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Nerd vs. Geek: The Development of a Theme

JANUARY 8, 2013 POSTMORTEM BY KEVIN STAHL

How it All Started

In November 2012 I was approached by Matt Conant and Stephanie Yuhas of Cinevore Studios, who asked if I
would be interested in writing the main theme music for their upcoming comedy series, Nerd vs. Geek.
Already knowing their success with the wildly popular Over-Analyzers web series and many short films, I
jumped at the opportunity.

My Directives
Their objectives to me were simple: Make a catchy, foot-tapping, happy, memorable, modern-sounding
chiptune that will appeal to geeks and nerds.

My Virus-TI synth formed

the foundation of the NvG
theme.
At the time I had just wrapped up work on my 3 Percent film score and had nothing but beautiful orchestra and
ominous ethnic music swimming around in my head. I spent a day playing with my Access Virus TI synthesizer
and re-acquainted myself with synth programming. After a few hours I had a handful of sounds that I knew
would both fit the desired mood, and inspire me to compose.

Getting Started
Now that I had some basic sounds and clearer concept of my sonic space, I needed to address the catchy
element. (In traditional composition terms: I had determined my orchestration, weights, and colors before
composing a melody. More like Debussey than Mozart.)
When it comes to simple, catchy, commercial melodies, few devices are more effective than the pentatonic
scale. If youre unaware of the raw power of the pentatonic scale, I recommend you watch this YouTube video
featuring Bobby McFerrin. The NvG melody is a G pentatonic scale, starting on E that would be the fifth
mode of an G pentatonic scale, or, more correctly, an E-minor pentatonic.
This is the main melody:

NvG Main Melody

A music major with a keen eye should notice a few wrong notes in there. First, the F-natural in the second
measure is a bit out of place in an E-minor pentatonic. In fact, the mere addition of a sixth pitch transforms this
scale into some type of phrygian hexatonic scale. One could make that claim and technically be correct.
However, outside the confines of academia, it is more concise to simple identify the F-natural as an added
tension note. A suspended flat-2, if you will. When the melody slides up a half-step from E-natural to F-natural
in the second measure, a marked sense of tension if felt before the resolution. (Translation into English: I added
a foreign note to the melody because it sounds cooler that way.) That brings us to the next point
Notice the altered B-flat on the last note of the melody. I decided to alter that pitch, again, to merely add
a quirky color on the final note. Without that alteration the melody ends on a predictable B-natural. The final
note is held for an entire measure. Thus, the predictability adversely effects the energy level during the entire
last half of the melody.

Compare
Listen to the same melody with an unaltered B-natural for the last pitch instead.

Compare that to the real melody with the B-flat. Listen how the melodic tension keeps the energy
buzzing through the end of the phrase even without accompaniment parts or harmonies.

Putting it Together
Initial Demos
By the 2nd day I sent my first demo to the producers. It was a very rough mix. A proof-of-concept, actually.
Despite

Draft animatic of the NvG main

title sequence.
the shortcomings of the recording and the immaturity of the composition at this point, their comments were all
positive. I was lucky to be working with creative people who can see possibilities over problems.
Here is the original demo-1, as submitted:

I received their initial approval and their comments were mostly about the song being too dark and ominous.
The subject matter of the series is light, geeky comedy. They werent sure that the tone of the music fit that. I
knew I had nailed the melody, so I did not want to change that. Instead, I changed the harmony and the space
around the melody to cast it in a slightly brighter light. I started by reprogramming my synths and developing
some happier arpeggiating synth sounds.
At this point I had a rough animation of the title sequence. I began trying to line up musical hits and mood
changes with the video.
Here is demo-1.5 with new synth tracks and no melody:

Going in Unexpected Directions

Working out close voicings for

the NvG melody on paper.
After the initial demos, the producers went on a nearly month-long vacation. I was on my own to wrap this up
with the comments I had already gotten. Anyone should know that a month is way too long to leave a composer
to his own devices. I went a little crazy.
One of my ideas was very bad. I added an acoustic guitar track. The guitar part was neat, but it most certainly
did not fit with the Nerd vs. Geek theme. That idea was scratched almost immediately. However, another
strange idea actually stuck. I wrote a jazz big band backing track and reharmonized the melody as a saxophone
sectional with big fat brass hits.
I quickly realized that a harmonized jazz sax section had similar qualities to triangle waveform, which were
commonly used by 8-bit composers in the early days of gaming. Therefore, the saxes evoked the same nostalgic
sound with a modern twist. I was representing a representation of the actual thing.
You can hear both the acoustic guitar part and the beginnings of the jazz section in demo-2:

Close jazz harmonies programmed in the

sequencer, Cubase.
Matt and Stephanie confirmed that the guitar was awful but they were willing to hear some more development
of the jazz idea. Thats all I needed to hear to know I had to make my case. I was determined to make the jazz
section work somehow! I polished up the harmonies and added some rhythm section hits to give it a more
jazz-fusion sound, reminiscent of Chick Coreas Elektric Band.
Apparently my straying from the norm also inspired new ideas from the producers. Matt suggested that if Im
willing to change instrumentation, why not change it even more so the sound matches the different characters in
the video. His exact suggestion was:

if you were thinking of shifting lead instruments throughout,

maybe keep the beat consistent throughout, but each measure, change the
lead instrument carrying the melody to match the image displayed.
Maybe something like:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Atom Synth (current)

D20 Flute/Ocarina/Pan Flute
Bishop Harpsichord
Superhero Brass
Venus Flytrap Piano/Jazz Band sound (think Little Shop of
Horrors)
6. Zombie Organ
7. T-Rex Tympani
8. Flying Saucer Theramin
Matt Conant, producer

Translation: If youre willing to do a little bit of work, why do just do A LOT of work?!
Actually, I was excited to hear this suggestion. Composers are always cautiously tip-toeing near the line of

writing simple music to appeal to the masses, versus composing artsy complex music to show off demonstrate
their technical prowess add their unique voice to the music. This was my permission to step over that line a
little bit.

Here is the penultimate version, demo-3. You can hear the different instrumentation starting to take shape.
Including a harpsichord sound that I custom-programmed on my Virus TI synth.

Jazz Harmonies, a closer listen

In this clip, you can hear the main melody harmonized with saxes, one flute, and one trumpet with
harmon mute in isolation from the rest of the song.

Here, the accompanying rhythm section track is isolated from the rest of the mix.

And now both together.

Finished scene from the NvG title

sequence.

Final Approval!
Matt and Stephanie loved demo-3, so I moved into polish and production mode. After adding some more
interesting drum and rhythm section tracks, fine-tuning the synths, and further expanding the jazz section, stems
of the theme music were sent to my colleague Chris Potako for Mixing. After a few revisions of the final mix,
the theme music is finally ready for prime-time!

I am pleased to present the final version of the Nerd vs. Geek Theme
Music:

and that is how you develop a main theme.

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2014, Kevin Stahl. All rights reserved.