On October 29, the Recording Musicians Committee hosted a discussion with Wendell Hanes, award-winning producer and composer of advertising music. Hanes presented ideas from his book, “The 30-30 Career: Making 30 Grand in 30 Seconds Producing Music for Commercials” to an enthusiastic audience in the Club Room.

Hanes brought along a panel of advertising industry professionals to share their experiences and give advice to the crowd. Panelists included agency producer Bob Nelson, post production studio owner Jeff Rosner, commercial directors Jeff Kennedy and Jake McAfee, music supervisor Patrick Oliver, and hip hop producer Pete Rock. The guests showed the audience advertisements that they had produced, and explained the process they went through in creating the music for these ads.

The panelists presented an informative and candid view on what it takes to make ad music.

With advances in technology, the playing field has been leveled for musicians and composers to get in on a piece of the production side of the ad music business. Hanes encourages musicians and other music industry professionals to try their hand at producing music for advertisements.

Hanes’ discussion focused on how spots are made and how producing music for ads differs from producing music for film or albums. Hanes also spoke about ways to get your work noticed, and the importance of making connections and networking within the industry.

Local 802 hopes to host a second part of this lecture in the near future.