But at the end of the year, I was able to get a professional deck, and a synchronizer, and at that point, I was able to get the 24 track tape recorder, and the video deck locked up through a synchronizer, and it was like night and day: things got really easier. It became a repeatable thing, where you could rewind the videotape and everything [the music and video] starts where it should.
Ed: Well if there was a particular sting, or something you wanted to tightly match up with an image, how did you let the producers know?
Jan: I wrote detailed notes to the music editor, and we were on the phone constantly.
Ed: Did they Fed Ex you an episode each week? How did you send the finished music back?
Jan: Well, once the series got into its run, Fed Ex was not fast enough, so we had to actually use couriers. And couriers would bring me the video, and then once I was done, I would call up, and they would come pick up and take it to the next plane to L.A. Because Fed Ex was just too late.
I think these days, you can get Fed Ex to pickup and deliver like a courier service, but was not available in 1984.
Ed: Around the third season, there were several episodes that featured a great sounding acoustic guitar sample. How was that created?
Jan: I don't know who created it, but I got it from Fairlight. It was from their library [of samples], and I use it to this day. And I have tons and tons of other guitars sampled at a much higher bit rate and everything, but that one is just wonderful. Actually, it's not that low in quality, because it was from the Fairlight Series Three, so it was 16 bit at that point. So it is a high quality sample, and it's just very organic, and responds to playing-to nuances from [keyboard] playing so well. So I was able to use it, and again I use it to this day.
Escape from Television
Ed: You left the show in the middle of the fourth or fifth season. What made you decide to leave?
Jan: I wanted to leave after the third season. Again, there was another producer who was running the show, and I was getting sort of burned out. I was approaching episode #66 at this point, and you get drained. But also, I was not happy with the mixes, the music was sometimes buried, where it never was before-it was really featured, in the second season, especially. In the third season it got a little spotty. So I just said "enough".
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Hmmm... really bad movie. A Night In Heaven or Gimme An 'F'? From the reviews, it appears either one might qualify.
2 - Michael King
I'll simply include the review of the Miami Vice set that I posted to Amazon.com:
This is the soundtrack album for "Miami Vice" that should have been released 15 years ago.
It contains most of the music from Jan Hammer's defacto "Miami Vice" score, "Escape from Television" on disc 1, but the real treasure is on disc 2 - nearly all of the music there is previously unreleased in the US, and conveys the flavor of the quintessential 80's television series.
You know the story by now, but the style of "Miami Vice" set the stage for action television and movies of today. Jump cuts, strong musical tracks, noir-driven sequences; all mainstays of contemporary shows like "CSI" and "ER" have "Miami Vice" to thank for setting the table.
This set lets you feel the wind in your hair, hear the roar of the Ferrari motor and recall the question: "How would you like a career in Southern law enforcement?"
3 - A. Farrow
This Is a Very Good Jan Hammer Interview That Was Done Here On This Webpage!!,I've Been Following The Career of Jan Hammer Ever Since I Started Tuning Into Miami Vice Back In 1985 When The Show Was Ending It's 2nd Season and I Was Very Happy When I Found Out That He Released a 2 CD Set W. Some of The Instrumentals That He Did for The Series When He Was Scoring from 1984 to 1988!!.I'm Hoping to See More Stuff of Jan's In The Near Future Maybe Even Another MV CD Revival as Well!!.There's Been Some Talk About A Movie Version of Miami Vice and If It Is I'm Hoping That They'll Get Jan to Do The Film Score as Well!!
4 - Ed Driscoll
A. Farrow,
Thanks for the kind words--glad you liked the interview!
Ed
5 - Amador
The best interview I ever read about the legendary Jan Hammer!!