Today we’d like to introduce you to Can Canel.
Hi Can, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I am a film and TV composer from Istanbul, Turkey. My father is a musician and one of Turkey’s first private radio broadcasters. My family encouraged me to study music from a young age. Since I was six years old, I have been studying piano, guitar, and percussion while going to school.
My interest in film music started when I paid attention to the soundtracks of the movies I loved very much when I was a kid. I had the chance to watch some of the iconic movie series in film history, such as The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and The Matrix at the movie theaters.
Since there were no online/digital movie streaming platforms like Netflix in my childhood, I used to collect CDs of these movies at home and watch them over and over again. Sometimes I only watched the movies to listen to their music. So we can say my house and my childhood were surrounded by supportive, creative, and artful family members who helped me to boost my creativity almost all the time!
At the age of 17, I was accepted on a scholarship from Berklee College of Music and double majored in Film Scoring and Composition. So, I packed up my belongings and moved to Boston! I took part in various opportunities that Berklee offered while I was studying. I composed and created a live dance show with the Boston Conservatory dancers that we performed with a live ensemble and dancers.
In 2020, I was chosen as one of the 6 students to attend the Advanced Dramatic Orchestration and Recording Techniques class to record some of my film cues with the live orchestra in one of Berklee’s finest studios every week (unfortunately due to covid they had to cancel this class). All the opportunities that I was involved in during my college year in Boston helped me to prepare for my professional career.
Some of my most notable recent projects were composing additional music for movies that streamed on platforms like Lifetime Movie Network, Amazon Prime, and Apple Tv! Also, I am currently working as an orchestrator for an upcoming DreamWorks Animation TV series that will be out in 2023!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
At the age of 17, I moved to a different continent and a new city! Ever since that time, I lived in 4 different cities, moved to almost more than 9 apartments/houses, and had many roommates from all around the world. It was crazier than I thought it would be but I had some of the best memories and life experiences!
After I moved to Los Angeles, I had my first business ideas, failures, and success in my early 20’s! At the age of 24, I opened my music studio in Los Angeles where I still currently continue to work at the moment. Between 2018 to 2022, I did not get the chance to go back to my country to visit my family due to Covid and work. I could say the travel situation is a little bit of a problem for me!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I compose music for film, TV, games, and other media. I’m known for my recent projects that appeared on some of the most popular online/digital movie streaming platforms all around the world. One of my recent achievements was composing the original theme music for one of the biggest and leading companies in the Turkish automotive industry Ford Otosan. I composed music for the company to use for its TV and website commercials, events, and premiers.
Another project that I am currently working on as an orchestrator is an upcoming animated TV series by DreamWorks Animation! In this project, I orchestrate the demo/sketch that the composer writes. While they continue to work on the rest of the episode, I orchestrate the sketch and make a full orchestral version. If it’s required for a specific cue or an episode, I write the sheet music for the players to record live.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
That’s a great question! A short time ago, we could only watch movies at the movie theaters, at home only if a TV channel showed it on television, or collect CDs/DVDs! There were no digital/online platforms to watch movies! I collected hundreds of DVDs at home while growing up!
Nowadays, you have access to thousands of movies and TV shows on any device at your home either on your television or on your phone! You can watch the first 10 minutes of a movie and immediately switch to a different one if you like to in a second! You can even finish an entire TV series in one day. This change only happened very recently. I am sure in the next 5-10 years, there will be more changes and surprises in the industry that we don’t know yet!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.cancanel.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cancanel.music/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1a2h3_6U7ALEmsmKNwRzXA/videos
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/canel-can
