Matt Boden is living proof that an international music career is possible from Tasmania.
A lecturer at the Conservatorium of Music, Matt’s combining this with his work on some high-profile film and television productions, including Russell Crowe’s latest movie Beast.
Matt helped orchestrate the music for the film, co-written by and starring Crowe alongside Luke Hemsworth, working with Australia’s pre-eminent orchestrator Mark Buys and his production house Play Pause Record.
It’s a gritty mixed-martial arts movie that garnered some great reviews, and it’s just one of a string of productions Matt has worked on.
From the Sundance Film Festival premiered Together to Sony Pictures’ Bring Her Back with Academy Award nominee Sally Hawkins, Netflix hits like Tasmania-set Survivors and a number of ABC productions, Matt is one of the industry’s most sought-after music practitioners.
So what does an orchestrator for film actually do?
“An orchestrator is someone who takes a composer’s sketches and vision, and paints the full picture for musicians to perform,” he says.
Digital ‘mock-ups’ of a film score are sent from the composer to the orchestration team. The team cleans these sketches up and then translates the composer’s intent into sheet music for recording.
“We produce and provide all the sheet music and direct the recording sessions,” Matt says. “If the composer is the architect, we are the build team.”
It’s also a reputation being built by Matt, who’s also a keyboardist, composer, arranger and producer across jazz, classical, contemporary and electronic genres.
Growing up on Hobart’s eastern shore, he learned classical piano, discovered jazz and had a lightbulb moment when he heard Ben Folds Five play their track Underground on Triple J one morning.
“It was a case of ‘I want to do THAT’,” he says. “Music has led me down all sorts of fascinating paths from that moment onwards.
“The best part is that if you allow every type of music into your life, the scope is endless.”
He studied at the Conservatorium before moving to Berlin and Paris to immerse himself in the happening jazz scenes in those cities.
When he got a call from his mentor Buys who’d moved to Los Angeles to pursue film scoring, the work began flowing.
“Careers in music never progress in a straight line,” Matt says.
“There have been many side quests, and the need for constant self-directed studying and learning is always ongoing.
“I feel that it is my continued interest in improving my knowledge and skills that has kept me in the business – and the delight and fascination in the problem solving and musical adventures that keep cropping up.”
Matt’s played shows with American legends like Brian Jackson and Eddie 'Boogieman' Kirkland, and Australian icons Vince Jones and Meow Meow. He’s performed at jazz festivals in Europe and Asia, as well as at home at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival and Dark Mofo, and appeared on dozens of albums.
Now he gets to work from Tasmania while also playing in Conservatorium colleague Damien Kingston’s jazz quartet.
“One of the great things about the advance of technology and communications is that it is possible to work on these kinds of productions from anywhere on the planet,” he says.
“A music production team these days is truly global. There’s an advantage for different musical departments to be in different time zones – 24/7 teamwork.
“Even when we need to be all in the same room at the same time - say, when recording a film score - we can all be connected online and the process is the same as if we were in the same room.”
It’s all of this real-world experience that Matt brings into his classrooms at The Hedberg.
“We’re quite unique down at the Hedberg in world terms – we’re not a huge school, so students really benefit from working in close proximity with highly skilled staff – and we’re always hanging around so that students have access to us all the time.
“We offer a huge range of learning opportunities across performance, composition, and recording, and this is just scratching the surface. Our teaching is firmly rooted in the real world and the expectations of industry, so our graduates are extremely strong when they leave, and many have gone on to highly successful careers in the business, and have often cited us as an indispensable launchpad.”
Listen here to some of Matt Boden’s music. If you’d like to turn your passion for music into a career, read more about our offerings at the Conservatorium of Music.