Speaker 1: And that's what you really missed with Jenna and Kevin
Speaker 1: and I heart Radio podcast. Welcome. I've put a little
Speaker 1: Tea and Stutterer in there for you. Welcome to and
Speaker 1: that's what you really missed. I'm Jenna, I'm Kevin, and
Speaker 1: today we have a renaissance man who um enlightened us
Speaker 1: with this conversation because there's so much we didn't know. Um.
Speaker 1: He is a master at what he does. He is
Speaker 1: absolutely incredibly talented and so so nice and kind and
Speaker 1: we were so lucky to get to work with him
Speaker 1: for seven years, so many years. And he's also got
Speaker 1: the wildest resume pre end postally from like the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: mool On Rouge, what else did he do? Everything? Anything
Speaker 1: they're singing in he's either singing on it or arranging
Speaker 1: the vocals are both. He's it's jarring. It's the one
Speaker 1: and only Tim Davis. Um. We find out so much
Speaker 1: stuff that we did not know. Um. He was with
Speaker 1: us um from the beginning and he you know, like
Speaker 1: the main job that you would probably tag him for
Speaker 1: is the lyric guy, which he sounds like he hated
Speaker 1: that just that because of the amount that he was
Speaker 1: actually doing. And I honestly, don't think they would have
Speaker 1: been what it was without him, just between like the
Speaker 1: background vocals, his the arrangements, his vocals, and his ability
Speaker 1: to manage us. I mean Tim, Like if you go
Speaker 1: to any Disney theme park and watch they're like big
Speaker 1: specials at night with all the lights and everything around
Speaker 1: the castle. Tim is either singing it or arranged it.
Speaker 1: He has his voice and fingers and everything that has
Speaker 1: anything to do with incredible singing. Yeah. He Everyone calls
Speaker 1: on him because he is truly the best. So please
Speaker 1: enjoy our conversation with the one and only Tim Davis. Hi, Jim,
Speaker 1: it's great to see you. Guys. It's so good to
Speaker 1: see you. We are excited to have you and share
Speaker 1: with the people what it is Tim Davis Um did
Speaker 1: on the show. I feel like a lot of people
Speaker 1: UM don't know about the young sung hero, UM, behind
Speaker 1: the scenes hero, the background vocal lyric master, color coding star.
Speaker 1: We'll explain what that means along the way. Tim was
Speaker 1: there with us every musical number, UM and then from
Speaker 1: the beginning and then behind the scenes you were also
Speaker 1: off with our incredible back you know, background vocal singers
Speaker 1: doing all the arrangements and everything from the for the vocals. Um,
Speaker 1: that's like the summary. Can you kind of share from
Speaker 1: your point of view, like what it is that you
Speaker 1: did spending your time only? Yeah. It started out Adam
Speaker 1: Anders is the music producer, and he called me and said, hey, UM,
Speaker 1: I need a vocal arranger. Um, you want to do
Speaker 1: this thing? And I said okay, And so we went
Speaker 1: in and we the first song was Rehab that we did,
Speaker 1: and I remember there was another Um, there was someone
Speaker 1: else who was who was doing it before Adam got
Speaker 1: involved and before I got involved. And uh, they had
Speaker 1: done probably six versions of Rehab and right hated each one. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so Adam called in and was like they had
Speaker 1: a meeting with Brian Murphy and he said, if we
Speaker 1: nailed this in one shot, then we got whatever. This
Speaker 1: is the series. The pilots, right, no pressure. Yeah. So um,
Speaker 1: Adams like, who do you know? Like this has to
Speaker 1: be high school students, it can't be like it needs
Speaker 1: to be edgy. And so I called probably twenty thirty
Speaker 1: singers and we came in to the studio and we
Speaker 1: just shot people out one by one. They would get
Speaker 1: in front of the mic and solo and we begin
Speaker 1: to booth and look at each other like no or
Speaker 1: yes or maybe or whatever. And we ended up with
Speaker 1: eight singers that night, um and Adam and I were
Speaker 1: both one of the singers, and we rehab We finished
Speaker 1: at three am. We mixed till five am. We sent
Speaker 1: the thing over and Ryan loved it and it was done.
Speaker 1: So you were bringing in like sort of auditioning the
Speaker 1: singers and recording and doing all of it all within
Speaker 1: the same day and night. Yeah, because you know how
Speaker 1: it is. You know how it is, and like how
Speaker 1: Ryan's like I needed by six am. But I also
Speaker 1: in the beginning too, it felt like there was just
Speaker 1: more time for these things because everyone was sort of
Speaker 1: figuring it out. But that was like that from this
Speaker 1: very beginning for you from the jump. Yeah, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: Well it worked out, because that is incredible. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: worked out. So we we did those, um, the support
Speaker 1: vocals for you guys, and then we started doing guide
Speaker 1: vocals for you as actors and so that you could
Speaker 1: quickly listen in the van right over to the studios
Speaker 1: minutes or less. And then just and um, it was exciting. Man.
Speaker 1: We did eight hundred songs in six years. And all
Speaker 1: of them like master quality, you know, like full records
Speaker 1: in eight Did you have the same background singers the
Speaker 1: entire time? I'm sure, like if you rotated out, but like,
Speaker 1: what did you have the same people I had? You know,
Speaker 1: our demo singers were pretty much the same people change
Speaker 1: mind changed throughout the trying to keep we did try
Speaker 1: to keep everyone for the guide vocals the same for
Speaker 1: you guys. So like I remember Kevin, you had Drew,
Speaker 1: a guy named Drew. I had had Chris Man, then
Speaker 1: I had Drew, and then I ended up having Luke.
Speaker 1: I had Storm for one of them for the Michael
Speaker 1: stuff I had, and I was just and it was
Speaker 1: so fun because I didn't actually know these people. And
Speaker 1: then you'd go and you'd get these guide vocals that
Speaker 1: Tim and Adam and all these people had set up,
Speaker 1: and it just felt like such a challenge where there's
Speaker 1: the acting and all that and the performances and all
Speaker 1: that that it's a challenge. And then you go in
Speaker 1: and hear these people where are so much better than us.
