Today we’d like to introduce you to Max Davidoff-Grey.
Max, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It all started with Piano lessons. My mum had this quirky old upright in our apartment – she had taken lessons as a child but hadn’t played for many years. When I was around eight, she decided to pick up lessons again and asked if I’d like to begin learning at the same time. I happily said yes and my adventure started there.
Although there were periods of time where I really didn’t want to practice or go to lessons, my piano teacher somehow stayed patient and managed to guide me through those tricky patches. After four years of learning, he suggested I apply to a specialist music school so that I could focus more on performing. I auditioned and was accepted, but in fact, the opposite happened (thankfully). I quickly realized that a performing career was not in my desires, and while I was not enjoying piano lessons, I was becoming more and more interested in writing music. This more creative angle on music was peaking my interests, and although the school was not happy about it, I pushed my way into changing my focus from piano to composition.
At some point during all this movement, a friend introduced me to electronic music, and I quickly became obsessed. I remember scouring through the rosters of record labels such as Ninja Tune, Brainfeeder, R&S, and Warp records, finding the artists and albums that spoke most to me. I downloaded a ton of music and was listening incessantly. Although my composition lessons concentrated on classical and concert style music, in the back of my mind, the seed of electronic music was growing rapidly.
When it came to university options, I had to choose between continuing down the concert music route or moving into the electronic realm. I took a leap of faith into the second option and my four-year degree at The Guildhall in London allowed me to dive deep into many areas of electronic music – from extremely experimental stuff to dance music, and ultimately to film scores. As a film and video game fan, this world attracted me massively. I felt like I could combine my classical training with my love of electronic music, all amidst the backdrop of narrative media which I was also hugely passionate about. The dots connected.
I made contact with a British composer based in Los Angeles, Stephen Endelman, who mentored me for a couple of years. He taught me a great deal and introduced me to the film scoring industry and community here in California. I fell for the city and found a way to move here from England as soon as I could. My path ultimately led me to meeting another fantastic composer, Joseph Trapanese, who I am lucky enough to now work for, assisting him with his scoring projects. Alongside this, I work as a freelance composer and continue to make electronic music in my spare time.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I don’t think anyone has a smooth road, there are always challenges and tough moments. How we react to those moments is what counts.
I had to deal with some personal losses during my college years. This was a tough time but also a really important period of growth. I tried my best to turn some of this struggle into creative energy, rather than letting it drag me down. I was lucky to have some great support around me. It’s tricky but definitely possible to allow difficult moments to fuel your productivity, and the resulting fulfillment can be hugely helpful. Making sure that you spark positive cycles rather than falling into negative ones. This was a great lesson.
Moving country was definitely another substantial challenge. Leaving friends and family to start fresh was not the easiest thing to do, but has been so rewarding. I flew out here with one suitcase and an AirBnB booked for three weeks and had to figure the rest out once I touched down. Things started to fall into place one by one, but there were certainly some stressful moments. It took time to get used to the infrastructure here, and to tick off all the frustrating but necessary errands – accommodation, car, California driving license, insurance, etc. I think I’m still ticking things off that list.
Going backwards a little, finding the path to what I do now was a struggle in itself. Although it all makes sense now, there were definitely some uneasy periods. What’s ahead of you often seems foggy and uncertain. Looking back, it’s a strange middle-ground between haphazardly stumbling into this, while at the same time feeling exactly right and what was always intended. There were plenty of moments where I felt a little lost and incapable. Some reliance on gut intuition was definitely needed at times. Maybe I was always going to end up right here, writing music, but there are points in time where it seems as though you’re walking around with a blindfold on.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m a media composer – I create music for visual media, whether that be film, TV, or interactive content such as video games. In addition, I produce electronic music and release tracks under the alias, Max Grey. It’s nice to balance these two different output streams.
While film scoring is always personal and great fun, the electronic music is my passion project, where I don’t need to follow a brief. My focus on electronic music and modern sound design give me a unique perspective and approach to composition projects. However, films, TV shows, and video games can require music in essentially any style these days – so it’s great to be able to combine my classical education with my love of electronic sounds and synthetic elements. I feel lucky to be able to call upon both these areas of knowledge.
It’s awesome that media is becoming so diverse, and can require such interesting musical palettes to set them apart. With this in mind, I feel excited that there is room for more experimental scoring approaches, as projects seek unique identities and original soundtracks are constructed to complement this.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I’m not sure that I would change anything! Of course, there are plenty of moments that could have gone better, and things I should have approached differently, but everything has led to where I am now and the dots have somehow connected.
It would have been nice to start music lessons at a younger age, as I feel I came to it late and I’m still missing a certain amount of foundation. Also, I could have definitely been more focused at school and worked a little harder. I often feel like I’m playing catch up! But this keeps me motivated. With music, there’s essentially no limit to knowledge and improvement. On the one hand, this is amazing because you can constantly grow and find satisfaction from acquiring new skills. On the other hand, it can be extremely frustrating to feel that there is “always more to learn”. Film scoring is not just about music anymore, technology also has a massive role in the process. This adds another dimension of necessary abilities.
So, if I could go back, I would definitely tell myself to concentrate harder and be more disciplined with work. I would also tell my younger self to believe in himself a lot more. Plenty of procrastination and avoidance took place for me because I felt I wasn’t good enough. Fear of failure can be crippling – a shift in mentality to simply trying to be the best you can be and working hard can help so much with productivity. I could have definitely learned this earlier!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.maxdavidoffgrey.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maxdgrey/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/maxdgrey
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3TO8bVuTfxlF6VUfJl9CLE?si=_pXBPr4ZQn28DcEtyn39ag
Image Credit:
Cameron Beedie, Evan Nischan
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