Recording February 2022 - 69

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really depend on somebody like TAXI, companies
that can vouch for what they're sending.
It's a bummer, but it's just the way things are.
That's certainly understandable. Nobody wants
to get sued.
It's just a matter of having your paperwork
done. If you are the sole singer/songwriter
and there is nobody else that played on the
track, great. But if you have anyone else playing
on the track, you guys have to have an
agreement between you, you have to have it in
writing and you have to be able to show it.
And it's tough, especially with stuff that a lot of
people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s recorded really
good demos, or maybe even masters back in the
'70s or '80s, because they were pitching for a
record deal. The band fell apart, everybody
became a dentist, a schoolteacher, a lawyer, or
whatever, and one of those people decides to
pitch the music. They now have got to track down
" ...every song that's used is prime
real estate. You only get so many
chances to have music in a project. "
-Mary Ramos
everybody who was in the band to get them to
sign a work-for-hire release 30 years later. That's
tough, especially if people have passed away, or
they are pissed off and then won't take your
phone call. You have got to have every single one
of those " I " s dotted, " T " s crossed, or it just won't
go in.
I dealt with it on the Wu-Tang series, a band
from the '90s, and they had to go out and find
every single person in the band to get them to
sign off. And certainly, with Quentin's movies,
you know, I have to find people.
I literally have been quietly stalking you for the
last three months in preparation for this interview.
I've known quite a bit about your career
over the years, and I've watched a lot of stuff
you've worked on. And I've got to say, you've got
a little trademark thing going on. Other supervisors
will take a background source [music]
placement, or a song on a car radio. Two people
get in the car, and they're heading to the mall, or
two people walk into a bar looking for a friend.
Background source music for anybody that doesn't
know; is music that comes from a source that
would be in the scene, like a jukebox in a bar, a
car radio speaker, speakers in the ceiling at the
grocery store, what have you. A lot of supervisors
I think kind of throw that away; they don't pay as
much attention as you do. Am I nuts? Are you a
RECORDING February 2022 69
little fanatical about...? You make scenes 10 or
20% better because you seem to work harder.
Even though it's just a throwaway, it's on a car
radio, there's dialogue over it, it's way in the
background, if they're racing to get somewhere
in a frantic hurry, you'll choose frenetic music
every time. Maybe the lyrics aren't exactly what
you need, but the tempo matches the speed of
the tempo of the scene. Am I nuts in noticing
that, or is that a thing that you do?
Sometimes the lyrics are important too, you
know. [laughter] I can't speak to what other
music supervisors do. I've seen some amazing
work that music supervisors have done in the
couple of years that I've been binge-watching
(thanks to COVID). But for me myself, every
song that's used is prime real estate. You only
get so many chances to have music in a project,
in television as well. So, it's got to be
fitting. It's got to fit the scene; it's got to fit the
character. If it's something that's coming out
of a car radio, it better lay under dialogue and
curl around that dialogue and make it better.
And that's something that means a lot.
Because I feel like you can tell when something
doesn't work, or a scene isn't flowing. As any
audience member you can tell. And it may not
register with you right away, but it will register
in your overall enjoyment of the project. You
won't really 100% dig that project or
something, but if it's done right, it will
enhance your experience.
Don't miss Part Three of this interview in next
month's TAXI Insider!
http://www.recordingmag.com/total-recording
Recording February 2022

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