What’s Up Pitches! (w/ Tim Davis)

800 songs in 6 years. That’s what Tim Davis accomplished as the vocal arranger on Glee!

Find out how he did it, what the day to day was like behind-the-scenes, which song took him 27 hours to do... and what he’s currently doing with Jane Lynch!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
And that's what you really missed with Jenna and Kevin
and I heart Radio podcast. Welcome. I've put a little
Tea and Stutterer in there for you. Welcome to and
that's what you really missed. I'm Jenna, I'm Kevin, and
today we have a renaissance man who um enlightened us

(00:27):
with this conversation because there's so much we didn't know. Um.
He is a master at what he does. He is
absolutely incredibly talented and so so nice and kind and
we were so lucky to get to work with him
for seven years, so many years. And he's also got
the wildest resume pre end postally from like the Super Bowl,

(00:50):
mool On Rouge, what else did he do? Everything? Anything
they're singing in he's either singing on it or arranging
the vocals are both. He's it's jarring. It's the one
and only Tim Davis. Um. We find out so much
stuff that we did not know. Um. He was with

(01:11):
us um from the beginning and he you know, like
the main job that you would probably tag him for
is the lyric guy, which he sounds like he hated
that just that because of the amount that he was
actually doing. And I honestly, don't think they would have
been what it was without him, just between like the
background vocals, his the arrangements, his vocals, and his ability

(01:36):
to manage us. I mean Tim, Like if you go
to any Disney theme park and watch they're like big
specials at night with all the lights and everything around
the castle. Tim is either singing it or arranged it.
He has his voice and fingers and everything that has
anything to do with incredible singing. Yeah. He Everyone calls

(02:01):
on him because he is truly the best. So please
enjoy our conversation with the one and only Tim Davis. Hi, Jim,
it's great to see you. Guys. It's so good to
see you. We are excited to have you and share
with the people what it is Tim Davis Um did
on the show. I feel like a lot of people

(02:22):
UM don't know about the young sung hero, UM, behind
the scenes hero, the background vocal lyric master, color coding star.
We'll explain what that means along the way. Tim was
there with us every musical number, UM and then from

(02:48):
the beginning and then behind the scenes you were also
off with our incredible back you know, background vocal singers
doing all the arrangements and everything from the for the vocals. Um,
that's like the summary. Can you kind of share from
your point of view, like what it is that you
did spending your time only? Yeah. It started out Adam

(03:10):
Anders is the music producer, and he called me and said, hey, UM,
I need a vocal arranger. Um, you want to do
this thing? And I said okay, And so we went
in and we the first song was Rehab that we did,
and I remember there was another Um, there was someone

(03:35):
else who was who was doing it before Adam got
involved and before I got involved. And uh, they had
done probably six versions of Rehab and right hated each one. Yeah.
And so Adam called in and was like they had
a meeting with Brian Murphy and he said, if we

(03:57):
nailed this in one shot, then we got whatever. This
is the series. The pilots, right, no pressure. Yeah. So um,
Adams like, who do you know? Like this has to
be high school students, it can't be like it needs
to be edgy. And so I called probably twenty thirty

(04:21):
singers and we came in to the studio and we
just shot people out one by one. They would get
in front of the mic and solo and we begin
to booth and look at each other like no or
yes or maybe or whatever. And we ended up with
eight singers that night, um and Adam and I were
both one of the singers, and we rehab We finished

(04:44):
at three am. We mixed till five am. We sent
the thing over and Ryan loved it and it was done.
So you were bringing in like sort of auditioning the
singers and recording and doing all of it all within
the same day and night. Yeah, because you know how

(05:05):
it is. You know how it is, and like how
Ryan's like I needed by six am. But I also
in the beginning too, it felt like there was just
more time for these things because everyone was sort of
figuring it out. But that was like that from this
very beginning for you from the jump. Yeah, oh my gosh,

(05:26):
Well it worked out, because that is incredible. Yeah, it
worked out. So we we did those, um, the support
vocals for you guys, and then we started doing guide
vocals for you as actors and so that you could
quickly listen in the van right over to the studios
minutes or less. And then just and um, it was exciting. Man.

(05:50):
We did eight hundred songs in six years. And all
of them like master quality, you know, like full records
in eight Did you have the same background singers the

(06:12):
entire time? I'm sure, like if you rotated out, but like,
what did you have the same people I had? You know,
our demo singers were pretty much the same people change
mind changed throughout the trying to keep we did try
to keep everyone for the guide vocals the same for

(06:33):
you guys. So like I remember Kevin, you had Drew,
a guy named Drew. I had had Chris Man, then
I had Drew, and then I ended up having Luke.
I had Storm for one of them for the Michael
stuff I had, and I was just and it was
so fun because I didn't actually know these people. And

(06:54):
then you'd go and you'd get these guide vocals that
Tim and Adam and all these people had set up,
and it just felt like such a challenge where there's
the acting and all that and the performances and all
that that it's a challenge. And then you go in
and hear these people where are so much better than us.

