The Story of Music Junkies by Ruben Nava
Music Junkies just released Torque, a new trailer music album. This is also the company’s second public release.
Unlike its predecessor – Good Idea, Music Junkies‘ first public album which reunited some of the best epic cues mainly featuring orchestra and choir – Torque is very different and turned towards a hybrid and industrial style. It also offers epic cues such as “Brutal Revolution”, used in a John Carter TV spot as well as a Green Lantern TV spot:
Ruben Nava, owner of Music Junkies, gives us an outline of his career, leading to the creation of Music Junkies and the release of Torque:
“Roots
In 1988 fresh out of music school (Musician’s Institute) I started as a driver for a prominent trailer house, Aspect Ratio. I had some experience with audio gear & quickly moved into their sound dept. Once there I had access to many soundtracks not otherwise available to the general public. These scores contained recordings by some of my favorite musicians & former teachers. I dawned a pair of headphone & listened every chance I got.
My boss would often tour clients & the sound room with all its fancy gear, moving parts & lights was always a stopping point. I was warned not to listen to music on the job on several occasions. However, my obsession with scores persisted & I was fired. Luckily, they were shorthanded & needed an audio engineer so I was promptly re-hired. This went on to happen 2 more times.
Birth of the trailer music supervisor
Late one night I was asked to string-up the 1/4″ reel-to-reel & play a few soundtracks for the editor, producers & clients who were looking for music for their new comedy trailer The Naked Gun. It was not my place to weigh in & offer an opinion but I took the liberty of suggesting a track from an obscure library. The client heard it, loved it, sent it in for testing. It tested through the roof & from that point on I was never asked not to listen to music on the job. I spent the next 10 years as their music supervisor & other trailer houses eventually followed suit.
Music Junkies, the first trailer music library
By 1990 I had every music library in town at our facility & a mountain of scores from every studio. However, clearing a feature score for use in a trailer was expensive & time consuming. Library music, which catered to low budget advertisements, sounded “canned” & was rarely used. There was a giant gap in the market. I listened to many musician’s reels that had been submitted to me by composer looking to break into the trailer business & enlisted the help of the best sounding, most promising artists. Nick Phoenix (now with 2 Steps from Hell), Yoav Goren & Jeff Fayman (of Immediate Music) were among the first. I called these initial recordings “Epic” & “music for motion picture advertising”, phrases that are now part of trailer lexicon.
Rise of the rise
In 1995 a young promising editor who was garnering many Key Art Awards asked if I could find him a piece of music that would rise in pitch like The Beatles “A Day in the Life” which would’ve been impossible to license. I found one such track on the DAT score for Dead Presidents. However, it couldn’t be cleared so I asked Jeff & Yo for a sound-a-like. We called it “A Day in the Rise” (hey we were on a tight deadline). A rising pitch audio sweetener is part of trailer history & every library in the world now has one.
Music Junkies, over 4,000 trailers and counting
Over the past few years we have recorded with several orchestras & choirs from around the world. Some of the highlights include 85 members of The London Symphony at Abbey Road Studios, The West Australian Philharmonic at ABC Studios Perth, The Louisville Chorus recorded at The Christ Church Cathedral built in 1822. Our music has been in over 4,000 trailers.
Torque, our newest CD
Torque is available to the public for purchase through iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp. For licensing information, contact Music Junkies.
