What do you listen to while you work? We’re composers so we listen to our work!  When not working, our tastes are really all over the map.  Gabe likes old guy bands like Rush.  Becky likes nerd music like Arvo Pärt. A large part of our jobs often involve making music that sounds like other music, so we end up listening to a lot of things for “research.”   And by “research” we also mean watching videos like this one, which is just genius. But our days can really run the gamut from Django Reinhardt to Strauss to LMFAO to William Byrd…and beyond.

How do you listen? We use KRK V8 monitors, or Mackie powered studio monitors.  Or headphones.  Or car radios.  Or the sweet melodious screeching of our various children.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? Becky likes Pandora- there’s a handy utility called Pandora jam that allows you to stream pandora over an airport, so you can use your nice fancy speakers. Gabe likes Spotify.

Does music influence your work? Of course. But it’s also important to separate out the noise of Other People’s Music, especially when writing concert music.  Ultimately the goal is to move people to laugh or cry or feel something, anything, which is best done in one’s own voice.  Or if one’s own voice sucks, Adele’s is always fantastic.

Who/what influences your musical taste? We are influenced by a random, motley assortment of folks throughout the ages.   Stravinsky.  Elvis Costello.  Morten Lauridsen, The Police,  Astrud Gilberto.  The dudes at the hot rod store who sell Gabe his pimped out sneakers.  Gabe’s assistant Mark who is young and much hipper than we are and introduces us to new cool stuff.

Playlist

Here are literally the last 10 things we listened to:

1) Hells Bells – AC/DC (AC/DC doesn’t sell their music online!)

2) Tighten Up - The Black Keys

3) Georgia Lee – Tom Waits

4) Something That I Want, from the Tangled soundtrack.

5) Moving Targets – Van Hunt

6) Make You Feel my Love - Bob Dylan

7) Green Mile Soundtrack – Thomas Newman

8) Calgary – Bon Iver

9) Blue Bonnet Girl - sons of the pioneers, feat. roy rogers

10) Me Gustas Tu – Manu Chao