Music - Jared Faber’s Interview : A great musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer

By Mulder, Los angeles, 27 march 2018

Q: Please can you make a short presentation about your background before becoming a composer?

Jared Faber : When I was about 14 my dad took me to see the movie Hail Hail Rock and Roll, the documentary about Chuck Berry. I knew that day that I wanted to make music forever! I had already been playing guitar but that was a turning point. That’s when I decided it would be a career and a life choice. I grew up in New York City and studied music through out high school and continued on to Berklee Collage of music to continue studying. I really didn’t know exactly where a career in music would take me at that point. I was just hoping to find a way to earn a living making music. I had always been interested in computers and recording and music technology. I found some opportunities early on writing some music for kids shows in NY. By the time I was about 25 I was writing for TV and film full time. The quality of the jobs evolved slowly through the years but basically writing and producing music is all I’ve ever done. Primarily for TV and Film but I do work on records as well.

Q: What is for you the main duty of a good composer?

Jared Faber : Serve the picture!

Q: What must be for you a great collaboration between a director and composer?

Jared Faber : In the best cases we share a musical aesthetic and point of view. I feel like when I work my audience is the director (sometimes producer). I’m trying to put a smile on his or her face with every cue I write. Because I’ve worked on a lot of comedies, I’d say shared sense of humor helps too! Ultimately it comes down to mutual respect I think. When I’m working with some whose judgment I trust, I feel very comfortable. It’s easy to take notes and make changes (which is the nature of the job) when you trust the person giving them. At the moment I’m working with great people, which is fantastic. Each has their own way of doing things but all give me room to be creative and each of them make my work better with the direction they give me.

Q: What can you tell us about your work on Teen titans Go ! to the movies and Teen Titans go ! ?

Jared Faber : I’ve been working with Peter Michail, the director of Teen Titans! Go to The Movies for years now. He and I have a blast working on music together. Pete is a very musical guy and he and I together write most of the songs on the TV show. For the movie I am writing the songs and the score and Pete is very involved in all of it. Musically we are attempting to do as much “beat” driven music as we can but there is plenty of traditional score as well. There’s a lot in this movie musically. The movie is a comedic action super hero story…so there’s a lot that needs to be addressed. The songs are primarily collaborations between Pete and I. The score goes between heavy synth mixed with orchestra to funky beats. It’s really fun! Having a blast on this one.

Q: You have created music for video games, TV series, movies. Which differences do you see between them ?

Jared Faber : I actually haven’t done video games since the early 90’s! I think a lot has changed in that world. I’d love to do another. The last ones I did played audio at 22khz 8bit (pre-mp3 technology) and some of them even played MIDI files off the sound card in PCs running windows 95’. I was anxious to get away from that when I was young because I wanted to produce what I thought was “real” music not 8bit loops.

Q: What can you tell us about your work on the serie Spliting up together ?

Jared Faber : Splitting up Together is probably my 5th TV show with Emily Kapnek. She and I have along history of collaboration that even goes as far back as some of those Windows 95 video games! This show is a little less wacky than her previous shows. It’s still a comedy but it really touches on the dramatic elements of the story (a couple divorcing and raising with 3 kids etc). Much of the challenge with the music was really hitting the emotional moments with a feeling that was genuine. Trying to make music that really makes you feel something. Emily is very in tune to that and will send me back to try again if she isn’t truly feeling something from the music.


Q: What must be for you’re a great TV score?

Jared Faber : I think for me I’m always just looking for something to feel genuine. Much like an actor’s performance, there’s a difference when you can really believe it verses when it feels forced. Great scores come in many different styles, but TV can be tough. There often isn’t a lot of time and space to explore as there is in film.

Q: Which are your favorite series?

Jared Faber : I think Atlanta is the best show on TV!

Q: Will you be interested to work with French directors?

Jared Faber : I’d love to work with French directors! Even better if they can bring me to France to work!

Q: Can you talk at all about your recent projects?

Jared Faber : Well, I have 2 series and a movie coming soon. Splitting Up Together, Teen Titans Go! and I’m also doing the Dreamworks Series The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants coming to Netflix soon. I’ve also written a bunch of TV theme songs this year. I did one for The Boss Baby TV series coming to Netflix in April. I’m always really excited about my independent projects. I work with a group called War & Pierce, which is Roots singer songwriter duo of Chris Pierce and Sunny War. We’ve done some records and have gotten some great attention. We have a small European tour coming up this summer! Check us out on Youtube! Thanks so much for your interest! Very much appreciated!

Jared Faber is an American musician, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He grew up in New York City where he attended High School of Performing Arts, and later continued his music education at Berklee College of Music, studying jazz arranging and composition. Faber is primarily known as a composer for television and film. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on Clifford's Puppy Days. Faber composed the music for the ABC show Emily’s Reasons Why Not starring Heather Graham. In addition to the episodic scoring, Faber co-wrote the theme song with frequent collaborator Emily Kapnek, which was performed by Macy Gray. Kapnek and Faber also composed the theme song for "As Told by Ginger" and "Clifford's Puppy Days". Often credited as J-Radical, Faber is half of the production team Urban Legend with partner Kool Kojak.Their first record “Tranquilidad Cubana” was partially recorded in Havana and has been featured on numerous TV shows including Dexter (Showtime), Cane (NBC). Also he is the founder of the label "Blind Lemon Music". Faber’s forays into Latin music have led to him scoring the Fox pilot “Ernesto” starring Wilmer Valderrama, which had a decidedly Mexican style as well as collaborating with Wilmer and Rosario Dawson on the viral web series, "Voto Latino". Faber contributed music to the film The Long Shots starring Ice Cube. The film also featured a song Faber co-wrote and produced, performed by Chris Pierce and Sy Smith. Faber resides and is established working in Los Angeles
(Source : Wikipedia)

Official website : http://jaredfaber.com/bio/

We sincerely thank Jared Faber for answering our questions
An huge thanks to Beth Krakower for helping us to have this great interview