Mike Lee, Brown Bag Productions, Englewood, Colorado
By Jerry Vigil
An era in radio production has come to an end. Mike and Bob Lee, founders of Brown Bag Productions, have said goodbye after 20 years of creating some of the best imaging production libraries ever produced. 15 libraries with over 40,000 cuts have penetrated the airwaves on radio stations worldwide, on formats across the spectrum; and since 1990, Brown Bag has created sounds and music for such television hits as ER, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, The Simpsons, Dateline, American Idol, The CBS Evening News, 24, Oz, Alias and King of the Hill. Awards on the shelf include Seven Telly awards, the Silver Screen Award, and the Billboard Radio Award. If you received Mike and Bob’s farewell letter, you also know they created sounds for the U2 Zoo Tour, the on-stage drum sounds for Genesis, and the audio logo for the Chinese government. Brown Bag has created music for the broadcasts of more than half the teams in the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball and the NHL; and their music has appeared on some 500 NFL Films’ productions.
This month’s RAP Interview visits with half of this remarkable duo as Mike Lee shares the Brown Bag philosophy and sheds some light on the path of one of the most successful collections of production libraries ever. And we extend our thanks to Mike and Bob for two decades of making us sound good. Any user of a Brown Bag library knows those pats on the back for a great promo or ID would have been fewer and further between without that perfect bed, logo or sound. Thanks, guys!
JV: What was the spark that made you and your brother, Bob, decide to create an imaging library for radio?
Mike: We had been in radio and decided to make an attempt to break out on our own. At that time we entered the world of long form radio production. Our first big project was with Orson Welles in a fantasy concert called “Paradise Rising.” And what a thrill it was to work with a talent like that. He had to approve every word of copy and it took a long time for him to get to it, but in the end it was one of those things that sends a shiver up your spine. After that we did a similar show with Eddie Rabbit called “Clear Creek.” Those things did well enough to keep us in business, but by 1983, things were very tough in long form programming. We had won the Billboard Award for Best Show in the World with a show called “Echoes Inside the Music Process,” which took us about two years to do. Yet it played on about a total of three stations in the U.S., so it was kind of like winning the Oscar for Best Picture and then it not being shown in theatres. That was enough to discourage us and get us out of that end of things.
We’d always had this interest in doing a library; in fact we had one attempt at a library even before the Echoes project called “Waveforms,” which was more of a sound library. It didn’t do that well, but it kind of showed us a path that we might take later on.
So in 1983 we took all of our resources and spent a little over a year working on “Rock Trax.” The joys of being on tape — the technology was very primitive, and in the end we came up with three reels of material that was distributed at 15ips. There were 271 cuts in Rock Trax. It showed us what could really be done, and the response was beyond anything we thought it would be. It was the first library ever released that focused exclusively on programming based production. Prior to that, every library was based on commercial material. So essentially, it created a genre that obviously many people have gone into since. And it was great for us because that’s always where our allegiance had been, to the imaging side of things. We never had much of a background or desire to be in commercial based production.
JV: What was your favorite Brown Bag library and why?
Mike: For me, the turning point library was probably “Redline.” It was the first time we went to two discs — increasing the material by about 50% — one of logos and sounds, and one of music beds. It was better organized than its predecessors, but most importantly, we got to flash our rock roots. There’s some awesome guitar work and news/sports beds in Redline. It is extremely popular 13 years after its release and has been used by top stations in virtually every major format.
JV: What approach have you taken that makes the Brown Bag libraries different from the others out there?
Mike: Our precepts never really changed from the first library on. We developed the category of logos, which provided stations with a complete ID or sweeper that had a strong start, hollowed out places for call letters and slogans, and a definite end to get back into the music.
Our sound sections have always been our most definitive imprimatur. While music is subjective — where one person hears something on the cutting edge and another hears something considerably less compelling — big, thick, powerful sounds are really objective in that 95 out of 100 producers will agree that a huge cash register sound or rich white noise is more appealing than any other.
When it comes to music, we have always concentrated on rhythms, textures and sounds over melody. Melody slows the pace down and is impossible to edit out of cleanly. I believe our friend Rick Allen once described it best when he said that a Brown Bag bed has an edit point every few seconds. While we were known for our driving, high-drama beds for many years, we also have worked very hard on creating open, more ethereal music as well.
More than anything, we have been masochist perfectionists. Bob and I learned the basics of recording from Al Schmitt, who has won something like 12 Grammies for best engineer. We would sit for ten or 12 hours at Sunset Sound and watch him work without saying a word. He never compromised when it came to getting the perfect sound from an instrument or voice, no matter how long it took.
The no-compromise, zero tolerance approach became our mantra. And no one has ever raised the engineering/producing bar in libraries like my brother, Bob. He really is the Al Schmitt of our industry. You cannot believe his ears and his tireless work ethic. 16-hour days were the norm for us. In the early days, we were severely constricted by the gear, but Bob would never use that as an excuse. We pioneered a lot of digital gear and beta-tested it for companies like Digidesign and Waves, and he still worked just as hard to achieve even higher standards. NFL Films had Bob master the first seven discs of their library.
