Meet Shaun Chasin: Composer for Film, Television, and Video Games

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

Hi Shaun, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The fact is, there are so many amazingly talented and skilled film composers working today. How then, can you set yourself apart from the pack? The answer that seems to be working for me is simple: consistency. My goal as a composer is to ensure the directors and game developers I work with feel like they’re always in good hands. They shouldn’t have to worry if the score is going to get done on time, or if the quality will be good. They should be comforted in the certainty that it will be great every single time. This trust is developed over time and I believe the consistency of my work is what allows the trust to be so firm and secure. 

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m a composer for film, television, and video games. I write music that is designed to support the narrative and emotional needs of the project. When I begin work on a film, the first thing that happens is I will watch a version of it with no music or sometimes with temporary music that has been dropped in. Along with the director, I discuss the needs of the project: What kind of sound it should have, where music should go, and almost as importantly where music should not go. From here, I begin actually writing the music. At first many elements of the music may be temporary using synthetic and sampled instruments. This is so that I can give the director the best possible idea of what the end product will sound like. At this point, we have a back-and-forth, making changes to the music as needed until everyone is happy and feels it’s working. Once everything is approved, I can begin replacing any of the score’s temporary elements with the real instruments by recording session musicians. This is where a score can really come to life and really highlights the collaborative nature of filmmaking. You may have in mind a solo violin line that is emotional and haunting. You played the melody with a sampled violin and the pitches are all there, the rhythms are all there, but it’s not until you actually record a real violinist does the emotion and the nuance of the melody spring to life. Over the years my music has been in dozens of video games and films and hundreds of episodes of television. Some credits of note are the online battle royal shooter PUBG Mobile and TV shows like Saturday Night Live, Pawn Stars, Forged in Fire, and So You Think You Can Dance. Most recently, I wrote the score for the comedy film Domino: Battle Of The Bones, starring Snoop Dogg and David Arquette, which will be released in February of 2021! I’ve also been hard at work scoring the new superhero comedy series Grounded which will also be released in early 2021. One of the great challenges I am gradually coming to terms with is learning to accept the downtime between projects as normal and perhaps even welcome. One afternoon years ago, I was having coffee with an older composer who was much further along in his career than myself. I was talking to him about a project I was working on and the fear I had that once it was over, I had nothing immediately lined up to work on. He gave me one of those “I remember what it was like to be your age” smiles and essentially told me that if I spend the downtime between every project worrying that there won’t be a next project, by the time that next project inevitably rolls around, I won’t have been able to have any rest. I will be constantly living my life either stressed that I have too much work or stressed that I don’t have enough work, which is in no way a sustainable way to live your life. Over time, I have learned to accept the break between projects as a welcome rest and now that my career has risen to a more stable point, I am comforted in the knowledge that there will indeed be a next project. This seems to be a common issue with many young composers as it was with myself: we believe every project we work on will somehow catastrophically be our last. This is rarely the case and some calmness will do us all some good!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Because of COVID, we wouldn’t go anywhere! Instead, we would sit on my couch and watch episode after episode of Star Trek! Assuming we lived in a world without COVID though, we would start the day with a coffee from Commissary at Motor and Palms. This might be followed by a trip to Venice Beach to sit on the sand watching the water and the people. After this, we might try to catch a Cinespia outdoor movie screening at the Hollywood Cemetery. We would pack a bottle of wine with some snacks and sit on a blanket to watch an old movie under the night sky. Of course, the day wouldn’t be complete without ending the evening at Backstage Bar in Culver City. When I moved to LA, one of the first things I did was Google “Cheap Drinks, Pool Table, Culver City”. This led me to the discovery of the most magical dive bar I have ever set foot in. I have spent countless hours here and have met many wonderful people – including my amazing girlfriend Rachael!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Anyone who claims to be 100% self-made is almost always either lying or delusional. No one accomplishes anything completely on their own. That is simply not the way the world works. There are so many wonderful people who have helped me along the journey I’m on. I’ve been so fortunate to have such amazing people on my side throughout my career. This began early on with my incredibly supportive parents and family who always have my back. Hearing your child declare they want to go into music is likely a scary and perhaps concerning thing for any parent to hear. Though they had the usual concerns at first, my parents showed unwavering support that gave me the ability to climb to where I am today. Of course, this answer could not be complete without acknowledging the amazing colleagues that I work with time and time again who continue to trust me with their projects. Of note, is writer and director Carl Reid, who I’ve worked with on countless projects. The wonderful thing about having a group of colleagues who you consistently work with is that your careers can grow together. Their successes become your successes. This incentivises each of you to always do your absolute best work so that each project can be a springboard to a bigger and better one.

Website: https://www.chasin.ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaunchasin
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/shaunchasin
Other: IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3917725/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1JnTuwS0XfOqNhN8XFY4hs

Image Credits
Craig Peters, Rachael Gottes