- 4 weeks ago
'Dancing With the Stars' music director Ray Chew breaks down how 'DWTS' pulls off live music every week—“unbaking the cake” on arrangements, managing rehearsals, and executing under the pressure of live TV where “there is no do-it-again.” Ray also shares how he got his start (including 'Saturday Night Live' and Showtime at the Apollo), what goes into the 'Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade' broadcast (including “rainy day vocals”), and what he learned from working with legends like Quincy Jones and Alicia Keys.
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MusicTranscript
00:00:00The Dancing with the Stars season is about to start and I want to talk to you about that but
00:00:04I also want to just talk to you about what it means to be a music director.
00:00:07How did you get started MDing for TV shows?
00:00:10Well my first television job was Saturday Night Live. My next television job was Showtime at the Apollo.
00:00:16Have you seen TV change over time and their willingness to hire live musicians?
00:00:21We are a unicorn. I don't see any other show that does that.
00:00:24There is no do it again. You're in front of millions of people. It's being seen right now.
00:00:30Have you ever had a musician who you've covered on the show reach out to you?
00:00:33We did Janet Jackson week. The producers of that product is Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
00:00:39Jimmy Jam said hey man you did us right on that stuff.
00:00:43Because you've been able to be on Dancing with the Stars for this long has it been a blessing for
00:00:48you to have the same job?
00:00:49No I'm kind of getting tight now.
00:00:51Yeah but if you're like I'm over it actually.
00:00:54Oh nah nah. No I love it. I love it.
00:01:02You may not know Ray Chu but trust me you've heard his music before.
00:01:05He's been the music director for Dancing with the Stars for the last 17 seasons.
00:01:10And he's also done the same music direction work for everything from Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade,
00:01:15the Emmys, the Grammys, the BET Awards, the Democratic National Convention, Miss Universe, Saturday Night Live, American Idol, and so
00:01:24many more shows.
00:01:26As long-time listeners of the podcast know, we try to explore every corner of the music industry.
00:01:31So ahead of his 17th season on Dancing with the Stars, we are sitting down with music director, composer, and
00:01:37producer extraordinaire,
00:01:38Ray Chu, to learn about his little understood craft that's shaping your favorite live TV music moments.
00:01:46Ray Chu, welcome to On the Record.
00:01:47Welcome. Hey, thank you.
00:01:49Thanks for being here.
00:01:50Thanks for having me.
00:01:51Okay, so I feel like we got you at a great time because the Dancing with the Stars season is
00:01:54about to start.
00:01:55And I want to talk to you about that, but I also want to just talk to you about what
00:01:58it means to be a music director,
00:02:01what are some of the other roles you've held as a music director, because this is a music industry podcast.
00:02:06And every week on the show, we try to dive into a different corner of the music industry.
00:02:10We haven't hit an MD corner yet.
00:02:12Okay.
00:02:13So you'll be our first one.
00:02:14Yeah.
00:02:15So I thought we'd just start off easy.
00:02:17What is a music director?
00:02:18The music director is that person that has to bring, especially, I'm going to distinguish, in TV and film, particularly
00:02:28TV, where I'm centered,
00:02:30in TV is different from live because live you have a one circumstance event.
00:02:37Yeah.
00:02:38In TV, we have that event, especially in the series, we have it every week.
00:02:42And so the preparation for that is that we have to make sure that we are pleasing the production of
00:02:48the show.
00:02:49In a live event, you want to please the artist.
00:02:52In any case, the music director's job is to present, and especially my job in television is to make sure
00:03:00that I am providing all of the elements necessary to uplift the music product.
00:03:08Now, the music product on Dance with the Stars starts with, they have a master recording, you know, somebody, a
00:03:16very popular song that the dancers want to do, and they choreograph to.
00:03:22And so my job is to, first of all, give them the essence of that, and on the Dance with
00:03:28the Stars is to make it come live and sound like the ballroom, and they give them some other elements.
00:03:34So my job is to, first of all, satisfy that, and then make sure that along the way, we are
00:03:42giving everybody else in the production what they need.
00:03:45Man, that sounds like juggling a lot of people's interests at once, and you only have, like, a week to
00:03:49do each of these.
00:03:51Yeah, actually less than a week.
00:03:52Less than a week.
00:03:53Yeah.
00:03:53Okay, so can you walk me through the timeline of a week on Dance with the Stars?
00:03:57Yeah.
00:03:57So our show day is Tuesday.
00:04:00Wednesday is when we get our assignments.
00:04:02Now, it would be great if we could get in front of this a lot more, but we can't because
00:04:07it's a contest.
00:04:08We don't know who may be or not may be on the show.
00:04:12So, yes, they, you know, they may know what they want to do, but we may not know that they're
00:04:18going to do it.
00:04:19So Wednesday, I get the assignment.
00:04:21So Wednesday, I take a very popular song, and I have to deconstruct it.
00:04:26The process I actually call Unbake the Cake.
00:04:29I have to figure out what's in that sauce.
00:04:32What's in that gravy?
00:04:33What makes that really move and tick?
00:04:36Why do people love it?
00:04:37What's that signature sound that you can't be without?
00:04:41Well, nobody's handing us these ingredients.
00:04:43We have to go in and figure out what's in that song.
00:04:47Is there a special sound in there, special synthesizer, special, you know, what's happening?
00:04:53And then, in particular, the vocalist.
00:04:57So the vocalist, we have to do what we call vocal shaping, all right?
00:05:01So if we have a song that, you know, that is very popular, well, you don't want it to be
00:05:06out of character.
00:05:07You got to meet the character, you know, sometimes and a lot of the nuances.
00:05:12So my prep week, it starts on Wednesday, all right?
00:05:17We get the song list on Wednesday.
00:05:19Wednesday is the same time we, you know, we kind of have to deconstruct the song.
00:05:24So this 16th song, right?
00:05:27So you have to go through one by one.
00:05:29You know, that takes, that's hours and hours of work just trying to, let's take one song and figure out
00:05:36what's going on in there.
00:05:37Now we have to start doing arrangements for those songs.
00:05:40And that takes days.
00:05:42So we have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to prepare everything we need to do.
00:05:48And then Saturday, we have a full band rehearsal.
00:05:51So Saturday, we have our band, you know, the singers, musicians, everybody is assembled in the ballroom.
00:05:58We have to go through all the songs and make sure that everything is correct.
00:06:03We also have to make sure our audio team is, here's all the things, bounce, because a Frank Sinatra song
00:06:11is not going to sound the same as a Katy Perry song.
00:06:15So true.
00:06:16Right?
00:06:16So we have to make it sound, you know, the musical complement with the big band.
00:06:21Ba-ba-da-ba-ba-ba.
00:06:22It's not going to sound like boops, boops, you know?
00:06:25So we have to make sure that the audio people know what to expect, right?
00:06:29And so we have to balance out, you know, and make sure it sounds right in the ballroom.
00:06:35All right.
00:06:36That's one aspect of the audio.
00:06:37But also, the music has to go through a chain, a music truck, a mixing truck.
00:06:45That guy, then they send that to the broadcast table.
00:06:50All right.
00:06:50So there's the broadcast table.
00:06:51There's a broadcast mixer.
00:06:53So the music truck only has our music.
00:06:56So he's got the band and the singers.
00:06:58He gets all that.
00:06:59He balances all that.
00:07:01And we have to do that per song.
00:07:03Every song has different balance.
00:07:05That signal then gets sent to the broadcast table where he's got all of the microphones.
00:07:12He's got the host.
00:07:13He's got the audience.
00:07:14He's got our music.
00:07:16He's got everything.
00:07:17The different chains that have to be respected in delivery.
00:07:23And so what are the choreographers working with up until that Saturday where you start really playing it with the
00:07:27live group?
00:07:27Are they just using the master recording?
00:07:29They use the master recording.
00:07:30And then Saturday, we give them our reference.
00:07:34You know, Sunday, we get back comments.
00:07:37Hey, Ray, I need a little of this.
00:07:39I need more of an accent here.
00:07:40And they're, and they are so wonderfully specific.
00:07:44I like it and I need it because it's needed because I'm wired like that.
00:07:49Yeah.
00:07:49So the notes I get back are at 58 seconds.
00:07:54I need, you know, a little hit there.
00:07:56And also there, there was a, you know, I didn't get enough shh in shoulder, you know, I was like,
00:08:03okay, right, right.
