THE DEVELOPMENT OF MIDI LIBRARIES AND THEIR PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE INFLUENCE ON FILMMUSIC

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MIDI LIBRARIES AND THEIR PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE INFLUENCE ON FILMMUSIC

From Hollywood Symphony Orchestras To Virtual Orchestras

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MIDI LIBRARIES AND THEIR PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE INFLUENCE ON FILMMUSIC

From Hollywood Symphony Orchestras To Virtual Orchestras

written by ANNE-KATHRIN DERN

COMPOSITION FOR FILM & THEATRE ARTEZ CONSERVATORY ARNHEM

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MIDI LIBRARIES AND THEIR PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE INFLUENCE ON FILMMUSIC From Hollywood Symphony Orchestras To Virtual Orchestras

1. Preface

p. 4

2. Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) 2.1 Definition 2.2 Connections 2.3 The Components of the Protocol 2.4 Messages 2.5 The MIDI Time Code 2.6 General MIDI 2.7 Standard MIDI file format 2.8 History 2.9 Sample Libraries

p. 5 p. 5 p. 6 p. 8 p. 11 p. 12 p. 15 p. 15 p. 18

3. The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic 3.1 The Beginning of the Hollywood Symphony Era 3.2 The Traditional Process Of Filmmusic Production 3.3 New Influences By Synthesized Scores 3.4 The Rise of Hybrid Scores 3.5 The Filmmusic-Composer – A New Job-Profile

p. 26 p. 29 p. 46 p. 49 p. 56

4. Future Prospects 4.1 The Further Development Of Sound Libraries 4.2 Will We Need Real Musicians At All In The Future?

p. 76 p. 79

5. Conclusion: MIDI – A Positive And Negative Influence

p. 81

Preface

1. Preface Music and drama have not only been linked together for centuries but since ancient times in almost every culture. From the very beginning of storytelling and music, mankind understood that both were strong artistic means which could be enhanced if brought together. "The music and drama can be separated into independent entities, but their combination as a whole is greater than the sum of their individual parts."

Film is only another means of storytelling and even though filmmusic is one of the essential parts of a movie, it is an art that stayed unnoticed for quite a long time. The small and outdated number of books on filmmusic are the sad proof of this statement.

The power of filmmusic has long been underestimated. At the beginning of filmmaking, it was used to fill the silence in the cinema and to conceal the loud rattling of the projector. Later, when dialogues could be implied, filmmusic was degraded as unnecessary and therefore only used when the picture directly demanded it (source music). It was a general belief that music couldn't add another layer of understanding to a movie than the dialogues, pictures and sound effects already did.

The movie "The Lost Weekend" (1945) is a very revealing anecdote for that matter. The film had been released without any music at all - and flopped. Some scenes were even misunderstood by the audience. Composer Miklos Rosza then got the assignment to write a filmscore with which the movie was to be re-released. After general acclaim by the public it won several Academy Awards: best actor, best picture, best director. The music was not acknowledged. However, it had been the only thing added to the original unsuccessful motion picture.

Nowadays, filmmusic does get the proper attention, yet many critics still don't acknowledge it as being fine art. It's called the music in between, often accused of plagiarism, neither classical nor popular because it can be anything depending on the movie. This is what most critics don't take into account when comparing filmmusic to other musical forms. It is a supportive art, it serves the picture. And the better it does so, the better the filmmusic. Effectiveness is the highest demand posed to filmmusic unlike other (autonomic) styles which have to solely survive on stage.

On the other hand, filmmusic demands a lot from its composer. Not only needs a filmcomposer to have a command of all traditional composition skills (orchestration, notation, instruments, classical and popular composition techniques), he also has to be familiar with dramaturgy as well as popular and ethnic/world music if a movie asks for these skills. The advent of MIDI libraries has even widened this field to a large extent. This research work examines this development carefully, starting with the invention of MIDI, sound libraries and their triumphal procession into filmmusic.

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MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface

2. Musical Instrument Digital Interface 2.1 Definition MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is an industry-standard digital protocol for the transmission of musical data. It is mainly used for time-accurate control, communication and synchronization between electronic instruments (such as keyboards, synthesizers, drum computers) and other electronic equipment (computers, MIDI controllers, sound cards, samplers). Nowadays, MIDI has become an indispensable part of every recording studio as its flexibility in controlling instruments, sounds and MIDI-based audio engines is an invaluable source of musical possibilities.

In modern studios, the MIDI-protocol is also used for communication between devices like mixing consoles. Instead of musical data, the protocol transmits remote controls of the mixing console, e.g. faders, mute, solo, panorama etc.

During times when the memory on mobile phones was still very low, MIDI was also used for ring tones.

2.2 Connections The instrument or computer using MIDI also has to have specified MIDI connections which transfer the data with a speed of 31.250 Bit/sec. The MIDI funtion active sense is transmitted every 320msec. for checking the correct flow of data.

There are three basic serial 5-pin MIDI connections (MIDI Trio) with different functions:

MIDI-IN

MIDI-OUT

(incoming signal)

(output signal)

MIDI-THRU (sending unmodified input signal to another MIDI application)

5

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface They can be connected via 5-pin DIN-cables of which only pin numbers 2, 4 and 5 are used. The data is transmitted via electric impulses of 0 or 5 volt so there are basically - as in any dual computer system - two kinds of electric tension: 0 Volt = Low-level = no flow of electricity 5 Volt = High-level = 5 volt flow of electricity Since MIDI connections work with the principle of negative logic there is no data transmission as long as 5 volt electric tension flow through the in- or output. Therefore, 0 volt means that there is a flow of data.

A general problem posed by MIDI connections is the flow of data since they can only transmit one note at a time. This construction can result in timing problems and latency when playing chords (additional to the already existing latency). Though very popular, this type of connection is outdated and needs to be revised. Some new approaches of data transmission can be found in chapter 2.9.

2.3 The Components Of The Protocol The MIDI protocol consists of different instructions which can control any MIDI based device or sound card. There are 3 basic instructions which can be found in any MIDI protocol, containing information on pitch, velocity and duration of a note: 1. Note-on:

a note of a certain pitch has been hit on the MIDI controller

2. Velocity:

information on how hard / soft the note was hit

3. Note-off:

information on when the note was released

There are several more messages a MIDI protocol can contain, including 1. volume information (values range from 0-127) 2. panning information (0 = hard right; 127 = hard left) 3. sustain pedal (message can only contain the information ON or OFF) 4. sostenuto pedal (ON or OFF) 5. soft pedal (ON or OFF) 6. modulation wheel (values range from 0-127) 7. expression (values range from 0-127) Depending on the controller, there can be even more specific MIDI instructions saved in the file.

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MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface It is important to point out that MIDI is only a chain of numbers, a system of 128 values that contains information on every aspect of digital music and gives it a number between 0 and 127 or – if this system is not applicable on a specific detail like pedal use – the instruction ON / OFF. MIDI itself does not contain any sound. It only allows computers or other sound based MIDI devices to process this data chain and send it to digital instruments which translate it into the appropriate sound - unlike PCM files or MP3 which already contain audio. This leads to the advantage that all MIDI parameters can be corrected and quickly changed afterwards in a sequencer. As long as they are MIDI files they stay alterable, which results in a huge saving of time - a very important factor in modern studio productions.

Furthermore, this MIDI data can be translated into a written score, either by the very same sequencers or specialized programs like Sibelius or Finale. Of course, this procedure also works vice versa, from score to MIDI. Therefore, compositions, arrangements and musical notation are easily accessable which also serves simplification and time saving.

The exact protocol system into which the data is translated is again a binary one. MIDI data is transmitted in sequences of several bytes, one byte consisting of 8 bits (binary digit = 0 or 1). So the language used to translate musical information into digital data is the general computer programming language.

Since there are 16 available channels, each consisting of 1 byte = 8 bits, there can be 128 numbers transmitted per byte (8x16). The first bit of a byte is always an indicator for the nature of the byte. A byte beginning with a 1 is called a statusbyte. A databyte always starts with a 0. Statusbytes and databytes are the 2 components a MIDI protocol is made of. Every chain of messages starts with one statusbyte, followed by one or more databytes. The 8 bits usually also each have an additional start- and stopbit.

The first 4 bits transmit the nature of the MIDI event, e.g. "1 0 0 1" (Note-On) or "1 0 1 1" (change of controller).

statusbyte

1

Channel-Voice

X

X

MIDI Channel number

X

X

7

X

X

X

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface This statusbyte (indicated by 1) is followed by one or two more 8-bit long data blocks, depending on the amount of information that has to be processed. These are the databytes (indicated by 0). databyte

musical data

0

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

2.4 Messages MIDI messages can be of varying nature. That's the reason why five more general sub-groups were defined, the so-called event-groups, which indicate what kind of information is saved in the MIDI file: - Channel Voice Messages (controlling the sound) - Channel Mode Messages (MIDI operation messages) - Real Time Messages - System Common Messages (internal system operation messages) - SysEx-Messages (System Exclusive Messages / External Messages) Channel Voice Messages are all those messages concerning sound control of a certain MIDI device and can certainly be called the most important ones. The primary and most important messages are: Note-On ("1 0 0 1" = activate a note) Note-Off ("1 0 0 0" = deactivate a note) These events happen to a certain note (n) with a certain velocity (v) on a certain channel (k). Notes (n) are encoded with numbers, in the case of the following example n = 69 = a1 standard pitch. statusbyte

MIDI-Channel:

Channel Voice

1

0

0

1

databyte

databyte

k= 1 = Number 1

0

0

0

1

pitch: n = 69

0

1

0

0

0

1

velocity: v =100

0

1

0

1

1

0

0

1

0

0 etc.

The message note-off would now indicate the end of the note but very often the note-on message with v = 0 is used instead of the actual note-off command.

8

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface Commands like Aftertouch also fall into the Channel Voice Message category. Aftertouch means, that the pressure on a key that is already being played is changed, causing a change in timbre and / or velocity. This character change, though it can always be recorded, is not applicable in every sample. Furthermore, commands like patch- or program-change (change of sound or articulation) and control-change (change of controller or intervention in the sound patterns themselves) are saved in Channel Voice Messages.

The most common control-changes within the Channel Voice Messages are: # 01 Modulation

depending on the patch, there can be different audible results, e.g. vibratos, waver effects, glissandi etc.

# 02 Breath

using a breath controller within the MIDI system: it translates the movement of air blown in by the player into MIDI data

# 07 Volume

controls the volume of the selected MIDI channel

# 10 Pan

defines the position of the sounds in a stereo environment

# 11 Expression

a mix of #01 and #07

# 64 Sustain

a virtual piano sustain pedal (0 = off / 127 = on)

# 66 Sostenuto

holds a certain note or chord longer than pressed, like the sostenuto pedal on a grand piano

# 67 Soft

a virtual piano soft pedal, also applicable on other MIDI instruments

# 91 External Effects

controls, activates or deactivates reverb or other external effects applied to the MIDI sound

# 93 Chorus Depth

controls chorus effect to give the instruments a more natural touch

# 94 Celeste Detune Depth

controls the detune effect, a special variation of the chorus effect

Pitch Bend is a high definition digital regulator which has 214 different degrees. It mainly creates glissando effects. This effect alone needs at least two databytes: one for fine adjustments and one for the rough indications.

The Channel Mode Messages like Reset All Controllers (#121 - resets controllers to the default setting) Local Control (#122 - play with controller internal or external sounds) All Notes Off (#123 - resets all 127 notes) Omni-On (all data is processed by the synthesizer) Omni-Off (only selected data is processed) Mono-On (only one note at a time) 9

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface Poly-On (any amount of notes can be played) follow the same pattern as the Channel Voice Messages. It would exceed the complexity and length of this work to go through all these MIDI controls in detail.

Additionally, there also remain the Real Time Messages which take care of correct synchronization. They only consist of a statusbyte which contains a real-time-identification F (Hex) and four bits consisting of the real-time-commands. Therefore, there are no channel specific details saved in this byte, the more so as Real Time Messages always affect the whole MIDI system.

Timing Clock / Beat Clock It synchronizes the exact bars, beats and samples of the operating instrument (Master) and the controlled one (Slave). Usually, one can expect about 24 Timing Clock commands per quarter note.

At a speed of 120 bpm (beats per minute), that would result in 120 x 24 = 2880 timing messages per minute and therefore 48 per second.

Start / Stop The start command gives the information on when to begin, either to a sequencer or a backing track whereas the stop command marks the end.

Continue The sequence continues from the position of the pointer.

Active Sensing This command is send by the master in regular intervals to ensure the proper running of the slave. If the slave doesn't receive such a message, it will deactivate all active notes.

System Reset This command initializes the whole MIDI system.

Finally, there are only the System Messages remaining which make the whole MIDI processing more flexible. In this case, we only differentiate between System Common Messages and System Exclusive Messages.

10

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface System Common Messages are e.g.

Song Select

selects different musical pieces loaded into a sequencer or synthesizer

Song Position Pointer

the pointer tool which serves the synchronization of sequencers; it shows the current play position of the song and can have a maximum of 214 different positions

Tune Request

serves the tuning of the oscillator of a synthesizer

System Exclusive Messages expand the possibilities of a MIDI system enormously since a MIDI instrument with an exclusive status is no longer bound to the standardized General MIDI norm.

Hence, all its internal sounds, rhythms and additional functions can be translated and used as MIDI without any limitations on the field of innovation. The exclusive mode of an instrument is activated by a (SysEx-)statusbyte, followed by a so-called identification-byte which transmits the number of the manufacturer. This pattern can be followed by any number of databytes which are then concluded by an EOX-command (End Of Exclusive). There are two more Exclusives which hold a special status: Universal System Exclusive

transmission of samples

Real Time Universal System Exclusive

synchronization of MIDI data and videos

2.5 The MIDI Time Code Since all of these commands cannot be transmitted simultaneously, the MIDI Time Code (MTC) or MIDI Time Division was invented to realize the correct chronology of the messages. The MTC is a 32 bits long sub-protocol (of which only 24 bits are used - 8 bits stay unused and are always 0) which ensures the timely synchronization as every MIDI device works in real-time. While it presents an alternative for the MIDI Timing Clock and the Song Position Pointer, it has to be mentioned that MTC works with the absolute time of day whereas the latter uses relative values (measures, bars, beats, tempo). The full advantage of MTC can therefore not be seen when working with autonomic music but when sound and picture (video) have to be synchronized.

The most important MTC-message is the so-called Quarter Frame Message which consists of a status- and a databyte (a sequence of 8 messages). It is based on the SMTPE-code and works about the same way as the Timing Clock Command. A standardized MTC-time format has the following configuration: hh hours

:

mm

:

minutes

ss seconds

11

:

ff frames

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface The MIDI Time Code's quarter-frame and full-frame messages also carry a two-bit value that identifies the rate of the timecode (unlike the standard SMPTE timecode). The available rates can be 24 frames per second (standard), 25 fps (PAL), 29.97 fps (drop-frame NTSC) and 30 fps (nondrop timecode for NTSC).

2.6 General MIDI The General MIDI (GM) standard was determined in 1989 and enables compatible instruments to unmistakably communicate with each other. Unlike the MIDI standard it doesn't only specify hardware and protocol details but also the content. The GM standard demands the following items and abilities from every MIDI instrument: 1)

It has to have 128 instrument sounds which must be divided into 16 subgroups, each having 8 organized sounds.

2)

46 percussion sounds are necessary.

3)

The in- and output of data should be available on 16 channels, at which the drumkit is always assigned MIDI channel number 10.

4)

The minimum requirement of a GM-device is a polyphony of 24 notes with at least 16 melody voices and 8 percussion voices on all 16 channels.

5)

The processing of basic commands (e.g. the Note-On message), real time messages as well as the controllers #01, #64-#66 and #93 must be guaranteed.

6)

The device has to respond to note velocity.

