Composing / Arranging / Songwriting

I have a melody which I'm absolutely sure I made up when I was a kid and I want to use it in a composition I am working on. However, the things kids make up can be 'derivative', and I need to confirm that I hadn't heard it before. Do you know of any melody databases that could help me find out?

I know that the white keys on a keyboard form a diatonic scale, but what does diatonic really mean?...

BBC Bristol's natural history series 'The Life Of Mammals' was a high-profile production, with stunning visuals that demanded an equally impressive soundtrack.

One of Hollywood's most intelligent composers, Elliot Goldenthal is equally adept at writing for the big screen as the concert hall or theatre. We talk to him about his background and approach to composition, technology and orchestration.

Glen Ballard was already a first-call songwriter and producer in LA — and that was before a young, unknown singer called Alanis Morissette walked into his studio...

Jack Wall is a leading light in the video game soundtrack industry, where his credits include the latest chapter in the best-selling Myst series of computer games.

Composition runs in David Newman's family, and he's become one of Hollywood's most sought-after writers of music for film.

From Rain Man to The Lion King, and Gladiator to Mission Impossible 2, Hans Zimmer's music is known by audiences worldwide. With business partner Jay Rifkin, Zimmer is also responsible for Media Ventures, a music studio that offers a unique environment for media composers.

According to Oval's Markus Popp, traditional definitions and categories are inadequate when it comes to evaluating electronic music. Instead, his highly conceptual projects aim to make us understand music in terms of the software processes used to produce it.

Not content with reviving and staging a 1920s avant-garde work for the first time, Paul D. Lehrman also worked out a way to reunite the piece with its contemporary film, which was never used due to technical problems. This is how...

Do hit songs have a hidden ingredient that makes them successful by appealing directly to our emotions? It's a question that musicians and scientists have sought the answer to for many decades. Acoustic researcher Ernest Cholakis has a new take on the theory...

Once Rob Davis was a pop star himself with Mud. Now his songs have taken Kylie Minogue and Sophie Ellis-Bextor to the top of the charts.

Abbey Road's famous Studio One has played host to innumerable big-budget orchestral recordings for film, but the final session before its refurbishment in 2001 saw it being used for a new purpose: to record the soundtrack for a video game.

Gez Gourley specialises in creating sound for console games - whether it be orchestral music or crashing cars...

You don't need to have Top 40 hits to make a living from your music. Just ask Kent Brainerd, who has made a tidy sum by composing music for company training and presentation videos. Find out how...

Richard Buskin talks with two of Sweden's hottest writer-producers about their ongoing work as part of the Murlyn Music Group, including recent hit recordings by Jennifer Lopez, Samantha Mumba and Jessica Simpson.

Richard Buskin meets a successful American composer who's specialised in a unique kind of music for television...

Paul Farrer's name has been a fixture in SOS for several years, but these days he's best-known as the theme tune composer for top BBC TV quiz show The Weakest Link. Paul White asks the questions...

Sam Inglis demostrates how you might furhter enrich your lyric writing with the use of comparisons.

This month, Sam Inglis shows you how to improve your lyric writing by using fewer words to say more.

In this month's installment, Sam Inglis looks at how you can use the sounds and rhythms of words to make your song lyrics more memorable.