Seth Rogen’s Birdman Obsession Made Composer Antonio Sanchez Create Iconic Series Music

The Studio, a humorous Hollywood-centric comedy created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, has become one of their most significant achievements. The series, where Rogen plays Matt Remick, a studio head who often finds himself in over his head, is loosely inspired by the real-life experiences of its creators in the tumultuous world of show business. Over 10 episodes, the show delves into subjects such as casting, award seasons, and high-end filmmaking.

The visual aesthetic of “The Studio” has earned numerous accolades. Its daringly lengthy camera movements, meticulously arranged scenes, and incessant fast-paced rhythm have led many to compare it to Oscar-winning films, particularly the 2015 Best Picture winner “Birdman“. If one had any doubt that this film served as a muse for “The Studio“, the hiring of Antonio Sanchez, the multi-Grammy-winning composer and jazz musician from “Birdman“, for the series, confirms it.

In an interview with ScreenRant, Antonio Sanchez talked about securing the job on “The Studio,” a project that ScreenRant’s review awarded 9 out of 10 stars. He discussed how he eased Seth Rogen’s doubts to get the role, shared his development as a composer since “Birdman,” and explained his strategy for creating music amidst the escalating mayhem of the series. Additionally, Sanchez revealed which anecdote from his career would make an ideal episode of “The Studio.

Seth Rogen’s Love For Birdman Got Antonio Sanchez The Studio

But Sanchez Had To Prove He Wasn’t Just “The Drum Guy”

Antonio Sanchez’s music has been associated with “The Studio” for a longer period than the composer himself. Prior to their meeting, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Sanchez had already been integrating segments of Sanchez’s score from “Birdman” into early edits of “The Studio.” During their Zoom call, one of the first things they mentioned when seeing Sanchez was, “Birdman is one of our all-time favorite films.

Despite Rogen and Goldberg’s admiration for the Oscar-winning film by the Studio’s directors, it didn’t guarantee that Sanchez would land the role. Instead, they inquired whether he could perform other tasks. This has been a significant factor in Birdman, as people are unsure if Sanchez can handle anything beyond drumming.

Apart from being a drummer, Sanchez is also a composer who delves into classical music. After his role in the movie “Birdman,” he started composing more than just drum and percussion scores for projects like the series “Get Shorty” and the film “Harami.” This versatility played a significant part in “The Studio,” particularly for the show’s fictional films such as Ron Howard’s “Alphabet City,” where Sanchez had to create exaggerated dramatic music, including orchestral melodies.

Sanchez’s role in this project matched perfectly with his progress as a film composer, as he revealed, “I learned so much since Birdman, and during that time, I didn’t fully grasp what I was doing. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu didn’t want me to overthink it. He wanted to leverage my jazz background so that I could improvise based on the scenes I saw. While it worked out well, I didn’t have the opportunity to immerse myself in the movie like I do now.

According to some messages he received from Rogen and Goldberg, Sanchez improved things, at least in their opinions. He shared, “I got a couple of unexpected emails saying, ‘Dude, you’re making everything better. Everything sounds better. Everything feels better,'” which gave him the confidence to continue doing what he does best.

The Studio’s Music Starts With Improvisation & Ends With A Drum Orchestra

Sanchez Puts “Four Or Five Different Drum Sets On Top Of Each Other”

In The Studio, Sanchez aimed to steer clear of creating merely a repetitive rhythm with dialogue layered on top. Instead, he typically initiated his musical cues by spontaneously playing along with the scenes. As Sanchez put it, “Drums is my native tongue.” He would observe the scene, identify crucial moments in his Pro Tools session, and then improvise various passes, experimenting to find what felt most appropriate.

After Sanchez had a rough concept in mind, he’d head to his recording software to refine, adjust, and polish the recording, making it succinct and ensuring each pause was flawless within the dialogue. Once he had a strong foundation, Sanchez would layer upon layer. As he put it, “Once I have a good main take, I begin adding additional tracks. I might record another pass on top of the main take using brushes, followed by another pass with mallets, another pass with rods, and yet another pass with my bare hands.

