Composer Michael Skloff has purchased Sublime Music, the West Hollywood music house founded in ’93 by noted commercial director Jim Sonzero. The transaction was finalized in February, at which time Skloff renamed the company The RecRoom in order to reflect both the shift in ownership and the company’s recent expansion into the record business. "I didn’t want to have the same identity as Sublime," Skloff said, "[because] aside from doing commercials [and TV and film scores], we’re also producing artists and we have relationships with people in the record industry that we’re starting to nurture. The record business is a new and exciting venture for us."
Already, The RecRoom is in advanced negotiations to produce albums for two artists, Joel Virtil and Christian Smith. "The paperwork is still happening," Skloff said, but barring any unforeseen complications, "we are doing the music." Skloff describes Virtil as "an exotic, eclectic singer" whose album will likely feature "Caribbean and Latin American beats but also some electronic music mixed in." Smith, on the other hand, has "a Bob Dylan approach: politically informed folk music," according to Skloff, who said he could not estimate when those albums would be completed. The RecRoom also has a demo deal with a third artist, Christine Mourad.
Originally, Sublime was comprised of Sonzero (currently of bicoastal Venus Entertainment, a satellite of HSI Productions), who backed the company financially but was not involved with daily operations, and composer/sound designer Giorgio Bertuccelli. Bertuccelli maintains his position at The RecRoom, and will also team with Skloff to produce records.
Skloff joined the company in ’97 as a composer. Last year, the company moved into its present office in West Hollywood, which features a Frontwall recording system-a unique, freestanding piece of furniture that consists of a frame, acoustic panels, monitors and electronic components for sound monitoring (SHOOT, 1/16/98, p. 38).
Other changes within the company include the addition of producer Elisa Rosen, who joins The RecRoom after a year at Skloff’s independent company, Michael Skloff Music, where she served as an assistant. Rosen replaces producer Pegi Murray, who left the company in February and has since joined bicoastal music house tomandandy as a producer. As for Michael Skloff Music, Skloff said there will likely be some crossover between his two companies, but he will maintain them separately. "If, for instance, someone approaches me specifically to do a film score," he explained, "I’ll probably record it through The RecRoom, but it will be a Michael Skloff Music production."
The RecRoom’s most recent project was producing music for the Knowledge Adventure company’s Dr Brain: Thinking Games, a series of educational games available commercially on CD-ROM. Skloff said the adventure and logic games can be described as educational video games. The RecRoom also continues to score the NBC series Friends, Veronica’s Closet and Jesse.
The RecRoom is currently without representation in the spot arena, but Skloff said, "We have some relationships with agencies and that seems to keep us going."
For TV and film projects, Skloff and Bertuccelli are repped by Cheryl Tiano of the Gorfaine-Schwartz Agency based in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Jeff Antebi of Waxploitation Entertainment Group, Hollywood, represents the duo as record producers.
