David J Brown is  a British Composer & Pianist now residing in Northern Spain. Originally self-taught, he went on to study Piano & Composition at the Birmingham Conservatoire during which time he developed a distinctive musical style. He is an adept pianist, prolific composer and orchestrator as well as his own engineer with a specialism in electronic music.

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Early Life

Starting life as a pianist, David won several piano competitions particularly with his interpretations of the key works of Rachmaninov and List. Wherever possible he would include his own works in the 'open' composer competitions to much acclaim, eventually entering the Birmingham Conservatoire at 18 years old and studying under Andrew Downes and the influential composer John Mayer. A Doctor of Philosophy and of Asian descent, his approach to thought and the beauty within Nature as interpreted in Asian Art & Music, John Mayer was a major influence on David's life.

Career

After the Conservatoire David got busy playing everything from major music festivals, jazz clubs, private concert tours and even ships! Increasingly working in recording studios as a pianist for other peoples work, David re-kindled his love for technology having studied Computer Science and started to apply it to music over a multi-year journey. He took a 7-year detour into multimedia where his work described below exposed him to some of the biggest film companies in the world, after that, a  further 8-year detour into technology, before leaving the industry in 2017 and returning to full-time music. Building on his previous career as a full time pianist and composer David has picked up where he left off, but this time working in his own self-built music studio and with a collection of pianos, synthesisers and two miniature Schnauzers for company. 

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David says, 'Life is about timing and composition is a journey. Whilst I regret that when I entered the Conservatoire, which was devoid of electronic music or studio production capability at that time, denying me the chance to develop that side of my skills, at the same time it was probably good that I stayed focused on writing music at the piano, with pen and paper. Only now, many years later do I feel I finally have something to say and know how to say it. This time around technology is a valuable tool at my disposal and I intend to explore its boundaries like a new orchestra.'

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David has worked on many different titles, creating trailers, soundtracks, multi-media productions and merchandise for film, tv & the interactive industries including most notably 'Notting Hill' (Polygram) but also 'Lord of the Rings' (New Line Cinema), 'Spiderman' (Sony Pictures), 'Scorpion King', 'Jurassic Park', (Universal Pictures), 'Stuart Little' (Columbia Pictures), Titan AE, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Planet of the Apes (20th Century Fox), Matrix Resolutions, Terminator 3 (Warner Brothers) and 'Final Fantasy XI' (SquareSoft).

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Style

David's early composition were very much influenced by the late great romantic and contemporary composers from Rachmaninov through to Schoenberg and his film contemporaries Hans Zimmerman and Max Richter. As a Classical and jazz pianist his approach is broad and varied sometimes building from a harmonic foundation and sometimes from a more melodic focus.

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Today David is focused mostly on the melancholic, ambient and prepared piano styles mixed with electronics but very much against a backdrop of traditional instruments and orchestral landscapes. The piano is featuring heavily in the current recordings and will probably always be in there somewhere. Most of his piano recordings are on a Yamaha grand but some also feature the beloved Steinway 274 as well as Yamaha upright which is prepared with softening acoustics inside the case, pins on the hammers, felt on the strings and microphones all around. In addition, David is working on a new EDM (Electronic Dance Music) collection since a commission from a well known Publisher and this is a pleasure since he can indulge his love of synthesisers and music technology.