ALL EYES ON: WILLIAM BAXTER NOON
Introducing All Eyes On - our series spotlighting the world-class artists behind our catalog of 50,000 quality tracks and 200,000 SFX.
For our first installment, we sat down with London-based composer and songwriter Will Baxter Noon. Will has composed music for major television, radio and broadcast giants such as Sky Sports, BBC One, BBC Sport, CBS UEFA Cup, FOX Sports, Channel 4, Capital FM and many more. He’s also worked on tracks across a wide variety of genres from trap and afrobeats to pop and Pizzicato strings.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I am originally from the Isle of Wight where I grew up playing in bands at school. I learnt piano, guitar and french horn and on Saturday's I would attend the local music centre to play in the orchestra. Being that guy at school who does music defined my personality and became quite central in all my interactions and how I learnt to make people like me, which in turn made me fall in love with music. I feel I have been intertwined with music from a very early age and now I'm just a big kid making tunes all day so nothing much has changed!
After studying Music at Durham University, I moved to London and fell into a normal job, where I stayed for 7 years. During this time, the music drifted away until a mid-20s crisis lead me to realise what made me happy - this was creating. So at 28, I handed in my notice and focused on how I could get better at music and figure out how I could pursue a career in creating music.
I had a part-time job for a while, which enabled me to work at the music on the side, but when the Covid lockdown hit, I lost this job. Strangely, and almost like a knight in shining armour, Universal Production Music got in touch and said that Covid isn't stopping them and they're continuing to work. They gave me a few briefs that made me realise that if I could sustain this level of music work, I could go full-time. Which I did.
That was 4.5 years ago. I now work from my own music studio in Leyton (North-East London) that I have kitted out with a few pieces of nice gear! Life is great!
How would you describe your music taste growing up and has it evolved over time?
The introduction of music streaming changed everything for me. It may seem strange to the young, but in my day, you would find new music based on the artwork on the front cover of a CD in HMV. No algorithms in those days! Providing it was in the Punk/Rock section on the shelf and your friends approved, that is the music you listened to.
So the CDs on my rack were mainly in the American punk rock genre with some bordering into emo. Yes, I also straightened my hair at the front and spiked it up at the back.
When I got Spotify, it changed everything! It didn’t matter where I grew up, what the friends around me liked, what the CD artwork was, I had every song in the world to be inspired by. I would say it is one of the biggest drivers for me taking the leap to make music my career in my late 20s.
My music taste is largely genre-less these days - I'm drawn to slushy cheesiness in any genre, but sonically I do find myself swaying more towards EDM.
What made you want to pursue a career in music - did you have any particular inspiration, role models or influences growing up?
Growing up, not so much, but as I switched onto social media on platforms like Instagram, I was heavily influenced by the producers, writers and composers behind the scenes of the music industry who make it work. It made me realise I could have a great music career without the pressures of being an artist. This was very liberating! My rule on Instagram is I only follow musicians, so every day I get a little gem!
If you could only produce music in one specific genre for the rest of your career, which genre would you choose and why?
It would have to be Chill EDM Beats because there are no sound limitations and endless possibilities. Also, as I get older, I'm thinking the chill thing would be preferable. I do also imagine myself living in a hot country with beautiful sunsets. You get the picture (basically Ibiza).
What makes the UK music scene unique?
Social media has connected the world like no other, but it's still so important to be able to meet people face-to-face and the UK being relatively small enables creatives to do this.
I live in London (Walthamstow - biggup) and it was so helpful to be able to establish my network in the early days - networking events, studio nights, access to great singers - even Universal Production Music have asked if I can pop into HQ and living in London has enabled me to do so.
Next week a composer from Bristol is coming to my studio in London to connect and who knows we might end up making some great music!
Tell us about a project you've worked on that you're particularly proud of or has since shaped your career?
On a hot July in 2021, I was asked by Universal Production Music to rework my track Together Now into a Christmas track on the album A Hint Of Christmas 3. While 99% of the music I do professionally isn’t orchestral, I feel with my background of studying a more classical degree, there are some orchestral sensibilities inside of me, so I gave it a shot and produced Together for Christmas.
The track was released and placed on the banner of Netflix globally for 2 months sitting behind their Christmas movie montage. I got more work after this sync!
During your career, have you ever faced challenges when providing and creating music? If so, what advice would you give to others to overcome these challenges?
One of the biggest challenges is getting your first release. As much as I mention how important network is, I would say your portfolio of credible releases/syncs/work is as important, if not more. As soon as I quit my job, I worked playing some keys in a studio in Farringdon for an old-school producer. When I would comment on the music we were working on, he would put his finger in my face and say what have you done - as in, why do you think you can have a say when you haven't released any music, let alone that music be successful. While the finger pointing is so not okay, he kinda had a point.
So I set about changing that. For me that was asking the managers for artists like Dagny and Sarah Close for stems so I can make a remix of their release - it means you don’t have to record any vocals and you can just use your skills as a producer to impress. One got an official release on a major label.
What would be your dream project to work on?
For me, it's baby-steps, as everyday I'm slowly getting better. But the next dream project for me would be a documentary score. Something stripped back and electronic, some slushy strings in moments. Oohhh yeah!
What are your three favourite tracks you're ever produced or worked on?
My favourite tracks are when they’re successful. Basically, where I have written a track that has not only fulfilled it’s written brief, but subsequently gone onto to sync well too.
1. JD Sports Promo
In and around the Covid lockdowns I was asked to collaborate with a rapper to make some upbeat, urban hype-tracks aimed at online sports promos, such as Adidas etc. While getting some smaller syncs - on a football highlights reel for Manchester City's 6m Youtube subscribers for example, it took 4 years for it to fulfil it's brief and in July of 2024 it landed a promo for JD Sports.
2. Love Island brief
If you're in this world and you get asked to write some unapologetic dance music for Love Island, you make the most of it. In May 2024, I worked with two other songwriters/vocalists to write 2 dance tracks and in July 2024 they were both placed on Love Island USA.
3. BBC beds
Writing music that is designed to bubble in the background is hard to do at first because it has to represent a genre, a mood, it has to be interesting, but not too interesting so as to interfere with the voiceover. However, once you get the hang of it, they're enormously fun exercises. More recently, I wrote a series of beds that have been used by BBC sport on a lot of programming. Most notably, on a BBC One show every week for the whole football season.
What's coming next for you - do you have exciting projects coming up?
None that I can talk about, but I'll definitely be doing a lot more production music and music for adverts in 2025!
