Jerry Krenach has joined New York- and London-based Amber Music as senior music producer. He formerly served as partner/head of music production at J. Walter Thompson (JWT), New York.
Krenach, who came aboard Amber, New York, on June 1, said: "I’ve been at J. Walter for a year and a half, and I’ve got some great experience, but I was anxious to join Amber. [Amber president/senior partner] Michelle [Curran] and I have had a great relationship over the past couple of years, and it’s a great opportunity for me here."
His credits at JWT included Merrill Lynch’s "Digital Bull 2"; Thermasilk’s "Dragon," "Firefly" and "Party" and Lipton Brisk Iced Tea’s "Jailhouse Rock."
Krenach has had a professional relationship with Amber Music for several years. "I met Michelle when I was a music producer at Bates USA New York [where he worked as a music producer for a year prior to joining JWT], but I had known some of the people who worked here when I was a session player," he recalled. Krenach and Curran first collaborated on a project when he joined JWT.
The impetus to hire Krenach came earlier this year, Curran explained: "When [composer] Robert Miller joined us at the end of December, we’d then grown to four composers [in New York], and I felt it was time for us to get a senior music producer over here. Jerry seemed to fill the criteria very well."
The Pittsburgh native graduated from Boston’s Berklee College of Music, with a Bachelor of Music in Arranging and Orchestration in ’89. He moved to New York in ’90 and found work as both a musician and a producer. Krenach explained, "I’ve been a drummer and a musician my whole life; I’ve played drums n records [by artists including Daryl Hall, Lou Reed, Modern English, Peter Calo and Robert Hill], commercials and film scores. I always had producing and arranging gigs on the side. I was never happy just playing. I was a side man for years and I did a lot of work as a player, but I did a lot of arranging and producing, work as a copyist-I prepared and edited film scores for conductors. [I wore] a lot of different hats." Krenach also played drums on blues guitarist/singer Chris Whitley’s Terra Incognita tour in ’97.
Curran founded Amber Music, London, in May ’93, and opened the New York branch in ’97. Composers/partners Nick Amour and Andy Carroll run the London office, while Curran splits her time between the two shops.
Krenach will be based in New York, but as Curran said, "both offices are linked by the ISDN line, so he’ll be working with some of the people there. Everybody spends a little bit of time in both offices."
Curran added that Amber Music’s mainstay is music for spots, although "we also do film and-especially in the U.K.-a lot of television work as well. I think we’ll start spreading more and more into film as time goes on, but well always be really strong in commercials."
Amber’s New York staff also includes composers Miller, Michael Pandolfo and Mario Grigorov, sound designer/composer Bill Chesley; music producer Kate Gibson; assistant producer Anita Jhamb and engineer Mark Grant. In addition to Amour and Carroll, Amber’s London office maintains a roster consisting of composers Pim Aldridge, Simon Elms, Mike Hewer, Will Parnell, John Rosheuvel, Phil Sawyer, Colin Smith, John Waddell and Sound Vandal (composers Nick Smith and Darren Murphy), sound designer Ross Gregory, and music producers Bridget Sapiano, Ebony Maitland and Cliff Wilson.
