Excluding episodic-television and commercials, Marinelli's filmography contains over one hundred feature film credits with an AACTA award nomination for the Australian film My Forgotten Man (1993).[5] For television, he won a Daytime Emmy Honors Award for his work on the TV series Santa Barbara (1986–87).[6] Marinelli has also won four Clio Awards, two AICP Awards, two ADDY Awards, three Indian Telly Awards and a Cannes Silver Lion Award for his musical contributions on television commercials.[7] He composed the music for the infamous "Fried Egg" version of This Is Your Brain on Drugs television commercial.[8]
Marinelli co-founded, incubated and hosted Levels Audio Post, a post production service; the venture serviced the television shows: American Idol (Fox), The Bachelor (ABC), the Teen Choice Awards (Fox) and the MTV Award Shows.[9] In musical theatre, Marinelli completed BollyDoll, a Bollywood genre extravaganza with visual artist and vocalist, Amrita Sen, directed by Shekhar Kapur in 2013.[10]
In December 2022, Marinelli became the co-host and producer of the podcast series Stories in the Room: Michael Jackson's Thriller Album Podcast, which has gone viral on social media.[11]
Background
Carmine Marinelli (Left), Zubin Mehta and Anthony Marinelli (2012)
Marinelli's piano lessons began at age six and he was performing with Lamont Dozier and other Motown artists professionally by age sixteen.[13][15][16] He studied piano and music theory under Lowndes Maury from 1967 to 1975. He studied synthesizer under Clark Spangler (1975–80), and continued piano under Terry Trotter (1976–80), Spud Murphy (music composition from 1978–85) and Hans Beer (conducting from 1993–99). Marinelli studied jazz improvisation under Charlie Shoemake from 1978 to 1982.
Marinelli was one of ten conductors selected to attend the fourth annual BMI Film Conducting Workshop in 2001.[17][18]
Personal life
Marinelli and his wife Cynthia live with their three children in the Los Angeles area. Marinelli holds dual-citizenship (United States and Italy); his Italian citizenship is inherited through his father's lineage. He is a licensed soccer coach and has been an LA Galaxy season ticket holder since the team's move to Carson, California in 2003. He has been a patron of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1980 and is a founding member of the Electronic Music Alliance (EMA).[19]
Marinelli became interested in analog synthesizers in his teenage years. His piano instructor knew of another student with these interests and introduced Marinelli to Brian Banks. Marinelli and Banks became known for performances as a synthesizer duo, including as an opener for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1980.[20]
Marinelli and Banks then teamed with Emmy Award-winning composer Arthur B. Rubinstein, creating one of the first known digitally synthesized musical scores, Blue Thunder, released in 1983.[21] The trio joined with Cynthia Morrow as The Beepers, and their songs, "Video Fever" and "Long Line Leading To Men", made the soundtrack for the 1983 film, WarGames.[22] The Beepers song "Theme from Blue Thunder (Murphy's Law)" was used in Blue Thunder with an instrumental version closing the film.[23]
The film industry expressed interest in synthesizer technology while Banks and Marinelli simultaneously emerged as experts in the practical application of the new technology.[24] Banks and Marinelli made a "polaroid" of the Quincy Jones soundtrack for The Color Purple (1985) available to director Steven Spielberg during filming and editing. This process allowed the score to be completely written before orchestral musicians were hired.[2][21]
"...Anthony got very involved with consulting for the development of the Synclavier. A lot of things that are on the instrument are our fault! It's a nice feeling to be involved in the development of a musical instrument".