GM also gives specifications on controller parameters: 1 Modulation

7 Volume

10 Pan

11 Expression

64 Sustain

121 Reset All Controllers

123 All Notes Off Furthermore, the following Registered Parameter Numbers (RPN) are standardized: 0 Pitch bend range 1 Fine Tuning 2 Coarse Tuning The following table shows the current General MIDI standard (in some charts, you can also see counts from 0 to 127, depending on the software): 12

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface

Strings: 41 Violin 42 Viola 43 Cello 44 Contrabass 45 Tremolo Strings 46 Pizzicato Strings 47 Orchestral Harp 48 Timpani

Synth Pad: 89 Pad 1 (new age) 90 Pad 2 (warm) 91 Pad 3 (polysynth) 92 Pad 4 (choir) 93 Pad 5 (bowed) 94 Pad 6 (metallic) 95 Pad 7 (halo) 96 Pad 8 (sweep)

Piano: 1 Acoustic Grand Piano 2 Bright Acoustic Piano 3 Electric Grand Piano 4 Honky-Tonk Piano 5 Electric Piano 1 (Rhodes) 6 Electric Piano 2 (Chorused) 7 Harpsichord 8 Clavinet

Ensemble: 49 String Ensemble 1 50 String Ensemble 2 51 Synth Strings 1 52 Synth Strings 2 53 Voice Aahs 54 Voice Oohs 55 Synth Voice 56 Orchestra Hit

Synth Effects: 97 FX 1 (rain) 98 FX 2 (soundtrack) 99 FX 3 (crystal) 100 FX 4 (atmosphere) 101 FX 5 (brightness) 102 FX 6 (goblins) 103 FX 7 (echoes) 104 FX 8 (sci-fi)

Chromatic Percussion: 9 Celesta 10 Glockenspiel 11 Music Box 12 Vibraphone 13 Marimba 14 Xylophone 15 Tubular Bells 16 Dulcimer / Santur

Brass: 57 Trumpet 58 Trombone 59 Tuba 60 Muted Trumpet 61 French horn 62 Brass Section 63 Synth Brass 1 64 Synth Brass 2

Ethnic: 105 Sitar 106 Banjo 107 Shamisen 108 Koto 109 Kalimba 110 Bagpipe 111 Fiddle 112 Shanai

Organ: 17 Hammond Organ 18 Percussive Organ 19 Rock Organ 20 Church Organ 21 Reed Organ 22 Accordion 23 Harmonica 24 Bandoneon

Reed: 65 Soprano Sax 66 Alto Sax 67 Tenor Sax 68 Baritone Sax 69 Oboe 70 English Horn 71 Bassoon 72 Clarinet

Percussive: 113 Tinkle Bell 114 Agogo Bells 115 Steel Drums 116 Woodblock 117 Taiko Drum 118 Melodic Tom 119 Synth Drum 120 Reverse Cymbal

Bass: 25 Acoustic Guitar (nylon) 26 Acoustic Guitar (steel) 27 Electric Guitar (jazz) 28 Electric Guitar (clean) 29 Electric Guitar (muted) 30 Overdriven Guitar 31 Distortion Guitar 32 Guitar harmonics

Pipe: 73 Piccolo 74 Flute 75 Recorder 76 Pan Flute 77 Blown Bottle 78 Shakuhachi 79 Whistle 80 Ocarina

Sound effects: 121 Guitar Fret Noise 122 Breath Noise 123 Seashore 124 Bird Tweet 125 Telephone Ring 126 Helicopter 127 Applause 128 Gunshot

Bass: 33 Acoustic Bass 34 Electric Bass (finger) 35 Electric Bass (pick) 36 Fretless Bass 37 Slap Bass 1 38 Slap Bass 2 39 Synth Bass 1 40 Synth Bass 2

Synth Lead: 81 Lead 1 (square) 82 Lead 2 (sawtooth) 83 Lead 3 (calliope) 84 Lead 4 (chiff) 85 Lead 5 (charang) 86 Lead 6 (voice) 87 Lead 7 (fifths) 88 Lead 8 (bass & lead)

13

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface MIDI channel 10 is assigned the following standard drumkit setting:

14

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface 2.7 Standard MIDI File Format (SMF) SMF is the overall system comprehensive standard file format into which MIDI is saved. The files are small enough to fit on a floppy disk (since it only contains numbers) which was the general way to exchange digital files during the time MIDI was invented. The ending of the files is either - .MID (standard) - .RMI (the Microsoft ending for RIFF-RMID files which consist of a MIDI-file in a RIFFcontainer; RIFF-RMID is not an official MMA standard) - .KAR (so-called 'KARAOKE' files; alternative ending for MIDI files which contain the whole songtext; the file format is absolutely identical) - .XMI (PC game format; no MMA standard) or - .SYX (MIDI-file that contains SysEx-data) There are three basic types of MIDI files: SMF Type 0: The file contains one single track which can access multiple channels. All channels are condensed into one track, though. This file format was used for ring tones in old mobile phones. All common sequencers can translate this format into Type 1 as well.

SMF Type 1: The file contains various tracks / channels which can each have an optional name as well. Different voices and instruments can therefore be easier identified. This is the most common SMF variation.

SMF Type 2: This file contains several sequences saved independently in different tracks. Opposite to Type 1, several channels can have the same MIDI channel number.

2.8 History There exist many different speculations on who invented the MIDI protocol. Some sources claim that Dave Smith developed it in 1981 for the “Audio Engineering Society“, others state that it was first defined by Gordon Hall in 1982. That is probably the reason why even the most extensive and detailed music encyclopedias (including the “MGG – Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart“ as well as “The New Grove Dictionary of Music“) don't mention the inventor's name. The source of that problem goes back to the 1970's.

15

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface Before the end of the 1970's, electronic musical devices were extremely expensive and therefore not in common use. That changed rapidly by the end of the 1970's when those devices were becoming increasingly affordable. But musicians were facing one major problem back then: Every manufacturer used his own company-specific code-system. That's the reason why electronic devices from different manufacturers were usually not compatible with each other. They could not be connected because the different interface models couldn't communicate with each other properly. A command or number for e.g. velocity could mean something completely different on another synthesizer, simply because the chain of numbers (explained in 1.1) had a different order and was therefore interpreted differently by every device. On top of that, it was only possible to play one note (or “voice“) at a time since the processing power and the single voltage output didn't allow any more performance.

To overcome the latter problem, sound engineer and synthesizer designer Dave Smith was busy with the invention of a polyphonic analog synthesizer at that time, later known as the “Prophet 5“. But the innovative part of that idea was not only to design a multiple sound-producing engine but also to make all the parameters of these multiple voices digitally accessable and therefore controllable. So instead of directly controlling an element of the signal path by changing a parameter on the front panel, the information was digitally saved and could be applied to any voice. Furthermore, a microprocessor was introduced which consecutively scanned the keyboard to detect all the stroked keys and convert them into a pitch control which could then be assigned to the next available voice. This development gave the musicians a whole new experience since they played the keyboard as if it were directly controlling a multivoice-instrument.

Dave Smith's innovative synthesizer had a huge impact on the further development of MIDI. In fact, it made the invention of a standardized protocol necessary in the first place. Since all parameters were digitalized, they could be remembered and applied to other instruments. On top of that, the multivoice-synthesizer could have a memory available in which “patches“ could be stored and immediately reloaded if needed. Of course, this evolution of digitally saving musical information made the synthesizer and the likes of it veer away from the actual sound-producing network in the recording studios which was still an analog circuitry. That's the reason why a protocol for the communication between these two had become tremendously necessary.

16

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface With his enormous insight, Dave Smith understood that the data connection could easily be accessed via input- and output-jacks on the synthesizer. He also knew that – if this was bound to work on the market – a standardized protocol for all manufacturers had to be invented and agreed on. With such a protocol, all synthesized instruments and other devices would be able to communicate and interoperate with each other – controlling and being controlled by each other on a digital level. On top of that, audio recordings were very expensive at that time and demanded fast processing - a luxury that was only reserved for selected productions. The invention of MIDI solved these complications for low budget productions and the average musician.

In November 1981 – after several months of discussions between leading US and Japanese manufacturers – Dave Smith suggested a digital standard for electronic musical instruments at the “Audio Engineering Society“ show in New York. In January 1983 – at the annual winter show of the “National Association of Music Merchants“ (NAMM) in Anaheim, California (USA) – Smith demonstrated a MIDI connection between his “Prophet 600“ and a “Roland JP-6“ for the first time ever. That same year in August, the MIDI Specification 1.0 was published (at first with the name USI - Universal Synthesizer Interface). Ever since the MIDI standard is determined by the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MAA), a US organization which was established in 1985 by the original developers of the MIDI 1.0 Specification.

In this association, different companies work together to create the standards that ensure full compatibility among MIDI products. Since their establishment in 1985 the MMA has defined and released 11 new MIDI specifications and included 38 sets of enhancements to the protocol.

In 1991, the MMA and the JMSC (Japan MIDI Standards Committee) published the General MIDI (GM) standard, an enhancement of the MIDI standard (see chapter 2.6). There have been several revisions of GM, one in 1999 (General MIDI 2 - GM 2) and another in 2001 (General MIDI Lite GM Lite) which had been invented for MIDI devices that couldn't guarantee the complete functional range of GM. Furthermore, several top-selling manufacturers developed their own standards which offer a lot more functions that exceed GM. The two biggest and therefore most important ones of that kind are GS by Roland and XG by Yamaha which possess more instruments and sound manipulation possibilities to a much larger extent. Nevertheless, these standards are GM compatible as well but one has to expect a loss of quality when translating these higher standards down to GM. MIDI files are subject to copyright, including the composer, arranger and producer of the file.

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MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface 2.9 Sample Libraries At first, the MIDI protocol had originally been invented for the proper communication between synthesizers. However, producers and manufacturers alike discovered the real potential of MIDI and started to adapt the system on sampling, drumcomputers, soundcards, effect devices (reverb, echoe, equalizers etc.), controllers (masterkeyboards, drum-pads, wind-modulators etc.), computers and finally even the control of light effects on stage.

In this work, the emphasis will lie on sampling. There are two definitions of sampling. One refers to a musical sample of an already existing piece, a hookline or melodyfragment, which is then used in another piece. The second - and for this work more important one - refers to a single note that has been recorded. It is therefore possible to sample and control nearly every existing instrument.

Nevertheless, this kind of sampling is very time-consuming and expensive which is why there is a whole specialized industry built around this technique.

One has to understand that a sampler - much like MIDI - doesn't have a sound on its own. It only uses the MIDI protocol to connect to the proper recordings. The first time digital sampling was actually in use was during the 1970's when the first digital samplers were constructed. Funny enough, the original idea of digital samplers was to create completely new sounds with synthesizers, not to invent something that could reproduce an instrument as real as possible (which has become one of the main purposes of sampling today). Usually, the basis of a synthesizer sound is a simple electronically generated sinus curve or anything related to it which is then formed to a whole new sound through synthesis. The expansion of it was to record a soundfile instead, take this recording as a basis and then change it with the synthesizer tools. Recently, the term has also been applied to earlier analog electronic instruments. In the early 1980's, the most expensive synthesizers like the Fairlight CMI and Synclavier could already provide the function of digitally recording external sounds, additional to their usual synthesis functions. During the 1980's, sampling technique first got connected to microcomputers to make editing samples handier but the processing power of these computers was still very low. The first "real" keyboard sampler was the E-mu Emulator, published in 1981. But the first affordable sampler which reached a variety of musicians was probably the Ensoniq Mirage (1985). Ever since, sampling has become the principal method of creating timbres and sounds on all types of electronic instruments. With sampling, users can edit or create their own sound samples. It is worth mentioning that one of today's biggest sample library producing companies - East West - was founded at the end of the 80's as one of the first of its kind. The huge breakthrough of sample technique came during the 1990's when the computer industry released 18

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface affordable personal computers with increasing memory and storage capacity. During that time with the increasing sophistication achieved by the designers of digital equipment - it became "hip" to mimic more realistic sounds that are usually produced by acoustic instruments. Both, analogue and digital synthesis were established in several combinations to their own benefit, one of them being "virtual analogue" digital instruments, based on a more accurate analysis of the analogue sound generation, called "physical modelling". This only became possible due to the increased speed and processing power of digital signal processing (DSP) microchips. At the end of the 90's the famous company Native Instruments was founded and the release of their Kontakt Player made sampling available for an even broader audience. It was during that time when it became difficult to distinguish between a sampler and a synthesizer. The assumably most detailed library at this time comes from the Austrian production team of the Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL), founded at the beginning of this century.

It is difficult to explain in detail how sample libraries are made as the topic is so new that no books have yet been written about it and understandably my interview partners wouldn't reveal any production-internal secrets either. So all I can do is give an overview over sampling.

When creating multisamples of an instrument, one has to record numerous single samples (notes) which are summarized in so-called "Mappings". These mappings are groups of notes with different velocities of that instrument with a certain articulation.

To explain the process of multisampling, we will concentrate on the example of a sampled piano.

Depending on the budget, a library producer can rent a hall or a studio with an appropriate welltuned piano. Either way, the recording environment needs to be isolated. Then, a professional microphone setup has to be made, usually two inside the piano (hammer perspective), two behind the player (player's perspective) and one to several microphones in a decent distance to the opened side of the piano to record more room on the samples. Then, every single note of the piano has to be digitally recorded. It depends on how much money the producer is willing to spend how differentiated these single samples are. It is common for a regular library to have at least three different velocities on every note. But expensive productions contain up to 12 or 19

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface 20 velocities which gives the whole library a more detailed sound, of course. On cheaper productions, people also tend to only record every second note to spare time. The rest is then generated by pitch shifting in the computer.

Additionally, we would also need different articulations, again in different velocities and let's not forget the pedals. Again, it always depends on the budget on how detailed these things are recorded.

Some libraries only provide one pedal and one articulation whereas the more expensive ones provide three pedals or even staccato and legato samples as well as string resonances, prepared piano sound or only the sound of the moving pedal and hammers. The East West QL Pianos even went that far to give the user the control to change the sound by choosing the ankle of the piano lid as well as keyboard sensitivity.

This is what a typical East West Play plugin looks like in the sequencer. Nowadays, one has about any option one can wish for to change the sound. In this library, one can even mix the different mic positions, determine the stereo spread, lid position, choose out of 30 different reverbs and adjust the sensitivity of the keys. This is what we would call a very detailed library but it also needs a lot of processing power to be able to playback. Every library has such an interface, giving certain instrument specific possibilities, e.g. the Silk library provides different (Eastern) tunings, portamentos and delays out of which one can choose, the Hollywood Strings allow differentiated 20

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface nuances, divisis and slides whereas KONTAKT gives the user uniquely detailed possibilities to even change the samples through a sample editor.

After these recordings have been made, they are digitally processed into mappings, so that for example every staccato sample in all velocities is loaded when clicking on it. On top of that, the files need to be changed into a format which can be used by the MIDI protocol and the interface.

The average sample can be seen in the following chart:

21

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface The attack is the start of the sample and it usually defines the instruments through formants. The attack is followed by the decay and the sustain part. When a MIDI note is played longer in the sequencer than it was originally recorded, this is the part that is looped. This is also the reason why one has to put different articulation layers above each other when the mock-up shall sound good.

Otherwise this would be too revealing when playing long notes because at a certain point it starts to sound synthetic as the note colour isn't changing as it would in real life. When the note is released, the short release time is added to finish up the sound. All of these parameters can be changed.

Now, we were just talking about sampling a piano. Imagine the effort and budget it takes to produce a full symphonic library.

This

would

include

having

different

instrument groups, divisi samples, solo samples, ensembles etc. And everything would have to be recorded: the notes, velocities, articulations, instrument specific effects, stereo positioning etc. without any phases on the recordings when they are put together later on. Of course, one could now go into detail on recording techniques, processing of samples etc. but that is not the point of this work.

It is clear now, that the more details are recorded the better the library and the more realistic the sound can be - and the faster your computer has to be to process that huge amount of information.

That's the main reason why sample libraries have become so popular and sophisticated: The better the hardware gets, the more detailed the libraries can become. Furthermore, they've become affordable which is one reason why they are used so extensively. As a starting composer, one has now the opportunity to listen to one's own pieces in a very good quality without spending money on recordings.

To process these sample libraries, one has to be accustomed to using a sequencer. The commercial breakthrough of MIDI was closely bound to the Atari ST computer which was delivered with a serial MIDI connection. On this very same Atari ST, the first version of MIDI sequencers like "Cubase" (by Steinberg) were programmed. Nowadays, Cubase belongs to Yamaha and is one of the leading audio-MIDI-sequencers - especially common among Windows users - but it was first only based on MIDI processing. The pendant of that sequencer is Logic which was recently bought up by Apple and is therefore mainly used on Macintosh platforms. Nowadays, Logic can also 22

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface process audio but like Cubase it was based exclusively on MIDI first. It has to be mentioned that there exists a third very common sequencer: Pro Tools by Avid. This sequencer - though the proclaimed top audio processor - has several shortfalls on the field of MIDI since it had been invented at first for audio processing only. Furthermore, there exist some smaller sequencers like Ableton Live, Reason, Cakewalk Sonar, Linux Multimedia Studios, REAPER, Rosegarden, Nuendo, Magix, Sony etc.

