Fight For Us

This one is a little darker, and once vocals were added became more emotional. The beat started off very simple, with some low bass, darker synth chords, and a kind of emotive flute sample chopped up for a hook. What Gene did with the vocals was amazing — he created an inspiring anthem on top of a darker soundscape, creating this powerful emotion from the contrast. It’s pensive and uplifting at the same time.

We did about 4 iterations on this one — adding a little bit more drums and instrumentation each time to really support the strong vocals. I wanted to keep an organic vibe to the music so a lot of what I added was my own self-recorded strings and some acoustic drum samples. I also ended up recording just a small amount of layering in the analog synths to boost the chord structure.

Something simple I did once we had the vocals complete was adding dropouts. Sometimes creating space can add the emotional effect the song needs and allows the vocals to breathe in key places like leading into the chorus.

We wanted to focus on sync opportunities with this one, so I explored different creative directions for visuals to accompany the pitch. Was this an anthem of a struggling Marvel hero? Is it meant for the pivotal moment in a film where the protagonist rises up and turns the tide? Is it meant for a hero like The Lion King?

There’s a lot of ways this one could go. I’ve always had a thing for short film, and so I wanted to play around with different ideas of what it would mean to reverse score this song for a short film — a short based on the song rather than the other way around.

The concept I landed on was an ordinary person as the hero. But what makes him special is that he brightens up the world around him when everything seems dark and gray. He restores color to the world by reminding those around him what brings people joy — music, cooking, talking in the street. I wanted to express the power that any one person has to make a positive change in the world.

While it might not be the final product, it does a good job of illustrating the concept and gives music supervisors and music publishers a better idea of how to place the song.