Writing Music for Bat-Man's Batwheels Series with Alex Geringas - Music Production Podcast #342

Alex Geringas is a producer, composer, and Grammy-winning songwriter. He has 16 number-one songs in Germany and won a Grammy for his co-writing of Kelly Clarkson's "Dark Side." He has written music for Batwheels, the entire Trolls TV franchise, and collaborated with Timbaland on the theme for Fast and Furious: Spy Racers.

Alex and I had a great conversation about his work in television and film scoring. He shared how he works with show producers to find the perfect palette for each project. Alex's excitement for his work on the Bat-Man BatWheels show revealed many insights into creating moods and atmospheres with music that any musician can use in their work.

Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, YouTube

Show Notes:

Thank you for listening. 

Please review the Music Production Podcast on your favorite podcast provider!

And don’t forget to visit my site https://BrianFunk.com for music production tutorials, videos, and sound packs.

Episode Transcript:

Alex Geringas (00:38.317)

Yeah.

Alex Geringas (01:03.278)

Brian, thank you so much. This was such a sweet introduction. I really appreciate it.

Alex Geringas (01:23.802)

I sometimes myself don't understand that I just initially wanted to impress a girl. That's why I got into music. So I can't believe I always say to my collaborators when we're here in my studio creating something new, I say at the end of a good session, I'm always saying, hey, not bad for a homemade, right? So it's always it's still, you know, after since still after like 25 or 28 years, I'm doing this.

it still feels completely not like a job or something. It feels like such a big blessing. What I'm able to do and to make actually a living for my family with music that's still, in my eyes, completely crazy.

Alex Geringas (02:25.749)

Ha ha!

Alex Geringas (02:29.622)

No, I have actually a studio house here in Los Angeles where I have three studios. Actually, one of the three studios is occupied by my wife who sells books with her company, Kindle Books, and she imports like French, Italian, German books and shares it with the teacher communities here in the States. And yeah.

Otherwise I have one of my best friends who is my studio partner, Duddy Brown, with him actually I wrote the Disney Fireworks song. And yeah, it's a very collaborative, great space, very close to all the studios so that the executives can hang. And, you know, we sometimes share a meal here or stay longer after a spotting session. It's a really great space. I'm really, really happy to have that.

Alex Geringas (03:41.694)

I mean, look, I feel like everything connected to film and TV making is always about collaboration. If you're the composer or the screenwriter, it's always about working together, finding together solutions. And I myself, I started actually as an actor before I studied composition and everything. And I'm not...

I cannot say that this was like a big dream job for me. So, I mean, obviously I'm not an actor anymore, but I learned to have like, you know, to see the collaboration, how actors interact with directors. And that helped me a lot for my current position as composer to work with producers, to talk with producers and directors. It's very collaborative and...

I just wanted to create a space where we can actually be collaborative and just discuss things and that jobs sometimes come out of it. Yeah, that's true, but sometimes I must say I really like to be around film and TV guys. I'm just feeling always, I'm just a storyteller myself and I just love other storytellers and to be in creative contact with them for sure.

Alex Geringas (05:26.45)

Yeah, that's always, it's never a solo sprint. You know, like when you watch the credits of a big movie, is it animation or live action, you really think, oh my God, so many people I didn't even think of in departments I never even heard of. They were all working together to entertain me two hours. That's for me always still a big thing.

I'm a really film geek. I always wanted to be in film and TV. It's exactly where I always wanted to be.

Alex Geringas (06:09.934)

So, you know, I got involved in music and I had it in the mother milk because my father is an excellent world famous cellist and my mother is a fantastic pianist. My father is from Lithuania and my mother is Russian Ukrainian and they met at the Moscow Conservatory. My father is a Rostropovich student and they just from the beginning, you know, I had like

very famous classical musicians as babysitters who taught me all, you know, all Berdi operas in the car or while we're waiting for my parents when they had a concert. I was running as a little child, I was running on the stage to my parents when they got an applause for their performance. So it was just a question of time till I started with music but

When I got around 15, 16, 17, I realized I didn't want to do the same as my parents did. So I started, that's how I started my acting career. But yeah, I couldn't run away from it. So it led me to music very fast and I'm very happy that I landed in music.

Alex Geringas (07:32.782)

Yeah, I mean like my parents were very influential and they are still like, my father is a pioneer in modern music too and I was always interested in modern music or in pop music and just was a passionate music listener.

Alex Geringas (08:17.888)

culture

Oh my God, that was, I really remember, so I was a very successful songwriter in Germany. I had like, at that point, maybe like 12 or 13, already number one hits. And after being a little bit an actor, friend of mine asked me to work with him. And so we got into music and into music business, into producing a rap act together and everything. But then later,

later after having written so much for the German music industry and so many songs, I was just like missing to tell stories because we only have like two and a half, three minutes time to express ourselves as songwriters. And I was just missing the bigger, literally the bigger picture. And at that time, it was around like 2007, I told to my manager at that time.

