Herman Witkam was born in Leiden, one of Holland's oldest historic cities. At early age, he was introduced to music by his father, who is a music teacher. He learned to play the recorder, and after mastering the instrument, he moved on to composing his first etudes. By the age of 12, Herman was playing drums and alto saxophone, to discover the electric guitar at 14. From that point on, he started to play in high school bands, first as a guitar player, but later as a drummer, bass player and vocalist. With some help, he recorded his first demo album, influenced by progressive rock and metal groups such as Blind Guardian and Iced Earth.

After high school, Herman started his studies of sound recording and production at the School of Audio Engineering (SAE) in Rotterdam. Here, Herman was confronted with a large number of musical styles that were new to him, like jazz, post-rock and electronic music. In the meanwhile, Herman started composing at home using a sampler, creating his first compositions for full orchestra.

Herman graduated from SAE in 2004 and went to study film composition at the Utrecht School of the Arts (Faculty of Art, Media and Design). In 2008, Herman graduated with a Master of the Arts degree in Music Composition in Contexts.

The DVXUser years

Still in music college, Herman started to work on short film projects, soon finding a number of filmmakers to collaborate with through the DVXUser Film Festivals. These online festivals are held a few times per year, centering around a theme or genre, which is then used by participating filmmakers to develop a 6 minute short film. These filmmakers are spread around the globe.

Herman has participated in a number of these festivals, winning 'Best Music Score' for Jack Daniel Stanley's REKINDLED, runner up 'Best Music Score' for Mark Harris' BLOODY MARY during the same festival, and the sound design award for REMEMBER WHEN and THE MUSIC BOX. A number of the other films Herman has composed for have won 'Best Film' and 'Audience Favorite' awards at the DVXUser festivals, but have also screened at traditional film festivals such as SXSW, Slamdance and numerous genre film festivals. DVXUser shorts such as REKINDLED and A LITTLE MOUTH TO FEED would also later win him awards at festivals like Hollyshorts and L.A. Shriekfest.

"Working on many short films was a great way to learn about and understand how film music works", Herman recalls. "It allowed me to work on a large variety of genres, while at the same time building a portfolio. Also, I was able to start working on my sound design chops. Sound design is something I started to do in college, and it has become my secondary occupation for me ever since, allowing myself to use sound design elements in my scoring work as well."

Multi-Instrumentalist

During his studies at the Utrecht School of the Arts, Herman discovered that he could learn new musical instruments without taking lessons, by listening and watching the performers of these instruments. His first new love was the Armenian Duduk, a double reed instrument with a very voice-like mournful quality to it. A few other instruments Herman learned to play were: The Japanese Shakuhachi bamboo flute, Chinese Hulusi and Bawu, Nigerian Udu, Native American Flute and the North Indian Bansuri flute.

In 2005, Herman got a small job on his first feature film, THE KING MAKER. He was invited by British composer Ian Livingstone to perform a few improvised recordings of effects and melodies played on the Chinese Xiao flute. Herman would later work on console game titles by Eidos and Atari, performing ethnic instruments for the scores. In 2008, he worked wth composer Maarten Spruijt as a woodwind performer on the feature film THE SEVEN OF DARAN: THE BATTLE OF PAREO ROCK.

Today, Herman often uses the ethnic instruments in his own scores, combining them with an orchestra, and / or composing music inspired by traditional Asian, African and (Latin) American styles.

In the summer of 2009, Herman worked on a unique Swiss-Burmese project called ATEIK I AYEIK, which translated from Burmese means SHADOWS OF THE PAST (creatively produced by Aung Thura). The film contains over an hour of original score composed by Herman, of which a soundtrack album has been released to iTunes.

2010

In the new year, Herman has already completed work for a feature film. That film is CARTE BLANCHE by Matt Kieley, a mumblecore-esque drama inspired by filmmakers like Wes Anderson and John Cassavetes. New collaborations include a co-scoring project with composer Thomas Bensdorp, the Kurdish-Iraqi film NIGHT OF JUDGEMENT (SHEWI HISAB) by Hussein Sewdin. The film is based on the popular Kurdish novel 'City of the White Musicians'.

Another project Herman works on that year is HEAVEN BURNS, the debut feature by independent filmmaker Justin Beckenheimer, with whom Herman has also frequently collaborated. In summer Herman scores the documentary MILA'S JOURNEY and the dark and suspenseful drama TRAVELERS, to finally end up working on his first television film in November, BLIJF! by director Lourens Blok, produced by the Amsterdam-based Shooting Star Film Company.

Also in November, Herman is asked to work on digital orchestrations for a large scale musical production, SOLDIER OF ORANGE. The music is composed by Tom Harriman (BAYWATCH, FLIPPER).

New projects for 2011 include the feature documentary MY AMITYVILLE HORROR by Eric Walter, and a number of short films.