00:08:05They need more S.
00:08:05We need more S in shoulder.
00:08:07Okay.
00:08:08And I'm like, wow.
00:08:09Yeah.
00:08:10Shoulder.
00:08:11That shoulder.
00:08:12Okay.
00:08:12Okay.
00:08:13I thought it was, you know, before I started really getting it.
00:08:16So I was like, shoulder.
00:08:17No, it's shoulder.
00:08:19Okay.
00:08:20Wow.
00:08:20And that's the kind of notes I get.
00:08:23That makes sense.
00:08:24I mean, I'm baking the cake sounds like a huge task, especially for certain songs.
00:08:29I mean, I imagine your ear has gotten even sharper than it probably was before having to do this week
00:08:34after week.
00:08:35Has there been any song in particular that you've had to do on Dancing with the Stars where you're trying
00:08:39to break it down into its elements and just some part of that production stumped you for a long time?
00:08:46Were there any instances?
00:08:47I would say stumped, but every week there's always a challenge with, you know, with a couple of particular songs
00:08:55because, you know, if they haven't been performed that much, then, you know, they may be less familiar with, oh,
00:09:05you know, some of the avenues that they go down musically.
00:09:08And so, yeah, every week it's a challenge.
00:09:11But especially this season, we have, I think we have 16 contestants, star contestants, and everybody wants to shine.
00:09:22So, yeah, I have to treat everybody, greet everybody direct and individually and start all over again.
00:09:29Hey, how are you doing?
00:09:29Blah, blah, blah.
00:09:30You know, wonderful.
00:09:31Up next.
00:09:31Okay.
00:09:32Hey, how are you doing?
00:09:33Okay, next.
00:09:34Hey, how are you doing?
00:09:34Just an assembly line of song after song, contestant after contestant.
00:09:39Is there any contestant that you're particularly excited about for this season?
00:09:42Ooh, you know what?
00:09:44Funny, and I don't want to sound too quirky, but Guillermo, I'm like, I want to see him, you know?
00:09:51I want to see it too.
00:09:52And we might be surprised.
00:09:54Yes.
00:09:55Right?
00:09:55I think everybody's thinking he's just going to be a novelty act.
00:09:59Well, you may be surprised, you know?
00:10:01Yeah.
00:10:01They might get up there and, like, you know.
00:10:03I love it when someone kind of comes out of nowhere and you're just like, I never expected
00:10:07them to do well in this competition, but they're just owning it.
00:10:09Yeah.
00:10:10I mean, there's some people where it's like their background, I'm like, they're going to
00:10:12be pretty good.
00:10:13Yeah.
00:10:14You know?
00:10:14Yeah.
00:10:14Well, you expect, you know, the Olympic athletes and people with dancing backgrounds,
00:10:20you expect them to be, you know, in the final running of the stuff.
00:10:25But I think the personalities, as they get themselves into the routines of learning how
00:10:34to dance, they actually improve a lot during the season.
00:10:39And that is the merit given to, you know, the great, you know, the choreographers and
00:10:45their dance partners.
00:10:46These professionals, they're not only great professionals.
00:10:49I want to give a hats off to all of them.
00:10:52But they're also great teachers.
00:10:54Yeah.
00:10:55All right.
00:10:56I'll give you an example.
00:10:58I saw Emma in the parking lot and it was just one moment.
00:11:03I was like, well, how did you teach, you know, them?
00:11:06And she said, I'll show you.
00:11:07And in five minutes, she showed me a quick little routine that I wouldn't have been able
00:11:11to do on my own because I'm like, I don't have any dance experience.
00:11:15Wow.
00:11:15Like 90% of the people who do the show.
00:11:20Yeah.
00:11:21Oh my gosh.
00:11:21That's fantastic.
00:11:22What was your relationship with ballroom dance before?
00:11:26Have you done any sort of music for that type of performance before?
00:11:30Zero.
00:11:31Zero.
00:11:31Okay.
00:11:32The show I did before this was American Idol.
00:11:34Okay.
00:11:34Very different.
00:11:35Yeah.
00:11:36Totally different.
00:11:37Totally different.
00:11:38Yeah.
00:11:38Yeah.
00:11:38And so I had to learn to really feed the needs of the choreographer.
00:11:44The choreographer is chief.
00:11:46All right.
00:11:46They're the ones, you know, who's really going to, you know, set the tone and pace of everything
00:11:51that they want to happen in this routine.
00:11:54And I have to make sure that, you know, they'll say, hey, I have an arm movement over here
00:11:58and I need to have, I need to hear the sound for that.
00:12:02And there's some things that you may hear in a song that you'd known, Taylor Swift's song
00:12:08and all that, but you may not have noticed that there was a little shh sound somewhere
00:12:12and that means a lot to them.
00:12:14Yeah.
00:12:14Each of those sounds is, they've choreographed the movement or each of those sounds is a road
00:12:20sign to them.
00:12:21So if they don't hear that, there's a little, there was a song they had and I'll have to
00:12:25remember which one.
00:12:26Anyway, the beat went on and there's a little tick, tick.
00:12:30And I'm thinking that's just a little tick sound for them.
00:12:33And then they said, and then we did a rehearsal.
00:12:36They said, well, where's the little tick sound?
00:12:37I said, the tick sound.
00:12:40And they gave me, yeah, at one minute and two seconds, there was a tick sound.
00:12:44I was like, oh, that sound.
00:12:47They have sharp ears.
00:12:49Yeah.
00:12:49They said, well, we need that sound because we have a little arm moving.
00:12:53Flourish of some kind.
00:12:55I had to learn a lot during this show, my first season.
00:12:58Yeah.
00:12:58Well, okay.
00:12:59So you've been going for, is this going into your 18th season or 17th season this time?
00:13:04This is going into our 17th season.
00:13:06Oh my gosh.
00:13:07Yeah.
00:13:07That's crazy.
00:13:08So how have you seen the show evolve since you got started with it?
00:13:11Well, the audience has certainly gotten a lot younger and a lot, you know, more engaged.
00:13:19I think when I started with the show, it's already been running for 10 years, right?
00:13:25And so they had a very established audience.
00:13:30And, and so everybody, and it was a really, really a ballroom, you know, type of sound with, you know,
00:13:38very traditional, you know, presentation.
00:13:41And when I came in, I think, you know, it was right at a turning point where they really wanted
00:13:46to, hey man, we got to contemporize this stuff.
00:13:48We got to talk to a younger audience.
00:13:50We got to do some songs that are, you know, that are younger and, and, and bouncier, you know, and
00:13:57to have a different thing.
00:13:58And, and so we've evolved into that completely now.
00:14:01Yeah.
00:14:02Well, okay.
00:14:02So also you guys are now also airing Dancing with the Stars on streaming services.
00:14:07Does that impact how the run of show goes on the day of?
00:14:10Not for us.
00:14:11Okay.
00:14:12Two seasons ago during the pandemic or three seasons during the pandemic, we had to reconfigure everything just to get
00:14:21the, get the show put, you know, presented at all because everybody had to be in different quadrants.
00:14:29We couldn't be in the same space.
00:14:30It was a lot just even trying to get the show going.
00:14:33Yeah.
00:14:34And so now, and then, and that's when they started doing the streaming.
00:14:37And so they, now that we have a, a dual package to present, uh, the, the, the streaming doesn't necessarily
00:14:46impact what we do.
00:14:48We do what we do and then they stream it.
00:14:50Got it.
00:14:51Okay.
00:14:51So day of the performance, what is that timeline like for you?
00:14:56When do you wake up?
00:14:56When you get to set?
00:14:57When's the dress rehearsal?
00:14:59All that stuff.
00:14:59Well, it starts with the night before I have to go to bed at nine o'clock, which, which is
00:15:05totally, you know, totally against me.
00:15:07It's my whole body doesn't, it's not very rock and roll.
00:15:11I can't even tell you, you know, how do I, how do I go to bed at nine o'clock?
00:15:15Because I have to get up at, at three 30.
00:15:18Oh my God.
00:15:19And because we have to be on set at five or five 30 sometimes, but, uh, you know, I have
00:15:24to allow, you know, time.
00:15:25And then, and you never know, you know, there's one time I'm trying to, you know, you're expecting no traffic
00:15:30at four in the morning,
00:15:31but you never know, you go down and all of a sudden there's this construction and I'm, one day I'm
00:15:37sitting in there.
