like, Scandi folk song-y things. Which then when seeing the series or the visuals or getting the color of the visuals itself, it's like I would have never have gone to that place had I saw the visuals first. Then but the, those elements of the voice, which obviously has that immediate visceral, as an instrument, it's, you know, the most direct accessible thing we've, we own as an, as an instrument that we could all use. And the voice was working, so that then became a huge part of the series

25:47Adam Price... Of the sound palette. And then that led us on, like, the main theme is actually a nursery rhyme. So all these things kind of lead on to that. So that was the biggest difference, being able to use a book, and that has definitely shaped some of the happy accidents that, happened in the sound world. But yeah, the directors and the Bookaneer team were like, they knew exactly what they wanted in the sense of color and vibe. And things we brought to the table, they were open to seeing how that worked. And yeah, it w… yeah, it was, it was just brilliant, to be honest. Really good.

26:24Jawad MirSuper.

26:24Adam PriceGood experience.

26:26Jawad MirNo, that's really cool. While... So ev… every production, producers, directors, creators, depending on the nature of the production, is different. Were you involved in the music, building the world of music in your space before the production began, during the production, or was it kinda like, "Here's the final picture. Figure it out"?

26:53Adam PriceNo, definitely not final picture. And I mean, I prefer to work, and I know a lot of other composers work, get the music in there as soon as possible. Offer, bring something to the table that is gonna elevate the film, or the series because y… you don't want temp going in there. Well, temp can be super useful.

27:15Jawad MirYeah

27:15Adam Price... But if you've got a world as distinctive as Crow Girl is, and it is super distinctive, what does that sound like? Let's get that music into the edit before the edit's even begun. So yeah, I was off writing suites after suites of music and just sending them over and seeing what stuck, seeing what didn't stick, seeing what Charles and Bex liked. And then, yeah, thankfully in the edit, the early edits, you start putting things together. And do you know what's a… also really good? There was a, there was a suite I did, which was the main suite in the end. But it had this, like, really thin strings on it. I'd recorded some solo cello and solo violin, and it was like, 'cause a lot of the visuals that I saw, as in, like, stills, were, like, branches, and it was a lot of woodland, a lot of forest, a really spiky feel.

28:09Jawad MirYeah

28:09Adam Price... And then within this massive, huge, thick suite was these strings, doo, like r… like w… wispy things, throwaway gestures. And then Charles basically used that stem in the edit, put it into another character, and then all of a sudden this was... Which I would never have done, 'cause it was this super dry, exposed, I mean, I might as well just have got naked, basically. 'Cause to me, you know, it felt super, like, ah. But he put it in there, and it started to work, and y… yeah, those kind of things only happen if you're able to provide music rather than waiting till the end. No, of course…

28:47Jawad MirYeah

28:48Adam Price... You know, if it comes in at the end, there's other solutions to creating the best, most efficient, effective palette. But, no, I really like working as early as possible and then chucking…

28:59Jawad MirThat's awesome

28:59Adam Price... A load of stuff and seeing what happens.

29:02Jawad MirSuper sweet. I was reminded of this again, going back to a conversation I had with Mark Mancina, who has done Bad Boys, Speed, Twister.

29:11Adam PriceYeah.

29:11Jawad MirAnd he was telling me that how they had a temp track, I just wanna be sure which movie came first. I think Speed came first. Just give me one second. Speed came out on ni… June 10th, 1994, and Boy, Bad Boys came out 1995. Yeah, so it was, I was right.

29:34Adam PriceOkay.

29:35Jawad MirSo once, so when they were editing Bad Boys, the temp track they used was from Speed.

29:44Adam PriceAh, I see.

29:46Jawad MirBut what ended up happening because of that, I don't know if you remember, if you don't, take a listen to it. The theme of Bad Boys and Speed is exactly the same, but the notes are reversed.

29:59Adam PriceNo. Really?

30:00Jawad MirSo Speed is like, dun, right? And Bad Boys is like, dun. Like, it just…

30:10Adam PriceOh

30:10Jawad Mir... It's very, they just ended, because of that temp track, the entire fricking vision of the soundtrack changed.

30:15Adam PriceInteresting.

30:16Jawad MirAt least according to Mark Mancina. So it's, it's interesting that you mentioned that. I was reminded of that how those things happen just, you know, very organically.

30:24Adam PriceYeah. A… and look, temp is, you know, it's a blessing and a curse. A… and it's part of the world we live in. It's, it's…

30:30Jawad MirYep

30:31Adam Price... Essential. And I d… I know some composers that are just, like, anti-temp. I'm definitely not anti-temp at all. Th… there's a huge practical element to it. But I suppose avoid situations like that where, you know, temp love is obviously a thing. So if you can avoid that, and more importantly create something diff… n… not necessarily different for the sake of it, just something as effective as it can be, I think that's a better solution first than temp.