These sequencers allow any user to record or draw in MIDI notes and connect these to certain libraries. Nevertheless, it shouldn't be underestimated what it takes to create a good-sounding MIDI production. Usually one has to double a lot to create a more lively sound, shift every note around, fake small micro-timing mistakes, mistune a copy-pasted line, change velocities, add timbres and effects and do all kinds of things to make it sound more real. Everything a player does by accident has to be done on purpose in a MIDI mockup because sample libraries won't sound great on their own. Johannes Becher from the PR & Marketing department of VSL explains: "In general, the authenticity of a virtual orchestra is not only dependent on the quality of the samples themselves, but to an essential and crucial portion on the MIDI recording and the mix. Additionally, knowledge about the possibilities of the different instruments and their functionality in the sound of the orchestra as a whole plays an important part. In the case of the Vienna Symphonic Library, an individual sample-player which handles the control and interconnection of different articulations such as legato, portato, staccato or spiccato from a musical point of view will provide authentic playing behaviour automatically. This is for example dependent on the interval, the length as well as 23

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface the speed of the played notes."

There are of course "humanization" tools but they are ironically calculated by a computer again.

The organizational side of it usually isn't considered either. Keeping an overview of 100 tracks, their content and routing inclusive effect channels in an orchestral MIDI session is a craft that has to be practiced a lot. Knowing thousands of samples and how they will work together, let alone handling reverb, delay, stereo positioning and mixing in general are intricate parts of that work.

Therefore, most composers create individual templates with their preferred setups to avoid losing time creating a session and to have the same environment all the time. So having an expensive and detailed library doesn't do the job on its own because one is always missing real life effects that have to be added artificially and manually.

Additionally, a signal-converter is needed, a so-called MIDI-interface. Nowadays, these interfaces can be connected with a computer via USB, firewire and LAN. Modern manufacturers like YAMAHA also tend to have direct USB and firewire or even wireless connections supplementary to the common MIDI connections on their keyboards. With such a connection, the masterkeyboard and the computer can be connected directly without an interface translating in between. The advantage of this kind of connection is the fact that USB and firewire can realize several virtual MIDI connections, so the limitation of 16 channels is no longer existent. It is worth mentioning that the 24

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface USB MIDI protocol contain USB event packets and is therefore different from the conventional MIDI protocol, though still compatible.

Nowadays, sample libraries have become sophisticated enough that some film composers choose to exclusively work with them to be able to compose on their own schedule. Since I constantly work with MIDI and Sample libraries myself, I could go on forever about the details of that topic but again, it is not the aim of this work to explain the proper use of samples and sequencers.1 1 Sources: wikipedia.de (MIDI, Sampling, General MIDI) wikipedia.org (MIDI, Sampling, General MIDI, MIDI Beat Clock, Comparison of MIDI Standards, MIDI Manufacturer's Association, MIDI Timecode) "Fachbereichsarbeit - Informatik: Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) - Die digitale Schnittstelle f端r Musikinstrumente in Theorie und Praxis" by Leonhard Huber www.itwissen.info/definition/lexikon/musical-instrument-digital-interface/ www.zem-college.de/midi/index.htm http://audio.uni-lueneburg.de/seminarwebseiten/auditges/site10.php "Arranging in the Digital World" by Corey Allen "MGG-Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart", Article "MIDI" "The New Grove Dictionary Of Music", Article "Sampler", "Sampling", "MIDI", "Synthesizer" "dtv Atlas - Musik" by Ulrich Michels "Lexikon Musikelektronik" by Bernd Enders "Neue Allgemeine Musiklehre" by Christoph Hempel "Music Composition for Dummies" by Scott Jarrett & Holly Day

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic 3.1 The Beginning of the Hollywood Symphonic Era Between 1950 and approximately 1975, filmmusic mainly consisted of jazz scores or other contemporary popular music. Especially theme songs by popular artists were very common. Apart from that, modern dissonant soundtracks with an atonal basis instead of the former romantic style could be heard a lot throughout that time period. Twelve-tone technique and atonality were very valuable tools for television composers due to the demanding schedule of a weekly or even daily series. Therefore, the composer had to work at his greatest efficiency which was best possible by using all available sounds - popular and classical. This led of course to a huge collision of all musical styles within the entertainment industry. It was definitely the time of possibilities, multiplied by the new innovation of multitrack recording.

The impact of this musical diversity on its audience was enormous. People got used to all kinds of strange or dissonant sounds, even linking certain sounds with certain theatrical events. But nevertheless, it was not the time of big symphonic scores. They weren't "en vogue" at that time, even though the audience was then already being prepared for what was to come: pop-influenced symphonic filmscores.

According to most books on filmmusic history, the new era of symphonic scores began with two different soundtracks by the very same composer: John Williams.

Born in 1932, Juilliard- and UCLA-trained pianist John Williams is one of the most famous and successful filmcomposers of the last century. Especially his works for Steven Spielberg and George Lucas gained huge popularity at the beginning of the 1970's.

In the year 1974, Steven Spielberg and John Williams decided to use a more traditional symphonic score

on

Spielberg's

movie

"Jaws". That decision proved to be a successful one as the traditional orchestral sounds and the (Neo-)Romantic vocabulary resulted in a score that led to a revival of these musical means in filmmusic. Though the soundtrack of "Jaws" can be considered a milestone in the return of classical filmmusic, it was another score

by John Williams which was yet to become one of the most famous soundtracks in the history of filmmusic: "Star Wars".

26

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic Though many consider the score for "Star Wars" as the return of classical orchestral scores to filmmusic, it was not an exact return to the Romantic filmmusic of Korngold or Steiner. According to John Williams, the temp music for the first work-prints of "Star Wars" were pieces from Gustav Holst's 1916 work "The Planets". His original task was to edit, re-record and fit this music to the movie but Williams convinced the producers that he could write an original soundtrack in that style but make it fit even better to the movie. The wellknown main themes of the various "Star Wars" movies were then recorded by the London Philharmonic, conducted by Williams himself - the rebirth of Hollywood Symphonic scores. Grover Helsley, music recording engineer: "Suddenly music was important again. Music had kind of slipped away during the Beatles era. Music had become unimportant in films. Things were starting to get real expensive. Orchestras had gotten to the point where you really couldn't afford to use them much any more. And synthesized scores at that time weren't very good ... . Then, suddenly, it was orchestras again, and the importance was brought back."2 Although his score - as the scores of the 1930's - contains many elements of Romanticism, the new orchestral style was brought to a new level by including contemporary composition techniques. The neo-Hollywood style was basically a fusion of tonal music from the 19th century and whatever available textures / effects of the 20th century.

Of course, this approach of using traditional melodramatic clichĂŠs wasn't new as it had been used during former decades but somehow the reputation of orchestras and their acceptance within the audience shifted enormously. They gained a previously unknown popularity, even amongst people who usually wouldn't listen to classical symphonic scores. This new understanding of orchestral scores as a dramatic effect and emotional impact was yet another huge step within the constantly developing art of film scoring.

The film "Indiana Jones - Raiders of the lost ark" (1981) followed by the magical movie "E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) with a soundtrack that enchanted adults as well as children then made it final: The new symphonic era had been fully established. By his well-known statement "John Williams is E.T.", Steven Spielberg pointed out that he understood very well how much the success, magic and 2 Fred Karlin, "Listening to Movies", p. 244-245

27

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic emotional strength of his motion pictures depended on Williams' filmmusic.

But there had also been harsh criticism to that development but also on Williams' style in particular as some felt that it was a step backwards. "Setzte Williams in Jaws [...] noch frische Akzente in einer weitgehend vom Pop geprägten Filmmusik-Szene, so wechseln mit Star Wars [...] in nahezu regelmäßiger Folge klangschwelgerische Kantilenen à la Strauss für die strahlend guten Helden mit barbarischen Sacre-Rhythmen und versprengten Gestaltungsmitteln der Moderne (Cluster, sonoristische Klangflächen, o.ä.) für die Bösewichter ab. Die strukturelle Crux dieser Filmsymphonik ist die filmisch bedingte Unfähigkeit zu entwickelter motivisch-thematischer Arbeit. So läuft die Gesamtform stets auf ein Themen-Potpourri hinaus. Hieran ändert der durch wechselnde Fakturtypen und eine knallbunte Instrumentation angestrebte Kontrastreichtum im Wesen nichts."3 Filmmusic veteran David Raksin (*1912 - †2004, "Laura", "The Bad And The Beautiful", "Will Penny") once said about that time of modern classical structures of composition: "The interesting thing about filmmusic is that, as a composer, unless you have some idiot for a producer, which happens about two thirds of the time, you can do things that you could never do in a concert hall.

There is a counter-validation between the screen and the music. If they heard it in a concert hall, the audience would run screaming, but when they hear it with a picture, the music and the image counter-validate one another. For example, if you have a really violent sequence and you write something that is really dissonant, they might not like to hear that as a piece of music. But they will accept it if it is the right music for a film sequence. That kind of thing opened up the world for a lot of people. So the first generation that was susceptible to films was prepared for newer music by the scores they heard in movie theatres."4 Many composers of that time, e.g. Jerry Goldsmith and Henry Mancini, followed this new line, establishing and developing the Hollywood symphonic sound further while the sound possibilities incorporated in the lyrical, tonal Romantic style were increasing by the year due to new technologies like polyphonic synthesizers (see chapter 2.8), the MIDI protocol (see chapter 2.1-2.7) and the personal computer.

But before we dive into this development, let's take a closer look on the filmmusic production process during the Hollywood Symphonic Era and the armada of people involved in that business, way before digital equipment was introduced.

3 Wolfgang Thiel, "Zwischen Klang un Geräusch" p. 30, MGG, Article "Filmmusik" 4 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 329

28

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic 3.2 The Traditional Process Of Filmmusic Production In general, filmmusic is and has always been part of the post-production process of a movie. Of course, director, producer and composer will meet during pre-production and discuss the storyline, characters and the general style of music. But the real work of a filmmusic composer doesn't occur during pre-production and production, unless the movie contains musical-like scenes in which the music has to be planned in advance. Sometimes, a director will also ask for some themes beforehand so that the filmmusic can be played on set while shooting, however, this is a rare case (e.g. Ennio Morricone was often asked to work like that). On top of that, a few composers like to visit the set and participate in the early filmmaking process. Some even prefer writing their main themes based exclusively on the script and the storyboard without having seen any pictures yet.

Hans Zimmer gave director Terrence Malick a complete score suite before he started shooting The Thin Red Line (1998). "Terry needs music to shape his images. He wouldn't look at dailies without music. He partly forced me into it and partly we spent a year before he went shooting. [...] So by the time he went off it seemed like a good idea to send him off with a soundtrack to our conversations."5 If a collaboration works like that, it's probably the most perfect one, as temp tracks don't interfere with the production process. Nonetheless, this is a dangerous path to take since the composer's imagination can be completely different from what the director has in mind - like two people reading the same book and seeing their very own version of the story in their minds. Much of the composition depends on colours, atmosphere, speed - the visual images - so the director and composer need to have a long working relationship and understanding already to work in such a separate way. Therefore, the main part of a filmcomposer's work usually starts after the rough cut of enough scenes has been done. Many namely composer's even insist on having the locked picture (final cut) before starting to work on it. Writing music for the exact cues definitely requires a locked picture. Otherwise, a proper synchronization wouldn't be possible. This leads to a lot of pressure placed on the composer since he has to wait until almost everything is finished before he can really start to write. Due to the fact that filmproductions are often behind schedule, the end of the production chain finds itself under a lot of time pressure since the release date cannot change. Too much money has then already been spend on efficient marketing, trailers and TV spots - plus every additional production day costs a fortune. Eventually, the composer might have much less time to complete his score than originally scheduled. That's why it is indispensable to start writing themes or having some sort of idea library BEFORE receiving the locked picture. The actual music production time can vary between several months and a few weeks and the composer has to go with it unless the contract allows a refusal if the picture is delivered after a certain date.

5 Fred Karlin & Rayburn Wright, "On the track", p. 19

29

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic Back in the Hollywood Symphony Era when everything had to be done by hand, efficiency was an unfathomable gift and therefore mostly trained composers with professional skills and knowledge could be engaged.

"Unfortunately, making movies is all against the clock ... it's a constant battle between commerce and creativity." (Ridley Scott, Director) The post-production involves several steps concerning music which posed a huge logistic challenge 30-40 years ago: - Locked picture to composer - Spotting Session - Timing Notes - Music Composition - Orchestration - Copying Score - Song Clearance - Recording Session - Mixing - Dubbing A crucial part of the filmmusic production process during the Hollywood Symphonic Era was the job of the music editor, though he was definitely a highly unnoticed member of the filmmusic crew.

We will come across this person several times within this chapter. The music editor is the first member of the music department to really get involved in the process since it is part of the editor's job to prepare a temp track for the work-print of the film during the middle of post-production. A temp track is a temporary piece of music that is laid under the work-print to give every involved person a better idea of the final result. Of course, the director's wishes play a crucial role in the selection of the temp tracks. It was then the job of the music editor to find the fitting music (so his repertoire had to be enormous) and to edit it to the picture. Given the fact that editing had to be done by cutting magnetic tape, this was a very time consuming task. It is also worth mentioning that the choices of the music editor greatly influence the job of the filmcomposer. Often, the directors get so used to the temp music that they ask the composer to do something similar. Therefore, the choice of the music editor can greatly determine the style of music the composer has to write later on.

30

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic Film composer Cliff Eidelman was fortunate to once get a job because his music had been used as temp track. But even though this occasion started his career, he has mixed feelings and experiences with temp music. "I can think of two occasions, [...] that a director had gotten so used to a temp score that he couldn't hear anything else. I was writing something that took us in a different direction. Once a temp score is thrown into a movie, what tends to happen is that the director gets used to it. To have him get unused to it and then used to something new is difficult. The temp process can be very detrimental. It can be the end of all possible creativity that could have come to that movie through music. It's gotten to the point where some composers of the final score copy the composers whose music was used in the temp track, sometimes even ripping them off just because the production people get locked into the temp. I've heard thematic ideas from my scores used in other people's scores. It's infuriating. I honestly would never consciously sit there and rip someone off. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night."6 Long-time film composer David Newman agrees since he has made several similar experiences in the past. He even explains further: "What's worse is the temp-music phenomenon, where they get so in love with the temp track. In fact, they might not even like the temp music, but they are so used to hearing it that anything else is completely jarring to them. That's more difficult to deal with, and they often won't admit it's the temp score because it's so unhip to say that. [...] It takes a really strong director to fight that."7 This temp phenomenon has posed a lot of difficulties to young composers who aren't established yet - it was the same during that era and it still is as Elliot Goldenthal points out: "For a young composer, or a new composer who doesn't have a strong enough background or backbone, it could be dangerous because they'll say, "The temp is working so well. I don't want to lose my job so I'll compose it just like the temp." But if you don't care about losing your job, and you're willing to go your own way as opposed to following something, you can come up with an original solution.

There are fifty or sixty things that can work in a scene, so what you have to do is really be clear to the director about how much of this or that you think is right. You have to get intimate with the director so you don't make the mistake of just copying the temp track, which many directors would feel is ridiculous because they hired you to be creative."8 Nevertheless, "a well-done temp track, along with a really excellent communication line with the director is invaluable. [...] I know there are certain composers who hate temp tracks. I understand that point of view. With certain directors temp tracks can be confining, because he will have made up his mind about the music, and unless you do something very similar to the temp, he's not going 6 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 277 7 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 322 8 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 295

31

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic to be satisfied." (Mark Isham)9 Of course, it is a great way of communicating with each other since the director usually cannot speak in musical terms. The question is, if taking the decisions on what to compose away from the composer is such a good idea. Temp tracks themselves cannot be very fresh as they were composed for another purpose. They are often the result of the music editor's ideas of cliches which then leads to certain stereotypes in certain genres, not allowing any originality. Richard Kraft complains: "Half of the equation is 'What are you going to do?' and the other half is how you do it. But the 'What are you going to do?' seems to have gone out the window. [...]"10 Kraft also refers to temp music being taken from movie scores already and that this music is used over and over again by many music editors, resulting in the film music tendency of having the same kind of scores for a decade. "I've had cases where composers have done scores based on a temp track, and the temp track was a score they had written. So they're now doing a watered-down version of themselves. And it's pointless. At least Rain Man [1988] didn't sound like the ten movies that preceded it. It sounded like the ten movies that followed it."11 Self-plagiarism sadly wasn't and still isn't uncommon in film music.

Danny Elfman even gives contradictory advice to young composers on that topic: "If you want to be successful, learn to imitate. I think the entire industry right now revolves around plagiarism and imitation, and unless you're willing to plagiarize you may find it difficult to proceed. On the other hand, if you want to be a good composer, or a real composer, learn to resist that tendency. That can be hard, and it can also mean you may not get certain kinds of jobs that you want."12 Hans Zimmer tends to get around temp track issues by working very quickly with his technical equipment since decades. "That's what I use my technology for. That's what I use all those synths for. In Gladiator, all the action sequences were cut to my music."13 This is also a way to avoid temp tracks - make some music beforehand. But during the times, we are now talking about, this wasn't possible of course.

