Recording - April 2017 - 59

Continued from page 56
things aren't working the way that you are currently doing it, find a different way to do it. Talk
to other people who are making it happen. And
who knows? You just might not be writing the
style or type of music that you're supposed to be
writing. I have some people that let me listen to
all their music, and then they have one song that's
a Dance song, but they were writing Country
music. And I'm like, "Your best song out of the 10
that I just heard, is the Dance song." But they've
been pushing their Country music. So you didn't
even realize that your talent wasn't in what you
were asking me to listen to over and over again. I
had a poor representation of what you sound like.

when you're writing for film and TV, which is
what we're talking about here. You have to make
the transition from being just an artist who's writing albums to... Essentially you are composers now.
Whether you're writing with lyrics or not, if your
goal is to place songs in film and TV, you need to
write film and TV level music, and they don't
always match "album music." Like you were saying, I have a friend whose album is amazing. He's
like Bob Dylan meets Bruce Springsteen. It's
amazing, but I have trouble using his music
because his songwriting is so intelligent that I
can't hide it behind anything. [laughter] I can't
hide it behind dialog, you know what I mean?

hand gestures] of a spot to put it in. But if you
write for the style that everybody is using, you
have this much [indicating a big chance with open
arms], right? Just make a song that sounds kind of
like what everybody is using. There's a constant
theme.

His lyrics are beautiful. And I'm like I could use
this maybe in a montage, but that means that he
has this much [indicating a small chance with

You guys have been amazing. I could do this all day
long with the two of you. Thank you very much, Mr.
Bob Mair and Mr. Frank Palazzolo! [Cheers]

Bob: You said it earlier, Michael: I have always
been a proponent of if you're gonna be an artist,
that doesn't preclude you from writing for film
and television. You can do both.
You can paint houses and portraits.
Bob: Exactly. And I have friends that do that.

Bob, we've only got a couple minutes left. If you
were starting out in the film and TV music side of the
industry today, what would be the thing that you
would focus your time and effort on? What would
you do when you get home from this
convention?
Bob: Well, I think-and we've talked about
this-one of the missing pieces is people actually
knowing the marketplace. I mean, I can't tell you
how many times I've talked to people and they're
like, "Well, I don't watch TV." And I'm like, "Well,
if you want to get into film and TV music, you
might want to pay attention to what's in the marketplace." Like I say, I get some amazing music
that comes my way from writers and composers. I
listen to it and I go, "My God," but I have to actually tell these people, "I don't know where I'm
gonna get this placed." Because in my world it's
gonna be the one something in five years where
some producer goes, "Oh, I want something that
sounds like, you know, cats farting." Not that, but
just some obscure thing.
So it can be great music, but just not right for the
market...
Yeah... certain shows develop a sound. So I would
say that if you're writing Blues/Rock, pay attention to the shows that embrace that sound. You
know, it used to be Justified, True Blood, now it's
Longmire. Pay attention to those shows. If you're
writing...
And don't email Frank and say, "What are you looking for," because watching some recent episodes
will...
Frank: Yeah, you know what I'm looking for, and
don't ask me if I'm looking for music for a show
that was canceled two years ago! That's a bad
look. [laughter]
Bob: Well, and there's IMDB...
Frank: I agree with you. You have to realize that
59

http://www.recordingmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - April 2017