00:15:38I'm like, I'm not believing this.
00:15:39I left my house at four and here we are.
00:15:43I got to be there at five 30 and I'm sitting in, you know, in construction traffic, not moving anyway.
00:15:50So our day starts very early.
00:15:52We're on the set day of at five 30.
00:15:55So five 30, we have our, we have our entire team, our entire music team, which is a 14 musicians
00:16:02and singers.
00:16:04Um, and we, you know, we're expected to be on.
00:16:08All right.
00:16:09Cause we start on.
00:16:10So when I say on, I mean, is it's got to sound as live and as great as it can't
00:16:15sound like, well,
00:16:17we're, we're waking up and we know we're, we're going to get it going.
00:16:20No, you're going to go in, you're going at five 30.
00:16:23Okay.
00:16:24And, uh, we started five 30.
00:16:26We do, you know, we kind of do, uh, uh, a rehearsal of some of the rendition, you know,
00:16:32some of the revisions they may have wanted.
00:16:35Hey, I need a little of this over the weekend.
00:16:37They'll tell us.
00:16:37And so we have notes.
00:16:39And so we'll start with that.
00:16:41Then the dance teams come in at, uh, seven.
00:16:45We'll, we'll do a camera block with them.
00:16:47Uh, we do camera blocking to about 12.
00:16:51Uh, and then at 12, we take a lunch break.
00:16:55We do a dress rehearsal from one to four 30.
00:17:01And then we go on air live at five 30.
00:17:04No way.
00:17:05Yeah.
00:17:05So it's a 12 hour day.
00:17:07And then we got to be fresh and ready to go 12 hours late.
00:17:10No, I'm sorry.
00:17:11It's a 16 hour day.
00:17:13Wow.
00:17:13And 12 of it is, is in preparation.
00:17:16Oh God.
00:17:17Okay.
00:17:17So is that four 30 to five 30 or one break to like eat a granola bar and then get
00:17:21back?
00:17:22No, they, they, they're in all fairness.
00:17:24They do give a full crew hour break.
00:17:27Yeah.
00:17:27Yeah.
00:17:28Oh my goodness.
00:17:29Lunch break.
00:17:29Yeah.
00:17:29Yeah.
00:17:29It seems like kind of a luxury in TV today to get 14 musicians, like, you know, live music
00:17:35week after week.
00:17:36I could imagine some productions just wanting to cut costs and be like, well, a master recording
00:17:40is good enough.
00:17:40We'll just license that or something.
00:17:42Yeah.
00:17:42Have you seen TV change over time and their willingness to hire live musicians for performances
00:17:48like this?
00:17:48This is the dinosaur.
00:17:50Well, I don't want to say dinosaur.
00:17:52It's a unicorn.
00:17:53It's a unicorn.
00:17:53We, we are a unicorn because there, I don't, I don't see any other show that, that does
00:17:58that.
00:17:59You know, some of the other shows that continue to have live music, there's not 14 musicians
00:18:03and singers up there.
00:18:05Yeah.
00:18:05And all credit, this does speak that the, the appetite for this sound, you know, the audience
00:18:12is loving it.
00:18:13When I, I went to the convention, the dancing with the stars convention.
00:18:18And, you know, the fans were like, I was like, I was, I was just going to show up and
00:18:23I'm
00:18:23like, wow, there's like kind of, you know, wow, this is beautiful.
00:18:28And they, and the comment I got most is we love what you do.
00:18:32Cause it, cause the comment also was that anybody can play a master, play the record.
00:18:37We hear that all up there, but you're bringing a different life to the song.
00:18:42So yeah.
00:18:42Have you ever had a musician who you've covered on the show, reach out to you and say, thanks.
00:18:47Or I loved that cover that you'd performed on the show.
00:18:50Yeah.
00:18:51I've had that a lot.
00:18:52Uh, we did, uh, Janet Jackson week.
00:18:55And so with Janet Jackson and, and she also made, you know, a video appearance, but the producers
00:19:03of that product is Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
00:19:06Oh yeah.
00:19:07All right.
00:19:08The best.
00:19:08So Jimmy, they're very special.
00:19:10And, and, and, you know, I know these guys and I was like, I am not going to not make
00:19:16that.
00:19:17And I give the same attention by the way, to everything.
00:19:20Yes.
00:19:20But I was like, you know what?
00:19:21I know these guys are watching.
00:19:23So let me make sure every little, every little thing that I can think of as possibly the good
00:19:29news is that they, they, they contacted me afterwards.
00:19:32Jimmy Jam said, Hey man, you did us right on that stuff.
00:19:36That's great.
00:19:36I was like, thank you.
00:19:37That is so great.
00:19:39Yeah.
00:19:39Well, how did you get started MDing for TV shows?
00:19:42Cause that's a specific niche.
00:19:43Like you were saying within the MD universe.
00:19:46Right.
00:19:46So, well, my first television job was Saturday Night Live.
00:19:49I did that.
00:19:50And while I'm going to go back, you know, the, during the Eddie Murphy years, that was
00:19:55when I started.
00:19:56I was good era for the show.
00:19:58Yeah.
00:19:58That's right.
00:19:58That's right.
00:19:59I was like 19 years old and I started doing Saturday Night Live and I, then I started writing
00:20:05and arranging and usually the arrangers are the ones who are most knowledgeable about the
00:20:13music that they're doing.
00:20:14Right.
00:20:14You know, I'm the right, I'm the guy writing out the music.
00:20:17I'm the guy coming up with stuff.
00:20:18And so then, then that, that evolves into a leadership position.
00:20:22I said, well, you got all the information.
00:20:24Maybe we should just talk to you.
00:20:26All right.
00:20:26All right.
00:20:27So I have the information.
00:20:28Now I'm the leader.
00:20:28And then my next television job was Showtime at the Apollo.
00:20:34Now, many people remember that show.
00:20:37Now that, that was a pretty, pretty intense show.
00:20:43It came on, well, it was, it came on different times, different places.
00:20:48But it would come on once a week, but we'd have to do, we would tape that in front of
00:20:54a law and in front of a live audience at the Apollo.
00:20:57Yeah.
00:20:58And potentially that audience would be like, you know, if they didn't like the music,
00:21:03they could boo you too.
00:21:04So, so that, that was a tough show.
00:21:07So I learned a lot and got my life chops up, you know, in television for that.
00:21:12And then my next, uh, stop was, uh, I did a lot of, uh, TV specials for BET and, you
00:21:21know, the BET awards, BET celebration of gospel, uh, the BET honors.
00:21:27And so there was a lot of that.
00:21:29And then my next stop after that was American Idol.
00:21:32Okay.
00:21:33Wait.
00:21:33So how many musicians play on American Idol week after week, or at least while you were
00:21:36there?
00:21:37We had about, uh, seven, seven.
00:21:40Yeah.
00:21:41Yeah.
00:21:41Yeah.
00:21:41Yeah.
00:21:41I mean, it's still pretty sizable.
00:21:43Yeah.
00:21:43Um, well, I know that you also have MD'd the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade about a decade
00:21:48now, right?
00:21:49Yeah.
00:21:49I have so many questions about Macy's Thanksgiving day parade because, um, you know, I've watched
00:21:54it my whole life.
00:21:55Every American pretty much has.
00:21:57And I think that I I've heard before that a lot of stuff is pre-taped for that or artists
00:22:02have, you know, seem to be clearly lip syncing during parts of that.
00:22:05I'm wondering what it's like behind the scenes.
00:22:07How do you prepare the music for that?
00:22:09And is it all done in advance or is it, are parts of it live?
00:22:13The Macy's Thanksgiving day parade, the music for that, for the, uh, broadcast is three and
00:22:19a half hours of wall to wall music.
00:22:22There's never a time where you don't hear music.
00:22:25Yeah.
00:22:25And we have to pre-record all of the music.
00:22:29Uh, and it winds up being about 270 music cues.
00:22:34Now that includes the theme.
00:22:36That includes when you go to commercial, come back from commercial, every balloon, every
00:22:40float, everything needs music.
00:22:43The one exception that we don't do is, is the, the Iowa marching band who, who passes
00:22:49by.
00:22:49Okay.
00:22:49But everything else is pre-recorded.
00:22:52Yeah.
