According to the April 2007 issue of Fortune Magazine, composer Brian Banks has written themes and music for many Fortune 500 companies. With a workflow that spans the globe and operates at the speed of on-air broadcast deadlines, Brian handles it all with ease using his state-of-the-art MOTU recording systems: sequencing, virtual instruments, live tracks, full orchestra recording sessions, sound design and even dialog editing.
By focusing on the exceptionally demanding, fast-paced world of music and sound for advertising, Brian finds he is able to provide one-stop shopping for all of his clients' music, sound design, mixing and mastering needs. Even when he is conducting a live recording session in LA from his studio in London, it's all in a day's work for mega-clients such as Microsoft, Morgan Stanley and Motorola.
In this interview, Brian explains his mastery of all things MOTU and shares some of the more unique aspects of his workflow.
Brian recently appeared on the Today Show on NBC.
MOTU: Brian, thanks for taking the time to speak with us.
BB: Great to be here.
MOTU: Tell us about how your current business, Ear to Ear, got started.
BB: After dividing my time between writing for feature films, television, advertising, and theme parks, I decided to make a single focus and really go for the advertising market. Unlike the other areas I was working in, ads gave me the opportunity not only to compose, but to do sound design, and even work with dialog. Then I could be very involved in the sweetening mix as well. I have always been sensitive to the blends and juxtapositions of music, dialog, and SFX. I just loved being able to be involved in all aspects of what the audience hears.
"For the past few years, I have been recording exclusively to hard drive via DP and MAS. I am able to easily record anything from rhythm section to full orchestra, and everything stays with the sequence. Then I post my music to my FTP site and the client pulls it down. That is the true joy of producing in this platform. It's easy, it's portable, it's reliable, it sounds great and I can collaborate easily with musicians anywhere in the world..."
MOTU: Give us a brief description of your current setup.
BB: Wow, you know...it keeps shrinking. I have two main systems. One for composing at my home studio, and one for production at my recording studios.
On both, I have DP5 running on a 2GHz dual-processor G5 with about 10GB of RAM. Lots of VI's like Stylus RMX, Virus and V-Station on the TC electronic PowerCore Firewire box, Roland 5080, a couple of GigaStudios, MachFive, MX4, Culture, Trilogy, Ivory, Pro-53, BFD, Majestic, and RA. At home I run an 828MkII and a MIDI Express 128. At the studio, I am on an HD192 core system with a 2408mk3 expansion I/O and a couple of 24io expansion I/Os. I do a lot of live recording, so I needed lots of inputs and lots of input bandwidth, which you just don't get from Firewire. I also have a D&R Orion analog console, a Yamaha C7, an ancient 1901 Steinway Upright and a Sonor drum kit in my big studio.
I used to have racks of synths. I grew up on ARP 2600's and 2500's, and all the little ones, like the Odessey, Prophet 5, CS-80, and MiniMoog... Then I moved on to the SynclavierII, but all of that has pretty much gone away. I do still use my Oberheim Expander, and my Roland SuperJupiter though. I have to admit loving the ability to call up a project with a bunch of VI's and have all the synths and samplers just sitting exactly where I left them.
MOTU: What are some recent projects you've completed with this system?
BB: I just completed the launch campaign for Microsoft Vista, a package of spots for Morgan Stanley, and I have been working on the IBM campaign for the last 11 or 12 years, so there is always something going on over there. I do a ton of work for Mattel too. I'm just wrapping a 19-spot package for them as we speak...
"I do a lot of live recording, so I needed lots of inputs and lots of input bandwidth..."
MOTU: What is a typical overall workflow for one of your projects? How does Digital Performer factor into your process of writing and recording the music for television commercials?
BB: I guess my workflow is a bit unique compared to most people, so let me explain.
The basic workflow in commercials is extremely fast. Much faster than films or TV. And music is the last thing to be finished - or started for that matter, most of the time. I will usually get a call for a job while it is being shot, or maybe just before. We will talk about what the creatives (copywriter, art director and agency producer) are thinking in terms of musical style, demographic of the audience, and of course - budget. We might also talk about branding and strategy as well. Then, as they start to get rough cuts of the spot put together, I start writing. I will present my demo(s) and tweak them as the cut gets finer and as everybody has a chance to see how the music is working.
You know, much of the time the music we end up with is NOT what they started out thinking they wanted. Music directs the audience's emotions in a way that the film cannot. So very often we find that the spot feels slow, or rushed, or the main character isn't friendly enough, or edgy enough. So my job is to provide musical makeup to finish the emotional content of the spot. This process can take anything from less than a week to 3-4 weeks. Any project that is shorter or longer than that is exceptional.
