Producing an album and 14 music videos in a day? Impossible!? Find out in the new film ‘Mind Exchange Music Presents: The Showcase’. We spoke to Mind Exchange Music’s Donny Walker, Kelly Askam, and Zacariah Jarrett to learn how the idea and film came about.
What came first – the chicken or the egg, or in this case, the movie-making or music-making?
Donny (Composer & Music Producer): Music definitely came first! Music lessons, school band, orchestras, jazz bands, rock bands, choir, solo & ensemble, arts academy, music studies in college, gigs, jobbing bands, playing in professional orchestras… Eventually, we started to produce our own content, but it wasn’t until after years of producing shows for orchestras, our own albums, and arranging & designing music for clients that our studio experience made sense for entering the film industry. The timing was perfect, because we had tons of experience and a great portfolio by then. Once we got started and began to really represent the films for which we were hired to do the music and sound, our work spoke for itself, and it continues to do so with each new project we take on. With every venture, we find new ways to up the ante no matter what. Whether it’s producing our own music performance videos or scoring films for PBS, finding new terrifying sounds for a horror feature or producing alternative rock songs for a baseball themed comedy feature, we love it all and obsess over the details. Everything matters.
Kelly (Sound Supervisor & Production Sound): Ever since I was very young, music has always been at the forefront of my life. My mother fondly recalls my proclamation at 3 years old that I would someday play the saxophone. Sure enough, I jumped at the chance to join the band program in the 5th grade. Since then, and all through high school, I was totally immersed in band, jazz band, choir, show choir, madrigals, musical theater, private music lessons, summer music camps, district and state-wide competitions, etc. At the same time, my fascination with computers and music technology also grew. From making cassette mixtapes to tinkering with home and car stereos, from recording my music lessons to burning CDs and bootlegging concerts with my MiniDisc, I was enthralled by music and fascinated by the engineering required to produce it. This all led me to DePaul University, where I studied jazz performance with Mark Colby and Larry Novak, and got my Bachelor of Science in Sound Recording Technology, studying with Thomas Miller and Dan Steinman. The shift in concentration to sound recording and music production was a natural way to combine my biggest passions in life. Their unique skill sets are complementary in a way that completely enhances my relationship with other creative artists, clients, musicians, and fellow sound professionals.
Zach (Sound Designer & Music Mixer): Both my informal and professional education started with wanting to make music. Later, I attended audio school specifically to learn the ins & outs of making music in the “album” format. This was the way that professional recordings had been made up until the explosion of home recording.
During my studies at The Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Tempe, Arizona, I was briefly introduced to audio post production techniques, along with game audio (video games). I remember really loving it, especially all the creativity and detail involved. It seemed almost like a trick and a lot like cheating, the way you could invent and reinterpret sounds to animate the characters or action on screen. I ended up pursuing music production after school too, because I was afraid that any deviation from my original plan was admitting defeat. Looking back, I think I would have fared better had I immediately applied with a post house. I think the opportunities would have been more abundant and the quality of the mentorship higher. You have to remember that by the time I was managing a recording studio in Chicago, it was 2008. The economy was horrible and the recording industry was on its last leg. Even Sony was selling off its studios.
And when did you feel “this is working, I’ve found my footing in this industry?”
Donny (Composer & Music Producer): I tend to look at this question from a few angles: client approval/appreciation, continuity of new worthwhile projects coming in, public approval of the works we make without client input, and other oddball factors like personal expectations and knowing when to call it quits if it’s just not working.
Client approval is really important. When we make exactly what the client requests and the approval is immediate, it’s working. When we can take the rejection of ideas that weren’t quite what they were looking for, it’s working. When the client shares our work with genuine love and appreciation, and conveys that to their creative friends, other directors, and producers, it’s working. When word of mouth brings in cool new higher paid projects and we get to use different approaches, beef up our dedication, and normalize our quality, it’s working. When we can responsibly juggle client expectations with personal lives, it’s working. When new projects evoke our interest and inspiration, it’s working. When the royalties are coming in from our projects, both client & internal, it’s working. When music supervisors and filmmakers license our content and that money comes back to us, it’s working. When our internal projects bring the success we are aiming for, in terms of achievements, awards & recognition, it’s working. Outside of that, if new clients are scoping us out and our SEO brings us to the tops of the searches, it’s working. When new teammates (like Rae Robeson, our new music rights administrator) dig our approach, believe in the vision, and see ways to help us grow, it’s working.
