Watch or listen to the Cinematic Orchestra here
I had a great time with the Cinematic Orchestra after one of the worse ever commutes to KCRW that morning. Despite the early load-in, the guys were here waiting for me and almost set up.
Many times when we get an input list and there's a laptop listed, it means the band will most likely be playing along with tracks that are pre-recorded. But with Cinematic Orchestra, band leader Jason Swinscoe was using Pro Tools (and it's newest sampler software) to fire off elements, and then controlling them with a midi keyboard. So he was actually performing as an electronic musician and manipulating elements within Pro Tools, finally feeding me a stereo
mix. The band performed along with Jason's cues and created a nice mix of cinematic swells and jazzy riffs. With some bands, the length and tempo of the songs are fixed, and dictated by the computer. In this case, Jason could stretch out a verse or chorus, lengthen or shorten songs or change them all together.
Adding to the great musicians were vocals from Heidi Vogel and guitarist Grey Reverend.
Mario Diaz
KCRW Recording Engineer