A job at Universal Studios as a back lot tour guide paved the way to a position as the head music editor of one of Fox’s longest running television series The Simpsons. Chris Ledesma’s days of giving tours at Universal Studios Hollywood are behind him, but the experienced was very humbling and provided an opportunity to pursue a career in film music.
Chris, a 52 year-old- Los Angeles native, is currently a successful entrepreneur in addition to his music editor title. However, at the age of 26, his future did not appear to be very promising. At a sit down interview, adjacent to the Great Hall, located on Pierce College campus, Chris was delighted share the intimate details of his humbling life experiences.
In 1984 Chris and his wife Michelle were beginning to start a family. After working in retail for a few years he found himself out of work. Chris “wanted to find a way to pursue a career in film music.” “As they were gearing up for their summer season, Universal Studios would run ads seeking tour guides with the promise of working at the world’s biggest and busiest movie studio with the lure of a possible future in the movie business…I took them serious” Chris said with a bright smile. While an employed as a tour guide, Chris took advantage of many tours himself. “ I would spend every free hour I had after giving tours on the scoring stage observing, asking questions and learning.” Universal no longer has a music scoring stage, “but back in the 80s, Universal had over a dozen TV shows on network TV, all with music being provided by live orchestras” Chris said.
It was not long before an opportunity in his desired field presented itself. “The great pay-off came in 1988 after I had become a professional music editor when a former Universal music editor whom I had befriended was then working at a private music editing company, the boss was looking for new, young talent and my old friend recommended me. I got the job, and it was at that job that I started working on The Simpsons.” When asked about his overall experience at Universal Studios, Chris said with a big smile, “as the starting point for my career, giving tours at Universal was the best career decision ever.”
According to Chris, I was important to him to establish relationships with all of his Universal co-workers. “as a matter of fact, quite a few tour guides who worked there at the same time I did are currently successful producers, writers, composers and voiceover artists.”
Chris also conveyed the significance of teamwork, which he considers to be an intricate part of his job. “One of the tricky parts of building a successful career in music editing is that you must cultivate relationships with composers. Music editors are almost never directly hired by the director or the studio; the composer is hired, then he or she is asked who would the like to have as their music editor.”
When asked about one of his fondest memories of working with Emmy award winning composer Alf Clausen on The Simpsons, Chris smiled and said, “Alf is very much a friend, an ally a supporter and someone I admire…Alf came to The Simpsons in season two. I was a bit nervous that he would want to hire another music editor from the shows he had been scoring previously. As it turned out, he stuck with me and this fall will mark our twentieth year working together, that’s pretty memorable.”
Chris has enjoyed music from a young age. At the age of 3 learned to play the piano by ear. In the third grade Chris took formal trumpet lessons. I attended California Institute of the Arts, located in Valencia Calif. and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, located in San Francisco Calif., where he majored in Symphonic Conducting.
To unwind from his busy work schedule Chris often golf and travel with his wife. He and his wife Michelle have been married for 28 years. Michelle was very open answering questions about her husband. Considering Chris has been in this field such a long time, when asked if she finds his line of work exciting or at time boring, she laughed and said “a little bit of both.”
During his down time, he also travels to local college campuses to give presentations.
“I enjoy speaking to students,” Chris said. He recently spoke at Pierce College to a large group of students in the Great Hall. He came prepared with his Mac Book and gave an elaborate presentation on how he incorporates music to The Simpsons.
If give the opportunity, Chris dream project to work on would be “almost any of the great MGM musicals of the 40s and 50s, for example, Singing in the Rain, Easter Parade or An American in Paris.”
No comments:
Post a Comment