A composer often makes various adjustments, such as adding or removing elements, to amplify the dramatic impact. At times, not playing at all can have a more powerful effect, serving to emphasize something. In other instances, small additions, like a quick burst of brushes or mallets, can significantly alter the overall effect. Additionally, they might even build layers of percussion to create an intense drum set-like sound.

As a passionate cinephile, I must confess that Sanchez’s work stands out distinctly among the cinematic composers. Few have drums and percussion as their main instruments, which adds an extraordinary depth to his compositions. To perfectly capture the series’ emotional ebb and flow, Sanchez even swaps drum sounds from scene to scene, ensuring that it never feels like a monotonous drum set dominates the soundscape with the same hue and purpose. In his words, “I have the freedom to choose what suits each scene best, so it doesn’t sound like just one drum set all the time – varying colors and intentions.

Writing In A Noir Style & Scoring The Studio Finale Were Sanchez’s Biggest Challenges

“It’s All Building To A Fever Pitch”

In “The Studio’s” fourth installment, titled “The Missing Reel,” the character Sanchez found himself as far from the style of “Birdman” as possible. The role of Matt Remick, portrayed by Seth Rogen, saw him wearing a trench coat and fedora while investigating a stolen film reel. As the music started to echo classic detective noir films, the composer disclosed that the team desired the distinct noir instrumentation only for the latter half of the episode. They felt the initial part sounded too sparse in comparison, but when they heard the second half, they were impressed and believed it added depth to the storyline.

Since Sanchez had previously tracked the first half of the episode with a metronome, I was able to layer all the other instrumentation such as horns, strings, woodwinds, basses, keyboards, harp, and more. In the end, “The Missing Reel” turned out to be one of Sanchez’s preferred compositions: “It offered the freedom to create something totally different.

However, episode 10-the finale-of The Studio posed the greatest challenge in terms of execution, despite Sanchez’s abilities perfectly aligning with its requirements. As Sanchez expressed, “The anticipation is reaching a boiling point,” referring to the relentless buildup of tension demanded by the producers. “Certainly, drums are ideal for generating tension,” he continued, “but they also desired some additional sounds to be incorporated.

As per the musician’s account, Evan Goldberg explicitly demanded a prominent use of horns. Consequently, he composed the piece quite heavily featuring the horn. However, this incorporation seemed to somewhat diminish the raw intensity of Sanchez’s drumming. To compensate for this, the composer strove to find ways to intensify the tension in each successive scene.

Sanchez chose an unusual approach for his composition by steadily increasing both tempo and pitch across the entire episode using every instrument. This is not a typical method in the world of precision timing and software that synchronizes music to a visual grid. In simpler terms, he decided to gradually raise the speed and tone with each scene by one step on all instruments, followed by a slight acceleration.

Sanchez remarked, “The pace and intensity of the third scene escalated rapidly, reaching greater and greater heights. By the midpoint of the episode, it had become pure chaos everywhere. Although it was tough, it was also thrilling to work on.

How Drums Became An Emotional Instrument In The Studio

Sanchez Explains Matching The Feeling That “Something Terrible Is Going To Happen”

As a professional drummer, Sanchez strived to express the deep, often tumultuous emotions of characters such as Matt and the iconic Sal Sapterstein, not typically associated with drums or percussion instruments. However, in his own words, “I absolutely do,” he aimed to capture the mood of each scene. The composer further explained, “I truly want to bring out the colors of the scene.

Though the composer frequently added a jazz waltz played with brushes as backdrop, moving the scene along swiftly, other instances saw Sanchez mirroring deeper emotions. For scenes where Matt appears anxious or faces confrontations with Bryan Cranston’s character, which always hint at impending danger – something ominous is looming whenever Bryan Cranston appears on screen in any given scene – I began scoring those with deep mallets, resembling war drums.

