TV Composer Brad Breeck on the Music of Gravity Falls and MTV’s Awkward [Exclusive Interview]

Music plays an important part of what we watch on television. It helps us to understand the emotions of the characters and enhances the stories in significant ways.

TV Composer Brad Breeck knows this all too well. Breeck is the composer for shows such as MTV’s Awkward and Disney’s Gravity Falls.

I recently had the chance to speak with Breeck about his work on both of these shows and got a little insight into how the composing process works.

Breeck studied Music Composition at The California Institute of the Arts, and got his start in television shortly after. He’s been influenced by several composers with diverse music styles. “My tastes are pretty experimental. I’m really into pop music and stuff,” Breeck said. “That’s one of my big passions, actually, is writing pop songs. So I kind of like both ends of the spectrum.”

Breeck composed the music for all of MTV’s Awkward, which is certainly a different style than the music he composed for Disney’s Gravity Falls. “A lot of live action is kind of less literal than animation. In animation, a lot of what you’re doing is kind of a joke, or you know, everything’s really heightened,” Breeck explained. “Say you need to do a song in animation — usually the song is going to be a parody or a very specific genre song, and you’re sticking to the conventions of the genre.”

On the other hand, as Breeck explained, for a show like Awkward, the music is often much more subtle. “You have a little more leeway in terms of finding your own palate, and I think being a little more creative with it.”

One of Breeck’s favorite episodes to work on came from Gravity Falls Season 2. “There’s an episode called “Not What He Seems,” which is kind of this big climactic episode where Grunkle Stan’s long lost twin brother is revealed, and the world is kind of falling apart, and there’s a ton of emotional conflict between the characters. That was a real highlight for me,” he said. “I got to really kind of expand the palate. It was so cinematic – the scenes were so emotionally charged. I’m really proud of how that one came out.”

Breeck said he really loves working in animation, and that he’s felt extremely lucky to be able to work on the projects he has in the past year. “I really love the stuff I’m working on.”

Still, Breeck stated he’d be interested in getting into animated features in the future, or possibly something on a network. “The Holy Grail would be something like a network animated show. Like something on Fox,” Breeck said. “The Simpsons or Bob’s Burgers or something.”

In addition to composing the music for Awkward, Gravity Falls, and several other shows, Breeck also composed the theme song for Gravity Falls. Have a listen below!