Speaker 1: They are incredible, I mean just unbelievable. And so then
Speaker 1: you'd get these demos like well, it's aspirational, it's not
Speaker 1: necessarily realistic unless you're Amber. And I remember remember being like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do that. I was like, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: you can do that. And I remember getting these vocals
Speaker 1: and like, for example, Luke and I would I didn't know, Mike,
Speaker 1: who is this Luke? This is so infuriating because he
Speaker 1: is so good, And we started doing all these runs
Speaker 1: and I'd be in the booth just sweating and saying
Speaker 1: every curse word I knew because I can't get this.
Speaker 1: But it made me a better singer. I think you
Speaker 1: guys made all of us so much better because we
Speaker 1: had to work up to the expectations that you were
Speaker 1: putting before us and these demos, because we had a
Speaker 1: certain amount of time, like you said, like thirty minutes
Speaker 1: to record a full song, and we weren't going to
Speaker 1: redo the arrangement because we couldn't sure. We would simplify
Speaker 1: it a lot of the time, but we weren't necessarily
Speaker 1: going to change the whole thing because we were not
Speaker 1: capable of getting it. Yeah. I mean, and who who
Speaker 1: is yours? Do you remember? Jenna Change? Remember Emily did
Speaker 1: some of yours? Yes? And then it was somebody who
Speaker 1: I think Missy May have done. It was Missy. That's right.
Speaker 1: It was Missy. Yeah, that's right, and I never I
Speaker 1: don't think you ever met Missy. That's the craziest thing.
Speaker 1: We would hear these demos, we'd know, these like phantom voices,
Speaker 1: which we would be like, I can't do that, great job, um,
Speaker 1: you sound great, um. And then and then we have
Speaker 1: all these amazing um you know, like support singers, background
Speaker 1: vocal singers who did all the backgrounds on all of
Speaker 1: these massive songs that you were a part of. That
Speaker 1: we like to take credit for that we were singing,
Speaker 1: but also on set, you were there making sure that
Speaker 1: all of our voices matched up to the recording that
Speaker 1: we were recording, to the pre record that we were recording. Also,
Speaker 1: you guys, because you weren't in look well, I think
Speaker 1: what many people don't understand is and what people are
Speaker 1: surprised about is you guys did not have the time
Speaker 1: to record all those background vocal parts and the groove
Speaker 1: vocals insanity. So we had to have those supporting you guys.
Speaker 1: And sometimes you do like a pass over over one
Speaker 1: pass over the thing. But mainly it was these yeah,
Speaker 1: in the very beginning and sort of abandoned it. It
Speaker 1: took a lot of time, right, We spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time in the studio. Of course we're not as
Speaker 1: those professionals. And yeah, North should you be because you're
Speaker 1: an actor an actor singer? Uh yeah, So, um, I'll
Speaker 1: give you a snapshot of my day. Yeah, that's what's
Speaker 1: gonna ask. I wanted to know because you have all
Speaker 1: the jobs you had to do and you were doing
Speaker 1: it every day, So what what did that look like? Um?
Speaker 1: I would get up and go straight to my dropbox
Speaker 1: at six am. All of the tracks by the way,
Speaker 1: all the instrumental tracks were being done overseas so that
Speaker 1: we could have this four machine rolling. The tracks would
Speaker 1: get put in my dropbox at like in the while
Speaker 1: I was sleeping for two hours, and I would get
Speaker 1: up and record myself in my studio doing all the
Speaker 1: parts of the of the group vocals. Um. It would
Speaker 1: take me to like nine and then I would drive
Speaker 1: up to calibasses, you ye, doing these arrangements and the
Speaker 1: harmonies that quickly still Yeah, but you know, it's like
Speaker 1: that is kind of my wheelhouse. It's just what I've
Speaker 1: always done. It's what I do well, and I and
Speaker 1: I loved it. That was the other thing. So I
Speaker 1: get to the studio in Calabasas around eleven, the other
Speaker 1: singers would come. We do a guide vocal or two,
Speaker 1: and then the other singers would come in a couple
Speaker 1: more hours and we do um like four to five
Speaker 1: maybe six hours of group vocals. It would be one song,
Speaker 1: would that be multiple songs? One song? Typically one song
Speaker 1: a day yow now tv TV recording sessions off camera
Speaker 1: recording sessions are only supposed to be four hours. But
Speaker 1: literally we would sometimes we would spend the night in
Speaker 1: the studio and sing through like when we did what
Speaker 1: is that by the dashboard light? Do you remember that?
Speaker 1: So yeah, oh um Paradise by Yeah, that took us
Speaker 1: like twenty seven hours. Oh. I'd go in and everyone
Speaker 1: you know East West and they have those rooms with
Speaker 1: the lounges with the couches, would just be like on
Speaker 1: the floor with their tongues hanging out and come in
Speaker 1: and hey, hey, hey, I need I need you, I
Speaker 1: need to I need to go in. Everyone else would
Speaker 1: fall back to sleep. It was kind of I mean,
Speaker 1: that was rare. But everyone's all single, no one like
Speaker 1: that's part of the the audition. Are you single, Okay, good,
Speaker 1: you have no life, you have no life, welcomed to hell.
Speaker 1: Yeah soo. So we would do that. Other days it
Speaker 1: was the same thing. It was usually four or five
Speaker 1: days a week that we would have this schedule. Other
Speaker 1: days I would be on set with you guys, showing
Speaker 1: you how the group vocals were recorded because you didn't know,
Speaker 1: showing you all the little different you singing oh oh
Speaker 1: and yeah. In the very beginning, I remember what was
Speaker 1: the pilot episode when I was like, we need a system.
Speaker 1: We can't just go in there and tell us they
Speaker 1: need something ahead of time. And so I came up
Speaker 1: from the dumb color coded it was not dumb, that's safe,
Speaker 1: and we used it every well, remember, yeah, we use it.
Speaker 1: By the way, outside of this, anything we've had to
Speaker 1: do post this, we absolutely do. The Tim Davis, the
Speaker 1: color coordination is the lyrics to the song. And then
Speaker 1: Tim would go in and break it down and say,
Speaker 1: like Tina and already were doing a song, right, and
Speaker 1: then my color would be pink and larties would be green,
Speaker 1: and each lyric that was sung by Tina would be green.