Antonio Sanchez Shares His Own The Studio-Esque Story

“‘This Is The End Of My Career'”

In a similar vein, The Studio, known for revealing Hollywood’s backstage mishaps using authentic accounts from individuals like Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, has tales that could rival any episode. As a seasoned touring musician, Sanchez possesses an abundance of gig stories that are no less intriguing. When prompted to share a story suitable for The Studio, the composer recounted a string of unfortunate incidents. This narrative unfolds during International Jazz Day, a UNESCO-backed event, at a gig in Cuba where Sanchez was performing, with the performance streamed globally:

In this case, we could also say: The story Sanchez shared, which would make an excellent episode for The Studio, happened during International Jazz Day – a UNESCO-supported event. On that day, he was performing in Cuba, and his gig was being streamed live to the world.

On that particular day, I was scheduled to perform alongside an incredible quintet which included Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, Kenny Garrett, and Ambrose Akinmusire, with Will Smith and Quincy Jones in attendance. However, the day turned out to be quite complex due to scheduling issues. There were multiple drummers participating, and we were set to play with around 15 different bands during the course of the day. Additionally, there were numerous speeches that required coordination. I was genuinely excited about this opportunity but found myself navigating through a rather intricate schedule.

During the event, some attendants would approach us to escort us and say, “In a short while, you’ll be performing next, so please move to the side of the stage and wait.” Everything went smoothly throughout the day, but it seems I misinterpreted the end-of-day procedures. Instead of waiting on stage as instructed, I thought I could relax for a bit, so I headed to my dressing room, which was located in another building.

Suddenly, a voice that sounded both familiar and menacing echoed through the halls, calling out my name. My heart raced as I questioned if it could truly be me they were seeking. Peering into the dressing room, I heard my name reverberating down the corridors, each syllable filled with distress, fury, and despair. It struck me then, a realization that hit like a punch to the gut: “Oh my goodness, I think I’ve missed it.

I hurriedly made my way downstairs, navigating multiple corridors filled with many individuals whom I politely asked to move aside. Reaching the end of the hallway, I unlocked the door and stepped into a bustling courtyard. Pushing through the crowd, I eventually arrived at the theater’s stage door where numerous musicians eagerly awaited Herbie Hancock’s performance.

In my mind, I weighed the options: if I dash off, the cameras will catch me, but going behind the stage would add another thirty seconds. So, I dashed past the musicians and reached the drum set. With my music and stick bag in hand, I placed my music on the stand. Trying to open my stick bag proved tricky as the zipper jammed. Let me tell you, I was quite flustered! But then, I spotted one of my sticks poking out, so I grabbed it, followed by another one.

After that, I flip through my sheet music, and suddenly I wonder if the bridge part is approaching. Could this be it? And sure enough, I join in, only to find out that thankfully, it was indeed the bridge. But oh, how wretched I felt! I was performing alongside my idols, and there I was thinking, ‘This could very well be the end of my career.’ It’s something that has never happened to me before, but it did happen on that fateful day. I retreated to my dressing room and remember sending a message to my wife, ‘I fear my career is over.’

Indeed, I felt compelled to make amends with Herbie. Eventually, I found a moment when he was alone, and I approached him, saying something like, ‘Herbie, I’m deeply embarrassed. This kind of situation has never occurred for me before. You’re one of my idols, and it’s essential you understand that my intentions were never disrespectful.’ To my surprise, he replied, ‘Dude, it was quite beautiful because when you didn’t arrive, everything seemed uncertain and floating, but once you entered, it became clear and focused. It was fantastic.’ At which point, I responded, ‘Oh, alright. You’re welcome, Herbie.’

That’s because Herbie is known as Herbie, since even with the worst lemons, he can produce exceptional lemonade. Yet, such resilience in the face of adversity is exactly what terrifying scenarios are crafted around for musicians.

2025-05-17 03:21