The day is finally here! In this episode of On the Mic, Senior Copywriter, Evan Brown, unveils the final musical selections for OTM. Will Nathan and Lindsay be impressed with his final pieces? Tune in to hear the future of On the Mic in this Music in Podcasting finale.
Podcast Transcript
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That's the great thing about stamps.com. They grow with you
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As much fun as I had. I couldn't wait to get back to my sleep number bed.
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I love my third love bras. They're hands down the most comfortable bras I've ever owned.
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I love making blue apron and I love it. It's my me time.
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So welcome back to part three of our musical saga. I hope that the loyal On the Mic listeners have, are still enjoying this journey. Are they, do we have a name for like fans of the show? Should we, should we name them? Like on, On the Mic’ers?
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I think On the Mic-ists or On the Mic’ers would, would work really well. Yeah,
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I like On the Mic’ers was the only thing that I got.
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Yeah. I can't really think of a particularly clever take on that. So On the Mic’ers, as it is the loyal On the Mic’ers. So today is a, it's a big day because we're going to crown a winner. We're going to listen to some updated versions of the tracks that we heard in light last week. Real quick though. Slight tangent. I know that. I mean, everyone here is a music fan. I know Lindsay, you're a huge film score person the other day I had. So I was listening to the who framed Roger rabbit soundtrack the other
(1m 25s):
Day. Oh, it's so good.
(1m 26s):
It's so good. It's brilliant. And I kinda ha I'm also one of my all time favorite movies, but I had it kind of sitting in a queue that I wasn't really a playlist that I wasn't really thinking about for a while. And it came on while I was doing other things. So I didn't really initially register what I was listening to. And at some point I heard this like chord progression, this sort of particular arrangement, and immediately it just like caught my attention. And I immediately said, well, back to the future, wait, what am I listening to? Oh, this is who framed Roger rabbit, which is Alan Silvestri, who also did back to the future. And I love we, you were talking about this, a similar thing offline a couple of weeks ago, where a similar thing happened to me with Danny Elfin.
(2m 12s):
I was watching this movie called Nightbreed and I wasn't paying attention to the opening credits or anything. And maybe a third of the way into the movie and the background, there was this horn thing, horn thing. It was a horn thing. And I immediately was like, Danny Elfman, Danny Elfman definitely scored this. And I looked it up and, and that was the case. And I love, I just love the fact that, I mean, it's one thing to be as a player. Like if you're a guitar player or a piano player having kind of a signature guitar tone or sound or a signature way that you like to play or improvise or play solos, like that's really cool. But I love that that also can happen just on a composition side.
(2m 55s):
When you write music, you can still have these little signature tendencies that can be immediately identifiable and it's kind of a calling card. I don't know. It's like a nice, it's like a friendly, familiar, friendly, and familiar much like the theme for this podcast is going to be so anyway, I don't think that I have achieved that personally. I think I'm not quite operating on the same level as Sylvestri and Elfman, but I think that's a good goal to have as a composer. So maybe this can be a part of my personal journey, finding my signature sound Lindsey. Are there any film composers that you could just blindfolded hear? Something that they wrote? Not even from a movie that you know, and you're just like, that's a hundred percent John Williams or something.
(3m 41s):
John Williams. That's exactly who I was going to say. I think he just, he just has that sound and you just know like, that is him for
(3m 48s):
Sure. How about you, Nate?
(3m 50s):
I feel confident enough in, in recognizing a couple like John Williams comes to mind, but actually what resonated most with me was when you were talking about being a player in like having, like, I I've been in a coffee shop and had this moment of like, is this Stevie Ray Vaughn? I don't know this song, but this sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughan. And it's something where, you know, like you're saying it's like a calling card or something. And I think with like composition, you forget like as a, as a passive listener, when you're watching a movie that there's like a writer, there's a composer. Sometimes you get carried away unless you are someone like you and Lindsay who are like film score buffs. You might not be thinking about composition that way, but it's just like reading a book or, or coming across an author that you love and recognizing their style.
