Presented by the Minnesota Music Coalition
Take part in a conversation between the audience and industry professionals exploring the varied uses of music in motion pictures. Topics will include the creation of music from an underscore composer's perspective, music sourcing and placement, the legal structures of music publishing and licensing, the roles and responsibilities of a music supervisor, the recent connection between music and sound design and much more.
Panelists
SEAN MCMAHON: MODERATOR
Sean McMahon has worked in various roles on film scores for major motion pictures including Spider-Man 3 and Dreamgirls, and most recently composed the score for The Grudge 3. Originally from Toronto, Sean lived and worked in Los Angeles for six years prior to joining the McNally Smith faculty. While in Los Angeles, much of his work on film scores was under the direction of prominent Hollywood composer Christopher Young, whom McMahon first met while completing post-graduate work in Film Music at the University of Southern California. In addition to Spider-Man 3, McMahon’s work for Christopher Young included orchestrations for the film Ghost Rider (on which he can also be heard playing guitar) and the DreamWorks picture The Uninvited, score coordination for Beauty Shop, and much more. He also worked with successful film composer John Ottman, orchestrating films including Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and The Invasion.
KEN CHASTAIN
As head of Audio Post Production at Pixel Farm Minneapolis, and chief engineer and composer for Pixel Farm Music, Ken Chastain has been scoring, sound designing, and mixing award winning film and television for 15 years. His work can be heard internationally. From award winning film and television, to Grammy award winning records. Ken brings his consortium of nationally recognized talent together regularly to create musical scores and sound designed environments that compliment and enhance visual imagery.
THAD SPENCER
Thad Spencer began his music career as a drummer in Minneapolis. In 1989, Thad joined the Alternative-country folk sensation The Jayhawks, who Rolling Stone Magazine proclaimed as "The most prominent of the alternative country bands that emerged in the mid-1900's" After extensive touring and recording with the The Jayhawks, Thad no longer wanted life on the road. He left the band to start a family and his own music production company with partner, Mark Asche. After working together for several years, Mark Asche left the company to pursue other interests. Today, Spencer's firm Asche & Spencer is one of the leading theatrical and commercial scoring companies in the United States with studios in Los Angeles and Minneapolis. The staff includes award-winning composers in virtually every genre of musical presentation working with directors, Spike Jonze, Errol Morris, Doug Liman, Gerard DeThame, Tarsem Singh, Michael Bay, and Samuel Bayer Asche & Spencer continues to create great works with well-chosen collaborators. As well as working on numerous award winning national and international advertising campaigns, Spencer has composed original music for the feature films: Monster's Ball directed by Marc Forster (2001) Jasper Texas directed by Jeffrey W. Byrd (2003), Our Time is Up, Oscar Nominated short directed by Rob Pearlstein (2005), Stay directed by Marc Forster (2005), War Dance, Oscar Nominated best documentary (2008) directed by Sean Fine, The Onion Movie (2008), Machine Gun Preacher directed by Marc Forster (2011), Fort Bliss directed by Claudia Myers (2014), and The Texas Promise directed by Vanessa Roth. When asked to describe Asche & Spencer’s unique construct Thad Spencer wrote “Music is a collaboration. The delicate communication between musicians performing together creates a magic that draws us into the music. Our goal is to preserve this collaboration and draw from it as we create work that transcend our individual abilities”.
WILL VAN DE CROMMERT
Will Van De Crommert is a composer for visual media specializing in popular and film music. He is a pianist, guitarist, and vocalist, covering all styles from contemporary to classical. Will received his first film commission as a composer from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design to write the score for Process. The film, helmed by award-winning director and Minnesota resident Craig Rice, showcased the school's 125 year commitment to art education in the Twin Cities. Since then, he has scored for film and media projects out of Dallas, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, and his native Minnesota home. After scoring several theater projects in conjunction with the College of St. Benedict, Will moved to Los Angeles. He spent several months working directly under composer Jeff Rona, whose work appears in blockbuster titles such as Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and Traffic. In his time with Rona, Will wrote regularly for the studio's premier music catalogue Liquid Cinema and made contributions to Jeff's most recent television project on Syfy, entitled Dominion. Will graduated summa cum laude with a BA in music composition from St. John's University and continues to write, compose, and record for visual media for music producers and film directors across the country. He is based in the Twin Cities in Minnesota and is currently providing content for BWN Music in downtown Minneapolis.