Well, sadly for Petula and America, not hardly.

Deane Ogden Music | Asia

While being over in Southeast Asia writing the music for Jabang Tetuko in 2011, I wasn't sure when the next time would be that I had an opportunity to be so footloose and fancy-free with my travel budget or my time, so I made sure to get to as many places as possible to explore what was happening musically and see if there were any rabbit holes to fall down. Turns out that people in Asia need music just as badly as people in America do, and while Los Angeles is still obviously the creative capital of the world, the earth is becoming more and more flat by the day. As I began entering into creative partnerships with many companies and entities over in Asia it became clear that this could easily continue and that it might be wise to set up a physical "shop" over there somewhere to work when I'm in the region. This concept really was cemented when I began talking to a major Japanese network about licensing my television library of music to several of their shows serving SE Asia, New Zealand and Australia. I hired a local assistant and started getting educated on where the best place was to do business as an American entity. The consensus from several successful businesspeople, hands down, was Singapore.

A view from the top » Deane Ogden Music | Asia

This week, after four months of preparation and lots of paperwork and details, I give you Deane Ogden Music | Asia. We finally moved into our new space in the Clarke Quay district of Singapore City (hence the Petula joke — when I mixed details about getting married and opening an office near Clarke Quay in Singapore City in the same week, my buddy Jason jokingly quipped, "What's this about you marrying Petula Clarke?"). It is a spectacular space, with breathtaking views of the Singapore River and the Boat Quay area in the middle of downtown. I have a trio of guys that run the studio there and they basically made the move all by themselves without my being there since I'm in Indonesia preparing to get married. I couldn't be prouder of them or more happy with what they've done. And they are having a blast; every couple of days I get a new batch of progress photos, with the now running gag of all three of posing somewhere new with an open bottle of Sailor Jerry, as if they are passed out and not working. Great way to make the boss nervous!

UPDATE [120517]: Since posting this yesterday, I have been inundated with questions as to whether I was moving to Singapore. Asia is a beautiful place and a land that I'm certainly having a love affair with, but my home is still on the West Coast of the United States and I'm not leaving. That said, the business opportunities in Asia are abundant, and I've already adjusted to a schedule of being on either side of the world for weeks at a time. I flip-flop between LA, Oregon, Kyoto and Jakarta every few weeks unless I'm anchored down on a project, and I've got a list of half a dozen or so other places that I also like to retreat to when a creative "lockdown" needs to happen. But, as I've always done, I'll go where the work is and where I can do it better and with greater focus. If it's a game being developed in Japan, you'll most likely find me at the Okura Hotel in downtown Kyoto (where I wrote about 1/3 of "Eastern Chronicle"). If it's a film project in the States or a recording date, I'll be at home in Los Angeles, or in New York and sometimes even Nashville. The tough part is the travel, but I'm always working on ways I can make that easier and more sensible as well. As soon as I unleash my Trans-Pacific underwater bullet train, I'll comp you a ticket!

Hattrick

As a result of the aforementioned networking, I recently scored and debuted my first Asian feature film called Hattrick for MultiVision Plus in Indonesia. The film debuted in theaters on May 10th of this year and has performed well in its first week. I had the great opportunity to work with a terrific team at MVP Pictures and was finally able to work with my good pal and fellow SCOREcaster Dirk Ehlert, who provided additional music for the film. Below is the official trailer. If you are in SE Asia in the next weeks go check it out at a XI Cineplex nearest you.

If you cannot see the video below, click here.

Level 7

I've been feverishly at work on a kick-ass new promotional featurette for my friend Matthew D. Wilson (writer and director of Wolfsbane) called Level 7. Level 7 is a science-fiction piece that I can't say much about because it supports a larger film project, but suffice it to say that the project has been one hell of a thrill ride into a hellish alien abduction-theory underworld that will leave executives and studio heads spinning in their Herman Millers! The feature version of Level 7 is being set up now in Hollywood and we are all looking forward to what's next for this at once dark, harsh, hopeful, and totally engaging story. I'll have much more to share about this project as we creep closer to finishing it, and I'll post music and stills as I have permission to do so. More soon...

Eastern Chronicle

Much has already been said about Eastern Chronicle, but I'll say this again: It is the project that I've had on the back burner for almost twenty years, and it's just now coming to fruition — right on time, to be honest. I wouldn't have been able to pull it off before now. Not because I wasn't capable (although it wouldn't have been nearly as good or enjoyable as I believe it has been), but I simply wasn't in the right headspace for it. This last year of freedom from many "career driven" things that have sort of bogged me down has allowed me the joy of revisiting the original sound that I fell for when I was just discovering music as a child and gave me an opportunity to deeply explore the melodic and rhythmic roots of world cultures that I have been fascinated by all my life. We are in the mixing phase now for an August 2012 release and pre-sales will start soon on iTunes and here at [deaneogden.com].

Here is a little taste of what Eastern Chronicle is shaping up to sound like. If you cannot see the audio stream below, click here.

2012 Summer Olympics in London

Back in late 2007, I was given a huge opportunity by a friend at Olympic Broadcasting Services [OBS] (who is also a member of my Brain Trust) to write some music for the broadcast of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. My part of the telecast was the USA swim team events, driven by Michael Phelps' record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympics. This year, I received an invitation to again write original music for the broadcast. To be honest, the Olympics is one of my favorite events, as it allows me the opportunity to really go for it in terms of melody and orchestration flourish, which sometimes you have to reign in when you are writing music to picture and working to support a storyline, not run over dialog, or balance evenly with other aspects of the filmmaking process. The Olympics is always a grand affair, so the music must be grand and exciting, and I'm very happy to oblige once again!

The Games of the XXX Olympiad, will take place in London, England, United Kingdom, from July 27 to August 12, 2012 and will be broadcast in the United States on NBC affiliates. The BBC will handle broadcasting in the UK, and the games will be shown on more than 200 regional networks all over the globe.

Mecca Project

I'm still plugging away on a video game project (working title: Mecca Project) for xBox due in 2013. It has been painfully slow-going as the entire game is being developed in motion-capture and I won't start in earnest for another several months. I wrote a 28-minute suite of music last summer for the development team that is serving as the current in-game music for the animatics and the gameplay engine, and we are on track to record the Beijing Symphony Orchestra for the final in-game music. As I work more on completing this project (and as we inch closer to release) I'll post more. But every few weeks there is progress and as my very first game project, every little shift and turn is a jump-up-and-down moment for me as I watch this whole thing unfold like a little kid with at his first carnival! More on this soon, too...