The story
Brian Banks, has been playing the piano since the age of five and has been immersed in the Los Angeles music scene all of his life. After graduating from Cal State Northridge with a Bachelor of Music degree, he immediately found himself in demand, working in records and music for films. His musical talents coupled with his mastery of cutting edge technology led to work with LA’s hottest artists. On Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” he programmed and played synthesizers – especially the Synclavier. This amazing computer synthesizer laid the groundwork for all of the computer-based workstations we rely on today like Avid, ProTools, Digital Performer, and Logic. He followed that success working with Quincy Jones and Steven Spielberg on “The Color Purple.” Another of his long-standing creative relationships was with Giorgio Moroder. Together, they worked on films such as “Cat People,” where he also worked on the hit “Putting out the Fire” by David Bowie, “Over the Top” starring Sylvester Stallone featuring work on the songs “Winner Takes it All” by Sammy Hagar and “Meet Me Halfway” by Kenny Loggins and “Let it Ride,” directed by legendary commercials director, Joe Pytka, and starring Richard Dreyfuss.
Scoring Films
The next logical step was to start scoring films. Brian started writing additional music for films like “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” starring Steve Martin and John Candy, “Stakeout,” starring Richard Dreyfuss, and Emilio Estevez, and “The Best of Times,” starring Robin Williams and Kurt Russell. He then continued by scoring many films including “Young Guns”, starring Emilio Estevez, and “Internal Affairs,” starring Richard Gere and Andy Garcia.
Not content to stay at the forefront of records and film music, Brian launched LA based music house, Ear to Ear. He bucked the trend of huge Jingle Houses with “In-House” staff, and chose the route of collaborating with the best composers that Hollywood had to offer. Always experimenting, he was among the first to run Trans-Atlantic recording sessions over the internet utilizing private broadcasts – years before SKYPE – and now they are part of his daily routine bringing together the best composers and artists from the US and the UK.
Some of his most memorable spots include the iconic “This is Your Brain on Drugs,” The “California Anti-Smoking” campaign, which launched the change in attitudes regarding smoking throughout the US and the Western World, several Anheuser-Busch “Bud-Bowl” campaigns, and the IBM “Blue Letterbox” campaign.
Along the way Brian has created music for countless brands including 3M, Allergan, American Express, Apple, Arrow Electronics, AT&T, Bank of America, BMW, Boeing, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Campbell Soup, CBS, Chevron, Chrysler, Cisco Systems, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, DirectTV, Dole Food, DuPont, FedEx, Ford, Gap, GE, GM, General Mills, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, J.C. Penney, J.P. Morgan/Chase, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg, Kodak, Kraft, Lexus, Lockheed Martin, Macy’s, Mars, MasterCard, Mattel, McDonalds, Microsoft, Monsanto, Motorola, Morgan-Stanley, Nike, Nissan, Northrop Grumman, PepsiCo, PG&E, P&G, Qualcomm, Sara Lee, Sears, Sprint, Stanley Black & Decker, Staples, SunTrust Banks, Time Warner, Toys’R’Us, Toyota, U.S.Bancorp, Verizon, Visa, Walt Disney, Wells Fargo, Whirlpool, Xerox, Yahoo, and Zycam.