Music composition and arranging by Doug Benge of BengeMark in Indianapolis, IN Indiana

Music is amazing! Music engenders feelings that completely bypass conscious thought. So without stopping to think about it, we find ourselves lifted up or tense or feeling patriotic or excited or romantic or frightened or comforted or nostalgic or any of a host of alternative variations and gradations of emotion. That magic is what makes music such a profoundly useful tool for anyone wishing to communicate. To illustrate the depth of this insight, we often invite people to view some of their favorite scenes from classic motion pictures with the soundtrack removed. Whether it is an adventure hero at a moment of high tension, a star crossed couple in a moment of revelation, or even a chariot race, a star cruiser passing, a mountain meadow at morning or the Russian army on the steppes: remove the sound and the scene is not at all as we remember it.

Which is the other component of the power of music — memory. There is an undeniable link between music and the mind’s ability to recall information. We can all cite examples within our personal experience. Not only do we associate certain events, periods and transitions with particular songs, but also we find that we know lyrics to songs that we have not heard in 20 years . . . and were unaware that we knew them at all!

Savvy communicators exploit both these components of the musical tool. Using music to bypass the objections and preconceptions of the conscious mind, they create an emotional setting, which opens the door for their message. They then impart and cement that message, using music to make it memorable.

Which is where Bengemark comes in.

Creating music made-to-order translates most days into applying our years of experience to a particular set of objectives at hand. Like an architect planning to build you a house, we work to understand your needs and parameters as well as your style and approach. We then bring our expertise to bear in designing and executing a structure that fulfills those elements effectively, efficiently, economically and elegantly.

Music for Broadcast
A large area of our business and the one we have pursued the longest (30+ years), music for broadcast is mainly radio and television commercial soundtracks. Our creative involvement in these projects ranges from simply re-creating a popular song that an advertiser has negotiated the rights to use, all the way to total collaboration in music and lyric on an original composition. To expand the “architecture” metaphor, we have some clients who say, “Build me a house exactly like that one,” and we also have clients who simply say, “I need a house, I think.”
Creating Music for Broadcast is limited or defined by two main factors: time and context. The time factor is usually thirty or sixty seconds. But even if it is fifteen or ninety, it is a concrete fact of a given production’s life. So the music must accomplish its mission in that time. Just as a house that has 2000 square feet may have two rooms or ten rooms, a thirty second spot may have 2 lines or ten lines, may be in one key or two or three, and so on. The context factor is that the music will be heard in a narrowly defined, but uncontrollable setting. The setting is narrowly defined in that a radio or television set will be ultimately reproducing the final piece. The setting is uncontrollable in that the radio or TV could range from a Walkman to a car radio to a home theater to the Internet. This dictates that the music must be recorded (we no longer have live commercials as a rule), and that it must be produced in such a way that it takes the greatest advantage of the known technology.

Music for Industrials
Our biggest area of business over the years has been creating music for the industrial stage - new product intros, business meetings, incentive and recognition events, and so forth. Again, our creative involvement ranges from just musical “hired hands” to complete integration within a creative team. And while the “build me a house” metaphor still holds, the neighborhood is substantially different.
Time is more fluid for an industrial piece. Instead of hearing, “we have 2000 square feet within which to work,” we are much more likely to hear, “how many square feet will it require to accomplish our goal?”

Context varies wildly from industrial to industrial. Generally presented in major resort destinations, ballrooms and convention centers are the norm. But we have worked in tents and theaters and arenas and even the Superdome. Within a single project, however, every aspect of the context is custom-designed and therefore both controllable and knowable.

We work then, in conjunction with an array of other suppliers, to conform to and maximize the benefits from the context at hand. In a smaller venue, pre-recorded soundtracks accompanying visuals or video may be the most effective use of music. A small group of live players and/or singers, augmented with pre-recorded sound may offer the best combination of music and visual presentation. And so on, right up to the large venues where a large orchestra and large live cast, supported by large-screen projection as well as additional lighting and other effects is the order of the day.

Knowing the ins and outs of this process, both in terms of music creation as well as interfacing with producers, directors, choreographers, lighting designers, videographers, sound engineers and so forth, has kept us at the forefront of this industry for over twenty years.