Speaker 1: It would be pink and then already green. And then
Speaker 1: if it's together. There was like a background color that
Speaker 1: was highlighted with the two of us, and then sometimes
Speaker 1: they got real complicated. But oh yeah, because there were
Speaker 1: eighteen people singing a song, but also because you guys
Speaker 1: were also learning lines for the next day, you couldn't
Speaker 1: necessarily like really no, so we'd be I'd come in
Speaker 1: the makeup trailer in the morning or the hair trailer
Speaker 1: and you go over it with you guys in your
Speaker 1: ear while you were being painted. It was fun. I
Speaker 1: remember once, um, because these backgrounds have been ingrained in
Speaker 1: my memory now where I'll be out in public and
Speaker 1: here one of the songs, not even our version of it,
Speaker 1: and I'll just automatically start doing the backgrounds. Like Home
Speaker 1: when christ and Channe had had to do Home. I
Speaker 1: remember we were in Long Beach and we were like
Speaker 1: in the cafeteria, like the real life cafege here wherever
Speaker 1: we were eating, and you came up to us and like,
Speaker 1: all right, everybody look at your lyric sheets and some
Speaker 1: of us were like yes, most of us were like no, no,
Speaker 1: we haven't gotten to it yet. And You're like, okay,
Speaker 1: so this is what we're shooting right after lunch. Here
Speaker 1: are the background parts, and you would start singing it
Speaker 1: out loud to us as we're eating, making sure like
Speaker 1: we know what we're doing. And I will never ever
Speaker 1: forget those backgrounds. And I and I also did not
Speaker 1: know that song very well. And but by the time
Speaker 1: we knew it was like when you didn't know the
Speaker 1: song really well and there weren't already like classic background vocals,
Speaker 1: you know, baked into it like a Sweet Caroline, where
Speaker 1: there were ones that like you had kind of created
Speaker 1: and crafted on your own that you're like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is new and different and really cool, like somebody to love, right,
Speaker 1: But you know, we didn't, we didn't know those. We
Speaker 1: didn't we we'd have to learn that as well. And
Speaker 1: then you know, we'd be worried about our choreography and
Speaker 1: what our faces were doing and what other lines we
Speaker 1: have that day. So additionally, like you were dealing with
Speaker 1: difficult people who are like, yeah, that's the last thing
Speaker 1: I'm worried about sometimes, right, And then I felt bad
Speaker 1: because it always be like you'd be there and you're like,
Speaker 1: you're there for us, for support, to make sure that
Speaker 1: we look good, right, And and I love you, Tim,
Speaker 1: And and I always knew that I was like, he's
Speaker 1: spending his time here. We don't even know the million
Speaker 1: things that he's doing off which you just shared, which
Speaker 1: is easy. The sur numbers, um, but then you know,
Speaker 1: like we did. Everybody was pretty impressed that, Like we
Speaker 1: were recording and you know, lip sinking to all of this,
Speaker 1: which is crazy. And I do have to say, like
Speaker 1: the lip sinking, I'm proud of how the lip sinking
Speaker 1: it looks good. You basically trained us how to properly
Speaker 1: lip sync with the breathing and all of that to
Speaker 1: make sure it looks legit actually sing right, yeah, a
Speaker 1: little bit, And if we didn't know it, we would
Speaker 1: put an arm in front of our mouth, or the
Speaker 1: girls would put their hair in front of their face
Speaker 1: and we would turn away from the camera. There was
Speaker 1: one number, um, I think it was, um, what's the
Speaker 1: Whitney song My Love is Your Love? And we're standing
Speaker 1: in rows and nobody knew these background vocals for some reason,
Speaker 1: and I feel on my back like and I hear
Speaker 1: like paper crinkling, and I'm like, what is going on?
Speaker 1: Somebody was safety pinning the lyric sheet to my back
Speaker 1: so that they could look at it while we were shooting,
Speaker 1: and I didn't know that. Yeah, and then I would
Speaker 1: do it to your backpack in front of the on
Speaker 1: the wheelchair. But yeah, I felt somebody like pinning a
Speaker 1: lyric sheet to my back. Tim tell us about the
Speaker 1: experience of being like around the show since you were
Speaker 1: there from the beginning as well, like how and then
Speaker 1: like the shoot up? And then I have another question
Speaker 1: follow up of like what your life was like after Glee,
Speaker 1: because I feel like all the movie musicals came out
Speaker 1: after Lee, and you did a lot of them. So
Speaker 1: I'm just it's a two parter. Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna rewind just the teat and go back to um,
Speaker 1: go back to At the end of the day, I
Speaker 1: would get home and Jimmy Levine was a composer on
Speaker 1: the show that did all the tradition cues, and I
Speaker 1: would get home and he would have a bunch of
Speaker 1: cues waiting for me to do in my box that
Speaker 1: we're due the next morning. Were you singing all the what? So?
Speaker 1: That was me and my wife and um Alvincia, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's you. Yeah. So I would do those like at
Speaker 1: midnight when I get home for like three hours and
Speaker 1: then send them to him. And then get up again
Speaker 1: and do it the next day that I have so
Speaker 1: many questions that we probably shouldn't talk about in public,
Speaker 1: Like I hope you were getting paid for each of
Speaker 1: these separate jobs. I was okay, good, he was getting
Speaker 1: paid more than us. He should be are you kidding? Ah? God?
Speaker 1: And to me getting paid? Do we get paid? I
Speaker 1: don't know. But the thing is Tim was doing all
Speaker 1: of that, and he showed up with a smile on
Speaker 1: his face and all the time. Do you remember a
Speaker 1: chick fil A? Times when I would bring chick fil
Speaker 1: A to set because you guys didn't have chick fil
Speaker 1: A in l A. And I had one by my
Speaker 1: house in Orange County, And I would come up that big,
Speaker 1: stupid like, I don't know what possessed me because it
Speaker 1: made you guys happy, it did. It really brought us
Speaker 1: a lot of joy. And then I stopped spending too
Speaker 1: much money, like I'm not getting paid for this, okay.
