Simon Franglen: Layering an orchestral track with the Seaboard RISE

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If you’ve seen a blockbuster film in the past 20 years, there’s a good chance that Simon Franglen helped create the music. The London-born composer and producer moved to Hollywood in the 1990s. His expertise in synthesizers made him more than a session pianist, and his classical piano training gave him a broader perspective than most producers.

Moving into the space between film composition and production, he produced the hit “My Heart Will Go On” from 1997’s Titanic. It’s been smooth sailing ever since.

Working on films like Avatar, Simon layers instruments as if he’s the conductor of a 100-piece orchestra. He wants his bells, drums, strings, choirs, and synths to sound — individually and collectively — like “not just a sample, but living instruments.” The Seaboard RISE has revolutionised his workflow by giving him fine-grained, organic control of timbre and pitch.

Playing a frame drum sound on a Seaboard, he can add extra dimensions by mapping the Slide gesture to nuances of timbre. He compares it to the flatter sound of a frame drum on a Yamaha synthesizer, which he can only control through velocity. “There’s not a big change in pitch, but it’s enough of a change to make the thing live. These micro changes add up to a big difference when you’re playing them across a big track.”