EPISODE 401

What happens when your podcast’s theme song—cobbled together from GarageBand loops—gets called “game show music” and likened to a cereal commercial? You rewrite it. In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of Switched on Pop’s sonic makeover, from scathing critiques by music industry heavyweights to the creation of a lush, layered soundscape inspired by Wendy Carlos and PBS science shows. With expert advice from sonic branding maestro Dallas Taylor (Twenty Thousand Hertz) and the composers Zach Tenorio and Jocie Adams (Arc Iris), we dissect every step of transforming our theme into a timeless sonic identity. Tune in for the full story and hear how we turned a jingle crisis into a musical triumph.

More

• Musicares.org is supporting LA based musicians in need of assistance from the destruction of the fires

• Billboard has compiled more forms of support and assistance

Recommendations

• Read Cat Zhang at The Cut

• Read Lauren Michelle Jackson’s White Negros and columns at The New Yorker

• Listen to Ian Fitchuk’s work

• Listen to Song Exploder hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway

• Listen to NYTimes Popcast hosted by Jon Caramanica

• Listen to Twenty Thousand Hertz hosted by Dallas Taylor

Songs Discussed

The Monkees: "Theme Song (Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees)"

Radiohead: "Kid A"

No Name: "Yesterday"

Mort Garson: "Ode to an African Violet"

Wendy Carlos Switched On Bach

Whitney Houston: "The Star-Spangled Banner" (1991 Super Bowl performance)

Jimi Hendrix: "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Woodstock performance)

Friends theme Song "I'll Be There for You" by The Rembrandts

Reading Rainbow theme song “Butterfly in the Sky” by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman, and Janet Weir

Bill Nye the Science Guy theme Song composed by Mike Greene 

3-2-1 Contact theme Song composed by Tom Anthony