We spoke with Ghiya Rushidat, a music composer, pianist, and also passionate about video games. Let’s hear what she has to say about her latest works.
Sarwar Ron: GRAMMY U selected you for mentoring Recording Academy for the second time now, for Spring 2023. It must have been a great honor for you to be part of this program, especially when you get the chance to guide talented and passionate young musicians. What exactly did you mentor there, and how did it go with the program?
Ghiya Rushidat: It absolutely IS an honor and also a big responsibility. Being part of this program enables me to share what I know and get introduced to talented composers and musicians, new and fresh sounds and voices, and fresh and positive attitudes. It is such a rewarding experience that giving back to the next generation is a must for everyone in my generation. I hope I get to open doors for younger composers; the way I had many helped me personally on my path.
As for how the mentorship goes, I get to listen to my mentee first and see them discuss their needs and dreams and challenges. We work on these bits and break them down into action plans so that it is convenient for them. They also share their work, and we discuss it and work on improving it, have chats about the industry and some do’s and don’ts. It is basically how a mentor can help a mentee in every way possible to achieve as many goals as possible.
Sarwar Ron: You’ve been working on many exciting projects, including the Middle East’s first animated sci-fi series and particularly the intergalactic journey of Ajwan, a refugee who has lost her home, friends, and family. What was your role in such a fantastic project?
Ghiya Rushidat: Working on Ajwan has been an exciting career highlight for me for so many reasons. Scoring the first season of the first Arabic-speaking, first Middle Eastern animation sci-fi series is a huge honor on its own.
The series is an adaptation of the award-winning novel series written by a powerful Emirati woman called Nour am Noman. The whole story is very women-empowerment driven, the characters are well-written and established, and the directing has a unique sense of identity to it that is a healthy balance and blends between the Middle Eastern and the Western soul. We started working on the episodes in October 2021 and wrapped up the 8 episodes in October 2022.
Not one day passed during that whole year when I hadn’t worked on the music somehow. I created a main title theme that I would also use as outdoor credits music, changing the style and arrangement to include elements from the episode and keeping the theme. Which is something that has not been done before, I guess?
And getting into some recording details of the piano alone, and excuse the lengthy and detailed explanation in advance: My vision for the piano was for it to sound relatively dark and eerie but well balanced with a medium reverb time and an airiness to the reverb.
The variable acoustic panels in the studio were set to show the binary amplitude diffusion faces. This provides an open sound with an extended reverb time. While this can often brighten the tone of the recording, the steps below were taken to combat that.
Starting at the source, we left the piano closed to reduce high-frequency information.
Microphones were placed to the rear elevation of the piano as that is the angle that sounds darkest.
A pair of vintage Coles 4038 microphones were placed as a spaced pair approximately 4 feet from the rear elevation of the piano at the height of approximately 4 feet. These microphones were chosen as their very design emphasizes lower midrange information and rolls off high frequencies enhancing the “dark” vibe from the closed piano. A low shelf was added to the Coles microphones using Avedis e32 console equalizers (renowned for their smooth tones). The signal was passed through two matched tape machine transformers to further smooth and enhance the signal.
Taking care to avoid phase issues, a Royer Stereo ribbon microphone was placed three times the distance of the Coles from
the rear of the piano and at twice the height of the Coles.
A much more modern microphone than the Coles, while still being a ribbon design (so inherently “smooth sounding”), the Royer microphone has an XY pattern which was pointed above and to the outside of the piano. This allowed the microphone to capture a greater quantity of room reflections than the direct sound.
The Royer microphone was then compressed with a Fairchild Vari-MU compressor to bring up yet further the volume of the lower amplitude information and increase the feeling of airiness captured.
The balance of the microphones can be adjusted to provide either a more direct sound by reducing the volume of the Royer or a more airy, less direct sound by increasing its volume.
My recording engineer Trevor Gibson did an amazing and spectacular unique job translating my desired sound into reality.
Sarwar Ron: Your most recent Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’ Acceptance Land’ is simply superb. What inspired you to come up with such a unique tune?
