Composer’s blog – recording Friday, 26 June 2009

After working intensely on the score for a couple of days, there is nothing more thrilling than hearing the musicians bringing the music to life in the recording session. As I have mentioned previously, I generally map out my initial musical ideas for the episode on a computer, and like Blair and Alexis, I produce a computer synthesised demo soundtrack in order to give Helen, Adam and Stephen a good idea of how the final recorded music would sound.

It is always my primary concern, however, to compose music that will sound good with the live musicians. Working on a computer can sometimes be a bit misleading, and one has to be careful to write music that is actually playable by real players!

The practicalities of the recording process were also at the forefront of my mind when I was composing. With modern multi-track recording techniques (like those used by Liam and the crew in the studios at Edinburgh University), it is possible to add extra parts to the musical texture in a process called ‘overdubbing’. In this technique, a musician can make a recording on top of the material they have just played, which is then played back simultaneously with the original recording, giving the effect of two musicians playing. Having a relatively small number of players to perform the score, this technique was useful in allowing me to include parts that I couldn’t have included otherwise. It was particularly useful in creating a slightly ‘denser’ sound at some important moments.

This being said, as I was composing my music, I made a conscious effort to keep the need for overdubs in the recording session to an absolute minimum. There are a couple of reasons behind my doing this: the sound created by the ensemble of musicians playing ‘live’ in the studio together is generally much tighter and more musically homogenous than that created by numerous overdubs, as the musicians can respond and tune to each other’s playing in real-time, and they gain an immediate sense of their ‘role’ in musical texture. Another reason is that the overdub process tends to significantly slow pace of the recording process. This can frustrate musicians and sound engineers alike, which obviously does not have a positive effect on the end result! In many ways, composing in a way that avoids heavy overdubbing added significantly to the challenge, and certainly contributed to a test of compositional ‘craft’, which can be no bad thing.

Composer’s blog – Mickey Mousing Thursday, 25 June 2009

The action in the second half of episode 5 moves very quickly, with the added twist of the revelation that Otto is not evil, but is actually the brother of Lyn, and one half of Invisible Inc. It was important that the music provided effective underscore to the succession of different underlying emotions and tensions in the scene, and at the same time moved seamlessly through the sequence in a way that made musical sense.

At certain points in the action, I felt that it was appropriate to mirror physical movements on screen with musical gestures in the soundtrack (sometimes called “Mickey-Mousing”). Examples of this can be heard accompanying the shot where Lynn is abseiling down the building, and where she swings on the rope through the window towards the end of the episode.

Composer’s blog – Otto’s theme Wednesday, 24 June 2009

By now, various musical themes have been well established in The Lost Book series, and I know that Alexis, Blair and myself have had lots of fun re-working and exploring each other’s thematic material over the course of the different episodes! I felt a responsibility to keep the themes alive in episode 5, and I knew that there was still plenty of scope for exploring the material in order to create something new.

In episode 3, I attempted to establish a sinister theme for Otto Dafé, which is heard when Aileen first mentions his name in Copper Beeches Café (as he simultaneously walks past the table), and is then continued and reinforced in the credit sequence. I decided that, as Otto is a central figure in episode 5, it would be a good idea to continue to associate this musical material with the character. Fragments of the original ‘Otto Theme’ can therefore be heard at the beginning of episode 5, where Otto is hiding in the cupboard, and in a more explicitly recognisable variation as Otto bursts out of the vent towards Aileen and Prof. Remi later on in the sequence.

Have a listen to an audio clip of the theme as it was originally presented in episode 3, and the new variation as it appears in episode 5, when Otto bursts from the vent. See if you can hear the thematic relationship between the extracts.

Listen to Otto theme – original (episode 3)

Listen to Otto theme – variation (episode 5)

Composer’s blog – a good ‘standalone’ trio Tuesday, 23 June 2009

After a gap of two months since writing the music for episode 3, I was very excited to be returning to compose the score for episode 5. As soon as I read the script, I knew that the episode was going to be action-packed! The animatic and animation rough gave me a very good idea of how the story would be paced, and I realised straight away that my musical accompaniment would need to complement this pacing, and help drive the action forward towards the energetic final sequences.

In my score for episode 3, I had chosen to write music for flute, viola and cello, and I decided that using this combination of instruments again in episode 5 would allow the same flexibility in range, texture and musical timbre. I find that these instruments make a particularly good ‘standalone’ trio, as each instrument can naturally and comfortably occupy a different pitch range and musical function within a texture; something that is a common feature of musical ensembles. The cello’s range, for example, enables it to comfortably provide the low bass foundation of the trio’s sound, while the viola can comfortably occupy the middle and upper ranges, and the flute is most comfortable in the highest and brightest portion of the sound. Of course, the fact that these instruments are played by SCO musicians means that this basic pitch relationship can abandoned if need be, as these virtuosic players are used to playing in the most extreme ranges of their instruments!

[Editor's note: more from Michael throughout this week.]

Music recording tomorrow Sunday, 14 June 2009

I love this bit! Composer Michael Ferguson has just sent across a computer-generated version of the music for episode 5. It sounds amazing. There’s musical wizardry going on that ties together all the previous Lost Book themes yet makes something new. We’re hoping Michael will have time later this week to blog about his work.

The recording session is tomorrow morning. Michael has chosen to work with viola, flute and cello (as he did in episode 3). Our players are Jane Atkins on the viola, flautist Janet Larsson and – for the first time – David Watkin on the cello.

David is Principal Cello at the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Few other musicians have achieved prominence at the highest level in both ‘period instrument’ and ‘modern’ worlds: he is Principal Cello of the English Baroque Soloists and Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, and was Principal Cello of the Philharmonia for five years and of Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment before joining the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. For more, read David’s biography.

Progress made and some musings on Mickey Mouse Sunday, 11 January 2009

Friday night wrapped up with my delivery of four new demos to the Lost Book team, and the good news is that they seem to like them. I had re-written the music for the cafe scene and finished my work on the ending. My style of writing for this project has moved away from my normal approach, which is a less-is-more attitude. Through our discussions we have come to an agreement that there should be music underscoring most of the action – something I would normally be very cautious about, but I think we’ve made the right decision. I think we are all happy with the style and content of the music so far. The music doesn’t mimic every single gesture but is there to set the mood for each scene, so there’s quite a lot of it. 

There’s a term in film music, “Mickey Mousing”, which describes a very literal approach to dramatic scoring. Each on-screen event is reflected in the constantly changing music, like in the old Disney cartoons. Second-by-second, the composer responds to each nuance. When I first saw Hitchcock’s live-action classic “Rebecca” I was almost shocked by Franz Waxman’s score: every sentence the characters speak seems to cause a mood change in the orchestral music underneath. I had come expecting a similar approach to music to that of his later movies, in which Bernard Herrmann painted with much broader strokes. It was a real revelation, and the contrast with today’s trends is pretty huge. 

Here’s a photo of my studio – the place where all the notes get written and all the tea gets consumed!!