31:03Jawad MirYeah. No, I agree. And it i… it is, but e… especially for people who are, I think even like, you know, films and series that have budgets because you're just, sometimes the music is not there because, like, so that's if you're working with someone like Hans Zimmer or Lorne Balfe who have like slew of projects, right? So you have to sort of figure that out based on their schedule. But mostly for independent filmmakers, that's a blessing because you don't have that kind of, you know, thing to budget to work with in the beginning. But like you said, it's a blessing and a curse at the same time.

31:38Adam PriceYeah.

31:38Jawad MirCan you talk to me about one specific track, and it could be two different tracks or it could be the same, where you had the most fun making and the most difficult time making?

31:50Adam PriceOh, most fun. I mean, look, th… we, I was so lucky to, so Slash the guitarist, the Slash, he was an exec producer on this series. And I didn't really, I sort of had no expectation or that he would be involved in the music at all, just, you know, as he's a great producer. But he was super generous with his time and was super keen to contribute in any way he could. So there's a, there's a guitar line in it, and then, for the main theme basically. And yeah, he recorded that, which was obviously for me, pretty awesome. And I mean, having his sort of raucous sound on it elevated the main track, to next levels basically. And also he did, so there was this really g… the first shot of the film is like a descent from the heavens to this really earthy farmland essentially.

32:54Adam PriceAnd the main theme is like an open fifth, dum, bum, and he played that and by, we've slowed it down, pitched it down, added the fifth onto the end of it. So all of a sudden you've got this huge gritty, nasty glide, and it's the very first thing you see of the film. It kind of like a musical, kind of that deep dive into how essentially before it goes off and does crime vibes.

33:23Adam PriceBut, yeah, having him involved in the sound was just, yeah, super fun. Yeah, so privileged to, for have him on it. And yeah, and you can definitely hear him on it. It's, it's, it's pretty unmistakable. So yeah, in terms of difficult cue, another fun one, I recorded some birds in my garden. Charles wanted this idea of like Bristol R and, Bristol R&B vibes basically, and really gritty sound. So yeah, Bristol Birdsong just happens to have some of my birds visit me every, they're not my birds, they're everyone's, but they come and visit me every morning. So yeah, they're in it. Was it, was it d… difficult, did you say difficult?

34:13Jawad MirYeah, challenging, difficult or, you know, something that you had to struggle with overcoming and trying to figure out where do I take this or how do I do this. I mean, that happens on, in every part of life, but just, yeah, anything that sort of you felt was challenging to do.

34:30Adam PriceYeah, at the, well, look, the titles were a f… a good challenge. So long story short, we started to use, because of the innocence element of this, and I'm a big fan of like, I'm a big fan of nursery rhymes anyway, and sort of the dark undertones of them, which for me felt really symbolic of this whole show. So many layers of like deception and darkness, that nursery rhymes kind of can do really well. And we landed on Hush Little Baby as a nursery rhyme, that just felt really apt and yeah, we did like a twisted version of that. That vocalist, Rotem, who's incredible, has this like really cool dry on the nose sound, that combined with different harmony and twisted that nursery rhyme as much as you can. So we had like a two and a half minute suite of this song basically.

35:32Adam PriceBut then practically you have to fit it down into this wonderful title sequence. So yeah, that was more of a practical technical challenge to try and capture the essence of the title track. ... But yeah, glad we did because yeah, it became a huge sort of thread across the episodes. You'll hear it in its many contortions, angry, wonderful, nice. Yeah, it's, it's all in there. But no, that was, that was probably a big challenge.

36:02Jawad MirOkay, awesome. Thanks for sharing that. Just sort of wrapping up here a few things. What's next for you that you're able to share?

36:11Adam PriceOoh.

36:11Jawad MirAre you working on anything big, small?

36:15Adam PriceYeah. Yeah, so, orchestration is kind of a big part of, sort of half my work is composing, half is orchestration, which I love doing, purely 'cause I can work with other composers and see what they're doing and watch from the outside in.

36:30Jawad MirOf course.

36:31Adam PriceAnd, you know, run the sessions and do all super fun things. But yeah, so there's a big f… do you know what? I'm gonna just keep my mouth shut. But yeah, I'm working on…

36:43Jawad MirI think I…

36:43Adam Price... A big film

36:44Jawad Mir... I think, I think I know exactly what you were gonna say and I'm not gonna say it

36:48Adam PriceOkay, let's, let's not Just in case. But thank…

36:52Jawad MirBut I'm looking forward, I'm looking forward to it. I'm really looking forward.

36:55Adam PriceYeah, me too.

36:56Jawad MirYeah. And, in terms of, you know, I had this one little thing of thought and question. I just kind of, like, blanked out here. What was I gonna ask you?

37:13Adam PriceYou're, you're busy thinking about that film, aren't you now, that you can't say?