Hey man, can you help me bringing into film? Can you just pitch me maybe for other stuff than just for songs? And he heard me. That was a big project. I was pitching for this in Germany. I think it was a universal project. And also it needed everything, what I can do. Like speaking of one stop, they wanted somebody who can do the score and the songs.

And yeah, I was like, actually I was writing a song in the very short time of pitching, like in one week. I was writing some big orchestral pieces and then I got the job. And that's how I got into it. It was really emotional because I put like every, literally I put every, I didn't sleep like for one week. I tried to make it all happen.

Alex Geringas (10:19.67)

get the best orchestral arrangements I ever did in my life, try to write the best song ever. I mean, that's what we do on a daily basis anyway. You're always in each project, you're trying to do the best work you can do. But that was the moment I got in, into film business for sure.

Yeah.

Alex Geringas (10:49.846)

Hahaha

Alex Geringas (10:54.466)

Thank you.

Alex Geringas (11:05.454)

Totally, yeah.

Alex Geringas (11:13.95)

I feel like there's different personalities. I know a lot of people who are not great under pressure. I'm super good under pressure. I like when people tell me, hey, the deadline is in two days, then it just gives me a perspective. And it challenges me also to make it one day earlier than they expect.

It's just a mechanism which just starts in myself. Like when somebody says, can you deliver that in two days? And then right away I start to deliver it in one day or less. That's just a, yeah, exactly. No, no, because you know, you always, this is just a sign or one of my signs where I say, hey, I want to collaborate, let's do it. I'm in, you know, like, it's, but it's sometimes when you're

When you put too much pressure, sometimes you need also to release the pressure. So sometimes I'm taking also good breaks in certain moments and give myself the time to rethink something a second time. But you don't have that. In my business, you don't have that so much. You need to be really decisive. You need to be really fast and stay friendly and have all the other stuff.

you know, after hours when you come home, then you can, you know, just relax and it's really two different worlds sometimes.

Alex Geringas (13:12.439)

Yes.

Alex Geringas (13:23.454)

Yeah, sometimes. I mean, there's also different examples for that. Like when you're working on a big studio film and there are like three producing parties and they expect that you revise the whole movie within 24 hours, then you just got to be also realistic about it and manage expectations and say, you know what, I can do it in two days, but it's just not possible in one day. And you just learn how to communicate these kind of things without being, you know,

being rude or being not collaborative. There's just ways also to communicate even stuff like that in a good way.

Alex Geringas (14:12.019)

Yes, of course.

Alex Geringas (14:16.75)

So I tend, you know, I feel like people always want you to be accessible, for example, right? So you are accessible, but sometimes you also need to work and you can't be accessible right away. So the best thing is I always like to communicate and have one of my assistants communicate with the production, just in certain moments, not in the creative ones, but in the one when

when it's about scheduling or when somebody asks you, can you please turn around the whole two-hour revisions in 24 hours? Then I let them know through my assistant and not necessarily personally that I'm sitting on it, but I just need another day or something. It's sometimes when you have a buffer somebody else or your agent, you can also have your agent call them.

That's always, I feel like people respect that. Like they want you not to be alone. They want you to be organized and have a great team around you. And I'm super lucky that I have a great team around me. You know, like I have two assistants, I have a music editor I love to work with. Like there are so many people who are in this process, who are with me at my side. So I'm never alone and...

I'm open about it. Like, you know, like there's a lot of people who have ghost writers or something. I don't really, I really don't have that. I always give my assistance cue sheet. They always help me out in some situations where I just need help, where it's also unrealistic that one person can manage all this. So yeah, yeah, so that's how it goes.

Alex Geringas (16:21.774)

Exactly. That's just like, you know, just also let people know that you're not alone, that there are like many people working on that project. That's always, I feel like, a good statement.

Alex Geringas (16:37.006)

Yeah.

Alex Geringas (16:48.462)

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, exactly the same thing. Yeah, I agree.

Alex Geringas (16:58.414)

Yeah, I'm really happy my manager, Jonathan Gordon, he really taught me very early in our relationship to build a team and to create, to also not only to start to educate the next generation, but not only to help other people getting into the business, but just also be ready for success.

things why I have so much on my schedule is because I have great people around me who help me, you know, help me looking great. So, yeah.

Yes. Totally.

Alex Geringas (17:52.846)

Right.

Alex Geringas (17:59.854)

And you do, yeah.

Alex Geringas (18:23.534)

totally.

Alex Geringas (18:50.19)

This is, I would say it's training. It's just the training of not having any time at all.

You know, you're just getting used... I remember in songwriting sessions where we were just listening through 24 kick drums, just to find not the cool one, but the more 2024 one, or the one, you know, right now I'm just like quickly just getting a kick drum, which I can derumble under 40 in seconds, and it will sound great. So I'm thinking...

Very different. Of course, as a composer, you also have templates. And you know, like in the beginning of a show or a movie, you work with the director and the producers on finding the right palette and the right tone for their movie and for their story. And then you have that you have a certain palette. And then that's your like that's your that's your colors, you know, like that's your colors on your canvas. And then you start to paint.

with these colors and then you can do a combination, but those colors don't really change. And I feel like, oh shoot, where are you? I think I forgot you, oh there, sorry. Yeah, and I really, I think like the less time you have, the more, the faster you can decide what you actually want to do. Like...