00:22:53Including, and I don't want to give away people's, what they do, but the vocals have to be because
00:22:58they're on floats with noise and the, the, the, the, the, the, the bad weather.
00:23:04It's cold.
00:23:05And so, yeah.
00:23:06And, and there've, there've been those who've wanted to, because they're like, Hey, I'm a
00:23:10singer.
00:23:10I want to sing live.
00:23:11And they actually get on the float at nine in the morning and they, and they like kind
00:23:15of changed their mind.
00:23:17Actually, I'm good.
00:23:18Exactly.
00:23:19So we, we, we, we pre-recorded all the vocals and we, and we call them rainy day vocals.
00:23:24Yeah.
00:23:25And just in case you get up there and don't want to, you know, and you feel like, you
00:23:29know, and sometimes it is raining.
00:23:31Matter of fact, it was, uh, it was about two Thanksgivings ago and it started raining and
00:23:37everybody, they got the mics in them.
00:23:38Everybody's getting wet.
00:23:40And then, and thank God that we had that, you know, we've already got in front of that.
00:23:45Yeah.
00:23:45Yeah.
00:23:46The rainy day vocals were there.
00:23:47Yeah.
00:23:47That's interesting.
00:23:48I mean, I feel like a lot of people on the outside of music look at lip syncing as like
00:23:53a, Oh, they don't care about their art, but it does feel to me that there are some instances
00:23:57where it is actually necessary in your experience, where do you think it is kind of impossible
00:24:02to avoid the lip syncing?
00:24:04That this is one of them.
00:24:05It makes it because again, we're the float is a moving, you know, the moving vehicle.
00:24:11And so many things could happen.
00:24:13Why I can pull out, you know, bad signal, this or that.
00:24:17And so, you know, and, and, and, and your whole performance may be about 30 seconds.
00:24:23So, okay.
00:24:23Imagine, you know, the big buildup and, and, and the, and the wire pops out.
00:24:28Well, we can't have that.
00:24:29So yes, the music has to be, uh, you know, pre-recorded with the vocal.
00:24:34Now, even with that, you know, it's a live broadcast and many things happen that can,
00:24:40you know, that could deter perfection.
00:24:43You know, we've had, you know, during the broadcast, I'm in a music booth that is right
00:24:50on 34th street.
00:24:51So we have all of the 270 music cues pre-recorded and loaded.
00:24:57And as the parade proceeds and we're on, on script, here comes the Snoopy's balloon.
00:25:02And we hit the music for the Snoopy's balloon.
00:25:04And then, and then, then the next thing, then, then, then we go to commercial.
00:25:08So we have a playback guy who triggers all the music.
00:25:12Okay.
00:25:12And, uh, even with that, thinking that, well, you know, that's a pretty standard in production.
00:25:18Well, one time the power went out and, and everybody's scrambling, trying to figure out
00:25:24what do we do?
00:25:25We did, you know, fortunate that we did have a contingency plan, uh, in place.
00:25:32And we got through that, but everybody was in a full panic.
00:25:35We, we had to go right to commercial.
00:25:37We had a power outage and it not only affected us, it affected another unit.
00:25:42So we're trying to figure out what do we do?
00:25:44How do we, you know, what happens when we come back, you know, cause the commercial is
00:25:48set, you know, for three minutes.
00:25:49Wow.
00:25:50And that's it.
00:25:51I mean, so where are you on the day you're in some sort of a control booth?
00:25:54Yeah.
00:25:55Yeah.
00:25:55We have a, a music truck and it's right on, right, right at the corner of 34th and 6th.
00:26:01Got it.
00:26:02Okay.
00:26:02At Macy's.
00:26:03Yeah.
00:26:04I mean, like you're saying, like when things are live, anything is possible, no matter how hard
00:26:07you prepare for it.
00:26:08Yeah.
00:26:09With Dancing with the Stars, doing it as long as you have, have there been any,
00:26:12any of those moments that you've had to find a quick recovery for?
00:26:15Yeah.
00:26:16There have, there've been many.
00:26:19And the good news is that, you know, we do, we have, you know, continue, I've developed
00:26:24a lot of contingency plans to make sure that it never affects the, the outcome of the,
00:26:31of, of the performance because as, as a, a competition, they don't, they have one shot
00:26:38to do it.
00:26:39And so it's not like we can go back and, you know what, that didn't work out.
00:26:44Let's do it again.
00:26:45There's no, do it again.
00:26:47You're in front of millions of people, but a lot, you know, it's alive.
00:26:50It's, it's, it's being seen right now and has to be right.
00:26:54So from where my chair is, my seat, it must, I have a 100% delivery.
00:27:03It cannot be anything less than that.
00:27:05And, and so we have many things in place to make sure that nothing happens on my end.
00:27:12Because you've been able to be on Dancing with the Stars, essentially having the same gig
00:27:15as a musician for this long, it kind of reminds me of what I hear actors say about being on
00:27:20TV shows where they're like, this is the best gig ever.
00:27:23I have had a job on Grey's Anatomy for 10 years, you know, acting is gig work.
00:27:28I have musicians, same thing.
00:27:30How do you think about it?
00:27:31Has it been a blessing for you to have the same job to, you know, go to every single season
00:27:37time after time?
00:27:38Or are you someone who's like, I'm kind of getting tight.
00:27:41Yeah, but if you're like, I'm over it, actually.
00:27:44Oh, nah, nah, forget that.
00:27:46No, I love it.
00:27:47I love it.
00:27:48I love the challenges of it.
00:27:50I look forward to, you know, to the fall when we get into, when I first started, we were
00:27:55doing two seasons a year.
00:27:57We were doing fall and spring.
00:27:58I get zero sleep.
00:28:01Yeah.
00:28:02But I'm already ready for it.
00:28:03Yeah.
00:28:03So I prepare for it.
00:28:04You know, a couple of weeks, like, you know, this August, I kind of, you know, I slept a lot.
00:28:09Yeah, yeah.
00:28:10Bank it up.
00:28:11Yeah, yeah.
00:28:12I built up.
00:28:13You know, I'm ready to go.
00:28:14I know what to expect.
00:28:16And so, you know, the hours and all it takes to prepare.
00:28:20I know you're competent across all genres and you have to be for this kind of a job.
00:28:23But are there any genres that give you a little bit more trouble than others?
00:28:26Things that you're just not quite as familiar with?
00:28:28No, because my background included it all.
00:28:31I had some years, you know, growing up, you know, R&B, classical, Nashville, rock.
00:28:40I really had live experiences with legendary artists in all the genres.
00:28:46Now, you know, they say, you know, master of all, master of none.
00:28:53And then, okay, that for me, that's out the window.
00:28:55It doesn't matter.
00:28:56It doesn't matter what genre.
00:29:00It matters what attention you pay to it.
00:29:03And can you really internalize what that's about?
00:29:07Now, so when I'm, you know, if we're playing a country song, I actually become that.
00:29:12I'm, you know, I feel exactly that.
00:29:15As a matter of fact, the Dolly Parton's coming up.
00:29:17That song's coming up somewhere.
00:29:19And, you know, I'm right there.
00:29:21Love their music.
00:29:22I've actually had time with Willie Nelson.
00:29:25Okay, then we go to, you know, the old school rock and roll where I played with legends of rock
00:29:30and roll.
00:29:31Okay, cool.
00:29:32Then we go to Big Bear where I've done that.
00:29:34Then we go to dance music.
00:29:37Wow, that's incredible.
00:29:39I imagine this isn't you, but how are the songs licensed for the show if it's such a quick turnaround?
00:29:45Yeah.
00:29:46Well, there's a music supervisor, Nancy Severinsen.
00:29:48Nancy and her team, their job is to go through the big barrel of songs that may be available, you
00:29:59know, to the dancers to clear.
00:30:03So music clearance is a big deal because to clear one song may have, it could have two writers, it
00:30:12could have seven publishers.
00:30:13You got to contact everybody.
00:30:15And everybody's not waiting around on their phone to be in contact.
00:30:22So some of the music clearances happen right up until the last minute, or we may get a note and
00:30:27say, can't use that song because it's not cleared.
00:30:31Or it's not cleared in the manner that you want to use it.
00:30:35Oh, wow.
00:30:35So music clearance could be specific, the artist, it could be the writer, it could be the record company.
00:30:45So you have to clear a master, you have to clear with the record company.
00:30:48Then you have to clear with the publisher and the writers.
