The Power of Music

The Power of Music

Those tapes, discs, LPs and electrical transcriptions contain more than music.

by Randy West

Music speaks directly to the heart. It can evoke profound emotional responses.

For example, familiar music from our high school years immediately takes us back to our prom night or other moment from the era, rekindling all the thoughts and feelings of that time. With that kind of powerful association, music can evoke clear memories and emotions of people, places and events that might otherwise be lost to time.

Music scored to accompany scenes of action or romance in a motion picture or television drama has the power to involve the viewer with what otherwise might simply be a series of visual images that would be experienced as an uninvolved observer.

Music composed for non-dramatic broadcasting uses creates emotional responses that enhance the viewer’s experience. A majestic theme imbues TV news organizations with an image of authority and credibility. Commercial music and jingles help sell product by creating a positive mood that makes the audience member receptive to the message while also making that message far more memorable. Sports themes set the stage for the action, drama and competition; you can almost smell the hot wings and suddenly feel thirsty for a beer.

Game show music says “FUN”! For those of us who love the genre, a game show theme from the past can make us smile and feel nostalgic for the bells, buzzers, sets, personalities and game play that made a day home from school a magical experience. For those of us of the video generation for whom TV was a vital part of our childhood, the emotional responses to the music we experienced is powerful.

While composing music for television and jingles for radio are serious enterprises, the fruits of those labors are not fully recognized, and sadly, are all too often lost to time.

 

Music composed for a specific broadcast use is more likely to pass without much attention and ultimately be forgotten for a myriad of reasons. For example, good production music plays to our subconscious as it is often created to accompany and reinforce the primary message without overshadowing it. Also, the specificity of the composition may make it less adaptive to re-use in another context. Add to those creative reasons the realities of the business of broadcasting that, for decades, thought of its live programming as disposable, without any residual financial or cultural value.

Even in the era of videotape networks regularly erased content, considering the tape stock to be more valuable than the images it was used to capture. Treasures were discarded when one facilities manager at NBC in New York discarded hundreds of old tapes to make room available to store newer material. On the West coast, barges loaded with old film and videotape were dumped into Santa Monica Bay.

As composers are primarily compensated for the music they create and not any particular recording of that music, the true asset is more likely to be considered the sheet music and not the tape, disc, LP or electrical transcription of any specific performance of that composition. As such, an individual composer’s focus on preservation is less likely to involve the cumbersome logistics and expense of properly storing masters that may never serve any future profit-generating purpose. After all, proper archiving is a complex undertaking for an individual composer as it involves protecting against both deterioration and obsolescence by regularly re-mastering old material in new formats.

 

The harsh reality now becomes apparent – so much of the music composed, arranged, orchestrated and performed for television is destined to be forgotten. Sadly, so much of it is already lost forever.

 

Personally, some of the most fulfilling moments of my career were those immediately after a director shouted in my headset, “cue music, cue announce”. With those great tunes in my ear, supporting and helping to guide the pace and energy of my delivery, I’ve intoned the show openings, described the fabulous prize showcases, and introduced the iconic hosts of some of America’s favorite game shows.

 

Only by listening to those music cues in the clear can I gain appreciation for what makes them work so well in context. Those great themes are built on simple melodies performed in major keys. In some cases I can hear the brass accents that help to punctuate the announcer copy. Other times I notice that they feature subdued lead instrumentations that allow a voice-over to dominate. I hear how instrumentation that includes strings can add a sense of richness and elegance. I can hear the key modulations that help to build excitement, And I hear how the music has changed over the years. Newer cues are recorded in stereo, often with more profound percussion and the increased use of synthesized sounds.

I’m proud to support the television production music museum and its efforts to collect, preserve and share these compositions and performances for entertainment and education.

Music is a potent catalyst for sense memory, capable of bringing back the sights, sounds, smells, thoughts and feelings from significant moments in our lives that might otherwise be long forgotten. When the recordings are gone, we lose more than just the music.