—Brian Banks, "Synthesizer Upstarts Conquer Hollywood", Keyboard, Sept. 1987, by Jeff Burger[21]
Thriller memorialized
In 2015, Marinelli sat for an interview with the BBC, reflecting on his memories and contributions to Michael Jackson's Thriller.[25]Tom Bahler had introduced Marinelli to music producer Quincy Jones. Jones hired Marinelli and business partner, Brian Banks, as session musicians at Westlake Studios in West Hollywood for the creation of Thriller. In addition to bringing in three truckloads of synthesizer gear, preliminary duties consisted of briefing Michael Jackson on the capabilities of the emerging technologies, sound creation and programming.[26]
The BBC "Witness" radio podcast was followed by three How We Created It pilot vlog series. In the first episode, Marinelli demonstrates how to recreate the "falling star" sound that opens the "Thriller" song.[27] The following two-part series is called "Studio Stories".[26] Quincy Jones' production assistant, Steven Ray,[28][29] joined Marinelli to reminisce in 2020.[30] Marinelli and Ray continued recording episodes and were approached by Audivita Studios for the creation of Stories In The Room: "Michael Jackson's Thriller Album",[31] with 72 episodes, posted as of February 2024.[32][33]
With Stories in The Room largely completed, Marinelli continues to discuss music topics like sound creation, musical gear and composing on his own Youtube channel. Episodes that have gained media attention include: "How I Programmed The Bass On Michael Jackson's PYT",[36][37] "MJ's Billie Jean Bass - It's 4 Instruments!" featuring Paul Jackson Jr., [38][26] and "The Billie Jean Chord Stack - It's 4 Sounds!".[39][40] Additional noteworthy topics include jams with Doctor Mix,[41] and a discussion of Giorgio Moroder's work process with engineer Ross Hogarth,[42]
Marinelli appears in the film Thriller 40 (2023) (Showtime - Paramount+) from his studios.[43][44]
Studio CEO
From 1977 to 1983, Marinelli's Synner Productions worked from a converted pool-house at his parents' home, eventually equipped with a New England Digital Synclavier II, 24 track analog tape and mixer, and Dolby Spectral Recording with noise reduction for film projects. Marinelli moved into digital with a Synclavier Direct to Disk synthesizer and digital tape prior to renovating and moving the studio to a circa 1913, Art Deco style, building at 1606 N Highland in Hollywood.[7]
Sonar Productions
From 1983 to 1993, Marinelli and Brian Banks operated and composed out of the three studio complex at the corner of Hollywood Blvd and Highland Blvd as Sonar Productions. The studio was designed by Bret Thoeny and constructed by Marinelli's audio engineer, Mark E. Curry.[45] The team worked individually and together during this time period; notable credits include: WarGames (1984), Starman (1984), The Color Purple (1985), Stand by Me (1985), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Young Guns (1988) and Internal Affairs (1990).[46][47]
Music Forever
Marinelli continued to operate his Hollywood studios as a sole proprietor, establishing the trade name Music Forever in 1993. Marinelli's commercial television award nominations increasingly included wins, among them, an AICP Award and an ADDY Award in 1994 for his Apple Computer campaigns, two Silver Hugo Awards (1997) for his work with Mercedes-Benz, Mobius and Telly awards in 1998 and 1999. In addition to episodic television and documentaries, Marinelli's feature film credits for this period include the critically acclaimed, Leaving Las Vegas (1996), Timecode (2000)[48] and The Man from Elysian Fields (2001).[49]
Levels Audio Post
Marinelli co-founded and incubated a post-production service company called Levels Audio Post. Conceptualized in October 1998, Marinelli designed and installed a fourth studio in Music Forever Studios and enlisted a mixer, Brian Riordan as his co-founder.[50] Levels Audio Post opened its doors on July 16, 1999. Streamlining the post-production process was accomplished by assigning audio specialists with established musicianship credentials to oversee each project from beginning to end. The ProTools facility featured two mix stages with 5.1 surround sound, 16-foot projection and auxiliary sound design rooms.[9]