In some cases it actually is a collaboration and not an employer-employee relationship. In most cases, these are the most productive and original combinations as the ideas will add up to something greater. John Williams on his work with George Lucas: "It was George Lucas' concept to use classical music, and he said we'll use this or that piece. And I said, 'Let's try the following thing - I think it should be classical-sounding, in the fully dressed symphonic kind of cloth, if you like, but that if we do our own music, original music, we can then take the themes and reshape them [...].

9 10 11 12 13

Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 305 Fred Karlin, "Knowing the Score", p. 8 Fred Karlin, "Knowing the Score", p. 8 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 284 Fred Karlin & Rayburn Wright, "On the track", p.31

32

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic [Everything] you wouldn't be able to do if you had taken a Beethoven symphony and scored it with that. I think the idea really was collaborative. Lucas had some idea of what it should be and I brought my own ideas to it and together we worked out an approach that worked to whatever extent it may have. What was intentional was just the idea of trying to produce a beautifully set symphonic sound that struck late-nineteenth-century emotional and maybe even intellectual chords in some way with the listener, so that the music, the emotional part of the soundtrack, was very familiar in the sense that its ethos is familiar for many."14 After having edited the temp music, the next task of the music editor is to take the spotting notes during the spotting session. A standard feature film had (and still has) between 30 and 120 minutes of filmmusic. Every single piece of music in the film - as short as a few seconds or as long as several minutes - is called a cue. At the same time, it doesn't matter what kind of music is played. It can be original filmmusic or source music - it's still called a cue. The sum of the cues is the filmscore. During the spotting session - after the composer has received and reviewed the locked picture - the producer, director and composer decide where and how to use music in the film. So during this meeting, they will make decisions about every cue: when the music starts and ends, what it should sound like and what role it has to play in each scene in relation to the drama. This is a crucial part within the filmmusic production process. One could have the best orchestration, terrific themes and great players but when it is insensitively placed, it could destroy the whole movie.

Additionally, all the deadlines are set during this session if this hasn't been done before.

The following chart shows typical spotting notes taken by the music editor during the spotting session.

14 Fred Karlin, "Knowing the Score", p. 19

33

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic

The cue numbers are assigned by the music editor as well. Example: "4M5" means fourth reel, "M" stands for music and 5 means cue number five on this particular reel.

Before the composer can start to work, the music editor has several preparative tasks to fulfill.

Based on the spotting notes, he has to create a reduced form of the latter, called master cue list (or music summary). It's a list of all the cues (and their corresponding scenes in the movie), their length, the reel on which they can be found, the SMPTE code (including start and stop point) and sometimes a thorough description of the scene and the required music. But usually - since it mostly serves as a general overview - the music editor only assigns titles to the cues, without any descriptions.

Excerpt from a Master Cue Sheet and Orchestra Breakdown

34

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic After the master cue list, the above mentioned timing notes (cue sheets) have to be made. They are the most extended form of a cue list as they contain exremely detailed descriptions - every shot, every cut, every line of dialogue are written down with timings to the hundredth of a second. These notes influenced the composers job to a large extend since they determined the tempo and synchronization of every cue.

After having received the timing notes from the music editor, the composer could start working which then set a lot of other processes into motion. It is very important to understand that during that time, the notes of the music editor were the basis on which the composer wrote the music, since he usually wasn't allowed to take any copies of the cues home (normally they weren't allowed to leave the studios and therefore had to be reviewed there). Even if that permission was granted occasionally, it was still handier to write music with the information from the notes for obvious reasons.

35

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic During the Hollywood Symphony Era filmcomposers still had to write their music with pencil and paper, generating sketches for orchestrators, so they had to set themselves a very disciplined schedule to make it to the deadlines. But time pressure is not the only problem during this state of work. The composer is also put under the pressure to please the director and producer, taking their wishes and musical/dramatic suggestions into account. Communication skills are probably the most worthy gift during this time of production since the filmmakers usually cannot speak in musical terms. It is therefore inalienable that the filmmakers and the composer come to the same kind of understanding when using certain terms, though a lot of it stays guesswork for the composer.

How a composer writes the music during this time varies of course. Some had the habit to go off to their studios to escape the obvious distractions at home like Alfred Newman and James Horner, some like Bernard Herrmann had their home studio. To give a specific example: John Williams used to compose at his studio at Universal. "In my own case, I work at the piano. I don't use synthesizers or electronic equipment and all that stuff. My musical education is such that it predates all of that, and although I know a little bit about it, I haven't developed the skills. I use the piano, that's my old friend in music. And I probably use it more for writing than any composition teacher would tell you is a good idea, but that's been my practice always. So part of my process is tactile. It's in the hands, that certainly is true. But as the score develops and as I know the material more and more, and get towards the end of the film, I use it less and less, as the music sort of begins to take over, and I become less oriented toward the keyboard."15 In general, it is also common to first write the main theme or the cue in which the main theme is stated. After that, one usually goes on chronolgically but again this can differ from composer to composer.

During the 70's and 80's, all the filmcomposer could do was play his ideas on the piano or a decent synthesizer which suggests the proper sounds.

Nevertheless, both techniques left a lot to the director's and producer's imagination (unless the score was a synthesized one and therefore close to the final result). Of course, when you're a trained pianist like John Williams who can play his seven staff sketches from the sheet, you definitely have an advantage over composers who are trained on other instruments and therefore can only give a rough impression on the piano.

They were therefore usually the ones to take advantage of the digital revolution to play synthesized 15 Fred Karlin, "Listening to movies", p.29

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic versions. But since directors usually aren't trained musicians, it could happen that they didn't have the musical ability to hear through the fake sounds or the piano sketch and make a transition to real instruments. It even happened that a score got rejected because the director focussed too much on the synthetic sounds, rather than on the musical ideas behind it, thinking that the music itself didn't work with the cue. A piano gives even less impression for an outsider on what it will sound like with an orchestra. In those situations, it was (and still is) the composer's job to explain and reassure that the music will work or to take another direction - that depends on his reputation and personal relationship with the filmmakers. Nonetheless, it happened more than one time that there had to be severe changes to be made during the recording sessions later, when the director and producer heard the finished orchestrated piece for the first time, only because they had imagined something else before.

Therefore, the most important part of the spotting session and the sensitive composition time afterwards is clear communication with the producer and director. They have to share the same vision before the composer can successfully write the music for it.

Due to the tight schedule, the composer needed a lot of people assisting him. The most important one was the orchestrator. He would meet with the composer, discuss the scene and his ideas and afterwards he would get a sketch from the composer which could vary from a rough leadsheet to piano arrangement or even a condensed score already containing all the lines and indications on how the composer would like to have it orchestrated.

Williams Ross: "The challenge is to understand the composer's working style [...]. The composer may know exactly what they want and hand me a sketch where I'm just going to transfer the notes onto a different sheet of paper and send it to the copyist. Or they may really need a lot of help because they don't have an orchestral background and that's what they've been asked to do."16 Shirley Walker on her own sketches: "I don't transfer my orchestrations to the conductor's score.

But when I'm writing, I'm putting everything in - all the dynamics, the phrasing, percussion everything, it's all there. So I don't physically orchestrate myself, but my sketches are very complete."17

16 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 339 17 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 361

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic

"Luke Escapes" Sketch by John Williams

The sketch also needed to contain timings and little indications on what was happening in the picture whenever necessary. Most filmcomposers at that time were classically trained musicians so they were fabulous orchestrators themselves - most of them even started in the filmmusic business as orchestrators. But once they got the composer's job, they usually didn't have enough time to both write and orchestrate their music. Some composers - e.g. Ennio Morricone - also insisted on getting enough time to fulfill both jobs but that could also mean that lots of projects couldn't be given to these due to that demand. But there were also some filmcomposers who came from popular music and therefore relied on their orchestrators to achieve the sound they had in mind.

An orchestrator needed to have studied composition and orchestration in detail to fulfill what was asked from them in a film score. Of course, they had to have a detailed knowledge about all standard instruments, their ranges, strengths and weaknesses, their sound colour and their volume as well as what combinations of them sounded like and how standard orchestrations in different styles could be made. Music notation, transposition and a thorough knowledge about composition were a must, too, since the orchestrator could be asked to write counterlines, harmonies or correct voiceleading of given harmonies.

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic Once the score was finished, it needed to be proofed by the composer. After that, the orchestrator would send it to a music preparation office.

Within this office, the score is assigned to one or more copyists, who then created the extracted parts for the individual instruments. The finished parts were then given to a proofreader, who would check it with the master score. Though a pretty small part in the music production process, it is a very important one. It would have been a fatal error if mistakes had been discovered during the scoring session. The costly minutes it would have taken to correct them would have cost the production studios several hundred dollars per minute.

After all the copies had been finished, they were given to the so-called music librarian who would make sure that every musician had the proper sheet music in the right order on his stand during the recording session.

It has to be mentioned that the filmproduction was often behind schedule during this time so all the above mentioned people had to work under enormous pressure. This could only be achieved since they were all musicians themselves, working their way up to orchestrators and composers.

At this state of production we come back to music editor. At first he took the spotting notes during the spotting session and created the timing notes. But while the rest of the team prepared the score, he was busy preparing the film for synchronization with the music. Therefore, the music editor didn't only need to have a thorough knowledge about music as well as an excellent instinct about cutting music but also technical skills within (at that time) advanced software programs.

It has to be mentioned that film and music had not been digitalized yet during that era. Preparing both for synchronization thus meant a lot of handling and cutting of physical equipment, such as reels18, mag film19, the optical soundtrack20 and the SMPTE21 code. So before the recording session, the music editor was to assist the composer in synchronizing music and picture. He was the one to 18 rotating wheel onto which the film is loaded within a camera or a projector; length: 8-12 min; 10-14 reels per film 19 magnetic sound film: filmtape that is coated with a magnetic substance such as audiotape; used to record and edit sound to synchronize it to the picture 20 stripe on the edges of a finished filmtape which contains the complete sound of the movie 21 time code that enables computers, synthesizers and video machines to communicate with each other; serves the proper synchronization of music and video

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic prepare click tracks, punches and streamers or even a stopwatch for the recording session. In order to do that, the music editor needed to know exactly where special hitpoints or sync points were which the composer wanted to emphasize. Then they discussed the tempo of the music and with which method it could be best recorded to anticipate these points. If punches and streamers needed to be prepared, the music editor had to literally punch holes into the work print of the film. He would punch a hole into the exact frame where the music needed to hit a certain point. So when that frame passed by the projector light, it would just shine bright through and create a flash of light.

But that punch needed to be anticipated so the music editor would also scrape thin moving lines (streamers) on every frame for a certain length, so that the conductor could actually see a white line move across the screen from right to left, ending in the punch, the flash of light (see picture on the right). The music editor would often also prepare the so-called reference punches or flutter punches so that the conductor knows if he's going too fast or too slow at certain points. Using punches and streamers was very accurate and at the same time, it gave the conductor some freedom for expression since he wasn't conducting to a metronome. Sometimes, it was handier though, to conduct with a click track when a certain (fast) tempo had to be held throughout the piece to hit all the markers. Traditionallly, click tracks weren't measured in beats per minute but in frames per beat (FPB) for precise synchronization. With that technique, the music editor could calculate where to punch holes into the optical soundtrack next to the frames. When the reel was played through a projector, these holes would pass over the optical sound head in a certain tempo, causing a pop or "click". To know the exact measurements of every musical tempo, there even had been click track books, listing the timing and placement of the slices on every beat at dozens of tempi. Furthermore, the conductor could use the stopclock or just clock - this was a large analog clock with a sweephand, later on also a small stopwatch or the time code on the screen. It's less accurate due to the flexibility it leaves for the conductor, but the music editor's job was then much easier: He only needed to 40

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic where the music started and ended and ensure that the conductor was accurate. The last possibility of preparation for the recording session - e.g. when a cue is short, has no hit points or there had to be made quick changes and the previously described methods are no longer valid - is called wild.

This doesn't require any preparation by the music editor but more from the conductor since he would then record without any reference. The music editor is only responsible that the music is cut to the right point of the film later on.

Another thing that had to be done before the scoring session was to discuss personnel requirements with the music contractor. He was the person to book the studio, hire the needed musicians with the demanded abilities (e.g. someone who can play all kinds of saxophones) and to do all the paperwork including payrolls for the musicians.

When everything finally had been prepared the day of the recording session arrived. There are lots of people required there, including the composer, conductor (if the composer isn't conducting himself), director, producer, music editor, musicians, recording engineers, music contractor and everybody's assistants. The orchestrators were not bound to be present on the recording stage but usually they (or someone else with score-reading abilities) would nonetheless sit in the control room and follow the score during the recording to check for mistakes the conductor might not have heard.

This person also fills the recording engineer in about what instruments will play when. The music editor's job was to sit behind the conductor or in the control room with his timing notes to write protocols about every take that has been made for every cue and to help making smaller timing changes if required. The music contractor attended the session to make sure everything was on time and happened according to the rules.

Sometimes, composers preferred (and still prefer) to conduct their music themselves to give it the right expression. There are several reasons, though, why the composer should rather stay in the control room than conduct himself. Mark Isham on the question if he conducts himself: "No. First of all, I'm not a conductor. Second of all, I think it's inefficient. The sound in the room is one thing; the sound out of the speakers is usually something very different. [...] So it's my responsibility to make sure it sounds right on tape. If I'm out there with the orchestra getting used to the sound of the room and tuning that up, I can come back in the control room and it can sound miles from what it should really sound like. [...] So, my orchestrator conducts, because he's the guy that's decided exactly how the bassoons are going to handle that tricky thing there and how to crescendo in the cellos. He's made all those decisions, so he should be the one out there handling the orchestral interpretation of that. He knows the score as a written thing much better than I do. I'm the one that

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic has to make sure that the sound on tape is exactly right."22

The order of events during the session was pretty simple. The composer had to decide beforehand in which order the cues were to be recorded. The usual course of events was to first record a cue in which the full theme could be heard and afterwards everything that had to do with that theme. With this order, the musicians could get a better overview and recognize variations. The required players for the cue also played a role while planning the order. To spare money, it was common to first record every cue that needed all the musicians (called the "A" orchestra) and then let everybody leave who wasn't needed anymore for the following cues. The smaller groups were then called "B" orchestra, "C" orchestra etc. Sometimes, the composer also preferred to record long cues in two parts which had to be edited together later by the music editor, especially when different groups of instruments were required. This was called an overlap or segue. The reason why this was done during that time was to keep every cue under three to four minutes. Even the best sight-readers make mistakes and when that happened back then, one had to stop the full orchestra, start all over again with the cue and rewind the filmtape on the projector, together with the streamers, punches and clicks. It is needless to say how timeconsuming and therefore cost-inefficient this procedure was. On top of that, multitrack-recording was still very limited as well as the available editing and correcting tools. A mistake could be heard on every track since most instrument sections and players couldn't all be recorded truly separate and correcting something afterwards wasn't as easy as nowadays. Therefore, one had to get the best recording in order to have a good sounding score since 22 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 306

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic post-improvement of the sound was limited.

There is something else which concerned recording that is worth mentioning. In the US, the musicians union had set a limit to how much music was allowed to be recorded during a certain amount of time. It was only allowed to record a maximum of nine minutes filmmusic per three-hour session (that makes about 1-5 cues). For TV productions the limit was set to 15 minutes per threehour session. The musicians union had set these limits to protect the musicians. With their enormous sight-reading abilities, the producers could have recorded the whole filmmusic in one or two days. So the musicians would only have had the fee for two recording days while the production studios could make millions with it afterwards. In this case, the skills of the musicians would have been their own disadvantage. Very soon, the studios would only have hired musicians who could do it even faster to pay them less money. So the union set an end to it by limiting the amount of music that was allowed to be recorded within a certain amount of time. As mentioned above, it was the contractor's job to make sure these rules were followed during the session, including the instructed breaks as well.

Once the composer was content with the recording of a cue, he went to the control room to listen to a playback of the recording in combination with the film (if he was the conductor). Of course, he could watch the scene on the big screen in the recording hall while it was being played and conducted but he also had to make sure the recording sounded equally good on tape. At this point, a cue is either signed off by the director and the producer or they would ask for changes. The music editor was there to accomplish minor changes but if bigger changes were required, the cue had to be set aside and corrected before the next session. Either way, flexibility during the recording session was a must for there were almost always changes to be made - and these changes had to be made quickly without being too attached to what had already been written in the first place.

