About

Scott Hackwith

Scott Hackwith is a producer, engineer & composer. As a producer/engineer, he has worked with notable artist such as The Ramones, Spiritualized, Dig and with record labels including Capital Records, Republic, Sub Pop, Alive, Universal.  As a composer, Scott has composed music for award winning documentary Buffalo Girls and has written and produced music for commercials including Lexus, Budweiser, Ford, Allstate, Kellogg's & Nike, among many others. He has placed music in television and film with clients including HBO, Warner Brothers, Disney, Universal, DDB, BBDO, Y&R, TBWA/Media Arts Lab, and Kesselskramer.

Born in San Diego, California, Hackwith eventually re-located to Los Angeles where he divided his time between playing lead guitar for T.S.O.L., recording numerous home demos on a four track and landing a day job at Propaganda Films. Working behind the camera for acclaimed directors David Fincher (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Dominic Sena (Gone in 60 Seconds, Swordfish), Michael Bay (Transformers, Pearl Harbor) and Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo), Hackwith's talent quickly propelled him from production assistant to serve as art director and production designer for their music videos and TV commercials. Nonetheless, music remained his primary interest and Hackwith reserved the evenings to either perform, write or record his original material.

Hackwith formed the heavy alternative/grunge rock band, Dig, whose debut EP Runt was issued by Caroline Records (home to Brian Eno, Smashing Pumpkins) and topped the influential CMJ chart. After coming to the attention of record exec-manager Gary Kurfirst (Talking Heads, Blondie), the band signed with MCA's Radioactive imprint. Dig‘s "Believe" single enjoyed success on Billboard's Top 20 and at MTV, who aired the Hackwith-directed "Believe" video on the network's Buzz Worthy program for months.

Dig played alongside the Flaming Lips, The Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Bad Brains and many others, which led to some lasting alliances. The most notable include Iggy Pop, with whom he frequently participated in after hours jams (Pop even featured Hackwith's vocals on his Brick by Brick album), and The Ramones, who chose Hackwith to produce their album Acid Eaters, which Spin Magazine called "the best Ramones record made in a decade." He also produced the band's retrospective sets Ramones Mania Vol. 2, Masters of Rock, The Chrysalis Years, Best of the Chrysalis Years, The Best of The Ramones, Weird Tales of the Ramones and Greatest Hits.

Hackwith's numerous production credits, apart from all of Dig's albums, include The Ramones, Spiritualized, Gospel Beach and Beachwood Sparks' acclaimed Make the Cowboy Robots Cry album (co-produced with Jimmy Tamborello), live albums by punk spearheads the Circle Jerks, Agent Orange, and many more.

Hackwith subsequently became a full-time composer for film and television. Along with work for commercial clients, Hackwith's credits include composing music for the Discovery Channel's Bone Detectives TV series and forthcoming documentary Raised in the Ring. Scott was recently entrusted with Motown's original multi-track tapes of the classic Jackson 5 hit “I'll be There", and produced a re-mix for a State Farm Insurance commercial.