My Life In Nollywood: Adam Songbird 

Every week, The Culture Custodian grants you an all-access backstage pass into the lives of Nollywood rock stars. You get to learn about their fascinating backgrounds, the behind-the-scenes stories, and more. This episode features soundtrack composer and sound designer, Adam Songbird.

Aluko Damilola (alias Adam Songbird) had a communal upbringing that exposed him to different music genres and styles. These influences crystallized into a passion for music and preparation that saw him find a home in the studio.  Growing up, he had his secondary education at Ikeja High School and obtained a diploma in Computer Science from the  Federal Polytechnic, Offa. He later proceeded to Lagos State University where he bagged a degree in Computer Science in 2016. 

Adam Songbird began as a singer, songwriter and gospel artiste before he evolved as a soundtrack composer and sound designer. At first, as an artist, he was signed under Mike Abdul’s record label through which he had a couple of releases and collaborated with other music talents.  He got his first shot at Nollywood in 2011 after scoring  a film that turned  out to be Saheed Balogun’s Eti Keta. The positive reception of his work led to more opportunities for him. He created  the soundtrack for Niyi Akinmolayan’s Prophetess under the auspices of Anthill Studios in 2021. Since then, he has forged a smooth work relationship with the production outfit and other filmmakers, joining forces with colleagues like Tolu Obanro to elevate the quality of sounds and audio post-production in Nollywood.

Adam Songbird is credited as a soundtrack composer and sound designer on film such as Ada Omo Daddy, Jagun Jagun, King of Thieves, Progressive Tailors Club, Beast of Two Worlds, Criminal, Casa De Novia, Mikolo, The House of Secrets, The Man For The Job, Seven Doors, and Labale Olododo. 

This interview with Adam Songbird has been edited for clarity.

What are your thoughts about the newly introduced AMVCA Best Score/Music category, alongside the previously existing Best Sound Design category?

It’s a step in the right direction. It’s just one of the many things that we’ve always talked about. In the area of sound, we just like to categorize everything as one unit or aspect. It’s like categorizing the whole process of filmmaking as production. We all know there are tons of rules regarding the process. The same thing goes for sound.

How would you describe your responsibilities as a film score composer, foley artist, and sound designer?

It feels like a human being with body parts, each with its own function. My work basically is not film scoring. It is creating theme songs and soundtracks and also doing sound design. In sound design, we have music, film score, foley, effects. Foleys have to do with emphasizing the sounds of objects that we can see and touch, that are a part of our realities. This happens because we don’t expect the mics that record these things on set to give us the quality of sound that we want to have in the film. We can’t depend on the sound recordist to accurately recreate the sounds of objects being picked or dropped. In sound design, we have to re-record or create those sounds again in the studio and make sure they synchronize with what we are watching on screen. The whole essence of creating all those foleys and effects is to heighten what the person is seeing and imagining, or what the director of the story wants you to feel. The idea is to use sounds to emphasize or exaggerate that thing. If it’s an action film, it feels like you are in a war zone with all the sounds that make it real. Then, there’s a difference between creating foleys and creating effects and also now creating ambience music. But at the end of the day, we just want to immerse the audience in that experience. Without these sounds, it feels like you are watching a church drama or just observing people mess around. Within film score and composition, we have the creation of original soundtracks which should have its own category. That’s because I can do an entire film and I’m collecting music from artists. That automatically becomes the soundtrack for that film, but it’s not part of the score. 

How did you get started in the industry? 

For me, it’s two things that brought me into the industry—passion, and time and chance. I have always loved music, being an artist/musician to the core. I have always been a studio rat. But the journey into Nollywood started in 2011. That day, while we were creating music and doing stuff, I was working with a producer at that time named Sammy Young. Someone walked into our studio, wanting to edit sounds for their film. At the time, I was with an artist who had problems writing and delivering his song. I was helping the artist to get his lines when the man walked in and, pleased with what he saw, said I should be the one singing the song instead. Then, he asked if I could do a song for his film. I agreed and told my producer. We worked all night, and, before daybreak, came up with something that became huge after they used it in the film.  That was where everything began for me, and for so long, I was just doing movie soundtracks for mostly Yoruba and sometimes English films. Then came Prophetess, which my friend and partner Tolu Obanro and I worked on. He created the sounds and music, and I did a song or two on it. Since then, I kept evolving and learnt other aspects of sounds in film. 

