Michael Kammes Blog May 12th/2007I sometimes wish that I had some sort of fairy tale story of how I got into sound. Perhaps that at the tender age of 3 my parents could not keep me away from the home stereo. Or instead of a teddy bear, I carried around a pair of Fisher-Price "My First Headphones". That kind of stuff would make great party fodder. Instead, I stumbled into it - although in retrospect, the stars seemed to have aligned to point me in the right direction. I was born into a semi-lower-middle class family, and divorce was imminent. One of my mother's many careers was that of a talent agent. She would book entertainment acts - everything from birthday party clowns to oil wrestlers to bands. I distinctly remember going with her to clubs to see bands play. Dirty bars - the ones you avoid even in your most drunken haze. She used to have demo tapes of perspective bands she'd play in the car. I recall once her shouting over the puny Hyundai stereo, "Hear that Michael? Hear how the brass comes in just a hair before the verse? Hear how powerful that is?"* And although she didn't know the terminology, she always had a tremendous ear for balance. She'd point out nuances in the production value, like instruments and vocal hooks, on the radio or on these demo tapes, or even the hundreds of records we had in the living room. I think she might have made a good producer in some respects. It's from her that I learned the concept of equilibrium within sound.and the main concept of everything, as a mixer, I do. The other driving force was my stepfather. A rocker in the late 70's and early 80's, his band had moderate success in the Midwest. And although her never reclaimed his on-stage rocker roots after becoming my stepfather, he still continued to educate himself and play in the basement. I grew up hearing him analyze this rock song and that rock song - explaining to me why it was catchy. What made it stand out. He'd even buy music that was a vast departure from his genre, just to see what made it tick. Perhaps he could incorporate it into his repertoire. He'd also explain this guitar hook, this vocal backing track. Granted (and to the day) I know jack about ax terminology, but I can pick out just about any guitarist given their solo. I became a Mutt Lange fanatic, and stuff he worked on was a constant in our household. I was surrounded by music, and the art it encompassed. Many years later, as Bone Thugs and Harmony and Boyz II Men topped the charts, I found myself graduating from High School. Having spent the past year within the Media department of the High School (Radio Station / Video Yearbook - yeah, I didn't get laid much) I had realized that Media was definitely my calling. I constantly had a video camera out, doing deck to deck editing, and looping my CD player and computer into my stepfathers Tascam 464 Portastudio. I was a geek. I knew this was something I loved and wanted to pursue. In what capacity exactly, I still had no idea. In my backyard was Columbia College Chicago. 30 miles away, and the largest private film school in the world. Hands on from day one. So, I went. Being an attention whore, I opted to pursue a track of directing. Yeah, no talent. In hindsight, it may have simply been I didn't have the knowledge to work with it, and to "think outside the box". Or perhaps I was just lazy. I'd like to think it's the prior. Again, good party fodder. As I had editing many hours of video on deck to deck machines (Top loading VHS, no less!) I thought perhaps that might be my ticket. I perceived it as not only being creative, but more technical as well - hey, I'm a geek. I learned D-Vision, Premiere. All in their infancy, as Non Liner Editing was still a new concept. I very much enjoyed it. But I found myself much more concerned with getting the music cuts and sound effects in right than I was with the pacing of the video. Not that I didn't care - I was just more interested. Part of the curriculum at Columbia was to explore all facets of the film industry before you branch off into your concentration. A taste, if you will, to make up your mind. I had Diego Trejo, Jr., James Moore, and Ric Coken as the main figures at Columbia during this time. I followed them around like a puppy. I was sold. This is what I wanted to do. I think much to the disappointment of my stepfather; I decided to do sound for film - not music. I'm sure in his mind, if I was going to choose to do anything audio - it would be music. I don't believe he was ever upset about this decision, neither was my Mom - I had more college under my belt after 1 year than both of them combined - part of me feels somewhat guilty for not learning more on the music side of things. Diego taught me the geek - the technical side. Editing and restoration techniques. Ric taught me the balance in the mix. I loved it. I must have drove them absolutely nuts, as I was always in the sound studio, asking questions, trying to make nicey-nice. Despite the certain annoyances, I racked up several student films as soon as I could, and was able to nail one of the largest student films that year. I was hooked. Although it happened in a roundabout way, I cannot think of another career path I could ever follow. My upbringing certainly gave me some tools that most others would not have. And although it was indirect, my parents are responsible for this. While I can't romanticize what lead me to this point, smiling at the Happy Accident works just as well for me.
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