Bound By Sound
(4 min read)
It's always valuable to hear the origin stories of how people found their way to the film and music industries. Many of us stumbled in without realizing the scope of production music or how vital music supervision is to visual storytelling or the depths of sound design. But no matter how or why we are connected by music and the stories we tell together… we are all bound by sound.
Bound By Sound is a Universal Production Music original podcast that features interviews with industry professionals working at the intersection of music and film. The conversations are, in their own words, “casual, inspiring, and a little geeky.”
If you’re anything like us, that combination will always pique your curiosity.
We’ve listened through and found a few episodes that display the range of the show, including interviews with music supervisor Christina May, filmmaker Steve Markle, and production music composer Damon Baxter (The Deadly Avenger).
In the first episode, Christina May shares how she found her profession. She cites growing up in the 90s and early 00s, watching how shows like Grey’s Anatomy and The OC utilized music to tell their stories. After experiencing those placements as a viewer, May uncovered a whole industry that has been quietly making all of those moments a reality. May shares on the podcast, “I discovered music supervision and licensing music for picture and really didn’t know anything about it. But I knew that I’d discovered a lot of music that I loved through things that I would watch.”
Whether or not you are familiar with Steve Markle’s award-winning documentary Shoot To Marry, his interview is relatable, endearing and an open invitation to check out his work. He also talks about his musical background and utilizing the services of FirstCom (a Universal Production Music label) to find music for the film. As the podcast host Jeff “Skin” Wade points out, the film can best be described as “quirky.” Watching the documentary trailer, you can see how music helps make this “real-life romantic comedy” into something special.
Another standout episode features composer Damon Baxter, also known as The Deadly Avenger. Baxter discusses how he got started in trailer music, tracing origins back to old school hip-hop and electro and how that led to discovering film scores through hours of crate digging (for more on the connection between crate digging and production music, check out our feature on The Library Music Film). He also shares a bit of his process of indulgence and immersion when taking on a project, relating to his album of trailer cues Asesino 2 :
“When we go into a project like this, I’ve got references already going on in the back of my mind. Little clips from little films that I know, little sounds from little scores that I like. I know what synths I’m going to use, I know what drums I’m going to use, I know the arrangement. It’s written in your mind before you turn the computer on at all.”
These snapshots only scratch the surface of the depth of knowledge shared in the Bound By Sound podcast. Thirty-minute episodes go by in the blink of an eye for a highly enjoyable and educational experience.
Check out the podcast now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Libsyn.
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