00:30:52Writers, and it could be many publishers and writers.
00:30:54Okay.
00:30:55And at the end of the day, they could say, well, you know, you could use the song, but you
00:31:00can't do anything else with it.
00:31:02You have to play it exactly the way it was.
00:31:05All right.
00:31:05And meanwhile, you've already been arranging a totally different thing.
00:31:08Exactly.
00:31:09And then that doesn't work for our show because we need to be able to modify it for dance.
00:31:14So let's say, well, you can't use the song.
00:31:16Or you can only do this or you can only do that.
00:31:19Man, do you remember any instances where that happened?
00:31:21Yeah.
00:31:22That happens.
00:31:23And, well, frequently enough, we'll get a note back and say, hey, that song hasn't been cleared.
00:31:30We need you to do your own version of that.
00:31:33Or, yeah.
00:31:35Yeah.
00:31:35I mean, well, is it ever, like you're kind of talking about like a pool of songs, but I know
00:31:39some of the, you know, performances are themed or like themed nights.
00:31:42I know you did a Wicked night.
00:31:44So it's, I think those are probably a little bit safer because you've probably already been working with Wicked to
00:31:48be like, okay, we're going to do this tie-in.
00:31:50Safer?
00:31:51Did you say safer?
00:31:51I don't know.
00:31:52I don't know.
00:31:53No.
00:31:54Is it not?
00:31:54You didn't say, there's nothing safe about it, especially Wicked Night.
00:31:59That was, so let me give you an idea of Wicked Night.
00:32:02Okay.
00:32:02Tell me.
00:32:02Wicked Night.
00:32:03We actually had to have weeks and weeks of meetings about Wicked Night because they were so very protective of
00:32:11their product.
00:32:12So the whole night is Wicked song.
00:32:14So they wanted to know exactly what we were going to do with every song, you know, and understandably, it's
00:32:22a great product.
00:32:23You know, so, and then we put together this medley for the overture, you know, which opened the show with,
00:32:31you know, I think it was about six or seven Wicked songs.
00:32:35And so I had to present that to them in the likeness that it was going to be.
00:32:41So I had to assemble, you know, the band together before and say, listen, we got to record this out
00:32:45so they can hear it.
00:32:46So, you know, it actually started with me.
00:32:48I had to kind of do my thing on a computer, but that's not enough.
00:32:52It's got to sound exactly.
00:32:54So, okay, let's say, you know, I started out with my first thing.
00:32:59I'll call that V1.
00:33:00All right.
00:33:01That's Ray working it out.
00:33:02It takes, that's, it takes me, that was like almost two weeks just doing that, you know, trying to, you
00:33:08know, trying to edit and make sure all of the transitions are right.
00:33:11Okay.
00:33:12And then the next stop was that, that was nice, Ray.
00:33:16Well, can you do this?
00:33:17Can you do that?
00:33:17Cool.
00:33:18All right.
00:33:18V2.
00:33:19All right, dude.
00:33:20V3.
00:33:20Oh, can you change the V4?
00:33:22We got up to about V21 on that, on the opening.
00:33:29Okay.
00:33:29So safer wasn't the right word.
00:33:31Nothing safe about that.
00:33:32That is crazy.
00:33:33I mean, it makes sense.
00:33:35You know, I understand people are very protective of their work, especially when like covers are involved and people are
00:33:40making new arrangements.
00:33:41So I understand that.
00:33:43But I do want to take it back to your early days.
00:33:47If I recall correctly in my research, I found that you started off by being a session musician in New
00:33:53York with like Diana Ross and Paul Simon and all of these greats of their day.
00:33:58And I wonder for a young Ray Chu, if you learned any valuable lessons from watching some of those legends
00:34:04in the studio.
00:34:05Is there anything specific that you remember?
00:34:07Everything that I've learned as a young musician, especially being a session musician.
00:34:14So I was one of the first calls.
00:34:18They had different first calls because you had, especially during that time, you had different units.
00:34:23So I was a first call musician amongst other first call musicians.
00:34:27But still, it was a small crop of people.
00:34:30Yeah.
00:34:30What does first call mean for those who don't?
00:34:32Well, first, if you have a company and you say, hey, listen, I like, you know, there was a jingle
00:34:37company.
00:34:37Okay.
00:34:38And you're doing, you're cooking every, you got the Coke account, you got this account, you got McDonald's, and I
00:34:43need to call on these guys.
00:34:45So I'm going to call with this, this, I'll put the calls in and we need to, we're moving fast.
00:34:50We got the thing tomorrow.
00:34:51Who's the first call?
00:34:52Ray Chu.
00:34:53Ba, ba, ba, boom, ba, boom, boom, boom.
00:34:54And it winds up being, and so before I got into that circle, I had never done a jingle.
00:34:59I went from zero to a hundred when I started doing them.
00:35:03I was like, wow, what happened?
00:35:05And what happened for me was Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who are the great songwriters for Motown.
00:35:12Valerie was, was a leading jingle singer during her time.
00:35:16She sang, she was like one of the number one jingle singers, right?
00:35:21People didn't know that, but you would hear her voice, right?
00:35:24She brought me into that scene, all right?
00:35:27And broke that, that, that wall for me, got me through that door access.
00:35:32And I went from never having done a jingle to doing like three or four every day, right?
00:35:38Nine, I got a nine o'clock and then I got a 12 o'clock and a three o'clock.
00:35:42And I was like, wow, what's going on?
00:35:44And it just started continuing.
00:35:46So that scene was really bustling.
00:35:51It gave me a lot of information about the necessity to be, have all your tools ready and prepared and
00:36:00ready to go at every time.
00:36:03Because, you know, first of all, you know, they put the music up and just have to be able to
00:36:06sight read well.
00:36:07So you have to be able to, and now you have to sight read well, you have to be able
00:36:11to play well, you have to be able to, and you have to be quick.
00:36:14And you have to, not only be able to do all those things, but you're recording in the studio is
00:36:19different from playing live.
00:36:20You can get, you know, a couple of little, you know, flubby things that, you know, people may not notice
00:36:25live.
00:36:26You're going to hear that in the studio.
00:36:28And so you're amongst other really, and so the studio musician became a really, you know, top notch, you know,
00:36:36cool guys.
00:36:37A lot of times we see the same people.
00:36:40And that really prepared me for all of the, you know, working with a lot of the artists, like I
00:36:45said, Diana Ross and everybody, you know, all these people like that and their expectations.
00:36:51Yeah.
00:36:52So they expect their music to always be as great as they are.
00:36:58And so, and I've been wonderfully, my experiences, but I've been entrusted with the music.
00:37:05People like Alicia Keys and Diana Ross and the even legendary Donny Hathaway's and people like that have entrusted me
00:37:13with their music.
00:37:14Yeah.
00:37:14I mean, it sounds like you've probably worked with Alicia Keys quite a few times.
00:37:18Yeah.
00:37:18Can you tell me like just a story about working with her?
00:37:21She's just wonderful.
00:37:22I have a lot of great stories about Alicia and I could probably do a whole segment on that.
00:37:27But one of them are when we first encountered Alicia, she was just signed to J record and she just
00:37:35left a bad experience in Columbia.
00:37:38So she was, you know, she wanted to, this was her first opportunity to really own her own production and
00:37:44like do it, get in there and do it.
00:37:46And I got a call from Peter Edge and they just formulated J records and they said, Hey, we got
00:37:53a new artist.
00:37:54Once you go down to the studio, we need some, you know, some musicians and singers for it.
00:37:59So I go down there and, Hey, she's just a new artist.
00:38:02I don't know, you know, and she says, Hey, and so I go in there, I'm going to do it.
00:38:06And she is cooking.
00:38:07She's like, you know, she is, she is cooking and she's like, no nonsense.
00:38:12I'm like, okay, I like you.
00:38:15New arts.
00:38:16What's your name again?
00:38:17Alicia, you know, let's go.
00:38:20And so that started a really great ride for us because the next stop for us was that as a
00:38:28new artist, she still needed to be showcased and, and, and she needed to be presented to, you know, the
00:38:35industry.
00:38:36And so they, the first stop with that was that we had to do a artist showcase in front of
00:38:42Clive and 50 of his closest people.
00:38:46And so with that, you had, uh, you know, we had to prepare.
00:38:50So we went in the studio and so the great story I have about it is, is her work ethic.