(07:15):
They are incredible, I mean just unbelievable. And so then
you'd get these demos like well, it's aspirational, it's not
necessarily realistic unless you're Amber. And I remember remember being like,
I'm not gonna do that. I was like, well, yeah,
you can do that. And I remember getting these vocals
and like, for example, Luke and I would I didn't know, Mike,

(07:40):
who is this Luke? This is so infuriating because he
is so good, And we started doing all these runs
and I'd be in the booth just sweating and saying
every curse word I knew because I can't get this.
But it made me a better singer. I think you
guys made all of us so much better because we
had to work up to the expectations that you were

(08:00):
putting before us and these demos, because we had a
certain amount of time, like you said, like thirty minutes
to record a full song, and we weren't going to
redo the arrangement because we couldn't sure. We would simplify
it a lot of the time, but we weren't necessarily
going to change the whole thing because we were not
capable of getting it. Yeah. I mean, and who who

(08:21):
is yours? Do you remember? Jenna Change? Remember Emily did
some of yours? Yes? And then it was somebody who
I think Missy May have done. It was Missy. That's right.
It was Missy. Yeah, that's right, and I never I
don't think you ever met Missy. That's the craziest thing.

(08:41):
We would hear these demos, we'd know, these like phantom voices,
which we would be like, I can't do that, great job, um,
you sound great, um. And then and then we have
all these amazing um you know, like support singers, background
vocal singers who did all the backgrounds on all of
these massive songs that you were a part of. That
we like to take credit for that we were singing,

(09:03):
but also on set, you were there making sure that
all of our voices matched up to the recording that
we were recording, to the pre record that we were recording. Also,
you guys, because you weren't in look well, I think
what many people don't understand is and what people are
surprised about is you guys did not have the time

(09:25):
to record all those background vocal parts and the groove
vocals insanity. So we had to have those supporting you guys.
And sometimes you do like a pass over over one
pass over the thing. But mainly it was these yeah,
in the very beginning and sort of abandoned it. It
took a lot of time, right, We spent a lot

(09:46):
of time in the studio. Of course we're not as
those professionals. And yeah, North should you be because you're
an actor an actor singer? Uh yeah, So, um, I'll
give you a snapshot of my day. Yeah, that's what's
gonna ask. I wanted to know because you have all
the jobs you had to do and you were doing

(10:08):
it every day, So what what did that look like? Um?
I would get up and go straight to my dropbox
at six am. All of the tracks by the way,
all the instrumental tracks were being done overseas so that
we could have this four machine rolling. The tracks would
get put in my dropbox at like in the while

(10:31):
I was sleeping for two hours, and I would get
up and record myself in my studio doing all the
parts of the of the group vocals. Um. It would
take me to like nine and then I would drive
up to calibasses, you ye, doing these arrangements and the

(10:54):
harmonies that quickly still Yeah, but you know, it's like
that is kind of my wheelhouse. It's just what I've
always done. It's what I do well, and I and
I loved it. That was the other thing. So I
get to the studio in Calabasas around eleven, the other

(11:14):
singers would come. We do a guide vocal or two,
and then the other singers would come in a couple
more hours and we do um like four to five
maybe six hours of group vocals. It would be one song,
would that be multiple songs? One song? Typically one song
a day yow now tv TV recording sessions off camera

(11:36):
recording sessions are only supposed to be four hours. But
literally we would sometimes we would spend the night in
the studio and sing through like when we did what
is that by the dashboard light? Do you remember that?
So yeah, oh um Paradise by Yeah, that took us
like twenty seven hours. Oh. I'd go in and everyone

(12:02):
you know East West and they have those rooms with
the lounges with the couches, would just be like on
the floor with their tongues hanging out and come in
and hey, hey, hey, I need I need you, I
need to I need to go in. Everyone else would
fall back to sleep. It was kind of I mean,
that was rare. But everyone's all single, no one like

(12:26):
that's part of the the audition. Are you single, Okay, good,
you have no life, you have no life, welcomed to hell.
Yeah soo. So we would do that. Other days it
was the same thing. It was usually four or five
days a week that we would have this schedule. Other
days I would be on set with you guys, showing

(12:49):
you how the group vocals were recorded because you didn't know,
showing you all the little different you singing oh oh
and yeah. In the very beginning, I remember what was
the pilot episode when I was like, we need a system.
We can't just go in there and tell us they
need something ahead of time. And so I came up
from the dumb color coded it was not dumb, that's safe,

