Pro drummer and educator, diligent film score composer with more than a dozen albums under his belt – London-born artist Jake Bradford-Sharp is another TuneReel contributor we’re thrilled to work with and witness his achievements in the cinema and TV industry.
Starting to play drums at the age of 8 and joining his first professional band at 16, Jake wasn’t your typical teenage rock band drummer. From a fairly young age, the talented musician was absorbed in musically quite advanced genres – prog-rock, fusion, and classic rock. Over the years, Jake has developed a flair for composing in diverse genres as well as creating unique soundtracks for video games, TV, and films.
Today we talk with Jake about his inspiration and influences cultivating his individual music style, as well as his creative process of producing remarkable soundscapes for different video projects.
Your signature electro-swing music is a unique combination of two different genres and energies. How did you develop this particular style? What are your influences?
I fell in love with bands and artists like Caravan Palace, Mr. Scruff and Parov Stelar, and so they influenced my Electro Swing work quite a bit. I later got into the bands and artists that either influenced them or they sampled like Django Reinhardt, Dorado Schmitt, Moondog (the classic Mr. Scruff sample!) and the discovery of those music scenes went on and on. I develop the majority of my Electro Swing tracks by initially working with loops and samples; editing, cutting, tweaking, and then adding more musical and/or traditional songwriting elements as the songs and writing progress.
Have you placed any of these tracks in film or TV yet? If so, in what kind of projects?
I recently had my track ‘Boogie Woogie’ featured in the feature-length film These Birds Don’t Fly South In The Winter, which was cool. The writer and director got in touch to inform me of using the track and to thank me for it – which was really nice of him! I’ve had all sorts of placements with my material; a sci-fi book release using some of my Dark Future material (the album is not yet commercially released, but soon will be), a big US-based fast-food chain using a song of mine for an internal ad, and even a ballet school for a recorded performance.
You also produce amazing dystopian/futuristic soundscapes. What’s the inspiration behind your musically darker releases?
I love the darker side of music as well as the upbeat and ‘happy’ Electro Swing material. My Dark Future album is heavily inspired by author William Gibson’s Neuromancer trilogy. The world he created, the characters, and their stories within that world conjured up so many musical themes. Such brilliant books. Music-wise, I think my biggest influence for the darker material is probably Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross’ soundtrack work. The sounds they produce are fascinating – I could listen to the Gone Girl and Watchmen soundtracks all day!
Could you briefly introduce your process of composing music and the essential music-making tools and instruments in your studio arsenal?
The process is a difficult one to pinpoint as inspiration can come from anywhere. Lately, I’ve been setting up my studio in a new space due to moving house. I’m now in a slightly quieter neighbourhood in central London, so that’s inspiring me in a different way than the bustling high street I used to live on. Otherwise, it’s a good film or TV series, book, or another artist’s work. I’ve had both the Spaced TV show soundtrack (there’s a playlist on Spotify curated by Edgar Wright) and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Music For Film album on repeat. Both influence me in very different ways.
Essential tools for the material I’m currently working on would be a decent piano sound (NI’s Noire piano for me) and a bunch of chords. I guess it depends on what I’m writing to or for, and what I want the end result to be. My loops and samples libraries would be essential for my Electro Swing material.
Let’s talk samples: how important are they in your music? How do you choose those jazz samples you work with?
Samples are priceless to me. I sometimes use them just to spark an idea and run with it, or I’ll build a track using only loops and samples. Usually, I end up going in and re-recording parts, but if it sounds good then they stay. If the end result sounds good, that’s all that matters to me. I tend to flick through my jazz sample library (Loopmasters or Big Fish Audio) when starting a new track and see which one stands out to me. It’ll change from day to day.
When you compose a track, do you consistently follow some initial idea or do you prefer to write music as it comes to you?
If I’m writing to picture, then I’ll follow the references given (if any) and tend to stick to my initial idea until I get feedback from the director / writer / producer. Then it may change. I’ve found that first instincts are usually pretty spot on – particularly in terms of feel – so it tends to stay in that area from then on. Library music is usually a bit different. Since I’m usually working by myself I just go with the flow until the track is finished, then go back and tweak a day or two later. If things are going really well I’ll have a track done in a day.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about working with music libraries?
Be open to (creative) criticism and be prepared to get a lot of rejection emails.
What was your most memorable placement?
I received a PRS statement once that was larger than expected, so I did some digging and found that a beer delivery company called Beerwulf had used one of my tracks for their TV spot. That was pretty cool! I’m always happy to see people using my music though, be it a big company or an independent filmmaker.
How do you deal with a lack of inspiration? How do you push through when nothing seems to get done? Are you sometimes up against a deadline?
I tend to force myself to write, even if it ends up being shelved. Although once I’m going I usually find something in there that I think could work and come back to it at a later date. If there’s a deadline involved it can be tricky, but I try to allow room for error and time for changes. I’m actually in the middle of scoring a short film (entitled Bad Beat) with a deadline coming up in a few days’ time. I’ve been working closely with the director on this scene for a while now, but today I sent over a new – potentially final – edit. If everything is good for all involved then great! But if not, we have the time to make any changes before the deadline hits.
Otherwise, I usually try to take a break if I have time or work on other things like some drum recording sessions or gigs I may have coming up. I enjoy being productive!
Check out Jake’s music on TuneReel: https://tunereel.com/royalty-free-music-artist/jake-bradford-sharp
And his latest album ‘Nighttown’ on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1XxaSx0RGRD6O3iJ1yf3M3