00:38:56Now I have a great work ethic because I loved hours of practice and I actually loved, I loved it.
00:39:03I love the, I love the, I love the repetition, build it up and improving, you know, notch by notch
00:39:08and increment by increment.
00:39:09I love that.
00:39:10And so I know how to do that.
00:39:12I know how to do five hours at one thing.
00:39:16I could do that and, and be fine with that.
00:39:19Right.
00:39:19And she, she could do that too.
00:39:21And I saw that.
00:39:22Yeah.
00:39:22And so when people see like-minded people see each other, I see you.
00:39:26So I saw her work ethic.
00:39:27I love that.
00:39:28I heard a quote recently that was the work is the reward.
00:39:31And I really liked that because it's truly like, you know, if you're so focused on the destination of it
00:39:36all, you're never totally going to be satisfied.
00:39:38You have to be satisfied with the work itself.
00:39:40Yeah.
00:39:41The journey.
00:39:42Yeah.
00:39:42That's right.
00:39:43You have to be, the journey has got to be something that you are prepared for.
00:39:48During any journey, you have to be prepared for dips, valleys, you know, unexpected potholes, things that happened along the
00:39:57way.
00:39:57You got to keep moving.
00:39:58Yeah.
00:39:59Yeah.
00:39:59Yeah.
00:40:00I mean, did you have any valleys in your career?
00:40:02Yeah.
00:40:02Yes, I did.
00:40:03I had many and I had many where I had to question my own tenacity and commitment, you know, like,
00:40:14you know, do I?
00:40:16And I knew I had all the tools because I started very early.
00:40:20I started at age five.
00:40:22And so, this is, you know, I was built for this, right?
00:40:27So, but there have been moments where I was like, man, you know, you know, what's going on?
00:40:33And I had to like, let me dig down deep, you know, because this is, I'm not, I'm not doing
00:40:37anything else.
00:40:41I'm not looking at another career.
00:40:42There's only one way I'm going with this.
00:40:46I heard you say once that basically music comes to you while you're sleeping sometimes.
00:40:52And you have to wake up sometimes in the middle of the night to write it all down so you
00:40:55don't forget it.
00:40:56And that reminded me a lot of something that Michael Jackson once said about how music comes to him or
00:41:02came to him sometimes in his sleep and he would have to write it down.
00:41:05Otherwise, he was afraid it would go to Prince.
00:41:06Prince, and I wondered if you resonated with that, if you had that kind of feeling about music flowing, of
00:41:13being kind of a vessel for the song that comes to you.
00:41:16Yeah.
00:41:17What are your thoughts on that?
00:41:18I hear music all the time.
00:41:19I hear music even while we're, you know, so you'll see my foot going like that.
00:41:24So, we're talking, but I'm actually doing, I'm actually, I'm doing something.
00:41:29And sometimes it's just, it's a underscore, it's a backdrop, because I'm paying attention as a competition.
00:41:36But I hear music all the time.
00:41:38And our music, it's a wonderful gift.
00:41:42All right?
00:41:43Thank you, God, that, you know, you've gifted me with the, you know, the soundtrack of my journey in my
00:41:51life.
00:41:51You've given me that.
00:41:52You've given me special gem songs.
00:41:55And he's also, and I totally relate to what Michael Jackson said, you know, because there'll be times where, you
00:42:02know, I'm somewhere and I'm hearing this, oh, man, I'm hearing a symphony.
00:42:06And I'm like, wow, I need to, you know, I need to kind of document that.
00:42:10And if I don't do a voice, you know, a voice note or something, it does, it goes away, because
00:42:15I'm like, oh, I'll get it later on.
00:42:16And later on, it doesn't, it doesn't, it's not the same.
00:42:20And it's travel.
00:42:21So music travels.
00:42:23It visits us as artists.
00:42:26It visits.
00:42:27It's a wonderful thing that, you know, frequencies that meet together, and they'll come to you, and you'll hear, ooh,
00:42:36the beat and the sound.
00:42:39Great.
00:42:39Let me capture that and do something with it.
00:42:45Or it goes, it goes, it moves away.
00:42:49And that happened to me at three in the morning.
00:42:52And so I've learned to, like, honor that, because I'll be in a cold sleep, and I'm hearing the whole
00:42:58thing.
00:42:58I'm hearing the, I'm hearing the, the violins and all this.
00:43:01I'm hearing all this wonderful stuff.
00:43:04And, and then I'm like, and, and while I'm sleeping, I'm, I'm, you know, the whole thing is, I'm like,
00:43:10and then I'm almost telling myself, man, we got to, we got to get up.
00:43:12We got to get up.
00:43:13And I'm like, get up.
00:43:14So I get up, I go down to my studio, and I'm, I start working.
00:43:19So sometimes I'll start working at, you know, four in the morning.
00:43:23And then before I know it, like I said, I could do this.
00:43:25I do it, and I do it all day.
00:43:27It'll be like, you know, 12 noon.
00:43:29And my wife will say, you been down here all night?
00:43:32And I'm like, yeah.
00:43:33You know, that's what I do.
00:43:34And in one case, it was a, you know, the night of inspiration.
00:43:38It's a wonderful event that we do at Carnegie Hall.
00:43:41I conduct a 64-piece orchestra and 150 mass choir, and we bring genres and people together for this great,
00:43:51wonderful night.
00:43:52And so one occurrence was I needed, I needed a composition.
00:43:58And I was kind of having, you know, a little wall because while I'm awake and just doing everything, and
00:44:04I'm like trying to figure out, how do I, you know, and trying to just put this together.
00:44:09And it was, and after I did something, a couple of little drafts, I was like, eh, I kind of
00:44:14like it.
00:44:15But I don't love it, you know.
00:44:16And so as an artist, you know, you got to love it, hopefully.
00:44:21All right?
00:44:22You still might do it, but, you know.
00:44:25And I wasn't in love with it yet.
00:44:27And then the one that I heard, it was at 3 in the morning, and that's the one.
00:44:32I'm like, oh, I'm loving this.
00:44:33Let me get to it.
00:44:35And that's what I heard.
00:44:36Man, I love that.
00:44:38I know that one of your musical heroes has been Quincy Jones, and you did get to work with him
00:44:44at some point, right?
00:44:44Yes, I did.
00:44:45Okay.
00:44:46And, I mean, sometimes they say don't meet your heroes, but I'm wondering what the experience was like when you
00:44:50met one of your heroes.
00:44:52Well, Valerie Simpson introduced me to Quincy Jones.
00:44:56Now, Quincy Jones, I had been studying Quincy Jones' music for many years.
00:45:03My father had every, all of his big band and jazz albums.
00:45:08My father was a musician as well.
00:45:10So, he played piano, and I played piano, and I played multiple instruments, and sometimes it would be drums and
00:45:17vibes.
00:45:18So, we had our instruments in our basement.
00:45:21And so, we would put the records on, and I would just study up all the parts.
00:45:26And so, I knew Quincy Jones before I met Quincy Jones.
00:45:31I knew, so when I finally met him, you know, I was like, okay, you know, and it was less
00:45:37of a, wow, you know, it was more of, yes, we, you know, we're supposed to, you know, finally that
00:45:45day came where we met, and there we are.
00:45:47And it was great, and he provided so much.
00:45:51First of all, he was affable, he was funny, and he has, he had a story about everything.
00:45:58And he would share those things.
00:46:00He had these Quincy nuggets, the Quincy-isms.
00:46:03And so, I was just drinking all that in.
00:46:06And over the years, it was great, just great knowing him.
00:46:10Yeah, well, when did you meet him?
00:46:12What was the occasion?
00:46:13I was 19 years old, and he was in New York working on The Wiz.
00:46:21Okay.
00:46:21He would do the movie The Wiz with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.
00:46:24Yeah.
00:46:25And I was at Nick Ashford and Valerie's house, and I think he was either staying there, they had a,
00:46:30you know, this wonderful brownstone on the Upper West Side.
00:46:34And so, you know, she told her, come on down and meet Quincy.
00:46:37I was like, yes.
00:46:38You know, so I met him, and then, and then we're hanging out, and they were hanging out, but I'm
00:46:43just, like, drinking it all in, happy to be there.
00:46:46And he says, well, I'm going down to Brooklyn, you know, because that's where they were doing parts of The
00:46:52Wiz, you know.
00:46:53And so, I said, can I hang out?
