Hollywood Composer Max DiCarlo On Scoring Movies, Working With Disney, His Pop Music Fame In Italy, Life In Films & Keeping It Real
By Meryana Tamera
We’re so happy to welcome veteran Hollywood Film Composer MAX DiCARLO to the RADIOSPARX couch. We’re absolutely thrilled to have him here with us. MAX DiCARLO, thank you for joining us, and how awesome is it that we’ve managed to catch up with you in between your Hollywood composing projects.
Here’s Max’s brief bio so you can see why we are such huge fans of this Hollywood composing icon! As well as being an in-demand Hollywood composer, Max DiCarlo has been with AUDIOSPARX for 15 years, and has over 255 tracks with us, available for licensing — rights-cleared — for your media productions, via a simple click on our website.
He’s also featured on many of our RADIOSPARX playlists, which our business clients access with their affordable subscription plans. So if you want a bit of MAX DiCARLO, you can get him — rights-cleared — no stress — with a subscription at RADIOSPARX.
“Italian Composer and Producer Max DiCarlo is blazing an international trail, scoring movies for Disney and Lionsgate, with placements on Oprah, Ugly Betty, Everyone Hates Chris, and All My Children. A multi-instrumentalist scoring Italian films, TV shows, and fashion commercials, Max’s compositions are on Sony and EMI albums, and he has composed, arranged, and produced music for global icons such as ELTON JOHN, and produced a slew of multi-platinum albums for many Latin American stars.”
Max, while our readers are taking in the details of your impressive bio, we’ll play one of your POP tracks, called “SHE IS”. Readers can listen to “SHE IS” by MAX DiCARLO here while they join us for the interview.
RADIOSPARX: Welcome Max, it’s so good to have you here with us. Before we start, I want to state here that your IMDB profile is MEGA, listing 36 — yes — that’s THIRTY SIX movies you’ve scored the music for, and 7 — that’s seven — upcoming — in various stages of production. That’s some impressive composition list.
MAX DiCARLO: Thanks Meryana and RADIOSPARX, it’s great to be here, and yes — the IMDB list is nice for me to see, all my hard work has paid off, but my relationship with AUDIOSPARX inspired me to start composing back in 2008, and I’ll always be grateful to you guys for that. Back then, I was writing POP songs, and getting successful with that. I was lucky to sell vast amounts of my songs, back in the day. Then in 1987 I moved to America. I produced an album with GIORGIO MORODER and soon I started to produce and write music for LATIN stars., writing DANCE MUSIC, CUMBIA, REGGAE AND CUBAN MUSIC!!
But I had this deep, everlasting passion for symphonic music and this passion drove me away from the POP world, although I have just finished producing two albums for ROCK star, DIRT MILLER.
RADIOSPARX: Amazing Max, tell us about moving from working with POP STARS to scoring movies. Did an agent help you get these jobs in Hollywood, or did you just charm your way onto the scene?
MAX DiCARLO: Ha, ha. Back then, when I moved away from working with Pop Stars and writing POP, to writing orchestral scores, I did it because I needed to be true to myself. I love orchestral film music and I had the skill, so I decided to make the move. Writing POP music was kind of fun and the money was good, but it wasn’t where my passion was.
I have always refused to work with agents, whose conditions are more favorable to them than me — ha ha. I have the personality to get out and meet people and I get on with everyone, famous or not famous. I know how to socialise and be nice to everyone, so I guess I am good with people and I can tell who is nice, and who I want to work with, so that made it easy to make contacts and get contracts in the film industry.
It’s funny because when I started with AUDIOSPARX, the feedback I got on how to promote myself helped push me out there. And my love for pure, orchestral music has always been my quiet obsession, my gift to the world, but it’s something that I am humble about. I never brag about what I do. I just do it, and I love it.
RADIOSPARX: Wonderful Max. We’re so glad we have helped you, and yes, knowing how to suss out a crowd is key to making connections and you’ve obviously got a bit of a gift for that. Maybe it’s about being Italian — we all know how much Italians love to flirt with people. Tell us a little bit about working on the 2022 film HIGH HEAT which stars Olga Kurylenko and Don Johnson and directed by Zach Golden with its screenplay by James Pedersen.
MAX DiCARLO: Ha Ha — yes, Meryana, we Italians just love life, and if you want to call that flirting, I’m fine with that.
HIGH HEAT was a fantastic film to score for, because the energy and vibe of its director Zach Golden, was so good. He’s young — well a lot younger than me — ha ha — and he was really fun to work with. No stress, just completely in synch together. Zach obviously liked the way I worked and we became good friends. So it ended up with me feeling like I was his Granddad — ha ha — we were very close and that created a lovely working atmosphere. I got him and he got me. It’s always lovely when this happens; directors and composers work very, very closely so we need to get on, and we need to develop that special relationship for the sake of the film. We need to understand each other. It was very easy with Zach because he’s such a great guy with an amazing vision.
RADIOSPARX: Oh wow Max, Zach Golden sounds like the perfect film director, one you can work closely with. We love the music you wrote for it. Congratulations. Tell me a bit about working with DISNEY and your collaboration with the company.
MAX DiCARLO: Thanks, your congratulations mean a lot to me. I first came across the Disney Corporation when I was working in the POP world in the late 1980s, in California. Disney is one of the most diverse and engaged companies I know, with so many projects going on at one time. They live and breathe entertainment and they are based close to me in Burbank, California.
I started with the placement of my music on their shows and films over the years. Later I scored a documentary about Walt Disney in Italy and everything that influenced him there. The film is called — Walt Disney in Italy — A Story Of Love. The documentary became pretty popular; it’s a lovely story!!!