Thank you very much Randy. We couldn't have said it better!
Randy may be contacted through: www.tvrandywest.com

Randy's credits include:

TELEVISION PROGRAMS

ANNOUNCER / WARM-UP

 

“The Price Is Right” – CBS-TV / Fremantle Media (substitute)

“Deal or No Deal” – NBC-TV / Endemol / Lock and Key Productions

“The Big Spin” – Jonathan Goodson Prods. / California Lottery

“Game Show Moments Gone Bananas Vol 1 – 5” – VH-1 / Fremantle

“Weakest Link” (Prime Time) - NBC-TV / The Gurin Company

“Weakest Link” (Syndicated) - NBC Enterprises / The Gurin Company

“Supermarket Sweep” - PAX-TV / Al Howard Productions

“Hollywood and Crime” - CourtTV / TUK Media

“Twenty One” - NBC-TV / The Gurin Company

“Kids’ Choice Awards” - Nickelodeon / Teenasaurus Rox, Inc.

“Hollywood Showdown” – Game Show Network / Sande Stewart Productions

“All New 3’s a Crowd” - Game Show Network / The Gurin Company

“Wild Animal Games” - MTM/Family Channel / Woody Fraser Productions

“Family Challenge-Ice Capades Special”- Family Channel / Woody Fraser

“The Challengers” - Buena Vista Television / Dick Clark-Ron Greenburg

“Hour Magazine” - Group W Productions / W-F Productions

“Trivial Pursuit” - MTM/Family Channel / Martindale-Hillier Productions

“Boggle” / “Jumble” / “Shuffle” - MTM/Family Channel / Martindale-Hillier

“Couch Potatoes” - Group W Productions / Saban Productions

“The Chuck Woolery Show” - Group W Productions / Eric Lieber Productions

“What The Blank!” – MG Productions/FreemantleMedia - FOX

“Card Sharks” (Pilot) - Pearson/FreemantleMedia/ Itsago Productions

“Fear Factor/Now or Never” (Pilot) - Endemol/FOX / The Gurin Company

“Shoot For Love” (Pilot) - Game Show Network

“Ransacked” (Pilot) - USA Networks / The Gurin Company

“Show Me” (Pilot) - ABC-TV / Kelle Productions

“Sweethearts” (Pilot) - Multimedia Television / Richard Reid Productions

“Perfect Match” (Pilot) - Warner Bros. Television / Eric Lieber Productions

“Hit The Deck” (Pilot) - The Travel Channel / Art Baer-Ben Joelson Prods.

“Call-In Café” (Pilot) - SONY – Game Show Network / Sande Stewart Prods.

PRINCIPAL

“The Jimmy Kimmel Show” – ABC-TV

“The Andy Dick Show” - M-TV / Polliwog Productions

“Divorce Court” (Pilot); Interviewer - FOX / Twentieth Television

“The Nanny” (“Finale”) – CBS-TV / Columbia-Tristar Television

“Smart Guy” (“A Little Knowledge”) - WB Network / Walt Disney TV

“It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” (“The Wedding”) - ABC-TV / Our Prod. Co.

“The Munsters Today” (“3 Munsters and a Baby”) - Universal / The Arthur Co.

“The Munsters Today” (“The Reel Munsters”) - Universal / The Arthur Co.

“Why Didn’t I Think of That” - Samuel Goldwyn TV / Martindale-Hillier

“What A Dummy” (“Unmarried With Children”) - Universal / The Arthur Co.