Speaker 1: So what was your question? Just your experience of like Glee,
Speaker 1: being around everybody, being on set, like watching the kind
Speaker 1: of thing blow up, like being a part of that
Speaker 1: just because you were there from the beginning as well.
Speaker 1: You didn't come into the monster, like you are part
Speaker 1: of the growth of the monster. I'll say this, Um,
Speaker 1: I was really um taken by you guys, with your kindness,
Speaker 1: with your openness, with your humility. M hm. You you
Speaker 1: really wanted to learn, you felt like it's It felt
Speaker 1: to me like you were like, I'm doing my best
Speaker 1: here to hang up. I don't I don't really know
Speaker 1: what I'm doing. I you know, and so. But but
Speaker 1: that was very heartwarming because when you come into a situation.
Speaker 1: I remember, okay, I remember the first day we were
Speaker 1: doing Don't Stop Believing on set and that was my
Speaker 1: first day and I came back stage and you guys
Speaker 1: are like, well, I said, you guys, that's not accurate.
Speaker 1: There are a couple that were looking at me like
Speaker 1: who is this? What do you? Please? Don't put one
Speaker 1: more person in front of us to tell us what
Speaker 1: to do. Um. But I was like, Hey, I'm Tim
Speaker 1: vocal ranger. What's a vocal arranger? Well, I no one cares,
Speaker 1: but I said, okay, so I tell you when your
Speaker 1: mouths are matching or if they're not okay, like okay.
Speaker 1: So then that was the beginning, and that was our
Speaker 1: introduction to you. You were just like the sync guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had no idea. No, you know what it was.
Speaker 1: It said on the call sheet it said lip sync monitor.
Speaker 1: That was like, yeah, you're the lyric guy, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we need the lyrics lyric guy, lys lyric guy. Um.
Speaker 1: So it was. It was really interesting. I remember also
Speaker 1: because I was kind of new to this world, like
Speaker 1: I hadn't spent much time on a set. I'm going
Speaker 1: to get a chair for video Village so I can
Speaker 1: watch you guys. And I go over to the to
Speaker 1: the chair wreck and a guy was like, hey, what
Speaker 1: are you doing. I'm like, uh, getting a chair. No.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, he said, I'll get it. I said, no,
Speaker 1: it's fine, I'll get it. No, I will get the chair.
Speaker 1: The chair, Oh my gosh. I was so scared from
Speaker 1: that point on getting in trouble doing anything wrong, touching
Speaker 1: like the popcorn at the craft service. Can I touch
Speaker 1: this popcorn? It was an education for me. But the
Speaker 1: things that I loved the most were like, I remember
Speaker 1: having a conversation with Corey. I love to ask people
Speaker 1: questions and talking with Corey I'm gonna say like the
Speaker 1: first week, maybe second week mhm um, and just asking
Speaker 1: about his background as childhood, asking about how he was
Speaker 1: brought up and he was so open and vulnerable, and
Speaker 1: m Um, it was it was awesome. It was amazing,
Speaker 1: you know. And you guys were so the two of
Speaker 1: you were so consistent all the time, kind warm, open,
Speaker 1: easy to work with, and that made everything so much better.
Speaker 1: There were times on the way home I would literally
Speaker 1: pull off the side of the road and break down
Speaker 1: crying because of the pressure and of the difficulty of
Speaker 1: some people on set. It was to have that massive
Speaker 1: workload and encounter difficult people on every level in the
Speaker 1: cast and the crew, with with producers. Um, it was
Speaker 1: a lot. Wow, it was a lot. And I think
Speaker 1: from your what you did, a lot of it went unseen.
Speaker 1: So you're dealing sort of like with this pressure that
Speaker 1: people don't realize and how many aspects of the show
Speaker 1: that you're dipping into to make sure it keeps running,
Speaker 1: and so all these people are asking things of you
Speaker 1: and they don't realize that, well, all these things are connected,
Speaker 1: and I'm juggling about eight different titles right now with
Speaker 1: like overnight deadlines on every single lyric. Guy, Right, you're
Speaker 1: just right, get a grip, Yeah, you just we can
Speaker 1: do this. We can do this without background book as
Speaker 1: we could do this without intro music and I could
Speaker 1: just go home. Right, that's crazy. Well, thanks for sharing that, Tim.
Speaker 1: That's um yeah, a lot of us, I don't you know,
Speaker 1: there's just so many unsung heroes lugly that like people
Speaker 1: don't realize how much pressure and you know, to deliver
Speaker 1: every week after week. Um, you know, like like even
Speaker 1: Zach Woodley like who never like you guys both like
Speaker 1: never complained, never had attitude, like just did your job
Speaker 1: and then had to manage, which we've talked about with
Speaker 1: Ryan a bit on the podcast as well, like people
Speaker 1: having to manage other people like you having basically coming
Speaker 1: in and being like having to teach us something, but
Speaker 1: people not knowing that like you're answering to somebody else
Speaker 1: saying they've asked me to do this for you. We
Speaker 1: didn't yelling at you because you're not doing it right,
Speaker 1: and then like you know, for Zach to have to
Speaker 1: manage eighteen of us in a room that are like
Speaker 1: I can't do that, and he's like, well, we're going
Speaker 1: to have to do this, you know, like I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: this is not I don't ask me, and like we
Speaker 1: you know, it's act like we had such a report
Speaker 1: because we were with him so much. Um, we'll have
Speaker 1: him on the show. I won't. I won't let him
Speaker 1: rebottle here being here. Um. But yeah, it's a a
Speaker 1: pressure cooker. But it's also like tim you have. I
Speaker 1: mean sure people can tell from the twenty minutes we've
Speaker 1: been talking so far, like you are so warm and kind,
Speaker 1: Like what you see is what you get. And the
Speaker 1: reason why Corey and all of us, most of us
Speaker 1: would open up to you and feel protected and um,
Speaker 1: just trust you because you are that person. You are
Speaker 1: just like a gigantic hug all the time, even in
Speaker 1: those most stressful situations like okay, just say these lyrics
Speaker 1: and everything's going to be fine and be all right. Um.