Very rarely, it also happened at this point that the differences between composer, director and producer were too irreconcilable to continue as a team. In such a situation - which is inconvenient for everybody involved to say the least - the score is let down and another composer is brought in to the project. Of course, the first composer had to get his full fee and the whole process described above had to be repeated under even bigger time pressure and payed again. Surprisingly, this has occurred to almost every famous filmcomposer in Hollywood.

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic After the recording session, the tracks had to go through mixing. At that time, recordings for a major movie were made in 24-track or 48-track analog format - when the budget allowed it within bigger productions. These tracks had to be mixed by by the mixdown engineer, giving him at least a decent amount of flexibility. Usually, there were three different mixes to be made: one for theatres with surround-sound, one for those with stereo-sound and one for the soundtrack CD. The composer didn't always attend the mixing session, leaving this job to an assistant who could represent his wishes, at the same time having a decent knowledge on the field of studio techniques and mixing himself. It is needless to say that the mixing engineer also had to work with a tight schedule given the huge amount of underscoring alone to be mixed. Sometimes, the recordings even had to be mixed in a second studio while simultaneously other recordings were made in the first one.

After the mixing had been finished, the tapes were handed over to the last stage of the music production process: the dubbing stage where music, sound effects and dialogues are mixed for the final version of the movie. During that session the dubbing team had to adjust volume levels and do the equalizing so that everything in the movie was clearly audible and balanced in sound. This was particularly important when frequencies of the same range were negatively influencing each other or when the dialogue simply wasn't audible. However, the music editor had to prepare the music tracks for the dubbing stage first. In order to do that, he had to prepare reels of magnetic film-tapes with the finished music which had to precisely correspond with the original reels. So he actually recreated all the reels of the movie in full length, inserting blank filmtape to fill the gaps where no music was required. Then one would run the reels of the music editor, sound designer and dialogues simultaneously with the original filmreels at the dubbing stage. Therefore, these prepared reels for the dubbing stage had to be edited unbelievably precisely. The music editor also assisted the dubbing engineers to find the right spots and to give input on the levels and EQ of the music.

Additionally, he was also the one to move the music around and re-edit it to fit a new scene if the director changed his mind about a cue. With music still being recorded on tape, this was a tremendous task and it is particularly important since the filmcomposer rarely attended the dubbing session because his job was completed at that point.

The very last job that had to be done was to make a final list of all the music in the film, called a music clearance sheet (or again confusingly cue sheet) which had to be sent to the appropriate organizations to license the music for royalties. This job was also done by the music editor.

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic All the people mentioned above had to be a reliable, professional team who knew exactly what they had to do to get the score from a simple sketch to the big screen. It is often criticised that only the composer's name is signed beneath the score but that one can never surely know what came from the composer's feather and how much of it was actually accomplished by his team. Sometimes it is even said that particularly the orchestrator has saved the composer, writing counterlines, harmonies and orchestrating the whole thing - writing more of the score than the composer himself. This is true to a certain extent of course, but it has to be mentioned that the orchestrator is always only adding something to an original idea that didn't come from him.

Orchestrator Lolita Ritmanis: "There are some orchestrators that tend to think that, because they have been given only melody and chords, they are writing the music. I'm not one of those.

Whatever you're going to hum after hearing a particular cue, that's usually, hopefully, the composer's work. Every situation is different. There are many composers who don't really need an orchestrator - their sketches are absolutely complete. And some of the composers who run into the time crunch are also capable of doing very complete sketches. It is merely that the accelerated postproduction schedules often do not leave time for detailed sketching."23 In that case, the orchestrator is the one to make the composer's vision come true, to amplify another person's concept. If this concept is good, the orchestrator has an easy job only with the slightest possibility to fail, as everybody else in the crew. If the concept is poor, it is most likely that neither the orchestrator nor the rest of the team can make it succeed in the end. The driving creative force stays the composer. Without his ideas they wouldn't have anything to work on. But it is true that he would never make it to the deadline without any reliable assistance.

"An ability to work quickly and accurately under pressure, and also to work with grace under people who are not always kind or gracious, is a must."

23 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 332

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic 3.3 New Influences By Synthesized Scores

Only a few years after the comeback of symphonic scores, the filmmusic industry began to absorb the new technologies of the synthesizer and the computer. Of course, composers and directors were experimenting with electronically modified recording techniques and electronic instruments since the 1930's24, including the theremin, and a little more since the introduction of magnetic tape around 1950, but in general only to a very low extent since the results usually weren't satisfying yet or only fit into science-fiction genres. The invention and establishment of the standardized MIDI protocol, let alone polyphonic synthesizers had made synchronization and working with them in general a lot more comfortable. MIDI also initiated a wide-ranging replacement of voltage control within synthesizers. The first successful digital MIDI synthesizer was probably the YAMAHA DX7 in 1983. During the mid-80's, new technologies and microcomputers like the Apple Macintosh, Atari ST as well as several PC models came out and could be linked to MIDI synthesizers, too. The first software was written at about the same time, giving the users more flexibility to program their own timbres. On top of that, synthesizers were slowly becoming affordable even though they were still quite expensive compared to today's equipment. Marc Snow who started during times when no music electronicas were used, remembers: "In the mid '80s the home studio thing was just starting up, and I bought a Synclavier. When that happened, it was a magical, wonderful learning experience for me because then people could come over and hear the score and make their comments. I learned so much from these people who know nothing about music."25 24 Arthur Honegger had used the Ondes Martenot, a monophonic electronic musical instrument, for the first time in the animated movie L'IdĂŠe 25 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 350

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic

The new fashion of creating entirely or at least mostly synthesized scores was born. Of course, they had been used before in filmscores but the ARP and the Moog synthesizer were large, expensive machines which needed to be handled with a lot of expertise. When the new technology gained more popularity, the MIDI protocol paved the way for the new stream of synthesized filmscores.

One of the first synthetic filmscores that caught both the publics' and the producers' attention was Vangelis' soundtrack for Chariots of Fire in 1981. This score was created by using electronic sounds only. No acoustic instruments were implemented at all. Since the digital age had yet to arrive, all Vangelis could work with were analog synthesizers. Sampling, digital editing or hard-disk recording was not available, so the various synthetic sounds had to be recorded to a multitrack analog tape machine.

It is said that this score was the one to open the ears of everyone busy in the filmindustry to the huge amount of possibilities given when working with electronic sounds. Before, synthesized sounds had only been used to caricature science fiction or spooky, otherworldly situations. Vangelis showed that the new technologies could also be used for lots of other occasions, let alone a whole movie.

Due to this effect and the huge popularity of the score (even when it comes to radio airplay and commercial sellings), many producers of that time were asking for that kind of music. Therefore, a lot of traditional composers had to learn these new techniques or hire a synthesizer expert for their assistance. This was the first step towards the modern filmcomposer who has to be versed in techniques as well as traditional composing (see chapter 3.5).

From that time on, there were two filmmusic streamings: the traditional one and the electronic one.

The new techniques were embraced by both, the youngsters and the older composition generation during the mid '80s. Even established names among the traditionally trained composers like Jerry Goldsmith, Maurice Jarre, Elmer Bernstein, Henry Mancini and lots of others saw the advantages of incorporating the new available and affordable sounds. The formerly young generation of filmcomposers, like James Horner, Howard Shore and Alan Silvestri, started their career during that time, also finding that electronic instruments could help creating new textures. Elmer Bernstein: "I think every score I've written in the last fifteen years has some synthesizers in it, but I don't use them as an end in themselves. I use them for the obvious factor: they make sounds that other instruments can't. [...] Oddly enough, I was one of the first people to use them, although people don't generally associate me with that. In the score for "Hawaii", the very first sound you hear is a Moog synthesizer - way back in 1961. I think about them [synthesizers]; in other words, I will think of a use that I want to put a synthesizer to soundwise, and I will depend upon my people who do 47

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic that kind of thing."26 The rise of this technology happened very rapidly and so did its development. Within a few years, the industry standard went from the most primitive sound generators to high-class digital equipment. Due to these highly sophisticated electronic instruments, there were evidentially less orchestral recording sessions in L.A. during a short period of time. This could be considered a downside of the synthesizer development as they were taking the place of real musicians for a while. Especially the world of TV music and commercials shifted to electronic instruments completely during that time and this change lasts until today. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard explains: "It really depends on how much time I have to write. Lately, I've been doing a bunch of television things, and television doesn't have the luxury of giving you the kind of time you have when you write for films. With television, I generally write from the keyboard because I only have a week and a half or two weeks to write maybe 60 minutes of music."27 But as with any deep musical impact, there comes a time when certain sounds and styles are overly used and people get tired of it. Synthesizers and the first samplers had definitely made severe changes to the overall sound and texture of film scores, let alone the recording industry. But after the first wave of synthesized scores Ă la Vangelis, many filmmakers realized the cold and sometimes false sounding nature of these instruments. Of course, there is nothing wrong in using an electronic sound to create an innovative, unusual texture or to combine them with orchestral sounds. But to generally use them to replace orchestral instruments only led to dry and phony sounding scores, even though there were definitely composers who used artificial sounds in very tasteful manner.

Terence Blanchard comments: "The thing that I always say that's great about Thomas [Newman] is that he brings both the orchestral and the electronic world together in a way that's unique. Because a lot of times, guys will use the electronic world to emulate the acoustic world, and that's a big mistake. He's one of the guys who really understands both worlds and understands that the electronic thing has its own strengths that can be utilized in a unique fashion."28 One has to realize that hard- as well as software wasn't fully developed yet to the standard we know today. If an artificial string section was playing as underscore beneath an action scene or dialogue, it could work out. But if the music is exposed at a certain point, e.g. the opening or ending, where no other sound distracts the audiences' attention, even an untrained ear could hear that it wasn't real but electronically generated. It was especially these parts where virtual instruments could not provide 26 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 257 27 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 265 28 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 267

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic the depth and emotion a film score needed. Matt Groening, the inventor of the Simpsons specifically asked Alf Clausen to score the series with an orchestra, even though it was only a TV show: "I hate electronics, I think they cheapen the sound. I want the real orchestra."29

3.4 The Rise of Hybrid Scores - A New Sound?

The result of the development described in the previous chapter was that composers started to use electronic instruments more as an addition to a real orchestra sound in movies (unless the director or producers were specifically asking for an electronic score). The aim was to find the common ground of both styles: the long established swift and lively sound of an orchestra, enhanced by doubling some lines with powerful synthesized sounds. Composers were already trying to use the greatest strengths and advantages of both to create the best possible result for cinemas. In TV and low budget productions, however, synthesized scores became a necessity, as the budget as well as the time frame didn't allow to use a real orchestra. Therefore, the instrumentation of a filmmusic mainly became a budget question in those areas.

A hybrid score is filmmusic that consists of both, live recordings and sequencer sounds. Of course, hybrid scores have existed ever since synthesizers were first used in filmscores. But with increasing computer power during the 90's and the detailed MIDI libraries made especially for filmmusic these days, hybrid scores have become a sort of fashion because the mix of powerful cinematic samples in combination with the lightness of a real orchestra give exactly the right spirit.

One of the responsible people to develop that new niche and actively change the job of the filmmusic composer is German born Hans Zimmer. He was one of the first to establish himself on that area: writing scores that incorporate a full orchestra, at the same time enhancing the sound with synthesizers and samplers. Zimmer has had countless successful scores, normally using a combination of electronic and acoustic sounds. His older works include Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy and The Lion King. Some of his latest works, e.g. Inception, Sherlock Holmes, The Dark Knight and Gladiator have all set new standards on the field of hybrid scores. Remote Control Productions (formerly Media Ventures) with Zimmer and his team are still considered the cutting edge when it comes down to developping new sounds and technologies with samplers and digital synthesizers.

29 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 272

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic Vincent Beijer: "You know, back in the days, you bought a little rack from Roland. It also has some very simply sampled instruments, like a one second sample and the rest was synthesized. So I think either synthesized sounds or samples have been around ever since they were available. In the early days, you have the famous picture of Hans Zimmer with stacks of Roland hardware samplers and they cost like 3.000 dollars a piece. And he had like 20. And you had to buy all the ROM cartridges. That's what we used when we were at art school. But I mean: Why photographers using photoshop? It's handy. And most of the times you don't have the money to hire real musicians or even an orchestra. So it makes work simple and it makes you sound good. So that's why it's so extensively used at the moment."

WHY IT HAPPENED SO QUICKLY According to Johannes Becher from the marketing and PR department of Vienna Symphonic Instruments, this development has predominantly taken place during the past 10-15 years. "This is due to the technical development since the end of the 90's when software samplers emerged which were almost only limited in their intake capacity through the used harddisk space. Before, the biggest samplers were reduced to RAM memory of mostly 128 MB. Composers of that time who were working with orchestra samples thus often had the wall of their rooms completely covered in rack-systems with diverse hardware samplers which were accordingly expensive."

Vincent Beijer from ProjectSAM agrees on why it changed so rapidly during the last decade: "Because of the hardware development. Back in, I think, '97 or '98 "Gigasampler" came out and that was the first sampler enabling disk streaming. Before that, you could only load like 30-32 MB in RAM. But "Gigastudio" - or "Gigasampler" how it was called then - made it possible to stream like a gigabyte of e.g. sampled piano. So you could have a lot more detail and it sounded thus much more realistic because you could add all these dynamic layers which wasn't possible before due to the 32 MB memory limit. So you can really see that development from '97. Then KONTAKT came out in 2000/2001, so it's really a hardware development which is to ground for that. You also hear it in popmusic. You definitely hear the musical progression with the software coming out. It greatly influences popmusic, too, with sampled dubstep or whatever styles. You really hear what's popular, 50

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic you really hear the technological development in the music."

Becher adds: "I think this has been a continuous development which - on the orchestral field started relatively late during the 90's. Authentic orchestral sound with samples demands high requirements of the processing power as well as memory and harddisk space of computer systems.

Until the middle of the 90's, samplers were either very limited in their possibilities or extremely expensive. In 1998, Nemesys' software program "Gigasampler" provoked a significant change. The software could run on any custom PC and only read the attack phases of the samples from the RAM memory, that was directly streamed from the harddisk. At the same time, RAM and harddisk space were rapidly becoming cheaper and the processors faster. It was then mainly filmcomposers who knew how to take advantage of this new technique. Most directors want to revert to the established sound of a big orchestra and already during the layout-phase - so long before musicians and studios are booked - they would like to hear the finished orchestrated music. Here, the work with sample libraries provides a lot of advantages, of course: takes can be composed and edited synchronic on certain scenes, changes in tempo, length or instrumentation are possible with a few mouse clicks and if needed, one has the opportunity to try out different versions very quickly. When recording an orchestra, such experiments or changes/adjustments are highly timeconsuming and accordingly expensive. Another important reason [why samples are used so extensively in filmmusic these days] is generally the time factor. Many movies, but particularly TV series, are made in constantly tightening production schedules nowadays which - in the case of a cinema feature film - requires large teams, from click-track-programmer to orchestrators to copyists but equally the mandatory usage of computers and sample libraries."

The technique of digital soundsampling allowed the composer to record any instrument or sound, control it via a keyboard and his computer software and make it thus a part of his soundtrack. Mark Mancina: "I was doing documentaries all throughout the '80s, and because of the budget, everything was done electronically, with MIDI. With the advent of samples, I could create something that sounded pretty good. It became, for some of the movies that I have done, a real advantage. For a movie like Speed it had to be done that way. The concept of that score for me was to take orchestral percussion and replace it with metallic and metal sounding percussion, which I sampled and set up specifically for that score using all sorts of tin cans and things. All of a sudden Speed became such a huge hit and a big movie that I kind of fell into the "electronic composer" category because I used rhythm and electronic sounds for that score.

[Now] I'm very tired of MIDI, and I don't like anything in my scores that isn't played live. I don't like that electronic sound. It has worked on some movies that I've done, but I feel it doesn't work in 51

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic a lot of movies, although now I hear it done a lot."30 Whether or not, one should use that technique for filmscores is not only a budget question, but also a question of filmic staging, atmosphere, dramaturgic lines, film genre, style of the director and the relation between On- and Off-music in the film as well as the balance between other sound sources in the movie. The obvious advantage of live-recordings is of course the liveliness, the natural sound, intonation variations, microtiming, the behavior of attack and release as well as the breathing nature of an orchestra. There is currently a debate whether or not modern MIDI libraries are able to artificially produce all of these characteristics but we can all agree that back in the '90s, when hybrid scores were becoming more popular, this technique was still very new and suffered from low processing power. Therefore, it could never fulfill the needs of the sound of a real orchestra.