After early successes in the television commercial genre, their new production technique began to catch on and Audio Levels Post landed the television series American Idol (2001), followed by American Juniors (2003) and MTV's Viva La Bam (2003). Music specials included: Justin Timberlake: Down Home in Memphis (2003), Hilary Duff's Island Bash (2003) and the 2003 MTV Movie Awards.[9]
Co-founder Brian Riordan received his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination (for mixing) on American Idol in 2003 and The Academy Awards show in 2004.[51] Riordan purchased Marinelli's interest in Levels Audio Post in August 2004 and leased the Levels Audio Post portion of the Hollywood facility from Marinelli for an additional two years. Riordan is a three-time Emmy Award winner.[51]
Marinelli and his staff compose from a nondescript location in the San Fernando Valley.[7]
Marinelli explained in a 1987 interview, "We did what we call Polaroids— we did the whole score before it was recorded by orchestra".[21](p. 62) The use of the term "polaroids", which are now called orchestral mockups, was borrowed from the Polaroid instant camera, which delivered color prints moments after taking a picture. In a 2007 interview, Quincy Jones reflected briefly on how the polaroid concept revolutionized film and recording industry work-flow process.[52]
Banks and Marinelli spend a lot of time assisting film composers in the studio and were responsible for the first digital synthesis and sampling for a film with "Blue Thunder" and programmed and performed the first polaroid (orchestral simulation) of the entire musical score for "The Color Purple".
"As far as we know, this was the first time this had ever been done", Marinelli said.
—"Sonar Prods. specializes in synthesizing", The Hollywood Reporter, by Bill Desowitz, June 4, 1986.[53]
Synthesizer technology was a controversial addition to the film industry, a lack of understanding came from professional orchestral musicians. Having a synthesist present can minimize the need to hire larger sections of musicians. Additionally, musician time can be reduced by having the arrangements realized with synthesizers to match the edited film before performing the score with a live orchestra.[21](pp. 70, 72) Because of these factors, synthesists were initially considered a threat to employment from the musician's union.[21](p. 72) As musicians, these concerns were not lost on Marinelli and Banks, their proposal for the overdub scale (synthesist's scale) was accepted by the union in 1985. "We came up with a proposal that synthesists should be paid by the hour at an inflated rate, with an unlimited amount of overdubs, doubles or anything else they're called upon to do".[21](p. 72)
Orchestral works, which have gained wider recognition for Marinelli, include the score for the biopic Chapter 27 (2007), using a 60 piece orchestra with the score being similar instrumentally to Tchaikovsky's, Nutcracker Suite.[15]In the Family Way was performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring the comedy of Julia Sweeney at the Hollywood Bowl on August 25 and 26, 2006.[54]
Marinelli composed a tone poem, In the Family Way, featuring narration by writer/actress Julia Sweeney, Commissioned by the L.A. Philharmonic, the 22-minute piece, performed for 2 nights with a 90 piece orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, is based on Sweeny's adoption of a baby from China and her travels as a single parent.
—"Award Winning Film Composer", Music Connection, by Dan Kimpel, January 1, 2007[15]
At the onset, the combination of musician, arranger, orchestrator and synthesist was in high demand.[21](p. 58) Later, Marinelli's credentials and formal training provided the opportunity to also conduct orchestras. Marinelli has stated that he had put his analog synthesizers in storage and had worked without them for about a decade.[7]
Marinelli was exposed to and studied the styles of many modern composers. His early success in the film industry began with the patronage of jazz/pop composer and producer Quincy Jones, classical composer and conductor Arthur B. Rubinstein, pop/disco songwriter and producer Giorgio Moroder, and classic-rock composer and arranger Jack Nitzsche.