(4m 35s):
It's like, it's cool that it plays with the individual instrumentalists, but it kind of transcends them. And you can recognize even if the, the, whoever the actual soloist or whatever of a, of a certain instrument is doing their own thing, like the composer is still shines through. And that's really cool.
(4m 49s):
That's a good point with the book with the writers. Let's face it. It's all kind of artistic pursuits directors and artists and all that. It's what makes someone special is having that kind of signature sound that makes them recognizable, but then being able to create endless new things that still have that identity, but aren't just a rehash. That's, that's the big challenge. No one likes to rehash. So anyway, I'm going to do a quick recap of some notes that we took that I took from the previous episode when we, when I presented about I think, four or five tracks, and we narrowed it down to two, two of the best, there was also the issue of the very first track that I presented, which is called bones.
(5m 34s):
We agreed that it was the best and you can't possibly improve on perfection, but it was a little bit, it was a little too good. It was a little too high level. Like I need to take that and turn it into a piece that could be played by like the LA Phil here at the Walt Disney concert hall. Like that's, I just kind of over achieved on that one. So I took it out of the running and we're just going to focus on the other two, if that's okay with you too,
(5m 58s):
I guess.
(5m 59s):
We're not sure if the world is ready for bones.
(6m 2s):
No, it's absolutely not ready. I agree with that. So the two that we picked as the standouts, the first one was called barbacoa taco, which I have retained that name. We, we liked the fun, friendly energy of it. Nate, you were talking about, well, I kind of, I kind of put this idea in your head to be fair, but we were talking about adding the organic drum element. Lindsay was unmoved by that prospect, but it was something that we had talked about because you loved the, the organic sounding drums of another track, which didn't, didn't make the cut last time. And then there was the other one was called majesty. I'm now calling this one, doot doot,
(6m 41s):
You're welcome.
(6m 42s):
Because there was an arpeggiator that that was referred to as doot doots that you wanted to, to hear come in earlier in the track, which I agree with that where you had all like the intro of that one, I personally said that it needed some more kind of low-end thump on the kick drum. It reminded Lindsay of a video game called Celeste, but in a good way, which is the key, that was the key. Anything can remind anyone of anything, but it has to be in a good way for it to qualify. And then, and then also both of these tracks, we wanted to add some clips from some of our ad reads and maybe add some kind of recording sound effects at the start.
(7m 22s):
So a quick reminder, these I'm presenting these as quote unquote final, but we can still make tweaks if we need to, this is, this is all about you two being happy with the end result. So if there are things that I can change, you know, this isn't gonna, isn't going to go up for people to listen to for a couple of weeks. So I'll have time to, to really hone in on those and, and hone it down with all that in mind. Would you like to listen to some music?
(7m 47s):
Absolutely.
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Yeah. I can't wait to hear it.
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Let's do it. That was a rhetorical question. If you had said no,
(7m 52s):
We were going to do it anyway. Yeah.
(7m 54s):
That's the show.
(7m 56s):
That's going to be a short episode.
(7m 58s):
Like, well, Nate's checked out. See you later.
(8m 1s):
There is one thing I want to play you first, Lindsay, you've got the play button. There's something. The first on the list is called, not bones, not bones is the first track. And I would like you to give that a play for us to hear.
(8m 19s):
Okay. It's still my favorite.
(8m 36s):
Yeah. You could not say that that was bones because it's not the same track.
(8m 40s):
Yeah. I mean, granted, I took part in a little trickery there. I wanted to get you unsuspecting. First of all, also just, I'm so sorry to everyone listening. I'm still referencing jokes from two episodes ago. I couldn't help myself. I know we said we couldn't improve on perfection, but I like a challenge. I extended it. I, I made it like a dance hit. So I don't know if you have any more thoughts on that one, but I wanted to present it for your consideration just in case your minds are changed,
(9m 11s):
Maybe more whistling, but, but I love what you're doing with not bones
(9m 17s):
Maybe a whistling duet.
