Lol Hammond is a musician, producer, DJ, and legendary music supervisor. But before making his name as a music supervisor he started in the electronic music scene in 1991, through the sound system spiral tribe – a group of DJs that organised free parties/raves and festivals. He also created Drum Club, along with fellow Londoner Charlie Hall, an electronic music duo who released a few albums, remixed others and also had their own work remixed.
Now though he is a music supervisor and has been since 2001, now working for Vertigo Films. He began his talk with a showreel of some of the films he has worked on which include the critically acclaimed The Football Factory, as well as The Sweeney and Dirty Sanchez: The Movie. Only briefly talking about Vertigo Films, he says they are now branching out into TV; they are doing the new Sky show Britannia, which has a much bigger budget than any other (including Game of Thrones). When talking about the roles of being a music supervisor, he began with one of the most obvious points; that he has to source all of the music that goes into the film – whether this be existing tracks or getting in composers. But before this the film will get cut down to an ‘assembly’ and he will be sent the film to watch through, then he will sit down with the director to decide where music is wanted/needed. However from this he explained that with some directors the process can become a bit ‘political’, this being because a lot of directors are very head-strong and they know what they want, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they know what is best for the film. It’s not their area of expertise. Lol will recommend a handful of composers if they are needed and he made the point that sometimes it’s a good idea to let the director think some things are their idea, all about “mind games”. On the topic of artists, he briefly spoke about licensing – the recording and mastered piece is owned by the artist or record label, and the composition is owned by the publisher. Making sure you work within the budget given to you, no matter how big or small, is important; use it wisely, learn to haggle if need be, or you might be as lucky as he was when working on The Firm where all artists agreed on having the same, equal amount. Lol did mention however that if you can speak to the artists directly it could make a massive difference, because the artists’ managers will always go for the biggest price – starting off at that. For example Coldplay usually charge £250k for their music to be used, but he went to them directly and showed them the film The Escapist and they loved it that much they themselves lowered the price. A lot of artists don’t focus on the money like their managers; if they enjoy something why wouldn’t they want their name to be apart of it. Also, the answer to the question “when you have the licensing to a track does that mean you can do anything to it?” is usually no. You can ask but you usually can not cut it up.
It is possible for a bad soundtrack to actually ruin a film, with the music chosen not really fitting into what is happening visually; ruining moments, making the viewer think the films going in a different direction than what it actually is etc. but Lol says that some expect the music to have the ability to actually save a film, which could be possible to an extent, but it’s worth remembering that the music is being added to what has already been visually made and edited; if a film has a bad narrative it will be hard for anything to save it. He says he still very much loves films – although understands why some people in this job role can fall out of love with them – and his DJ past/skills help a lot with having a very wide ranged knowledge of music. Something that is so essential in being a top music supervisor and standing out. But it isn’t all about just the music, being in his role. Knowing how to manage people is very important – you need to know how to adapt to any situation and be able to control numerous people and different factors, this including the director; being forceful in your expert opinion but being wary of not wanting to annoy them and step on their toes. All of this includes being able to handle not only deadlines, but also knock-backs. Not everyone is going to agree with your opinion in every single choice of music, or which composer is brought in – although he did tell us that, ironically, if a composer is pushed on him that he didn’t even want to work on the project and they aren’t that great, it all falls back on him. But that is just another thing you need to be able to handle. Ending the talk he stated that some films “are a dream” and others “are bonkers, which included a story he told us about one director that actually sneaked into the studio during the nights when everyone was gone, and was creating his own edits. Another example of difficult directors and situations.
Overall, although nothing that was spoken about really helped with my own personal audio project, I did really enjoy the talk as he was very engaging and I always like to hear from industry professionals; how they got to their roles, what they enjoy, and their own personal experiences. This being because becoming more aware of the actual business factors in the music industry – from film to recording studios – is something I am really keen to learn more about for the future.
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