Ramón Balcázar - Film & TV Composer

BIOGRAPHY
Ramón Balcázar gets tremendous satisfaction from composing music that makes a tangible contribution to the success of a film. “The right music,” he says. “Enhances the feelings of the characters, even the significance of one look. It is an integral part of the storytelling.” Born in Barcelona, Spain, Ramón sometimes played as a child on the sets of Filmax, a production company run by his father and uncles that was best known for the Spaghetti Westerns it produced in the 1960s. Music, however, has been at the center of Ramon’s life since his earliest childhood when his mother introduced him to her favorite composers, Beethoven and Brahms. He loved the classics, but also loved to listen to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and all of the popular bands of the era. He developed his early compositions as a teenager playing in garage bands and studying music at the Conservatorio del Liceo in Barcelona. He continued to study composition and conducting at the University of Barcelona. While still a university student, he toured Europe as a pianist and arranger with several Spanish recording artists. After completing his studies, Ramón worked as a staff composer at Carbonell Sound, a major recording studio, where he created music for many television commercials. Shortly after, he was given the opportunity to score a small independent film. That experience opened his eyes to the world of film music. Soon after completing the film, he decided to leave everything behind and move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film scoring. He studied film scoring at UCLA, where he received the BMI Scholarship Award. His first jobs were composing for Music Libraries. After that he had the opportunity to score “Secrets of War” (“Sworn to Secrecy” in the US) a television series for the History Channel. The success of the first 13 episode-season led to a 68-episode run. The producer of the series, John Corry, said of Ramón:“ …his music gives our series a huge emotionalimpact that results in a much more compelling viewing experience.” “Secrets of War” was the beginning of a long run of documentary series, mini-series and single programs for the History Channel, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic Channel. That “run” included, among others, “The Color of War,” “I Survived!”, “The Enforcers,” “Battleground: the Art of War” and many more, totaling more than 100 hours. In early 2006, Ramón was hired to score “Beautiful Dreamer.” a romantic drama set during World War II. During an interview, director Terri Farley praised Ramón’s work “…his music slipped in like a glove, and it made poetry out of the human condition, made a statement about people and who they are, and made everything so beautiful”. Ramon believes it is important to create music for film that is meaningful and memorable, more than surface decoration. “We need more music that can stand on it own legs, that works both with the film and without it. The better the music is, the better job it does for the movie.”

BIOGRAPHY

Ramón Balcázar gets tremendous satisfaction from composing music that makes a tangible contribution to the success of a film. “The right music,” he says. “Enhances the feelings of the characters, even the significance of one look. It is an integral part of the storytelling.”

Born in Barcelona, Spain, Ramón sometimes played as a child on the sets of Filmax, a production company run by his father and uncles that was best known for the Spaghetti Westerns it produced in the 1960s. Music, however, has been at the center of Ramon’s life since his earliest childhood when his mother introduced him to her favorite composers, Beethoven and Brahms. He loved the classics, but also loved to listen to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and all of the popular bands of the era.

He developed his early compositions as a teenager playing in garage bands and studying music at the Conservatorio del Liceo in Barcelona. He continued to study composition and conducting at the University of Barcelona. While still a university student, he toured Europe as a pianist and arranger with several Spanish recording artists.

After completing his studies, Ramón worked as a staff composer at Carbonell Sound, a major recording studio, where he created music for many television commercials. Shortly after, he was given the opportunity to score a small independent film. That experience opened his eyes to the world of film music. Soon after completing the film, he decided to leave everything behind and move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film scoring.

He studied film scoring at UCLA, where he received the BMI Scholarship Award. His first jobs were composing for Music Libraries. After that he had the opportunity to score “Secrets of War” (“Sworn to Secrecy” in the US) a television series for the History Channel. The success of the first 13 episode-season led to a 68-episode run. The producer of the series, John Corry, said of Ramón:“ …his music gives our series a huge emotionalimpact that results in a much more compelling viewing experience.”

“Secrets of War” was the beginning of a long run of documentary series, mini-series and single programs for the History Channel, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic Channel. That “run” included, among others, “The Color of War,” “I Survived!”, “The Enforcers,” “Battleground: the Art of War” and many more, totaling more than 100 hours.

In early 2006, Ramón was hired to score “Beautiful Dreamer.” a romantic drama set during World War II. During an interview, director Terri Farley praised Ramón’s work “…his music slipped in like a glove, and it made poetry out of the human condition, made a statement about people and who they are, and made everything so beautiful”.

Ramon believes it is important to create music for film that is meaningful and memorable, more than surface decoration. “We need more music that can stand on it own legs, that works both with the film and without it. The better the music is, the better job it does for the movie.”