PonyoBellanote
07-13-2016, 05:04 PM
I quote:
�is a challenge indeed. Many of them already know everything there is to know about producing them. Everything. Many others know nothing but feel they�re entitled to know everything. Everything. For the few remainders, here�re a few Intrada guidelines:
1) Licensors are the law. They own the music. They can choose to make it available� or choose not to. We can ask but it�s their ballgame.
2) We are artist friendly. We have been since day one, we still are. If a composer (or estate) says not to include 6M2A on our album, we don�t include 6M2A on our album. Unless a licensor overrides them. That is rare. In any case, I can argue but 1) and 2) will always prevail. I did win once� on Night Crossing. That is even rarer, though. I think it only happened that once.
3) After 1) and 2) are satisfied, creative decisions typically go to me. I usually like to include everything that survives on tape, in the order it appears in the movie. But not always. Sometimes I might want to hear things in a different order. I have a lot of skin in the fight so my opinion carries a lot of weight. Sometimes I will ask Roger what he would like. He has a lot of skin in this fight, too. Not as much, though.
4) Albums are getting really long now. 70 minutes. 90 minutes. 145 minutes. Even more minutes. Jerry Goldsmith once told me �Doug, they want every bloody note. They even want the orchestra tuning up. It�s ridiculous.� I am not making this up. It was at our Rio Conchos session. He didn�t like those collectors. He wouldn't obey their wishes. Ever.
5) I�ve learned no two collectors agree on the best way to produce an album - even when they try to agree. Each feels their version should prevail. When I�m done listening to them, I proceed with my version. It always prevails.
6) I love this music. The old music, the new music. Sometimes I really like a cue, a whole lot. If I really really really like a cue a whole lot, I might include it two times. I guess the opposite is true, too. If I really really really don�t like a cue, I may not include it at all. Yes, the former happens sometimes. The latter rarely does.
7) Every licensor has similarities. Every artist has similarities. The former collectively own the scores. The latter collectively write them. But after that, the differences show up. One licensor may require source cues be included in the program, another licensor may request they be removed. Sometimes the licensors and the artists do not agree on where or when or even if the source cues will appear. The former usually prevail. But not always. Sometimes the latter prevail. On rare occasions, a coin is tossed and Intrada gets to decide. But that does not happen often.
A few �inside baseball� points to ponder.
a) Crossfades are my friend, except when they aren�t. Musical architecture matters to me a whole lot. If marrying two cues makes me happy, I will probably do it. If marrying two cues does not make me happy, I probably won�t. Sometimes I have married two cues on a project and years later divorced them on a reissue because they just couldn�t work out their differences.
b) I hate compressing audio and normalizing audio and doing things to audio that results in compressed audio or normalized audio. I hate it. Did I say I hate it? I hate it. Many a terrific score ihmo has become a dreadful listening experience because the quiet cue with a gentle oboe and solitary harp sounds just as loud as the following cue with 89 players blowing away. Many a terrific score imho has also become a dreadful listening experience because the audio level is cranked up as loud as possible just so it can be louder than� well, louder than what? Louder just to be louder I guess. Maybe it's just for the earbud folks. Maybe it's just for the people who like distortion. Whatever. To me that kind of mastering is cretinous. Think of This Is Spinal Tap. These go to eleven.
Bottom line, again imho. We all love to listen to this music. It�s why Intrada (mostly) produces these albums, it�s why you (mostly) purchase them. When the albums we and other labels produce and the albums you love are one and the same - well, it feels like nirvana. That doesn�t always happen. But sometimes it does.
--Doug
�is a challenge indeed. Many of them already know everything there is to know about producing them. Everything. Many others know nothing but feel they�re entitled to know everything. Everything. For the few remainders, here�re a few Intrada guidelines:
1) Licensors are the law. They own the music. They can choose to make it available� or choose not to. We can ask but it�s their ballgame.
2) We are artist friendly. We have been since day one, we still are. If a composer (or estate) says not to include 6M2A on our album, we don�t include 6M2A on our album. Unless a licensor overrides them. That is rare. In any case, I can argue but 1) and 2) will always prevail. I did win once� on Night Crossing. That is even rarer, though. I think it only happened that once.
3) After 1) and 2) are satisfied, creative decisions typically go to me. I usually like to include everything that survives on tape, in the order it appears in the movie. But not always. Sometimes I might want to hear things in a different order. I have a lot of skin in the fight so my opinion carries a lot of weight. Sometimes I will ask Roger what he would like. He has a lot of skin in this fight, too. Not as much, though.
4) Albums are getting really long now. 70 minutes. 90 minutes. 145 minutes. Even more minutes. Jerry Goldsmith once told me �Doug, they want every bloody note. They even want the orchestra tuning up. It�s ridiculous.� I am not making this up. It was at our Rio Conchos session. He didn�t like those collectors. He wouldn't obey their wishes. Ever.
5) I�ve learned no two collectors agree on the best way to produce an album - even when they try to agree. Each feels their version should prevail. When I�m done listening to them, I proceed with my version. It always prevails.
6) I love this music. The old music, the new music. Sometimes I really like a cue, a whole lot. If I really really really like a cue a whole lot, I might include it two times. I guess the opposite is true, too. If I really really really don�t like a cue, I may not include it at all. Yes, the former happens sometimes. The latter rarely does.
7) Every licensor has similarities. Every artist has similarities. The former collectively own the scores. The latter collectively write them. But after that, the differences show up. One licensor may require source cues be included in the program, another licensor may request they be removed. Sometimes the licensors and the artists do not agree on where or when or even if the source cues will appear. The former usually prevail. But not always. Sometimes the latter prevail. On rare occasions, a coin is tossed and Intrada gets to decide. But that does not happen often.
A few �inside baseball� points to ponder.
a) Crossfades are my friend, except when they aren�t. Musical architecture matters to me a whole lot. If marrying two cues makes me happy, I will probably do it. If marrying two cues does not make me happy, I probably won�t. Sometimes I have married two cues on a project and years later divorced them on a reissue because they just couldn�t work out their differences.
b) I hate compressing audio and normalizing audio and doing things to audio that results in compressed audio or normalized audio. I hate it. Did I say I hate it? I hate it. Many a terrific score ihmo has become a dreadful listening experience because the quiet cue with a gentle oboe and solitary harp sounds just as loud as the following cue with 89 players blowing away. Many a terrific score imho has also become a dreadful listening experience because the audio level is cranked up as loud as possible just so it can be louder than� well, louder than what? Louder just to be louder I guess. Maybe it's just for the earbud folks. Maybe it's just for the people who like distortion. Whatever. To me that kind of mastering is cretinous. Think of This Is Spinal Tap. These go to eleven.
Bottom line, again imho. We all love to listen to this music. It�s why Intrada (mostly) produces these albums, it�s why you (mostly) purchase them. When the albums we and other labels produce and the albums you love are one and the same - well, it feels like nirvana. That doesn�t always happen. But sometimes it does.
--Doug
