Recording - June 2021 - 61

JUNE 2021
TAXI's Virtual Road Rally 2020

How Independent Filmmakers Choose and Use Music
With Producer Bernie Stern
Interviewed by Michael Laskow
Bernie Stern is an independent film producer here in
Los Angeles. He's incredibly articulate and really
knows the industry. Not only has he produced quite
a few films, on several of them, he's been the defacto music supervisor. So, he knows music, he
knows filmmaking, and he knows that I want a lot
more indie filmmakers to use TAXI as a resource.
And I've got to say thank you to Bernie, because he's
brought a couple of films that he's been working on
to TAXI and found [quite a bit of] music for them.
He's also gotten some other filmmakers to use us as
well, and [they've been thrilled with the result], and
they've used TAXI member music in their films as
well. So, I really appreciate that.
I know what a record producer does, and I know
what TV producers do-but I'm not clear on exactly
what film producers do. Describe what your job is
and what a typical day is like in terms of the list of
things that you would take care of in a film.
Sure. So, my job is different all the time. Every
day is different, but the easiest way to say what I
do is spend all of the money. They come to me
with a script and an amount of money, and they
say, " All right, we need to get this film made. " So,
I need to figure out what their vision is and what
needs that they would have, and then I hire all the
crew, and get all the beer, and spend most of the
money. A lot of producers also raise money for
the executive producers. I would be in charge of
fundraising, or for attaching talent to the project.
In this world that I'm in, my job overlaps with a
lot of hats that I wear, both in the pre-production
phase and during production, and then in postproduction. And because of my experience with
post-production over the last decade and a half, I
also post-produce. So, I will carry the film all the
way through completion, through the editing and
the sweetening, and adding music and color and
sound effects, and all that.
But it really comes down to what I thought it was
going to be a really glamorous job, and fun- and

TAXI's Michael Laskow and Bernie Stern during TAXI's Virtual Road Rally.

it is fun-but, in the end it's about figuring out
how to solve problems.
Well, if I had a problem, I'd want you to solve it. You
seem pretty capable.
So how is Covid-19 treating independent-film production now? And I want to let everybody know that
there was a period there where Bernie couldn't work
because, obviously, nobody was shooting anything.
And we were very fortunate to have him screen
some stuff at TAXI, and he did a great job on it. So,
thank you for that.
Have productions started shooting again?
Yes, we actually are hoping to shoot something. I
mean, it's day-to-day with what can happen or
what is able to happen. But we're looking to shoot
a feature film in the next three weeks, and it's
gonna be chaotic. But yes, Covid was extremely
difficult. Right at the beginning, like everyone,
every project I had went away. They all just
stopped and just vanished. I was supposed to be
making an eight million-dollar feature film, and I
was supposed to go to Oklahoma to make two
other films, and everything went away.
So, it's been an extremely tricky road. We started

back-we kind of dipped a toe in-with a short
film that we did in Lancaster, PA, a couple of
weeks ago. It was a really nice experience. It was
a very tiny film, so we were able to navigate kind
of how we would stay safe and keep the crew and
everybody safe. We would think about how we
could scale this to an actual feature film. The
biggest issue is that to really protect everyone
and make them as safe as possible, it cost a lot of
money with regards to having to do testing three
times a week for actors, or you have to make sure
that people are isolated, or that food is individually wrapped, it could add anywhere from like
$50,000 to $150,000 to a budget that never hits
the screen. And so, to convince an investor to
give you that additional money when they're
already giving you every dollar they want to-
and usually a little less-or to add an actor, or
add that AC/DC song that they wanted, it doesn't equate to an easy solution. But we're trying it.
We're going to navigate it.
Let's give everybody kind of a view of the budget
range for small indie films up to midsize, and
maybe even a large indie film? Tell us about the
budgets...
So, the smallest category... If you're doing a
Continued on page 62
RECORDING June 2021

61



Recording - June 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - June 2021