Speaker 1: And my one of my favorite things about working with
Speaker 1: you is because we were thrown together where you were
Speaker 1: just the lyric guy to us at first. Where I
Speaker 1: remember where I think you really shined was on the
Speaker 1: first Christmas album and you just got to like play
Speaker 1: because those arrangements are out of control. And I remember,
Speaker 1: for the life of me could not and we were
Speaker 1: sort of doing these harmony background parts for one of
Speaker 1: the songs I don't remember what it was. And you
Speaker 1: came into the booth with me because I was trying.
Speaker 1: It was it was like one verse and I was
Speaker 1: crumbling under the pressure, which happened alte and you you're like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm coming in there. And also you were not normally
Speaker 1: in the recording sessions, and so then you were in there,
Speaker 1: and it was so nerve wracking because I was like
Speaker 1: Adams used to me, sounding like complete dogshit. But I
Speaker 1: was like, I don't want to do this in front
Speaker 1: of Tim, like he's he's very good. In my head,
Speaker 1: my Tam has only heard the finished versions, so I
Speaker 1: don't want him to know that I'm And you came
Speaker 1: in there like, oh, this is fine. I've done this
Speaker 1: on so many movies with like I won't say who,
Speaker 1: like I did this on this movie musical and I
Speaker 1: had no idea, and I was like, who are you?
Speaker 1: Like wait, you were in the booth with this like
Speaker 1: megastar helping them, like you're helping me now. And I
Speaker 1: also like, can you sort of like before you did Glee,
Speaker 1: you were doing you had been doing this. No not,
Speaker 1: It's not normal for people to be able to wake
Speaker 1: up at six am and just start together arrangements in
Speaker 1: a couple of hours. Like, this is what you have
Speaker 1: been doing. You've been doing this a lot. You worked
Speaker 1: on things like Mulant Rouge and other huge musicals. Like
Speaker 1: what was your sort of road to getting to Glee?
Speaker 1: Like why were you the guy that Adam called up? Uh?
Speaker 1: So weird? Um let's see. I you know, I didn't
Speaker 1: sing until I was in college, so I didn't know
Speaker 1: really that I had a girl. By the way, go
Speaker 1: listen to his music, go down, He's incredible. Yes, thank you. Um.
Speaker 1: So I was a business major in college and I
Speaker 1: got a degree, but what in business? But what? I
Speaker 1: I read music? I was an instrumentalist. I played the trombone,
Speaker 1: very sexy. Whoa I know? So um, but I read music.
Speaker 1: And so some friends of mine in college were like, Hey,
Speaker 1: we don't know how to read this music in our
Speaker 1: jazz vocal group. Can you come help us with this chart?
Speaker 1: So I went in and I was like, yeah, it
Speaker 1: goes bad. And they're like, oh, you get a good voice,
Speaker 1: you should sing with us. I'm like, I'm not a singer.
Speaker 1: So they persisted. I auditioned, I got it. I was
Speaker 1: with them a semester and then I took the group over.
Speaker 1: No lie, I'm like, this is horrible by no, no, no, yes, yes, yes, goodbye.
Speaker 1: And I took the group over and we went to
Speaker 1: many national competitions and won everything. Anyway, I learned. I
Speaker 1: think I really love doing this. What would I do professionally?
Speaker 1: I can't, So I'm just gonna get this business degree.
Speaker 1: I did sales for two years after talking. I wanted
Speaker 1: to kill myself. I was the worst in the nation.
Speaker 1: I had the worst numbers literally in the nation at
Speaker 1: my corporation. Um, yeah, it was really bad. I was
Speaker 1: put on probation. It's hard to imagine you being bad
Speaker 1: at something. But also like, you know, thank god you
Speaker 1: weren't really good at sales because you maybe have never
Speaker 1: would have never done this. But think about like dunder Mifflin.
Speaker 1: It was a paper sales company, right, No it wasn't.
Speaker 1: It really was. And I was in a cubicle on
Speaker 1: the phone and they'd say, what why should why should
Speaker 1: we buy from you if we can get it for
Speaker 1: cheaper down the street. I'm like, you shouldn't. You should
Speaker 1: go down to the street. It's the same product to
Speaker 1: give it. That's how that I couldn't sell something I
Speaker 1: didn't believe in anyway. There was a uh my roommate
Speaker 1: from college was working at a church and this gospel
Speaker 1: group came through his church that was really great and
Speaker 1: that he they were looking for another tenor singer. And
Speaker 1: he was like, I gave him your number. They may
Speaker 1: be calling you. I'm like, okay. Well they called me
Speaker 1: and asked me to send them something, and I did
Speaker 1: and they were like, can you like come on the
Speaker 1: road six hundred dollars a month? And um, I quit
Speaker 1: my corporate job. I sold everything and I got on
Speaker 1: this bus and I was there for five years. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, early twenties, and um they just built a
Speaker 1: recording studio at their headquarters. And I'm telling you, I
Speaker 1: went in there every day and I just played, and
Speaker 1: I was like, this is my I am so happy
Speaker 1: if I never do anything else, this is all I
Speaker 1: want to do is just like record vocals. And I
Speaker 1: would stack myself up and you know, just makers an experiment.
Speaker 1: For five years, I did that, and then I was like,
Speaker 1: I started noticing background vocals on records and I was like,
Speaker 1: I want to I want to sing on records. And uh.
Speaker 1: Then I was the ones that I was listening to.
Speaker 1: All of these background vocals were being done in Nashville.
Speaker 1: So I met my wife in the group. She was
Speaker 1: a singer. We got married and I was like, do
Speaker 1: you want to go to Nashville because I can't support
Speaker 1: you on six dollars a month and she was like okay.
Speaker 1: So three months later we moved to Nashville. I don't
Speaker 1: know a soul. I get a job at a at
Speaker 1: a restaurant, waiting tables, and um. About five months later, Uh,
Speaker 1: this lady came in who worked for Curb Records, and
Speaker 1: she asked me for a demo. I came to her office,
Speaker 1: she listened for a second, picked up the phone, called
Speaker 1: the biggest producer in town and that I wanted to
Speaker 1: work with, Like he was on my bucket list and
Speaker 1: this job on this record. Uh. And he called another producer,
Speaker 1: who called another producer and literally I was booked for
Speaker 1: weeks and um, I never had to get another job again.
