Full contact

Famously self-defined as a ‘full-contact’ composer, we ask Tom to detail exactly how that process differs from the norm in soundtracking terms: “It’s not only the fact that I want to be turning knobs and playing instruments, but it’s the fact that I want to be in control of every step of the process. When I can, I love to record the orchestra myself. I still mix all my film scores by myself. I still master all my recordings myself. I deliver all these stems to the final product also myself. I want to be in control as much as I can. Every step of the way I feel I can add more identity of what I am as a person. My career started in my late teens as a very traditional recordist, recording bands and mixing and then I grew into being a producer, working with international acts. But my core career was to make sure that the music being produced had a strong identity and sound, purely based on how you record and how you mix and how you guide the musicians into a certain type of performance. That’s stayed with me throughout.”