What was growing up like? Can you tell me how your formative experiences inspired your creative journey?

Growing up, I had access to adult music. I was engrossed with the original Afrobeat from Fela, and Bob Marley’s music. And that’s because my favourite uncle, who happened to be the one that beat me the most, literally forced me to listen to those songs until I started liking them and knew the lyrics. Another uncle of mine listened a lot to Obesere and street music.  My father loved country music—Dolly Parton, Phil Collins, Kenny Rogers, etc. I personally loved Michael Jackson and tried to dress, dance and sound like him. It was this bombardment of sounds that helped me to be versatile, made me see music as a whole, and shaped my taste. 

Can you walk us through your process for scoring a film considering one of your projects, for instance Labake Olododo?

I had a friend do the score but I supervised the music. Of course, I did a few scores—about four or five—but the major score was done by Segigo. I edited the music and did all the sound design. It was an interesting experience working on it. Initially, I was skeptical because I had worked on a lot of epic films and was scared about approaching it the same way as previous projects. Being a female warrior epic type of film, I felt we needed to add a touch of uniqueness to it and some sound branding. Except for two or three in-between physical meetings, I was mostly not in the same space as the filmmakers while working, and we communicated a lot via Google Meet and Zoom calls.

To what extent do different genres in Nollywood shape your approaches as a sound designer? 

For Nigerian epics, the first thing you consider is the need for a lot of percussion. You wouldn’t, for instance, be playing the gan-gan for two people that want to kiss. We have done some crazy stuff though, such as playing electric guitar on bata for King of Thieves. These are things that we’ll do with music fusion. But the first thing that comes to your mind when you want to work on a film, after seeing the genre, is what best represents the film. The thinking, direction and approach to every genre is different. 

What technological tools and softwares do you use to produce your scores and design sounds?

There’s a lot, but the most important for everybody doing this work is the application and not just having the tools. I work with Logic Pro X. I also use Libraries, and there’s an AI plugin or software that I use as well. Some of the sounds are AI-generated. For instance, Crowto Studio is a fantasy AI-generating software for sounds. If I’m generating cool sounds but don’t know how to apply them in my film, it would just be a lot of noise. 

Are there concerns around the use of AI-generated sounds, and how do you avoid of copyright issues?

The thing about AI is that when you generate an image or sound, it’s not identical to what someone else might create or use. Since AI is software, purchasing a license grants you the right to use it. I also avoid relying on YouTube audio because it’s often copyrighted. To steer clear of copyright issues, I create my own sound effects or generate them through other methods.

With reference to any of your projects, how do you use music and sound to enhance the thematic and emotional impacts of key scenes or moments in a film?

First, you need to understand what’s on the director’s mind for every scene. That’s foundational. But then, you may not necessarily be limited in creativity so long as it is towards making an interesting film. For instance, in Jagun Jagun, there’s a scene where Gbotija stabs Agemo and, on removing the mask, discovers to his shock that it is Iroyinogunkiitan, the love of his life and bursts into tears. It is a revelation, a plot twist that even the audience watching the film for the first time couldn’t have expected. That moment of death and grief already provides the opportunity for intensive music and sound design. The director made the grieving guy fall in slow-mo while crying, and there’s a flicker of lighting before it starts raining in slow-mo. That itself revealed that the director wanted sounds that were strong, emotional, cinematic, something that would keep all the tears spilling from Gbotija’s face. It’s a moment without much dialogue, and as a sound designer I had to help that scene deliver its required intensity. What I think of in moments like this are emotions, ambience, rise and falls, etc. The work of sound, as in this case, is to enhance the story. That’s why the way the shots themselves are taken and edited matters to sound. If I wasn’t given slow-mo, I don’t think there would be any reason to use a soft dive. 

Have you experienced any funny or awkward moments or gotten into a creative conflict while working on a Nollywood project?

I have never had an altercation with anyone. I have also not spent much time on sets for me to experience a conflict of interest. But I think more producers should have sound and music supervisors, not just sound recordists, on set.

Who are your role models or mentors?

I’m sorry, I don’t believe in mentors. I have a few people I have great respect for though—Ben Jacquier, Niyi Akinmolayan and Hans Zimmer.

What notable challenges have you encountered in your artistic journey? How did you navigate them?

The challenges are not unique to me or my department alone. For a growing industry like Nollywood, it is expected that things might not always go the way they should. Besides, I don’t dwell on challenges. I just try to get the work done the best possible way.