Meet Ethan Cohen | Composer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ethan Cohen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ethan, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
It was never really a conscious decision so much as an inevitability. I begged my parents to let me take piano lessons when I was five, which definitely raised some eyebrows in my not-so-musically inclined family. From a developmental perspective, starting my musical journey at such a formative age had a profound impact on how I process information, emotions, and life as a whole. I now know this to be synesthesia, but music has always been the way in which I contextualize the most foundational elements in the world (shapes, colors, numbers, smells, right and wrong, etc.). Maybe pursuing a career as a composer was less of an inevitability and more of a retrofitting. Translating ideas, emotions, visuals, and subtext into music is effectively the job. In terms of why I continue to pursue an artistic career—there’s literally nothing else in the world I find as challenging, thrilling, or rewarding.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
This summer marks the 10-year anniversary of the start of my composing career, and I couldn’t be more grateful to get to do this every day. The summer before my freshman year of college, I was lucky enough to get my first-ever studio gig working at the Beastie Boys’ Oscilloscope Laboratories. On top of recording bands and learning the ins and outs—quite literally—of their Neve console and outboard gear, I was also tasked with composing trailer music for the company’s independent film production and distribution branch (a few members of which went on to co-found the indie film studio A24). This experience was the confirmation I needed to charge ahead full steam, and a bachelor’s degree in film scoring from Berklee and four internships later, I landed myself a job working for Hans Zimmer. This is where the real exercise in resilience began, though, as navigating a global pandemic and an industry-wide strike in the infancy of my scoring career presented some obvious and seemingly endless challenges.

I now have my own company, Noise Engine, and after years of trial and error—learning what it truly means to build something from the ground up and seeking guidance from trusted mentors—I’m extremely proud of the trajectory I’m on. This year particularly feels like the start of a new stage in my career. After having contributed to over 80 film and television projects as an additional composer or technical score engineer, I’ve finally gotten around to lead composing on my first feature alongside my great friend and collaborator Demitri Lerios. I’ve begun composing for my first video game project under a developer whose games I’ve obsessed over since I was a kid, and I recently started composing on a television series I’ve been a massive fan of for some time now.

Outside of the scoring world, I’ve found myself unintentionally venturing into pop production and string arranging—producing songs for artists like Connor Price and creating string and orchestral arrangements for Muni Long, Hablot Brown, and Benjamin Hightower, to name a couple. One of my more thrilling experiences from last year was being recruited by my good friend—and mind-blowing musician—Shaan Ramaprasad to join his orchestration team for The Voice of Whitney: A Symphonic Celebration, a live concert experience presented by the Whitney Houston estate, which is currently touring concert halls in major cities across the U.S.

To wrap up this very long-winded response: I think what sets me apart is the obvious fact that we all have unique perspectives, and I certainly have my own. I have ADHD, a laundry list of neuroses, and I feel emotions very deeply. Ostensibly a recipe for disaster; however, this magic cocktail allows me to tap in with collaborators more instinctively and with greater nuance, drives me to learn and play more musical instruments than I can count, and encourages me to wander into unknown creative territory to see what I can learn—and possibly even offer.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I lived on the west side of town for my first four years out here, so my go-to’s were always hiking the beautiful Los Liones trail (which was tragically burned in the wildfires this year) or a nice walk through the Coldwater Canyon trail. I primarily lived in the Culver City area, so a stop at Jackson Market was always a must—Jackson Market is an awesome sandwich shop and market masquerading as just another house, nestled in a very residential neighborhood.

I’ve now been living on the east side of town for a few years, wedged between the Highland Park and South Pasadena areas, so the itinerary has definitely changed. If a visitor is going to be spending a weekend in town, I’ll always make sure to hit Smorgasburg in the Arts District. Every Sunday, year-round, an unbelievable number of food trucks and vendors fill up a 5-acre industrial outdoor market and throw an epic food festival. Los Angeles is such an incredible melting pot of culture and cuisine, and I love bringing out-of-towners to events like this where those elements truly converge. For some physical activity, there are beautiful hikes in the Arroyo Seco neighborhood, but if the visitor(s) is up for being on their feet for the day, the Huntington Gardens in Pasadena can’t be missed—the 120-acre botanical garden is an extreme change of pace from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First and foremost, my parents deserve all of the credit. I grew up in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and although the expansive jazz scene there was an amazing place to explore as a jazz pianist myself, the career path I dreamt about couldn’t have been more foreign to the community or my parents. Yet they have always been unwavering in the way they’ve championed my creative curiosity, supported and encouraged my pursuit of this wild career in entertainment—all while instilling a healthy dose of reality. My work ethic and obsessive need to improve/learn are entirely the result of how they raised me.

This is a line of work that simply can’t exist without mentorship. Hollywood is such an old system, and so much trust is required at every stage up the production ladder, that simply writing great music isn’t enough. Human relationships make up the music industry, and I owe every opened door to the trusted mentors who took a chance on me.

Team members and campus friends from my years at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions remain close collaborators and trusted technical gurus that span every nook and cranny of the scoring world. The grit and determination required to succeed in such a creatively and technically demanding studio environment forged lifelong bonds and shaped some of the hardest-working people I know.

Many of the friends and classmates I studied alongside at Berklee College of Music are now colleagues I work with and continue to learn from every day. We launched our careers together and became each other’s support systems as we made the move across the country to Los Angeles.

And finally, the folks over at Beacon Street Studios are like my second home and truly take the cake for their role as mentors in my life and career. From making sure I always have projects on my plate to recommending dentists, mechanics, piano tuners, contract attorneys, and realtors, they’ve always had me covered. I had no family ties to the music industry—or even Los Angeles, for that matter—and this group of immensely talented individuals became my LA parents.

Website: https://www.ethancohenmusic.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ethan___cohen?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-cohen-music

Other: IMDb:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm14224618/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

Noise Engine:

https://noise-engine.com

Image Credits
Planet Media © Rachel Scalera ©