Music for Praise and Worship
Our newest and fastest-growing area of business responds to the modern church. For centuries the keeper of the musical flame as well as the most widespread user of music’s inherent capacities, the modern church is becoming increasingly intentional in the use of music to reach people. Because such music is by definition “music with a purpose” it also is a prime candidate for “music made to order.” And because Doug Benge is a bona fide Preacher’s Kid, this became a natural fit for Bengemark.
From a creative point of view, music for praise and worship bears greater similarities to music for industrials than to music for broadcast. Although there are rarely directors or choreographers and so forth, the aims of the piece of worship music are really quite similar to the aims of a piece of industrial music: to engender a particular state of mind, to communicate a specific message and to cement that message in the memory of the recipient. The main differences are related to accompaniment and participation.

In an industrial, the accompaniment, whether live, recorded or some combination is performed under our direction and control. The accompaniment for a piece of worship music needs to provide the flexibility to accommodate the variety of foreseeable situations beyond our control. We provide creatively for the ability of multiple end-users to either play the accompaniment live with piano or guitar or organ or even a band, as well as provide the option of a pre-recorded accompaniment for them to use either in rehearsal or performance.

Similarly, participation is at the very heart of worship music. Whether a piece is designed as a performance piece or a congregational piece, it is absolutely essential that all participants be provided for. So whereas we write for a specific group of known voices and instruments in an industrial, we make sure in the creation and preparation of a piece of worship music to make sure the melodies are singable by the intended users, playable by the intended players and enjoyable by all participants.

Finally, there remains this difference. A radio or TV spot is played, as it is recorded, for a given period of time, usually thirteen or twenty-six weeks. An industrial is performed, as it is prepared and rehearsed, at the show for which it was created, often a single performance. A piece of worship music, on the other hand, is designed to be repeated by new and different performers and congregations, for as long as people find it helpful and enjoyable. So we write to that end.

Music Recording and Production
MIDI
All production these days likely begins as MIDI/notation/note-check
Studio
Best players/best attitude - option for perfection
Live
High-impact. Visual. Venue experience/network

	Music is amazing! Music engenders feelings that completely bypass conscious thought. So without stopping to think about it, we find ourselves lifted up or tense or feeling patriotic or excited or romantic or frightened or comforted or nostalgic or any of a host of alternative variations and gradations of emotion. That magic is what makes music such a profoundly useful tool for anyone wishing to communicate. To illustrate the depth of this insight, we often invite people to view some of their favorite scenes from classic motion pictures with the soundtrack removed. Whether it is an adventure hero at a moment of high tension, a star crossed couple in a moment of revelation, or even a chariot race, a star cruiser passing, a mountain meadow at morning or the Russian army on the steppes: remove the sound and the scene is not at all as we remember it. Which is the other component of the power of music — memory. There is an undeniable link between music and the mind’s ability to recall information. We can all cite examples within our personal experience. Not only do we associate certain events, periods and transitions with particular songs, but also we find that we know lyrics to songs that we have not heard in 20 years . . . and were unaware that we knew them at all! Savvy communicators exploit both these components of the musical tool. Using music to bypass the objections and preconceptions of the conscious mind, they create an emotional setting, which opens the door for their message. They then impart and cement that message, using music to make it memorable. Which is where Bengemark comes in. Creating music made-to-order translates most days into applying our years of experience to a particular set of objectives at hand. Like an architect planning to build you a house, we work to understand your needs and parameters as well as your style and approach. We then bring our expertise to bear in designing and executing a structure that fulfills those elements effectively, efficiently, economically and elegantly.

