Interview with the Multi-talented Scott Haskin

For those of you who are not familiar with Scott’s work, let me tell you a little about his background before we get into the interview. He is a music composer for film, video games, and an author. He is also a song writer, audio engineer, voice artist and audio director. Talk about a jack of all trades! And he has been kind enough to take the time to share some of his stories with us, in his own words and descriptions! Links to Scott’s pages will be listed at the end of the article.

JL: First of all, Scott, thank you for taking the time to talk with us and share your story with us here at Entertainment Vine. I must say that your resume is quite impressive. That being said, I guess for my first question, I was wondering about your new age albums. You have three out right now. So could you tell us a little about those, and where your inspiration came from?

Scott: Thanks for having me! Years ago, I was given a cassette as a Christmas gift by a co-worker that was a collection of songs offered by various artists signed with Private Music. This was probably 1988. I loved the tape and started listening to artists like Patrick O’Hearn. I realized what an open canvas this style is for music. With orchestral and rock, which I also enjoy composing, you are somewhat locked into certain basic components that must be there to keep true to the genre but with new age, the whole world is open to paint any kind of picture in sound that you like.

En-Tranced was the original Mental Sauna, which was for audio to assist in relaxation, meditation and sleep. I had composed quite a few tracks over the years, placed on different albums, that could be considered new age, but that was the first time I set out to do a full album. It was an interesting transitional time for me as a composer. I had just come off writing several concept albums and was expanding much more into digital recording and adding virtual instruments. As I continued to expand my library, the album began to take a direction I had not intended, but am very happy with.

Years later, I would revisit the concept after getting an idea for cover art and developing the concept for Mental Sauna from there. At the time, I had no idea it would turn into what it has and I would get to work with such incredible people like Kelly Kincart (Photographer and Graphic Artist at www.klixbykelly.com), Monica Boros (Model on Mental Sauna) and Victoria Paege (Model on Mental Sauna II at www.victoriapaege.com)! The response has been absolutely amazing!

JL: There are so many unique sounds that I was curious if you traveled any while making these albums, or were they all created in the studio?

Scott:  Thank you! That was something I focused heavily on. I don’t like to use “out of the box” sounds. I love tweaking things to get what I want out of them. I was in Las Vegas, attending a show, when I came up with the concept and a hummed a few ideas into a voice recorder but didn’t use much of that, in the end. It was created in my studio in Arizona.

JL: Are you currently working on any projects right now?

Scott:  I am currently working on producing a couple audio books, re-mastering an album I did a few years back called Kamu Vole’ and working on my next album, which is quite a departure from the Mental Sauna albums.

JL: Aside from new age, what else do you like to write?

Scott: I enjoy writing for orchestra as well as rock, world and using synthetic textures and percussion. I’ve done several concept albums, which I have learned a great deal from.

JL: Are there any future projects on the horizon that you can tell us about?

Scott: One of the difficulties of the film business is having knowledge of things you can’t really discuss. I can say I do have some things in the works, including film scores and two feature film scripts I am writing when I have time between projects. I am hoping to have the new album out in October, ready for Halloween (I did say departure, didn’t I?).

JL: Without giving away too much, can you tell us about your book? What is it about?

Scott: When I first wanted to turn from being a songwriter into being a film composer, I looked everywhere I could think of for resources. I could find tons of books about Hollywood film scoring, recording, music theory and so on but nothing about how to get started. I took my experiments and experiences and combined them with my knowledge of recording and audio engineering and put the book together, in the hopes of saving others some of the work I did to create a starting point and path. I have been absolutely stunned at the response I have received by composers all around the world and have made friends with many of them. The greatest reward has been that I was able to do exactly what I set out to do with it, and the letters I have received have brought that reward to a level I could never have asked for.

JL: With all the things that you have going on, what is your main focus right now?

Scott:  My biggest passion is putting music to picture. Film scoring has been a great source of enjoyment for me. I love freelance writing but, there is something about enhancing a movie with music. In between projects, though, I am happy to continue composing for other projects.

Scott, thank you so much for sharing your valuable time with us at Entertainment Vine. It has been a real pleasure talking with you! You can find pertinent websites listed below.

Official website- http://scotthaskin.com/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/scott.haskinFilmComposer

Twitter- https://twitter.com/Scotthaskin31

Interview by Jamie Leigh