Since sample libraries, powerful computers and synthesizers have become affordable and a lot easier to use, many young composers tend to write quality electronic scores, especially for movies, TV and documentaries. MIDI technology has definitely become a necessary skill for filmmusic composers. Native Instruments sound designer Nick Marinic on that topic: "Since computers have gotten more accessible for musicians due to the reduced costs and increased performance, the hardware sampler – which basically is a specialized computer - has become obsolete for many musicians and software samplers took its role. Sample libraries in the past however really were just that – sample libraries, i.e. a collection of samples. The functionality of the sampler was limited to sample mapping and basic modulation and fx capabilities, i.e. triggering a sample with a key and that was basically it. Nowadays, instruments created with software like KONTAKT are much more advanced in terms of functionality and usability. The software programming can realize complex acoustic characteristics of the instrument such as sympathetic resonance of a grand piano, while playability and usability has increased thanks to dedicated graphical user interfaces (as opposed to small LCD screens on hardware samplers). As a sidenote: we're not even using the term „sample libraries“ anymore; we're simply speaking of „instruments“."

Especially during the past 10 years, composers for film scores are constantly trying to figure out the right mix between live musicians and artificial sounds. This has also taken place with synthesizers of course, but with samples, it's a much more subtle search as you cannot hear it at once anymore if samples were used or not, due to their quality. Johannes Becher (VSL): "What you can see in many places are the various mixed or hybrid productions. Thus productions, in which real musicians, ensembles, bands or orchestras AND sample libraries come into operation, in totally different ratio of mixture. It is said that there are even orchestra productions on which merely little of the "real" 30 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 151

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic orchestra is audible because either the musicians were uninspired or the recordings simply had a bad sound quality. Due to the early usage of computers and audio programs in both picture and sound, there also are increasing interactions, e.g. between sound design and music. In any case, this development has been made easier through computer technology and usually has a positive effect on the final result."

CHANGES IN THE SOUND - THE SOUND OF HOLLYWOOD This whole technical development severely changed the character of filmmusic in two ways. One of them is the sound of Hollywood itself and one is the job of the filmcomposer. Vincent Beijer on the question how the face of filmmusic and its composers changed: "It's the same thing as 'How did photoshop change the character of photography?'. You know, everybody can be a musician now, everybody can be a photographer. It doesn't always lead to the best music. I mean, you can have a lot of talent but not get the gig. John Williams is an "ambachtsman" [Dutch word for "craftsman"], you could call it like that. He's got a lot of skill, he can write. But I think, nowadays there are quite some filmcomposers who can't even write notes, they do everything by ear - because it's possible.

You don't need to write notes and you don't need to know all the articulations and all the ranges of the instruments within the orchestra nowadays. So you can just fiddle around."

Beijer on the question if this has led to a loss of depth in filmmusic: "I don't think I should say that because everything is taste. Harry Gregson-Williams does cool stuff and sound designers as well. I mean, it gets more hybrid. I think, that's the difference. In the early days, you had like classical scores and now beats and electronica and orchestra are mixed into one new mix. So I think, that's how it changed the character of filmmusic: It gets more hybrid, more things are allowed - because it's possible."

To enlarge these thoughts: As we have seen in the history of filmmusic, audiences accept 19th century romanticism as well as jazz/pop scores. Nowadays, the range of possibilities and combinations is larger than it has ever been. The introduction of MIDI based sounds like synthesizers have made filmmusic more available for musicians having a popular music background but the great development of sample libraries even enabled them to suggest an orchestral composition. During the 90's the character of filmmusic changed again due to these people into something we call "pop-influenced symphonic scores" nowadays. Jazz musician and film composer Terence Blanchard: "The two styles are really in the process of merging. I won't say that it's totally there yet [...]."31 A big influence were also the Disney musicals, usually done by Alan Menken.

There are some basic elements which can be found in filmmusic since the mid-90's: rock 31 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 265

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic rhythms/grooves, harmonic vocabulary spanning from blues over jazz to contemporary pop and rock music, melodic ideas derived from pop/rock music. In contemporary filmmusic, one can find a very fluid balance between lyrical and dissonant orchestral scoring, electronics, popular music, nonWestern or traditional music as well as a lot of rock-influenced percussiveness. Composers like Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, Carter Burwell, Elliot Goldenthal, James Horner, James Newton Howard, Mark Isham, Michael Kamen, Thomas Newman, Basil Poledouris, Marc Shaiman, Howard Shore, Alan Silvestri, Steve Jablonsky, Harry Gregson-Williams, Klaus Badelt, Patrick Doyle, Alexandre Desplat, Marco Beltrami, Brad Fiedel, Nick Glennie-Smith, Clint Mansell, Trevor Rabin, Christopher Young and many more have contributed to that development.

Nevertheless, there are still some traditional composers left, such as Dario Marianelli, Gabriel Yared, Ennio Morricone, John Williams, Craig Armstrong, Rachel Portman, Anne Dudley, Bruno Coulais, Michael Giaccino, Nicholas Hooper, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, Michael Nyman, Yann Tiersen and John Powell. That does not mean that they are clearly divided into these two groups. Almost any of them is fully capable of producing filmmusic in the traditional as well as non-traditional manner. More expressive techniques were also used by Philip Glass for some non-narrative films, exploring his minimalism in combination with synthesizers and sampling.

Micheal Kamen: "I was always a hybrid character - a classical musician that played rock 'n roll, or a rock 'n roller who was also a classical musician, depending on which end of the street people met me. But it was clear that I was always in both worlds, and I've always brought that feeling into my work. [...] I remember I made a quite classical job out of it, and freely mixed classical music with a set of drums and a rock 'n roll spirit."32 Rock and pop rhythms are easy to identify in a filmscore.

Sometimes a full drumkit is used but in the new millennium, especially ethnic, mysterious, huge (world) drums have become very popular. Of course, the drums can also be completely recorded, fully sampled or hybrid. Usually, composers choose to make it hybrid, as especially drums and microtiming are a giveaway when it comes to pure sampling.

The influences of popmusic can also be heard in harmonic and melodic structures. It is worth mentioning that not only composers with a pop/rock background choose that kind of stylistic means but also musicians coming from conservatories. Anyone who wants to enter the filmmusic industry today - trained or not - knows that filmmusic has become a fusion between orchestral styles and popmusic.

But additional to the many musicians with a popular background who have limited orchestration skills, there are still many trained composers who have a thorough knowledge in orchestration and musical textures. Maybe, today's filmmusic has become richer than ever before, partly because rock/pop musicians have brought their own kind of sound into filmscores. Another aspect that 32 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 309

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic cannot be pointed out enough is the range of possibilities, from traditional symphony orchestras to electronic scores as well as hybrids. Nowadays, filmcomposers can work in any sound medium they want, as long as they help accomplishing the director's vision.

SIDENOTE: It has to be mentioned that filmmusic consists of several musical styles. Each of these styles has, of course, an own history of change. To give an example: There have always been movies made which portray foreign cultures or ancient times, requiring ethnic/world music or historical styles. But Hollywood's approach to these kinds of films (and film in general, but that would lead too far) have changed a lot over the past decades. Due to the growing interconnection of the world, we learn a lot more about different cultures than before. All corners of the world seem closer together and therefore, the need to make more realistic films has grown, too. Romanticised views of certain places and cultures have become rare, violence, costumes, manners and environment the norm. This new realism needed to be adapted in filmmusic as well and a composer must definitely take more care when representing a country or time in his music. Nowadays, these cultures can comment on the music, they can express their dismay or even feel insulted. At the same time, it is easier to get the information that is needed so everybody expects the composer to do that.

Furthermore, the general audience has become more accustomed to certain sounds and instruments.

Internet and TV have spread so much information on other cultures and times that it's hard to fool them these days. Everybody will associate the duduk with Middle-Eastern countries, everyone will know that instruments sounding similar like the shamisen and shakuhachi are used in the far east.

Everybody will be able to recognize a flamenco and associate Spain with it whereas the bagpipemusic clearly belongs to Scotland. Often, they cannot name the instruments, but they will know where they belong. Between the 30's and 60's, the audience was accustomed to listening to late Romanticism or Jazz but when it came to other cultures, they could easily be fooled by a composers. Therefore, nowadays, a composer has to be very thorough when researching and he should consider twice if he wants to try and copy a foreign style. In most cases, composers choose to just take an element of that culture these days - an instrument, a scale, a language, a small ensemble from that culture - and blend it in with their orchestral filmmusic. They choose to just give a hint in the music, rather than risk insulting a culture or composing a very bad copy of a style (as in most cases, you have to have grown up with the kind of music in order to do it right). The tight schedules don't allow a too extensive research anyway, so the chances of doing it wrong when trying to imitate a style are pretty high. Music has the possibility of being a lot more subtle than the film. If you can gain the cultural information from the picture, the music can stay Western and just add up an element. This was just one example of how one musical style changed because the films themselves in that genre changed. But to go into details with every style, e.g. Animation, Western, 55

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic Disney Musical etc. would simply exceed the means of this work. It is only worth mentioning that the excessive use of samples and ethnic sample libraries led to a certain laziness in many scores.

Ethnic instruments are easily accessable as in the Silk Library by East West. In such libraries, one can find different Eastern tunings, instruments, articulations and even performance samples which contain small melodic fragments. Composers are often tempted to go the easy way and choose some banality by excessively using these obvious instruments, creating an atmosphere without getting the proper background on the music. The library provides so many tools already that you think you know something already when you - in fact - don't. This leads to fake world music that pretends to be something it isn't. Something created by ear that appears to be from a certain culture, not based on well-founded research - something that can fool the audience by being superficially by some kind of country but lacking its cultural depth.

Johannes Becher: "The vast majority of music being consumed via the media nowadays, from popmusic to computer games and advertisments, is based on the usage of sample libraries whithout the consumers actually noticing. Concerning filmmusic, some composers have developed very distinctive personal styles through the use of samples but also music electronics in general. This also led to imitation through other composers, often resulting in a certain "Einheitsbrei" [German word for "standardized mush"] since some producers and directors intentionally demanded a certain "sound"."

3.5 The Filmmusic Composer - A New Job-Profile The above descibed development led of course to massive changes within the production process of filmmusic but above all, it gave the filmcomposer a whole new job-profile. Nowadays, it is expected from aspiring filmcomposers that they cannot only fulfill all the traditional requirements of composition but also own technical skills that weren't required a few decades ago. The introduction of synthesizers and their further development into sample libraries resulted in the demand that a filmcomposer needs to be able to master the field of ever-expanding synthesizers and MIDI libraries. They need to become experts in synthesizer sounds, sampling, MIDI technology and sequencing. Elmer Bernstein criticized in the year 2000 already: "At the risk of sounding arrogant, I will have to say that film scoring has descended to a lot of gadgetry, in our time. For most people, there are too many gadgets and not enough music."33

33 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 258

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic Johannes Becher from VSL agrees: "In most cases, a substantial music education - so the possession of composition skills like counterpoint, harmony theory or instrumentation - is not sufficient anymore these days. If one doesn't enjoy the luxury of having a team of technical assistants as it is during the production of a Hollywood blockbuster, then nowadays a filmcomposer has to fulfill a lot of non-musical tasks, ranging from mastering established sequencer and notation software over basic knowledge on the fields of mixing and mastering up to communication skills with music pubishers or copyright organizations. It has quasi become a mix of composer, arranger, sound engineer, producer and music manager - the more fields one can cover, the better. However, due to tight schedules, this is rarely possible." According to Becher, composers of the "old school" who still composer with pencil and paper, are facing hard times nowadays, due to the above mentioned requirements.

Vincent Beijer slightly disagrees on being asked the same question if the job was made more complicated, too, since the composer also has to take over the technical side of the job: "But that's also society demanding that from you. You know, if your mum or your grandma decide to continue to live on their own, they'd have to do banking etc., so I think society in general demands more knowledge about computing and updating your phone. So I don't think that's a development only in the music industry."

APPROACHES There are two different working approaches - writing with pencil and paper or writing with a keyboard and sequencing the ideas - which can be mixed and both have their advantages and disadvantages, of course. Both techniques have brought success to various composers and some like to use both, either at the same time or separately, depending on the project. The traditional approach had the advantage of giving the composer a slow and intense experience of every note and every chord. The "lucky accidents" happen a lot less than in sequenced scores. This method is of course a lot more detailed and requires not only a great imagination but also much brain work as every single note placement needs to be considered one at a time. One has to have the expertise and the experience to imagine what the graphics on the paper will eventually sound like. Due to this more intensive experience, many composers still choose to make sketches with pencil and paper first, before rendering it to the computer. The main disadvantage is: It is extremely slow. Creating filmmusic had always been on a very tight schedule but today's schedules cannot be compared anymore to the times of the Hollywood symphonic era 35 years ago. With digitalization, everything is going faster these days and the filmmusic production process is no exception. Therefore, filmcomposers often like using the advantage of the new approach of sequencing ideas. It is a lot 57

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic faster since a composer can load a proxy movie34 into his sequencer and play his ideas along to the video, record and edit them at the same time and rendering the whole thing into a notation program. Of course, a transcriber needs to clean up the MIDI-mess first since notation programs usually aren't smart enough to realize that a little microtiming variation when playing is not a rhythmic variation. Therefore, you get a very chaotic layout at first. So one or more assistants have to edit the MIDI file and make sure that the print matches the music of the composer accurately. After cleaning the sequencer output up, the edited MIDI sketch (or more commonly called MIDI transcription) is given to the orchestrator who will take this as a basis.

Very often, especially when working with the younger generation of filmcomposers and orchestrators, the score stays electronic during the whole preparation process - the composer working with MIDI in sequencers, the assistants and transcribers (or copyists) with the exported MIDI files, rendering and editing them into a notation program and the orchestrator loading the exported files along with an Audio CD into his own notation program to fully type the instrumentation on software. If for some reason the orchestrator gets the original MIDI file, he will listen to the Audio file and see if things need to be smoothed out by a copyist first. Orchestrator Lolita Ritmanis: "When I'm orchestrating from digital files, first I listen to a DAT35 or MIDI file that the composer provides, and get a feeling of the music. Then it's my job to translate it to make it work for the orchestra." But working with pencil and paper is "my favourite way to work. I can't imagine giving it up. It's so much faster for me. I can see the score right under my hands. If you've done it that way I don't know if you can ever completely switch to computers." 36 When working with a computer, the single parts are then automatically generated by the program in the background which renders a copyist pretty unnecessary these days, unless the orchestrator prefers to write everything with pencil and paper. In that case, a copyist would type it into a software program.

Since all of this happens by mail, none of the involved people actually has to leave his home studio before the recording session, these days - which saves time again. When working that way, the composer can really produce a lot of music in a very short amount of time, since he is merely composing and instantly playing whereas the rest of his team takes the more time-consuming tasks and "cleans up" after him. This is especially great for composers who prefer to improvise to picture 34 data compressed copy of the movie with lower resolution to save processing power for the music 35 Digital Audio Tape, not in use anymore 36 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 332-333

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic as in the old silent films like e.g. Mark Snow who's making music for TV shows: "With the "XFiles" and this "Millennium" show I do, I just sit here and basically improvise with the picture.

These improvisations start to take shape, I start to add more instruments so it sounds less like an improvisation and more like a thought-out piece of music, but nothing is written down."37 Especially on TV shows, the MIDI approach with a team of composers is in common use as Richard Stone can tell: "We have about 2 weeks to write 20 minutes of music. I say "we" because I can't do this all myself; I supervise a team of composers. If everybody is healthy, each person can manage between two to four minutes per day. We all either work at home or in rented offices. [...] I have the advantage of being able to cast each segment according to each composer's strength. [...] The disadvantage is that I have to take the responsibility for every cue [...]. At the peak, when we had three to four different series going on, we had five or six composers working steadily, as well as orchestrators. [...]

We get timing notes from the music editor via e-mail. Most of us use the Cue software for timing notes. We also use Performer. I will take timing notes written in Cue, and create a tempo map, which is a specific tempo and a bar layout with meter changes, if necessary. I then export that as a MIDI file and bring it back up in Performer. Then I watch it in sync to the video with an audible click-track so I can hear the dialogue and the click while I watch the scene. As I watch it, the music starts to appear in my head and I'll write it out on a six- to eight-line sketch that is very specific as to instrumentation. I write out every note, every voicing; it is an elaborate sketch. Then I'll fax that sketch to the orchestrator who will write out each individual part on a full score. He sends that to the copyist, and then we have the recording session."38 Other composers also share their work process. Danny Elfman: "First I see the film and then I start improvising. I start with a feeling, and I do maybe a dozen improvisations on piano without looking at the picture. Then I start going through the footage and I pull up different scenes to see how the improvisations work."39 Composing without the picture, but based on emotions they provoked before is a common work style which is also shared by Shirley Walker.