Fade In
Fast Forward
Plugin Outlet: Accusonus ERA 5 Pro Bundle
Arturia KeyStep 37
Soundware Showcase: Spitfire Audio Originals Mrs Mills Piano
Richard Barbieri: Living under a spell: interpreting dreams through texture
Erica Synths: SYNTRX Analog Synthesizer
Moog Sound Studio: Mother-32 & DFAM Analog Synthesis Experience
Patch & Tweak with Moog from Bjooks
Plugin Outlet: NUGEN Stereoizer Elements
Inside the Studio with Mark Hornsby: A little summin, summin!
Eventide: H9000 Next Generation Harmonizer (Part 2)
Reviewed & Revisited: Steinberg Cubase Pro 11
Radial Engineering: EXTC Stereo
Inside the Box with Joe Albano: Working In Multiple DAWs
Reviewed and Revisited: PreSonus Studio One 5.2
Plugin Outlet: Focusrite FAST Plugins
Session Log: The Angelheaded Hipster, Part 6: Plugins
Plugin Outlet: BOOM Library EnRage
Reviewed and Revisited: Modarrt Pianoteq 7
Readers' Tracks
Reviewed and Revisited: Ableton Live 11
Plugin Outlet: Waves Vocal Bender
Fade Out: Spaceship Syndrome
Recording - June 2021 - Intro
Recording - June 2021 - Cover1
Recording - June 2021 - Cover2
Recording - June 2021 - 1
Recording - June 2021 - 2
Recording - June 2021 - 3
Recording - June 2021 - Fade In
Recording - June 2021 - 5
Recording - June 2021 - 6
Recording - June 2021 - 7
Recording - June 2021 - Fast Forward
Recording - June 2021 - 9
Recording - June 2021 - Plugin Outlet: Accusonus ERA 5 Pro Bundle
Recording - June 2021 - 11
Recording - June 2021 - 12
Recording - June 2021 - 13
Recording - June 2021 - Arturia KeyStep 37
Recording - June 2021 - 15
Recording - June 2021 - Soundware Showcase: Spitfire Audio Originals Mrs Mills Piano
Recording - June 2021 - 17
Recording - June 2021 - Richard Barbieri: Living under a spell: interpreting dreams through texture
Recording - June 2021 - 19
Recording - June 2021 - 20
Recording - June 2021 - 21
Recording - June 2021 - 22
Recording - June 2021 - 23
Recording - June 2021 - 24
Recording - June 2021 - 25
Recording - June 2021 - Erica Synths: SYNTRX Analog Synthesizer
Recording - June 2021 - 27
Recording - June 2021 - Moog Sound Studio: Mother-32 & DFAM Analog Synthesis Experience
Recording - June 2021 - 29
Recording - June 2021 - Patch & Tweak with Moog from Bjooks
Recording - June 2021 - 31
Recording - June 2021 - Plugin Outlet: NUGEN Stereoizer Elements
Recording - June 2021 - 33
Recording - June 2021 - Inside the Studio with Mark Hornsby: A little summin, summin!
Recording - June 2021 - 35
Recording - June 2021 - Eventide: H9000 Next Generation Harmonizer (Part 2)
Recording - June 2021 - 37
Recording - June 2021 - Reviewed & Revisited: Steinberg Cubase Pro 11
Recording - June 2021 - 39
Recording - June 2021 - 40
Recording - June 2021 - 41
Recording - June 2021 - Radial Engineering: EXTC Stereo
Recording - June 2021 - 43
Recording - June 2021 - Inside the Box with Joe Albano: Working In Multiple DAWs
Recording - June 2021 - 45
Recording - June 2021 - 46
Recording - June 2021 - 47
Recording - June 2021 - Reviewed and Revisited: PreSonus Studio One 5.2
Recording - June 2021 - 49
Recording - June 2021 - Plugin Outlet: Focusrite FAST Plugins
Recording - June 2021 - 51
Recording - June 2021 - Session Log: The Angelheaded Hipster, Part 6: Plugins
Recording - June 2021 - 53
Recording - June 2021 - 54
Recording - June 2021 - 55
Recording - June 2021 - Plugin Outlet: BOOM Library EnRage
Recording - June 2021 - 57
Recording - June 2021 - Reviewed and Revisited: Modarrt Pianoteq 7
Recording - June 2021 - 59
Recording - June 2021 - Readers' Tracks
Recording - June 2021 - 61
Recording - June 2021 - 62
Recording - June 2021 - 63
Recording - June 2021 - 64
Recording - June 2021 - 65
Recording - June 2021 - Reviewed and Revisited: Ableton Live 11
Recording - June 2021 - 67
Recording - June 2021 - Plugin Outlet: Waves Vocal Bender
Recording - June 2021 - 69
Recording - June 2021 - 70
Recording - June 2021 - 71
Recording - June 2021 - Fade Out: Spaceship Syndrome
Recording - June 2021 - Cover3
Recording - June 2021 - Cover4
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