00:46:55He said, yeah.
00:46:56So, now I'm with him, you know, hanging out with him all day, and I'm like, this is great.
00:47:00You know, there you go.
00:47:01Wow.
00:47:02That's so great.
00:47:03I mean, you've gotten to see so many artists throughout their careers, throughout the decades.
00:47:08And I'm wondering, what separates the artists, in your opinion, that kind of come and go, versus the artists that
00:47:14stick around with us for decades?
00:47:17The commitment to your craft, all right?
00:47:21You can have talent.
00:47:23Talent sometimes can be an overrated commodity, all right?
00:47:28It's a wonderful thing to have, but your commitment to the craft is what's going to carry you on those
00:47:35days where the talent doesn't.
00:47:37The talent is, oh, I can sing, I can sing.
00:47:40Well, what happens when you kind of get, you know, you're hitting that wall?
00:47:43Well, you better pull out, you know, your craft tool.
00:47:47And so, the tools are what, you know, what I focus on, all right?
00:47:54I focus on making sure that the preparation, you know, all of that, these things meet each other.
00:48:01They all have to come together.
00:48:03And they all have to be, you know, commitment to excellence.
00:48:06You have to set the bar for what excellence is.
00:48:10So, if you think, whoever your heroes are, and you think they're great, well, and I do have, we have
00:48:16a program called Power to Inspire that we speak.
00:48:20We have young people that we bring into the industry.
00:48:24They want to know how to be a music director.
00:48:26They want to know how to be a music executive.
00:48:28My wife, Vivian Scott Chu, was an executive.
00:48:32And while I was a musician, it was us and a them.
00:48:35I love that.
00:48:35And anyway, we came together.
00:48:37Perfect marriage.
00:48:38And so, yeah, right?
00:48:38We have this foundation, Power to Inspire, where we teach young people how to do that.
00:48:44So, one of the things I teach them is that if you have somebody that you think is great, and
00:48:54they all do.
00:48:56Oh, you know, if they're a singer, I think this person is great.
00:48:59They're a musician.
00:49:00Oh, okay, okay.
00:49:02So, how far are you from there?
00:49:05How far are you from that greatness?
00:49:07Or is it, what's that gap?
00:49:09Well, that's the gap you got to cover.
00:49:11All right?
00:49:13Should you be satisfied with that, you know, with anything less?
00:49:16Or at least aspiring?
00:49:18Because along the way, you don't have to be that.
00:49:20But you can be your own level of greatness.
00:49:22You can get to that.
00:49:24All right?
00:49:24And you can work at that.
00:49:26And you can push.
00:49:27And you can let it land where it is, but not because of lack of effort.
00:49:31Interesting.
00:49:32Yeah.
00:49:32I've also been thinking a lot about, you know, artist development.
00:49:36And, you know, given this is a music industry podcast, I've spoken to quite a few folks at record labels.
00:49:43And about, like, what kind of talent they're looking for now.
00:49:46And you've been in the game watching top stars be made for decades now.
00:49:52And I'm wondering if the type of artists that reach the top have changed.
00:49:57And I'll give, like, a little example.
00:49:59I saw this funny TikTok where someone was talking about how, like, do you really think that Kurt Cobain would
00:50:06have been making TikToks?
00:50:08Like, you know, have we started valuing different things when we're trying to discover new artists?
00:50:14The advent of the social media type of artists has really impacted what is presented to the public.
00:50:25So what is presented to the public is what, you know, what the powers are feeding them.
00:50:32And if, you know, so you get, if people are feeding, if you're feeding your children McDonald's, then McDonald's is
00:50:38what they know.
00:50:39All right?
00:50:40If you're feeding them every day, then that's what we.
00:50:42And, yes, this is a place for McDonald's.
00:50:45And lots of times they're tasty and they taste good.
00:50:48Every now and then I'll eat McDonald's.
00:50:50So it just depends.
00:50:52But I think there's a lot of variety in terms of what people consume and what their appetites kind of
00:51:05evolve to.
00:51:06And so I think that, and funny enough, and I will say not even, maybe ironically enough, I think that
00:51:15there's a younger audience that is now, they're like, we've had enough McDonald's.
00:51:21Can I get, you know, what's the real?
00:51:23And when they get a, that's what a real meal tastes like.
00:51:27And then there's a level.
00:51:28That's a real meal.
00:51:29Now, how about this?
00:51:30This is, this is, you know, Michelin level of, then they'll be like, what's that?
00:51:37Right.
00:51:38How about if you get to try that one day?
00:51:40You know, you'd be like, whoa.
00:51:43Well, okay.
00:51:44So I was, I was looking over your resume.
00:51:46You've done, it feels like pretty much everything in terms of live music for live TV.
00:51:51And, but one of the one things I didn't see on there was a Superbowl halftime performance.
00:51:57And I'm just curious from an MD's perspective, if you're ever given a gig like that, what are immediately the
00:52:04biggest challenges that you see in doing a performance like that?
00:52:08I'm familiar with what they have to do to prepare for it.
00:52:13And so, yeah, the challenges are kind of the same, you know, when you're dealing with a TV production.
00:52:18And so I've, I've also done, you know, shows like, you know, Miss Universe and blah, blah, blah.
00:52:25And in a TV production, you know, you know, the, the, you have to measure the time.
00:52:31So it's time management first.
00:52:32That's the first thing.
00:52:33All right.
00:52:33And a manager of people and, and, and, you know, whatever your tools are, whatever your team is, you know,
00:52:41as music director, you have to manage that team and get the team to, we all, we all have to
00:52:46get to the finish line.
00:52:47And, and, and, and, and the sports analogy, uh, I teach my teams that, you know, we, you know, we,
00:52:54we, we are in the sports analogy as a baseball, we're in the home run business.
00:52:59They all have to go, we're not, when I hit the line drives, they all have to go over the
00:53:04fence.
00:53:05In football, they will all have to be touchdowns.
00:53:08Everything we do has to be a touchdown from where I sit.
00:53:12And so the Superbowl, you know, you're, you're in the, you know, one of the biggest events of the year.
00:53:18And so everything has to be, you know, you have weeks to prepare and make sure all of the, you
00:53:25know, attributes of the artists are satisfied and of the production.
00:53:29Your job as a music director is sometimes I have to be a massage therapist, I have to be Switzerland
00:53:36in the meetings.
00:53:38You know, my opinion may vary from that of the executive producer, but certainly we're going to be aligned by
00:53:44the end of this meeting.
00:53:44So I'm sure there's a lot of your job in making all the musicians that you're working with feel comfortable
00:53:52and calm and like, we're good.
00:53:54We got this all under control.
00:53:55Yeah.
00:53:56No.
00:53:56So do you, do you feel like you're kind of a therapist sometimes?
00:53:59Absolutely.
00:53:59You know, I think you have to, again, manage when you're managing people, you have to look at who they
00:54:05are.
00:54:06Everybody doesn't respond the same way.
00:54:08Now, early in my music director career, I kind of had the hammer down approach, you know, and, and, you
00:54:15know, you know, we're going to do this, you know, you know, we're going to march, march, march.
00:54:19And, you know, you're going to, when I say jump, you know, that kind of stuff.
00:54:23Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:54:23Right.
00:54:24And then I saw that didn't always work with everybody.
00:54:28One of the books I always refer to as the art of war.
00:54:31And one of the things that it does say is that any failure of the team is a reflection of,
00:54:39is because of the commander.
00:54:41Interesting.
00:54:42That's right.
00:54:42It says that in there.
00:54:44If there's a, you know, if there's a failure communication, it's, it's the commander.
00:54:49And so I take that to heart because, you know, when I, when I, so if I see something that
00:54:53is less than what I want to be, I take the responsibility of, you know what?
00:54:59But, you know, maybe I didn't communicate this properly.
00:55:03What did I not do?
00:55:04How did I, how could I improve myself?
00:55:08How could I, how could I improve this moment?
00:55:10Yeah.
00:55:11Well, Ray, are you ready for some games?
00:55:13Yeah.
00:55:14Okay.
00:55:14Let's do some games.
00:55:15Okay.
00:55:16All right.
00:55:16So this is our spend the record game.
00:55:18It is.
00:55:19Spend the record.
00:55:19Yes.
00:55:20Just a vinyl record with a bunch of questions on it.
00:55:23All of them are fun.