William Ross: "That depends on the nature of the score. I relate best to paper. My set-up at home has a lot of different areas to it. My central core is the piano, a piece of paper, and a pencil. I like a period of time when I can sit and germinate ideas, and think about it in an unhurried fashion. [...]

Those ideas filter through in various ways. I could use a piano, or synthesizers. Auricle is also a great tool, whether it's click or free timing. It's a great way to get the streamers to film. I also have this Erato system, which is a computerized notation system."40 37 38 39 40

Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 351 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 354 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 280 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 340

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic David Newman, son of Alfred Newman: "For the past three or four years I've been sequencing. But I've done around 60 films, and about 40 of them I wrote directly with piano, and orchestrated at the same time. I never sketched because I was really sloppy. Sketching was really a hard thing for me to do because no one could ever read it.

What I do is start to compose and orchestrate into the Erato software program. Then I have to mock-up everything for the director. I use Logic Audio to sequence the stuff so people can hear it back. I've got several samplers and synthesizers, so I can get a really good sound here in my studio."41 However, there are also composers these days who use neither approach to get started, who are even against improvising to picture, like Elliot Goldenthal: "Before I approach anything, I have a very strong concept of what I want to pull off, whether it works out or not. That might include limiting the choice of pitches or a very clear choice of orchestration. So I don't go into something and just start improvising, I find that if I do that, I just sort of waste my time. I stay away from the piano, away from the computer, away from the pencil. I think about the scene and I say, How can I achieve the dramatic effect that is necessary for the scene and have it still sound fresh?"42 Richard Gibbs explains how his working approach changed over the years: "A couple of things have happened to radically change my scoring approach. Not in terms of the notes that are written, but how they are written. I always used to write with pencil and paper; that's how I was taught. I would sit at the piano, use a clickbook and a metronome, and work out everything that way. I did everything that way up until two years ago when I was working with writer/director Charlie Peters for the second time. He had a movie called "Music from another room", a small budget picture.

Charlie wanted to hear every piece of music in advance of the recording sessions. All I had to sequence with was a primitive Akai MPC-60 - it would take forever. Charlie would come over and listen to all the cues, but I was going crazy because after I sequenced it, I still had to sketch it out and give it to an orchestrator. So I was basically writing every cue twice. I finally bought a Mac G3 and hired an assistant to teach me the programs, including Digital Performer.

The next movie I did was "Dr. Dolittle". This was the first movie I score where I never held a pencil in my hand. I'd play every part into the computer, and I was nervous as a cat when I got up in front of the orchestra because I wasn't sure if what I had played into my synthesizer was going to come back out through the orchestra. It was a 95-piece orchestra, and it was the first FOX movie to be scored on their new scoring stage."43 41 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 320 42 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 293 43 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 289

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic As we can see, a disadvantage of sequencing can be that one has to do every cue twice, if there are no assistants available on a low budget production. Therefore, one has to carefully consider which method to choose. Danny Elfman agrees on that change: "When I first started, I was sequencing my ideas, playing them for directors, and then notating them - it was like double work! Even with MIDI take-down making my job a little easier, I still end up spending the first part of my day in organizational work; I'm working with my own performances, I'm working with samples. A lot of people don't realize that a lot of each score is actually me performing. All the percussion in almost all of my scores, all the synth work, and the percussion work is me. That's a lot of extra work because that part of it is neither getting transcribed, nor written down, nor replayed; it's going in the score exactly as I'm playing it. That means that I have to put in the time to tweak all the performances and get them to sound right. So I usually start writing late afternoon into evening, and I try to stop at around two in the morning. But my best hours are really six, seven at night until around two in the morning."44 Mark Mancina: "The quality of digital audio now has changed the way I write. Because I'm not sitting at a piano with a MIDI computer now trying to figure out the score. I'm now able to watch a scene and start to record live acoustic instruments and create from that end, which to me, for some reason, is a much more organic approach to music in general, and I enkoy it much more."45 There can be different reasons for choosing one method over the other. Elliot Goldenthal: "It depends on the cue. For example, if it's a type of thing where you know there's a theme, a big theme that's going to be used in over 50 types of scenes, then I prefer to be alone with a piano, and a pencil and paper, because I can generally have a feeling for the tone of how the theme is going to work throughout the movie. But with the advent of MIDI synthesis with video lock and all of that kind of thing, if I'm working on a scene that involves tremendous amount of synchonization - an action scene or a scene that you have to make a musical statement on the 21st frame - I find that the actual experience of working with the computer, the synthesizers, and the video all locked up is very, very similar to working with actors live in a studio. Very similar to my theatrical experience."46 This is just one of many examples for choosing one method over the other for certain parts. Some composers might also find the movie appropriate for a sequencer score when certain textures and sounds are required, others might be trained in the traditional way but cannot work that way due to time pressure. Others again aren't that trained in music notation and instrumentation, so they find it easier to sequence their ideas since they get a direct response to their ideas. Some also prefer 44 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 282 45 Fred Karlin & Rayburn Wright, "On the track", p. 102 46 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 293

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic working with MIDI and sequencers as they aren't well-trained pianists to play their ideas in front of the production team. With sample equipment, one doesn't need to possess any keyboard virtuosity to sound relatively brilliant. One can fix or delete wrong notes, try things out a lot quicker and if one cannot play the piece in the original tempo, one can just slow it down, record and then turn it up again later on - things that have troubled non-pianists during previous decades. Either way, it is not important which method is chosen as long as the composer understands the dramatic concept of the movie and what function the music shall have in it. Therefore, music psychology and instinct can be a lot more crucial than the way a composer works. Like Michael Kamen said: "Nobody goes to the movies to listen to the score. The score is simply assisting them in watching the movie."47 UNTRAINED COMPOSERS Another difference is the possibility for untrained musicians or composers having a popular music background to become filmcomposers writing orchestral scores. Nowadays, they can write popinfluenced orchestral music without any or minimal knowledge of the orchestra. One factor is of course having a good orchestrator or transcribers to assist him and prepare full orchestras from a MIDI sketch. Mark Isham coming from Jazz and music electronics remembers: "I had a lot of help.

I had two great, experienced music editors to guide me through the process. I did the whole thing on a Prophet 5 with a little hand-held sequencer and multitrack-tape. It took about four months to do 60 minutes of music. The idea of doing a film now with that kind of equipment sends shivers down my spine."48 Another one is the possibility of samples, synthesizers and music notation programs or scorewriters like Sibelius or Finale. When using samples, you can immediately hear if an idea works or not. In addition, you can of course only use the notes available so you will never exceed the range of an instrument, even if you don't know it - simply because you can't as the samples don't allow it.

Notation programs can meanwhile add harp pedals, proofread voice leadings and mark every note or trill that is difficult or impossible to play. Still, sequencing a score which has to be played by real musicians later on is very dangerous, too. When playing lines on a masterkeyboard, one very easily forgets that some instruments need to breathe or that lines which sound easy with samples are actually very difficult to play. Therefore, a talented musician with good ears, a great imagination and enough creative inspiration can produce a filmscore that is actually beyond the spectrum of his actual knowledge and skills as long as he gets help with such problems. Danny Elfman used the traditional approach at first, even though he was untrained. Still, he needed lots of help, as he remembers: "I wrote down everything, I didn't start using MIDI notation until '96. In a rock band like Oingo Boingo there's never any point to write music down [...] because that's not the way rock 47 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 308-314 48 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 303-304

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic bands work. [...] It became necessary for me to learn how to notate. The Mystic Knights did a lot of [...] ensemble stuff [...] and I began transcribing some of that stuff. That was my early ear training and from there I began to notate my own original compositions.

When I got offered "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" I knew I could create the music, but I also knew that I would need help logistically with the orchestra. I knew what sounds I wanted because I loved orchestral music. [...] So I called Steve Bartek, the guitar player from Oingo Boingo, and asked him, "Have you ever orchestrated?" And he said, "Umm, I took some classes." And so I said, "Good, you'll do." And we both learned by doing it, as did Tim Burton. It was interesting, "Pee Wee" was Tim's first film, he'd never been to film school. It was my first score, I'd never been to composing school. And Steve orchestrating, he'd only taken a couple of orchestration classes at UCLA. We all learned our craft by doing it."49 Obviously, if one chooses to go that way, one has to be fully dedicated.

This development led of course to a lot of criticism and accusations. It was often stated during the previous couple of years that sequencer compositions are lacking depth since many untrained composers don't even know what's going on in their music until the score is written down by someone else. They are limited to their ear functions which results in similar patterns and many technical mistakes since they loose the overview of their voices and instrumentation in a 100 track orchestra MIDI session. Critics claimed that the quality of filmmusic would suffer from that kind of development since these composer's lack of expertise wouldn't allow them to provide a second layer with their music to the picture in order to reveal unspoken things in their composition. They also state that the business is becoming fake since no one could tell anymore what was actually written by whom. Even nowadays, scores by Hans Zimmer and other established composers are withdrawn from consideration or nomination by the Academy Award Society when there is the slightest doubt or the smallest lack of clarity about the origin of the music. Danny Elfman who himself comes from a popular music background - he was getting started by participating in the musical theatrical group "Mystic Knights" and the rock band "Oingo Boingo" (of which Tim Burton was a fan) - explains the dilemma: "You get somebody like me that comes from nowhere, and I made the mistake of saying in interviews early on that I was self-taught. In music, there is no such thing as self-taught.

It's always been a weird thing about music, unlike any of the other film arts. Because a director can be self-taught, a writer can be self-taught, but a composer can't be, and that's just the way people think. [...] I don't know what makes music different than the other parts of the process. [...] But musicians and composers tend to be more hardcore skeptics. Now that I'm kind of like a veteran, sometimes I hear a new composer who comes out of pop music and I'm incredibly skeptical. I think 49 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 279

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic they must keep a closet full of ghostwriters and stuff. So, I see myself doing the same thing that other people did to me, and I totally understand it. If I see somebody doing an orchestral score, and they came from a rock band or pop music, I don't believe it. [...] In my case, there was always the smoking gun that everybody was searching for, hoping to prove I wasn't really writing everything.

And the thing that was most interesting was that the fingers never pointed at the one person who worked with me for all these years. [...] Of all the names that came up, no one ever mentioned the one person that has done the most, my orchestrator, Steve Bartek. And in the final analysis, I've written over 35 hours of film music, and only 15 minutes of that was ever written by others when I was in a pinch - and they were always credited. People accused me of not knowing how to write music, but I have a four-foot high stack of sketches that I've done over the years. [...] I realized that I was imitated so much. At that time I did think it was ironic that I was so trashed, but I was also so imitated."50 MOCK-UPS One of the huge advantages of today's great MIDI libraries is the fact that a composer can make pretty detailed mock-ups. They don't leave much room for misinterpretation anymore because the director and producer can listen to a fairly finished version of a cue. They don't need to hear through bad sounds anymore, imagining what it will sound like eventually. Cliff Eidelman ("Free Willy", "My Girl", "Star Trek") on mock-ups: "In many ways they're helpful. If you can give the director mock-ups as you go, and get quick at laying out certain sounds - not flesh out every little detail, just give some good examples - I think that takes away the risk of disagreements when you're on the scoring stage. Mock-ups allow you to finish most of the work at home, and give the director the chance to have some input before the recording session."51 Since these mock-ups can give a far better impression for untrained ears, the misunderstandings between composer and production team could be reduced within recent years (even though they still happen). Mark Isham ("Nell", "Blade", "Men of Honor", "Fame", "Save the last Dance", "Don't say a word") even goes further: "I try to mock-up the entire score if time permits. I hate going in front of the orchestra and having the director hear it for the first time. [...] In the old days they had to do it that way. God bless them for surviving. But really, the greatest boon the electronic fake orchestra has given us is the ability to check it out. It gives a sense of what you're doing before any money is spent on musicians and a studio, and you find yourself in that $10.000-an-hour "I've got to fix it right now" scenario." 52 Director Ridley Scott is even rarely seen on the scoring stage when Hans Zimmer's music is recorded. "He doesn't really turn up at any of my orchestra sessions, because he says he's heard it 50 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 282-283 51 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 275 52 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 304-305

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic all, and it can only get better."53 Therefore, artistic differences are noticed much earlier and a new composer can be brought in long before the recording session. That way, a lot of money can be spared and it makes the situation a lot less uncomfortable for both parties. Still there were some critical voices over time, especially during the time when mock-ups were demanded although the samples weren't as good yet. Mark Mancina ("Speed", "Bad Boys", "Twister", "Con Air") on the question if he also mock-ups the entire score: "It depends. I try not to because mock-ups really back you into a corner. But directors and producers are getting much more used to having things mocked up because they can hear what it sounds like before they hire the orchestra to play it. [...] When I play a mock-up, it's not really a mock-up. What you're really hearing is all of the acoustic instruments that I've recorded, and vocals done myself. The orchestra is the only thing mocked up [...]. Then we go in and record the orchestra and get rid of the synth stuff. [...] It becomes this hybrid. There is a certain randomness and air that is created when you play an acoustic instrument, and you cannot create it on a keyboard of any kind. I don't care how good your samples are."54 David Newman ("Anastasia", "Ice Age", "How to lose a guy in 10 days") discusses another problem: What do you do when a director cannot make the leap from a standard mock-up to envisioning how it will sound later on and therefor reject the music? Then, "You have to explain to them. You have to educate them a little bit. It's surprising, the music is so much cleaner than it used to be. It often translates just fine. I don't find so much that directors are shocked when they hear the orchestra. That's the way it used to be - you'd play it on the piano, and when they heard the orchestra it was a complete shock. Now I find that it translates actually pretty well."55 Mark Isham even indicates that he can get jobs easier when he's able to present his work in a great quality: "My basic compositional process [...] was that I would just come up with some ideas looking at the picture. The pictures themselves are always the inspiration. And that's why I think a lot of us pump so much money back into the samples sound world - so it's as good as it can be. I wasn't up to par in that regard a number of years back. The accepted level of quality in the demo world had gone quite a bit ahead of me, and I had not been paying attention. There have been a couple of composers in town who have spearheaded this. They use many, many, many samplers and many, many, many high-tech samples. I think it's actually a good thing. I had to rebudget things that year to get back in the game, but getting all that kind of gear has been real helpful for me. I see the difference it makes when it sounds so good that I get certain producers who come in and say, "Why are we spending money on an orchestra?" Yet I would never condone substituting samples for a real orchestra. But if the music is communicating to the extent where people are actually getting that little rush, getting that little tear in the eye even with a sample, then I know I've done it. I go to the 53 Fred Karlin, "Listening to movies", p. 51 54 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 316 55 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 322

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic recording session and just have a great time because I'm not worrying whether or not I got the theme right."56 Anyway, whatever a composer might prefer, MIDI mock-ups have become mandatory and with a few exceptions, directors and producers won't allow the composer to just play the theme on the piano. Due to the great demand for such mock-ups - some of them even being used in the final version of the film - every modern composer has one or more assistants whose only job it is to work with different libraries, creating the best mock-ups they can with huge templates, many interconnected computers, effect devices and lots of samples. "In this studio, we have tons of samples and many, many samplers and lots of versions that are constantly being updated and changed and modified." (James Newton Howard)57 Some composers like Hans Zimmer even record their own sample libraries. This has also become extremely important with the popularity of hybrid scores. As explained earlier, creating a good sounding sequencer score requires a lot of expertise, layering different sounds above each other and therefore creating a session which might include 100 tracks although only 15-20 different instruments or instrument groups are used in the score. If the library doesn't provide a function with which different articulations can be loaded into one track, the mock-up expert has to load at least one track for every single articulation per instrument. Another working technique is that the composer himself does the mock-up, then send s the MIDI files to his assistants and they will just polish the sound, filtering, quantize, creating all the doublings and replacing some of his samples with better ones. Then the mock-ups are prepared for the cues and mixed with the live-recordings. According to many filmcomposers, much to their dismay, it even happens from time to time that the mock-up is falsely put into the movie instead of the hybrid or the live version - simply because the music editor couldn't distinguish between the versions anymore and didn't notice while checking that there's still a MIDI version in the film. This says a lot about today's sample quality, the required mock-up demo quality in the business and the expertise of the mock-up specialists who create and mix them.

The digital age that led to a huge modification of cinemas worldwide during the 1990s has enormous advantages to film and filmmusic. Copies of nearly anything can be made without an audible or visible loss of quality (by pure definition there is the tiniest friction of quality loss).

