ABOUT



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As an orchestrator, Louis Robert King has created the musical colors you hear in the iconic Columbia Pictures Opening Titles, as well as scores for Disney's “The Little Mermaid II,” and Rob Marshall's film adaptation of the Broadway classic “Annie." In 2022 he used those same skills for record industry icon Terry Ellis's Chrysalis Rock Orchestra - A reimagining of rock classics performed by a 40 piece orchestra.

In 2020 his score for "Like Daughter Like Mother" received the Accolade Global Film Competition Award of Merit, he also won a British Web Award in the Best Music category for his score to “FabUless,” a sitcom about three struggling actors making ends meet as brand ambassadors. Other accomplishments as a composer include “The Albatross,” which was nominated for Best Animated Short at Australia’s Cinema and Television Awards, he also provided additional music for the Sundance Jury Award nominee “Billy’s Dad Is A...” You can hear his distinctive score for the sci-fi sitcom “Extra/Ordinary." It tells the story of three roommates, each with a superpower that seems more of a burden, than a gift to humanity, can be heard on SeekaTV. King recently completed scoring the female assassin drama "Ms. Pink", the horror/thriller "Red Coats", and the drama "Blood Is Thicker". The films "Anne", "Overdue", "Aaron with 2 A's", "Nothing Will Ever Be The Same", "The Interrogation", and "Trip Upstate" are all in their festival run featuring his scores. 

King has also created award-winning musical branding for major companies like Xbox, Google, and Geico. In 2018 his composition for the HP short branded film “The Show,” was nominated to be part of the AICP (Association of Independent Commercial Producers) permanent collection at MOMA.

Beyond the realm of media, his involvement in the music world includes creating arrangements for Janelle Monae’s performance at Ralph Lauren’s 2019 fashion event, and Evan Rachel Wood’s appearance at the LACMA Art + Film Gala. King also produced the string arrangements for artists Kelly Finnigan, Monophonics, The Sextones, Alanna Royale, The Sentiments, and the Whatitdo Archive Group. He recently completed "Changing Light" - a collection of instrumental music heavily influenced by the great European film scores of the late 60's and early 70's. The music was co-composed with Bay Area band The Ironsides with the orchestra arranged by King. The first vinyl pressing sold out in less than 2 weeks, but the 2nd pressing is available now at your local record store, direct from Colemine Records, or on all streaming services.

When King is at work in his New York City studio, composing the score to accompany a film, his typical method is as follows: First, he studies a single video sequence intensely, absorbing and interpreting the emotion that it means to convey—in his own words, “finding its musical soul.” This may go on for several hours, as he views the same sequence over and over and over again. Then, he looks for something completely different to do.

“I have to step away for a while and let the ideas marinate,” King explains. “At times like this, it’s good to unload the dishwasher, or go for a walk, or turn on Colbert.” Once this contemplation phase is through, the writing begins. It could start with anything—a melody, a rhythm, a chord progression, a particular combination of instruments—but in the end, it leads to an engaging, full-bodied composition that connects directly to what’s taking place on screen.

“Something happens when a narrative is supported by music,” King says. “It takes both of those things—the narrative and the music—and increases their effect exponentially. That’s a kind of artistic partnership that doesn’t really have a parallel.”

“From the time I was a teenager,” he says, “I knew music was what I needed to do.” That need eventually brought him to Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he tapped into his burgeoning interest in film scoring and learned the skills of the orchestrator’s trade.

As time goes by, King has cast his net of influences ever wider. “The more music you’re familiar with,” he says, “the easier it is to find a unique emotional voice for every idea. It could come via Stravinsky, or it could come via Tom Waits. Because the answer for any given project is always different from the one before, you need as many different wells of inspiration to draw from as possible.”

King’s compositional approach may change from day to day, but his principal goal never does: “My intention always is to give directors and show-runners what they didn’t know they wanted.” , or on all

During his time away from composing, King regularly indulges his passions for wine, food, and poker. “There’s an interesting parallel between poker and composing,” he notes. “They both keep your mind sharp by giving you problems to solve. And I love being a problem solver.”