As a composer,
producer, recording engineer, performer and writer, Scott
Singer's presence is everywhere in film and television
today
--- but his name is virtually unknown.
Nevertheless, the cheery
three-time Emmy winner and Renaissance man calls himself
a "happy camper," whether in his award-winning work in
digital music or his Half Moon bay home with its sweeping
vistas of the bluffs and seascapes he loves. "I love
playing with real high-tech, cutting edge,
state-of-the-art toys, but at heart I'm an ocean-going
explorer," Singer says with an infectious
grin.
When you're channel
surfing and hit commercials for Nestle products, Super
Nintendo or Colombia Coffee, all with high-energy scores,
it's likely you're hearing Singer's work. Given silent
video clips by a largely Silicon Valley clientele, he
imagines sounds to fit the images, and then creates them
using everything from the magnificent Kawai grand piano
in his living room to state-of-the-art touch screen
equipment in his San Francisco recording studio and
production company. That includes two Korg keyboards he
gleefully attacks like a child does a present on
Christmas morning. "I've got a whole orchestra to
improvise with. It's the ultimate jukebox."
His music for the
rapid-fire Nintendo video game is as dynamic as the game
itself. For the Colombia commercial, he used synthesized
musical sounds from a flute, water droplets, bird song
and the slowed metallic tinkle of a rain stick. For a
Tabletop food commercial, he created sizzling sounds that
make you as hungry as the pictures. Indeed, Singer claims
that you can't really have one without the
other.