Speaker 1: Three years after that, I started. My wife was like,
Speaker 1: I feel like we're supposed to move to l A.
Speaker 1: M said, um, in what universe? Like, I don't know
Speaker 1: anybody in l A. And I was working a lot
Speaker 1: in Nashville. I was doing really well. Um, but it
Speaker 1: was the kind of thing where she really felt like
Speaker 1: God told her that we were supposed to do this
Speaker 1: and I resisted, and I resisted. I resisted. I was like,
Speaker 1: you're crazy. God's gonna have to come right on the
Speaker 1: wall for me, and God ended up making it so
Speaker 1: plain through other people's mouths. It was crazy. I don't
Speaker 1: have time to go into the story. But we ended
Speaker 1: up moving to l A and I was terrifying. We
Speaker 1: had a little baby. I didn't know how I was
Speaker 1: going to support my family. No, and um, we ended up.
Speaker 1: I ended up meeting this lady who hired me two
Speaker 1: weeks later on Spider Man. I think was the first
Speaker 1: film I sang on, and he just continued from there
Speaker 1: and then then two thousand, two tho nine, I guess
Speaker 1: or eight. It's when Adam called me and he was like, hey,
Speaker 1: it's Adam Ander's and I was like, I don't know you.
Speaker 1: I really didn't. I did not, uh And he said, no, uh,
Speaker 1: we you know we we met on that we we
Speaker 1: did that thing together. I'm like, mm hmm, no, you
Speaker 1: do not, and I don't know you are no in
Speaker 1: Nashville like, you you know my wife, Nicky Hassman was
Speaker 1: my wife. I was like, oh, I know, Nikki, we've
Speaker 1: somethingd wet together. We've done sessions together. Yeah, that's my wife. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we still haven't met. He goes, well, we're moving to
Speaker 1: l to l A from New York and I got
Speaker 1: a call for this thing, this pilot. I don't know
Speaker 1: what it is or if it's even gonna go anywhere.
Speaker 1: Do you want to try this? And I was like sure,
Speaker 1: So Adam and I joke because he brought me into
Speaker 1: this whole thing and we had never we I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: we've never met, we never worked together. But he like, wow,
Speaker 1: He's like, you're the only only guy I know in town.
Speaker 1: So you want to do it. He's like, okay, because
Speaker 1: you if you work with ten, there's no one, there's
Speaker 1: nobody better. So you clearly had left an impression as
Speaker 1: soon as you started working. You haven't stopped. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean now, I mean spider Man, Batman returned. Have
Speaker 1: you fee? It's like enchanted now? And obviously the prompt
Speaker 1: like Avatar, what Lord tell me about I mean Glee
Speaker 1: was probably a large part of your Glee was a
Speaker 1: large part of your life. But talk to me about
Speaker 1: um afterwards, like what what that was like? Have did
Speaker 1: it explode? Did it slow down? Like did it ever
Speaker 1: slow down? Like? What? Actually? Yeah, it did slow down.
Speaker 1: It it exploded during Glee because you know, uh, we
Speaker 1: wanted to sound like Glee. We want to sound like Glee.
Speaker 1: The Glee usual about so I was I was doing
Speaker 1: so many jobs besides Glee, um, which made me, you know,
Speaker 1: I had to I couldn't do the onset stuff like
Speaker 1: I like I did before, like the after the first
Speaker 1: couple or three seasons, right, And so that's when Luana
Speaker 1: came in so sweet, so so um. It was during
Speaker 1: that that it was like we basically we need the
Speaker 1: Glee sound. We need to Then when Gale ended, it
Speaker 1: was like anything but the Glee sound, right, crickets Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm like so yes. And then it was interesting. Right
Speaker 1: after Glee is when Jane asked me. Jane Lynch asked
Speaker 1: me to go on tour with her and Kate Plannery
Speaker 1: doing these silly little shows. It's incredible and you guys
Speaker 1: have been doing them since we did a Christmas record
Speaker 1: and we've toured that for the last seven years. I
Speaker 1: think I think so wait, well, yeah, but it ain't
Speaker 1: broke because you guys are if you again, because I'm
Speaker 1: sure they will, you have to go see them because
Speaker 1: it's absolutely every thing you wanted to be. It's so
Speaker 1: it's silly, it's funny, it's it's fun. I'm like the
Speaker 1: you know, Jane like talks about the Carol Burnett Show
Speaker 1: and how there's three people up there and I'm the
Speaker 1: I'm the schmarmie, good looking guy that doesn't say much
Speaker 1: and um, she's Carol Burnette. And then Kate Flannery's like
Speaker 1: the crazy sidekick. Who I mean, it's crazy, but it's
Speaker 1: so much fun. But our Christmas tour got canceled this
Speaker 1: this last year, but we're already looked for. They're back.
Speaker 1: So that's fun. And it's interesting because I thought literally
Speaker 1: after Glee kind of died and then things kind of
Speaker 1: bottomed out for a while for me, like I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe it's time to pivot. Maybe I don't maybe my
Speaker 1: days singing are kind of done. I don't know. And
Speaker 1: I was totally fine with that because I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, what I've done so much, I've I feel
Speaker 1: so fulfilled in that and I don't want to be
Speaker 1: the guy at seventy years old, going, now, why why
Speaker 1: hasn't Justin Bieber called me to sing on his right?
