Michael Scherer

Michael Scherer wears many hats in his line of business, but the musician will soon slip into the role of pianist back on stage.

Decatur native Scherer will perform at the Decatur Celebration on the Central Park Stage on Friday evening.

Scherer, a graduate of the Jim Culbertson/Steve Schepper era MacArthur jazz band, said the program formed the foundation for his future career.

“(Culbertson and Schepper) were very disciplined,” he said. “'C' (Culbertson) was always on the mark, but it was the key that I needed. He knew how to develop people into musicians.”

Scherer graduated from Millikin University with a degree in commercial music, which he has parlayed into several job opportunities. One of those came in the form of a Korean production crew filming in Illinois. Scherer was hired on to compose the music for the film, titled “Slap Down.” Scherer said he and business partner Zach Garrett studied film scoring through Berklee College of Music online, so the production allowed him to put his extra training to use.

“That was a cool experience, being able to work with the director and (crew members) and finding out what their vision is,” he said. “The music ended up shaping a lot of the scenes as they were filming.”

Beyond cinematic endeavors, Scherer used his degree to form Dreamvizion Productions, a sonic branding company, along with Garrett. The team helps other businesses develop promotional tones and jingles, he said.

“It’s finding what’s a really creative way of branding a business that defines them through sound,” he said. “We do on-hold music and messaging as well.”

However, Scherer and Dreamvizion also produce studio albums with different artists. Scherer himself has produced five albums; he created his first and second albums, piano and gospel/hip-hop, respectively, at Millikin. His third album, “Exceeding Expectations,” hit national charts. He has also produced a second piano album and a Christmas album.

Scherer is now working on his sixth album, “That’s the Life,” which he and Garrett are in the process of mixing. Scherer will perform portions of the album, which features Scherer on piano and Garrett on guitar, during his Celebration performance, he said.

“It’s a mixture of smooth jazz and some funky songs, adult contemporary stuff, but it’s all instrumental,” he said.

The Celebration performances will encompass a variety of genres including jazz, funk and blues and will include an eight-piece band, Scherer said.

“We’ve got a drummer, a Latin percussionist, a keyboard bass player, two guitar players, a saxophonist, a vocalist and then myself on piano,” he said. “So it’s going to be a nice group.”

Group members include Zach Garrett (guitar), Arthur Hinton (vocals), Adam Blakey (saxophone), Dion Wilson (guitar), Kyle Lovett (keyboards/bass), Myra Johnson (Latin percussion) and Will Hood (drums). - Herald and Review

What makes Michael Scherer so confident in his success? Try releasing a third album, founding a business debt-free and scoring a feature film about to debut at the renowned Sundance Film Festival. And that's just for starters.

But don't think it hasn't come without hard work and sheer determination. After graduating from Millikin University with a commercial music degree, he joined the Half Note Trio, touring for nearly a year. A grueling life, to be sure, and one that Michael says "wasn't investing in my future. I knew that would come with music and advertising audio."

So with business on his mind, Michael returned to Decatur and began working with Millikin's SCORE (Service Coprs of Retired Executives) mentoring program, designed to help entrepreneurs get off the ground. Business plan in hand, he launched DreamVizion Productions, soon earning multiple grants as well as funding from private investors.

Convinced his big break lay in advertising audio, he soon landed the big one. But rather than advertising, the film industry came calling - literally. "I got a call from a Korean film production company based in Chicago producing an independent film, an action comedy," says Michael. "They'd looked into other music houses, couldn't get what they wanted."

One day and one meeting later, Michael had a contract to write the musical score for the entire film. "It's really pushed the limits of my creativity," he says. "From Asian flute for a fight scene to full disco with vocalists to hard rock anthems and scoring a full orchestra."

Slap Down is set to deput at the Sundance Film Festival as well as 15 festivals across the world in Canada, Europe, Korea and beyond. But Michael's not stopping there. His third CD, "Exceeding Expectations," is set to release on June 27 with a debut concert at Decatur's Lincoln Theatre at 6 p.m. Calling it "smooth jazz with a funk twist," he says it's anything but typical, featuring him on both piano and trombone.

And of course, there's growing DreamVizion Productions' advertising audio business. With a team of musicians, singers and songwriters, plus him doing all the mixing and mastering in house, Michael sees success on the horizon. "We want to become a globally known entity."

For Michael, there was never any doubt about the business or Decatur. "If everybody leaves, who's going to build up the community? I'm a success story that's come from right here in Decatur."

Article written by Joli Hohenstein
First published in THRIVE, Decatur Area’s Premier Entertainment Guide
All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with Permission. - Thrive Magazine

What makes Michael Scherer so confident in his success? Try releasing a third album, founding a business debt-free and scoring a feature film about to debut at the renowned Sundance Film Festival. And that's just for starters.

But don't think it hasn't come without hard work and sheer determination. After graduating from Millikin University with a commercial music degree, he joined the Half Note Trio, touring for nearly a year. A grueling life, to be sure, and one that Michael says "wasn't investing in my future. I knew that would come with music and advertising audio."

So with business on his mind, Michael returned to Decatur and began working with Millikin's SCORE (Service Coprs of Retired Executives) mentoring program, designed to help entrepreneurs get off the ground. Business plan in hand, he launched DreamVizion Productions, soon earning multiple grants as well as funding from private investors.

Convinced his big break lay in advertising audio, he soon landed the big one. But rather than advertising, the film industry came calling - literally. "I got a call from a Korean film production company based in Chicago producing an independent film, an action comedy," says Michael. "They'd looked into other music houses, couldn't get what they wanted."

One day and one meeting later, Michael had a contract to write the musical score for the entire film. "It's really pushed the limits of my creativity," he says. "From Asian flute for a fight scene to full disco with vocalists to hard rock anthems and scoring a full orchestra."

Slap Down is set to deput at the Sundance Film Festival as well as 15 festivals across the world in Canada, Europe, Korea and beyond. But Michael's not stopping there. His third CD, "Exceeding Expectations," is set to release on June 27 with a debut concert at Decatur's Lincoln Theatre at 6 p.m. Calling it "smooth jazz with a funk twist," he says it's anything but typical, featuring him on both piano and trombone.

And of course, there's growing DreamVizion Productions' advertising audio business. With a team of musicians, singers and songwriters, plus him doing all the mixing and mastering in house, Michael sees success on the horizon. "We want to become a globally known entity."

For Michael, there was never any doubt about the business or Decatur. "If everybody leaves, who's going to build up the community? I'm a success story that's come from right here in Decatur."

Article written by Joli Hohenstein
First published in THRIVE, Decatur Area’s Premier Entertainment Guide
All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with Permission. - Thrive Magazine