Composer David Logan has joined the New York branch of Amber Music, which also has a London operation. Most recently, he ran his own New York company, dumptruckmusic (SHOOT, 8/18/00, p. 8), with composer/engineer Tim Oakley. Logan served as composer/producer at dumptruckmusic, composing BMW’s "Motorcycles," through Merkley Newman Harty, New York, and—through FCB, New York—Lifesavers’ "World Peace" and Tropicana Pure Premium’s "Heart Healthy," "Female Runner," "Swimmer" and "Male Runner." Although Logan maintains the dumptruckmusic name, it is no longer active as a composition house. Meanwhile, Oakley has joined indie band Blue Water Tribe full-time.
A Pelham, N.Y., native, Logan attended The University of Colorado, Boulder. After graduating in December 1991, he spent a year on tour as a guitarist with Contraband, the group he had formed with several college classmates. In early ’93 he joined N.W. Ayer & Partners (now Ayer), New York, as an assistant producer, only to lose his job that December, when the agency lost the AT&T account he was working on. In ’94, Logan moved to San Francisco, joining Foote, Cone & Belding (now FCB) as an assistant producer. This was where "I got into music production. I was working on the Taco Bell account, and the producers gave me a credit card and sent me to the record store."
But his stint as music collector was brief: Logan moved to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GS&P), San Francisco, as an assistant producer that August. "The spirit of that place at the time was one of fraternity pranksterism," recalled Logan. "I worked on small accounts, where we had total creative freedom and absolutely no money. The only mandate was to make it funny." He was promoted to producer in ’96. Meanwhile, not neglecting his own music, he had formed the group Loaf with a former classmate and another friend, and the trio was performing regularly. (Now known as Loaf SF, the band is currently on hiatus.)
In ’99 Logan composed music for Polaroid’s "Joy," via GS&P, and the experience encouraged him to pursue composing full-time. He left the agency in November and was immediately offered a position as a producer at the New York office of bicoastal music house tomandandy. Logan, who had been thinking about returning to New York, joined that firm. "I wanted to see what it was like to work for a music production company," he told SHOOT. I learned so much working with those guys; they’re really talented. But after about four months I decided it was now or never: I had to give it [composing] a go." So in March ’00, he and his brother-in-law Oakley prepared to open dumptruckmusic. "We spent about six months just learning all this great new software that was becoming available." The shop opened in August.
Logan had no plans to shut dumptruckmusic, but he was intrigued when Amber Music’s executive producer/senior partner, Michelle Curran, contacted him in mid-February. The composer had been recommended to Curran by a mutual friend at an agency. The friend had forwarded Logan’s reel to Curran, who was looking to fill the vacancy left by composer Mario Grigorov (who had recently joined New York-based Crushing Music). Curran was impressed with what she heard: "David has a fresh, lively style of his own that I really liked," she observed. "He’s got a very imaginative way of looking at commercials. He puts unexpected things in commercials, and I thought that worked. Each piece had an individual style."
Logan said that initially he did have qualms about shutting the shop, but he is pleased to forgo the day-to-day running of a business. Now, said Logan, "There’s someone else who’s going to be worried about getting the work to come in, and there’s a constant supply of good work here. They’re supporting me with staff and whatever I need so I can focus on making music." He continued, "Every writer here has his own style and that allows us to each focus on his project and not have to compete internally with anyone else. I’m really comfortable here: All the other composers and staff are great." Logan is assisted by freelance engineer Tucker Burnes.
Amber’s other New York staffers are composing team Tony [Strong] and Nik [Leman]; composers Robert Miller and Mike Pandolfo; sound designer Bill Chesley; producer Kate Gibson; assistant producer Anita Jhamb; and studio assistant Andy Brannan. Amber is repped by in-house national head of sales Kira Gourguechon. In London, staff consists of composing teams Nick Amour and Andy Carroll (who are also partners in Amber Music), Colin Smith and Simon Elms, and John Waddell and Will Parnell; as well as composers Phil Sawyer, Augustus Skinner, and Mike Hewer; composer/sound designer Nick Smith; sound designer Ross Gregory; producers Cliff Wilson and Ebony Maitland; and studio engineer/assistant Daniel McNamara.