(9m 19s):
Yeah. Or like some harmony with the whistling that, and you know, for any listeners who haven't been listening to the whole series, first of All,
(9m 28s):
What are you doing? Go back and listen to episodes one and two. But yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be everyone's favorite and I can see, I can see this becoming a dance hit, as you said,
(9m 39s):
Can you imagine if last time I had come in with basically like four options that were of that
(9m 48s):
Just like
(9m 50s):
Pain and, and quality, but I was dead serious. Like this, my friends is the best I can do. This is me. This is me at my best. I want you to pick the best one. It like you would just, I wish I had done that as a joke, just to see your faces just agonizing over how to tell me that I was really bad at what I did.
(10m 10s):
I don't know. I think you're living in the future here in 30, 22.
(10m 14s):
Yeah. That could have been like a Christopher guest, like podcast kind of thing going on almost like a spinal tap episode.
(10m 22s):
Maybe I'll pitch that for a Christopher guest podcast theme.
(10m 26s):
Christopher guest. If you're listening, if
(10m 28s):
Christopher guest is listening, I have other things I want to talk to you about a spinal tap. Very big for me when I was a kid. Okay. So anyway, sorry for the diversion. Let's go into the real first option. What I want to know is, so for each of these two, we have, I have an intro. I have a bumper and I have an outro. So let's listen to the intro, the bumper and the outro for barbacoa taco.
(10m 55s):
We actually,
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You really need to do yourself a favor consider,
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And our bureau could use to keep track of production, videos, and podcasts.
(11m 51s):
This one also has some doot doots in, but I think it's like a different presentation. It's more, maybe it's more like bloop, bloop, bleep, bloops. There's some bleeping and blooping in the background.
(12m 2s):
Yeah,
(12m 3s):
Exactly. If they're in the same, in the same extended family, I did put for the outro for N for Nate's consideration. I did put a, an organic drum sound in the outro combined with some of the electronic drums, but I did not sully the intro for Lindsay by ruining the drums because I think they were fine how they were also. I don't know if you notice at the very beginning, I put a sound effect of like pressing a record button.
(12m 29s):
I liked that, that stood out to me. I
(12m 31s):
Liked that a lot. Okay. I was looking for like a mic squeak sound effect, or like the sound of headphones going on someone's head, which I guess I could just kind of foley myself, but for some reason I just, I wasn't finding good ones. And then I was thinking about other options and I thought, oh, it would be cool to have that. I mean, it's like a cassette deck sound, but it's still just a very, to me, a very satisfying click. Like, it just sounds like, okay, now we're now we're in business. We're recording
(13m 2s):
For any of our listeners who are under 30, just Google it. What a cassette player was.
(13m 9s):
It didn't fit in your phone and you sometimes had to use a pencil to help.
(13m 14s):
Yeah. I really liked for this where this is going. And I thought that the use of the cassette sound made a lot of sense.
(13m 21s):
Yeah. It's just a very recognizable sound. And I really liked the ad blurbs and how they were kind of woven in. I think I would have liked maybe if they lasted a little bit longer, but I really liked them at the beginning.
(13m 32s):
I mean, I could add another one in lasting longer as far as keep hearing them, even after kind of the main theme kicks in is what you're saying.
(13m 40s):
That's a good question. I'd probably have to listen to it again to decide if I want it to like, be extended a little further into the main theme or if I just want it move a little later if I want it to start a little later.
(13m 54s):
Yeah. Not, not like right, right at the start. Yeah. That was one of the things that I assumed that after this, we would fine tune that a little bit to make sure that I was using using one. I mean, I got these all from, from you obviously, but using the ones that you liked the best and also having them in the right place is pretty key. I also, that one, when I originally presented it really didn't have an ending. It just kind of cut off. It's got more of a transition, kind of a bit of a comedown and energy to transition into the talking. So the outro version is a little, it's just like kind of a slight variation of it. I layered her guitar in there and just gave it a slightly different sound.
(14m 34s):
So it wasn't just exactly, exactly the same. I like when to do that,
(14m 38s):
I liked that.
