Meet Alex Symcox

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Symcox.

Hi Alex, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started by teaching myself piano at a young age and then began taking professional piano lessons soon after. My piano teacher at the time asked me what I wanted to play so I chose one of the hardest pieces, and that’s what we did. I skipped over all of the boring tests and theories to learn what I wanted to learn. If I’d had a different teacher, I don’t believe I would be here today, as it was he who taught me to love music and not to simply learn it. I first learned about film scoring through 1990/2000’s films of Spielberg and John Williams, becoming entranced by the huge orchestral scores. I was given an incredibly early version of Logic Pro, the film scoring/music production standard software, and played with the software day and night, producing electronic music, sampling old records, and trying to emulate some of my favorite artists. That element of ‘play’ is the driving force of my creativity today. I don’t ‘work’ in music, I play in music.

I also wanted to learn how to write music, and I was very lucky to be connected to the head of the composition at the Royal College of Music London, who allowed me to write whatever I wanted and who began to guide me during my teens. At age 18, I went on to study composition at the Royal Northern College of Music. An incredible experience, where you wrote music with a pencil on paper and every two weeks had it performed live by real musicians. I discovered my love of the orchestra, wrote over six pieces for live orchestra, and was commissioned and paid as a student to write for the Oxford Symphony Orchestra. I went on to pursue my master’s degree at New York University. I met and learned from some of the world’s top film scoring composers and, most importantly and despite what I’d been hearing, I learned that is it actually possible to have a career in this industry. At that time, I was composing student short films throughout my studies and I still work with those people today. I graduated in 2018 and spent the next year working as hard as I could to build a portfolio to apply for my VISA.

At the end of 2019, I was honored to be granted the O-1B Artist Visa for Extraordinary Ability in the Arts. Then 2020 hit and, well… you can fill in the rest! Today I’m scoring short films, advertisements, and feature films, as well as focusing on developing my own original voice as an artist, both in classical and electronic music. I recently won the notable European ‘Peer Raben Music Award’ from Soundtrack Cologne, granted to composers of the best music for an indie short film.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One struggle I’ve had and for artists and creators, in general, is being original in your work— learning about what originality is, actually understanding it; how to use it, and how not to use it. It’s been a struggle to figure it all out on my end, but I feel I understand now truly what it means to be and bring original ideas to your work. I also try to bring that mindset to friends, collaborators, and clients and that can be a struggle on its own!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a British composer for film based here in the USA. I love raw, emotive, intimate classical music and I also love synthesizers and electronic sound. I write music quite often fusing those two together. I’m based in LA but with collaborators in NYC, LA & London traveling between all three. My scores have gone to festivals including the International Venice Film Festival & South By SouthWest [‘Greenland Melting’ a VR documentary produced by PBS, Frontline & Emblematic Group]. The Palm Springs International Short Film Festival & Denver International Film Festival [‘Curandera’], Outfest LA & Outfest Fusion, Marthas Vineyard African American Film Festival, UrbanWorld & Pan African Film Festival [‘Wonder’]. The Santa Barbara International Film Festival & Spokane International Film Festival [with the film ‘After Class’]. Online streaming networks such as Netflix [Vox’s ‘Explained’ Season 1 Ep. 16], HBO MAX [‘Wonder’], WatchDust [‘Glimpse’ Ep.3 produced by Futurism Studios] and music licensed to cable TV networks such as ABC.

I’m proud of all my collaborations, the relationships with those creatives, and how when everything is flowing in a positive and synchronistic way, there is amazing creative energy as the result. I’m proud of myself and the team every time I’m a part of that process. I think I approach creativity a bit differently from others, as well, seeing film scoring as a true, involved collaboration between directors, producers, and composers. If you want art, originality, and want to get into festivals, I’m going to get you there. But a pet peeve of mine is when film scoring is simply considered a ’transactional’ service, and I can’t stress enough that that’s never the way to go. I feel I’m often there to facilitate and sometimes show clients about that creative magic and what can arise from a meaningful, deep collaboration. This may also be why you hear about some director/composer relationships lasting for years over many films. There’s magic in film and film music and I want as many people as possible to feel it and to know its power.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My childhood best friend’s father was actually a film composer. I thought it was the coolest job ever—getting paid to make up music, from home, in a studio! I remember being at his house and they had BAFTA awards next to the telephone being used as paperweights (A BAFTA is the British equivalent of an OSCAR). I loved that modesty, humor and grace.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.alex-symcox.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexsymcox/