Interview with Lolita Ritmanis, Michael McCuistion, and Kristopher Carter on Composing for DC Animation

Hi, this is composer Lola Thuritmanis and Dynamic

Music Partners. You are listening to the Geek

Cast Radio Network. Ladies and gentlemen, before

we get to the interview of Litteret Manis, Michael

McQuistion, and Christopher Carter, this following

clip is a medley of tracks from Superman the

Animated Series. I put this together. This is

not an official track. It is made up of three

different tracks from Superman the Animated Series.

It is made up from Batman Shows Up, Trainwreck,

Train Robbery Alternate, and Cara Flies. So this

clip is made up of those three tracks put together

as a medley to show you the differences in the

scoring for each of these wonderful composers.

Hello and welcome to the Geekcast Radio Network's

interview of three very awesome composers. I

am one of your hosts, Steve, Joe, and Mike, and

I'm joined by Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello. Today

we'll be talking with... Lolita Romanes, Michael

McQuistion, and Christopher Carter. Hello, everyone.

How are y 'all? Hey, guys. How's it going? We're

super. Pun intended, right? Of course, of course.

Is there any other way? It was a plug. Yeah,

yeah, a plug, yeah. Superbly brave and bold,

right? Well said. All right, so some background

really quickly. The puns will be unlimited. Oh.

Yeah, that's sadly something I can't ask you

about, Dagnabbit. Okay, so some background with

this. I contacted Christopher Carter because

we are doing a show called Legends of the Dark

Knight where we have reviewed all of the Batman

the Animated Series episodes and now we're getting

into Batman Beyond. And originally this was just

going to be on that feed. Now this interview

will span Geekcast Radio, our flagship podcast,

Tooncast, Beyond, and Legends of the Dark Knight.

Because we have all three of the... Now I know

you guys have done more than this, but part of

the interview title is probably going to be the

DC Composers. Wow. And I know you guys are currently

doing Avengers Assemble. Yes. So there is that.

And we did do Spectacular Spider -Man, so there

is that. Did you really? I did. My research did

not show that up. Oh, yeah. Well, let's go around

the room and everybody introduce yourselves.

Okay. I'll start. Ladies first, right? Exactly.

My name is Lolita Rickmanis. I was the first

one kind of brought on to Shirley's grand experiment.

And shortly thereafter, Michael McQuistion was

brought on. And I grew up in Portland, Oregon,

and moved down here straight after high school

to become famous. And, well, it didn't exactly

happen the way I thought originally. I thought

I would be a singer -songwriter and be in a band

and do all that kind of thing. But then I discovered

a love for film music. And that's pretty much

how my interest got sparked and eventually led

to meeting Shirley. I'll keep it short. We'll

expand some more. Yes, yes, we will. Okay, well,

I'm Michael McQuistion. I'm from the Midwest.

I'm born and raised, and I was educated in Texas.

That's where I went to college, North Texas State,

now called the University of North Texas. And

I actually became interested in film music before

I got to college, so I kind of knew I wanted

to be a film composer before I did graduate work.

Well, college work and then graduate work. I

came up to California to go to the USC scoring

program, which was Buddy Baker's first year of

leading that program, which was terrific for

me because I love classic film music and everything,

and he kind of had all those connections to all

the old guys, which was just fantastic. So I

took... uh that course and it really really important

for me because i really didn't know much about

how to make film music and that course gave me

those kinds of tools and after that i worked

as a personal assistant for a while to a great

keyboard player named mike lang who's still working

here in town and just a fantastic studio keyboard

player so i was his assistant for a while and

during that time is when i met uh don walker

who happened to be shirley walker's husband which

i didn't even know at the time And it was through

Don that I ended up being Shirley shortly after

Lolita had been brought on to the Batman series.

So then I kind of joined up later on, and Lolita

and I met each other through Shirley, actually.

That's right. And this is Christopher Carter,

and I came on to the Shirley Walker team actually

at the very end of the Batman animated series

process. I was actually born, raised, and educated

in Texas. And while I was at the University of

North Texas, which is the same place that Michael

went to for his undergrad, I happened to be in

the orchestra playing the double bass with another

young music student named Ian Walker, who happens

to be one of Shirley Walker's sons. And as a

composition major, doing film music was something

that I was very sure that I wanted to try and...

after college, and I asked Ian if he would introduce

me to his mother, and he said, do you know how

many people want to meet my mother? Because this

also was during the time that Batman the Animated

Series was happening, and it was known that Shirley

was providing this incredible, unheard of opportunity

for young composers to get a real credit in the

industry. Proceeded ahead, I wrote music for

some student films, and I made sure to hire Ian

for every one of them to play on. And eventually

he heard enough that he felt that maybe his mom

would be interested in seeing the work that I

had done. And he very, very graciously opened

that door to come out and meet her and play my

college demo tape. And right after college, she

invited me to come out and join her as an assistant.

And I got to kind of see firsthand. what Mike

and Lolita and the other composers working under

Shirley were doing, and eventually jumped in

there and joined the team as well. I think one

thing that I'd like to add to my very brief intro

is the fact that if there are any aspiring composers

out there that want to do what we're doing, the

reason really we even got a shot at doing any

of this was because we had some... some credibility

that we were building already in the business.

I was working in the music library at Warner

Brothers. I was proofreading for big movies.

I was also orchestrating for some other composers

and on big features. And it basically was a situation

where several different people had come to me

to say, oh, have you heard that Shirley Walker

is starting this new apprentice program? And

would you like to submit something? And, of course,

then I said, absolutely. So I think it's one

of those things. It wasn't just like an open

call in variety. Hey, any aspiring film music

composer, Shirley Walker is going to start a

new program. It wasn't like that at all. So it

just was a matter of being at the right place

at the right time to be recommended. So, with

my... I did research on all three of you today,

and I gotta say, it's really hard to find stuff

on all three of you because of the simple fact

that Wikipedia has an article on Christopher,

doesn't have anything from Michael or Lolita.

No, no, I'm in there. You're there, but there's

nothing there. Oh, no, it's huge! Are you spelling

it correctly? I'm looking right at my CD case.

Some people are like, you know, there's all this

stuff about you and all this stuff about your

family and where you grew up and everything.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm sorry. Mike isn't

on there. That's what it is. Michael's not on

there. Yet, Lolita, you aren't on IMDb, but Mike

is. No, I am. It's so backwards. It really, really

is. No, it's all there. She's so there. She's

there more than either of us are there. No, it's

pretty, actually, it's, yeah, if you just, we're

all three in IMDb, and I know, yeah, Christopher

and I are on Wikipedia, so. All right, so you

all three have said that, you know, music was

kind of what. what you all really wanted to do

was, I mean, was that real when, when all three

of you were kids, was that really, what did you

say to your parents? Hey, I want to be a composer

one of these days, or did you have some other

job in line, you know, in your minds, Lolita,

you can go first. Um, I never really thought

of categorizing myself as a composer. I, but

I, what I, can tell you is that when I was studying

piano all through my childhood, my mom would

be in the kitchen cooking, and she would wonder

why she's not hearing the pieces that I'm supposed

to be practicing. And the reason that was was

because I was playing my own music whenever I

was just making stuff up. And that was already

at age five and six. I was just playing my own

little tunes. And so I think I kind of was a

composer without even really knowing what that

was or making any kind of a statement. And my

sister, Brigitta, was a concert pianist, so she

was always practicing piano, and I had a great

role model in her. And the whole family was quite

musical and wrote a lot of songs and whatnot.

So music was just a part of our whole spirit

of our life. So I never really thought I would

do anything else, although now I'm wondering,

gosh, there's so many things I would love to

do. I mean, I love being a composer, but... Life

is so full of wonder and excitement. I could

do so many things. What about you, Michael? Well,

I always had music around. I mean, I'd studied

piano since I was five years old, and I come

from a musical household. My mom was a choral

music director. My sister is a very talented

pianist and singer. Just as a hobbyist, it's

not what she does, but she's just amazing doing

it. So there was music all around a lot. I did

actually a lot of different things when I was

a kid, though. My first idea was that I wanted

to be a chemist because I really liked the periodic

table. I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

So I think I'm fitting into the whole geek idea

with saying that. I don't know. It's way too

complicated for me. But that, you know, I decided

I didn't want to shut my, this is the ironic

part about this. I decided, no, no, no, I don't

want to be a chemist because I'd end up doing

all this research and I'd spend all this time

alone in a room and it just would be this lonely

career. So, oh well. We're laughing because,

as a composer. Yeah, that's pretty much all I

do is spend all this time alone in a room. Yeah,

watching him. men in tights on the screen, and

all of us are with the superheroes. Yeah, well,

yeah, it is kind of weird. So anyway, there was

that, and then I sort of abandoned that, and

I actually really thought I was going to be an

architect. And so I studied architecture, and

I apprenticed under an architect for two and

a half or three years or so in town, and really

kind of got my feet wet with that and discovered

through that process that architecture, what

you think is architecture is not really architecture.

It's really just a bunch of... you know, putting

together prefab things. And it didn't appeal

to me creatively because there were too many

predetermined things involved in building a house

and stuff like that. That's just how it was.

I wanted something a lot more that gave me a

lot more creative freedom. And so I had never

written anything until I was, I think, 17 years

old. I'd never written any music before. And

I had taken this very inspiring trip to Europe

as part of an exchange program with my English

teacher and other students. And when I was over

there, I had this kind of epiphany. I don't know

how to describe it, but it was like somebody

just turned on a faucet, and all of a sudden

I had all this music in my head. I don't know

where it came from. It was kind of disturbing

in a certain kind of way, but kind of exciting

in another kind of way. So I started writing

all this stuff down. discovered that I sort of

had an affinity for composition that I didn't

know about at all. I mean, the first piece I

wrote was some crazy SATB choral piece with full

piano accompaniment. It was just like, boom,

there it is. I was like, where did that come

from? So anyway, at the time, during my... sort

of adolescence, that was the time when we had

all these wonderful movies coming out, like Raiders

of the Lost Ark and Superman and Star Wars, and

I mean, just these fantastic John Williams scores,

and it was just so, so wonderful to hear this

wonderful music, and I really connected to it.

I'd also been playing in a theater pit band for

a while with my school and doing some community

theater stuff during the summer, so I was really

loving being involved with music. That's kind

of where time seemed to just disappear, and I

didn't... Time seemed to just be infinite. I

never could keep track of myself. So I thought,

well, my mom suggested to me, well, what about

this film composing thing? Would you like to

write music for film? And I just was like, well,

how am I going to do that? So we began a long

process of trying to figure out how a film composer

becomes a film composer when he grew up in a

farming town. So that's kind of what got me interested

in everything. And I guess you could say I've

been around music for a long, long time, but

I didn't really... make it a serious thing until

I was probably in high school when I decided

I wanted to be a full composer. What about you,

Chris? Well, I actually had to kind of prove

myself. I think my parents were both very practical,

and they thought that being a composer was probably

on the other end of the range of practicality.

So when I wanted to go to school, they said,

in music, they... Questioned that, and they said,

well, what are you going to do for your real

job? Because, you know, who actually makes a

living as a composer? And I said, well, I will,

and I'll show you. And I did. Exactly, exactly.

Awesome. What were some of the first scores that

you guys heard that made you guys say, hey, I

want to do that? Oh, gosh, there's so many. Actually,

I think the first scores that touched my heart

were a little bit not so much in the superhero

realm. I was a big Dave Grusin fan. I loved Jerry

Goldsmith. I mean, I only really discovered John

Williams a little bit later. So for me, I think

I loved Planet of the Apes. I loved, in a romantic

genre, I loved On Golden Pond. The Dave Bruce

Center. I mean, this is, you know, when I'm in

high school. So I was, you know, I really loved

all that kind of, you know, dramatic stuff. What?

Chris? Well, it's tough because, I mean, a lot

of stuff that I was doing when I was younger,

like in high school and stuff, was more about

musicals. I was more involved in, like I said.

pit bands, and so we were doing a lot of musical

theater and stuff, and I loved movie musicals,

so I sort of came from that era, and then with

all those other just amazing movies that were

happening during when I was a kid, like that

I mentioned before, Superman, Lost Ark, Star

Wars, all these really epic movies that had these

wonderful themes and wonderful melodies and beautifully

orchestrated. There was something about that

that really attracted me, too, so I think it

was probably a combination of Like Broadway and

movie musicals and John Williams. I would definitely

say that my earliest experiences were just from

the movies that I loved watching. And it so happened

that most of the movies I loved watching as a

teenager were scored by John Williams because

I was very much into the science fiction, the

fantasy genre. But I think once I got into film

music itself, I realized that he wasn't... what

I would call much of an influence, because I

actually gravitated more towards Jerry Goldsmith,

who I would say as the film composing is one

of my heroes. But also, as I got into music school

and studied, I think that a lot of the muses

that the great film composers were influenced

by became my muses as well. You know, Stravinsky,

Shostakovich. Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky. Chopin.

You know, Richard Strauss and all those great

people. And when you hear that that's where,

you know, the iconic film composers got their

inspiration from, it made sense to kind of go

to the source. Awesome. Awesome. All right. So

tell us about the formation of Dynamic Music

Partners. We understood that together we were

a... a lot stronger than we were individually.

We understood kind of the way that the industry

has changed that the schedules are so tight and

pretty much nobody works alone anymore. And we

realized that by working together and making

it obvious to our clients that we're all working

together that there was an advantage because

then our clients would know exactly who's writing

their music for them. Yeah, I mean, a lot of

my beginnings were working for composers that

would get hired on a big feature, and he or she

would have, you know, two weeks to write 70 minutes

of music, and there's just no way that person

could do all of it themselves. So there is a

team. There was a team back then, and it was

a little bit of a – it wasn't kind of okay to

let – the world know that there's this team that

everyone kind of in the business knew. Of course

that person can't do it all by himself. So even

though the main composer would write most of

the themes, a lot of the actual cues, the pieces

that are the big moments in the film, there's

usually a team behind it or at least several

orchestrators. So coming from that background

and having been a part of that. I realized that

I really love to work with people that we can

all be kind of on the same playing field and

inspire each other and not have to kind of be

subservient to one another, but work as a team

and really inspire and feed off of one another's

energy and creativity. So it's been great. And

on a purely financial, economical level, it's

a great thing because we can stay busy. We have

a lot of energy, and one of us feels kind of...

Like, oh, I can't take it anymore. It's too much

pressure. There's two of us to take up the slack.

Or I can go on vacation and just enjoy myself

and let the guys do all the work, which I like

to do sometimes. We all do sometimes. Yeah, and

I think actually we had been working together

informally for many, many years because of our

relationship with Shirley Walker. And she had

called out the people that she kind of wanted

to have. be her main music team for some of her

later series. It ended up to be the three of

us and Harvey Cohen. And so we had this simpatico

that we developed in that way over those period

of years, but we never really sort of formalized.

And when we ended up doing Justice League, which

was our first series that we kind of had on our

own, Shirley kind of cut the cord and said, hey,

you guys, I think you should just take this one.

And when she did that, we kind of had to make

a decision at that point. you know are how are

we going to do this because it just wasn't convenient

or practical for the studio to be working with

three of us as individuals so we decided to band

together and do the series as a group as we had

been doing already and then one of us said we

need a name and so it kind of started that way

i think we were already sort of set up for the

process and for the work flow but we just sort

of formalized ourselves at that point when we

when we were truly doing our own work. Yeah.

Very cool, very cool. Speaking of Shirley Walker,

anyone? So, of course, Shirley Walker was kind

of a one -woman show, so what kind of brought

you guys all together and brought you to work

with her? Well, she basically... I don't know

exactly how she got offered the Batman animated

series, but I know that early on in that process,

because she was also interested in doing more

than just that one thing, she did get this idea

that she could mentor people and start bringing

them into this show. And she got the green light

from Doug Frank, who was at that point one of

the main executives at Warner Brothers in the

music department. Because of his blessing, she

was able to proceed with her grand experiment.

And at one point, I think there were something

like 26, 27 composers. I think maybe even more.

That she basically auditioned. So we came into

the process. It wasn't like, oh, here, nice to

meet you. Would you like to score an episode?

It was nothing like that. It was basically you

were given just something simple of hers to arrange.

Basically, we start from a sketch. So maybe she

has a sketch that she's worked out, just a couple

of lines that has the basic melody and the harmony

for that particular scene. And she has verbal

instructions as to which instruments she wants

those particular parts played by. And then an

orchestrator takes that sketch and makes it work

for the complete ensemble. So as an orchestrator,

that's a good way to start learning. So we would

do that first, and eventually she would give

one piece or two pieces, and we'd split an episode,

and finally whoever would kind of survive this

process was given an episode. And that's kind

of how the whole thing started. I mean, she was

really, she was quite an intense person. I mean,

we completely love her. We miss her terribly.

But those early days, I mean, I was scared to

death of her, frankly. It's like, you know, we

just were shaking in our boots, you know, to

go to her place and show her our music. And sometimes

she'd laugh and just say, oh, this is great.

Or sometimes she'd say, oh, Lolita. you really

need to rethink this part or something, you know,

and I would be devastated. But, hey, I survived

all those years, so I must have done something

right. She's a marvelous, marvelous woman, she

was. Yeah, no, she would talk about intuiting.

The thing is, she could just do anything. I mean,

she would sit down and play. If we brought her

an idea, she'd ask us to do a cue or something,

or even with orchestration, she would put the

score, the sketch up on the piano, and she would

reduce it all and play it all at sight. And it

was just like, whoa. I mean, she was just such

a phenomenal talent. So I kind of felt like,

how am I ever going to measure up to this? And

I sort of always thought my next cue would probably

be my last. And I guess maybe that was a good

thing because it kind of kept us, you know, doing

our very, very best because there were no guarantees

with her in that process. We never felt like,

oh, you're going to be doing this now. Even when

we were assigned an episode, there was no guarantee

of, like, you're going to get another episode.

It was really just in the moment, from moment

to moment, from project to project. Sometimes

I remember very plainly when she called me. She

was going to give me an episode. And she said,

okay, you're going to do this episode. And then

she called me within two hours after she told

me that. She said, oh, false alarm. Looks like

my schedule's opened up. I'm going to be doing

an episode after all. So it was like, oh, I was

ready. I'm ready. Wow, this is great. And I called

my mom and everything, and I was just like, I've

got this episode. And then I called her back.

No, I'm not going to do the episode. So it was

a good entree into the whole business. One other

just interjection at this point. The reason she

also was doing this, because she was working

on big features conducting for other composers

and trying to actually get her own feature career

going as well. So we often would not only just

work on, on Batman the Animated Series or later

Superman, but we would be brought along to, you

know, we worked on Carter Burwell through her,

through Brad Fadal, and I don't know, did you

guys ever work for Danny when she was working

with Danny Altman? Not because of her. Yeah,

anyway, but she was working with these big composers

trying to get to this next level, and that's,

you know, we were basically her support team.

Was there ever any recording? Was it bleeped

out by the network or something? I don't know.

We have a three -second delay. Oh, no, we are

not live, thank God. No, I couldn't do that.

So you guys did talk about the behind -the -scenes

stuff with Shirley, and I've got to say, thankfully,

La La Land Records likes me enough to send me

a review copy of Superman, and I am finally so

glad this set came out. I have been waiting for

this set since the first two -disc BTAS set came

out, because I'm like, ooh, World's Finest, come

on! Yep. I'm so... I am, like, biting my tongue

waiting for Justice League and Justice League

Unlimited. All right. Just so you know, we've

been wanting to get all this music out for so

many years. It just hasn't, we just haven't been

able to get it out. And then the law guys came

along and they were, they're kind of our heroes.

I mean, we get contacted by fans on a fairly

regular basis and it's just, I think totally

don't understand that we are not, we can't just

send people this music. It's because we will.

We will be sued. Yeah, it's not okay. But can't

you send us just this one piece? I swear I won't

do anything with it. Well, it's all out there.

We want it all to be released. Our goal is to

have everything released. Yeah, and see, that's

the funny thing, because I... I don't want to

guilt trip Chris over this, but I'm probably

going to with this next statement. I don't know

how much money I had to scrounge up to find those

1999 CDs for Batman Beyond. But, yeah, that needs

to get a full score re -release. That really,

really does. I don't think I can continue. I'm

too guilted out. Well, it's one of those things

where the original... CD for the series was great,

but it wasn't, it was just like your standard

sound, and I'm not complaining about having the

music, I'm just saying that it seemed to me that

back then it was one of those things where, hey,

let's release a soundtrack for the series, and

it's only this many tracks, where nowadays, and

I guess maybe I'm spoiled by La La Land Records,

because they come out with these two, three,

four, sometimes eight disc collections that have,

I mean, Superman the Animated Series, I believe

in total... I'm trying to think how many tracks

are on that thing. In total, there is 168 tracks

on all four discs. You count fast. iTunes, dude.

It's all about iTunes. As soon as I got the review

copy, I ripped it into iTunes and... I find it

really funny that the two favorite episodes of

mine from that series that are on the soundtrack

are done by Michael. World's Finest and In Brightest

Day. Well, thanks. That's great. Steve and I

are huge Batman fans. And World's Finest. What

I love about these releases, and I've said this

in my written reviews, is that it's nice. Nothing

against the production on the animated series

side, but it's nice to be able to hear the music

without the sound effects, without the voiceovers,

because there's just sometimes when you're watching

anything where you hear a piece of music and

you're like, ooh, that's cool, I want to hear

more of that. Oh, wait, somebody's talking. You

know? It's one of those things. We're right there

with you. All right, so sometimes there's a real

challenge when the idea of an action series is

a superhero that has a lot of banter. They have

a lot of talking and a lot of music and a lot

of sound effects during the fighting. And so,

yes, we're so happy that Valorant, their whole

philosophy, because they're soundtrack fans too,

is to try and present complete scores. and so

that fans can get, you know, from beginning to

end, the musical statements that we were trying

to create. Oh, yeah. I mean, a lot of the stuff

on Superman the Animated Series is really great.

I will say, I think it's the live wire section,

which I think Harvey did that. I'm trying to

remember. Yeah, Harvey did a lot of that, and

I forgot. I mean, I've seen the Livewire episode

a number of times. Harvey Cohen did that one.

And listening back to the music, it's like, oh,

wow. It went from superhero anthems from Lolita

and Michael to really, really dark rock with

Harvey because of the way Livewire's character

is. And I'm like... I never thought I would hear

that kind of music for a Superman show, and it's

just absolutely awesome. It really is. All right,

we are going to move on to scoring the superheroes.

Take it away, Steve. So how do you guys come

up with such heroic themes for any given superhero,

whether it's DC or Marvel? That's a good question.

days with Shirley, she would actually write most

of the big themes for Batman the Animated Series.

But as she started cutting us a little bit more

slack and letting us do a few things, it's always

about trying to figure out what's the character's

essence. And trying to find a little catchy.

some catchy tune, I think, or a sound in some

cases. Sometimes it's more of a certain vibe,

you know. I mean, Shirley had this whole thing

for Brainiac, you know, that was more based on

kind of like this crazy sound. So it's really

an individual thing. I mean, if you're talking

about for a whole series, that's a really pretty

complicated thing because it has to be something

memorable. But, of course, the charge from the

executives is something we've never heard before,

but it's going to be something we love, something

memorable. Yeah, I think, you know, there's this

superheroes. It's like you've got to figure out

what makes the hero special. If you can figure

out what makes that superhero special and translate

that into music, then there's your theme. That's

my take on it. What about you, Chris? I'm just

writing from my inner fanboy, really. I mean,

it's just I see the hero, and I'm just so excited

about what he's doing. It just kind of springs

forth. There's really no way to quantify, but

it's just kind of how you feel. You want the

audience to connect with the character in a certain

way, and I think that for me personally, it's

just drawing in also how I feel about the character,

too. Chris' Batman Beyond theme is always the

one that's like, you know, people just like,

I mean, I can't say it on the air. I mean, they

just go so crazy when they hear that thing. I'll

say it for you. They go batshit nuts for it.

I know. There you go. I'll say it. It's my show.

I'll say it. All right, so let me just, because

originally, like I said earlier in the interview,

we were originally going to talk to Chris about

the Batman Beyond stuff, so we've got to talk

about that. If we were all there, including Shirley,

it's something where we all have stuff that we

can contribute about that. Right. So, Chris,

how did you, when they came to you and said,

okay, this is Batman, but it's Batman in the

future and it's not Bruce Wayne, it's this other

kid. How did you approach, because we all know

the general themes of Batman and Superman, at

least in the DC animated universe. And they're

really great themes, but with Terry, it had to

be something completely different. And with Batman

Beyond, it was totally different because it wasn't

your standard orchestral music for the most part.

I mean, yeah, it's still in there a little bit,

but most of it is harder rock music, isn't it?

Oh, absolutely. And the first thing I need to

say is, of course, they did not come to me. They

actually came to Shirley, the producers of the

show, and they said, we love what you did on

Batman and Superman. We know you guys are the

orchestral composers, and so we want a different

sound for Batman Beyond, so we're not going to

use you guys. And Shirley said, I beg to differ.

We absolutely can do what you want. Why don't

you give us a shot at it? And so they said, well,

we like Nine Inch Nails. We like Trent Reznor,

which is Nine Inch Nails, and Rob Zombie. And

we think that this kind of edgy... Metal slash

techno approach would fit really well with our

gritty, futuristic sound. And Shirley said, well,

we're going to go and prove to you we can do

this. So we all sat down. She brought us in and

said, we need to come up with a demo that showcases

this sound. And so we all set out to produce

demos of music using those general terms, those

artists as inspiration. And then we put together.

A cassette tape. Remember those? Yes. And we

sent it over. And I think the producers just

were absolutely floored. And they said they knew

that we could do it. We nailed it. And that's

how we went on to do the series. And the Batman

Beyond theme actually was one of the demos that

we used to submit for this project. and it just

happened to be something that they had gravitated

towards that they decided they wanted to use

as the main theme, but the sound was definitely

something that we all shaped together. Now, when

you guys, because, Chris, was it all you on the

individual episodes for Batman Beyond? It was

not. It was all of us. Okay. Lee, Mike, Lillian.

Actually, we did, Parfait didn't work on that

series with us, so it was just the three of us

and Shirley. Okay. Because I'm wondering sometimes,

did they give you guys notes? Because there are

certain scenes in certain episodes where I'm

like, hey, that's kind of like the old series.

Specifically, at the end of Rebirth Part 2, welcome

to my world. Just the theme after Bruce says

that line. I was like, hey, that kind of sounds

like the old theme. Did they do that on purpose?

Bruce Wayne would have some sort of moment that

we would often go into definitely would go into

more of an homage to the classic sound but I

mean Terry and all the youthful stuff was generally

the more and it was I mean we produced this it

wasn't there were tracks and tracks and tracks

of guitar I mean we had We were producing this

like we would produce a record. I mean, we literally,

it was, you know, several layers of mixing and

overdubs. Submixing, then mixing, then walls

of guitar amps. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it was really,

it was awesome. And just, you know, especially

just the idea that... that Shirley fought for

us and we were able to maintain this. I mean,

Shirley and I certainly didn't look the part

of rockers. And maybe Chris was a little closer

because his hair was long at that point. Yeah,

I'm a little more closer. Chris is the rocker.

They could have so easily discounted us. Yeah,

because I just, I really, I'm one of those types

of fans that... Not just with the DC stuff or

the animated stuff, but even with film scores.

I just notice a lot of that kind of stuff. And

with Batman Beyond, I notice it a lot more because

of the continuity that the show has. And even

Shirley getting to do stuff with Batman the Animated

Series. I believe there was a Jingle Bells tune

in there somewhere. One of the Joker episodes,

there was a... There was a holiday tune and stuff.

All right, so Steve asked you guys about the

heroic themes. On the flip side, what makes an

awesome villain theme? How do you guys go about

crafting one of those, like for Darkseid or for

Joker or Clayface or any of those characters?

Actually, all three of those were from the original.

Well, all three of those themes were written

by Shirley. She wrote the Dark Side theme. Oh,

that's right. She did. I'm sorry. No, don't be

sorry. That's great. She did it. And we kept

using them because the fans wanted it, and it's

the right thing to do with that approach. I mean,

it was definitely a theme -based approach where

it would help the audience know. All right. I'm

trying to think. Actually, but I mean, we could

talk about some of the villain themes that we've

created. We created themes for The Big Man and

Spider -Man. We created a theme for The Light

and Young Justice. I think in The Spectacular

Spider -Man, we created a theme for The Big Man.

And I don't think there's any way to talk any

lower than The Big Man. I can talk lower than

that. Michael can. But I just know that he was...

He was evil, but he was very cool. He was very

cool about his evilness. I think the music had

that sense of a groove and an insistence, kind

of an unstoppable force, and it had a lot of

the bass guitar, a lot of low frequencies and

that kind of thing to kind of play even lower

than his voice and provide that nice evil...

support, the foundation for them. Yeah, we do

that now on Avengers Assemble. We have themes

for all the characters and we share the themes

with one another so that if I'm working on a

scene that has Thor, I'll take Mike's Thor theme

and use it. And they'll use my themes for whatever

piece that they're working on. Yes, Lolita did

Hulk. Sometimes our themes actually, we alluded

to this earlier, sometimes our themes aren't

even as much a tune that you can hum, but just

a sound or a feeling. On Young Justice, the light

was one of the kind of the big bad for that whole

series. And our theme for them was actually just

a specific type of ringing sound. It was kind

of what we call an atmosphere. And every time

that the light is prevalent, we would have that,

we would work that sound in somewhere to score.

