Events are not just parties that happen on Saturday night. They happen everywhere and at all hours, every time you step into a restaurant, go to a club or visit a boutique," says Los Angeles-based musical consultant Michael Smith. "We connect people through music and mold what they hear and experience into custom-tailored sonic events."
Since launching Michael Smith Event Music (MSEM) in 2004, Smith has worked with a range of clients whose diversity is matched only by their prestige. From famed media properties (Vanity Fair, W Magazine, C Magazine) and marquee fashion houses (Chanel, Ferragamo, Reebok, Diane Von Furstenburg) to automotive companies (Saab) and major motion picture studios (Touchstone Pictures), Smith has helped to create and deliver a variety of sound solutions for many of today's top brands.
Smith's reputation for skillfully blending rock, electronic, hip-hop, standards and world music has earned him a reputation for being a musical curator capable of creating atmospheric mixes of sound that artfully fuses the exotic with the familiar.
After touring the US as a DJ with his mentor DJ Z-Trip in 2004 and setting off to perform internationally at clubs and events in Sao Paolo, London, Miami and New York, Smith returned to Los Angeles in 2005. In the fall of that year, Smith was greeted by an offer from Ferragamo to provide the musical backdrop to a sexy VIP cocktail event hosted by Vanity Fair magazine that aimed to introduce young Hollywood to the Ferragamo brand.
Based on the success of the Ferragamo event, word of mouth praise of Smith's services had spread and soon W magazine, the Chateau Marmont, Touchstone Pictures and Lancome hired MSEM for projects ranging from producing music for fashion shows, selections for IPODs, opening for Kanye West, and consulting on the Kevin Costner/Ashton Kutcher film The Guardian.
Most recently, Smith has developed an innovative sound platform for his clients that uses an online, network-based system of computers to bring meticulously crafted musical channels into high-end restaurants and retail businesses. Based on a space's clientele, branding objectives and activity patterns, Smith pairs his extensive knowledge of music with cutting edge technologies to create custom playlists for his clients that are automatically updated with new content and change in accordance with the time of day and desired level of musical interaction.
Since the introduction of this platform to the marketplace, Smith has collaborated with brands such as the lifestyle boutique Fred Segal Flair and the Philippe Starck-designed Japanese restaurant Katsuya to provide their establishments with a finely constructed sonic identity.
"It's always been about that next beat or that next hook, that rare element that captures and elevates the environment and mood of the people who are experiencing your work," explains Smith. "Everyone is going to enter a space as individuals, but if they leave feeling like they were a part of something interesting and aesthetically cohesive, I know I did my job." 
