Deep Sea Music does:

  • Production music for film, tv and anything else that uses music. In most cases, this has been through my relationship with production music libraries – who license the music to their clients. Firstcom, now owned by Universal Production Music, has been my main source of work over the years.
  • Songwriting – I spent a few years in Nashville getting my songs chewed up and spit out. The big takeaway was that songwriting is very much a craft that can be learned. It requires persistance, many hours of practice, and talent – usually in that order. It was fun being in a community that understood what I cared about professionally. After awhile, it also felt refreshing to meet people who weren’t songwriters or somehow connected to the music business. A similar phenomenon occurs in L.A. around the film industry. It was not uncommon to be waiting at the studio for a session player or singer, only for the cable guy who happened to be installing your internet to offer to fill in.
  • Music Tool Development – by which I mean loops, virtual instruments and sound fx. Apple was my highest profile client. I developed several virtual instruments for GarageBand and supplied Apple with a bunch of music for their jingles folder – which is still included with every new Mac. Sound development and instrument creation have played a role in adventures abroad (Sri Lanka, Kenya, Costa Rica, Europe). And I continue to randomly annoy Cynthia by pulling out my phone to record interesting audio on our trips around the U.S. There are so many crazy ways to mangle and incorporate sounds into music. It’s a fascinating (for me) process. People have often commented that they would love to sit and watch me work. But no…they wouldn’t. It would be utter tedium – watching me tweak the same sound or musical passage relentlessly. But that’s my happy place. In the words of Joseph Campbell, “Follow your bliss!”
  • Live Performance – This occured mainly with The Portis-Cathers Ensemble. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to make that music pay the bills and the effort died a slow death. There are some good memories there – and several of the pieces still stand up, in my opinion.

My greatest joy in making music – besides the creative process itself – is meeting and working with talented and inspiring people. High functioning musicians often exhibit a depth and insight that are provocative and inspiring – which should, at some stage, lead to heavy drinking (badaboom).

Daniel hiking in Glacier National Park

Deep Sea Music has produced music for shows winning awards at these festivals:

The US International Film and Video Festival • The International Film & Television Festival in New York • The Houston International Film & Video Festival • The Joey Awards • The Emmy Awards • The Telly Awards Festival • The Cascade Awards Festival •The Lulu Awards Festival •The Jackson Hole World Wildlife Film Festival • The National Education Film and Video Festival • The Pacific First Federal Composers Festival • The American Song Festival

Deep Sea Music product has aired on hundreds of shows and films, including:

Nature (PBS)  •  Discovery  •  NFL Films  •  Game of Thrones • Antman & the Wasp • Superstar • ESPN  •  Fox Sports  •  Keeping Up with the Kardashians  •  Stranger Things  •  King of the Hill  •  Melrose Place •  One Life to Live  •  Disney  •  Various NBA and MLB teams  •  Good Morning America  •  Saturday Night Live • CBS  •  NBC •  ABC  •  Playboy  •  Wild On  •  Hollywood Entertainment  •  And many more!

I was in Thailand once, staying in a cheap hotel. It must have been 2:00am. I turned on the black and white tv and started flipping through the few channels available at the time. I couldn’t understand a word of anything. Then, out of nowhere, an ad started playing using my music. As a dislexic, agnostic, insomniac, I lay awake for a long time wondering if there is a dog.