Artist Profile: Timothy Michael Wynn,
Sonic Fuel Music

Ever see a commercial and wonder who's behind the cool music that makes you watch it even though you realize you're being advertised to?  We found him.  SONAR user Timothy Wynn's Sonic Fuel Music has provided cutting edge commercial music for BMW, Energizer, Jaguar, Gatorade, Chili's, Mazda, Nike and many others.

In this artist profile Timothy describes how he got started doing commercials, provides tips for breaking into the business, and talks about how SONAR makes his job a piece of cake.

Cakewalk: Tim, what's your background?

TMW: Well, I was born in Long Beach, California, and I began writing my first compositions at the early age of 7. Studying the guitar and piano, I was then admitted to the Orange County High School of the Performing Arts, where I studied voice and composition. From there, I moved on to the University of Southern California where I was accepted into the renowned School of Film and TV Composition. While at U.S.C., I was fortunate to have studied with Academy Award-winning composer Elmer Bernstein, you probably would know his music from films like The Magnificient Seven, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Ten Commandments, and some John Wayne movies. I was also fortunate to study with Buddy Baker and Jerry Goldsmith. 

CW: So how did you get started doing commercial scoring?

TMW: You know, my music hasn't been limited to just commercials. Upon graduation I immediately began working on independent films, writing the scores for Macon County Jail, starring Ally Sheedy and David Carridine and Last Chance starring James Brolin to name a few. I've also done work for television. My music has been featured on the shows Brimstone, Joel Silver's The Strip and the ABC shows Thieves and The Chair. And I've composed the score for the documentaries Holocaust, Moment of Truth and D-Day as well as the music for the award-winning short film Stalkers.

My first commercial break however, was through a friend of mine who was working at a graphics house that was doing work for Nike. They loved my stuff and used us for about 5 spots and they still license music from us.  This is a good tip for your users.  You can't always get directly to the people who pick music for commercials, so having a network of people who work in related fields that appreciate what you do can be a great help.

CW: Could you tell our users about some of the challenges you have to overcome in scoring for commercials?

TMW: In the commercial field especially, music needs to be done fast and it has to sound good. SONAR helps me with this. I can't tell you how many times clients want last second changes to the tempo or key of the music. With the new loop functions in SONAR, I don't have to ever worry about redoing the cue from scratch just to adjust the tempo a few BPM. SONAR does it all for me... 

Cakewalk: Speaking of SONAR, what would you say are your favorite things about working with it?

TMW: Well, it's tough to pin one thing down, SONAR is a deep program and I am learning new cool things you can do with it everyday. I would have to say the loop capabilities are my favorite. When I used Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 I would have to use ACID and then import the loops, but now SONAR does it all. It truly is one of the legendary programs in my opinion. My partner, who for some reason still uses a Mac, is amazed at what I can do in SONAR and I think I'm going to get him to make the switch.

Also I find SONAR to be extremely stable. Let me tell you, there's nothing worse than playing a cue for a client, and having your system hang during playback. That really gives an unprofessional impression, and with SONAR on Windows 2000 I never have to worry.

Cakewalk: What are you currently working on?

TMW: I just finished the music for a national Showtime campaign. As well as music for The Chair.

Cakewalk: Tim, thanks for taking the time to talk with us. In closing do you have any tips for Cakewalk users on breaking into the commercial business?

TMW: It's all about contacts. Working with and staying in contact with people that work in the field is imperative. Also when starting out, do lots of favors/freebees. People love that!

Visit Sonic Fuel Music to check out Tim's work.  The site features commercials that can be streamed and MP3s that you can download.

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