(13:13):
and we used it every well, remember, yeah, we use it.
By the way, outside of this, anything we've had to
do post this, we absolutely do. The Tim Davis, the
color coordination is the lyrics to the song. And then
Tim would go in and break it down and say,
like Tina and already were doing a song, right, and

(13:33):
then my color would be pink and larties would be green,
and each lyric that was sung by Tina would be green.
It would be pink and then already green. And then
if it's together. There was like a background color that
was highlighted with the two of us, and then sometimes
they got real complicated. But oh yeah, because there were
eighteen people singing a song, but also because you guys

(13:55):
were also learning lines for the next day, you couldn't
necessarily like really no, so we'd be I'd come in
the makeup trailer in the morning or the hair trailer
and you go over it with you guys in your
ear while you were being painted. It was fun. I
remember once, um, because these backgrounds have been ingrained in

(14:16):
my memory now where I'll be out in public and
here one of the songs, not even our version of it,
and I'll just automatically start doing the backgrounds. Like Home
when christ and Channe had had to do Home. I
remember we were in Long Beach and we were like
in the cafeteria, like the real life cafege here wherever
we were eating, and you came up to us and like,
all right, everybody look at your lyric sheets and some

(14:37):
of us were like yes, most of us were like no, no,
we haven't gotten to it yet. And You're like, okay,
so this is what we're shooting right after lunch. Here
are the background parts, and you would start singing it
out loud to us as we're eating, making sure like
we know what we're doing. And I will never ever
forget those backgrounds. And I and I also did not
know that song very well. And but by the time

(15:01):
we knew it was like when you didn't know the
song really well and there weren't already like classic background vocals,
you know, baked into it like a Sweet Caroline, where
there were ones that like you had kind of created
and crafted on your own that you're like, oh, this
is new and different and really cool, like somebody to love, right,
But you know, we didn't, we didn't know those. We

(15:23):
didn't we we'd have to learn that as well. And
then you know, we'd be worried about our choreography and
what our faces were doing and what other lines we
have that day. So additionally, like you were dealing with
difficult people who are like, yeah, that's the last thing
I'm worried about sometimes, right, And then I felt bad
because it always be like you'd be there and you're like,

(15:46):
you're there for us, for support, to make sure that
we look good, right, And and I love you, Tim,
And and I always knew that I was like, he's
spending his time here. We don't even know the million
things that he's doing off which you just shared, which
is easy. The sur numbers, um, but then you know,
like we did. Everybody was pretty impressed that, Like we

(16:07):
were recording and you know, lip sinking to all of this,
which is crazy. And I do have to say, like
the lip sinking, I'm proud of how the lip sinking
it looks good. You basically trained us how to properly
lip sync with the breathing and all of that to
make sure it looks legit actually sing right, yeah, a

(16:28):
little bit, And if we didn't know it, we would
put an arm in front of our mouth, or the
girls would put their hair in front of their face
and we would turn away from the camera. There was
one number, um, I think it was, um, what's the
Whitney song My Love is Your Love? And we're standing
in rows and nobody knew these background vocals for some reason,
and I feel on my back like and I hear

(16:51):
like paper crinkling, and I'm like, what is going on?
Somebody was safety pinning the lyric sheet to my back
so that they could look at it while we were shooting,
and I didn't know that. Yeah, and then I would
do it to your backpack in front of the on
the wheelchair. But yeah, I felt somebody like pinning a

(17:12):
lyric sheet to my back. Tim tell us about the
experience of being like around the show since you were
there from the beginning as well, like how and then
like the shoot up? And then I have another question
follow up of like what your life was like after Glee,
because I feel like all the movie musicals came out

(17:33):
after Lee, and you did a lot of them. So
I'm just it's a two parter. Well, first of all,
I'm gonna rewind just the teat and go back to um,
go back to At the end of the day, I
would get home and Jimmy Levine was a composer on
the show that did all the tradition cues, and I

(17:55):
would get home and he would have a bunch of
cues waiting for me to do in my box that
we're due the next morning. Were you singing all the what? So?
That was me and my wife and um Alvincia, Yeah,

(18:15):
that's you. Yeah. So I would do those like at
midnight when I get home for like three hours and
then send them to him. And then get up again
and do it the next day that I have so
many questions that we probably shouldn't talk about in public,
Like I hope you were getting paid for each of
these separate jobs. I was okay, good, he was getting

(18:38):
paid more than us. He should be are you kidding? Ah? God?
And to me getting paid? Do we get paid? I
don't know. But the thing is Tim was doing all
of that, and he showed up with a smile on
his face and all the time. Do you remember a

(19:00):
chick fil A? Times when I would bring chick fil
A to set because you guys didn't have chick fil
A in l A. And I had one by my
house in Orange County, And I would come up that big,
stupid like, I don't know what possessed me because it
made you guys happy, it did. It really brought us
a lot of joy. And then I stopped spending too
much money, like I'm not getting paid for this, okay.