JV: Obviously, doing so many great libraries helps, but what else to you contribute being able to be successful for such a long period of time?
Mike: That really has to do more with the focus on clients than anything else. Bob and I had long radio backgrounds before we got into recording. We worked at KROQ, WWWW and quite a few other stations. Our goal was never to get a record contract, but to super-serve the needs of Imaging and Production Directors. My greatest satisfactions in this business have always come from the relationships with our colleagues in radio. We basically have the same mindset as our clients. We just apply them to material that will help them the most and be the easiest to access. The process never stops. First it was to better organize the libraries into categories. Then it was to improve accessibility, which we continue to do to this day via such innovations as AIFF files and CD-ROM catalogs.
There is pretty much nothing that we wouldn’t do for a client. It isn’t a slogan. It’s a way of life that comes from our childhood and our parents. What a privilege it is to work with the top creators in radio and television. Their input is paramount to our success. We have listened to their concerns and ideas at every stage. And most of all, you have to stand for integrity.
The other factor that has sustained our success is the people we’ve been able to work with at Brown Bag. It’s the small team approach where three or four ears are always better than one. It’s a shame that radio production can’t afford the time and resources to do that. We’ve worked with Mark Hiskey, the late Randy California of Spirit, Neale Heywood, who is the guitarist behind Lindsay Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac and some monster talents like Jeff Brown and Bob Croft plus Sam Levine and Mark Koenig. Greg Fadick joined us a few years ago and has made Brown Bag and our world a better place.
JV: You’ve often used the phrase “sonic excellence” in describing your libraries. What’s the Brown Bag philosophy on sonic quality?
Mike: This has been a cornerstone of our work since the beginning. In a world of MP3s and some severely restricted dynamic range, we have persevered with the no-compromise, full-range approach. We don’t ever use MP3s or distribute our material that way.
When it comes to creating sounds, we are pure masochists. We don’t slather on delay or reverb to create a full sound because that just washes out when it’s combined with voice and music. We almost never use factory pre-set sounds. Instead, we will meticulously waveform edit multiple sources to get the richest, fattest sounds imaginable. That’s why we’ve had such success in network television promos and movie trailers and sports. And we believe in the power of fully realized bass. We don’t constrict the dynamic range into the mid-range and highs only.
When you get high praise from radio’s top imagers and the audio people at Fox Television, CBS-TV and NFL Films, it’s because you provide usability and sonic quality found very few places. Quite frankly, no one else in libraries puts in the tedious hours on sounds to do this like we have.
JV: Since the beginning, you’ve been very close to your clients, radio production people, and you have a unique view of our industry. How have you seen radio production change over the years?
Mike: When we started doing libraries, one person usually did the spots and the imaging. The emphasis was on commercials. Over time, stations assigned the imaging to the most talented people. The creativity of the entire medium, save for morning shows, is largely in the hands of the imagers. And we are blessed with some of the finest talents on the planet. It’s an impossible gig for one person to sit in a room 50 to 60 hours a week and turn out cool stuff all by him or herself. And yet, as the RAP CDs indicate, there are those who truly excel at it. One of those people is doing this interview, in fact. How many people know, Jerry, that you are one of the best imagers in radio at one of the country’s most successful stations? And RAP has had a huge influence on the development of talent and pride in our industry. We all owe you a huge debt for that.
JV: Thanks, Mike. How have production libraries in general changed over the last couple of decades?
Mike: Programming-based libraries have proliferated while advertiser-based libraries seem to have leveled out. Advertiser-based libraries are based on tonnage. Some of it is good, most of it isn’t. So much filler is released that it takes a high threshold of pain to find the good stuff.
Programming-based libraries have become much more narrow in focus. We’re on the path to hip-hop Country libraries. While that would seem to super-serve specific formats, in reality it is just a way to avoid doing the best basic work possible. We have always pursued the path of highest general applicability. Instead of 12 narrow libraries, put out a few great general ones that span the most popular formats. We take immense pride in serving more top stations in more formats than anyone else.
JV: It wasn’t long before we started hearing Brown Bag material on television and on radio stations around the world. What role have television and international clients played in the success of Brown Bag?
Mike: At one point we realized that television and international clients accounted for almost 40% of our revenue. I have traveled the world and learned more about it without ever leaving my office because of the many interesting clients we’ve had on four other continents. Radio imaging is global, and there are some amazingly talented, passionate people outside the U.S.
As for television, it provides the toughest group of critics amongst all the client groups. It is a challenge we’ve come to enjoy. When we started dealing with television, our material was heard almost exclusively on hard drama and reality show promos. Where we were once the province of X-Files, OZ, COPS, NYPD Blue and Law & Order, we now get to participate in The Simpsons, American Idol and, most recently, promos for most of the biggest soap operas on television. Those producers once thought we were the anti-Christ.
