A-List Music has been formed as a division of music production company Megatrax. The new venture has united 25 of Hollywood’s top music composers in a new premium label geared towards exclusive licensing for motion picture trailers and movie marketing campaigns. The announcement was made by JC Dwyer, who will serve A-List Music as its executive producer and creative director.
Upon its launch, A-List Music is making available to motion picture marketers six albums comprising 60 custom composed cues for movie trailers, and an additional 50 tracks of sound design elements. These albums, which offer evocative motifs, epic themes, and pulse-pounding intensity, are titled “Out For Blood” (hybrid tension thriller), “Ruination” (cinematic hybrid metal), “Heroes and Villians” (epic action and adventure), “Legends of Tomorrow” (epic action and adventure), “Pandemonium” (musical percussion and sound design), and “Rage Machine” (trailer sound design elements).
In addition, A-List Music is offering track customization and original custom scoring for motion picture advertising campaigns.
A-List Music’s scale is reflected in the fact that its tracks were recorded by a 300 piece hybrid studio orchestra, boasting a 90-voice choir, a soaring 90-piece string section, a 30-piece brass section, and over 100 tracks of sound design, impacts, guitars, bass and drums. The A-List ensemble was further embellished with over 50 live percussion instruments, including multiple timpani, orchestral toms, taiko drums, tubular bells and gongs, to create a vast sonic palette.
Dwyer said, “We have truly raised the bar within the entertainment industry with the launch of A-List Music. Our focus is on premium, exclusive, highly produced trailer music. Three years in the making, A-List Music offers movie marketers a world-class label designed to deliver picture-perfect cinematic sounds. A-List Music was envisioned by a remarkable team of film and trailer music industry veterans who worked with us to develop top-tier music for motion picture advertising campaigns that rival the best blockbuster film scores.”
Among the top Hollywood music composers who have contributed to the A-List Music banner and its initial six CD track offerings are:
Bruce Broughton: Broughton has won 10 Emmy Awards (with 23 nominations,) most recently for his score for the HBO Film “Warm Springs.” He earned an Oscar nomination for his score for “Silverado,” and a Grammy Award nomination for the soundtrack for “Young Sherlock Holmes.” Among his other credits are the TV series “JAG,” TinyToon Adventures,” “Dallas,” “Quincy,” and “Hawaii Five-O.”
Jeff Carruthers: Carruthers is a multi-platinum composer, songwriter, producer, arranger and sound designer. In 2014, he earned a Grammy Award nomination for his work on the Dave Koz CD “Summer Horns.” He has composed and arranged many Billboard # 1 singles, and has appeared onmorethan 50 Top Ten albums. He has four Platinum and four Gold Record Album awards.
Jim Dooley: Dooley won an Emmy Award for “Best Original Music Composition for a Series” for his work on ABC’s “Pushing Daisies.” He has contributed music to the hit DreamWorks animated features “Madagascar” and “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa,” and the Academy Award-winning animated film “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.” He collaborated with Hans Zimmer on “Gladiator,” and contributed to the success of “The DaVinci Code,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “The Ring,” and many others.
Ryan Andrews: Andrews’ work has been featured in the theatrical advertising campaigns for films and videogames including “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” “Hercules,” “The Expendables 3,” and the “Call of Duty” game series.
Peter Bateman: Bateman’s skills as an orchestrator are regularly called on by industry luminaries like Danny Elfman. His recent credits include “Maleficent,” “Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Fast & Furious 6,” and hit videogames including “Bioshock” and “Batman: Arkham Origins.”
Mark Denis: Denis has written music for theatrical campaigns behind “World War Z,” “Iron Man 3,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” and “The Avengers.” His work can also be heard on hundreds of TV programs and promos airing on the big four major television networks.
Eddie Wohl: Three time Emmy Award Winner Wohl has composed music placements on The Super Bowl, the NFL/CBS, the NBA/NBC, The Olympics, “Judge Judy,” and “Inside Edition.” He is also a producer of records with sales exceeding 6-million copies.
The other music composers who comprise the A-List Music banner are: Robert Allaire (“American Horror Story,” NBC’s “Ironside” reboot, “Where the Hell is Matt?” videos); Jeff Atmajian (“Groundhog Day,” “The American President,” “Chocolat,” “The Sixth Sense,” “The Dark Knight” and “Maleficent”); Zain Effendi (“Pirates of the Caribbean,” “The Dark Knight,” “Kung Fu Panda”); Craig Stuart Garfinkle (“The Office,” “Fringe,” “Lost,” “The Sopranos,” the final three “Harry Potter” films); Randy Gist (“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Despicable Me 2,” “Elysium,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”); Benoit Grey (“The Day After Tomorrow,” “The X-Files,” “Priest”); Jesper Kyd (BAFTA Award Winner, videogames “Assassin’s Creed,” “Borderlands,” “Hitman”); M.B. Gordy (“Terminator 3,” “X-Men 2,” “Transformers,” “Mad Men”); Todd Haberman (NBC’s “The Firm,” “Flash Forward,” “Arrow,” Transformers 3,” “Fast Five”); Yoshiro Hayata (Downbeat Magazine Award winning arranger and composer); Sergio Jimenez Lacima (“Wax,” “Viral,” “Slice 3,” “Call of Duty: Black Opps 2” videogame); Gerard K. Marino (Principal composer, Sony Playstation’s “God of War” franchise, “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “The Punisher,” “Superman Returns”); Garry Schyman (BAFTA Award Winner, videogames “BioShock,” “BioShock 2,” “BioShock Infinite,” “The A-Team,” “Magnum P.I.”); Jack Wall (videogames “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2,” “Mass Effect,” “Myst,” TV show “Reign”); Sunna Wehrmeijer (“Robin Hood,” “Prometheus,” “The Grey,” “Parkland,” vocals heard within “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”); Nathan Whitehead (“The Last Ship,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” “The Purge: Anarchy”); Steve E. Williams (“A Current Affair,” NBC’s “Life,” “The Jeff Probst Show,” award winning advertising music composer); and Derek Jones (Berklee College of Music graduate, producer of over 350 albums, producer/sound engineer/mixer for David Hollister, Jeff Lorber & Robben Ford).