(19:23):
So what was your question? Just your experience of like Glee,
being around everybody, being on set, like watching the kind
of thing blow up, like being a part of that
just because you were there from the beginning as well.
You didn't come into the monster, like you are part
of the growth of the monster. I'll say this, Um,
I was really um taken by you guys, with your kindness,

(19:50):
with your openness, with your humility. M hm. You you
really wanted to learn, you felt like it's It felt
to me like you were like, I'm doing my best
here to hang up. I don't I don't really know
what I'm doing. I you know, and so. But but

(20:11):
that was very heartwarming because when you come into a situation.
I remember, okay, I remember the first day we were
doing Don't Stop Believing on set and that was my
first day and I came back stage and you guys
are like, well, I said, you guys, that's not accurate.
There are a couple that were looking at me like

(20:33):
who is this? What do you? Please? Don't put one
more person in front of us to tell us what
to do. Um. But I was like, Hey, I'm Tim
vocal ranger. What's a vocal arranger? Well, I no one cares,
but I said, okay, so I tell you when your
mouths are matching or if they're not okay, like okay.

(20:55):
So then that was the beginning, and that was our
introduction to you. You were just like the sync guy. Yeah,
I had no idea. No, you know what it was.
It said on the call sheet it said lip sync monitor.
That was like, yeah, you're the lyric guy, right, Yeah,

(21:18):
we need the lyrics lyric guy, lys lyric guy. Um.
So it was. It was really interesting. I remember also
because I was kind of new to this world, like
I hadn't spent much time on a set. I'm going
to get a chair for video Village so I can
watch you guys. And I go over to the to

(21:39):
the chair wreck and a guy was like, hey, what
are you doing. I'm like, uh, getting a chair. No.
I was like, oh, he said, I'll get it. I said, no,
it's fine, I'll get it. No, I will get the chair.
The chair, Oh my gosh. I was so scared from

(22:02):
that point on getting in trouble doing anything wrong, touching
like the popcorn at the craft service. Can I touch
this popcorn? It was an education for me. But the
things that I loved the most were like, I remember
having a conversation with Corey. I love to ask people
questions and talking with Corey I'm gonna say like the

(22:24):
first week, maybe second week mhm um, and just asking
about his background as childhood, asking about how he was
brought up and he was so open and vulnerable, and
m Um, it was it was awesome. It was amazing,
you know. And you guys were so the two of

(22:48):
you were so consistent all the time, kind warm, open,
easy to work with, and that made everything so much better.
There were times on the way home I would literally
pull off the side of the road and break down
crying because of the pressure and of the difficulty of

(23:08):
some people on set. It was to have that massive
workload and encounter difficult people on every level in the
cast and the crew, with with producers. Um, it was
a lot. Wow, it was a lot. And I think
from your what you did, a lot of it went unseen.

(23:31):
So you're dealing sort of like with this pressure that
people don't realize and how many aspects of the show
that you're dipping into to make sure it keeps running,
and so all these people are asking things of you
and they don't realize that, well, all these things are connected,
and I'm juggling about eight different titles right now with
like overnight deadlines on every single lyric. Guy, Right, you're

(23:52):
just right, get a grip, Yeah, you just we can
do this. We can do this without background book as
we could do this without intro music and I could
just go home. Right, that's crazy. Well, thanks for sharing that, Tim.
That's um yeah, a lot of us, I don't you know,
there's just so many unsung heroes lugly that like people

(24:15):
don't realize how much pressure and you know, to deliver
every week after week. Um, you know, like like even
Zach Woodley like who never like you guys both like
never complained, never had attitude, like just did your job

(24:35):
and then had to manage, which we've talked about with
Ryan a bit on the podcast as well, like people
having to manage other people like you having basically coming
in and being like having to teach us something, but
people not knowing that like you're answering to somebody else
saying they've asked me to do this for you. We

(24:56):
didn't yelling at you because you're not doing it right,
and then like you know, for Zach to have to
manage eighteen of us in a room that are like
I can't do that, and he's like, well, we're going
to have to do this, you know, like I'm sorry,
this is not I don't ask me, and like we
you know, it's act like we had such a report
because we were with him so much. Um, we'll have

(25:17):
him on the show. I won't. I won't let him
rebottle here being here. Um. But yeah, it's a a
pressure cooker. But it's also like tim you have. I
mean sure people can tell from the twenty minutes we've
been talking so far, like you are so warm and kind,
Like what you see is what you get. And the

(25:37):
reason why Corey and all of us, most of us
would open up to you and feel protected and um,
just trust you because you are that person. You are
just like a gigantic hug all the time, even in
those most stressful situations like okay, just say these lyrics
and everything's going to be fine and be all right. Um.

