My bio
have over 15 years experience composing to picture. I have scored for short and feature films, and animations (one of which won a "Best New Animation" award at Glasgow Film Theatre; another was shortlisted for Best Animation at the Swansea Bay Film Festival and was screened at the Everglades International Film Festival). I have also produced music for CD ROMs, computer games, and a lot of corporate video (clients include the UK Government Department of Trade & Industry, and Sainsbury, a major UK retailer).
I also write music for performance - I won the Scottish Society of Composers Composition Prize 2002 with a Trio for Harp, Clarinet & Violin, and received the following comments about another piece, 4 Dialogues for Two Guitars:
".. the most arresting work on the programme.." (Neville Garden, music critic (Scotland on Sunday) & broadcaster)
"..a beautifully crafted composition...a superb piece.." (Classical Guitar Magazine).
Here is another comment from Jon Sykes, a computer game developer, about a demo I did for one of his games:
"Just had chance to listen to your music... and I think it is fantastic. You have somehow managed to grasp exactly what I was wanting from my ill defined brief. I am really excited by what you have done. It perfectly suggests the dark noir image we were wanting." (I was hired to compose the music for this project.)
And another from Eric Mival, music editor of the cult UK TV series "The Prisoner":
"Since working as a music editor on Patrick McGoohan's classic series "The Prisoner" I have always been picky about music for film and television. Consequently I always turn first to Dave Watson to write original music for any programmes or series I am directing and/or producing. I find he always listens very carefully to the brief, comes up with unexpected, yet highly appropriate, and catchy music."
In the last few years, I have successfully completed an intensive Film Scoring course with Hummie Mann, the double Emmy award winning Seattle-based film composer, and was a runner-up in the UK Songwriting Contest 2005 with an R'n'B song.
I have just returned from Los Angeles, where I was invited to give a seminar "Music in Film" at the British Film Festival Los Angeles.
Please check out my website: http://www.dhwatson.co.uk/. As well as audio, there are some streaming video examples, one of which is the animation shortlisted at Swansea. There are some more recently produced video clips and audio at http://www.myspace.com/davidhwatson. And I can send CD's of recent music and pictures, or a selection by e-mail, to anyone who is interested.