Ever since they cofounded Signature Tracks in 2008, David Lasman, Adam Malka and Russell Howard have been fine-tuning their music production company. In January, Signature signed with UTA and launched Signature Score, which focuses on TV series, scripted films, high-end documentaries and trailers. The plan is to expand the firm's 75,000-track library and offer composers a framework to score scripted shows and films.
"We want to collaborate with different artists who specialize in different genres and be able to provide a unique sound from more than one composer," Lasman says, noting that it's "disruptive" to hire multiple composers for a single project. "I thought people wouldn't be open to that. Maybe they'd shut it down and say, 'We want to go old school with one composer,' but I'm finding that people are really interested." Signature's services include scoring, rescoring, music supervision and sound effects; it also draws on a few dozen staff composers in various genres.
"When music can capture a couple of different emotions at once, it can be pretty effective," Malka says. "There are shows that are really impacting the way people perceive and experience music as another cast member, and I think reality TV does that."
The Los Angeles-based firm has scored a multitude of unscripted Bravo series — including the Real Housewives franchise (except New Jersey), Below Deck, Project Runway, Vanderpump Rules and others — as well as trailers and scripted series. They say they've found the sweet spot between pushing the envelope and earning the trust of clients and audiences who depend on music to enhance the audio-visual experience.
"We will still do anything it takes to make sure our client is happy," Malka says. "We genuinely care and love what we do." They've gone as far as orchestrating a live band from a studio miles away and hiring a Brazilian ensemble to recreate Carnival for National Geographic's Brain Games.
The cofounders are Philadelphia natives who have been best friends since junior high. Howard came to California to write and produce music for the late Kobe Bryant, who was then recording a rap album for Sony Columbia (it was never released); he later produced music for Jay-Z. Malka wanted to be an entrepreneur and Lasman, formerly a producer in unscripted television, knew what the industry needed to elevate its sound.
"I like challenges. There was this dismissive connotation around reality TV," Howard says. "And it always inspired me because I like rooting for the underdog."
This article originally appeared in emmy magazine issue #7, 2023, under the title, "Right on Track."
