“If you take the, you know, Foley work and the soundtrack out of a movie and just show, you know, the film with just the dialogue, even a great movie, it just, it completely falls emotionally flat, right? It just it’s, you know, if George Lucas had not hired John Williams to do the score for Star Wars, it would probably be a little-remembered, B-grade science fiction movie that hardly anybody would even know. The music kind of glosses over some of the kind of tropey, pulpy shortcomings of the script. I mean, because the music is just majestic. It’s amazing.” -- Jeff Bohnhoff
This episode is the second half of my conversation with musician, audio engineer, and longtime producer Jeff Bohnhoff as we discuss his firsthand experience with Dolby Atmos music production, his collaborations with a wide range of artists, and both the past and future of audio technology.
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(0:00:00) – Music Production and Collaboration Experiences
Our conversation picks up with Jeff’s work with Dolby Atmos in the studio, and how it compares with traditional stereo. “It’s like, ‘I guess it’s different, yeah,’” he describes listening to a remaster, “and then I went back to the stereo mix and then it was like, ‘oh yeah, now I can really hear the difference.’” We talk about his professional and personal collaborations, and the different expectations and styles that come with each new artist. “It’s interesting, though,” he explains, “working with different people, because, you know, when you collaborate with people, everybody has their own style.”
(0:07:35) – Album Collaboration With Folk Musicians
Jeff also talks about his collaboration with such acclaimed filk singers as Katy Dröge-Macdonald and Steve Macdonald of Twotonic and Dr. Mary Crowell. “The songs are so beautiful,” he says, “and the lyrics are really poignant and I just really felt like we were both kind of on top of our game for that album.” He shares snippets of such songs as “Jazz & Mai” and “I Put My Low Stat,” and we talk about the storytelling power of music, whether it’s about gaming, mythology, or even sci-fi blockbusters. “I’ve heard George Lucas in interviews,” Jeff says, “pretty much acknowledge that, when, you know, he first saw a cut of the film with the score, it was like, ‘oh wow, we have something here.’”
(0:19:33) – How Music Can Bring Us Together
We discuss how Jeff’s independence as a producer has given him more freedom to pursue passion projects and push his limits: “I mean, it’s one of the nice things about having my own studio is that I can afford to experiment.” He also shares how the pandemic’s three-year pause made a collaboration with Kathy Mar that began in 2017 seem more timely than ever.“ She had the idea,” he tells us,” to put together an album of songs to show how music can kind of cut through some of the polarization in society. So she wanted songs basically about the things that bring us all together.”
Episode Summary
The evolution of audio technology, from Atmos remixes to new artists and genres.
Jeff’s work with jazz singer & pianist, Mary Crowell and his ventures into funk and filk music.
The cinematic impact of music, Jeff’s current projects, and post-pandemic challenges.