For Quincy Jones, Marinelli and former partner Brian Banks are credited with performance and synthesizer programming on Michael Jackson's Thriller album including the title track.[1] In film, they provided a pre-production synthesized orchestra recording of Quincy Jones' score for The Color Purple (1985), allowing Jones and Steven Spielberg to adjust the score during editing and present a completed work to the orchestral musicians. The final score for the film was orchestrated rather than synthesized with some exceptions; for instance, the sound of a leaky roof landing in tin-cans in Cilie's living room segues into a musical piece played on an African kalimba.[2] Additional titles where Marinelli has worked on Quincy Jones' productions include: The Slugger's Wife (1985), Tango & Cash (1989) and Cadillac Man (1990).[47]
Emmy Award-winning composer and conductor Arthur B. Rubinstein relied on Marinelli and Banks for the Rubinstein scored films, Blue Thunder (1983) and WarGames (1983). Marinelli is also credited on the Rubinstein score for Best of Times (1986), and Marinelli and Banks are credited on Stakeout (1987).[47] Accustomed to working with classically trained musicians, Rubinstein joined in a musical group with Marinelli, Banks and vocalist Cynthia Morrow called The Beepers. Songs from The Beepers include "Murphy's Law", the theme song for Blue Thunder,[23] "Video Fever" and "History Lesson" in WarGames.[22]
A significant milestone for Marinelli and Banks was composing the original score to the #1 box-office hit, Young Guns (1988),[3][55] prior to their ending their partnership in 1993. Still completing numerous feature films per year, Marinelli's responsibilities increased, more often working with directors rather than in support roles under other composers. With the transition from a partnership in Sonar Productions to the sole proprietor of Music Forever, Marinelli also worked on television commercials.[9]
Marinelli continued composing with filmmaker and composer Mike Figgis, writing the theme for Leaving Las Vegas in 1995 and co-composing the scores on Internal Affairs (1990), Timecode (2000) and Hotel (2001).[47]Timecode is a 90-minute experimental film, performed live and filmed on four time-synchronized, hand-held digital cameras. Combining music composition techniques with film-making, the script was developed during single-take rehearsal performances by writer/director Figgis and the actors themselves. Each actor recorded personal script notes on blank, four octave, music paper, with each octave representing a camera view and vertical separations representing each minute of camera time capacity. The film is presented with each camera point-of-view as one fourth of the screen, dialog and music determines which of the four screen-frames is the active frame at that particular moment in time.[56] For special screenings in Los Angeles area theaters, Figgis and Marinelli created alternate/spontaneous live mixes of the dialogue and music from the back of the theater. This allowed new story lines to unfold since the audience could hear dialogue from screen frames not active in the original released version.[57]
Marinelli scored the critically acclaimed release of George Hickenlooper's Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2004) documentary. The film is a montage of musicians such as (David Bowie, Cher, Blondie); a cast of Rodney Bingenheimer's "A-list" friends, "God heads" as he calls them. Bingenheimer is an autograph hound, turned groupie, turned unlikely star-maker via his trendy punk styled club, English Disco and as a long running disc-jockey for KROQ in Los Angeles.[58]
(a) Herb Alpert with: Thievery Corporation, Modeski, Martin & Wood, Ozomatli, John King, Mocean Worker, Camara Kambon and DJ Foosh (b) The Dirty Dozen Brass Band with: Chuck D, Betty LaVette, G Love, Guru and Ivan Neville (c) Harry Smith with: Beck, Elvis Costello, Wilco, Lou Reed, Sonic Youth, Nick Cave…
Awards
Marinelli has been honored with Daytime Emmy Honors Award, Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series, for his work on Santa Babara (1986–87).[6] His 1993 score for the film My Forgotten Man earned him an AACTA Award nomination.[65] His work includes critically acclaimed commercials and public service announcements such as the fried egg version of This Is Your Brain on Drugs (1987), which Entertainment Weekly named the 8th best commercial of all time.[8]
^ abcVan Tuyl, Laura (February 6, 1987). "Synclavier: instrument of many talents. Music studios latch on to technological marvel". The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2015. NED officials estimate that 80 percent of the Synclavier's features have come from customer suggestions. Banks and Marinelli have made many recommendations on its design. Banks said it's up to artists to '`push the technology. '`Everything we see the machine doing is basically stuff that we [artists] envisioned for years! he said.