Sometimes you need time for especially when you start a new project you need a little bit more time, but even that I Meanwhile plan for myself when I start something new I take myself more time in the beginning But then I just feel when you have like a show which has like 250 episodes You know like it's continuing over two or three years after a while. You don't need to look for the for the next kick drum only if

Alex Geringas (20:53.038)

your executive producer or your director says, you know what, I love the sound you're having now for the show, can we just switch it up? And then you start anew. And then it takes a little while till you get, you know, till you do like a variation on the theme or expand your palette. And, but that's also very exciting. Like, I feel like most of the showrunners I'm working with, they want you to create.

their sound, but then they are also happy when you want to switch it up. And then you have to be, again, decisive in a new direction and pretty fast from one week to the other, find a new sound. So you don't, because you don't have so much time, that makes your decisions run faster, if that makes sense.

Alex Geringas (21:45.902)

Exactly.

Yeah, people are asking me with string libraries, you mentioned that we have everything at our fingertips, and that's exactly right. People are asking me a lot, like, which string libraries do you use? I mean, I have them all. And I use whatever string library I need to use for this moment. You just, at a certain moment, you just start to absolutely know your craft.

To get to know your craft, you must of course spend time with it. And then you just pick the right sounds, you know where they are, you know you have possibly a template. I mean, I'm not working so much with templates because I'm faster without it. But when you have a movie, then the template can be very helpful to just be creative and start writing instead of just like, you know...

looking for decisions, oh what do I have to do, where do I have to look for sounds, you just don't have it anymore, you just do it.

Alex Geringas (23:08.078)

Great.

Alex Geringas (23:22.734)

Right.

Alex Geringas (23:56.846)

Yeah.

Alex Geringas (24:01.838)

Yeah. I mean, really, for me, these are also two very different things, like scoring a TV show or scoring a movie or writing songs. These are like, I really love these, these are like three very different jobs if you like think about it, like in songwriting when you write for an artist or when you write something about your own soul.

then you just put your heart on the line, this is your story in that moment, unless it's for a TV film or for somebody else's vision. But also songwriting for film and TV and just songwriting for artists are so different, how do you say, so different things to do. So, yeah.

Alex Geringas (25:07.694)

100%. 100%. But this is a song about my ex-girlfriend. Dark Side is a story which, on the first day I met my ex-girlfriend, she said to me, you know, I'm so happy that we're now together, but you've got to understand, I can be very hurtful too, because I have a dark side. So when I was communicating that, yeah, when I was communicating to my incredible songwriting partner at that time, Busby, rest in peace.

He just heard this title, Dark Side, and he went to the piano and started to hammer these chords because he loved that line so much. And this is the magic of songwriting. You're just actually trying to be very open in a certain moment with a person you really like.

Or even if you don't like it, then you can handle it under, oh, that's my craft, I have to do this, I have to get open, because I have to get something great out of here. But in this moment, I really love Busby, he was a great guy.

Alex Geringas (26:18.766)

Yeah, and on that day, you know, we just took what was in the room, the energy in the room and made something great out of it. Like, we didn't even know if it's something great or not because other people came to us and said, hey, you created something great. We were like, really? Oh, thank you. Like, yeah, we liked it too, but we were not aware that you see so much in it. That's like always to others. But...

When you write for example for film and TV, you always... This is not about your own vision or your own life. This is about, you know, possibly an animal who is in pirate clothes and or a lover who goes through a complete different story than yours, but you can relate to that. And but you're like literally you're becoming a filmmaker and not a songwriter. In this moment, you're just like helping. Like I said, you have to.

director fulfilled their vision. And it's also very, I feel both are very fulfilling parts of my business or of my work. I love to do both, but they're really different. And scoring is something else again. Scoring is...

is to find sometimes stories which the director or nobody has ever thought of, or you know tones which never, which you don't see, which you don't hear in the language, in the script. As a scoring person you have to find sometimes things which the character wanted to say but didn't do. So it's a very different aspect again.

Alex Geringas (28:11.438)

Yes.

Alex Geringas (28:16.27)

told.

Alex Geringas (28:22.286)

Yeah, when I started out as an actor and I was actually four years a cast member of the German Sesame Street. And in that... Yeah, in that... I played the musician Alex. They created a role. So they wanted to create a role of a musician with a guitar, a reoccurring role. And they just... At that time they just gave... They said, oh, Alex is a cool name. We give him the...

the name of Alex and accidentally it's my first name so no it was really fun. I had a great time there and it taught me a lot like you know like about how actors work and this time being when I now vocal coach or vocal direct actors I have a complete different respect for them before because I actually know what it takes to be an actor and

It's a really hard job when you think about it. It's super, super hard. They always follow instructions and to find your own soul in this, this is like only the very best are really, really excited and happy in it. Like you can get lost in this job. Like I've seen so many too. So I'm really happy not to be an actor, but I really admire the most of them.