“The Lovely Carol” (Pilot) -SONY - Game Show Network

“STN – Shop Television Network” - J.C. Penney Shopping Channel

 

RECENT COMMERCIALS

Washington Mutual Bank; Ameritech/ATT; Nissan Maxima;

Mattel Robowheels; Nestles; Business Roundtable;

Mitsubishi Galant; Ore-Ida; San Diego Union Tribune;

McDonald’s; Coca-Cola; Buena Vista/Disney

 

PROMOS / INDUSTRIALS

Tommy Bahama’s; Mattel Robowheels; V.I.P.;

Family Feud; Nickelodeon “Big Help”; HBO Comedy Showcase;

Karaoke Showcase; Players Club; How Clean is Your House?;

Maxell Tape; Legend of Ultraman; Nix Check Cashing;

Bzzzz; Saved By the Bell; Family Home Entertainment

 

INFOMERCIALS

Powerwalk Plus (with Bruce Jenner): Best Selling Infomercial of the Year – NIMA

Quicksand Cat Litter; Miracle Chopper; True-Tip Golf; Mini-Max

Cap Records; Media Blitz; Stairclimber Plus; Grater Gourmet

 

RADIO

CBS NETWORK

“The Great 1’s”

“Memory Makers”

“Great American Summer”

“The Honor Roll of Rock and Roll”

THE CREATIVE FACTOR

“20:20 Musicworld”

“Concert Magazine”

GOLDEN WEST BROADCASTERS

“The Joey Reynolds Show”

STAGE

“The Price Is Right-Live” Stage Production; FremantleMedia / Harrah’s Hotels

“Daytime Emmy© Creative Awards”; Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

“Battle Of The Brands” - Host; AdAge / Assoc of Nat’l Advertisers Presentation

“Bonkers and Bananas” - Lead; (Cabaret show); Casey/Woody Productions

“The Mikado” - Pooh-Bah ; 1998 National Tour; Theatrical Arts International

“The Music Man” - Professor Harold Hill; City Players; New York. N.Y.

“Guys and Dolls” - Nicely Nicely Johnson; City Players; New York. N.Y.

Carnival Barker- Strange People Attraction; Coleman Brothers Shows

Edd Kalehoff - TV Composers Put Their Craft in Focus

by Jon Burlingame

Article re-printed Courtesy of Howard Levitt ©1995 BMI

Four top BMI composers talked about the challenges of creating original music for television at a BMI-sponsored seminar held October 12 at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York City.

Steve Dorff, Charles Fox, Edd Kalehoff and W.G. "Snuffy" Walden addressed an audience of almost 300 in a 90-minute presentation titled "Facing the Music: A Discussion with Four Television Composers." In answering questions from Museum Director and moderator Ron Simon and the audience, they outlined their backgrounds, the writing process, the growing influence of technology, and how some of their most famous themes came about.

"This is not where I had intended to be," explained Walden (Emmy-nominated composer for "Stephen King's The Stand" and "My So-Called Life," co-writer of the "thirtysomething" theme and currently scoring "Ellen"). After years of touring as a guitarist, an agent approached him to ask if he would consider writing for film and television. Walden's answer: "Why not?"

For Dorff, writing for film and TV had "an element of being in the right place at the right time." A hit songwriter, he was asked to replace an earlier score for Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way But Loose and went on to write the Emmy-nominated themes for "Growing Pains," "Major Dad" and others, including the signature music for Robert Urich's popular series "Spenser: For Hire."

Fox, BMI's 1992 Richard Kirk Award recipient, came to television after years of arranging and a couple of well-received film scores. For his first series, "Love, American Style," he won two music Emmys; he went on to write the familiar themes for "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley," "The Love Boat," "Wonder Woman" and others, and continues to score both TV movies and feature films.

Kalehoff, composer of the themes for the news programs "48 Hours," "A Current Affair" and "Inside Edition" and an Emmy winner for his "Monday Night Football" music, was a highly respected keyboard and synthesizer player before becoming a full-time composer. He was the sole New York-based composer on the panel.

All lamented the recent trend of reducing most TV main-title sequences to 10 seconds or less, as well as the ongoing problems of shrinking music budgets and impossible schedules. Walden said he had just six weeks to write and record four and a half hours of music for ABC's "The Stand." Added Dorff: "Music is definitely an afterthought [for many producers] -- `oh, yeah, we've got to do the music.'"