So even if you're not coming away humming the

theme, you get the sense that the light is there,

you feel the presence. You know, I think what

was really cool about having Shirley do all the

themes early on for Batman the Animated Series,

I just remember when I would get these faxes

from her, because she always would fax over her

themes to each of us. And I would play this theme

and I would just think, what? What? Like, you

know, I'd get her Joker theme and, you know,

it's like... I'm just like, what? What do you

do with that, you know? But it was cool because...

I think I sort of was coming from a place where

everything was sort of more standardized in my

little neat world of everything working like

it's supposed to work. And she kind of turned

it on its head for me as a composer. And I know

that Chris and Lolita continue to do that. I

continue to be inspired by their approach to

these different things. And I think we all have

started to feed off of each other in the way

that we create these themes and what we define

as a theme and how we come to the theme. We also

write a lot of themes together, especially if

it's a show theme for the whole series. We'll

do that composition together. We bring our ideas

into one room, share them with each other, woodshed,

and really craft something together that really

represents all three of us. So, yeah, I think

nowadays, especially in film music, the idea

of a theme is kind of wide open. It can be really

kind of almost anything can be a theme. Hey,

speaking of themes, you'll be able to hear both

the Justice League and the Justice League Unlimited

theme along with a bunch of music from the Justice

League at a concert in Austin, Texas, played

by the Cinematic Symphony of Austin. A big group

on March 15th. So if you have any listeners out

there that are in Austin, Texas and want to hear

a big concert, it's going to be a concert of

a bunch of superhero music, but there's going

to be a brand -new suite of our music from those

two series. Oh, that's very cool. Yeah, that

was one thing I really noticed was how, you know,

like Mike was saying about you guys coming together

and doing, like, the Young Justice theme. With

that release from La La Land, I listened to that,

and I listened to it over and over again, and

I can tell each of your, like, Chris, you have

Dynamic Duo Ice Freeze, Lolita, you have Star

City, and Michael, you had Central City slash

Washington, D .C., those first three tracks after

the theme. I was like, wow, it's like three completely

different people, yet they can come together

on something like the main theme, and it's like,

oh, wow. It's just simply amazing. I actually

love a lot of the Young Justice stuff as well,

even though the funny thing is I haven't seen

all of the series. No, no, you're not alone,

but they're available. You can catch up on it,

and the thing is that... Have to give props to

Brandon Vietti, one of the producers, and also

Greg Weissman, who wrote a lot of the episodes.

But Brandon had a very keen idea of the fact

that he wanted the show to have kind of more

of a sound design -y, kind of a mood thing. Not,

you can't say it was the same as Batman Beyond,

because Batman Beyond was more rock and... definitely

had a little bit more twists and turns but Young

Justice has a certain mood and it definitely

does not sound anything like a cartoon so I tell

people if they're listening to that CD to be

careful if they're listening to the car because

they'll start driving too fast or something will

happen at the stoplight they'll look at the people

next to them in the car and think they're evil

or something anyway It's very weird. It's a kind

of spooky thing. It's sort of an experience,

that soundtrack. Yeah, it was really, and it's

funny because probably, hopefully by the time

this interview gets put up, I'll have my new

headphones, and I'm planning on listening to

a lot of this stuff on headphones, and I'm probably

going to get my world just shattered with hearing

it on headphones. I'll tell you what. Playing

it in your car, as loud as it goes, that's so

earth -shatteringly great to listen to. I can

just see Steve is a super fan of the Joker, and

I can just see him blaring the Shirley's Joker

theme. Yes, right. I'm guilty of that and a little

bit of the Beyond stuff. Beyond is great to blast

in a car, that's for sure. Yeah, that causes

me to go a little fast, so... It means so much

to us that people actually listen and pay attention

to this music, because we spend so much time

by ourselves in our little rooms, well, our big

rooms, writing our music, but it's kind of lonely,

and you don't even know that people are really

listening, and once in a while we'll meet some

fans, either at Comic -Con or at some of these

seminars that we do. It's just, it blows us away.

I mean, sometimes people will ask us about certain

intricacies of our scores, and it's like, I have

no recollection, but I'll just pretend that I

remember everything. It's like, all these inner

themes. It's like, wow. You know, I mean, we

do it because we love it, and we have such a

connection, a personal connection to the characters

and to the shows, but it's so gratifying to talk

to you guys and to meet other people. that also

love it as much as we love it. So, I mean, I'm

talking about just the whole superhero. Oh, yeah.

It's a thing. You're either into it or you're

not so into it. And we have to be into it to

be invested and to write the music that we write

and to connect with other people that are just

as invested is great. I mean, I met a couple

at Comic -Con that had gotten married to some

music that I did for Starcross, one of the Justice

League episodes. And they had actually, Use the

recording from on air for their, like, going

down the aisle to get married. It's just unbelievable

to me. Did they tell you which track it was?

Because I bet I can guess. Can you guess? I don't

know. It was probably the Jon Stewart, Shira

Hall theme at the end of Part 3. When she flies

away. When she flies away. Yep. That's what they

got married to and moved away. Hopefully not.

