The Jon Stokes Blog

Getting permission to use a single song in the movie may require negotiating and signing six different contracts.  The Masters contract, the Synchronization rights, the composer’s contract, the label’s contract, the publisher’s contract, and the performer’s contract.
I generated 120 musician contracts in December, and I have signatures for 70% so far. People have asked [...]

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I got many, many things off the to-do list this week. Measurable progress. Minor physical and emotional exhaustion. Chuck says I’m pushing too hard and need to give myself some distance. So I forced myself to take the morning off.
I drove to Malibu, which is a different world from Silverlake. I [...]

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Had a really fun ADR session today with Randy Wayne. Randy is this guy:

Randy plays “Dogbowl,” a hyper character with ADD who is in constant motion. To add depth to the sound design, Jeff and I recorded a lot of extra dialog for Randy that we can pepper throughout the movie. So [...]

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We spent about six hours recording foley today. I love working with the sound team. There is nothing like five guys on four computers in one room working toward one goal. Foley is ridiculously fun.
To give a taste, we need to Foley the sound of a very inebriated character peeing in the shower.
Not [...]

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Every sound in a movie is built by a sound designer. Often, the only sound being recorded on set is the actor’s voices. And even then, the actors are often re-recorded in a carefully controlled studio during post-production.
The Last Hurrah was filmed at a house party with as many as 50 dancing, partying extras. [...]

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The wonderfully talented Dominic Mazzoni has signed on to be our composer for The Last Hurrah. And I am absolutely thrilled.
Jay (editor) and I went to college with Dominic and have always known him as a great jazz composer. After school Dominic got a second degree, worked at JPL as a geologist, [...]

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A Director in post-production is a surrogate Jewish mother, constantly calling his brood saying, “What are you working on? How come you don’t call?”
For whatever it’s worth, here is my to-do list for this weekend…
Jon’s Action List Saturday, January 5 - Sunday January 6

*Randy thumbs [...]

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