^ abcdefWeiss, David (December 15, 2014). "Composer Cribs: Anthony Marinelli — Los Angeles". Composer Cribs. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015. First off there's thousands of commercials in his portfolio, including 30+ Apple Computer spots, and clients including Microsoft, Nike, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Budweiser, and even the "This Is Your Brain on Drugs" campaign. And then there's the movies. If you've seen Hotel, American Gun, Young Guns, Internal Affairs, Timecode, Leaving Las Vegas, Demolition Man, Let It Ride, and Planes, Trains & Automobiles, then you've heard what he can do.
^Contemporary Keyboard – Volume 6 -1980 Page 179"... (Brian Banks and Anthony Marinelli, duo synthesists) will offer a live performance of Tchaikovsky's Overture To Romeo & juliet and other works prior to the concert of March 28 of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion ..."
^"Witness History, Michael Jackson's Thriller". BBC. 2015-12-23. Archived from the original on 2024-02-02. Retrieved 2024-02-02. In 1982 the world's best selling album was released. Thriller included hits such as Beat It, Billie Jean and Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' as well as the title track. Witness speaks to Anthony Marinelli who worked on the seminal album.
^ abcdeCarr, Dan (2022-11-30). "The synth sounds of Michael Jackson's Thriller (and how to recreate them in your DAW)". MusicRadar. Archived from the original on 2024-01-17. Retrieved 2024-02-02. Looking for a more 'cinematic' sound, Quincy Jones enlisted synthesizer programmers Anthony Marinelli and Brian Banks, who bought every synth available at the time and turned up to Westlake Studios with three trucks full of instruments.
^"Monster budgets, visits from Jackie Onassis, and a very angry Vincent Price: how Michael Jackson made Thriller". The Telegraph. 2018-08-29. Archived from the original on 2022-12-06. Retrieved 2024-02-04. This was before the internet, so I don't know how people found out. It was like dancing on stage, it was like doing a concert. We didn't start taping until the middle of the night. Every night it was like, he came out and people were screaming. It was like being in concert with Michael Jackson - it was very exciting.
^"History". Levels Audio. Archived from the original on 19 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015. Levels Audio became known as the destination of choice for producers seeking the best in audio post service. With HBO, ABC, CBS, CMT, ESPN, FOX, NBC, MTV, Showtime and VH-1 all completing successful projects at Levels, the sheer volume of work at the original 1606 N. Highland Avenue location necessitated a move to a larger facility with more potential.
^Jackson, Blair (October 1, 2007). "Mix Interview: Quincy Jones". Mix Magazine. Archived from the original on 13 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015. We called those Polaroids. Then, when something sticks, you develop it further, get into background lines and horns or synthesizers or whatever else you're going to be using.
^Ebert, Roger (April 26, 2000). "Time Code". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 25 September 2015. "Time Code" was shot entirely with digital cameras, hand-held, in real time. The screen is split into four segments, and each one is a single take about 93 minutes long. The stories are interrelated, and sometimes the characters in separate quadrants cross paths and are seen by more than one camera
^Schultz, Barbara (September 1, 2006). "Dirty Dozen: What's Going On? REINVENTION OF MARVIN GAYE'S MASTERPIECE". Mix Online. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015. The bandmembers seized on the idea and suggested that Amos produce them. "I was flattered and terrified," Amos says, "and the first call I made was to Anthony Marinelli." Co-producer Marinelli and his production partner, engineer Clint Bennett, have worked on numerous Shout Factory releases, including the surprising remix of Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream (And Other) Delights, in their Music Forever studio (Hollywood).
^"Zappa". coloribus.com. General Electric. February 1992. Archived from the original on August 10, 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015. The TV Commercial titled ZAPPA was done by Borders Perrin Norrander advertising agency for brand: GE in United States. It was released in the Feb 1992.