(14m 39s):
Yeah, no, I liked that. It was, it was clearly different, but I thought that it still fit really well. And I don't know. I might have I'm I'm I liked all of these, but I, I think the outro might be my favorite of the clips. Well, it's maybe it's the natural,
(14m 57s):
I fully pandered to you on the outro because I've put a real drum sound and a guitar. I was like, Nate is going to eat this up.
(15m 4s):
You know, I feel like just sending everyone off with a little bit of guitar. It's not a bad idea.
(15m 9s):
It's never a bad idea. Well, I won't say never, but usually not a bad idea. And then as far as the bumper goes, I think it's only a few seconds long. I don't know if this show generally benefits or kind of needs those bumpers. I wanted to have it just as an option. I like how they're they can be used as kind of act breaks. I wanted to make sure that the bumper wasn't overly energetic because the intro is so energetic and fun, but I quick, quick bumper that's that high energy is maybe a little bit disconcerting after you've just been listening to some people casually chatting for 20 minutes. So that was my goal as far as the bumper was concerned.
(15m 53s):
Yeah. And it would be more flexible that way too. Like, depending on the tone of the act, you know, it makes a lot more sense to keep it somewhat neutral. Yeah.
(16m 1s):
Shall we move on or any other thoughts?
(16m 3s):
Let's move on. I'm excited.
(16m 4s):
Okay. So next up, we've got the intro, a bumper and the outro for formerly known as majesty did not like that name at all now called doot doot. Obviously these names mean nothing. I think the final one is just going to be called on the mic theme, but you know, this is just for my own entertainment. So take it away.
(16m 49s):
This one, love it, love that it goes it's Rothy’s time. And then it goes into the main part. Like
(16m 57s):
That was my favorite. I, as soon as I heard that clip as like, this has to be used, I didn't, it didn't quite fit in the other one, but it was such a perfect transition for this that I, I couldn't help myself.
(17m 10s):
Sorry. I got ahead of myself and got a little too excited. I'll play the, I'll play the bumper in the outro
(17m 49s):
So the thinking behind the outro for that one, with that sort of reverse thing, which takes a little bit of time to sort of ramp up is I think it would be cool if that starts in, you know, you, it gets edited in over the last sentence. And so it just kind of starts creeping in as you're signing off. Yeah. And then it just hits that hits hits the full steam ahead. I used the same sound effect, the recording sound. In fact, at the beginning of this one, I just use it for both because I thought it was, it was good either way again, loved the, if it's these time clips. So I just, I had to get that in there and I think it fits so well.
(18m 29s):
And I brought the doot doots in a little earlier, which it's underneath the, the audio clips, but it's there. And then just for good measure, I fade it back in for a second at the end. So we just get a few extra doots in there, which I know you wanted. And to be honest, I wanted it to, I didn't want to be stingy with the doots. So
(18m 56s):
We appreciate that.
(18m 57s):
It's I? Yeah, I'm not really, I don't really like being subtle and tasteful. I just, I just, I want to find something
(19m 6s):
Cool with bones and not
(19m 9s):
That's true. Yeah.
(19m 9s):
I thought that the doot doots were very tasteful. I thought that, you know, sometimes more is more, this, this whole less is more thing. It's not always true. Sometimes you just want
(19m 20s):
More maximalist is in style right now.
(19m 23s):
Exactly.
(19m 23s):
Whatever timeless truth exists. The opposite is also true. So less is more sometimes. Sure. Whatever, but more is more so let's, let's hear some of your thoughts on this one.
(19m 37s):
Well, I think I gave mine when I interrupted,
(19m 39s):
But I, you know, I appreciate that because it showed that you were enthusiastic. You, you just had to get it out there cause you were, it was making you feel something. My only real goal as a maker of music is to make people feel something. It could be something like a enthusiasm for a clip, an audio clip about Rockies. It could be, you know, just a complete overwhelm from the beauty of the trombones and the first one, it could be disgust if that's what I'm really going for in this case, not really an ideal outcome for people to, you know, have the disgust reaction, the moment they listened to your podcast. So I avoided that, but, but really in the end, it's that emotional kind of knee jerk reaction.
