M-Audio Artists



 
Anne Litt

Occupation:
DJ/Music Supervisor

Background:

You’re watching the NBA playoffs, and one of the league’s “There’s only one” promos comes on. It features an arresting image—two players faces joined together to form one—but what also grabs your attention is the music: A lilting, easily strummed guitar and a haunting moan; it’s Radiohead’s “House of Cards.” But they never do ads! Or so you think. Anne Litt made it happen. Or you could slip “Little Miss Sunshine” into your DVD player; when you hear DeVotchka’s gypsy highway music running under the opening scene, you know you’re in for a unique ride. Anne made that music happen, too. Anne has been instrumental in setting the soundtrack not just for your life, but also for the movies, commercials, and TV shows you watch and, through her tenure at NPR’s flagship station KCRW-FM, setting the standard for groundbreaking public radio programming. For the last twenty years, Anne has worked on both sides of the microphone, shaping the careers and sounds that shaped our time. A lifelong radio fan, Anne’s first on-air experience was at the forefront of the alt-rock revolution, as a DJ for the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill’s award winning radio station, WXYC. After graduating in 1988, Anne joined the pioneering independent label, Mammoth Records. As one of the label’s first employees, she helped guide the careers of such seminal alternative stars Juliana Hatfield, the Blake Babies, and Joe Henry. In 1991, Anne made the move to Los Angeles, looking for work as a music supervisor. She quickly made a name for herself as someone who had her finger of the pulse of popular music, giving then-unknown artists such as Sarah McLachlan early exposure. But Anne missed the immediacy and creativity of radio, so in 1995 she started DJing for KCRW. There, she joined a team of talented programmers who were forging the new sound of freeform radio. Working various shifts at the station, by 2000, she had established herself as the host of the weekend afternoon show, where her signature mix of progressive pop, global rhythms and modern sounds helped establish KCRW as the nationally recognized home of the most eclectic, adventurous music programming in the country. One of the station’s most respected on-air personalities, in 2006 Anne was tapped to spearhead the launch of KCRW’s on-line music channel, KCRW.com. As the founding program director, Anne gave the station its internet identity, bringing some of the station’s essential DJs to the net while adding new blood to the mix. (She has been so successful at the latter task she’s added on-air talent scout to her portfolio.) With KCRW’s audience of Hollywood tastemakers, it was not long before the entertainment industry turned to Anne and she returned to music supervision. Anne’s ability to find music that catches the emotional core of a scene has brought her accolades, including her work on the Grammy-nominated soundtrack to Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ “Little Miss Sunshine.” Her other credits include Curtis Hanson’s “Lucky You,” Without A Trace” (Bruckheimer/Warner Bros.), and the wildly successful campaigns for Apple’s iPod, Volkswagen, and Acura. If you travel on Ted or Song Airlines, that’s Anne’s voice and music selections you hear. And all six of the spots in the NBA’s “There’s only one” campaign featured music selected by Anne, including ahead-of-the-curve tracks by the Duke Spirit, Rachel’s and Great Northern. So the next time you’re caught unawares by a track that you can’t seem to forget, don’t be surprised if it was chosen by Anne!





Anne Litt

What professional accomplishments are you most proud of and why?
As far as professional accomplishments go, I’m most proud of having a forum and having the ability to introduce new artists who might otherwise not get heard, at least in the commercial world. Torq (and KCRW) enables me to do that and has revolutionized how I do it. Little Miss Sunshine and the 2008 NBA playoff campaign are two of my favorite recent music supervision jobs. As far as radio goes, I’m incredibly proud of launching KCRW’s 24/7 music channel a couple of years ago and spearheading an almost 2 year new DJ / on-air talent search.

How has using software like Torq changed the way you DJ? Torq has completely changed the way I DJ on air. I never realized I would truly forgo vinyl and CD’s the way I have. Torq has forever altered my preparation, execution and sound. There is a precision that I’ve never had previously and as much as I love the tactile quality of my records and even CD’s to a degree, Torq has let me keep using that when I want while allowing me an exactitude that I’ve begun demand.

I’m a fairly recent adopter of Torq and I know there is so much more to explore about it, but recently I DJ’ed with it at a KCRW event and it transformed the set. Besides the fact that I don’t have to cart around crates of records, it gave me more flexibility because when I attach my external hard drive full of music my options are way beyond what I could carry in a few crates.

I love having the entirety of my collection at my fingertips. My mandate on-air and when I DJ elsewhere is always eclectic. Having access to all of my music and being able to organize, plan, and play ANYTHING has transformed what I do.