The hard part is being honest about when it’s not working or noticing when our personal expectations are getting in the way of what’s actually realistic at any point in time. Artists are often so obsessed with success and validation that they’ll give up on the possibility before they even get a chance to lay a firm imprint in the industry. And those insecurities (I still have them) make the expectations we have for ourselves difficult to forgive when we feel we aren’t doing our best. Building something new and special takes time and money. Knowing when to take a loan out versus trying to charge clients more is tough stuff. Knowing when to invest money back into the process when we should be trying to live on those earnings can be confusing and hard to gauge.
Kelly (Sound Supervisor & Production Sound): This is a great question because I think the answer (and definition of “this is working” and “footing in this industry”) has evolved over time, especially since I’ve played multiple roles in so many different areas of the entertainment industry. What started as a purist pursuit in musical performance, where there’s some expectation and acceptance of being a “starving artist,” has since evolved into that of a music studio recording and mixing engineer at StudioChicago. The change brought more industry and career path to the table, but honestly, much of the same struggles as a freelance musician. It wasn’t until transitioning to the film industry that the idea of freelance work providing sustainable financial and personal growth started coming into focus. There are well established precedents for crew members’ labor, equipment rentals, and compensation that just aren’t present in the music industry at an indie level.
During my years of music engineering (from 2008-2016), I had to have a 2nd or 3rd job to make ends meet. The economy had collapsed, computers and recording equipment were rapidly becoming more affordable, and fewer musicians could afford or even see the worth in expensive recording studios. I had a series of gigs with Chicago’s Havas advertising agency shortly after becoming a production sound mixer, and I distinctly remember thinking to myself that the potential for financial and personal growth was immense, that focusing efforts in the film industry could “work.” I then left my 3 other jobs and have been growing a successful career in production sound mixing and post sound editing/mixing ever since.
Zach (Sound Designer & Music Mixer): Anytime the client is happy or responding to the work I contribute, I have a small version of that feeling. Because I didn’t start in this industry I guess I feel like a bit of an outsider, and I’m not sure I will ever feel comfortable staking my claim, so to speak. But I do get really excited when I am able to connect with a filmmaker in such a way that they feel I have “gotten” their vision. Also, being at a screening and hearing an audience responding to work you have created is very satisfying. Anytime you can take something that has lived exclusively in your own head and extract it, make it tangible, and then have others accept it as a new part of their reality, that is very affirming.
When did you first start collaborating together?
The beginnings of Mind Exchange Music LLC started much earlier than when the company was first created. Donny Walker and Kelly Askam were both studying music performance in 2003 at DePaul University and happened to even be in the same dorm where they became friends. Their creative partnership started around 2008 when Kelly sound recorded Donny’s senior recital: an amazing concert of 10 original compositions for a 10 piece acoustic hip-hop band. From there, they recorded several albums at StudioChicago, where Kelly and Zachariah Jarrett were both interning, and the three have been a creative power trio ever since. Over the next 8 years they would compose, record, mix, and produce content with the Lake County Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Ron Arden, in Zion, Illinois. In 2016, when the group branched first into producing film scores and then subsequent production sound, post production sound, and music publishing services, Mind Exchange Music LLC was officially created.
And do you encourage each other to work on solo projects too?
Absolutely! First and foremost, we are all great friends that have each other’s best interests at heart. We’ve known each other and worked together for almost 15 years, and there’s naturally been some evolution of thought during that time. Over the years, we’ve come to embrace the fact that we each have our own creative interests as well as collective company interests. There are mutual goals to help the company grow that we can execute in ways that still honor our respective pursuits as individual players. We each bring unique professional skills to the table and know that the strength of the company relies on that of its members. Filling everyone’s passion is important.
How did the new movie come about?
