Black Friday: Your Workweek In Question

For at least one country on the planet, yesterday was a day of giving thanks, loads of food, celebration, and time with loved ones. For many others, it was a day not unlike all the rest… cues, cues, cues, cues, and more cues. During this time of year, as Hollywood is prepping for its customary December 15-January 10 shutdown, many composers are hard at work in their studios, cranking out the year’s last few notes… so that they can at least have a taste of the turkey on December 25th. What about you?

How Do You Define “Team”?

We like to open up Fridays at SCOREcastOnline.com to what YOU in the community feel about important issues facing the entire post-production industry. The results are always interesting, but in this week’s case, we are asking a somewhat controversial question: What do you think about the various uses of “groups of people” in pulling off a score? We’ll explain precisely what we mean right after the jump…

Producing Your Score

Nothing will give your music heart, soul, the real human touch, better than the sounds of skilled musicians. Even if you yourself are the finest, with years of experience, even adding just one pro player will double your firepower, and even casual listeners will notice. So, now that you are off the phone and someone is on his or her way, it’s time to think about just how to interact for the best possible results. This is where you will be called on to put on your “producer” hat. Let’s talk about what that entails…

Casting Your Score

How to assemble the perfect “cast” of musicians to enhance your score.

It Hurts to Work: The Musician’s Silent Epidemic

There’s an epidemic going on that no one wants to talk about. Lots of people in our business are hurting, and computer work is the main culprit.

All About Delivery for Film and TV Music

From a technical point of view, preparing music files for delivery according to your client’s requirements should be a pretty straightforward thing. Although every project is a little bit different, there are some standard procedures, and we’ll go over them, with some definitions, a few precautions, and one or two minefields. Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011All Rights ReservedOriginal content here is published under these license terms: X License Type:Read OnlyLicense Summary:You may read the original content in the context in which it is published (at this web address). No other copying or use is permitted without written agreement from the author.

Delivery, Finaling and Changing the World

I’ve already outlined a few technical thoughts on delivery and “finaling” (whatever that is) in my Weekend Provocations this month… and I’ll continue to do so in the weeks to come.

As I began to write today’s article, though, I realized that our April focus itself is built on some assumptions. Those assumptions, and their ramifications, after the jump.

Delivery vs. Demo

Today’s Provocation strays ever so slightly off our April theme, but I hope you’ll follow along anyway. I’m going to lay out my some of my own ideas on turning delivered cues into demo cues. My overall opinion: if you want to put your best musical foot forward, there’s work to be done. Potentially lots of work.

Spotting With the Composer and the Sound Designer

Yes yes yes…I know…we entertained this subject last month. However, in the tradition of Post, I am following up last in the process!

This subject has been of particular interest to me, and has sparked a lot of interest among my colleagues in Post Production. Discussing spotting is a subject unto itself as we have seen with all the fascinating articles and comments these past weeks. The focus this time will be on the advantages, disadvantages, pluses and minuses of spotting a project with the Composer AND the Sound Designer present with the Director. Sitting down in a room, all together, with the same goal in mind… helping the Director tell the story. On the surface, it seems like a no-brainer — why NOT do this? Save time and energy; reduce the classic ‘conflicts’ during the final mix; the left hand knows what the right hand is going to do; efficient; cost saving; keeps the creative focus. Ah, if it were only that simple.

Mixing—Technical Guidelines, Part 3

Since, as a mixer, I’m not involved in the mysteries of a spotting session, this month’s column is going to be another in my series of “tech tips”, covering some engineering issues that have recently been in the air.

Spotting Content

We’ve looked at the ins and outs of spotting in the last couple of weeks; now, after the jump, we’ll talk a bit about all the stuff in the middle. The content, in other words: What is this cue trying to achieve, and how should we approach that in a spotting session? How much to say; how to say it? The truth is that this part is simple, as long as you’re following a few guidelines. It’s not easy—you’re expected to be handing a number of different dynamics during a spotting session, after all—but it is simple. I’d start with this: Focus the conversation on dramatic needs. You want to avoid loading up on musical…

Spotting from the Cheap Seats

***Note — What started out as an article about the role of assistants in the spotting process turned out to be a little more than that. I’ll cover some aspects of spotting from a composer assistant’s perspective, but you’ll find more of an overarching description about what assistants should and shouldn’t do overall in this particular column. End disclaimer. ;-)

When you assist a composer, which I have spent the majority of my time in LA doing, it’s hard to get excited about the “spotting session”. It is only on Spotting Day that I know several things are about to take place for me: I’m going to be fetching a hell of a lot of coffee and I’m going to repeating the phrase, “Can I get you anything else?” a whole helluva lot, too.