	Music for Broadcast A large area of our business and the one we have pursued the longest (30+ years), music for broadcast is mainly radio and television commercial soundtracks. Our creative involvement in these projects ranges from simply re-creating a popular song that an advertiser has negotiated the rights to use, all the way to total collaboration in music and lyric on an original composition. To expand the “architecture” metaphor, we have some clients who say, “Build me a house exactly like that one,” and we also have clients who simply say, “I need a house, I think.” Creating Music for Broadcast is limited or defined by two main factors: time and context. The time factor is usually thirty or sixty seconds. But even if it is fifteen or ninety, it is a concrete fact of a given production’s life. So the music must accomplish its mission in that time. Just as a house that has 2000 square feet may have two rooms or ten rooms, a thirty second spot may have 2 lines or ten lines, may be in one key or two or three, and so on. The context factor is that the music will be heard in a narrowly defined, but uncontrollable setting. The setting is narrowly defined in that a radio or television set will be ultimately reproducing the final piece. The setting is uncontrollable in that the radio or TV could range from a Walkman to a car radio to a home theater to the Internet. This dictates that the music must be recorded (we no longer have live commercials as a rule), and that it must be produced in such a way that it takes the greatest advantage of the known technology.

	Music for Industrials Our biggest area of business over the years has been creating music for the industrial stage - new product intros, business meetings, incentive and recognition events, and so forth. Again, our creative involvement ranges from just musical “hired hands” to complete integration within a creative team. And while the “build me a house” metaphor still holds, the neighborhood is substantially different. Time is more fluid for an industrial piece. Instead of hearing, “we have 2000 square feet within which to work,” we are much more likely to hear, “how many square feet will it require to accomplish our goal?” Context varies wildly from industrial to industrial. Generally presented in major resort destinations, ballrooms and convention centers are the norm. But we have worked in tents and theaters and arenas and even the Superdome. Within a single project, however, every aspect of the context is custom-designed and therefore both controllable and knowable. We work then, in conjunction with an array of other suppliers, to conform to and maximize the benefits from the context at hand. In a smaller venue, pre-recorded soundtracks accompanying visuals or video may be the most effective use of music. A small group of live players and/or singers, augmented with pre-recorded sound may offer the best combination of music and visual presentation. And so on, right up to the large venues where a large orchestra and large live cast, supported by large-screen projection as well as additional lighting and other effects is the order of the day. Knowing the ins and outs of this process, both in terms of music creation as well as interfacing with producers, directors, choreographers, lighting designers, videographers, sound engineers and so forth, has kept us at the forefront of this industry for over twenty years.

	Music for Praise and Worship Our newest and fastest-growing area of business responds to the modern church. For centuries the keeper of the musical flame as well as the most widespread user of music’s inherent capacities, the modern church is becoming increasingly intentional in the use of music to reach people. Because such music is by definition “music with a purpose” it also is a prime candidate for “music made to order.” And because Doug Benge is a bona fide Preacher’s Kid, this became a natural fit for Bengemark. From a creative point of view, music for praise and worship bears greater similarities to music for industrials than to music for broadcast. Although there are rarely directors or choreographers and so forth, the aims of the piece of worship music are really quite similar to the aims of a piece of industrial music: to engender a particular state of mind, to communicate a specific message and to cement that message in the memory of the recipient. The main differences are related to accompaniment and participation. In an industrial, the accompaniment, whether live, recorded or some combination is performed under our direction and control. The accompaniment for a piece of worship music needs to provide the flexibility to accommodate the variety of foreseeable situations beyond our control. We provide creatively for the ability of multiple end-users to either play the accompaniment live with piano or guitar or organ or even a band, as well as provide the option of a pre-recorded accompaniment for them to use either in rehearsal or performance. Similarly, participation is at the very heart of worship music. Whether a piece is designed as a performance piece or a congregational piece, it is absolutely essential that all participants be provided for. So whereas we write for a specific group of known voices and instruments in an industrial, we make sure in the creation and preparation of a piece of worship music to make sure the melodies are singable by the intended users, playable by the intended players and enjoyable by all participants. Finally, there remains this difference. A radio or TV spot is played, as it is recorded, for a given period of time, usually thirteen or twenty-six weeks. An industrial is performed, as it is prepared and rehearsed, at the show for which it was created, often a single performance. A piece of worship music, on the other hand, is designed to be repeated by new and different performers and congregations, for as long as people find it helpful and enjoyable. So we write to that end.

	Music Recording and Production MIDI All production these days likely begins as MIDI/notation/note-check Studio Best players/best attitude - option for perfection Live High-impact. Visual. Venue experience/network