Ghiya Rushidat: Thank you. The Saudi short film, Acceptance Land, is also a sci-fi story that discusses injustice and racism in addition to so many other sensitive topics within that realm. The directing by Mansour Assad had a vision of its own which gave a grotesque and dark feel to the story, leaving the audience on their toes and at the edge, not knowing exactly why. I chose for the score to record live musicians, strings, woodwinds, brass, and your normal and usual orchestral setup. I barely used any synthesizers to make the audio and visuals a bit distinct from each other.
There is a big emotional element in the story of a woman’s love for her child, and I wanted to also focus on that. There were violent undertones to the story that I wanted to highlight by having a dry sound to the strings, and the clarinet added a little subtle feel of sadness to it. It was a great experience recording with live musicians, as usual. And I will continue to advocate for hiring more musicians if you have the budget and time, over programming and using samples and libraries for the score.
Sarwar Ron: I must admit that I’ve truly enjoyed your poem ‘Love the Neighbor’s Rooster’ published under Helix Collective Concert. Apart from the excellent music composition, the poem was both amusing and meaningful, with depths in its lines. Tell us how you got into writing poems. Do you plan to take part in such concerts in the future?
Ghiya Rushidat: I started writing poems when I was about 8. And I continued to do so during my school years and entered some mini-poem competitions during my teenage years. My first crush used to write poems too, so that was an inspiration haha. I actually blogged about it as well.
With the rooster story, as funny as it sounds, was a very painful experience. In writing this poem, I intended to highlight the struggle of misophonia, a very underrated condition that is not scientifically diagnosed yet but is real and frustrating. I had to dig into researching different coping mechanisms for it, and barely anything worked. I was in so much emotional pain than that I could cry whenever I heard that rooster yells at the top of his lungs continuously, all day and all night. And although I am not a believer that creativity should come from suffering (only), in this case, IT DID.
The Helix Collective commissioned me to write a piece of music to be performed in LA last year, and I chose to write a piece that expresses myself. Everyone, including my agent Arbel Bedak, was shocked to hear the lyrics. I was thrilled to hear the audience laughing at so many bits here and there. It gave me a sense of achievement that my message went through, even though they were practically laughing at my misery. The musicians and the narrator did a fantastic job interpreting it the way I heard it in my head when I was writing and composing it.
The plan now is a spoken word album to be released this year. I have written most of the tracks now, which vary in topics. Some are not as ”funny” as the rooster track, some are more intense, etc., but I am excited about this new genre I am diving deep into.
Sarwar Ron: Your music album on video games ‘All The Imaginary Video Games I Scored’ was released a few years back. How did the album do? Did it inspire you to work on more projects related to video games?
Ghiya Rushidat: To be honest, I was surprised at the success the album received, starting with it being sold out during the first month of its physical release to getting into the Grammys ballot. It was a beautiful experience and experiment, and I realized how much I miss composing music for myself, for the pictures and visions in my head, not just for film or tv or video games done by the creative people I work with. I created my own stories and was inspired to write music to tell them. Shoutout to my most supportive publishers at BSX, Mark Banning and Ford Thaxton.
Sarwar Ron: Do you believe that more and more female composers like you will step up for big projects while the music industry is still under the dominance of male composers?
Ghiya Rushidat: We are getting there. So many inspiring women in power have been paving the way for many decades now. There are also communities and alliances that support women and diversity, like the Alliance for Women Film Composers and the Composers (AWFC) and the Composers Diversity Collective, to name two.
The awareness nowadays of the importance of giving equal opportunities to all humans regardless of their gender, ethnicity, background, orientation, and all “labels” is becoming more and more evident now. I am so grateful to witness that and become part of the women who would open roads and doors for generations to come, especially for women and young girls coming from my home country and region.
Sarwar Ron: These days, indie developers deliver great games, and most come with great music. Games such as SEASON: A letter to the future, Somerville, Wavetale, etc., all had great music. Do you have plans to be part of such projects?
Ghiya Rushidat: The plan is to do all I can to create the best music there is, and pitch it to the developers and producers of these amazing games. Music composition for pictures is a competitive and exciting market, and thousands of amazing composers are doing amazingly creative work. I hope my music will eventually get to that level of video games.