(26:02):
And my one of my favorite things about working with
you is because we were thrown together where you were
just the lyric guy to us at first. Where I
remember where I think you really shined was on the
first Christmas album and you just got to like play
because those arrangements are out of control. And I remember,

(26:27):
for the life of me could not and we were
sort of doing these harmony background parts for one of
the songs I don't remember what it was. And you
came into the booth with me because I was trying.
It was it was like one verse and I was
crumbling under the pressure, which happened alte and you you're like, okay,
I'm coming in there. And also you were not normally

(26:48):
in the recording sessions, and so then you were in there,
and it was so nerve wracking because I was like
Adams used to me, sounding like complete dogshit. But I
was like, I don't want to do this in front
of Tim, like he's he's very good. In my head,
my Tam has only heard the finished versions, so I
don't want him to know that I'm And you came

(27:12):
in there like, oh, this is fine. I've done this
on so many movies with like I won't say who,
like I did this on this movie musical and I
had no idea, and I was like, who are you?
Like wait, you were in the booth with this like
megastar helping them, like you're helping me now. And I
also like, can you sort of like before you did Glee,

(27:36):
you were doing you had been doing this. No not,
It's not normal for people to be able to wake
up at six am and just start together arrangements in
a couple of hours. Like, this is what you have
been doing. You've been doing this a lot. You worked
on things like Mulant Rouge and other huge musicals. Like
what was your sort of road to getting to Glee?

(27:58):
Like why were you the guy that Adam called up? Uh?
So weird? Um let's see. I you know, I didn't
sing until I was in college, so I didn't know
really that I had a girl. By the way, go
listen to his music, go down, He's incredible. Yes, thank you. Um.

(28:21):
So I was a business major in college and I
got a degree, but what in business? But what? I
I read music? I was an instrumentalist. I played the trombone,
very sexy. Whoa I know? So um, but I read music.

(28:42):
And so some friends of mine in college were like, Hey,
we don't know how to read this music in our
jazz vocal group. Can you come help us with this chart?
So I went in and I was like, yeah, it
goes bad. And they're like, oh, you get a good voice,
you should sing with us. I'm like, I'm not a singer.
So they persisted. I auditioned, I got it. I was

(29:06):
with them a semester and then I took the group over.
No lie, I'm like, this is horrible by no, no, no, yes, yes, yes, goodbye.
And I took the group over and we went to
many national competitions and won everything. Anyway, I learned. I

(29:27):
think I really love doing this. What would I do professionally?
I can't, So I'm just gonna get this business degree.
I did sales for two years after talking. I wanted
to kill myself. I was the worst in the nation.
I had the worst numbers literally in the nation at
my corporation. Um, yeah, it was really bad. I was

(29:51):
put on probation. It's hard to imagine you being bad
at something. But also like, you know, thank god you
weren't really good at sales because you maybe have never
would have never done this. But think about like dunder Mifflin.
It was a paper sales company, right, No it wasn't.
It really was. And I was in a cubicle on
the phone and they'd say, what why should why should

(30:12):
we buy from you if we can get it for
cheaper down the street. I'm like, you shouldn't. You should
go down to the street. It's the same product to
give it. That's how that I couldn't sell something I
didn't believe in anyway. There was a uh my roommate
from college was working at a church and this gospel
group came through his church that was really great and

(30:34):
that he they were looking for another tenor singer. And
he was like, I gave him your number. They may
be calling you. I'm like, okay. Well they called me
and asked me to send them something, and I did
and they were like, can you like come on the
road six hundred dollars a month? And um, I quit

(30:54):
my corporate job. I sold everything and I got on
this bus and I was there for five years. Oh
my gosh, early twenties, and um they just built a
recording studio at their headquarters. And I'm telling you, I
went in there every day and I just played, and
I was like, this is my I am so happy

(31:17):
if I never do anything else, this is all I
want to do is just like record vocals. And I
would stack myself up and you know, just makers an experiment.
For five years, I did that, and then I was like,
I started noticing background vocals on records and I was like,
I want to I want to sing on records. And uh.
Then I was the ones that I was listening to.