Noted Kalehoff: "Television has become much more sophisticated in what it is demanding from the composer," whether it's a fully electronically executed piece (as he has done with several news shows) or a room filled with live players -- "a most welcome addition," Kalehoff said, resulting in "more substance in the writing, rather than ear candy."

Communication with producers, or the lack thereof, was the subject of some of the evening's best stories. On "Growing Pains," Dorff recalled, one producer wanted a John Sebastian-style tune; another liked the sound of guitarist Pat Metheny; a third wanted "lots of percussion" for the Alan Thicke-Joanna Kerns sitcom. "I said,

`Well, yeah, I can do that,'" Dorff said. "I just went home and wrote what I felt." In collaboration with lyricist John Bettis, he came up with the song "As Long As We Got Each Other" for vocalist B.J. Thomas and all three -- despite having asked for something different -- were happy with the result.

"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture," Walden quipped. "I just try to listen," he said, interpreting what the producers are saying and coming up with the right sounds that "carry the essence of what you want it to feel."

"We have to do what we feel is right for the picture," Fox pointed out. And while he noted that television movie scores often must be written in half the time of a feature-film score, "I always look at a movie as a movie -- to support the moments, whether tense or happy. To me, a film is a film. I don't think we necessarily need to be limited by the size of the screen."

Jon Burlingame's history of American television scoring, "TV's Biggest Hits: The Story of Television Themes from 'Dragnet' to 'Friends'," will be published in May by Schirmer Books.

Ed Kalehoff - Prime Time COMPOSITION

by Gary Eskow

Article re-printed with permission of Erlene Ramsey
of Wright's Reprints, LLC representing Mix Magazine ©1997

 

“There’s a real irony to the position I find myself in these days,” says Ed Kaheloff, composer and producer of much of the music heard on prime time network TV. “When I came to Manhattan 25 years ago, I was the fair-haired boy who had a Moog synthesizer, which was all the rage. There were only a few Moogs in town at the time, and I might have been the only person who was on the session scene who could actually play the thing!”

Kaheloff’s chops earned him primo gigs with the likes of Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini and John Barry, but his ability to compose memorable melodies, coupled with substantial arranging skills and a tuned business esthetic, led to the creation of his own music house. Although a New England Digital Synclavier, his original Moog and a variety of other synths maintain permanent residence in Kaheloff’s Manhattan studio, the composer’s sound is built on live ensembles.

“That’s what’s so ironic,” he says. “Ever since the MIDI revolution, there seems to be a new kid on the block every week who has synth chops and a digital studio. I admire tremendously much of what these people turn out, but our sound has gone the other way to a certain extent. Not only do we orchestrate for live players on nearly every project we record (including biggies like the “Monday Night Football” theme, the Ray Charles Olympic version of “America the Beautiful” and this year’s NBC election night theme), we have made a point of implementing a combination of analog and digital equipment here in a way that maximizes the contribution of both technologies. We have a ‘house band’ that we rely on, which includes Sammy Merendino on drums and as a drum programmer, Jeff Mironox and Steve Love on guitars, and Francisco Santana on bass. Every player has a personality, and that individuality makes its way onto tape, to the benefit of my music.

“Being a professional composer means having to satisfy clients, but you must satisfy yourself first,” Kaheloff adds. “Otherwise, you have little to give over time. The most grueling area of the business, in terms of being asked to spit back to clients that which they ask for, is the jingle business. Standards change very quickly, and jingle writers have to stay on top of things. Luckily, I was able to expand away from spots and go into television scoring and theme writing. At a certain point, I began to get recognized as having an individual style, or voice, and when a producer calls me, it’s generally because they want me to contribute something that is personally mine to a project.”