Sarwar Ron: Have you played any games recently? Did you like them?
Ghiya Rushidat: I am guilty of this because I have been traveling and working nonstop since last year. I do not have a game console setup most of the time. I do make sure I listen to all soundtracks, though, and I am planning on settling this year to play more games. I love doing this because it also releases so much of my daily anxiety when handling certain challenges. It is a good emotional outlet.
My favorite game of all time might be Diablo 3, and I am looking for more recommendations now to start with soon if you or any of the readers can throw some names for me to try.
Sarwar Ron: Apart from being a composer and pianist, you are a neuroscience student & mental health advocate. Most gamers these days are filled with depression of many sorts. How do you suggest they should overcome those?
Ghiya Rushidat: I wish I had the expertise to give a scientific or expert answer to this. I can only answer from my own experience though. I have gone through major depressive phases, especially in the past few years. Therapy and medication saved my life. I couldn’t recommend going to a therapist and a psychiatrist enough. Most of these struggles have chemical imbalances rooted in them. And it is also important to maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating healthy, sleeping well, exercising, going out in nature, and so on.
Having a support system. Trying to get out of toxic relationships and remove the negative people from your life. As selfish as this sounds, you will need to focus on YOU and how YOU feel, without hurting others.
Have a good structure to your day and establish and stick to a daily routine, even if it is as simple as drinking water first thing in the morning. Invest in yourself in learning and in having hobbies. Even if you don’t have the financial resources, there are many free resources online you can take advantage of.
Practice gratitude. Connect with nature. Read a good book. Practice positive self-talk. Journal.
And one thing I really loved doing was having an “emotional emergency kit”. It can be physical or digital, but gather all the things that make you feel better in one place and go back to it when you’re feeling low. Memes, letters from loved ones, pictures, quotes, cat videos, anything that you KNOW will make you feel better, but when you are in a depressive episode, you would seem to forget about it.
Sarwar Ron: A bit off-topic. Did you enjoy watching Morocco at the FIFA World Cup 2022? Which match was the most thrilling to you?
Ghiya Rushidat: I visited my sister in Qatar during the World Cup. And heavens, was it an incredible experience and vibe. They played REALLY well, and I enjoyed the skills and energy they showed. That must’ve required so much practice and dedication. I hoped they would get to the finals, but I was pretty happy with how far they’ve gone. And as to which match was the most thrilling, I would say the final of course.
Sarwar Ron: When not composing music, writing poems, or playing games, what do you do in your leisure time? What are your hobbies and interests?
Ghiya Rushidat: I love doing everything and many things. Depending on the location, the company, the mood, the energy… I like to knit and am learning to crochet and doing a terrible job. I love to read, learn, practice new piano pieces, practice the dulcimer, explore new cafes around wherever I am traveling, connect with people, volunteer, go to the gym, cook, and many things really. I am always open to new activities and experiences.
Sarwar Ron: Are there any more exciting projects you’re working on? What can we expect to see from you soon?
Ghiya Rushidat: There are, and I wish I could tell you more now, but maybe next time.
Sarwar Ron: Many of GamesCreed’s readers are avid fans of your works. Anything special for them?
Ghiya Rushidat: I am grateful for you and your support. You are the reason we, artists, put our music and soul out there, which is not easy because it takes a lot of vulnerability, self-criticism, imposter-syndrome talk, you name it.
Music is a form of self-expression, and I am blessed to be able to share that with you.
And aside from all that, please take care of your mental health regardless of your job, and reach out if you need help or are in a bad place in your life.
Do not be alone trying to navigate this tough and beautiful thing called life. As cliche as it may sound, you are loved by many more than you can know. And you are far more valuable and worthy than you even think you are.
Many thanks to Ghiya Rushidat for taking the time to answer my questions and doing the interview with us. We wish her the best with her current and future projects.
Keep up with Ghiya Rushidat by following her on Twitter, and remember to listen to her compositions on Spotify.