JV: How do you think the constantly changing technology is affecting libraries and production?
Mike: On one hand, it gives everyone the chance to do much better work at a much lower cost. On the other, it tends to make people lazy about writing and clever innovation. For instance, filter effects can be a tasty dessert. But when served as the entrée at almost every meal, it loses its unique taste and impact.
24-bit, 96K sampling is here, but radio producers are bogged down in speed requirements and end up in a world of MP3s. The excuse is the fidelity of FM, a 70 year-old technology at best. The advent of HD is probably more hype than advantage, but the quest for sonic quality is worthy of everyone’s best shot.
JV: What were some of the greatest challenges of turning out one amazing library after another?
Mike: Thanks for the use of the adjective “amazing.” Sometimes it was most amazing to us that we were still alive. The amount of detail work that goes into a library at the end is frightening. You monitor the tracks on at least seven or eight different systems, including car and home set-ups. You freak out about the sound of the bass, the transients, the balance of material that you are including.
The biggest challenge is to be fresh. Every creator has a core style that occurs more frequently than any other in his or her work. When you are successful, the temptation is to do everything in the style that you have made popular. At Brown Bag, we were always cognizant of a desire for evolution. While you have to give clients the type of material that they want the most, you also have to anticipate tomorrow. It is part compositional, part technique. One of the big battles is always between synthesized-sounding material and “live” material. I must say that I could play you pieces where you would swear that the lead string part is done live and the backing tracks are sampled when it’s just the other way around.
JV: What was the most enjoyable part of the job over the past 20 years?
Mike: Two things perpetuated the enjoyment of this endeavor for so long. First, it was the passion of the clients about using the libraries. They would tell me about cuts that I couldn’t even remember, since by then we were already on to the next library. I was forever amused by their descriptions of cuts. Sometimes it felt like a movie director who creates something without deeper meaning. Then the critics find aspects beyond his intent. It retrospectively legitimizes your work. Plus, many of our clients are smarter than I’ll ever be. They can teach you almost anything.
The other side is in the studio. When you work so closely with people creatively everyday, you develop a single mindset. Bob and I have virtually identical creative minds. What one of us is thinking the other is articulating. The people we’ve worked with have learned our idiosyncrasies and usually anticipate what crazy path we will want to take. At its best, it’s an ESP laboratory. Standing in a room with some of the best guitar players, like Randy California, Bob Croft and Neale Heywood is a privilege. When you get a chance to write parts for great string players or mouth harpists or sax players and they make it better than you ever imagined, it’s a pure adrenaline rush.
JV: What would you like to say to the radio producers of the world?
Mike: Above all else, to thine own self and your listeners, be true. It isn’t about shareholder value or clients or management. They can’t guide you or motivate you to a higher level of creativity. In this business, you have to do that for yourself.
Don’t fall prey to the being cool mentality, where substance is sacrificed for technique. Great writing, multiple textures, varied approaches to production will always serve the listeners better. When you have tweaked them, made something memorable and gotten your message across, you are cool. All the great mixing and tricks in the world won’t make that same impact.
JV: What would you say to radio programmers of the world?
Mike: I’m not going to make any friends here, but they say the truth will set you free. In their defense, programmers are overburdened, under the thumb of corporate managers and besieged in many ways. The result is that radio programming is in an abyss. There hasn’t been a new format in more than a decade. The music being played isn’t identified. Innovation has flat-lined. Now we have the “family values” era of radio. Listeners never asked for it. Nor did they ask for endless commercials or totally predictable promotions.
The effect on imaging production is huge. It all trickles down to the small room at the end of the hall where one person grinds out 90% of the station’s creativity everyday. Most programmers want quantity. How many pieces you do, how often the liners and promos turn over is the way job performance is measured. Programmers have given up the fight for creative license, better technology and respect for people in production.
When I listen to most radio stations in America today, I am disheartened. Radio has fallen from a cultural leader to something you play in your car if you don’t have a CD you want to hear. Producers are not at fault. Programmers and their myriad bosses are.
To programmers, there is only one clear mandate. If you’re not proud of what’s on the air, you’re not doing anyone a favor.
JV: What does the future hold for Mike and Bob?
Mike: Right now, we’re hard at work installing our new studios. We have two Yamaha DM2000 consoles cascaded together with 192 inputs, full dynamics on every channel and 96k sampling throughout. The outboard gear is beyond belief. Now it’s time to find out what we can do in a time frame beyond 30 seconds. We’ve been writing songs and plotting to blow the minds of unsuspecting youth and many of our colleagues who probably don’t realize our true proclivities.
We will continue to consult Brown Bag thru January 15 of next year. Whether and how we’ll return to the world of libraries remains to be seen. But we’d like to take this opportunity to thank you and our clients for the ride of a lifetime. There is no comparable thrill in this business to hearing your sounds and music used in an incredible promo or sweeper. There is no satisfaction greater than working with the best creative talent broadcasting has to offer.