Kaheloff and his chief engineer, Brian McGee, find themselves traveling around the country to record artists quite a bit these days, and they make a point of bringing along equipment, particularly mics, that artists like Ray Charles and Hank Williams Jr. are comfortable with. “Mics are critical. Hank Williams Jr., who we’ve worked with on a number of ‘Monday Night Football’ pieces, likes to use a Telefunken C-12 tube mic, so we rent one when we go to Nashville to record him. The C-12 we have here is very special – I bought it from Capitol Records, and it’s the one that Nat King Cole used to record with.” Although the majority of his work is for television projects, which means that for many listeners, the sound will get squashed down through 3-inch speakers, Kaheloff is a stickler for pristine recording. “We apply record standards to the low quality of television sound, and you can absolutely tell the difference.”

Standard operating procedure for Kaheloff and McGee is to record the rhythm section to an Otari MTR-90 analog machine, then mix through an SSL G Series console. “Laying down the rhythm section to analog tape definitely results in a warm and fuller low end,” he says. “In order to get a crystal-clear high end, we move over to our Mitsubishi 32(-track) with Apogee filters. We have two generations of the modules that made SSL famous, and we use the inherent color of these modules to help shape our music. The first 24 strips are from 1981 to ’82. The EQ bandwidth on these strips is wonderful – it was the first time SSL started to encroach on Neve territory as far as warmth. We then ordered some 1985 EQ strips, which have smoother top end. We feel that the earlier EQ fits rock ‘n’ roll quite well, which the later EQ handles classical or legit sounds perfectly.”

On the day Mix stopped by Kaheloff’s 24th Street Manhattan studio, final touches were being applied to tracks for an upcoming PBS television special starring Kaheloff’s wife, Andrea McArdle. The singer, who closes “Andrea McArdle on Broadway” with a version of “Tomorrow,” will be remembered as the precocious pre-teen whose voice tore at you like a pit bull when she starred in Annie. Well, she’s all grown up now, and in the special displays an emotional range and maturity that fully complement her still prodigious vocal chops.

“Andrea McArdle on Broadway” was produced by Kaheloff, and the soundtrack will be released on his label, Magic Venture Records. Shot live in front of a Miami audience, tracks were brought back for sweetening at Kaheloff’s studio. “We worked off a rough stereo mix of tracks we had laid down up here, as well as a sync track, then rescored the band and Andrea live down in Miami,” he explains. “We knew that in addition to sweetening, we’d probably be replacing a lot of the tracks up here. However, as things turned out, we replaced a lot more than we’d originally planned on.”

Kaheloff and McGee were adamant about using the audience sounds that had been captured in Miami. “Although we were re-recording a lot of Andrea’s performances and adding tracks, we thought that the interaction she had with the audience was special, and so we used a lot of the crowd sounds we had on tape. We took these elements and laid them onto multi-track, where we imaged them with EQ and effects. In essence, we performed sound design on every ambient sound you hear, and the work was worth it to us; the emotional interaction between Andrea and the audience really pops out on the television special.”

Kaheloff is currently considering adding a Pro Tools system to his arsenal of equipment. “Handling all aspects of post-production sound for our clients is something that we’re taking a hard look at, and Digidesign has certainly established themselves as key in the business. We’re always involved with the final assembly of the shows we work on, so we’ll probably purchase a system by the end of the year.

“To date we’ve used a custom system for the IBM called AQ Design, which was designed by Peter Roos,” he explains. “It’s really a terrific workstation. There’s probably not a single project that we complete here in a year that won’t be worked on in our DAW. Peter’s problem was that Digidesign has been able to partner with third parties in a very clever way, and that allows them to offer features at a very reasonable cost. No one individual could ever compete price-wise with that philosophy, and so Peter has gone back to his career as a full-time sound designer.

“You know, it’s funny the way people think of the ‘digital revolution.’ We were sitting around the console having a few laughs the other day after completing work on a major project for Carnival Cruises. We had been importing cues into our DAW and experimenting with different possibilities, and we were noting that the only time savings that digital editing offers is the time you save not having to rewind tape. The greater palette that these tools give you generally means that you spend more time trying to come up with that perfect mix, not less. But hey, regardless of whether you’re working on the client’s time or your own, you always want to put your name on the best-sounding product possible. This is an adventure, not a career!”