(31:39):
All of these background vocals were being done in Nashville.
So I met my wife in the group. She was
a singer. We got married and I was like, do
you want to go to Nashville because I can't support
you on six dollars a month and she was like okay.
So three months later we moved to Nashville. I don't
know a soul. I get a job at a at
a restaurant, waiting tables, and um. About five months later, Uh,

(32:04):
this lady came in who worked for Curb Records, and
she asked me for a demo. I came to her office,
she listened for a second, picked up the phone, called
the biggest producer in town and that I wanted to
work with, Like he was on my bucket list and
this job on this record. Uh. And he called another producer,

(32:27):
who called another producer and literally I was booked for
weeks and um, I never had to get another job again.
Three years after that, I started. My wife was like,
I feel like we're supposed to move to l A.
M said, um, in what universe? Like, I don't know
anybody in l A. And I was working a lot

(32:49):
in Nashville. I was doing really well. Um, but it
was the kind of thing where she really felt like
God told her that we were supposed to do this
and I resisted, and I resisted. I resisted. I was like,
you're crazy. God's gonna have to come right on the
wall for me, and God ended up making it so
plain through other people's mouths. It was crazy. I don't

(33:11):
have time to go into the story. But we ended
up moving to l A and I was terrifying. We
had a little baby. I didn't know how I was
going to support my family. No, and um, we ended up.
I ended up meeting this lady who hired me two
weeks later on Spider Man. I think was the first

(33:33):
film I sang on, and he just continued from there
and then then two thousand, two tho nine, I guess
or eight. It's when Adam called me and he was like, hey,
it's Adam Ander's and I was like, I don't know you.

(33:55):
I really didn't. I did not, uh And he said, no, uh,
we you know we we met on that we we
did that thing together. I'm like, mm hmm, no, you
do not, and I don't know you are no in
Nashville like, you you know my wife, Nicky Hassman was
my wife. I was like, oh, I know, Nikki, we've
somethingd wet together. We've done sessions together. Yeah, that's my wife. Like, yeah,

(34:19):
we still haven't met. He goes, well, we're moving to
l to l A from New York and I got
a call for this thing, this pilot. I don't know
what it is or if it's even gonna go anywhere.
Do you want to try this? And I was like sure,
So Adam and I joke because he brought me into
this whole thing and we had never we I'm telling you,

(34:42):
we've never met, we never worked together. But he like, wow,
He's like, you're the only only guy I know in town.
So you want to do it. He's like, okay, because
you if you work with ten, there's no one, there's
nobody better. So you clearly had left an impression as
soon as you started working. You haven't stopped. Yeah, yeah,

(35:03):
I mean now, I mean spider Man, Batman returned. Have
you fee? It's like enchanted now? And obviously the prompt
like Avatar, what Lord tell me about I mean Glee
was probably a large part of your Glee was a
large part of your life. But talk to me about

(35:24):
um afterwards, like what what that was like? Have did
it explode? Did it slow down? Like did it ever
slow down? Like? What? Actually? Yeah, it did slow down.
It it exploded during Glee because you know, uh, we
wanted to sound like Glee. We want to sound like Glee.
The Glee usual about so I was I was doing

(35:45):
so many jobs besides Glee, um, which made me, you know,
I had to I couldn't do the onset stuff like
I like I did before, like the after the first
couple or three seasons, right, And so that's when Luana
came in so sweet, so so um. It was during

(36:08):
that that it was like we basically we need the
Glee sound. We need to Then when Gale ended, it
was like anything but the Glee sound, right, crickets Yeah,
I'm like so yes. And then it was interesting. Right

(36:29):
after Glee is when Jane asked me. Jane Lynch asked
me to go on tour with her and Kate Plannery
doing these silly little shows. It's incredible and you guys
have been doing them since we did a Christmas record
and we've toured that for the last seven years. I
think I think so wait, well, yeah, but it ain't

(36:52):
broke because you guys are if you again, because I'm
sure they will, you have to go see them because
it's absolutely every thing you wanted to be. It's so
it's silly, it's funny, it's it's fun. I'm like the
you know, Jane like talks about the Carol Burnett Show

(37:12):
and how there's three people up there and I'm the
I'm the schmarmie, good looking guy that doesn't say much
and um, she's Carol Burnette. And then Kate Flannery's like
the crazy sidekick. Who I mean, it's crazy, but it's
so much fun. But our Christmas tour got canceled this
this last year, but we're already looked for. They're back.

(37:35):
So that's fun. And it's interesting because I thought literally
after Glee kind of died and then things kind of
bottomed out for a while for me, like I was like, Okay,
maybe it's time to pivot. Maybe I don't maybe my
days singing are kind of done. I don't know. And

(37:55):
I was totally fine with that because I was like,
you know, what I've done so much, I've I feel
so fulfilled in that and I don't want to be
the guy at seventy years old, going, now, why why
hasn't Justin Bieber called me to sing on his right?
Because I didn't see you know, you see some people
who get so locked into their identity as a singer,

(38:19):
who don't know how to let it go. And I
didn't want to be that guy. So I was like,
what what else do I want to do? And then
I did the show boy Band on ABC and Personality
and that was really fun, and I was like, maybe
I want to do more of that. I got signed
by a manager who died a year and a half later,

