★★★★★ “Working with top producers and artists opens the door to a level I’d always aspired to.”

- Paul Edwards (singer/songwriter/producer)

The Pro7ect Masterclass Experience

Saturday 15 May 2027, 10am–4pm
Rockfield Studios, Quadrangle Studio

Writing Music for Film, TV, Games & Sync

With composer, producer and sound designer Owen Gurry

How do you write music when the starting point is not simply “let’s write a song”, but a film scene, an advertising brief, a game, a piece of dialogue, a mood, a deadline or a very specific creative direction?

For this special Pro7ect Masterclass, composer, guitarist, sound designer and producer Owen Gurry will take participants inside the world of music for film, television, games, advertising and sync.

The day will explore both the creative process and the realities of working professionally in this part of the music industry. You will look at how composers interpret a brief, generate ideas quickly, write for moving image, make strong production decisions and deliver music that serves a specific purpose.

Just as importantly, Owen will talk about how you actually build a career in this field, where the work comes from, what clients and music supervisors are looking for, how composers develop their skills and catalogue, and how songwriting and production experience can translate into screen and commercial music.

This is a hands-on day at Rockfield Studios. You will not simply sit and listen to a lecture.

You will write, compose, experiment, produce, ask questions and work through the creative process in the studio.

Your May 2027 Masterclass Leader: Owen Gurry

Owen Gurry is a composer, guitarist, sound designer and producer whose work spans film, broadcast, commercial music and artist development.

With more than 20 years' experience in the music industry, his career has taken him from contributing to major Hollywood film scores to writing bespoke music for international brands and producing artists in the studio.

His screen credits include work as a guitarist and sound designer on dozens of film scores, including Blade Runner 2049, with Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, Gore Verbinski's A Cure for Wellness, Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives, and Netflix's War Machine.

He has contributed to two Grammy-nominated projects.

Alongside his film work, Owen is a prolific production music composer, with thousands of tracks written across multiple genres and broadcast internationally.

His bespoke music credits include work for organisations and brands including the BBC, UNESCO, Kraken Rum, Classic FM, Jazz FM and the Paralympic Games.

Owen is also a producer at Mwnci Studios in Carmarthenshire, where he works closely with bands and artists to develop their material and create distinctive recordings.

He studied Composition for TV, Film and Games at Berklee College of Music in Boston, graduating summa cum laude.

What Happens During the Day?

Arrival at Rockfield

Participants are asked to arrive at the Coach House Studio shortly before 10am.

Tea and coffee will be available, giving you time to meet Owen, the Pro7ect team and the other participants before the session begins.

And this is definitely not a conventional classroom.

The Masterclass takes place inside Rockfield's legendary Quadrangle Studio, part of the studio complex where generations of internationally recognised records have been created.

You will spend the day learning from inside a working recording studio, listening, writing, composing, producing and discussing the decisions that turn an idea into finished music.

Morning Session

Songwriting & Composing to Brief

One of the biggest shifts between writing music for yourself and writing professionally for screen or commercial use is learning how to respond creatively to a brief.

The morning session will explore exactly that.

Owen will look at how professional composers approach questions such as:

• What is the client actually asking for?

• What emotion does the music need to create?

• Who is the audience?

• How closely should you follow a reference track?

• How quickly do you need to establish an idea?

• How do you remain original while still answering the brief?

• What makes one piece of music more usable than another?

You will explore how a composer takes a collection of words, references, images or creative instructions and turns them into a musical direction.

Participants will then work creatively with a brief, developing ideas through melody, harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, lyrics, texture and production.

This is not about finding one supposedly “correct” answer. It is about learning how to make clear, confident creative decisions within a set of parameters.

For songwriters, this can be an incredibly useful discipline. Writing to brief forces you to move beyond your usual habits, genres and comfort zones and start thinking about music from another person's perspective.

A buffet lunch will be served at approximately 1pm.

Afternoon Session

Composing for the Moving Picture

In the afternoon, the focus moves directly into music and moving image.

What changes when there is a picture in front of you?

When should the music enter?

When should it disappear?

Should it follow the action or work against it?

How do tempo, harmony, instrumentation, dynamics and sound design alter the emotional meaning of a scene?

Owen will explore the relationship between music, picture, timing and storytelling, demonstrating how composers make musical choices that support what is happening on screen.

The group will develop material in the studio, looking at how an initial idea can be shaped and produced for a visual context.

Depending on the material created during the day, this may involve:

• Composing to picture

• Building musical themes and motifs

• Creating atmosphere and tension

• Working with tempo and timing

• Arrangement

• Sound design

• Programming

• Recording live instruments or vocals

• Choosing sounds and textures

• Editing and adapting music to picture

• Production techniques

• Responding to creative feedback

You will be able to hear and see the process develop in real time.

Rather than only discussing how screen music works, you will experience the decisions involved in creating it.

Production: Making Music Work for the Brief

Composition and production are increasingly inseparable.

A great musical idea still has to sound convincing.

Throughout the day, Owen will share practical production approaches developed across more than two decades of professional work.

You will explore how production choices affect emotion, energy, scale and impact, and how composers use instruments, samples, sound design and recording techniques to create a finished musical world.

The emphasis is not on owning endless amounts of equipment.

It is on learning how to use the tools available to make stronger creative decisions.

How Do You Actually Get Into This Industry?

Writing good music is only one part of building a career in film, television, games, production music and sync.

Owen will also discuss the professional side of the work and answer one of the questions we are asked constantly at Pro7ect:

How do I actually get into this?

The session will explore the different routes into the industry, including areas such as:

• Film and television composition

• Production music libraries

• Sync

• Advertising and branded content

• Games

• Sound design

• Bespoke composition

• Studio production

• Building a professional catalogue

• Developing relationships within the industry

Owen will share insight from his own career, including what has changed during more than 20 years working professionally and what emerging composers need to understand now. There is no magic doorway into this world. But there are skills, working practices and relationships that make you considerably more useful — and therefore more employable. This part of the Masterclass is about understanding what those are.

Who Is This Masterclass For?

This Masterclass is open to songwriters, artists, musicians, composers and producers at all stages of their development.

You do not need previous experience of writing for film, television or games.

It is particularly useful if you want to:

• Learn how to write music to a professional brief

• Explore composing for film, TV, games or advertising

• Understand how music works with moving image

• Develop your production skills

• Explore sync and production music

• Find new applications for your songwriting skills

• Understand possible routes into professional composition

• Learn directly from somebody already working across these areas

• Experience a creative session inside Rockfield Studios

If you are already an experienced songwriter or producer, the day offers an opportunity to stretch those skills into a completely different creative discipline.

If you are newer to composition, it provides a practical introduction to a field of work that can often appear difficult to access from the outside.

You Don't Need to Arrive With the Answers

You do not need to bring a finished song.

You do not need to know how to score a film.

You do not need an enormous sample library or a degree in composition.

What you do need is curiosity, an interest in making music and a willingness to work creatively.

The point of the day is to get inside the process.

To understand what happens when music has a job to do.

To discover how professional composers respond when somebody says:

“Here is the brief. What can you create?”

The Masterclass finishes at 4pm.