{"id":15739,"date":"2011-07-18T03:34:41","date_gmt":"2011-07-18T10:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.csifiles.com\/content\/?p=15739"},"modified":"2011-07-19T18:06:24","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T01:06:24","slug":"interview-jeff-cardoni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.csifiles.com\/content\/2011\/07\/interview-jeff-cardoni\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: Jeff Cardoni"},"content":{"rendered":"

CSI: Miami<\/em> is the only member of the CSI<\/em> franchise that has two composers working on the musical score, though that hasn’t always been the case. After Graeme Revell<\/strong> left his duties as composer back in season one, producers brought in Jeff Cardoni<\/strong> and Kevin Kiner <\/strong>to fill the void\u00a0for season two. More than eight years later the two remain on the show and continue to concoct themes that add to the tense and emotional stories. Speaking with CSI Files’ Shane Saunders<\/strong>, Cardoni explains the process of working with a partner, how he juggles multiple gigs, and whether the series will ever release another soundtrack.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

CSI Files<\/strong>: What\u2019s been most gratifying about having a stable job for the past nine seasons?<\/p>\n

Jeff Cardoni<\/strong>: The most gratifying? Probably the people involved. We\u2019ve been together for a long time so it\u2019s a really fun experience to get to work with all these people, it becomes something of a family. It\u2019s really fun to work on something this visible where throughout the world a lot of people can see your work. That is very gratifying.<\/p>\n

CSI Files<\/strong>: You work with a partner, Kevin Kiner, on the show. I\u2019ve spoken to composers before and I usually get one of two responses: It\u2019s easier working on their own, or it\u2019s a Godsend that they have help. What is it like for you?<\/p>\n

Cardoni<\/strong>: It\u2019s turned out to be an amazingly simple process. I had never done it before. I was a little skeptical at first, but it\u2019s really worked out in ways that I never would have imagined. We don\u2019t actually work together, we work separately. I guess the biggest thing is that at the end of the day it probably helps the quality of the show. You get to focus a little more on each scene and each piece of music that you don\u2019t if you\u2019re faced with a huge time crunch.<\/p>\n

CSI Files<\/strong>: One of my personal favorites is the emotional score from \u201cRock and a Hard Place<\/a>,\u201d which is titled \u201cAlexx\u2019s Farewell.\u201d When composing music that signals a cast member\u2019s departure, do you put any of your own personal feelings into the song?<\/p>\n

Cardoni<\/strong>: I get e-mails about that all the time from all over the world, it\u2019s really crazy. That was a really interesting one because sometimes when we get the show, when we spot the show for the next episode, we usually have a pretty good idea of what\u2019s going on; we know who the players are and who the characters are. But this one they waited until very close to the end, it was like a Tuesday night before we were supposed to meet and one of the producers called and said, \u201cWe have this scene and we can\u2019t figure out what to do, so basically if you could look\u2026\u201d And at like 11:30 at night I got that scene, which was like a four minute scene with the main characters, so it was quite frightening. [laughs] It turned out to be one of those happy accidents where there was no temp music. There was nothing. It was just a totally silent piece of film. I just had to do something from the heart, which worked out. It was fun.<\/p>\n

I was sad, that was an incredibly well done scene. I get emotional just watching it by itself. The tough thing is you didn\u2019t know if she would come back again or if she would be involved or if she would be totally gone. So you kind of want to pay respect to her, but without making it seem like it was the end of the show. That\u2019s a tricky one, but I think it turned out pretty good. I was totally sad to see her go; she\u2019s probably one of my favorites so it was tough. And one of the few who you got to play the emotion out.<\/p>\n

CSI Files<\/strong>: Miami<\/em> has only one soundtrack available, with none of the original scores on it. Do you know if CBS has the intention of releasing any of the music from the show?<\/p>\n

Cardoni<\/strong>: There\u2019s not a day that goes by where we don\u2019t get an e-mail about this. I would love to do it. We\u2019ve talked a few times and to be honest I don\u2019t know\u2014the hardest thing now would be getting it down to one CD. It\u2019s something we\u2019ve talked about with the music supervisor a little bit and at some point I hope before this thing ends we get some type of release of some of the best music. I get stuff all the time and we can\u2019t give it out, it\u2019s frustrating.<\/p>\n

CSI Files<\/strong>: Looking at your current list of projects it seems you\u2019re keeping very busy! How complicated is your daily work schedule?<\/p>\n

Cardoni<\/strong>: It\u2019s a juggling act, always. I started out primarily doing films; CSI<\/em> came out of kind of nowhere as far as big time TV. It\u2019s been great. \u00a0The schedule is always a juggle, anytime it seems a train wreck is coming something will push a couple days and then it kind of works out. I think I\u2019m the only person in town who doesn\u2019t have an assistant. Everything I do I do myself, which I kind of proud myself on. On Miami<\/em> we don\u2019t reuse scores at all\u2014I would say 99.5% of all the keys that we have to do for an episode, I do. I think on some other shows they tend to recycle things or reuse.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still fun, it\u2019s still exciting, it\u2019s still challenging. I think it\u2019s constantly changed. If we go back to season two or three I think it\u2019s radically different now, which is good. I don\u2019t think anyone on the show has ever gotten completely bored, just gotten the formula down. I really do think we\u2014if you look at the show as the seasons go by, it evolved. There were some seasons that were definitely more story driven and some continuing storylines that didn\u2019t exist earlier on, and then we\u2019ve had some seasons that were just all about action. I think last season was some of the best writing and stories that we\u2019ve had in a while. It\u2019s definitely still growing\u2014hopefully.<\/p>\n

CSI Files<\/strong>: Have the producers talked with you yet about what direction they\u2019d like to take the music in season ten?<\/p>\n

Cardoni<\/strong>: No, I have no idea what\u2019s happening this season. I don\u2019t know anything about the storylines. I know we left off with a pretty big cliff-hanger and I\u2019m just as anxious as anyone to see how it\u2019s going to start off. It should be interesting.<\/p>\n

We usually don\u2019t get back into it until probably mid-August. I believe they\u2019ve probably started shooting either this last week or next week. The first episode tends to take longer than any other episode and it goes through many changes. We usually don\u2019t get the scripts, so I don\u2019t see it until we get in there for the first time.<\/p>\n

CSI Files<\/strong>: Do you have a favorite character to write music for?<\/p>\n

Cardoni<\/strong>: I think Horatio [David Caruso<\/strong>] is a classic TV hero. He\u2019s definitely larger than life and some people like him and some people don\u2019t. I think he\u2019s established a character that will be remembered years from now. He\u2019s definitely not subtle, he\u2019s definitely memorable. I think that\u2019s why it translates well. He\u2019s larger than life, he\u2019s a hero.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shane Saunders is a freelance writer and reviewer. His work can be seen on EDGE Network and ShaneSSaunders.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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