(38:40):
and that kind of and then, um, I mean it,
that's a true story, but really that happened. Um. I
think it's such a key thing in our industry to
diversify as much as you know, like I look at

(39:00):
um uh well a bunch of different people, but like
people like actors who will write a book, or like
Jane really wanted to go on tour, like that's her
most favorite thing in the world is singing on the
stage and she had never done it before and so
it was her like little dream and it's her favorite thing.
Like I'll ask her, so, what's the favorite thing you

(39:22):
did this year this say, like when we're on tour,
like really this, I know you strings are so much
joint and you guys are so good together. It's such
a bringing it back to Glee for a second. What

(39:45):
aside from Paradise by the Dashword, like what other songs
like We're Really Hard for You, that Rhapsody and any
of the Queen songs? Because I felt so um, it
was incumbent upon me to get these arrangements correct to

(40:07):
to what was originally recorded, because I didn't want to
dishonor of the like Queen like the original arrangements are
the way they rewarded them. I was like, how did
they do? And And I remember Adam and I talking
about this, and we were in the studio. We would
do some vocals in the big live room that was echoing,

(40:27):
and then we take a small group into the teeny
like compressed vocal boot to get a different sound and
go back and forth trying to figure it out. Um,
those things really mattered. I've always felt like I wanted
to be the most excellent what I do, um, whatever
task I'm given. So this one, like any of the

(40:49):
Queen songs, was a big deal. Then I remember another
one that was really important to me was was Fades
from the because Us as you know, I mean the
grant is that the one I could? I think that's
the one I couldn't think. I think that was the
one I couldn't And You're like, I'm coming in, Why yeah,

(41:17):
why is that one? Why was that one important? Because
it's completely selfish? I just it was. That's so sentimental
to me growing up and watching that film and being
able to redo it. Also, I really loved the Christmas
episode that you guys did. Um may have been the
first first Christmas episode Judy Garland redo. That whole thing

(41:43):
was magical to me, Like walking on that set and
seeing how the set designers recreated that's set. Oh my gosh.
Um Yeah. Would you say that the Queen or the
Fahoo Doris whatever it's called, is your favorite? Like do

(42:06):
you have a favorite outside of like the ones that
are most meaningful? That was just fun and that you
still listen to on the regular. You know what is
interesting and and possibly offensive to the two is that
I listened to the demo versions the guide vocals not offensive.

(42:28):
I wish that those could be released because there's some
incredible stuff happening on those you know what you were saying,
how when you did those arrangements, how you wanted it
to be the best and you wanted to be accurate
and to do the music in the originals justice where

(42:52):
when we would go into record the vocals, I feel
like in every department, like if it was Alex or
Adam recording as they also wanted that. So they would
make sure that not only were matching the demos, but
we were matching whatever the vision was for this song.
So it was always a challenge vocally, like for Bella Notte,
were like take the verbotto out of your voice, change
the tone in which you're seeing this, like how you

(43:13):
say this word needs to be rounder as a and
so everything was you know, I feel like we're working
with the best of the best in all of these
different departments, and so to be able to trust you,
to trust you know, Adam or Alex on the other
side of the booth telling you how to perform something
because you knew just by experience that they were going
to make this sound how it should and be the

(43:36):
best of the best. It's true finding finding people that
you have that you're like minded with to truly um,
because you guys, know, you get into some situation it's
like who cares? Just do it? Yeah, it's fine enough,
is good enough? Like embracing mediocrity, Like it's just such

(43:58):
a it's so frustrating to me. I cannot work that way.
Find I remember telling Adam early on, I was like,
you know, you're an anomaly because most music producers are
instrumentalists and they don't know how to produce vocals. They
don't know how to speak to singers, they don't know
how to arrange, they don't know how to produce singers.

(44:21):
Vocal producing I think people don't also realize is a
separate thing. It is such a talent and such a skill.
It's such a separate skill. But Adam is one of
the few guys that had both and his brother as well.
So um, I was just always so impressed because I
can't do what Adam and we would have this conversation,

(44:44):
I'm like, I can't do what you can do as
far as instrumentally, because he's a fantastic musician bass player.
What am I going to do bring my trombone out
and making track? Yes, I think I think that's the
that's the thing. You got have to experience that too.
When you find people at such a high level that
do what they do at such a high level, it

(45:05):
raises the bar for you and it's it's so inspiring. Yeah, yeah,
it's you know, when we were tired and having to
it's like, oh, we have our lunch break and we're
having to record this song. But we didn't ever want
to show up and not you know, meet the challenge

(45:26):
of that song and let you guys down because you
guys worked. We knew to a tiny extent, not the
full extent of how much time and work and energy
you we're all putting into every single record that we
were doing. And so it did. It was inspiring. I
got excited to go. I mean also for me because

