Composer scores music award

A BALLARAT-based film composer has received a Singapore Music Award as part of the twenty-seventh annual COMPASS Music Awards.

Singapore-born Chee Wei Tay took home the accolade late last month in the Top Local Instrumental Contemporary category for his work in the 2018 documentary Black Hole Apocalypse.

“It came as a surprise,” he said.

“I never really expected it. Normally when a song wins an award, it’s normally a pop song or something for a score written for a documentary, and not a dramatic movie, to win was exciting.”

Utilising the Cubase and Nuendo recording platforms, Tay said the eponymous score is the result of an electronic hybrid between orchestra, keyboard, and synthesiser.

“This project came to me pretty late in the game so there was no time to record real musicians,” he said. “Everything was done digitally.

“This piece was difficult, because my job as a film composer is to basically write the subtext of a story and emotionally connect the audience to the lead character.

“In this case, it was a black hole. It’s quite abstract, because you can’t see or touch it. The thing was to portray it as something dangerous that can kill you.

“I don’t tend to take inspiration from other work but this almost took on a horror element.”

Tay previously won a COMPASS award for the Top Soundtrack in 2016 for his score in Animal Planet’s Mekong – Soul of a River.

A professional composer for more than 20 years, he was also named Young Composer of the Year in the 2010 awards.

Black Hole Apocalypse itself was nominated for an Emmy for the Outstanding Writing award, and follows astrophysicist and novelist Janna Levin as she guides viewers towards an understanding of black hole science.