LOS ANGELES — Composer Kyle Newmaster (www.KyleNewmaster.com) recently had the opportunity to write a classic, orchestral-sounding score for Blood & Treasure, a dramatic action/adventure series that streams on CBS All Access and Amazon Prime. The challenge was exactly what inspired Newmaster to become a composer in the first place. He has been working as a composer for film, television, games and concerts for more than 15 years. Blood & Treasure allowed him to work with a union orchestra for Episodes 1 and 2, and use many live players throughout the rest of the season.
Photo: The Fox Newman Scoring stage. (L-R) Matthew Federman (co-creator/producer), Stephen Scaia (co-creator/producer), Kyle Newmaster, Mark Gagliardi (actor), Matt Barr (Actor), Sofia Pernas (actor) and Katia Winter (actor). Local 47 studio musicians in the background. C
redit: Mark Robertson
The dramatic series is from co-creators Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia of CBS’s Limitless, and according to Newmaster, the use of live musicians helps escalate the music and story to another level. The show takes viewers around the world with antiquities expert Danny MacNamara (Matt Barr) and a cunning art thief, played by Sofia Pernas. The series draws comparisons to Indiana Jones, with the two ex-lovers trying to catch a notorious terrorist.
“For the score for Blood & Treasure, we were very fortunate to be able to utilize the skills of the AFM local 47 Los Angeles studio musicians,” notes Newmaster. “It's such an amazing and gifted pool of talent, and they really helped bring the score to life. Everything from hard driving action scenes to the most subtle emotional moments were performed with precision and the utmost musicality. I’m thankful to everyone who played on the score for their work and everything they did to enhance the sound of the show.”
Photo: Capitol Records (L-R) Anton Riehl (music editor), Brooke Newmaster (booth producer/sister), Damon Tedesco (scoring engineer), Stephen Scaia (co-creator/producer), Steve Boyum (episode director), Kyle Newmaster, Noam Levy (composer's assistant), Mark Gagliardi (actor), Matthew Federman (co-creator/producer). Credit: Mark Robertson.