Ever since Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs became the first film to have its songs and score released as an original soundtrack album (no compact discs back in those days: Snow White came as a multi-disc set of 78rpm discs!), music for animated features has traditionally been a much focused upon element in their publicity and eventual success. But similar duties for the small screen are seemingly left unheralded outside of the industry, with audiences taking for granted the often brilliant compositions an army of musicians work hard to provide.

Today, Jeremie Noyer redresses that balance by speaking exclusively to composer Shawn Patterson, who has brought a musical spark to such shows as Ren & Stimpy, Dave The Barbarian and El Tigre as well as the upcoming pilot for Kung Fu Panda and his current project, Titan Maximum, which has just started its run on Adult Swim. In this terrific discussion, Patterson reveals his influences and favorite work, including literally illustrating by way of a couple of video clips how he scored one episode of the El Tigre show in a classic Carl Stalling style!

It makes for some great weekend reading, so enjoy…and stay tooned! — Ben.