Music for Games, Films, and other Visuals

We’re very fortunate at Berklee to have many successful industry professionals visit the campus. Today was one of those days when I was able to attend a wonderful presentation, this time by Grammy award winning producer Michael Powell and his current engineer Quentin Dennard.

Mr. Powell has had an incredibly diverse career, he started producing music in 1979, he has worked with (and continues to work with) great artists such as Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, R. Kelly and more. The thing that was amazing about today’s presentation was that the conversation kept coming back to the music. Sitting in the studio, with a gaggle of music technology students asking questions, it could have very easily turned into a Pro Tools master class, but that didn’t happen! The conversation began and ended with the music. There was a lot of talk about production techniques, musical structure, and working with performers in the studio. These concepts haven’t changed that much from the days of analog consoles and today.

There are times that we get caught up in the next best piece of gear, or an anticipated upgrade to our favorite application, but in the end, none of it matters but the music. Something Mr. Powell said, early on, set up the rest of the conversation this morning. He talked about the fact that the music we are all creating today, if it is good, will still be listened to in 100 years. In 100 years our toolsets will be very different but the goal will still be the same, to create, capture and distribute great music!

As someone who teaches music technology and audio engineering I was heartened by Mr. Powell’s frankness and experience and also by Mr. Dennard’s many statements about using the tools you have to make a great record. When asked about a favorite mic for vocals he said he would use the best mic available and that it is his job to make it sound great. Now, that isn’t to say either of them were technophobes, quite contrary! Rather, they use the tools they have to fulfill their unique musical vision.

That is exactly what I try to convey to my students both on campus and online. Your goal should be to train yourself, be the best musician you can be, start listening, really listening, and learn your tools so well that they fall away. You don’t want to struggle inserting plugins and routing to busses, you want to intelligently and musically assess what your music needs and know how to get the sound you are looking for. You’ll be amazed what a freeing experience it is to be in a studio and just know how to accomplish a creative vision. It’s kind of like the first time you realize you actually can play that scale or sight-read a chart, because afterall, it IS all about the music!