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.

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.

What Are the Rules?

As I thought about this month’s theme, it occurred to me that I have never spotted a film or a television show. Well, let me restate that last sentence: If you had asked if I have spotted a film I would have shown something like this — I think I understand the process of spotting and it seems similar to an artform like origami or animal balloon sculpting. Just kidding of course — but I think I can learn this art form… maybe I just need the practice of taking picture without music and trying to find the appropriate spots music feels appropriate for, and figure it our through trial by error. So help me,…

More Bits, More People

Seems like there are a lot of ways to spend your money these days, often more money than may be coming in. What are the right choices to move your career forward? Here are a couple of contrasting ideas, both worth considering in their own context. More bits To start with, here I am wearing my “technical guru” hat. Let’s review some things about digital and computer audio; there’s a new technical trend and product you should be aware of. You probably know that digital audio, in the files we create and the way in the signals can flow from one piece of equipment to another, can be in a variety of different sample rates…

Competing with Technological Assumptions

We have been reading great articles this month on how to stay competitive as a composer, but can technology or the latest sample library or monitors help you be competitive? It could, but it could also bear no relevance whatsoever.

For me being a recording engineer and having to appeal to a wide variety of people means that I need to stay competitive in my gear selection, my rates, my marketing, and my best practices. I can no longer afford just try to compete on my talent or skill alone.

The Brightest Light In The Room

I’m sure you’ve had this experience: you go to a party, a meeting or seminar, or maybe just an informal gathering of people — friends, work colleagues, folks out in the world. Inevitably there is one person there who stands out, the center of attention, clearly the most confident, smartest, most successful. How did this person get to be that way? Blessed with talent, charisma, and brains, they go through life winning every game they play… it seems. If you are one of those people, congratulations. But what about the rest of us? How can we hope to compete and succeed in their world, maybe even become a bit like that someday? Let’s take a…

Personal Studio Acoustics

The first hint was not being sure what was up with my bottom end. Not the one in the chair, the one in the speakers. I know, I’ve been there. In the chair, in front of the speakers. Spent a good part of my life there. I should know. I’m a mixer. (Sorry, went into Dragnet mode there!) With keyboard, screen, mix controller in front of me, and speakers outside of and behind the computer screen in a nice equilateral triangle with my head and ears, the mix is coming together pretty nicely. Got the harps and guitars panned and strings nicely textured with a good convolution reverb. But now — what about the bass?…

Mixing: Technical Guidelines, Part 2

Recording and mixing music is a collection of skills that can take a lifetime to acquire. But almost every composer needs to do their own mixing sometimes, whether for a demo, low-budget project, or other reasons. The equipment keeps getting better and is widely available, especially with the computer software packages most composers work with. Let’s take a look at a few ideas and concepts about mixing music for the screen. Setting up your studio First of all you need an appropriate place to listen and work. A deep discussion of room acoustics is too much for this article, but for a fantastic resource check out “Acoustic Design For The Home Studio” by Mitch Gallagher….

Working with Others

I started out by scratching my head a bit, considering the topic of Collaboration. After all, there’s often only one engineer in the room, particularly in composer’s personal studio. But then, I figured, even in that case I’m certainly not working alone or in a vacuum. It’s almost impossible not to work with other people in this business, and who would want to? Here are some ways in which a score mixer collaborates with others. The Scoring Stage When called on to work in a commercial studio or scoring stage I almost always work as a member of a team. As an independent free-lancer, I am hired by the composer, and am the designated “team…

Live Recording Mixing

I got my start recording score music for episodic television a couple of decades ago, when the personal studio trend was just getting going in a big way. Among many others, I engineered music for the ABC series thirtysomething with composers Stewart Levin and Snuffy Walden, and then Northern Exposure with composer David Schwartz. Both started out in fairly modest home studio settings with simple gear, and as the shows and composers gained more success, their studios became more sophisticated. They wrote some of the coolest music I’ve had the pleasure of working on, and I still remember those experiences fondly. So, I am way familiar with the “standard” model of how most television scoring…

SCOREcast 19: Scoring in Los Angeles

Scoring in Los Angeles!

A SCOREcastOnline.com update with Deane Ogden, Kyle Robertson and Deane Ogden interview Susie Benchasil (orchestrator/conductor) and John Rodd (scoring engineer), and a composer roundtable on the successfulness of your career in relation to your location.