Alex Geringas (29:57.678)

Yeah, an actor is so much more than just an actor. An actor is a psychologist. An actor is a communicator. An actor is a good friend. Like, there's just so much psychology involved in doing this job, so, yeah.

Alex Geringas (30:19.406)

Yeah.

Alex Geringas (30:24.462)

But sometimes to have learned this, like I was doing, I was in acting school for four years and I learned so many things which I actually sometimes, sometimes when I compose and this sounds completely weird and stupid and silly and whatnot, but sometimes I remember when I don't have a solution for a scene right away,

I can't, you know, I feel like I don't have the right tone for it. Sometimes I feel like, you know, I just imagine that I'm one of the actors in acting and just trying to get more into this and trying to get to understand what the other person you see on the screen, what the other person feels and just try to get it together from a different aspect.

That's what I actually love about my job. You can really be, for a second, one of the actors you're watching act on the stage or on the screen and just change perspectives for a second. Then you go to the other person and say, oh, that's what they wanted to say. That's what they wanted to say. Oh, that's interesting. And how do I bring that together? Oh, I have an idea. And then you start to compose. So it's.

sometimes really cool.

Alex Geringas (31:55.118)

Exactly.

Yeah, sometimes, yeah.

Alex Geringas (32:30.894)

Right.

Alex Geringas (32:35.566)

Exactly. And you know, I was when I was an actor, I was on stage playing a play, British play called Gimmie Shelter was called after the Rolling Stones song. And I was I was a student who wanted to burn down the whole school. And in the end, the sporting teacher, the sports teacher, he caught me and he threw me down and was beating me up. It was very sad and.

and the band started to play Here Comes the Sun from The Beatles. Which was even more sad because, you know, you saw that brutal act of violence on the stage while counteracting with the silent and sweet, almost folky rendition of Here Comes the Sun. It was so emotional and sad. And that's only something what music can do.

We could easily play something from Metallica or something super aggressive in that moment too. And it somehow would have worked too, for sure. But just to end on that very silent note, it actually helped the audience understand the motifs of the student even more in that moment. It was really super touching and taught me a lot of lessons.

Alex Geringas (34:11.822)

Mm-hmm.

Alex Geringas (34:25.518)

A lot of people do. I sometimes do, totally. I feel like there are a lot of composers who watch and watch all over. And actually, when they compose, they don't want to see the picture necessarily. I love, I see myself really as somebody who I want to help the pictures bring. Just because also of my animation background, I am scoring so much animation.

There you have to help the picture. But in live action, you don't necessarily always have to help the picture. There are already two amazing actors. There's a great script and everything. But sometimes you even help the best when you just don't do any music. But in these moments, sometimes you're helping out.

Sometimes you're just helping out by, sorry, I just completely lost my thought. Sorry.

Alex Geringas (35:34.67)

Yes, sometimes not making music can help so much more than just to add something which might not be right for the movie.

Alex Geringas (35:58.446)

That was my band experience too. I always, I was a bass player, I was a keyboard player and you know, my people always told me, Alex, this is way too much. Can you just like play it down, down, down, down? Or can you just, you know, just hold the chords and just don't do anything, let us do the work? And they weren't the most time right. But yeah, I couldn't hold back, sorry. Not sorry. How about you? What are you playing in the band?

So do you leave your... can you hold back when you play guitar or do you have the will to get up front and go for it?

Alex Geringas (36:43.566)

the

Alex Geringas (37:16.078)

This is very interesting what you just said, because I feel like that's also a very big direction of modern song and pop production, and also score production. I feel like five, six years ago, and even less, even more, everything was so gimmicky. The productions were gimmicky. Everybody was doing like ear candy here, ear candy there, like little thingies, little...

of stingers and I feel like the current music production or the what people call you know 2024 2025 it's all all a little laid back it's not doing so much it's more like effortless and just like you know like you said more strumming and not like playing wild solo lines of course for for that is always placed too but I see I see this trend also in scoring

Sometimes when I just leave so much room for the dialogue, people go like, oh my God, what you did is so great. And I was like, I just did a little pad. They go like, oh my God, that helped the scene so much. I go like, okay, crazy. I never thought about it. In former times, I would have arranged some super strings. I would have driven the dynamics and vibrato and everything. And then I, you know, and then I.

then I would try to get into the psyche of the actor and just get another line here, another line there. Right now, it's not what people really want and look for. Like a lot of stuff is very interesting, textural, and it's really a different time, and I love that. I always love to, you know, to see how music develops.

I always am curious, what is the next thing? Like what will be actually happening in 2024, 2025? How will that transform again? Because it does, it always transforms.

Alex Geringas (39:47.182)

Yeah. Yeah.

Alex Geringas (39:57.55)

And it's harder to stay sparse. Also, I mean, yeah. No, I feel like everybody's currently so afraid of AI taking over so many things. And I feel like in music production business, we're working with AI already since, I don't know, since how many years. Like, this is nothing new.

And of course, AI can do more and more every day, but if you're literally looking at it, like what comes out of it, it stays, you know, I've seen these, I've heard these John Lennon memes and these Paul McCartney memes or the Drake memes. And I feel like everybody can hear right now, this is sounding so mediocre. It's kind of close, but it's...