Speaker 1: Because I didn't see you know, you see some people
Speaker 1: who get so locked into their identity as a singer,
Speaker 1: who don't know how to let it go. And I
Speaker 1: didn't want to be that guy. So I was like,
Speaker 1: what what else do I want to do? And then
Speaker 1: I did the show boy Band on ABC and Personality
Speaker 1: and that was really fun, and I was like, maybe
Speaker 1: I want to do more of that. I got signed
Speaker 1: by a manager who died a year and a half later,
Speaker 1: and that kind of and then, um, I mean it,
Speaker 1: that's a true story, but really that happened. Um. I
Speaker 1: think it's such a key thing in our industry to
Speaker 1: diversify as much as you know, like I look at
Speaker 1: um uh well a bunch of different people, but like
Speaker 1: people like actors who will write a book, or like
Speaker 1: Jane really wanted to go on tour, like that's her
Speaker 1: most favorite thing in the world is singing on the
Speaker 1: stage and she had never done it before and so
Speaker 1: it was her like little dream and it's her favorite thing.
Speaker 1: Like I'll ask her, so, what's the favorite thing you
Speaker 1: did this year this say, like when we're on tour,
Speaker 1: like really this, I know you strings are so much
Speaker 1: joint and you guys are so good together. It's such
Speaker 1: a bringing it back to Glee for a second. What
Speaker 1: aside from Paradise by the Dashword, like what other songs
Speaker 1: like We're Really Hard for You, that Rhapsody and any
Speaker 1: of the Queen songs? Because I felt so um, it
Speaker 1: was incumbent upon me to get these arrangements correct to
Speaker 1: to what was originally recorded, because I didn't want to
Speaker 1: dishonor of the like Queen like the original arrangements are
Speaker 1: the way they rewarded them. I was like, how did
Speaker 1: they do? And And I remember Adam and I talking
Speaker 1: about this, and we were in the studio. We would
Speaker 1: do some vocals in the big live room that was echoing,
Speaker 1: and then we take a small group into the teeny
Speaker 1: like compressed vocal boot to get a different sound and
Speaker 1: go back and forth trying to figure it out. Um,
Speaker 1: those things really mattered. I've always felt like I wanted
Speaker 1: to be the most excellent what I do, um, whatever
Speaker 1: task I'm given. So this one, like any of the
Speaker 1: Queen songs, was a big deal. Then I remember another
Speaker 1: one that was really important to me was was Fades
Speaker 1: from the because Us as you know, I mean the
Speaker 1: grant is that the one I could? I think that's
Speaker 1: the one I couldn't think. I think that was the
Speaker 1: one I couldn't And You're like, I'm coming in, Why yeah,
Speaker 1: why is that one? Why was that one important? Because
Speaker 1: it's completely selfish? I just it was. That's so sentimental
Speaker 1: to me growing up and watching that film and being
Speaker 1: able to redo it. Also, I really loved the Christmas
Speaker 1: episode that you guys did. Um may have been the
Speaker 1: first first Christmas episode Judy Garland redo. That whole thing
Speaker 1: was magical to me, Like walking on that set and
Speaker 1: seeing how the set designers recreated that's set. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Um Yeah. Would you say that the Queen or the
Speaker 1: Fahoo Doris whatever it's called, is your favorite? Like do
Speaker 1: you have a favorite outside of like the ones that
Speaker 1: are most meaningful? That was just fun and that you
Speaker 1: still listen to on the regular. You know what is
Speaker 1: interesting and and possibly offensive to the two is that
Speaker 1: I listened to the demo versions the guide vocals not offensive.
Speaker 1: I wish that those could be released because there's some
Speaker 1: incredible stuff happening on those you know what you were saying,
Speaker 1: how when you did those arrangements, how you wanted it
Speaker 1: to be the best and you wanted to be accurate
Speaker 1: and to do the music in the originals justice where
Speaker 1: when we would go into record the vocals, I feel
Speaker 1: like in every department, like if it was Alex or
Speaker 1: Adam recording as they also wanted that. So they would
Speaker 1: make sure that not only were matching the demos, but
Speaker 1: we were matching whatever the vision was for this song.
Speaker 1: So it was always a challenge vocally, like for Bella Notte,
Speaker 1: were like take the verbotto out of your voice, change
Speaker 1: the tone in which you're seeing this, like how you
Speaker 1: say this word needs to be rounder as a and
Speaker 1: so everything was you know, I feel like we're working
Speaker 1: with the best of the best in all of these
Speaker 1: different departments, and so to be able to trust you,
Speaker 1: to trust you know, Adam or Alex on the other
Speaker 1: side of the booth telling you how to perform something
Speaker 1: because you knew just by experience that they were going
Speaker 1: to make this sound how it should and be the
Speaker 1: best of the best. It's true finding finding people that
Speaker 1: you have that you're like minded with to truly um,
Speaker 1: because you guys, know, you get into some situation it's
Speaker 1: like who cares? Just do it? Yeah, it's fine enough,
Speaker 1: is good enough? Like embracing mediocrity, Like it's just such
Speaker 1: a it's so frustrating to me. I cannot work that way.
Speaker 1: Find I remember telling Adam early on, I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, you're an anomaly because most music producers are
Speaker 1: instrumentalists and they don't know how to produce vocals. They
Speaker 1: don't know how to speak to singers, they don't know
Speaker 1: how to arrange, they don't know how to produce singers.
Speaker 1: Vocal producing I think people don't also realize is a
Speaker 1: separate thing. It is such a talent and such a skill.
Speaker 1: It's such a separate skill. But Adam is one of
Speaker 1: the few guys that had both and his brother as well.
Speaker 1: So um, I was just always so impressed because I
Speaker 1: can't do what Adam and we would have this conversation,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I can't do what you can do as
Speaker 1: far as instrumentally, because he's a fantastic musician bass player.
Speaker 1: What am I going to do bring my trombone out
Speaker 1: and making track? Yes, I think I think that's the
Speaker 1: that's the thing. You got have to experience that too.
Speaker 1: When you find people at such a high level that
Speaker 1: do what they do at such a high level, it
Speaker 1: raises the bar for you and it's it's so inspiring. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's you know, when we were tired and having to
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, we have our lunch break and we're
Speaker 1: having to record this song. But we didn't ever want
Speaker 1: to show up and not you know, meet the challenge
Speaker 1: of that song and let you guys down because you
Speaker 1: guys worked. We knew to a tiny extent, not the
Speaker 1: full extent of how much time and work and energy
Speaker 1: you we're all putting into every single record that we
Speaker 1: were doing. And so it did. It was inspiring. I
Speaker 1: got excited to go. I mean also for me because
Speaker 1: I'm like I come from music. I was very very
Speaker 1: excited because we got to work with people who cared
Speaker 1: and you know, go in there and like, no, this
Speaker 1: mike isn't right after ten minutes and they switched the
Speaker 1: mic out because and those little things meant a to me.