RADIOSPARX: That’s so gorgeous Max. We love hearing about all the films you’ve scored for. Tell me, is it easier to score films today than it was when he began your career as a composer? And what are the differences today from what you experienced when you were starting out?
MAX DiCARLO: That’s a great question. When I first started out as a young composer, back in the 1980s, there was a lot of confusion about how it worked. Composers would ask those questions, and I was like that too — how should we deliver the soundtrack, how should we format it, should we really be bold with our compositions — strive to make bold statements with our music, or just be more conservative with our interpretation of the film plot.
We didn’t know whether we should take risks as musical composers, tally to every whim the director shot at us, put up with being pushed around by the director or the producer. None of this was clear to me back then or to my fellow composers.
As I became more experienced I knew that I just had to be myself in everything, that this was all that counted.
When I compose film scores now I am totally myself and I take my vision through to the limit of what the director and producer wants. When I stop worrying about what other people think I relax and my work feels totally right. Luckily the director nearly always agrees!
RADIOSPARX: And it’s your naturalness and your skill with people and music that helps you Max, giving you the edge. That’s just fantastic! I wanted to you next about your childhood, about you growing up, about your nationality, the languages you speak.
MAX DiCARLO: Great questions. Of course — yes — I was born in Rome, in Italy. I grew up and went to school there. I went to university there too, and then got a Master’s Degree in the Italian Language and then completed ten years at the Conservatory of Music in Santa Cecilia where I studied the classical guitar, the cello, orchestration, composition and piano!!
I decided to move to America and I arrived in Los Angeles in 1987. I am still here!! I speak Italian, Spanish and English.
It’s funny because no one in my family is a musician. At around the age of 12, I found I had this ‘talent’ for recognizing musical notes without knowing their names or anything about their meaning or timing. It was all just an instinct. I found that really inspiring and knew I had to learn more. Then one day my father one day bought me a guitar and that was it; my life’s path was sealed — forever. I knew it straight away. I composed my first song at 13-years-old, and today is still part of my “Symphonia Americana” track!!! Despite studying for 10 years at the Conservatory Of Music in Rome, all of my compositions come from my soul — not from my academic training.
RADIOSPARX: That’s so interesting Max — that none of your family are musicians. I guess it’s a special thing when you get that feeling that your life must be about music. I want to ask you a few more questions before we leave you to get back to your composing. How do you get inspired to write music, and how does your song writing develop to the finished product?
MAX DiCARLO: That’s a very intriguing question!! Most of the time the music just comes to me and I never really know why. I know that sounds like a strange answer for someone who’s been doing this for so many decades, but I do compose music with my heart and soul. It’s a hard question to answer really. When you think about it, I was working for 20 years in the POP industry, writing and producing NUMBER ONE HITS for famous and not-so-famous artists. Of course I get influenced by other musicians. In terms of POP, I was always influenced by the BEATLES and the ROLLING STONES. With FILM SCORING, my influences are definitely ENNIO MORRICONE and JOHN WILLIAMS.
RADIOSPARX: Fab Max. We hear you. How do approach the business side of your composing life?
MAX DiCARLO: Another great question. Very rationally, is the answer. I’m always on top of my rights as a creative. The more experienced I got, the smarter I became. Today I own the rights to the 10,000 pieces of original music that I have composed!!
RADIOSPARX: Good to know Max. Please list the musical equipment you use and please tell us their brand names.
MAX DiCARLO: I use a Mac M1 Studio Pro, Cubase Pro, ProTools, and hundreds of bits of software which include a few sample packs such as Lass, Opus, Kontakt and Spitfire.
RADIOSPARX: What would you advise a young person getting started in the music industry? How can they be different yet authentic in an overcrowded yet amazing industry?
MAX DiCARLO: I love this question. I wish I had been able to have this conversation with someone when I was 21. I will give you a five-point answer, but it’s up to every person to come up with their own plan. Still if I can help others, I am really happy.
First: Be Realistic.
Second: As soon as you can, get to know the very inside of you and find out if you are genuine or just a copy or a clone. If you are a copy, then do something else. The music business ONLY needs originals.
Third: prepare yourself for constant rejection. If you are unique and original this will shine through. If you are not that way, that will shine through too — and not in a good way.
Fourth: unless you get lucky, be prepared for a tough life. The Arts is the most difficult environment to make money from. Humans always buy food, cars, houses, before they buy music or art. Be Aware!!!
Fifth: Network, network, network. Be a social animal. Get to know the psychology of other humans, how they function and never be afraid to ask for opportunities outright!! Someone can only say NO. And ‘NO’ does hurt you, it teaches you.
RADIOSPARX: Sound advice Max. What do you think of AI in music? Do you advise musicians to embrace AI?
MAX DiCARLO: Definitely. AI can be my assistant, my copyist, or maybe my orchestrator. AI might eventually be my cappuccino maker!! Haha!! I’m open to anything the future has to offer us.
RADIOSPARX: Thanks Max. You do make me laugh. We love your answers and the way you inspire us with how you work. Thanks for sharing your memories and your work experience. It’s tough out there, but what we take from this interview, for others who are starting out in the game, is that you need to network and make as many connections as you can, and not be afraid to be the very best authentic version of yourself. Then you stand a chance. We wish you the very best with your future projects, and hope the sun continues to shine on you.
Check out Max DiCarlo on AUDIOSPARX here.
And on RADIOSPARX here.
‘In Conversation’ is the RADIOSPARX magazine on MEDIUM. Check out the RADIOSPARX — About Us Video here — Change Your Music, Change Your Life with RADIOSPARX.