It's not Drake and it's not Paul and it's not John. You just, maybe you have like a little moment where you think about it, oh, that sounds really like it. And that's it. But it will never be the same. So yeah. Was a different topic.

Alex Geringas (41:31.374)

Exactly, and use it, exactly, and help co-develop it instead of being afraid of it. That's exactly what I feel too.

Alex Geringas (41:49.166)

It's, I mean, come on, I've listened to Arnold Schwarzenegger singing the sound of music. That was life changing, okay? I must admit.

Alex Geringas (42:06.03)

And I don't want to live without it anymore, to be honest.

Alex Geringas (42:13.518)

Me too.

Alex Geringas (42:23.054)

I agree.

Alex Geringas (42:43.086)

Of course.

Alex Geringas (42:49.678)

Agree.

Alex Geringas (43:06.254)

True that. Yep.

Alex Geringas (43:16.238)

Yep.

Alex Geringas (43:32.91)

Yeah, nowadays you don't even use AutoTune for tuning anymore, so it all changes.

Alex Geringas (44:06.574)

You know, when I was more into the songwriting business, you must imagine, they're like, you know, you're having a studio and every day, your publisher sends you some people who you don't know. And it's like...

Alex Geringas (44:29.102)

Groundhog Day is set to movie.

where everything repeats and it's a little bit different, but I keep seeing myself in 2013 at our old house and I'm saying, hi, my name is Alex Geringes. How are you? Oh, you're that person. Oh, great. Hey, how are you? Do you want to drink something? Let's go. This is my studio. Oh yeah, thank you. Yeah, it's really nice here. And then you start to talk and what are you up to? With whom have you written? Like there's a kind of a...

ritual in the beginning where you meet and You already like when you watch American Idol or The Voice for example You know a new person comes in and you see right away Oh, that's gonna happen or you feel that there's something or there's not something I feel like in the first two three seconds when you meet You you actually already feel if there's a chemistry or not. It can be that people are shy and then

you are shy yourself and then the chemistry comes way later. But I believe that this is happening the most time in the very first couple of seconds. So with some people you get to know each other in a way, you don't even want to get to know each other. Sometimes it was always going too fast for me, to be honest. I had once a situation with a...

very unseasoned younger songwriter. And she said to me, hey, what are you up to? What do we wanna work about? What do we wanna write about? And she said, you know, my stepfather died like a couple of days ago, and I just wanna make a song out of, a song for him. And it was so kind of touching, but it was also, it touched me also how unemotional she actually talked about it. She said, hey.

Alex Geringas (46:27.598)

I want to make something commercial out of my terrible injury, you know, something like that. I didn't feel when we did Dark Side, I didn't feel like that at all because at that point when I was remembering what my girlfriend, my ex-girlfriend said to me, I mean, we were already apart like 10, 12 years. So it was not something which happened one day before, two days before. But you're in the business of sharing your...

Definitely you're sharing your inner thoughts and you always can make art of it. You know, you can say, yeah, there's a friend of mine, he had this story. So if you're uncomfortable to tell your own story, but I feel like songwriting for artists is always, it always has to do something with your own feelings, of course, primarily with the feelings of the artists you're writing for. And so, yeah, but that was the...

the beginning procedure always. Like you get to know somebody and with a little bit of luck, this translates in a song and with a little bit of not luck, it doesn't translate at all.

Alex Geringas (47:45.454)

Super tricky. Yes.

Alex Geringas (47:52.494)

Yes. Yeah.

Alex Geringas (48:12.814)

Hmm.

Alex Geringas (48:27.086)

Yeah.

I mean, also, yeah, you're right. And I feel the same. You know, like sometimes you don't even speak so much. Sometimes you just, you know, there are people who just don't like to speak and then you just go into the studio and you start work on the track. And then somebody, I remember when I met one of my best friends, Will Fuller, with whom I got Emmy nominated in 2013 together for writing a theme song for a DreamWorks show called King Julian.

When we wrote the first time together, it was actually working on this theme song, and I told him my idea. Oh, I have these thoughts. We should do that. We should try this. And then I went to the computer, and I was just like super passionately working on a super cool dance track. And then I turned around to him a couple of times, and I saw he was just on his cell phone. And I was like, oh my God, he's like so unemotional. Why is he?

He doesn't care, like what's wrong. So I turned to him and did a little break and I said, so dude, like you're like with your girl on the phone, like what's going on? And he just said, very modest, I said, oh no, I just finished the lyrics. Do you wanna see them? And he showed me his cell phone where he was writing the whole time. He was super, super focused and he was writing the lyrics.

He's a lyrical genius. He's also a fantastic rapper and just a super guy overall. But in this moment, I felt so bad because I was thinking that he was just distracted, but he was focused as something. Then we recorded that song in 20 minutes, and then we didn't hear anything. But then three months later, they called us and said, hey, you got the song. And there were so many submissions. And that exactly this work also...

