Score: A Film Music Documentary Page #6

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Road Studio Number One,

which is the big orchestral

room at Abbey Road.

Check, check, one,

two, three, test.

Check, one, two, three.

There doesn't appear to be a great deal

of absorbent material on the walls,

so it still has a bit

of a live sound to it.

When the orchestra cuts off

you get a really

great bit of reverb.

[ORCHESTRA ENDS CUE]

The Beatles recorded

their orchestral stuff in here,

and then in the '80s it became

frequently used for film scores,

so "Return of the Jedi"

was mostly recorded here.

[WILLIAMS] Chorus people,

thank you for coming.

Welcome to this process

of making "Star Wars."

[KRAEMER] The "Star Wars"

prequels were recorded here.

Just winds, please. 33.

One, two, three.

[WOODWINDS PLAYING "STAR WARS:

THE PHANTOM MENACE"]

The first three "Lord of the Rings"

movies were recorded here.

I know when Williams did

like his films here,

he tended to set up over here

and throw this

way, the long way.

So that the choir from like "Duel

of the Fates" was up against that wall.

[SINGING "DUEL OF THE FATES"]

Our sound engineer on this film,

he asked for this layout,

because he prefers it in terms

of getting the sound that he wants.

[PLAYING "MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:

ROGUE NATION" THEME]

When you're a film composer,

part of the gig is you're giving

the director and the producers

the music they want.

But at the end of the day,

if they don't like it,

it's not in the movie.

My crew in the mixing room

consists of the engineer,

who in this case is a guy

named Casey Stone.

He's sitting behind the board

and he's operating all the faders.

He's the one who set

up all the microphones in here,

laid out the plan for how we were

going to record everything.

Next to him is a gentleman

named Louis,

and Louis is operating

the pro tools,

so he's controlling the clicks

that I hear in my headphones,

and that all the musicians

hear in their headphones.

[CLICK TRACK PLAYING]

[MUSIC BEGINS]

And then he's also

recording all the takes,

making sure they're

all labeled correctly.

There's a gentleman

named John Finklea,

he's the music editor.

He is the person

who will take all the takes

and assemble not only the version

that we use in the film,

but also the version that we end

up making the soundtrack album from.

[MUSIC CONTINUES]

Next to him is the orchestrator,

who in this film

is Matt Dunkley.

I do all my writing

in a computer.

The orchestrator takes that file

and converts it into an orchestral score,

a score that I can conduct from,

and from which parts can be generated

and given to all the musicians.

And they don't have to see

all the other parts.

[MUSIC ENDS]

Great. Really, really.

[KRAEMER] Moving on?

Yeah. Ready?

Different cities, different

influences, different rooms.

In London, usually they play

with a gentle sound.

In Los Angeles, they play

with a stronger sound.

[PEREIRA] I do work very hard.

You know, and I have a team

that also works hard with me.

It takes a lot to get

to this point.

[ORCHESTRA REHEARSING

IN SLOW TEMPO]

It really

is like your life story,

using the picture as a vehicle

to show the human that you are.

[ORCHESTRA PLAYING

AT FULL SPEED]

That was amazing.

[BURLINGAME] Conducting a score

is something that everybody used to do.

It's not so much that the composer

doesn't have the chops

to go out there and conduct

an orchestra, many of them do.

But it's often more important

for them to be in the booth,

listening to what the orchestra

is playing,

and sitting right there

with the director

to know how the director's feeling

about what he's hearing.

[MUSIC PLAYS]

Let it play.

[HARRY GREGSON-WILLIAMS] If you speak

to John Powell, or Hans Zimmer,

they'll say they prefer to be

in the control room, not conducting,

because that's where everything's fed

through, they have more control.

I mean, basically, we're

all going after the same thing.

We want the best result,

the best performance

for the film.

[DEBNEY] A lot of composers

like to be in the booth,

so that they can be

closer to the director.

But I personally feel I get

the best performance

when I'm conducting

my own music.

[CONTRACTOR] Good morning!

This is a film for Paramount.

It's lots of fun.

John has done a great,

oh my god, what a score.

So without further ado,

our composer and conductor,

John Debney.

[APPLAUSE]

[DEBNEY] Good morning.

We're gonna start

out with 5m1v3.

Let's make some sound.

One, two. Two.

[MUSIC BEGINS]

Good read.

Good read.

[BEAR MCCREARY] Sight-reading

musicians, the studio musicians,

really are an incredible breed.

Producers or filmmakers,

they say,

"Well, how many days do

they have to rehearse this?"

And I say, "None. That was it.

They never saw it before."

And they go, "What? What?"

There's a technique to being

able to sight-read,

to being able to congeal

as a section,

as a studio sight-reading

orchestra.

[DEBNEY] 24, we are faster

right away.

[CONRAD POPE] When

you're writing music,

you're writing a letter

to the performers.

You're giving them a set of instructions

on what they're supposed to do.

And if you do it right, then

it should be a love letter.

And it you should show again,

"I know your instrument.

I know who you are."

You have many, many players

trying to play the same note,

but no one can.

Everyone is off by microns

of a percentage,

which gives it

that chorusing effect.

If everything was consonant

and perfect,

um music would

It would be terrible.

I mean, it would be like putting

auto-tune on Etta James.

You know, it just would take

all the soul out of it.

And honestly that's why we have

why orchestras sound beautiful.

[DEBNEY] If there's ever a time

where I'm not able to get

on a scoring stage

and work with 90 musicians,

I'll probably do something else.

Working with the live musicians,

that's what I live for.

[MUSIC BEGINS]

Standing on the podium,

and giving a downbeat

to a piece of music

that you've spent

a long time crafting.

And hearing it

for the first time,

I guess it's like seeing your child

for the first time being born.

[MUSIC SWELLS]

The joy, the emotion

of what that is,

it's really everything to me.

[MUSIC ENDS]

Pretty darn good take.

That's the real power

of the orchestra

and I think that's why

That's why I think

it'll never disappear.

Certainly it's been transformed

and will continue to be transformed,

but I think at the heart, um

It's kinda

the most human element

and the most emotional

element we have.

[KRAEMER] Let's go from 20

to the end of 48.

This film has a lot of music.

It's an action film,

it's a tentpole movie,

so they tend to be

more wall-to-wall.

You know, "Jack Reacher" had

about 60 minutes of music.

This has about 110.

[TREVOR RABIN] You do

see the billboards up

before you're finished

doing the film.

You drive past it thinking,

"But the music's not

written yet."

The scary thing is going

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