1) “Dabka,” the film directed by Bryan Buckley and starring Al Pacino and Evan Peters. John, my partner, and I composed nearly 70 minutes of music. The most significant challenge we had during this process was taking this beautiful film set in Somalia and coming up with an authentic original score without sounding contrived or fake. Not an easy task from two guys in Venice Beach, CA! It was a valuable lesson to learn that by continuing to push yourself into areas that seem scary you will be surprised what you can come up with.
2) We are extremely proud of the way the music came out in “Dabka.” We didn’t chase a temp score nor try to sound East African. What we did do was embrace ourselves in the process. Going back to pen and paper and experimenting to push to make something that was felt and not heard.
3) Beacon Street Studios, as a company tries to evolve, create, and be fresh in our approach. What’s funny about most agencies role is that it has likely evolved more then ours. At the end of the day we still compose original music, create sound design, and mix. Notably as the terrain has changed in the agency world we have noticed work coming from other new sources. We’ve seen projects come in from individuals or even direct from the clients, that being said, we still collaborate the largest agencies and love doing that as well!
4) I can’t stand “overseas” recording. Musicians, much like any other profession that has an organized union, rely upon its residuals to live off of. The general idea of the union is that it protects musicians interests so that they are able to continue doing what they do best. We aren’t talking about a lot of money here and when push comes to shove the music can make or break the commercial, making it stand out or ultimately become forgettable. So, why skimp on the musicians royalties? Whats wrong with American made music? By paying into the union everyone wins in the end.
5) We mix for VR all the time! However, I feel, until the technology, or should I say the access to the technology, increases to the public we won’t see much evolution in the field