Alex Geringas (50:24.974)

God, this Emmy nomination is just like so incredible. Yeah.

Alex Geringas (50:36.782)

Yes, so far away. Exactly, exactly. But that's also the fun of this particular story.

Alex Geringas (50:59.118)

It was exactly where the magic happened. Yeah, cool.

Alex Geringas (51:11.182)

Yes.

Alex Geringas (51:29.87)

Yeah

Alex Geringas (51:36.782)

I mean...

I mean, I'm living with Batman since I was a little child in Germany, who was like an only child and who was bullied when I was eight, nine years old. I was bullied for my body weight or, you know, I grew up in Germany, but I was not a German. So it was kind of, it was not that I was bullied of being a foreigner, but they let me know very, very clearly, you're different than we are.

And when I got bullied in these moments, I was always hoping that I had like a older sister or older brother or Batman who actually Comes to help and you know, like just shows those terrible other boys and girls who You know that he's he's by my side and that I'm actually you know That we're that we belong together. So he never came by the way

But I got some home myself. I mean, now I'm helping him a little bit, at least musically. So, no, but no, it's an absolute childhood dream of mine to score a show which contains Batman. And we also have the first Black Robin, which I'm super proud of because it's just like, we're living in a very diverse time.

Everybody needs to get hurt and we have a very diverse cast which Is so yeah Which which speaks literally out of the mind of the to show of the show creator Michael G Stern and our executive producer Simon J Smith who are both like super big minded people and just great great storytellers and Just to work with them on the show on a daily level. It's just

Alex Geringas (53:35.342)

just mind-blowing for me. But I must tell you, you know, I didn't get the show like right from one day to the other. I was pitching for the show like for four months, for literally for four months with revisions, with new scenes, with style changes, with, you know, I don't know, I never pitched so hard for a show. It was a relief when I was actually in New York visiting my manager and Michael.

The creator called me and said, dude, you got the job. I was like, I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. We're in season two right now, just started it and we have so much fun. And it's, yeah, it's one of the biggest dream jobs I ever had in my life.

Alex Geringas (54:30.126)

Yeah, that's true.

Alex Geringas (54:38.67)

Yes.

You know, it's funny. It's I literally.

I had the honor to work a couple of times with Hans Zimmer. And I was standing, I was sitting in his amazing studio and we were talking about like, you know, several things. He asked me questions, it was great. And when I got out of remote control, I realized nobody ever in the whole world will be the next Hans Zimmer, you know, just to assume that you could be the next Hans Zimmer.

is just a bad assumption because there will be only one. And you don't need to be the next Hans Zimmer. And then I realized I just wanna be the next Alex Geringus. And that's how I felt about Batman and with the history of all the music and all the others. I don't even attempt to get into the footsteps of Danny Elfman as much as I adore him.

as much as I adored the music of Christopher Carter and Lolita Ritmanis for the animated Batman. And there's so many really good, and I've listened and I'm telling you, I listened to them all. And, but I also realized, oh, that's so great. What these people did there. I have something like this in mind. Like I had really very, very fast theme in my head.

Alex Geringas (56:20.942)

And Michael G. Stern called me and said, hey, I have a new show and I want you to pitch for it. And then he told me that they want to bring Batman to the preschoolers. And in that moment, I lied to his face and I said to him, hey, my wife is calling me, can I hang up on you? Can I just call you back like in a couple of minutes? He said, sure, of course. So I hung up on him because I heard the melody in my head.

and the melody of the theme. I went quickly to my piano, just recorded the melody so I don't lose it. And then I called him back and said, oh, everything's fine. We had like some, you know, car organization stress with the kids, but it's all my wife handled that. So, and I told him recently the story. He just cracked out. He was just laughing so hard. But yeah. Yes, yes.

Alex Geringas (57:19.886)

Mm-hmm.

Alex Geringas (57:37.39)

Yeah, I'm not sure. You know, like for me, it was just such a need. I needed to do this. I needed, like it was for me already clear that I want to do this so bad. Like just from the first descriptions he told me about, but you know, as a songwriter yourself, you know, sometimes you hear a melody in your head. Like I, through all the years, I always have something near me.

to record what I'm thinking in this moment. If I would think about a melody right now, I would even like hang up on you for a second and just record it because I know that these melodies, I mean, I have my cell phone is full of terrible recordings which only I can decipher, you know, like when I'm singing like, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, like I know tomorrow exactly what this should be because I can connect it to the melodies which are running through my head, but.

And I'm happy that nobody else can because nobody else will ever listen to that and nobody else will ever destroy my career with that. But, no, but it's, in this moment, it was such a big need to do that. So, couldn't resist.

Alex Geringas (59:04.462)

totally.

Mm-hmm

Alex Geringas (59:11.374)

Yeah, totally.

Alex Geringas (59:42.126)

Oh, totally. I mean, we have a wonderful songwriter of the show that's Andy Sturmer. And he's actually writing all the songs together with Michael G. Stern, with Showrunner. I'm doing mostly the score, but I'm getting to work with all these songs. And I'm getting to work these into my themes and mash them up together. And that whole style of like that.

