During a recent “Happy Hour” livestream event — dubbed ‘Music Placements that Break the Mold’— we welcomed a talented producer-songwriter and a veteran producer-composer to discuss the most noteworthy (and unconventional) placements of their successful careers. 

 

Happy Hour Guests

  • Joseph Crow – Producer and audio engineer Joseph Crow has completed assignments for world-class brands including 3M and Stryker Corporation since making the move to Los Angeles more than a decade ago. And on the artist side, the Oklahoma native has worked with The Veronicas, Korn’s Jonathan Davis, and Adam Lambert, to name just some. 
  • Brandon Christy – Across his over quarter-century-long career, engineer, producer, and composer Brandon Christy has crafted the music that greets Access Hollywood viewers and sets the mood on Tomorrowland’s Space Mountain ride, besides working with famed singer-songwriter Robbie Williams on multiple occasions.

The discussion was moderated by Songtradr CXO, Victoria Wiltshire.

 

Getting Started: The Value of Networking and Professional Relationships

Kicking off the Happy Hour, Joseph Crow described the circumstances surrounding one of his most lucrative (ongoing) gigs in the stomp music space. Interestingly, the former WNBA DJ attributed the initial opportunity to “blind luck” and, like many previous panelists, emphasized the value of networking and cultivating meaningful professional relationships. 

“I was in the studio with just an artist and some of her friends came in, and one of them worked for a creative ad agency. And he just was like, ‘Hey, you wanna try making one of these beats?’” said Crow, who also relayed that the encounter arrived about two years back. 

Bringing viewers up to speed on the nuances of stomp, the Oklahoman then explained that the ad agency records corporate clients’ places of business – including their unique sights and, most importantly, sounds, which Crow pulls together into a cohesive final track. 

Lastly, clients (including Sonic Drive-In and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, in the past) receive a personalized video featuring the catchy music, and the innovative product is typically used at conferences and professional gatherings. 

 

Behind the Scenes of the Singing Chef

Brandon Christy, for his part, initiated the livestream event by detailing one of his odder behind-the-scenes jobs.

“When I was living in the UK and I was starting to get into music production, there was this, basically a cabaret artist called the Singing Chef. And he had an act where he’d play guitar, and sort of be behind a pair of portable hot plates. And he’d sing songs and he’d cook spaghetti all at the same time,” said Christy, who has industry experience in both London and Los Angeles. 

“When it came time for him to do his ‘single’ – I managed to get that gig – he turned up at the studio with the hot plates. Because it turns out he’s not comfortable performing unless he could do the whole jumping to the guitar for the guitar riff and then jumping back. He’s got everything very much in his muscle memory.” 

Looking out for the health and wellbeing of all on-site professionals, Christy stopped the chef-artist from firing up the hot plates while recording. Notably, the one-of-a-kind episode was a sign of the bigger – but similarly unique – things to come in Christy’s career, as the experienced producer is one of the few individuals to have designed sound for a major theme-park ride. 

 

Scoring Space Mountain

Eminent composer Michael Giacchino, who’s scored The Incredibles 2, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and many other well-known works, was commissioned to create music for the new-and-improved Space Mountain (which opened in 2005). The three-time Grammy winner then consulted Christy to help with the project, which brought with it a collection of expectedly distinctive challenges. 

“We went in with very specific requirements, and one of those requirements is that of course, your first thought about doing a piece of music is it goes beginning to end,” said Christy, who is “actually terrified of roller coasters” and has yet to experience Space Mountain firsthand. 

Disney provided illuminated footage of the ride, which Christy still possesses.

“And then you quickly find out that that doesn’t work on a roller coaster, because if you just press play at the beginning, depending on the weight of the riders, which can be heavy people, light people, every time the ride goes around it’s different. A heavier ride will be slow on the way up a hill, faster on the way down. So you can end up with a huge amount of silence at the end of the ride.” 

The obstacle’s solution, Christy relayed, centered on breaking the score up into multiple sections, each triggered by the Space Mountain train itself, to prevent audio from falling too far out of sync from the riders. An approximately timed and looping strings piece, for instance, could play for as long as is necessary based upon the riders’ total weight, before the train activates a brass section. Though effective, the comprehensive step ushered in additional considerations on the music end. 

 

Representation and Management: Working with Like-Minded People

And despite these and other unconventional jobs and successes, both of the round table guests embarked on decidedly conventional paths in terms of representation and management. Christy is self-managed, attributing his stellar performance in the department to making contacts and frequently collaborating. Moreover, Crow met his longtime manager shortly after relocating to Los Angeles. 

“When I first moved out to L.A., I was just hustling, trying to do any sessions I could, you know, a lot of them were just free,” said the Regional Emmy Award winner. “A lot of times nothing came of the songs, just trying to meet anybody I could.”

“Just like anything in life, if you keep doing it, along the way you find other like-minded people. So I met her almost right as soon as I moved out here, and I’ve been working with her close ever since. She’s awesome,” he concluded. 

In a broader sense, Crow and Christy’s mold-breaking placements and impressive achievements have resulted largely from conventional efforts including hard work, networking, and, through a combination of both, developing as many worthwhile connections as possible. Experiences and specific opportunities will vary for other producers and composers, but the benefits of taking traditional steps towards untraditional success are always worth bearing in mind. 

 

Fans can catch the full replay of the Songtradr Happy Hour on YouTube.

 

Watch the full panel discussion:

 

Watch other Songtradr Happy Hour Sessions in full:

 

The content of this post was written by Paul Resnikoff and Dylan Smith of Digital Music News, as a broader partnership with Songtradr.

 

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