I heard a rumor that you watched all the new episodes of the Umbrella Academy before listening to this podcast.

Otherwise, things, things, things,

I mean, when I'm writing anything, I'm sitting in front of my computer with a piano you know like I have a keyboard or I'll sometimes sit in front of my piano and just sketch out melodies or whatever sometimes I'm messing around with a synthesizer to try to find something to inspire me to write something.

That's Jeff Rousso. Jeff is a film and TV composer in Los Angeles.

He's written scores for shows like Fargo and Star Trek Discovery.

In 2018, he started working on a new project, The Umbrella Academy.

Jeff got his start as the lead guitarist for the rock band Tonic, but guitar isn't always his main instrument.

To find just the right melody, the right beat, Jeff will play on almost anything.

It all depends on the project.

You know, sometimes I'm sitting in front of a bunch of instruments,

you know, like a couple stringed instruments and some percussion instruments

in a room where I just sort of bang on something

until I'm inspired to write something.

It really all depends on what I'm writing and what I want to end up with.

But he can't bring a piece to life alone. He needs an orchestra to fill out his idea. But when COVID-19 hit, he found himself facing a new obstacle.

And once the lockdown happened, I had to figure out how to record our orchestra which is

is pretty big it's usually around 40 some-odd players and I had to figure out how to do

that so you know the general instrumentation of the show is strings and

winds woodwinds and a little bit of percussion. The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra is

Jeff's go-to when he's recording a soundtrack.

Usually they would all sit together in a big studio in LA to record.

Now they had to do it alone, piece by piece.

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