1960 Batman, Adam West, and this era was a big inspiration to my showrunners. They're both like, you know, this was like a big challenge to put this, I mean, very, very meanwhile in the adult world, very, very dark Batman, right? Like when you see the last movie, it was really, really dark.

dark, very dark version of Batman.

Yeah, but I really liked it. I really loved it.

Horace.

Alex Geringas (01:00:57.902)

Yeah, but to bring it to the preschool, it needed just to... You can't do that. Exactly. You needed to find, for example, like all my villain themes, for example, they have this very silly component, which the music in the 60s really, really had. Like I'm getting a lot of inspiration out of the 60s, not only the 60s Batman themes, but also...

you know, other 60s artists and 60s artists from Italy, from France, which are using a lot of their voices. And we ended in the, in my palettes somewhere between, you know, big orchestral John Williams influenced melodic, thematic composition mixed with trap and Korean pop. So it's, it's.

It's a very cool and fun thing to work on. I really adore it.

Alex Geringas (01:02:13.87)

I think... I think this... Yeah, like I said, the silliness is something which we add to the... like when you just see the villain scene and you don't have any music to it, for example, in our show, right? Then you see a villain who harms Batman or the Bat Wheels and who wants to, you know...

who wants to take away, for example, the light, or who wants to take away the power of the car or something as a metaphor for anything else. And in these moments, they are already, they are a little menacing. So your job as a musician or as a composer is to kind of, to kind of...

Alex Geringas (01:03:08.59)

to kind of add a layer to it, which... How do I say it? ..makes it just a little bit lighter. And in silliness, we found that element. So sometimes it has like... My villain themes contain just a sweet piano with a 40s influence or some bells which you would never hear in a...

in a villain theme. So I'm using sounds also, like synth sounds, which are more sweet and silly and stupid than hard and menacing. So I try to counterplay.

Alex Geringas (01:03:54.99)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And harmonically, for example, Toy Man's theme is very circus-inspired. And, you know, in the tradition of circus and clowns, clowns have such a bad image through it, you know? So there is a connection to the dark world. But, for example, a challenge was to find something for the penguin, because he's like the master of disaster.

in our show and Penguin is really brutal. So we needed to give him something which I think I ended up on something like a very Charleston inspired, bup bup bup bup bup bup bup bup bup bup bup bup, something, a theme which sounds more like a Charleston dance than a super evil Blowfield that he is in our show.

Alex Geringas (01:04:58.67)

Yeah.

Alex Geringas (01:05:05.358)

Yeah, we have a lot of fun in discussing and because Michael and Simon are so, you know, they're both big soundtrack lovers, so they absolutely love these discussions and they have so many ideas and so many influences. We just need to, we always like, you know, come back in a spotting session. There's so much going on and sometimes we have to tone it a little bit down and to understand, oh no, we don't go that hard, but we try to incorporate all our thoughts.

and it's really a great collaborative procedure. Love it.

Alex Geringas (01:05:45.102)

An episode, I mean, we have always like 10 days of time for...

for around 22-23 minutes of music.

That's.

Alex Geringas (01:06:09.454)

No, I have a lot of notes from the spotting sessions, which my assistant wrote down for me, and then I'm working them off one after the other. And sometimes I need to see a part of the show, like to connect it to each other. And yeah.

Alex Geringas (01:06:31.758)

Mm-hmm.

Alex Geringas (01:06:54.734)

I think everything is a different adventure. It's very well put because, and every show has the potential to become your favorite show. I think it's really, what I'm always interested in is to find out who the people are who are doing these shows. I feel like every executive producer has their own story and just to get to know them.

helps me so much to get more into their heads and to understand how can I help them to make the music they need for their show. So this is a very thankful and great procedure. That's why I think like every project, some people would say, you know, I'm thinking of like a Japanese martial arts comedy and I need like super brutal metal beats combined with the bells or whatever, what not. And I feel like...

This is something that animation can give to you just to create some music which you've never created in your whole life. And to do something crazy completely way out of the box.

Alex Geringas (01:08:24.654)

It's really a dream. It's like we talked about in the beginning, it's that this is called work is sometimes for me hard to understand. But I mean, I know so many moments in my job which are really work and which are very technical and which are based on craft and based on the time and investment you invest in yourself and in the work. But...

A lot of moments are just like, oh, I've got to create a crazy, crazy theme for a character called Toy Man and use spells I never used before and combine sounds which are only in my head. It's really a gift.

Alex Geringas (01:09:21.358)

Right.

Alex Geringas (01:09:29.518)

So, you know, back in when my manager and I were kind of like a two-man boutique success story so far, we found each other and started to work each other. And then instead of like parting at certain moments where other people part with their managements, we went in the other direction. We formed companies together. We realized we have so much more in common than just friendship.

manager and client. We have the same goals in life. We want to create our own music business, our own music empire. And that's what we are after. We realized at a certain point, I got so many pitches from so many different occasions where I called Johnny and I said, I just don't know how to handle this.

