This is from a promotional magazine for synthesizer equipment:
"Creating the theme music for a new TV show is always an interesting challenge. The Seinfeld theme was especially interesting for screen composer Jonathan Wolff, owner of the Music Consultants Group in Burbank, CA.
"A few years ago Wolff received a phone call from Jerry Seinfeld who described the following problem: he envisioned the main title and closing sequences of his show to center on him performing standup comedy with the subject matter relating to the story line of the episode. He wanted a catchy recognizable "signature" music theme that would play along with his comedy monologue BUT that would not interfere with his standup material.
"'So I watched a lot of his comedy material', said Jonathan, 'and I noticed that the delivery had a unique, quirky rhythm to it.' Woff then based the rhythm of the Seinfeld theme on the subtle rhythm of Jerry's speech patterns. 'He has musical quality to the pacing of his words and movements so I treated his voice as though it were the "melody" of the theme and I built the rest of the music around him.'" [I wonder what the theme would sound like if it was based on Superman's voice.]
"Says Wolff, 'Jerry gave me license to make the theme fresh and unique. He wanted the music, like the show, to be differenct from the others on the air. So I turned to my [blatant plug] Alesis HR-16 and HR-16B. Instead of using typical drum and percussion samples, I used the lip noises and fingersnaps to accompany him. These "human" sounds mix with Jerry's speaking voice and act as a staccato parallel melody.' Wolff then uses an Alesis QuadraVerb to then match the timbre and reverb of these samples to Jerry's voice as it sounds in the comedy club.
Because the derivatives of the Seinfeld theme were to be used as transitions and end credits music, the theme (WITHOUT Jerry's voice) had to also be musically strong enough to stand on its own. 'So I created the bass line to be the most prominent musical element because it's an audio range that does not compete with the voice.'
Since Jerry's comedy routine is different each week, the theme music must be adapted each episode to fit his routine. Wolff constructed the musical phrases of the Seinfeld theme in a manner such that they could be easily manipulated in a modular fashion. He uses a time processor to sculpt the music of each episode to match the timing of Seinfeld's monologue. 'Every week I get to create a variation of the Seinfeld theme, with the "melody" provided by Jerry's monologue.'"