00:55:24I'll have you spin it a few times.
00:55:25Okay.
00:55:26So give it a spin and I'll read it out to you.
00:55:28So what's your biggest musical pet peeve?
00:55:31One thing is about honoring time.
00:55:33There's only one today.
00:55:35Tomorrow's a different day.
00:55:37And next week's a different day.
00:55:38Maybe Wednesday, but it's a different day.
00:55:41And so knowing this will never happen again, you know, and people, sometimes they look past the moment.
00:55:48They don't stay in the moment.
00:55:50So that's one of the things that when I see people, you know, you said pet peeves, I'm like, hey,
00:55:55man, wait a second.
00:55:56You stay in the moment.
00:55:57Really enjoy this.
00:55:58If you're doing something great musical, enjoy this.
00:56:01Make sure we can all get it.
00:56:03Good answer.
00:56:04Okay.
00:56:04Spin the record again.
00:56:05Let's see what we get.
00:56:06All right.
00:56:08What is your favorite song performed on Dancing with the Stars?
00:56:11My favorite song, I won't say favorite, but I'll say one of the greatest nights that I really enjoyed was
00:56:20Wicked Night.
00:56:21That was.
00:56:22I enjoyed every moment.
00:56:23We performed every song on Wicked.
00:56:27So, you know, if you watch the show, you know, from time to time, they'll use the master for different
00:56:33reasons, like clearance.
00:56:34The artist may say, hey, you can't use my song.
00:56:36But in this case, we worked with their team.
00:56:39And so every song that we did on Wicked, you know, and so that was my favorite night, just because
00:56:45I loved all of the musical, you know, journey that we had to do to get to there.
00:56:54And when we got to that night, it was great.
00:56:57That's incredible.
00:56:58Okay.
00:56:58We will move on to our final game of the day.
00:57:01So this is what we call What Would You Cue?
00:57:03I'm going to read out some prompts and you just give me one song that comes to mind that would
00:57:08kind of fit this.
00:57:10Let me, I have to get into my.
00:57:12If people take this one so seriously, I always think it's like a fun game, but people are like, uh
00:57:17-huh.
00:57:17I have to kind of give up my playlist.
00:57:19Because a lot of times I'll share with you and you know that I have two types of listens.
00:57:26One is passive, where I'm just like, you know, letting it go and hearing it as it goes.
00:57:31And then other is very attentive, where I'm listening purposefully.
00:57:34I do more of that.
00:57:36So when I'm listening to stuff, it's because somebody will say, hey, listen to this.
00:57:40And I may forget the title or whatever, but I'm listening because I need to hear, like, all of the
00:57:44songs that we are doing Dancing with Stars.
00:57:48Most of the titles, I might forget the titles.
00:57:50I have to say, what's the name of that song?
00:57:52But I know every element in there because I have to study it up.
00:57:56So you might get me on this one.
00:57:58You can sing a little, hum a little if you need.
00:58:01Okay.
00:58:02What would you cue to take you back to your childhood?
00:58:04Oh, Aretha Franklin.
00:58:06You know, like, yeah.
00:58:08Any particular Aretha Franklin?
00:58:10Natural Woman.
00:58:10Natural Woman.
00:58:11Yeah.
00:58:11Can't go wrong.
00:58:12Okay.
00:58:12What would you cue to represent your favorite era of music?
00:58:16Well, I don't have a favorite era of music, but I do have some that kind of touch home.
00:58:22Home and, ooh, that was one.
00:58:25Did I say home?
00:58:26All right.
00:58:27So that was from The Wiz and Stephanie Mills.
00:58:29And then that song just speaks through generations.
00:58:33I love that.
00:58:34What would you cue to remember the best concert you've ever been to?
00:58:37Wow.
00:58:39One of the best concerts I've ever been to was, wow, it was a fusion concert with the
00:58:48Maha Vishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham, Yom Hammer.
00:58:54Don't get me started.
00:58:55They were just, as a musician, that was like Nirvana.
00:59:00Wow.
00:59:00Incredible.
00:59:01Okay.
00:59:01What would you cue to get yourself hyped up for a live TV performance?
00:59:06Well, one of the things that I do is I kind of go into my personal cave, and I can
00:59:13create
00:59:14a cave anywhere, by the way.
00:59:16I'm totally capable of it.
00:59:17I can go right in that corner and shut everything out and get all of my, line up everything I
00:59:23need to do and everything I need to speak to, everything, you know, get all my notes together,
00:59:29open the door, and I do go.
00:59:31I do that at Carnegie Hall.
00:59:32There's a lot going on, everybody's, oh, everybody wants to, everybody's, and I'm standing right
00:59:40backstage with all the stuff going on.
00:59:41I just cue everybody out.
00:59:43I'm ready to get on my notes.
00:59:45And when I hear my name, they say, Ray Chu, shoot out like a cannon.
00:59:49Okay.
00:59:49So it's kind of more of a, like, I need to be quiet and contemplative by myself, more so
00:59:55than a song particularly.
00:59:56Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:59:58Well, the preparations of the songs, you should have that already.
01:00:02That should be ready to go.
01:00:04Yeah.
01:00:04If I'm still thinking about this song, I think I'm a step behind.
01:00:09Good point.
01:00:10Good point.
01:00:10Okay.
01:00:11And finally, what would you cue for the Dancing with the Stars series finale opening number?
01:00:19The series finale opening number should be something from Ray's album.
01:00:28Ooh.
01:00:29Yeah.
01:00:29Okay.
01:00:30And I'll have to speak on it because I really love what she did as an artist.
01:00:35Yeah.
01:00:36What she did as an artist, I hope that resonates throughout the industry.
01:00:40She broke all the rules.
01:00:42All right.
01:00:42They said, well, you can't put that many songs on album.
01:00:45I think she had 20 songs on album.
01:00:47You can't do that.
01:00:48Well, she did.
01:00:50Oh.
01:00:50Oh, you can't do, well, nobody wants to hear you narrate the album.
01:00:54Oh, she narrated throughout the entire.
01:00:56Nobody wants to hear interludes.
01:00:58She's got interludes on there.
01:01:00Nobody wants to hear songs over, you know, none of the songs can be more than three or four minutes.
01:01:06She's got songs that are six minutes.
01:01:08Oh, yeah.
01:01:08She's got a song.
01:01:09And then, you know, nobody wants to hear credits.
01:01:13But she did such a wonderful thing.
01:01:16At the end of the, I listened to the album several times.
01:01:18At the end, she has an orchestra.
01:01:21She named every person of the orchestra.
01:01:25She named everybody who contributed, everybody behind the scenes, every manager, every agent, every.
01:01:32And it was such a wonderful, wonderful thing she did.
01:01:37Yeah.
01:01:37One day I'm going to meet and just give a hug.
01:01:39It's incredible.
01:01:40Have you?
01:01:41Okay.
01:01:41So you haven't met her?
01:01:42I have not met her.
01:01:43Okay.
01:01:43Well, there's a photo of her right behind you, actually.
01:01:45Oh, really?
01:01:46Hey.
01:01:47That was not planned, obviously.
01:01:48Ray, I love you, Ray.
01:01:49What if we were like, and Ray's here?
01:01:51Yes, yes.
01:01:53Exactly.
01:01:53I wish.
01:01:54I hope you're watching this, Ray.
01:01:56Yes.
01:01:56Ray and Ray.
01:01:56Come see me.
01:01:57I would love that.
01:01:58I'll come see you.
01:02:00Well, Ray Chu, thank you so much for coming to On the Record.
01:02:03All right.
01:02:04All right.
01:02:04Thank you so much to Ray Chu for joining me to talk about his work as a music director.
01:02:08And thank you for listening to this week's episode of On the Record.
01:02:11If you like today's show, give us a follow on Instagram or on our TikTok page,
01:02:15at Billboard On The Record, where you can find new clips of this show every single week.
01:02:19We'd also appreciate it if you rated our show on your favorite podcast platform.
01:02:22All these things help On The Record grow bigger and better than ever.
01:02:26I'm your host, Kristen Robinson, and tune in next week for another peek behind the curtain
01:02:30of the music business.
01:02:31I'll see you then.
01:02:32Bye.
01:02:34Bye.
01:02:36Bye.
01:02:38Bye.
01:02:39Bye.
01:02:40Bye.
01:02:41Bye.
01:02:42Bye.
01:02:44Bye.