# Scoring Family Guy



## bryla (Apr 28, 2018)

Just saw this little documentary on Walter Murphys workflow. Maybe not something groundbreaking but very interesting.


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## Gerd Kaeding (Apr 28, 2018)

Thanks for sharing !

I want to add here that Seth MacFarlane (Producer/Creator) seems to really care about music ; I mean about good and solid traditional score music ; and he is _willing_ to spend money on live recordings . 
It is good to know that there are still Producers out there , who are willing and able to maintain a creative environment for music . 

( Have you watched MacFarlane's latest Production "The Orville" ( Score: Bruce Broughton ( Theme + Episode#1 ) ; John Debney ; Joel McNeely ; Andrew Cottee ) ? Wonderful solid Score / Orchestration .)

Best-


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## BenG (Apr 28, 2018)

Love Murphy's work and really cool seeing him go through his sketches, mockups, recordings! Really appreciate you posting this!


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## patrick76 (Apr 28, 2018)

Gerd Kaeding said:


> Thanks for sharing !
> 
> I want to add here that Seth MacFarlane (Producer/Creator) seems to really care about music ; I mean about good and solid traditional score music ; and he is _willing_ to spend money on live recordings .
> It is good to know that there are still Producers out there , who are willing and able to maintain a creative environment for music .
> ...



Absolutely. Check out his thoughts on film music (John Williams specifically) here at the AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards. This is the only video I could find of it on youtube.... poor quality, but you get the idea.


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## bryla (Apr 28, 2018)

Great video clip! Amazing that he speaks these points to the wider audience than composers.

Haven't seen any of MacFarlanes other shows but I'm addicted to Family Guy and love Murphys work. I would love an album on just his establishing shot cues.

I stumbled upon Murphys comment that an episode takes 7-8 months to produce. Times 22 episode they are working 176 production months in a season. I know that different departments work in parallel but still!


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## Gerd Kaeding (Apr 28, 2018)

patrick76 said:


> Absolutely. Check out his thoughts on film music (John Williams specifically) here at the AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards. This is the only video I could find of it on youtube.... poor quality, but you get the idea.



Ah , great ! Thanks !! ( _Might be that Seth MacFarlane was a filmcomposer in a former life ..._ )


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## YaniDee (Apr 28, 2018)

Full respect for this man..a true composer who can write music in any style.


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## aaronventure (Apr 28, 2018)

Gerd Kaeding said:


> I want to add here that Seth MacFarlane (Producer/Creator) seems to really care about music ; I mean about good and solid traditional score music ; and he is _willing_ to spend money on live recordings .



Well, he did release 4 albums that hit top 2 on the US Jazz chart (whatever that's worth today, unfortunately).

From his first album:


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## Polkasound (Apr 28, 2018)

I've been a big fan of Seth's talent for some time. His passion for the music is so evident by the quality and detail of his productions. Of all the super wealthy people who could afford to spend money on a full-blown Capitol Studios album, he is truly worthy of the effort.

But if I only had a nickel for every wannabe music aficionado who unjustly docked their review of Seth's CDs a few stars because he "doesn't sound enough like Frank..."


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## Guy Bacos (Apr 28, 2018)

The music of Family Guy is amazing and Walter Murphy and Ron jones do incredible work! The bigger production pieces, such as one of my favourite: The Christmas 2 part episode, are so well done!


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## charlieclouser (May 18, 2018)

I love Seth McFarlane. I mean, actually I hate him, because he's more talented, clever, and funny than any single human deserves to be, but.... the music for his shows is absolutely mind-bending. It's a complete mystery to me how they pull it off. 

I was lurking on a thread on GearSlutz where people were arguing about vintage U47 microphones and which single unit was the best of the best, and somebody was extolling the magic of the "Sinatra mic" - the U47 that's still in stock at Capitol. Someone asked if they use it on everyday sessions or if they save it for special occasions, and one of the engineers told the story of how they whipped it out for Seth on one of his swing records. Others started bagging on Seth, how it was a crime to despoil the history of the great mic with the vocals of some comedy writer guy, and the engineer leapt to Seth's defense, saying how he was such a great singer, massively kind and generous, knew music intimately and thoroughly, and how those sessions went down in history as some of the most fun he had ever been on.

I was not surprised. I'm not an aficionado of that style of music by any means, but I can hear the talent, quality, and expertise in the first bar. Seth absolutely kills it. Love that guy. Fuck that guy.


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