October 2021
Veigar Margeirsson is a film score composer and co-founder & VP of Creative at Pitch Hammer Music, an LA-based music production company that specialises in theatrical marketing campaigns, motion pictures, TV shows and themes. Along with composing, Veigar oversees a team of music composers, sound designers and mixers. Pitch Hammer has custom scored music and secured licenses in hundreds of major motion picture campaigns, including recent hits such as Soul, Frozen 2, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Joker, Lion King, and Captain Marvel.
As a music composer, Veigar is regarded as an industry leader in orchestral scoring with over 2,000 combined placements in motion pictures, television, commercials and trailers. He has also scored several feature films and theatre productions, and won a best score award at the Badalona Film Festival in Spain in 2011, and was nominated for best score at the 2019 Iceland Music Awards for his score on Efi: dæmisaga, an Icelandic adaptation of the acclaimed Broadway play Doubt: a parable. Having a big interest in arranging since childhood, he has written arrangements for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, The LA Philharmonic and The Reykjavik Big Band and more.
Let’s hear more…
MASA: Can we hear a little about your career path so far… ?
VEIGAR: I was born in Iceland, and started playing the trumpet at age 11. Soon after I took up piano and discovered that I had the ability to play pretty much any song by ear. I started playing professionally around 16, became very interested in composing and arranging, and at 21 I moved to the US and studied at Berklee College of Music, University of Miami, and University of Southern California. I stumbled into the world of trailer music 20 years ago and have been involved with all kinds of exciting projects in trailers, film, theatre, television and concert music.
MASA: In 2012 you co-founder Pitch Hammer Music, an LA-based music production company that specialises in theatrical marketing campaigns, motion pictures, TV shows and themes. Can you tell us about any jobs from the last few years that stand out for you?
VEIGAR: We have really enjoyed our foray into video games over the last 18 months. Among the many projects as of late are trailerized remixes of Biggie Smalls and Duran Duran's ‘Notorious', and James Brown and Tupac’s ‘Unchained' for the Call of Duty franchise. On the trailer front a standout job for us just before the pandemic was the trailer for ‘Joker', where we created a very twisted version of ‘Send in the Clowns’. And we did a similar thing for the 'Candyman’ trailer where we created some original music that was intertwined with the score from the original 1992 movie and ‘Say My Name’ by Destiny’s Child. A pretty clever idea by Universal I have to say!
We created the theme for the XFL Football League on FOX, but it only aired a few weeks because the pandemic killed the league temporarily. And then there are lots of recent placements from our catalog for Jungle Cruise, A Quiet Place 2, 2020 Olympics, Soul and many, many more.
I also just finished scoring a feature film that will be out in a few months, called High Expectations, starring Kelsey Gammer and Ally Brooke. It was very nice to be able to record the score in my native Iceland with SinfoniaNord.
MASA: Can you talk about being a creative person who spends significant time on the business side of things? is it hard going back and forth between composing, producing and running a business?
VEIGAR: To me, music is easier than business. That’s why it’s great for me to have a business partner who has different strengths than I have. My co-owner, Brian Brasher, is strong where I am weak, and vice versa. I try to compose every week, but with multiple jobs going on and managing a team of composers, it can be hard to juggle everything and switch back and forth between business and creative mode.
MASA: What are some key assets and characteristics you look for in composers and collaborators you work with?
VEIGAR: Talent is necessary, but work ethic is a must. People need to be teachable and open to receiving guidance to improve. For some people ego gets in the way, and that can hurt their progress. Being able to work fast is a must, too. On custom jobs we have to be available all the time and often react fast to very crucial situations. Our composers need to be able to deliver top notch product on very tight deadlines.
MASA: How have you seen the business of movie trailers change in the two decades you have been in it, specifically the music portion?
VEIGAR: The biggest change since I started has probably been the use of big songs in campaigns. We often trailerize exisiting songs and scores, and we actually trademarked the term Trailerized® a while back. But like anything, the trailer industry is cyclical. For example, 15 years ago there was choir in everything and then the choir sound disappeared for a while. Trends come and go, so while we are aware of what the market needs we try not to overthink it. Good music will always find its place.
MASA: What were you looking for when judging this year’s Music+Sound Awards? In your opinion, what makes a piece of work outstanding?
VEIGAR: When quality is consistent across the board; music, sound, editing, graphics etc. Music and sound in film is about enriching the overall experience for the audience, not to stick out to be noticed. It is nice to experience something unexpected. While SFX and foley have to make sense with what is going on visually, the music has the ability to go into unexpected territory, and when that is done properly some real magic can happen.
MASA: So great to get an insight into the world of Veigar and Pitch Hammer! Thank you and all the best with everything to come.
To find out more you can visit www.pitchhammermusic.com
