Collaboration, Technology & Music Production: A Conversation with Jeff Bohnhoff - Part 2

“If you take the, you know, Foley work and the soundtrack out of a movie and just show, you know, the film with just the dialogue, even a great movie, it just, it completely falls emotionally flat, right? It just it’s, you know, if George Lucas had not hired John Williams to do the score for Star Wars, it would probably be a little-remembered, B-grade science fiction movie that hardly anybody would even know. The music kind of glosses over some of the kind of tropey, pulpy shortcomings of the script.  I mean, because the music is just majestic. It’s amazing.” -- Jeff Bohnhoff   This episode is the second half of my conversation with musician, audio engineer, and longtime producer Jeff Bohnhoff as we discuss his firsthand experience with Dolby Atmos music production, his collaborations with a wide range of artists, and both the past and future of audio technology. As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes. If you have questions for me, visit audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. You can also join regular Clubhouse chats in The Power of Sound House every Wednesday (check the schedule for times). Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available, when new audio rooms are scheduled and what they'll be about, and it'll give you access to a resource called The Studio with lots of interesting sound-related mp3s, videos, educational pdfs, and exclusive discounts from previous guests. If you’re getting some value from listening, the best ways to show your support are to share this podcast with a friend and leave an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.   (0:00:00) – Music Production and Collaboration Experiences Our conversation picks up with Jeff’s work with Dolby Atmos in the studio, and how it compares with traditional stereo. “It’s like, ‘I guess it’s different, yeah,’” he describes listening to a remaster, “and then I went back to the stereo mix and then it was like, ‘oh yeah, now I can really hear the difference.’” We talk about his professional and personal collaborations, and the different expectations and styles that come with each new artist. “It’s interesting, though,” he explains, “working with different people, because, you know, when you collaborate with people, everybody has their own style.”   (0:07:35) – Album Collaboration With Folk Musicians Jeff also talks about his collaboration with such acclaimed filk singers as Katy Dröge-Macdonald and Steve Macdonald of Twotonic and  Dr. Mary Crowell. “The songs are so beautiful,” he says, “and the lyrics are really poignant and I just really felt like we were both kind of on top of our game for that album.” He shares snippets of such songs as “Jazz & Mai” and “I Put My Low Stat,” and we talk about the storytelling power of music, whether it’s about gaming, mythology, or even sci-fi blockbusters. “I’ve heard George Lucas in interviews,” Jeff says, “pretty much acknowledge that, when, you know, he first saw a cut of the film with the score, it was like, ‘oh wow, we have something here.’”   (0:19:33) – How Music Can Bring Us...