We recently connected with Bart Hendrickson and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, BART thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Perseverance, hard work, dedication, knowing people in your industry and maybe a bit of luck now and then. Luck and opportunity should always be met with being prepared and knowing your craft. You should always communicate to the best of your ability to find out what your client’s needs are. Always walk your talk. Instead of talking a big game, just play your client your music. Obviously, you may need to tell them you have experience, but 9 out 10 times your music and production will tell them everything they need to know.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m from Pocatello Idaho. I have been a musician my entire life, I started out as a drummer and percussionist. I wanted to be a rock star at first but quickly realized that I was in it for the music.

I graduated from Percussion Institute of Technology in Hollywood CA when I was 19 years old. After graduation I immediately started pursuing my career and played in several bands until at the age of 22, I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease which is cancer of the Lymphatic system. So back to Idaho I went.

During cancer treatment I was unable to drum because my chemotherapy treatment damaged my hands, so I bought a Roland D-20 synthesizer because it had a sequencer in it which allowed me to construct (program) entire musical pieces in addition to just drum programming. I also bought a 4 track tape recorder and a inexpensive reverb unit so I could record my music.

After my cancer treatment I started playing drums again and even won a regional drumming competition which encouraged me to play in bands again and pursue where I left off. I was back in Hollywood playing in several bands, programming songs and doing the LA thing.

During this time I met a great friend who was a major influence on me in getting into music production, and as fate would have it, I was also offered a free college education in my home state of Idaho because of having cancer. Back to Idaho once again.

Back in Idaho I took the offer for free college and also took out all the student loans that I could so I could buy proper recording equipment and build a small studio. During my time at Idaho State University I ended up designing an entire music production curriculum for the school, this was before colleges offered music production degrees.

After graduation I took an offer to be the broadcast manager for a large advertising firm in Idaho. This position had me hiring talent and recording and producing radio and television commercials as well as running the studio.

After three years of doing the advertising studio thing, I needed a change of scenery. Once again, I was off to Los Angeles.

Once in Los Angeles for the third time, I immediately started looking for a job in production. A friend of mine happened to know a studio manager looking for people that could help out at their studio. I reached out to him and after it becoming very clear that I was way over-qualified for the position, I took the job anyway. I’m really glad I did.

The studio was called Media Ventures, later changed to Remote Control. I ended up helping out Alan Meyerson and Harry Gregson Williams. The studio is owned by Hans Zimmer. After a couple of months of kicking around I was informed that Hans wanted to talk to me about a position. I guess he had heard that I actually showed up on time, did good work, was clean and easy to get along with!

I took the job. I started as his personal sample programmer which saw me recording in the best studios in Los Angels and London. I ended up working on more movies with him than I can count (Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, The Ring 2, The Island and several more.) During my 11 years at Remote Control I also ended up writing the main title song for Spiderman 2 with Train, writing for Extreme Music and running their studio for 2 years, writing songs for Tarja Turunen, composing my own music for several films, which I still do and most importantly, meeting and making friends with great people.

After I left Remote Control, I shared a studio with my friend Don Gilmore (who is a legendary music producer,) for a year at Mix LA which is Chris Lord Alge’s incredible studio. After that, I moved my studio home which is where I work from now.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Doing what I love. Making money at it is wonderful but I have and would still be doing it regardless. It is who I am. I’m still interested in what I do. That is gold for me.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

That I listen to what my client’s want and needs are. Top notch writing and production at a fair price. Delivering on time. Problem solving.

Contact Info:

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