David Della Santa

Composer/Sound Designer David Della Santa has launched Volume Music + Sound. He returns to his native San Francisco following a successful run in New York, where he worked with Tonefarmer.



Della Santa has become known for creating current, alternative and edgy material that sounds licensed, yet is scored to picture. His notable work includes Tylenol "In Concert" (Deutch/NY), Gatorade "X Factor" (Element 79/Chicago), Boost Mobile "RIP" (Berlin Cameron + Partners/NY), Violence Policy Center "Bullet Factory" (Lunar Fish/SF), and Discovery Channel "Shark Week" (Bayles Cronin/ATL).



"I got my start while talking music with a couple guys at a party eleven years ago," Della Santa recalled. "I didn't know it, but they were creatives at McCann SF." Two weeks later, McCann producer Gary Krieg called with a job. That spot won a New York Festivals Award, and Della Santa began putting his stamp on ad work. One of the first composers in San Francisco to do current alternative music for ads, Della Santa was also propelled by an embrace of computer and electronic music in the ad scene. He thrived in San Francsico with his own company, Rebar Sound, until "the dot bomb". A move to New York, and Tonefarmer, followed.



Tinkering away on a piano his mom bought for him, Della Santa is a self-taught musician whose journey began with a single objective: "I just had to learn to play some ELO," he laughed. His learn-by-doing philosophy has worked well, translating into awards, inclusion in the AICP/MoMA show, frequent positioning in the SHOOT Top Ten Tracks list, and work for national clients such as Microsoft, HP (McCann-Erickson/SF), Sprint (GSP/SF), AT&T (GSDM/Austin), among others.



Flexing his creative muscles beyond the ad world, Della Santa has recorded with his NY-based band, Machines Kill Music, an indie rock ensemble with an electro edge, for which he writes the music, plays keyboards, and provides vocals. The band's music is available on iTunes and MySpace. He enjoys that experience, but prefers his gig at Volume Music + Sound. "How else could I get paid to rock with out being stuck on the back of a bus with five smelly dudes for months at a time?" he wondered. "And I'm too shy for groupies."