(20m 21s):
That's, that's where people are their most honest, that's where their true feelings show through you. You can't hide it. So all this to say, I appreciated that you needed to jump in.
(20m 31s):
Yeah. And I just want to add, like, I really liked this one. I think that this is hitting a lot of things that we discussed at the very beginning, which it always starts out super fuzzy. Like you just, you know, the kind of feeling you want and you're trying to track, like I don't compose the scores. And also it's like, how do I translate those kind of things to someone who does, and it's been really cool to see the process because I think this is hitting something that, you know, two people who had very different ideas of what they wanted and what would work. And I don't know. I think it's, if it's not, it it's definitely approaching it. And yeah, that Rothy’s moment was like, oh, this feels professional, bro. And like, I know you're professional, but I mean for On the Mic, you know, for On the Mic to like have some
(21m 13s):
We're off the mic, the very unprofessional industry podcast
(21m 17s):
Look, guys, we are so pro it's just, this is like,
(21m 21s):
I'm finally elevating you to professional status. This, this two bit podcast is it's finally, finally coming into its own
(21m 29s):
And tell if we're twisting what I'm saying or saying exactly what I meant to say and just all laughing about it. But yeah, no, like I think that it's really hitting, I don't know. It sounds like something that I don't wanna, I don't know if it would be an NPR show. Exactly. But it feels polished. It feels simple, but elegant and just well put together well-made
(21m 50s):
Sounds very well-rounded.
(21m 52s):
Yeah. NPR was mentioned in regards to this one in the last episode, but the funny thing about that is earlier one of the, I think the first, well, the second one that I had, the first real one that I had presented last week or last time was also NPR was also mentioned, but it was in the context of, it sounds like NPR, but I'm not sure that it's right for On the Mic. So this one was mentioned in the positive light of NPR. It's it's like I was saying with the video game reference to Celeste, like it reminded you of MPR, but in this case, right. A good way. So, and I agree, I was kind of going for, for the NPR ESC. Like I didn't want this to sound like a generic NPR podcast, but I also felt like the, the vibe of this music should be in the vein of it in NPR type thing, because it is kind of that combination of serious and professional, but also fun and innovative and interesting.
(22m 50s):
So
(22m 51s):
I actually don't have anything to change about this one. I like, I like the opening. I liked the sound effects. I like where the voiceovers come in. I, this is the one for me. I'm I'm ready to slot it in and start using it next episode. Okay.
(23m 6s):
So far I'm with you. I have nothing negative other than, you know, wanting more doot doots even. But I think for the show, we need to keep the doot doots where they are.
(23m 14s):
Should I just make it all, doot doots is actually something, something neat that you said a minute ago, you were talking about just that, trying to communicate how, how fuzzy things start out and trying to communicate what you mean and what you're looking for. And it's like, that's, that's exactly the challenge. And also the fun for me. Anyway, when I work with like a director, who's doing a, a visual piece of media. Most of the time when I'm working with someone like that, they're not a musician. And they're trying to communicate with me on musical terms, in musical terms as to what their vision is. And it's like, it can be really frustrating sometimes, but it can also be it's, it's so satisfying when you get it right.
(24m 1s):
Because you just kinda like got in their head. I had a guy, a friend of mine who made this film and I did some music for it. And he was like the theme of this movie and the music is inverted. And I was like, cool, what does that mean? Like, inversions are a thing of music, but that had nothing to do with, you know, he was like inverted. It was this scifi thing. And it was, it had this kind of like almost scifi, underworld, upside down type thing. And, and I was, I had to, I just had to take that and be like, okay, what I have to do, I get to decide what that means, what that sounds like. And then really hope that when I give it to him, he's like, yup.
(24m 45s):
As opposed to, that's not even remotely. So it's like, it's that, it's that fuzzy kind of beginning. That's, it's really intimidating, but it's so much fun. And when it starts coming together, it starts getting very satisfying. Yeah. So I like what everyone is saying about all this. And I think that we all know that music can kind of enhance if you've ever seen a movie clip that doesn't have the music in it, if you haven't, I highly recommend checking it out because it's super weird. Like it doesn't, it just feels like a completely different thing.
