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View Muting Steve Vai Muting Steve Vai

Muting Steve Vai

I was really fortunate to get my foot into the music production scene – aka the jingle business – in Chicago. It was fiercely competitive, and there was plenty of backstabbing to go around, but most of the people I worked with were supportive and welcoming to the new kid. But I had my eye on […]

View Touch wins SD Film Award Touch wins SD Film Award

Touch wins SD Film Award

The San Diego Film Consortium held its award ceremony On June 24, 2023 and I won for Best Sound Design. This is a screenshot from the awards telecast which you can view here. Sound Design nominees are at 44:20. You can watch the film’s director Justin Burquist win his award for Best Narrative Short Film […]

View Jerry Goldsmith Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith

It’s Jerry Goldsmith’s birthday and it reminded me of a story. I never met him, but I was in the same room with him – briefly. In 1985 I was new to LA and wanted to get to know the scoring rooms. I had been working at Group IV mostly because (1) Dennis Sands worked […]

View Molly McButter Molly McButter

Molly McButter

In the mid 80s, Alberto Culver – yep, the company that made VO5 and other hair care products – introduced a butter substitute that would melt when you shook it onto your food. Tasted like butter and less messy. How did the hair company get into food products? Either they set out with that as […]

View The Ella Fitzgerald gig The Ella Fitzgerald gig

The Ella Fitzgerald gig

In January 1972 Ella Fitzgerald had a Sunday night gig with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. There were guitar parts on all of her songs, and a few songs that featured guitar intros and solos. I don’t know why, but Erich Kunzel liked my guitar playing. I had started playing electric guitar with the orchestra in […]

View The Mel Torme gig The Mel Torme gig

The Mel Torme gig

Mill Run was a popular Chicago stop back when musical acts travelled around the country promoting their records. I had been in the house band at the Beverly Hills Club and the Lookout House in Cincinnati – playing guitar – before I moved to Chicago. The gig starts with a 3 hour rehearsal, probably on […]

View The Demise of the Art Institute The Demise of the Art Institute

The Demise of the Art Institute

I think shadenfreude is taking delight at the misery of others, usually your enemies. I think there’s a corollary where you leave an enterprise – either voluntarily or not – and the thing which was running well when you left then falls apart. It’s a roundabout way of getting a compliment that they couldn’t get […]

View Teaching Online Teaching Online

Teaching Online

I just finished a very refreshing eight weeks of teaching Scoring & Sound Design online. My students included a computer science major, a music major, a theater major, and a media major. When I envisioned this class, I thought it would be popular with filmmakers and people who love movies, and I designed the assignments […]

View Ringtones Ringtones

Ringtones

I bit the bullet over the summer and installed a Garmin 750, along with two G5s, a JPI 830 and a Garmin 345 to comply with the ADS-B mandate. The panel was upgraded in 1998 – two years before I acquired the airplane – with a then-state-of-the-art King stack. So it was time. The 750 […]