We hooked up with Ben to learn more about his work with music for film and TV, as well as what having a great studio monitor system means for his productions.
Music has been a key part of Ben Zebelman’s life since age 5 when he started taking classical piano lessons. And the love for music not only stuck – it grew. There was, however, another dimension to this world that Zebelman had always been drawn towards.
Even as a child he was curious with how amazing professional recordings sounded and loved to play around with the Treble and Bass controls on his dad’s stereo. Growing up in Rochester, NY, there were great studios around and Ben simply knew that somehow he just had to be a part of this world of music and sound.
As is so often the case, the high school years turned out to be very defining for Ben. Early on, he was introduced to jazz music, and according to Ben jazz improvisation is quite similar to composing – but in realtime. A composer seed had been planted.
But before composing, a period of ‘reverse engineering’ and ‘learning by doing’ played an important part. His parents got him a Korg M1 keyboard with a built-in sequencer and Ben would use it to remake every single pop song he could think of – and afterwards he would take it apart and completely re-arrange them.
Also adding fuel to the fire was the fact that Ben’s Jazz band teacher, Bill Tiberio, allowed him to borrow old Oberheim and Ensoniq keyboards from the school, and combined with his Korg M1, Cakewalk installed on the family PC, a Peavey KB60 amp and a Radio Shack line mixer it was time to make some music and get to learn how the gear really worked.
Now the path was set, and eventually Zebelman graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in music. Next challenge was to find out how exactly to make a living of his passion for music, composing and producing.