(45:46):
I'm like I come from music. I was very very
excited because we got to work with people who cared
and you know, go in there and like, no, this
mike isn't right after ten minutes and they switched the
mic out because and those little things meant a to me.
And we've noticed those things and especially like working with
people postally where embracing mediocrity is definitely like the thing

(46:13):
where or they just don't know exactly well, exactly exactly
the thing about we were so lucky at most of
the people we worked with were at the top of
their game, like even like Andrew Mitchell, Like you will
never work with a steady camp operator like him if
you're doing a musical number. Ever, He's just one of
a kind. So it's there. We were so lucky to

(46:34):
be able to work with everybody in each department who
were at the top of their game, and we all
most of the time tried to do the best work
we possibly could. Yeah, sometimes we but the music was
generally like the thing that I cared the most about
because it was the thing I knew probably the less
the least about, and so I felt challenged because I

(46:57):
knew the least about it. I knew that I was
going to be challenged going to the studio, not just
kind of like throwing my crazy vibrato and musical theater
tone on everything. It's like the recording studio is a
totally separate skill then just singing on a stage. So
that was we we cared a lot, I think about,
especially about the music. Um So before we let you go, Jam,

(47:21):
I want to know your least favorite song. Oh well
that too, Let me think about that. Condoms are you
asked what the fox say? Yeah, asked the good question.
Jenna asked the good question, Well he thinks about his
least favorite song? Um no, I was just curious. We've
been asking recently. We've been asking guess like, what the

(47:43):
what is the feeling that Lee has left you with
over the years? Oh, my goodness, gratitude. I'm so grateful.
I'm so grateful to have been put in this situation,
allowed in a situation that used every tool that I

(48:04):
had in my toolbox. Like I it was challenging seven musically, relationally,
um yeah, personally, just like managing myself, managing my emotions,
managing the people that were under me, managing the singers,

(48:27):
managing the personalities. Um yeah, gosh, I grew so much.
I'm just seriously, the biggest word is gratitude. I'm just
so grateful to have done it and to met all
the people that I have and worked at such a
high level. There will never be another Glee. There never

(48:50):
was anything before it, especially for singers in this community.
There never will be again because no one's going to
spend that money. That is very true, very true, and
I just want to still a little like addition, another
job that Tim had that I just remembered is that
when we were setting up the first tour, I guess

(49:11):
who was also there, Tim teaching us how that's right,
Oh my gosh. He was there all the time. He
did everything for his arrangements. Special memory too, is when
we went to the Phillies game and you guys sang
the national We just talked about that. That was really cool,

(49:34):
really really cool that arrangement as well. Yeah, arrangement watch
an Amber. Just we were just there to support Amber. Yeah,
we really were, really we were just look cute. Uh, Tim,
You're You're the best. It was really so wonderful to

(49:54):
chat with you and like really good to see you. Um,
super honored that you guys have me on this. Oh
my gosh, you really couldn't do it with the sweetest soul.
Thank you so much for spending so much time with
us and opening up. Thanks you guys, say hi to
the fam for us. The sweetest man, the sweetest Thank

(50:14):
you Tim for coming on here and talking And how
how did he do that for so long? I honestly
don't know. I'm actually really surprised. That the amount of
time and the amount that he did, we saw something
like just a of it. Yeah, exactly. And I feel

(50:36):
and again like that was his attitude the whole time
on during the show, Like you know, he never showed
when he would break down and cry on the side
of constant professional. Yeah, no, truly, And but he cared.
You can tell he cared a lot. And he was
having to manage a lot of personalities as well, definitely,
And he was multiple people, like different groups of people

(50:58):
from the studio singers and guide singers and the producers
and us, and you know, that's a lot. I have
to say. I'm sure you feel the same way that
doing this podcast, being able to discuss at length with
a lot of our cast members and crew members that
how little I really knew about what everybody was doing,

(51:22):
because yeah, and I don't think, yeah, like I knew
to an extent of what Tim was doing, but but
we're really not fully No. I feel like in my
head I didn't even know he was doing the arrangements
until the Christmas album because he was there well. And
I also didn't know that he did all those um
he was doing all the art, like the orchestration's voices,

(51:44):
like the vocals on the intros and all from Jimmy
like that's Tim also has a great UM podcast, so
really good guests, Yes, incredible guests. So just go look
up I'm waiting and consume everything he does. Um He's wonderful.
Join us next week. Thank you guys for listening again

(52:06):
and hanging out with us. And that's what you really missed.
I took it. It's fine, Jenna, I took it in
the beginning. So ye, thanks for listening and follow us
on Instagram at and that's what you really miss pod.
Make sure to write us a review and leave us
five stars. See you next time.