Producing a music track is akin to directing a motion picture in that one of those many decisions made on the set will become a huge factor in the editing room……but it’s difficult to know which one. It takes extraordinary skill to be immersed in the technical complexity, creative options and personalities of a production […]

Check out this State Farm commercial targeted towards an African-American demographic. http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom/tvfilm/8966 Synopsis: These types of commercials are sometimes referred to as “image” spots. They do not convey specific information (prices, awards, products) but rather combine music and visuals together in a collage and associate that brand with the experience. This music video features a […]

Somewhere between 21 million and 46 million gallons of crude oil have been disgorged into the Gulf since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20, according to government estimates. Eleven workers were killed in the blast. Our only reference point for the ecological repercussions of this much oil spilled into US waters is […]

The History Channel has added a new visual element to their logo they call a “propel”. This promo spot, directed by Adam Levite at Ghost Robot Productions, features a re-make of a 1957 Buddy Holly song “Everyday”: http://www.boardsmag.com/screeningroom/tvfilm/9141 Synopsis: Grizzled factory workers (live action) manufacture countless “propels” on giant machinery. Scenes of red triangles riding […]

In Part I of this series I described the tracking process behind the 1st of twelve production music tracks produced for our Free Music collection. Uber-guitarist Brad Long and I met every Friday at his home studio (Logic 8 running on a MacBook pro) with one creative goal: Write music tracks that belong in a […]

Check out how this Super Bowl ad by Google gets so much emotional mileage out of a dead-simple piano track: The Behind-The-Scenes Story: Around 2009, Google Creative Labs decided to produce a YouTube video campaign featuring vignettes about people’s lives. The challenge was to accomplish this by showing only Google searches. They bid the creative […]

If you’re a musician who is interested in creating music for films and TV shows, you’ll enjoy this. In the fall of October 2009 I began a series of weekly tracking sessions with Atlanta-based guitarist/vocalist Brad Long (Matt Wertz, Seth Condrey). Brad and I each had different, but mutually beneficial goals going into what eventually […]