July 2022
Lorenzo Cosci is one of the leading players in the business of making music and sound design for movie trailers. As the Co-Founder / Director Of Music / Sound Designer for SIIX Trailer Music and Sound, Lorenzo’s resume of work includes 130+ theatrical marketing campaigns for box-office successes. His award-winning music production house is proud to have a diverse clientele which includes such studios as: Warner Bros. Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, Lionsgate, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, A24, Sony Pictures, Amazon Studios, Netflix and HBO.
Some of his most recent works include: Spiderman: No Way Home, The Batman, Matrix: Resurrections, King Richard, Jurassic World: Dominion, The Eternals, The Lost City, Stranger Things season 4, and many more…
MASA: Lorenzo, please tell us a bit about yourself! How did you start out in the industry and what is your musical background?
LORENZO: I have always had a great passion for music, as well as film. I started playing guitar and singing when I was 14, and shortly after I started my own punk rock band. All of this back in Tuscany, Italy: it could be said that these were my first baby steps in the music world. At 19, I felt like I had to take the next step and moved to London to study Music Industry and Media Business Management at London Metropolitan University, where I graduated in 2015 with a First Class Honours Degree. During my three years at University, my knowledge about the industry deepened, and I ended up, for the next year and a half, working for an up and coming indie record label as well as, most importantly, the world leading sheet music publisher, Hal Leonard. I knew this was the industry I wanted to work in, but I also knew I hadn't found my vocation yet. 2016 is when I discovered music for motion picture advertising, aka trailers. As a movie geek, this was a revelation to me, and I knew I wanted to establish myself within this niche. I got together with my great friend Julia Wahle, and together we decided to open a production company specializing in, you bet, music and sound design for trailers. Hence, SIIX Trailer Music and Sound was born!
MASA: Can you give us your elevator pitch for SIIX please?
LORENZO: SIIX Trailer Music and Sound is my pride and joy: we are a boutique music production company that specialises in the production of cutting-edge musical tracks, distinctive, out-of-this-world sound design and custom scores for motion picture advertising. We are home to some of the most innovative artists, composers and producers and our aim is to push the boundaries of creativity and discover new trends before they become such. Our superhuman work ethic, and the profound commitment to what we do, is the last bit, the cherry on top, that has allowed us to work on over 140 blockbuster movie marketing campaigns within the last 6 years.
MASA: It would be great to hear a little about a recent project that you’re particularly proud of…
LORENZO: Recently we have worked extensively on the campaign for Moon Knight, the latest Disney Plus / Marvel superhero series. First of all, I loved the series itself - I thought it was incredibly unique and well developed! And as to why I'm particularly proud of this project, it's because we did an extensive amount of work with two different trailer houses as well as with Disney themselves to get these trailers to the finish line, and that is something that doesn't happen that often. We worked with Disney on a 60 seconds spot: our track ‘Modern Illusion’ was the one that made the final cut, and man am I proud of this unique, cutting-edge track, which possesses a synth-y signature sound that makes the spot as unique as they come! With a separate trailer house we managed to finish a spot with our track ‘Dark Origins’, a darker cue that carries that superhero vibe, while maintaining a strong emotional aspect. Finally, you can hear a customized version of our track ‘Reason In Madness’ throughout the final trailer of the series, and this was truly the most satisfying part of it all: we added some layers of Egyptian-influenced elements and instrumentation on top of a sci-fi action track, and the result was one of the best trailers we've ever done! [VIEW HERE]
MASA: What does your initial process look like when starting on a new project?
LORENZO: That depends on a variety of factors. We might customize an existing track from our library, we might create a custom track from scratch, we might get asked to create a remix of a popular song to make it fit the world that the movie is set in, we might even work on custom sound design to match the needs of a trailer. Each trailer house tends to have a different approach, and even within the same trailer house the process might look very different depending on who's cutting that trailer, who is producing it, and what the project is. This is something that I personally love, as it keeps us creative, pushes us to go beyond what's expected.
MASA: What are some key assets and characteristics you look for in composers and collaborators you work with?
LORENZO: This is a brilliant question. We get music submissions by composers on a daily basis, and we listen to all of the submissions that come in. The first thing that we look for is production value: these trailers need the highest standards of production music, whether we're talking about percussion, synths or orchestral realism. If our production value standards are met (or if a composer is close enough and we believe we can guide him/her to the level that's needed), creativity and originality is the second thing we look for: we release very little music compared to a lot of our competitors, and that's because we don't release a track if we don't believe in it 100%. We take pride in what we do and don't allow any music to be associated with our name if it isn't as great as we know our clients expect our music to be. To put it simply, we don't settle for anything that doesn't excite us to the core.
Finally, a lot of times clients ask for revision after revision after revision, and sometimes the work on a single trailer can go on for many months, so we look for composers that don't take it personally when we ask to change things on a track; if, for example, a composer sends us a submission that has great production value, originality and creativity, but they don't respond well to feedback, that is a red flag for us.
MASA: What do you see as the most prominent musical trends in motion picture advertising at the moment, and what would you personally like to see more of?
LORENZO: That obviously depends on the genre of the movie or series, but in general we're finally starting to see more and more editors (and producers) taking chances at creating something that goes out of the box, to grab the attention of the viewer with unexpected elements, weird instrumentation and bold sound design choices. That makes me happy because it allows us to let our creativity run free, without being too constricted by standard trailer music structure and elements. I'd personally like to see an even bigger inclusion of foreign, more niche instrumentation, but we have started to see that in the last couple of years. That being said, I can easily say what I'd like to see less of, and that is remixes of popular songs. Unfortunately though, that is a trend that seems to never die.
MASA: How do you think a competition like The Music+Sound Awards impacts the industry?
LORENZO: I love The Music + Sound Awards, I think it's very important to have these sorts of events and ceremonies. Being able to get a glimpse at what other players within the industry are working on, their approach and ideas, is a great source of inspiration. Sometimes you get locked in your studio and forget that there are many people out there trying to find answers to the same questions as you, so a competition like MASA helps the industry to move forward and not get stuck in the same styles, the same instrumentations, etc. It allows growth within the industry, and that's priceless.
MASA: And lastly, what will you be looking for when judging? What makes a piece of work worthy of a Music+Sound Award?
LORENZO: I might repeat myself, but production value is obviously the first thing I look for; if, for example, the brass elements (or the strings, etc) in a track sound fake, that's it for me. To be honest though, the quality level of the submissions for MASA is incredibly high for the most part, so that brings me to the second criteria I use: originality. For a piece of music or a collection of sound design to win an award as important as a MASA, it can't be something that has been heard hundreds of times. Don't get me wrong, a lot of times the client wants something, and that's what you gotta deliver, even if it means going more 'standard' and holding back your creativity. Nothing wrong with that, but not when giving out an award: for this I look for things that I've never seen before, things that I wish I thought about myself. If it has spectacular production value AND it makes my jaw drop for how innovative it is, while still working at a commercial level (meaning the final piece does what the trailer or spot or ad requires), then ding ding ding, we have a winner.
MASA: Love it Lorenzo. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat here. It’s wonderful to gain this insight into your world and thank you again for being on this year’s jury.
Find out more about SIIX Trailer Music and Sound HERE