Yes, hopefully the bride didn't fly away. Although

they both were so skinny. They were that super

rock and roll skinny where the legs are just

like so, so skinny. I wanted to feed them something.

They were terrific. Kind of like the Bruce Timm

legs on the superheroes. Right, right. They were

terrific. I mean, that's just a great example

of who just means so much to us because they

really are listening to what we're doing. And

it's like, we write for you guys. We really do.

Okay. So out of all the DC heroes and villains,

what is your favorite to score for? Yeah, we

put you on the spot. Whichever one we're supposed

to be writing for this week. Yeah, that's the

cheap way out. Come on. I generally say I gravitate

more towards Batman than Superman. Usually that's

the question. I'm kind of more dark and complicated,

I think, in my musical approach with that stuff.

But I don't know why. It's just really whatever.

Whatever the traffic will bear. I'm carrying

the torch for Superman because he gets slammed

so much for being a wuss or whatever. I just

can't believe these people that are just like,

oh, he just isn't as cool as Batman. I think

Superman is very cool, and I like writing for

Superman. I like writing for Batman, too. Don't

get me wrong. But somebody's got to stick up

for Superman, and I'll be the guy. There you

go. As far as it went back to Justice League,

I actually had a really good time working on

the episodes with Wonder Woman. Paradise Lost

was one of my favorite episodes to work on, and

I got to use her theme quite a bit. Very cool,

very cool. It's funny that you say that you like

the darker themes, Lolita, since you worked on

Monkey Fun. Well... That's a very bright episode.

There are so many episodes. There's a lot more

involved. Oh, yeah. So they, Lala basically picked

which ones they wanted. And truthfully, that

music now can actually be heard because in that

particular episode with the gorilla, with Titano,

when he gets to be this huge size. You couldn't

hear. It was buried. So I listened to these tracks

and I could. could not for the life of me remember

that I'd written so many notes. So, you know,

it's definitely, yeah, kind of a fun kind of

thing. Although, you know, on the CD, Little

Girl Lost Parts 1 and 2, those were my, that

was my first Emmy nomination. And so when I was

nominated for Little Girl Lost, that was a huge,

huge deal for me. And I worked really, really

hard on that arc. It was just, I still, I mean,

that to me is something I'm still very, very

proud of. And, no, that's not dark. That's quiet

and, you know, they're dark moments. Yeah, there

are a few dark moments. I love that, I think

it was one of Shirley's, though. I'm trying to

see here. Yeah, it was one of Shirley's from

Legacy when Supergirl chases the robot. I love

that theme. So let's see here. What? Let me see.

So recently, actually, by the time this goes

up, it'll be probably about three days since

this happened. Recently, on February 8th, 2014,

you guys had a signing at Creature Features out

there in California. How did that go, and what

is each of your all's... opinions on conventions,

signings, interacting with the fans. I know,

Lolita, you mentioned that a little bit earlier,

but can you guys expand on that a little bit?

Well, I think Lolita really hit the nail on the

head. Our primary interaction is with the producers

and the creators of the show. And, you know,

our primary job is to make sure that they're

happy. Along the way, we're creating this art

that goes out and touches people all over the

world. And whenever we have a chance to kind

of expand that circle of who we interact with,

it's very, very gratifying for us. We had the

best time at Creature Features. It was very well

attended, but there was enough time that we could

really talk to people and get to know what made

them happy about the series. Our biggest moment

when we realized just how far the reach that

these shows have are was when we did a panel

at Comic -Con one year. It was the same year

that Teen Titans Trouble in Tokyo came out. Hey,

Teen Titans is not in continuity. Oh, thrilling,

isn't it? The suspense is killing me. This part

has been destroyed by evil call recorders. Yeah.

Your thoughts, sir? About the calling destroyed?

No. It was Darkseid or the Joker. One of those

people. Oh, God. All right, people. So we had

to do some creative editing around the end of

the interview because at the beginning of the

interview, when I started to use my call recorder,

it shat the bed. And then Steve used his call

recorder, and it worked for an hour and one minute.

Four minutes shy of the actual discussion we

had with Ms. Rittmanis, Mr. McQuistion, and Mr.

Carter. So, we are so, so sorry. Basically, what

you missed was part of a question I asked them

about conventions and fan reactions. meetings

and stuff like that and their contact information

um but still uh after going back and looking

at the file we're like oh no yeah unfortunately

it was still very very awesome talking with with

the three of them it was a lot of fun a lot of

cool questions were answered A lot of interesting

answers. There was one point in the beginning

where I'm like, okay, Mike and Lolita, stop cheating

off of each other's papers. Because I swear,

as soon as she said her bio and then Mike said

his bio about they both have sisters that are

into the music. I'm like, are they looking off

each other's papers? Is this high school or something?

But, yeah, very, very, very cool. Again, so sorry

the end of it got cut off. Sometimes I really

hate technology. But, again, thank you so much

to Michael, Christopher, and Lolita for taking

the time. The main body of the interview is there.

Again, so awesome. Unleash the geek in you, and

we will see you next time. Ooh. Technical difficulties.

Let's move on, shall we?