Meet the composer creating music for documentaries from his Newburgh home

Benjamin McMillan has worked on three of the biggest projects of his career over the past year.

The 37-year-old has written music “ever since he can remember” and this week will celebrate the release of an album featuring his work.

The soundtrack for The Emerald Isles, which aired on BBC earlier this year, will be released on Friday.

“I didn’t want to fall into stereotypes on the project,” he said. “I used folk idioms as a guide for the orchestral tracks with the traditional folk instruments playing second fiddle.

“Revisiting the music for the album was a career highlight for me. It was nice to hear the music alone without the nature sounds and the voiceover.”

‘The biggest shows of my career’

Benjamin composed the music from his home in Newburgh, where he lives with his partner Kurtis Toy, while working on another documentary.

In the Footsteps of Marco Polo, also produced by One Tribe, follows Stanley and Max Johnson travelling the Silk Road through China.

“When I saw the first edits, I knew the score had to be epic,” he said. “Nothing on the show was small scale.

“In stark contrast, The Emerald Isle was a lot slower paced.”

Benjamin grew up in Inverbervie – including at Hallgreen Castle which his dad, Ian, completely rebuilt – and later lived in Stonehaven.

In July last year, while working on edits for the documentaries, Benjamin’s dad passed away after having a stroke.

“Obviously, this was a massively difficult time for my family,” he said. “I felt completely lost.

“My father had always been a massive advocate of my music and given that I was just about to write on two of the biggest shows of my career, I knew that he would have wanted me to  power on through, which is what I did.

“I found the contrast of the two shows gave me the space to work through whichever emotion I was feeling that given day – grief is an odd and complex journey.”

Benjamin McMillan: Composer in residence

Benjamin studied at Aberdeen University, where he first met his friend and mentor Paul Mealor, and also completed a masters in film and TV music in New York.

“It’s been a graft ever since,” he said. “I always knew composition was the route I wanted to go down.

“I can sit in a nice dark room and write music, and not worry about performing in front of a crowd.”

It was Paul who first introduced Benjamin to the One Tribe directors when he invited him to work as a music editor on Wonders of the Celtic Deep.

“We have really compatible musical styles,” Benjamin added.

The four-part series explored the life beneath the seas of Wales with music recorded by the National Orchestra of Wales in Cardiff.

This project led to Benjamin signing on for two more documentaries and eventually becoming the composer in residence for One Tribe.

“They were a dream to work on,” he said. “I’ve got a new project on the horizon with Paul and I hope to do more work at home in Scotland too.”