Jonathan M. Ochmann online
SoundCloud
IMDB
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do for a living?
I’m Jonathan, screenwriter slash filmmaker slash occasional composer, traveller of the world, photographer and ludicrously dilettante musician.
What is your niche or speciality, that makes you stand out from rest of the audio professionals?
Probably the fact that I take great pride in not knowing what the hell I’m doing ninety percent of the time… Actually make that ninety five.
Can you give us a brief summary of the equipment you use regularly?
I program everything with my PS/2 compatible optical wheel mouse. I shit you not.
What are your go-to plug-ins and software? (virtual instruments, audio processing etc.)
Magix Samplitude, NI Kontakt, EWQL SO Gold, EW Collossus, VSL, tons of VSTis created from recording instruments I have lying around in the studio as well as some minor commercial libraries I hardly ever use. I’m a huge fan of the “Solo Instrument Performance Suite” for Kontakt which is a great script that creates realistic legato and portamento transitions for poorly programmed older libraries .
When do you find you are most creative?
In my sleep.
What is your usual process for creating audio content for games, films etc.?
At risk of being labeled pretentious I’m gonna say that my usual creative process is changing my process for every project and it’s demands. Of course there are exceptions to this but I’m generally not interested in doing the same thing twice and changing up the process is the easiest way to get there.
Are there any particular secrets to your creativity?
You bet!
Do you have any audio creation techniques that resulted in something interesting?
With all the would-be-Diego Stoccos out there I try to keep myself from tumbling down the rabbit hole of becoming a sound design-composer (if that’s what you’re asking) and just try to focus on the movie and when it tells a good story the music will come naturally.
Any specific “lessons learned” on a project that you could share?
I learned to eschew experts and follow the curious.
Any tips, hints or motivational speeches for the readers?
“Those who read own the world, those who watch television lose it.” – Werner Herzog