Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres
Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres is an award-winning film composer and classical electronic artist, having written music for theatre, circus, dance, opera and film. Alexandra’s film scores have been screened at BAFTA and Oscar-qualifying level film festivals. She has worked on Do No Harm, which was nominated for ‘Best UK Short’ at the Raindance Film Festival. She has also worked on a documentary called By the Water. In 2019 Alexandra scored Divided We Scroll, for which her score won an award for ‘Best Sound & Music’. She has recently scored Until We Touch. Alexandra is also an active member of the Alliance of Women Film Composers.
Alexandra was influenced by films as a child such as The Snowman, Minimalist artists, “Heavy” electronic music, Debussy and Satie, German electronic neoclassical music and the Original matrix OST. She has a classical background with the piano being her favourite instrument.
Q&A
How do you approach a score?
It’s very different depending on the director. Some sound textures and samples I will go towards normally. but for the tone of the piece, this really depends on what the director wants, I like to make playlists to get an idea of what they want and what I see from the piece. When reading the script, you can get an idea of what the soundtrack will be like and that’s when I create the playlists.
What’s the most important thing when you create a composition? Theory? Timbre? Effects?
It’s a combination of everything but I start with the textures and how they can tell a story, once they are defined the structure comes afterwards. You need to engage the audience in a certain way.
Did your music grades help your scoring capabilities?
It’s good to have a knowledge of scoring, for example with a violinist, it’s good to know what they’re able to do. There are amazing orchestrators that can help you if you are not experienced in it. It really helps to have fundamental knowledge but it’s not needed. For the film, all you need to know is how to “talk in the film, sound.” I write my own scores because I was in an orchestra for a while.
Does 12 tone music theory help? Is it limiting?
In learning a lot of theory in a classical way, really helped my fundamentals on different composers and it’s good to know the different rules. But it’s also nice to break these rules and to understand your process a bit better. I don’t find it limiting as you can create whatever sounds you want nowadays. There are so many interesting processes around structure and tones. It’s really great to understand what’s being done in music and to understand the process. It’s only limiting if you cling to its ideas.
Earlier you were talking about putting a contact microphone on the autoharp. Is this for a textural reason?
It’s mainly an explanation and it depends on what I’m doing. When I’ve done it before I get some interesting sounds. If it’s interesting I can use it more at the front and if it sounds bad, at the back. I just enjoy the sound of the contact microphone. There’s a lot of trial and error in creating these sounds and it’s great to experiment.
Do you ever get writer’s block when making a piece for the film?
For the film, it’s normally pretty easy and not too hard. If you’re feeling stuck, the film can point you in a direction but for my own solo pieces, I definitely feel writer’s block. But I enjoy the film side because the sound palette is already made and ideas are already there.
Do you have an idea of what the soundtrack will be before making it?
Sometimes, if you’re reading the script it’s different from watching the film. It’s whatever you are given in the film. I like to make playlists to get an idea of what they want and what I see from the piece.