I decide,and that iswhat you pay for
I write music for film and series, from the first note to the last file.
Who are you?
I am Santiago Bianchi, a composer. I write for film and series, for the concert stage, and under my own name, as albums and singles. I studied composition for film music in Rome, I play four instruments, I have conducted my own music in front of an audience, and I have collaborated with Rai.
More than a hundred projects have left my desk, one of them a series with over two hundred minutes of music. Every one is written, produced and delivered by one person, which is why you talk to me from the first message to the last file.
Why should I hire you and not someone cheaper?
Because I will do what is best for the project. I follow your taste as well, but I do not let your taste override the choice that fits. That is not arrogance, it is the thing you are hiring: if you wanted an instrument that does exactly what it is told and nothing more, there is a subscription for that, and you have probably tried it already.
Cheaper always exists. What it usually costs you is the second round, the third round, and the week you spend explaining what you meant.
How did you learn to write for an orchestra?
By studying it and by putting my hands on it in person. Composition for Film Music at the Saint Louis College of Music in Rome, 110 cum laude, and private lessons before that. The virtual side came from a DAW I got hold of at fifteen and years of getting it wrong on my own.
I play flute and clarinet, and these days piano and saxophone. It matters less than the degree and more than you would think: writing a line for an instrument you have held is a different job from writing one you have only heard.
What is the longest you have ever spent on one piece?
A month, on a medley of the Game of Thrones themes. The libraries were too heavy for my computer, so I worked without hearing anything: I exported, wrote the corrections down by hand second by second, instrument by instrument, and corrected again.
Today that takes three hours. Those hours were paid for once, by me, and that is what a rate buys.
Has any of it been played by actual people?
Yes, in rooms with an audience in them, and not only as the composer: I have conducted my own music as well. I have also collaborated with Rai.
I am an active member of Musica del Vivo, which has helped put my work for string quartet, piano and violin and other ensembles in front of players.
What do you not do?
I do not take a job I cannot do well, and I say so on the first message rather than on the third delivery. I do not sell packages, because I do not know what your project is before you tell me.
And I do not start work before a quote is paid. That is not distrust, it is the thing that makes the date real for both of us.
What is out there under your name?
Enough about me. What are you making? Tell me