(25m 17s):
You should watch the sections of Lord of the rings without the music.
(25m 21s):
What was that? Can, can I find that on YouTube or something? Cause
(25m 24s):
Yes. Yeah. It completely changes the whole vibe. Like you, you are not as immersed in the story. Like yeah. There's just an emotion that comes with the music that you just need.
(25m 35s):
And it feels faker somehow. Like it looks more like a fake movie that you're watching and, but with the right music and the music can also completely ruin it if it's done poorly, but with the right music, it just, it really like, cause you, you know, again, this is a little different than what we're doing here, but for visual media, you you're looking to enhance things without just like telling people what to feel at, you know, like without being just, you don't want the best result of a film score is that people don't even notice that it was there, which is sad to admit. But it's the truth because as soon as people start noticing it, unless they're really listening for it, then all of a sudden you've failed because you've distracted from what they're actually supposed to be paying attention to.
(26m 19s):
So it's more like the only time you really want people to notice if is if there's a scene where they're just like feeling something intensely and they're not even really sure why, but it's definitely, you know, partly because of the music, that's, that's the ideal. But in this case, I think we want people to notice this music since it's the only thing playing and, and hopefully it will just get people into the right mind space to, to listen to the show. And yeah, just a really set, set you up for success.
(26m 48s):
The analogy that was coming to mind for me was food. Of course, just because I'm always thinking about food, but I was thinking of how, like, whenever you're, you're making a dish, like you, you have all these different ingredients that you want to sing together. And like, if, if I feel like whenever I've cooked something and someone didn't realize that an element that they don't really like by itself is in there. And it just works for them still. Like that's kind of the success there where it's like, you didn't even notice that this thing that you thought you didn't like was in there because it was working so well with everything else. And not that, not that I don't want to imagine many people listening to podcasts, don't like music, but it's like, you definitely want to feel like, ah, there's good music here in a way that supports everything.
(27m 36s):
So yeah. I feel like this really fits that.
(27m 39s):
You definitely don't want to be annoyed by the music, even if it's short, It's all about getting them into the right mood. All right. Well, I mean, this was the time that I had in my notes, big reveal. Let's pick a winner. It sounds to me, I mean, we have two very different pieces of music. I think they both are successful in certain, in what they're trying to do. I th I think, but we can only pick one and only one is really the match for the show. It sounds to me like, it's, there's a clear winner, but I will I'll pass it over to you too. In case you have any other notes or thoughts as far as which is, which should be crowned.
(28m 17s):
Well, I think we have discussed it and it's clearly going to be not bones. It's going to be not hot though.
(28m 28s):
Sarah enough, roll it again.
(28m 30s):
No, I, I think, I don't know if we want to call it, dude.
(28m 34s):
No, I, like I said before, these names are just for my own amusement. We can call it the, On the Mic theme. Do you want it to have a title?
(28m 43s):
I don't think it necessarily needs a title. It can just, I mean, I think on the mic theme is his title enough. It is what it is. We're not taking music that was already, you know, stock written and repurposing it. I mean, I am partial to dude, dude, but it's fine.
(29m 1s):
Of course. Well, in your heart, it will always feel like doot doot. So it sounds like we've got a clear winner in D D, which will now be friends. Fourth, be known as the, On the Mic theme. I will connect with the two of you offline to do any final kind of little tweaks if we need them. But I feel good about that. That was the one that I was kind of hoping was, would get picked. Cause I felt like it, it was the one. So I think we're actually all on the same page on that. And I guess at this point, unless anyone else has anything else to say, you know, by the time this is available for people to listen to all these tracks will be completely finalized. And I think we can just roll the brand new outro for on the mic. And then, you know, next time, next episode we'll get the intro
(29m 43s):
That's was, that was literally what I was thinking
(29m 46s):
Right now. It would be like fading.
(29m 49s):
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