Speaker 1: And we've noticed those things and especially like working with
Speaker 1: people postally where embracing mediocrity is definitely like the thing
Speaker 1: where or they just don't know exactly well, exactly exactly
Speaker 1: the thing about we were so lucky at most of
Speaker 1: the people we worked with were at the top of
Speaker 1: their game, like even like Andrew Mitchell, Like you will
Speaker 1: never work with a steady camp operator like him if
Speaker 1: you're doing a musical number. Ever, He's just one of
Speaker 1: a kind. So it's there. We were so lucky to
Speaker 1: be able to work with everybody in each department who
Speaker 1: were at the top of their game, and we all
Speaker 1: most of the time tried to do the best work
Speaker 1: we possibly could. Yeah, sometimes we but the music was
Speaker 1: generally like the thing that I cared the most about
Speaker 1: because it was the thing I knew probably the less
Speaker 1: the least about, and so I felt challenged because I
Speaker 1: knew the least about it. I knew that I was
Speaker 1: going to be challenged going to the studio, not just
Speaker 1: kind of like throwing my crazy vibrato and musical theater
Speaker 1: tone on everything. It's like the recording studio is a
Speaker 1: totally separate skill then just singing on a stage. So
Speaker 1: that was we we cared a lot, I think about,
Speaker 1: especially about the music. Um So before we let you go, Jam,
Speaker 1: I want to know your least favorite song. Oh well
Speaker 1: that too, Let me think about that. Condoms are you
Speaker 1: asked what the fox say? Yeah, asked the good question.
Speaker 1: Jenna asked the good question, Well he thinks about his
Speaker 1: least favorite song? Um no, I was just curious. We've
Speaker 1: been asking recently. We've been asking guess like, what the
Speaker 1: what is the feeling that Lee has left you with
Speaker 1: over the years? Oh, my goodness, gratitude. I'm so grateful.
Speaker 1: I'm so grateful to have been put in this situation,
Speaker 1: allowed in a situation that used every tool that I
Speaker 1: had in my toolbox. Like I it was challenging seven musically, relationally,
Speaker 1: um yeah, personally, just like managing myself, managing my emotions,
Speaker 1: managing the people that were under me, managing the singers,
Speaker 1: managing the personalities. Um yeah, gosh, I grew so much.
Speaker 1: I'm just seriously, the biggest word is gratitude. I'm just
Speaker 1: so grateful to have done it and to met all
Speaker 1: the people that I have and worked at such a
Speaker 1: high level. There will never be another Glee. There never
Speaker 1: was anything before it, especially for singers in this community.
Speaker 1: There never will be again because no one's going to
Speaker 1: spend that money. That is very true, very true, and
Speaker 1: I just want to still a little like addition, another
Speaker 1: job that Tim had that I just remembered is that
Speaker 1: when we were setting up the first tour, I guess
Speaker 1: who was also there, Tim teaching us how that's right,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. He was there all the time. He
Speaker 1: did everything for his arrangements. Special memory too, is when
Speaker 1: we went to the Phillies game and you guys sang
Speaker 1: the national We just talked about that. That was really cool,
Speaker 1: really really cool that arrangement as well. Yeah, arrangement watch
Speaker 1: an Amber. Just we were just there to support Amber. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we really were, really we were just look cute. Uh, Tim,
Speaker 1: You're You're the best. It was really so wonderful to
Speaker 1: chat with you and like really good to see you. Um,
Speaker 1: super honored that you guys have me on this. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, you really couldn't do it with the sweetest soul.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for spending so much time with
Speaker 1: us and opening up. Thanks you guys, say hi to
Speaker 1: the fam for us. The sweetest man, the sweetest Thank
Speaker 1: you Tim for coming on here and talking And how
Speaker 1: how did he do that for so long? I honestly
Speaker 1: don't know. I'm actually really surprised. That the amount of
Speaker 1: time and the amount that he did, we saw something
Speaker 1: like just a of it. Yeah, exactly. And I feel
Speaker 1: and again like that was his attitude the whole time
Speaker 1: on during the show, Like you know, he never showed
Speaker 1: when he would break down and cry on the side
Speaker 1: of constant professional. Yeah, no, truly, And but he cared.
Speaker 1: You can tell he cared a lot. And he was
Speaker 1: having to manage a lot of personalities as well, definitely,
Speaker 1: And he was multiple people, like different groups of people
Speaker 1: from the studio singers and guide singers and the producers
Speaker 1: and us, and you know, that's a lot. I have
Speaker 1: to say. I'm sure you feel the same way that
Speaker 1: doing this podcast, being able to discuss at length with
Speaker 1: a lot of our cast members and crew members that
Speaker 1: how little I really knew about what everybody was doing,
Speaker 1: because yeah, and I don't think, yeah, like I knew
Speaker 1: to an extent of what Tim was doing, but but
Speaker 1: we're really not fully No. I feel like in my
Speaker 1: head I didn't even know he was doing the arrangements
Speaker 1: until the Christmas album because he was there well. And
Speaker 1: I also didn't know that he did all those um
Speaker 1: he was doing all the art, like the orchestration's voices,
Speaker 1: like the vocals on the intros and all from Jimmy
Speaker 1: like that's Tim also has a great UM podcast, so
Speaker 1: really good guests, Yes, incredible guests. So just go look
Speaker 1: up I'm waiting and consume everything he does. Um He's wonderful.
Speaker 1: Join us next week. Thank you guys for listening again
Speaker 1: and hanging out with us. And that's what you really missed.
Speaker 1: I took it. It's fine, Jenna, I took it in
Speaker 1: the beginning. So ye, thanks for listening and follow us
Speaker 1: on Instagram at and that's what you really miss pod.
Speaker 1: Make sure to write us a review and leave us
Speaker 1: five stars. See you next time.