 |
Old Bank District Artwalk: Links: Drew Schnurr Drew Schnurr  DREW SCHNURR (Composer/Producer) is the founder and owner of Domain Productions located in the San Fernando Building of the Old Bank District, in Downtown Los Angeles. Drew is an accomplished composer and sound designer. His work has been featured on various television networks, and in select performances nationally. Drew is currently in collaboration on a series of exciting new works with acclaimed vocalist Esperanza. He is also working on a number of projects including a commission by the Regina Klenjoski Dance Company to compose music for "Streetscapes", which recently premiered at the John Anson Ford Theater in Hollywood, as well as their latest work, "Reflections", which premiered in Feburary of 2004. In August 2005, Drew premiered "Infinite Pianos" to great acclaim at the Aspen Design Conference in Aspen. "Infinite Pianos" is a composition for 5 pianos, double-bass, and live electronic looping, that was commissioned by the IDCA. [ For more information about "Infinite Pianos", CLICK HERE ] Currently, Drew is also collaborating with other talented artists on innovative independent projects. Drew is also teaching at UCLA. [ For more information about Drew's recent and current projects CLICK HERE ] Drew's philosophy about sound and music: "Music is transcendent. It connects us to something that is beyond ourselves. Every great musician that I admire has expressed this realization, and it is fundamental to my approach to composition, performance, and recording. I feel that music connects me to the intangible. It also transcends me so that I am a conduit to something that is self-fulfilling and timeless. My musical memories are the only memories that I have that do not fade. I will never forget the initial thud I felt in my chest when I plugged into my first 400-watt bass amplifier, and played punk/rock music with my high-school friends. I will always remember hearing a recording of John Coltrane for the first time, and transcribing my first Miles Davis solo. I work in studios filled with the tools and technology of modern recording. In my recording studio I am surrounded by effect processors, mixers, speakers, and computer monitors. But every time I sit at the piano, or pick up a bass bow, or even a guitar, my muse and experiences come to visit me in a single note. In an instant, all the technology fades away and I become the manifestation of everything that I have ever heard or played. Music allows me to behold a lifetime of experience within a single moment in time. Feeling, to me, is the most important element in music. Producers and composers such as Quincy Jones and Daniel Lanois speak of capturing a distinctive feeling in a recording. This is what makes a great song or record. A piece of music that has feeling will deliver you again and again back to its own birthplace. It will deliver you to the emotion that was present during the first listening. A song has the power to transform us into the people that we once were, or even the people that we forgot we wanted to be. The key to that power is in the unique and penetrating quality of the recording. When I work with an artist I aspire to seek out that special quality that makes them unique. When I discover that quality, we work together to bring it into focus, and then seek to portray it in a style of songwriting and production that best reflects the artist. The same holds true when working with a media producer, or director. The projects that they work on are unique and therefore require a unique style in production and composition. Every piece of music that I have written and recorded is a journey. When I listen to music I am transported to memories of hope, longing, happiness, fear, joy, anger, and exaltation. I feel all of the elements of the life experiences that are revisited and written about. Music is who we are, who we have been, and who we desire to be. It is our dance with two partners: the muse and the divine." Drew Schnurr [The DREW SCHNURR / DEUSONICA website ] [ back ] |