Scott Hackwith (born September 3, 1968) is an American composer-producer-musician whose career has progressed from work as a professional guitarist and singer to recording producer and scoring motion pictures. Currently, he is the owner-chief creative officer o
Cassette Recordings
a Los Angeles & Reykjavik, Iceland based company specializing in creating original music for placement in films, documentaries, television shows and commercials. Hackwith has completed jobs for hundreds of major clients. Cassette Recordings with a composer collective in Los Angeles as well as in Iceland, represents some award-winning composers, and past associations have included

The Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

, and

Dave Jerden Dave Jerden is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer who has worked with artists in various genres including alternative rock, punk rock and metal. However, Jerden has stated that he dislikes the term "producer", preferring to refer ...

(

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

Janes Addiction Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands from ...

). As a songwriter-composer, Hackwith has both contributed songs and written soundtracks to numerous feature films, including the

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured "the concept of classic movie stardom". Throughout his career spanning over four decades, Washington ha ...

headlined '' Virtuosity'',

Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...

's '' Airheads'', the award-winning ''

Love & Sex ''Love & Sex'' is a 2000 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Valerie Breiman. It stars Famke Janssen and Jon Favreau. Plot When her rather explicit article on oral sex is rejected, magazine journalist Kate Welles is told by her e ...

'', starring Famke Janssen and

Jon Favreau Jonathan Kolia Favreau (; born October 19, 1966) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Favreau has appeared in films such as ''Rudy (film), Rudy'' (1993), ''PCU (film), PCU'' (1994), ''Swingers (1996 film), Swingers'' (1996), ''Very ...

an
Love is the Drug
starring

John Patrick Amedori John Patrick Amedori is an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Gabe Mitchell in ''Dear White People''. Amedori appeared in the film ''The Vatican Tapes'' (2015). He has also appeared in a number of television shows, including '' ...

and

Lizzy Caplan Elizabeth Anne Caplan (born June 30, 1982) is an American actress. Her first acting role was on the television series ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000). She received wider recognition with roles in the films ''Mean Girls'' (2004) and ''Cloverfi ...

Career

Born September 3, 1968, in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, Hackwith eventually re-located to Los Angeles where he divided his time between playing lead guitar for

T.S.O.L. T.S.O.L. (True Sounds of Liberty) is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California. Although most commonly associated with hardcore punk, T.S.O.L.'s music has varied on each release, including such styles as deathrock, a ...

, recording numerous home demos on a four track and landing a day job at Propaganda Films. Working behind the camera for acclaimed directors

David Fincher David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. His films, mostly psychological thrillers and biographical dramas, have received 40 nominations at the Academy Awards, including three for him as Best Director. Fin ...

('' Fight Club'', '' The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)'', Dominic Sena ('' Gone in 60 Seconds'', ''

Swordfish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfis ...

''),

Michael Bay Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget, high-concept action films characterized by fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of ...

(''

Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the Autobots and the Decepticons, two alien robot factions at war that can transform into other forms, suc ...

'', ''

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

'') and Mark Romanek (''

One Hour Photo ''One Hour Photo'' is a 2002 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Mark Romanek and starring Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Gary Cole, and Eriq La Salle. The film was produced by Catch 23 Entertainment, Kil ...

''). Hackwith's talent quickly propelled him from production assistant to serve as art director and production designer for their music videos and TV commercials. Nonetheless, music remained his primary interest and Hackwith reserved the evenings to either perform, write or record his original material.

Dig

In 1991, Hackwith formed the heavy alternative/grunge rock band,

Dig Digging, also referred to as excavation, is the process of using some implement such as claws, hands, manual tools or heavy equipment, to remove material from a solid surface, usually soil, sand or rock (geology), rock on the surface of Earth. Di ...

, whose debut EP Runt was issued by Caroline Records (home to

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

Smashing Pumpkins Smash may refer to: People * Smash (wrestler) (born 1959), professional wrestler * Moondog Rex, another professional wrestler who briefly wrestled as the original Smash, before being replaced by the above. * DJ Smash, DJ and music producer Art, ...

) and topped the influential

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

chart. After coming to the attention of record exec-manager

Gary Kurfirst Gary Kurfirst (8 July 1947 – 13 January 2009) was an American music promoter, producer, manager, publisher, and record label executive. Kurfirst founded Radioactive Records, whose acts included Live, Black Grape, Ramones, Big Audio Dynamite, ...

(

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

, Blondie), the band signed with

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gene ...

Radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consid ...

imprint. Dig‘s "Believe" single enjoyed success on

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

's Top 20

Chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

Billboard.com ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

and at

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, who aired the Hackwith-directed "Believe" video on the network's Buzz Worthy program for months.John Bush,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

As a producer

Dig played alongside the Flaming Lips,

, Red Hot Chili Peppers and many others, which led to some lasting alliances. The most notable include

, with whom he frequently participated in after hours jams (Pop even featured Hackwith's vocals on his

Brick by Brick ''Brick by Brick'' is the ninth studio album by American singer Iggy Pop, released in June 1990 by Virgin Records. Production and content After attracting mixed reviews for much of his 1980s output, Pop hired producer Don Was, who was a long ...

album), and The Ramones, who chose Hackwith to produce their 1993

Acid Eaters ''Acid Eaters'' is the thirteenth studio album by American punk rock band Ramones. Released in 1993, towards the end of the Ramones' career, the album is the band's first and only album entirely composed of covers. ''Acid Eaters'' forms a mu ...

, which

Spin Magazine ''Spin'' (stylized in all caps) is an American music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione, Jr. Now owned by Next Management Partners, the magazine is an online publication since it stopped issuing a print edition in 2012. Histor ...

called "the best Ramones record made in a decade." He also produced the band's retrospective sets '' Ramones Mania Vol. 2'' (2000), '' Masters of Rock'' (2001), '' The Chrysalis Years'' (2002), '' Best of the Chrysalis Years'' (2002), '' The Best of The Ramones'' (2004), '' Weird Tales of the Ramones ''(2005) and '' Greatest Hits'' (2006). Hackwith's numerous production credits, apart from all of Dig's albums, include

Beachwood Sparks Beachwood Sparks are an American alternative country band from Los Angeles. An article in ''The Daily Telegraph'' on America's underground psychedelic pop scene described Beachwood Sparks as "country through a kaleidoscope". Biography The band w ...

' acclaimed 2002 ''

Make the Cowboy Robots Cry ''Make the Cowboy Robots Cry'' is an EP by American alt-country band Beachwood Sparks Beachwood Sparks are an American alternative country band from Los Angeles. An article in ''The Daily Telegraph'' on America's underground psychedelic pop sc ...

'' album (co-produced with

Jimmy Tamborello James Scott "Jimmy" Tamborello, also known by his stage name Dntel , is an American electronic music artist and DJ. Aside from his main solo project, Tamborello is also known as a member of the groups The Postal Service, Headset, and Figurine ...

), live albums by punk spearheads the

Circle Jerks Circle Jerks (stylized as Ciʀcle JƎʀᴋs) are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California. The group was founded by former Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris and Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson. To date, Circle ...

Agent Orange Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the "tactical use" Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It ...

, and many more.

Composer

Hackwith subsequently became a full-time composer for film and television. Along with work for commercial clients, Hackwith's 2009 credits include composing music for the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

's Bone Detectives TV series and forthcoming documentary Raised in the Ring. Scott was recently entrusted with

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

's original multi-track tapes of the classic Jackson 5 hit “ I'll be There", and produced a re-mix for a

State Farm State Farm Insurance is a large group of mutual insurance companies throughout the United States with corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois. Overview State Farm is the largest property and casualty insurance provider, and the la ...

Insurance commercial.

Record producer and engineer discography

* Andrew McKeag Band - self-titled (2017) * Secret Agent - Pedro Pistola Piñata Party (2017) *

HORN Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

- 06-16-16 (2016) * GospelbeacH - Pacific Surf Line (2015) * Spiritualized - Sweet Light Sweet Heart (2012) *

For a Minor Reflection For a Minor Reflection is a post-rock band from Reykjavík, Iceland. Their self-produced debut album ''Reistu þig við, sólin er komin á loft...'' (which translates as "Rise and shine, the sun is up") featuring six songs lasting an hour in t ...

- Höldum í átt að óreiðu (2010) * Modern Cinema - Modern Cinema (2007) * Beandip - Dark Brown (2007) *

(2007) *

(2007) * Modern Cinema - Do Yo Think I'm Sexy (2006) * Only Son - The Drop to the Top (2006) *

- Greatest Hits (2006) *

- Weird Tales of the Ramones (2005) *

- The Best of The Ramones (2002) *

- Best of the Chrysalis Years (2002) *

- The Chrysalis Years (2002) *

(2002) * Lost at Last - Lost at Last (2001) *

- Masters of Rock: Ramones (2001) *

- Ramones Mania Vol. 2 (2000) *

- Life Like (1999) *

- Defenders of the Universe (1996) *

- Whose Side You On? (1996) *

(1993) *

- Runt EP (1992)

References

External links

Sweet Heart Sweet Light ''Sweet Heart Sweet Light'' is the seventh studio album by Spiritualized. It was released on 16 April 2012, on Double Six Records. Recording and release The band spent two years recording the album, in three different cities, and frontman Jaso ...

Artist Direct - Scott Hackwith

Dig
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Myspace

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hackwith, Scott 1968 births Living people American film score composers American male singer-songwriters Musicians from San Diego Singer-songwriters from California Guitarists from California 20th-century American guitarists American male guitarists American male film score composers 20th-century American male musicians