I start by loading up the Quicktime movie into a new project and then I get to writing. I do all my writing to picture in DP. If I need another instrumentalist or singer to get the basic idea across, I will do a quick demo record of them, too. I mix internally and deliver an mp3 for approvals. Sometimes I will deliver a Quicktime movie, but most of the time the picture is changing so rapidly that the editor just wants music. So, after I work up my demo in DP5 and get all of my approvals, we go to final. At that point, it's a matter of recording live and mixing. Synths and samplers are good for a lot, but there is no replacing the real thing. In my studio, I can sit 40 strings, or do a live rhythm section...it's a great room. If it's a rhythm track, I call the players...usually I will keep my own bass parts. I am very particular about bass movement, and Trilogy or Majestic coupled with NI Guitar Rig gets me most places I want to go. If it's orchestra, I get as many live players as the budget will allow and keep the rest on GigaStudio. I almost always keep the orchestral percussion in "Plastic."
"The basic workflow in commercials is extremely fast. Much faster than films or TV. And music is the last thing to be finished - or started for that matter, most of the time."
MOTU: So you're in London while producing the LA recording sessions?
BB: I split my time between the West Country of England and LA... and yes I produce in LA from the UK over the internet all the time.
MOTU: What are the challenges with this arrangement? How are your clients involved?
BB: This is something that I have been doing for almost five years now. I set up a private internet broadcast between myself in the UK and my LA studio that delivers incredible quality audio, and the whole thing is locked to video. Then on a second computer, I run an iChat with a couple computers in my LA studio: one for the control room and often one in the record room to speak to my conductor, singer or instrumentalist. Everything is folded back into the cans so I can speak to anybody I want to. It's sort of like being on the other side of the glass, only 6500 miles away. If the clients are there, they love it...The experience is almost surreal. Most of the time though it's just me, my engineer and the musicians.
"I start by loading up the Quicktime movie into a new project and then I get to writing. I do all my writing to picture in DP. If I need another instrumentalist or singer to get the basic idea across, I will do a quick demo record of them, too. I mix internally and deliver an mp3 for approvals."
MOTU: What are some of your favorite go-to features in Digital Performer?
BB: I like the ease and, no pun intended, the logic of the layout. I have always found DP to be easy to understand. As far as go-to features, the one I rely on most is QuickScribe. I use it almost exclusively to edit MIDI information. If QuickScribe won't do it then I go to the Event List. I use the various tempo mapping commands all the time. As the edits change through the process, I always have adjusting to do to my timings. I have also created a bunch of macros in the Commands window that make sense to me. The ease of customization in DP is something I really like. Also, because I work on so many small and diverse projects at any given time, the shear flexibility of the program is invaluable to me.
MOTU: Tell us a bit about your early involvement with sampling and computer-based, recording technology. Did you work for New England Digital at one point? How did it evolve into your current MOTU system? And how do the systems compare?
BB: I never actually worked for NED, but I did act as a consultant for many years. I started out working on their old SynclavierII FM synthesizer. It didn't even have a computer monitor at first! Later, the sampler unit came out as an option. It was a monophonic 50kHz, 16-bit machine. To get polyphonic parts, you had to first make a cheap, fake FM synthesis sound as a dummy to be replaced by the sample at a later time. The FM stuff was polyphonic, so you could play your parts that way. Then you went into the "Dump" mode. The Synclav's sequencer kept track of which notes it was able to "Pick off" on any given pass as you dumped your Sampler track to multitrack tape. Then on each successive pass it would grab the remaining notes which you laid down to successive tracks. When it was all done, however many passes it took, you would then mix back your multitrack patchwork into a stereo pair... not fun, but effective. Later the sampler became polyphonic, and things have gotten a little easier ever since.
"I set up a private internet broadcast between myself in the UK and my LA studio that delivers incredible quality audio, and the whole thing is locked to video... It's sort of like being on the other side of the glass, only 6500 miles away. If the clients are there, they love it... The experience is almost surreal."
I stayed on the Synclav until about 1999 or 2000. It had an intrinsic musicality that I still miss today. The keyboard was solid, mine was mahogany, the 128 button panel FELT GREAT under your fingers - and that big silver knob! It was an INSTRUMENT. When they released their "SampleToDisk" unit - their original multitrack digital recorder, they broke the ground that everybody is utilizing today. Unfortunately, the company lost its path and eventually went under, but even their stalled technology was good enough to tide me over for many years before leaving that platform. Eventually I had to find something else. With DP, I could collaborate with other composers and musicians who had already moved to various Mac based programs. The graphic display of DP was much nicer to look at, and did most of what I needed a MIDI sequencer to do. At first, I still recorded to DA-88 tape and used the Synclav keyboard as my MIDI controller. I also used the SII FM, and Polyphonic sampler as MIDI slaves to DP. I only retired those elements about 6 months ago. Just getting too old to be reliable.
For the past few years, I have been recording exclusively to hard drive via DP and MAS. I am able to easily record anything from rhythm section to full orchestra, and everything stays with the sequence. Then I post my music to my FTP site and the client pulls it down. That is the true joy of producing in this platform. It's easy, it's portable, it's reliable, it sounds great and I can collaborate easily with musicians anywhere in the world... not bad.
MOTU: Thanks again, Brian!
For more information about Brian Banks and his services, visit www.eartoear.com.