Donny (Composer & Music Producer): We were having a lot of discussions on the topic of differentiation because everyone says they can do the job, right? So we were like, how do we prove it so that EVERYONE who sees it knows we weren’t just doing it digitally and calling it done. So… we designed a crazy music video shoot where we got to prove it to ourselves! We had no idea what it was going to be, what it meant, or what we were even going to do, but we booked a venue anyway. Then we figured out the instrumentation, started scoring, and began working out the details while we were making the project. It was incredibly stressful, but also, what an adrenaline rush!
I think I lost my mind twice trying to figure out how to do my best work fast enough to put it in front of all those musicians. I wanted everything to be perfect, so we chose to utilize the relationships we’d already established, to maximize the best talent we had access to, and we really committed to upping our own quality. We brought in a ton of people who knew more than we did, and by the time we finished, we had accomplished producing an entire album in 1 day featuring 26 musicians, we got all the footage from 7 camera angles, we configured the best lighting, and then we interviewed everyone on top of producing all that content. We didn’t really understand what happened yet, what we were sitting on, we just celebrated.
After getting caught up on sleep, we spent the next 3 years juggling the video edits for each component, all the color correction, mixing and mastering, fine tuning, etc. Then, after we were done, we realized that the most important part was to tell the story of why it all mattered, but from the perspective of not knowing what it was to begin with. Does that make it a mystery? It was definitely an adventure!
And what was the general motivation behind the doc?
Donny (Composer & Music Producer): Telling the story of all the little details that would have been missed, helping the audience understand the relationships, the different approaches, and all the nuances that come with such an endeavor. Helping them understand how and why it’s different from other music videos. Construction design for music styles is rarely discussed because it’s a very specific niche understanding. Without being able to comprehend that from an audience perspective, the novelty would have been missed. So, as the individual music performances (12 in all) were being mixed and re-record mixed into the videos, I thought back about all the interesting facts (ADD brain) and assembled a story that made sense in a way that also allowed the audience to get to know the key performers. Then they could hear why we choose those specific performers for those specific tasks, in a way that also helped keep the story moving.
Was the doc something you had a screenplay for? Or did you organically just roll as it came?
The documentary was absolutely an evolution of ideas that came to fruition over many long days and sleepless nights. Contrary to most other narrative type films, we essentially made it backwards by creating the concert first. We had the forethought to get some interviews the day of the concert, but after that it was really a challenge to figure out what the end goal and medium should be. We knew we had these unique moments of musical collaboration that just had to get out there, but it took a while to decide on and create a narrative story that inspired people as to why they should watch it amongst everything else available. In the end, we’ve made a fun and informative piece that showcases immense musical talent and demonstrates why the film industry should continue to favor real musicians over virtual instruments.
What’s the release plan?
Acquire PR, get the film into film festivals, draw some attention to it, help it win more awards, use that leverage to gain distributor interest, release the singles once it gets picked up by a distributor, maybe try to license it out to a label, then release it in theaters, sell it to families, get it into schools… The possibilities are endless! We want it to inspire people and we want people who love music to come see it. We want prospective clients to see what we can do in person. If that doesn’t work, we have some back up plans, but we’ll see how things go first with this approach. Fortunately, we’ve been very protective over it, and we knew the PR phase would require patience and diligence.
What’s the goal – expand your career in music, or expand in filmmaking?
Both. We want our success in music and filmmaking to pave the way to a new form of music based media that focuses on intelligent, well researched design, instead of flashy trends. Timeless design, in our opinion, is a product of patience, relatability, quality control standards, and dedication to the long term process of it. We’d love to have the idea picked up as a streaming series and just produce our own music based films to gain more traction and get access to higher paid client projects.
Expansion in both areas is inevitable and actually essential to our growth as a company. Music and post sound services will often take priority while working with clients, but it’s clear that making engaging content that includes visual components will be the most effective at reaching an audience while still being fulfilling for us to create as artists. The combination of sound, music, and visuals is really the minimum for an immersive experience, and to think any component can be left out is a misunderstanding of how our senses and imagination work. The future of Mind Exchange Music LLC could very well be a unique type of production agency where content created is always rooted in the best sonic experience possible.