I'm not right for this one, I'm not right for that one. And then he very naively said, don't you have friends who can help you out? And I went like, totally. Actually thinking about it, yes, I do have friends. And then he said, why don't we make a business out of it? And we helped, one hand washes the other, we helped, we get them these pitches and we commission them when they get the job. So we started very easily turning this whole,

thing into a business and right from the beginning we had we asked great people we we didn't bind them like other agencies or like other publishers are binding their people we were not signing anybody exclusive and that's also you know I had very bad experiences with my former publisher which I had to buy myself out of my last publishing deal

And I didn't want any young people to go through that. So, I also what I offer, what I offer to a lot of people was, or what we mean while offer, it's like kind of a, not, I wouldn't say like day to day basis. Of course we have a commitment, but this commitment doesn't leave anybody like for two years unrecooped to our feet. And, you know, we can, we can possess everything what this person has.

Alex Geringas (01:11:55.406)

No, it's not like that. We have very simple deals. And if you say to us tomorrow, you don't want to work with us, then we say, okay, it's all fine. So yeah, it just became a passion to help. Also my friends from the music industry, like I'm friends with the head of music at DreamWorks or with the head of music at Apple. And we're like...

communicating on a daily basis and working together on a daily basis. And I realized they also are looking for young people the whole time. And it just became a passion just to present them people who Johnny and I love. And it ended not only a couple of times, it ended really a few times. And people are getting shows themselves which they never would get without our help. So that makes me super, super proud.

also makes me want to continue and do even more of that.

Alex Geringas (01:13:11.95)

Yeah.

Alex Geringas (01:13:26.094)

Yeah, I also saw it like, you know...

It's like to compare it with having so many Batman's and so many composers doing music for Batman, like what is my take? I think my take was always my own take. And Johnny and I do so many things different in our managing company than other people do. And I think it's about finding your own way what works for yourself and...

what you want to bring to the table. I never proceeded in this business to the next level by just doing what everybody does. I always was a little bit different, just maybe because of my ability to score and to write songs or being not an Englishman in New York, but a Russian-German man in LA. I always never really fitted into.

into, you know, 20, kind of, in kind of relationships where there's a lot of normality. I always was the guy, the left field guy somehow. And there were many years in my career where I thought it was a big mistake to go left field. But meanwhile, that's our absolute force, you know.

We don't work with an agency. We hire an in-house agent for our people. And I actually don't know any other company who does that so far, but we're doing it, so it's our way to do it. And yeah, it's a lot of fun.

Alex Geringas (01:15:13.23)

Exactly. Just do your thing. 100%.

Alex Geringas (01:15:22.67)

Only mean ones. No. No. I have a real reality one because a lot of young composers are asking me about like, oh, where in LA can I network? Like, is there like a place where I can come and we can just talk and just be like super like meet other composers? The problem with

Alex Geringas (01:15:52.11)

find a great connection to another composer or to another music supervisor, the second step is that everybody, after you being so nice to them and having great coffee conversations about your music, they actually want to hear your music. And when you don't have anything to show, then all the networking is just a waste of time because then you networked and you can't even show great music. So.

I always point on my keyboard, which is here, and I say, that's the way where you network. Get better at your craft first. Try to produce and make incredible music. Get the person who sits next to you in class or who's your neighbor. Get that person and get somebody close in to collaborate. And lose with this person so many times until you start to win.

and get better at what you do every day, learn, learn, learn. And then you have actually something to network. And then you actually can overlive to the second part where you can show your music and people go and call you back and go like, hey, I mean, our coffee talk was great, but your music is really outstanding. This is how you want a network. And I'm not saying that my music is so outstanding. I'm just saying.

that I try to be very cautious with whom I talk and what I do and I try that they only hear the best side of me. And that's sometimes so hard because I just don't know sometimes what my best side is at all. So yeah, I hope that helps.

Alex Geringas (01:17:48.238)

That sums everything up what I wanted to say. Totally. No, you're.

No, no, no, no, but that's exactly it. Just be better. It's so simple and it's so cliche, but just be better than everybody else. Done.

Alex Geringas (01:18:12.718)

Yes.

Alex Geringas (01:18:19.022)

Yes, it's a lot like I... I mean, every time I have great meetings with great people, I also know, you know, what do I send to these people so they don't lose the vibe about me? You know, it's really a hustle. It's really not easy.

Alex Geringas (01:18:50.734)

Thank you so much. Thank you, Brian. I appreciate it.

Alex Geringas (01:18:59.598)

Me too. Thank you. That was awesome.

Alex Geringas (01:19:09.23)

Sure, you can find me on Instagram with my name at Alex Geringes. You can also check my company, Rare Behavior. It's rarebehavior.com. If you want to send me a reel or something, music to hear or any inquiries, you can always write to rarebehavior.com. One of my employees will take the... Yeah, totally. Yeah, that's how you find me.

Alex Geringas (01:19:39.022)

That's so nice. Thank you.

I'd love that. Love that.

Alex Geringas (01:20:01.806)

It became a passion.

Alex Geringas (01:20:13.934)

Bye, thank you.

podcastBrian Funkmusic production podcast, Alex geringas, batman