The Music, by Alan Miller

The Jo/e's and I have been friends for ages, but we've never worked together creatively before. Just when I thought I'd got away with it, Jo popped round one evening and asked "have you got an orchestra in your head?" My first thought was to sit her down and make her a nice cup of tea until she felt better, but then I realised that it was all a cunning ploy to get me to reveal some of my "music secrets!"

The process of writing the music for the cards begins when I see the first draft of Joe's animations. Generally, from the instant I see it, I get an impression of what sounds will work with the pace, shape and central 'characters' of the animation.

Initially, when Jo and Joe asked me to create the music for the cards, I'd thought it might end up being a dangerous experiment - calculating beats and bars, and dividing by frames and seconds (which as a musician just made my toes curl), but happily, once you find the 'rhythm' of the animation everything seems to just fall into place.

And no, I haven't got an orchestra in my head. It starts with a hum - normally whilst out walking Billy (my dog) or lying in the bath (not with the dog!). Then in the studio it's just a case of choosing an instrument to fit the character, and developing it from there. Sometimes it comes together really quickly, if not, Billy lets me know.

And of course, I just love doing it - you get into what's happening in the animation and suddenly you find that it's making you chuckle, or that the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and that's when you know you've cracked it.

Anyway, feel free to drop us a line - it'd be lovely to hear from you.

To hear some more of Alan's work, then have a peek here www.roundsound.uk.com