37:15Jawad MirNo. I'm not. I'm, I'm literally, I'm literally thinking about this thing... It was more about, it was not about the career in music. It was something to do with life in general. Oh, yeah. It was, actually, it was about career. So has there been any... You know, you talked about how you are working at, you love doing orchestra work, and you meet other musicians in, you know, same realm, same composers. Has there been any time where you came across somebody that you really looked up to, and it, you had that awe moment but difficult time, like you wanted to approach him or her, and you had a difficult time doing so?

37:51Adam PriceDo you know what? I look up... As you get into this world and basically…

37:56Jawad MirI know, it's the same. Yeah

37:58Adam Price... It's, yeah, it's, it's... And you kind of look up, I mean, I can, like, people like Sarah Vaughan, for example, who's a, an incredible sort of TV drama writer. I was a huge fan… ... Of her. Looked, and then met her. And obviously we're, we're good friends now, so it's kind of like a, that's gone completely. The one person I do remember is at the first year of NFTS, they invite you to Dario Marianelli's house, in London, and he, we have a chat with him. So Pride and Prejudice, Atonement. And I remember thinking like, "Oh my God, this is by far on paper sort of the," I'm gonna say the biggest, but, you know, high-profile composers…

38:37Jawad MirFor you, and for her profile, yeah, 100%.

38:40Adam PriceYeah, and it, yeah, Dario Marianelli was, we sort of wa… walked in, and he was, yeah, he was amazing and put us at ease straight away, and he's like, Oscar was just very casually sitting behind him. I remember thinking like, "What the hell?" but that was amazing 'cause it kind of like immediately for me broke, like I said, there's no rules or rule book, but it, seeing him just in his studio, which is kind of a fairly modest studio for the music that he was writing, which is obviously incredible. So that was cool, that, it just broke down all kind of, that wall that makes it feel inaccessible. Like, I could…

39:16Jawad MirYeah

39:16Adam Price... It felt accessible for the first time. So yeah, that was... And, you know, seeing the picture that he was working on a tiny screen, it just, I'm not gonna say cheapened it, but it went behind the scenes to something that I hadn't seen before. So it was like, "Ah."

39:30Jawad MirI get that.

39:31Adam Price"I can do this."

39:32Jawad MirYeah.

39:32Adam PriceI think. I can't do it, but, you know, you pretend to be able to do it.

39:36Jawad MirThat's awesome, man. That's sweet. When is, or is it already out, the soundtrack to Crow Girl?

39:43Adam PriceSo probably a week or so perhaps.

39:46Jawad MirOkay.

39:47Adam PriceSo…

39:47Jawad MirSo there's no official date yet?

39:49Adam PriceNot yet. There's bits and pieces on my, Instagram, but, the official soundtrack will be out in probably a week, maybe 10 days. Yeah.

39:57Jawad MirAnd what's your Instagram handle so people can check it out?

40:00Adam Price_adam.price, which is,.. Do you know what? You've, see, you've got a really good name. I envy people with really good names. My name is so boring. Sorry, Mom and Dad.

40:12Jawad MirNo.

40:13Adam PriceBut yes…

40:14Jawad MirNo, it's, it's, it's…

40:14Adam Price... _adam.price

40:16Jawad MirBecause you didn't get an Instagram handle that's a boring name?

40:19Adam PriceNo. No. I just mean... Do you know what I like? I like the look of names. It's a bit of a weird…

40:25Jawad MirOh, okay

40:25Adam Price... Thing, but. So your name visually on paper is really good. I don't like how mine…

40:30Jawad MirI appreciate that.

40:31Adam PriceSo I'm letting out all my secrets now. I'm not a complete weirdo. But these are just little things that, yeah, get me by.

40:39Jawad MirI get it. I appreciate that. And the Crow Girl is out, the series is out today on Paramount Plus.

40:45Adam PriceYeah.

40:46Jawad MirListen, Adam, it's been awesome talking to you, man, about music, life…

40:49Adam PriceOf course

40:50Jawad Mir... You know. Let's do this again. I would love to have you on again, maybe of, we can chat about something from the past, like Dead Reckoning or some other project that you wanna talk about, and whenever that big project comes up, we can talk about that too.

41:05Adam PriceYeah, sure. I mean, when you by London, are you in London any time?

41:08Jawad MirYou know what? It's funny because I might be, pending few things, maybe within the next month or two, pending few things.

41:16Adam PriceOkay.

41:16Jawad MirIf it happens, I'll let you know.

41:18Adam PriceWe'll stay in touch. Yeah.

41:19Jawad MirYeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We'll get together.

41:21Adam PriceSounds good. Cheers, pal. Well, it's great talking to you, and, yeah, congrats on the podcast. You're smashing it.

41:25Jawad MirThank you, buddy. Appreciate it. You too. Take care. Bye-bye.

41:27Adam PriceHave a good one. Bye-bye.