Furthermore, it has made the workflow of any composer using software quicker and more precise.

But there's also a downside of course. Director's are more tempted to change the locked picture again since it is only a matter of a few seconds to do so. Composers keep complaining about directors constantly changing their minds, simply because they can. They take out a few seconds or 56 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 304 57 Fred Karlin & Rayburn Wright, "On the track", p. 379

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic move the climax of a scene around within a few moments which then results in hours of adjusting for the composer. Lolita Ritmanis on that subject: "With digital editing for picture, they can make changes so close up to the last minute, you have to be ready for that, and be able to make changes at the recording session. It's frustrating though, because many of us try to do things the right way, the proper way, sketch nicely, figure out accurate timings on either Auricle or Performer, and make things right. [...] It can be frustrating when people make changes and your score gets all marked up.

A cue gets completely changed around from what you originally thought it would be because the picture has been altered at the last minute."58 Therefore, composers, sound engineers and music editors of this time have to be a lot more flexible and versed in using their software programs, since they might be asked to quickly make bigger changes instantly - something that would have been considered impossible 30 years ago when these kinds of changes had to be done over night for the next recording session - even though that kind of behaviour from any director is unprofessional. It does happen, though as the following anecdote shows: Orchestra contractor Sandy De Crescent once got a call from Hans Zimmer months after they had already recorded six or seven endings for a certain film, telling him that they had to redo it again since the ending had been changed another time. Zimmer: "That sort of thing goes on a lot - more than people realize. We ended up with ending number 26. We previewed 19 endings. And we got notes back saying 'Well, we preferred the ending last week.' I don't think that is the right way to go."59 But without having the score in the computer, in whatever form, one cannot make the quick changes that the digital age demands these days Especially when quick changes need to be tried out, it is inalienable to have a sequenced version of every cue.

SIDENOTE: Note that in film business, technical development has always been introduced reluctantly. This is partly because of the huge amount of money that is spent on a feature film. One rather sticks to what the audience knows and what has been established as successful over decades before trying something new and risk losing millions of dollars. The music development went a lot faster and was adapted by musicians much quicker but they were always drawn back by the studios who didn't want to introduce digital surround sound and things like that. In 1977, George Lucas already wanted the Star Wars sound and music recorded in Dolby Stereo, an innovation in the mid1970s, but it was rejected by the studios - as was later Dolby Surround. In his 2002 Star Wars movie, George Lucas even had to argue WHY he was shooting the movie digitally, responding: "In my opinion, we should have started shooting digitally 20 years ago. So the question is rather 'Why not?'."60 Furthermore, cinemas worldwide were reluctant to that development as well as they were 58 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 333 59 Fred Karlin, "Listening to Movies", p. 63 60 DVD "Star Wars - Attack of the Clones", 2002, Lucasfilm Ltd. & 20th Century FOX

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic facing enormous costs to get their theatres up-to-date. Nevertheless, it was usually Steven Spielberg and George Lucas who insisted on change. They were only releasing their blockbuster movies to selected cinemas which met the requirements they had set. This brave notion led to a lot quicker development and renovation but note, that the digital age had begun much earlier than it was introduced in film and that music was held back together with that, too.

MUSIC EDITOR One other job which enormously changed was the job of the music editor. With the digital age of both, film and music, the music editor wasn't rendered unnecessary but his work was made easier and also shifted to other areas since he was now saving lots of time. Nowadays, he still creates the temp tracks but of course the editing process is a lot easier with modern squencers. He can do his job a lot faster, more precisely and he can easily access a huge pool of music with today's networks.

He doesn't need to deal with physical equipment like reels, magnetic tape and optical soundtracks anymore. The SMPTE code is still in use but it is digitalized as well.

When working with a composer who prefers to sequence his scores, the music editor doesn't need to make precise timing notes anymore since the composer will simply load the digitalized scene into his software program and play along. The composer can then create markers and hitpoints himself and see the picture all the time, knowing exactly when a cue starts and ends. That renders a detailed description of every cue unnecessary which made the master cue sheet the most common list of the music editor these days.

Eric Reasoner (music editor) compares: "There are a couple different modes of working. Some composers play stuff into a keyboard and sequencer while locked to picture. That's one mode of working, and that MIDI file then has to be diciphered. A click has to be laid up against what was played if the composer wasn't listening to a click, which happens a lot of times. They just play to picture, and then you have to figure out a click track so that they hit particular musical events where they want to on the picture. The other way is where the composer takes the timing notes that you've provided for them and utilizes that information. They do the math, they figure out how many bars, beats and clicks. They figure out tempos, and lay out their score based upon that information. Then I see the score later and basically line it up with the picture. "Lining it up" means I create the click track and the streamers and punches after the score is written, according to what timings I see above what measures, and what instructions are given. And that's relatively simple and fast, because they've taken care of it."61 The first example of working therefore makes the music editor's life a lot harder. Composers who don't sequence with a certain tempo reference know the picture very well - the can see it, anticipate 61 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 162-163

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic the hits and get a feeling of how fast or slow to play to make it to the visible marker they have set before in their program. And even if they don't precisely hit the intended point, they can still shift the MIDI notes or adjust the tempo to make it fit since - unlike audio - the MIDI files will just move with the timeline. Therefore, they can play very freely, not losing time thinking about tempo and clicks but as we can see, all this work the composer skipped then falls into the music editor's area.

Michael Kamen on that topic: "I have never depended on any of those devices like Auricle or whatever. They are systems that enable you to look at a piece of film and compute what the best click track would be. But I really hate math so much that I don't get myself involved. For years, I did try to get click tracks right, but inevitably I'd get them wrong, and I just punched my way out of that paper bad. I do have an instinct for it, and I have to trust that instinct. There are always ways to get it perfect, to refine it, and to make sure that that big down-beat hits the explosion [...]. And certainly there are also music editors who can fix anything that needs fixing. But my job is to make music, and not equations."62 So it's a lot more sophisticated for a filmcomposer to set the markers first and then figure out tempi and bars by shifting everything around until a heavy part of the bar lies underneath every marker because otherwise - as Kamen said - the music editor needs to fix it.

Creating click tracks has become very different during the digital age. Punches, streamers and clicks can now easily be generated with computer software. Clicks are sometimes made by the composers themselves when the sequence, as descibed above. Otherwise, this work - along with punches and streamers - is still done by the music editor or the assistant. Funny enough, punches and streamers still look the same even though they are computer generated. The punch is still a flash of light and the streamer a vertical line moving across the screen. This tradition was rendered to the digital system because it has become a common practice over the years so everybody was simply used to it. Furthermore, this way it's easier for the conductor as well as the orchestra to see a flash of light from the corners of their eyes without paying too much attention to it while reading the score.

The new way of creating click tracks in BPM or FPB also rendered mathematics unnecessary. The composer or orchestrator is not forced anymore to calculated tempo numbers for the music editor's click track, such as 24-0 - which means that the music editor needed to punch a hole into the optical soundrack every 24th frame to get the click in the right tempo. Unlike in the early days, every tempo is possible with digital processing. Variable clicktracks are easier to make and therefore in common use these days, contrary to 35 years ago when it was avoided due to the huge amount of effort it took to create them. The same goes for warning clicks underneath fermatas and ritardandi.

Composer Cliff Eidelman about creating click tracks himself: "I use Auricle to lay out the tempos as 62 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 310

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic I compose to picture. First, I conduct through it a few times with the video, feel the scene, and make sure that all the things that I want to hit are there. Then I create a click that is close to the slight variations of tempo that go with free conducting. If you were to look at my tempo map for a twominute cue, you might see as many as 20 slight tempo changes. I am very particular about it, about those tempos and about the accelerations and the decelerations and all of that. The click is pushed slightly here, laid back slightly there. In fact, I think it's detrimental to use a click for music that is more expressive or more lyrical. Especially when the musicians have the clicks in their ears while they're recording, there's a feeling of this perfect click going on. I think that that detracts from the emotion of the music and what the music really wants to do. So I try to conduct with streamers for that kind of music. I know with "Triumph of the Spirit", it was all by feel. If I was a little bit early to one streamer, I just knew I had to just slow down slightly so that three streamers later I'd be right on."63 Richard Stone agrees: "I often use a variable click" to keep "the music musical, and still hitting the things that need to be hit without being choppy."64 The first above mentioned style of working which has become very common these days also requires a lot more assistants as described before. The composer definitely needs one or more MIDI transcribers who will notate the sketch of his sequenced ideas for the orchestrator. These transcribers also need to have very well-trained ears as they are sometimes even asked to write down the sheet music of a live recording note for note. These sketches are then passed on to the orchestrator whose job hasn't profoundly changed over the years. His job was only made easier by computer software like Sibelius or Finale into which he can type in the score. These programs already include transpositions, ranges, proofreading tools and much more which doesn't only make typing scores quicker but also more correct. Needless to mention that any number of copies can be derived within seconds from this digital file which is why copyists aren't needed anymore (but proofreaders are still indispensable). On top of that, it makes typing scores also more available to less educated musicians as described earlier.

RECORDING SESSION The order of events during the recording session mostly stayed the same with some significant changes for the sound engineers. Improved microphones and nearly unlimited multitrack-recording allows a very differentiated recording of instruments. Furthermore, the composer has to have enough insight today to make requests about recording techniques and microphone positioning. The reason for that is the current fashion of hybrid scores. The sequenced MIDI music must blend in 63 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 274 64 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 355

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic with the live recordings of the score in the final mix. So the composer needs to give input on what libraries he used and how these were recorded in order to have the live music recorded the same or in a similar way. When recording a smaller ensemble in the home studio of the composer, he might even choose to do it completely on his own. Studio techniques is one of the big new fields on which a filmcomposer has to be well schooled in. Little did they have to know a few decades ago.

During the recording session, one still tries to get the best recordings of course. Nonetheless, occasionally a not completely perfect track is taken as well when the production team runs out of time. This is also a luxury of MIDI and the digitalized world. Due to the differentiated multitrack recordings, the possibility to replace something with a good MIDI sound and the advanced editing / mixing tools, the sound engineers have a much easier job in fixing something in the mix later. The process of mixing has speeded up over the past years as well, by the way. It is very common for the recording engineer to already create a rough mix while recording. The possibility of automated mixes in which mixing consoles and sequencers can remember fader levels, equalizers, routing etc. led to an improved workflow for the mixing engineer. He can set levels during the recording session already, being sure that everything will sound exactly the same when he turns on his mixing boards and the sequencer later on. That way, these basic steps don't go off his real mixing time for the fine tuning.

Nowadays,

a

good

film-score

mixing engineer can mix between 5 to 10 minutes of music per day - with 80 to 100 tracks or more having been recorded! It can also fall into his scope of duties to mix the MIDI score and then put it together to a hybrid production - which is an art for itself considering that reverb, instrument positions and all the other parameters have to correspond with each other as if they were a whole from the very beginning. Still, many composers are very skilled on the field of mixing today, creating their own sound, so they either attend the mixing session to give input on what they want or they even prefer doing most of it themselves.

In the old days, punches and streamers were so hard to create, that one couldn't make bigger changes during the recording session or shortly before them. These cue had to be skipped that day, reworked over night and recorded during another session. Nowadays, this is all no problem anymore. Furthermore, click tracks are not only created for the conductor anymore. Very often, the musicians or at least crucial parts of the rhythm section who give the beat are equipped with 71

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic headphones. Therefore, the players must all be accustomed to playing to a click, listening to themselves via headphones.

Another technique that many composers use these days is to create a very good sequenced version of their score and then only invite certain instrumentalists. For example: If someone has written a string arrangement with a good library in a low budget production, he would then get a violinist, a violist and a cellist to his studio and let them all play on top of the MIDI version - to fill it up with a live spirit. Sometimes, it is also used when an instrument would interfere too much with other recordings on the scoring stage. On top of that, it might be that certain lines stay electronic for the simple reason that they are at the edge of the instrument and wouldn't sound as good or relaxed when played live. With modern technique, musicians in a studio can just play above the MIDI version countless times without having other instruments on the recording. This way, the composer can get very good results without spending money on a whole string orchestra. The same can be done with solo instruments. It is very interesting how an audience will accept a sequenced score when the soloist is real. They will simply 'assume' that the background is real, too. Anyway, solo instruments of any kind are very traitorous in the virtual world. They are hard to fake with samples.

Since the dubbing stage went digital a while ago as well, the music editor doesn't need to cut music reels together anymore. He simply passes on the digital music files with the correct SMPTE code for synchronization. Very often, the composer does this job himself in today's business. Johannes Becher: "The digital picture has entirely replaced tape based recording and playback techniques within the production process. This has made the life of the filmcomposers, who need to work synchronously to the picture in most cases, a lot easier. The synchronization of different reels of tape was formerly often a big challenge." Nowadays, the composer often also attends the dubbing session since he now knows enough about technology to give input and to get a say in some decisions - basically to overcome the century long complaint about the music being turned down too much in volume, taking away some of its effectiveness. They are usually welcomed at the dubbing session which wasn't always the case since the importance of film music has just been realized during the past decades. Dimitri Tiomkin remembers the situation between 1960 and 1980: "Do you know that 95 percent of composers were not permitted in the dubbing room? Look what they've done to me. I'm known as the loudest composer in America ... me, who loves pianissimo!"65 He was actually one of the few composers who complained about his music being dubbed too loud.

In most cases it was the other way around, since back then it was felt that dialogue should be the primary sound in film. Therefore, the music was dubbed very often to almost no audible sign at all.

65 Fred Karlin, "Listening to Movies", p. 59

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic With composers being present at the dubbing session these days, this doesn't happen too much any more.

Mixing changed as well of course but that would go too far since the possibilties practically got unlimited. It should just be noticed that nowadays, only a soundtrack mix and a surround mix for the cinema or DVD are made. Stereo mixes aren't done anymore with normal budget productions.

The surround mix is simply rendered into a stereo mix. Often, the rough mix is done by the composer himself, as he should have the expertise to do it - plus, he knows his music best and can therefore give the sound engineer a better idea of what he wants.

MUSIC SUPERVISOR The music supervisor has existed before but his job has changed many times over the past couple of years. His main job nowadays is to oversee the process of placing songs in a film, source music as well as pieces from the soundtrack album. He also helps picking these songs, getting clearance and the sync rights for them as well as the permission of the copyright owner. The music supervisor also often works with the music editor to find appropriate temp music. On that basis, he is often the one to recommend a film composer. It has to be mentioned that there are two kinds of music supervisors. There's one that simply organizes the choosing and clearance of these songs and another who is actually musically trained and can lead a recording session. The latter is sometimes asked to produce records of songs if the composer doesn't do that himself or someone else is hired if we are dealing with the first kind of music supervisor. Another job - or maybe the most important job - of the music supervisor is to create and monitor budgets, lead business negotiations and oversee the whole production process to make sure every day stays in the budget. Overseeing music performed on camera, making sure that playback and lip sync are correct also fall into his area of tasks. In general, one could say that the music supervisor makes sure that everything is going smoothely.

DECREASING PRIZES Another factor that should be mentioned which led to this new job profile - a factor which led to this whole change - is the decreasing amount of money one has to pay to become a film composer.

This led to "non-professionals", synthesizers and MIDI in filmmusic in the first place - it became available for everyone. Without the equipmen becoming cheaper or at least affordable, we probably wouldn't have seen a similar development.

Vincent Beijer: "That's always my favourite statement: Democracy of technology. In the early days 73

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic you had to spend a lot of money to be a filmcomposer. You had to buy all these expensive tools and now - if you have a MacBook, you have Garage Band already, so you can start scoring for film or a commercial pretty quickly. I think, that's how it changed the job of the filmcomposer. You don't necessarily have to write out scores or have a ghostwriter to write down your music. You can just do it, because the sounds are so great. You can simulate an orchestra and most of the times, there also is no budget to hire a real orchestra. So that's how it changed, maybe it's made more easy. It's more available to people than it was 15 years ago but it's the same development for songwriters or bands or photographers or studio editors."

Shirley Walker (orchestrator, synthesist and conductor) agrees on how it used to be: "You had to be able to afford to be a film composer. I think a lot of people came here to L.A. and they couldn't support the pursuit of their profession. And that's a hard thing to do. So if you had to make money being a film composer, it was going to be hard for you to get your career started because unless you were coming in at the very top, the beginning level isn't conducive to you supporting yourself."66 Alan Silvestri ("Forrest Gump", "Back to the Future", "The Polar Express", "Tomb Raider") has a similar anecdote: "I went to see the show, called "Blue Thunder", and walked out of the theatre realizing that I didn't even have a way to go about making a spec piece of music. I had a 2-track tape recorder. How could I even do this without spending a bunch of money? Money I didn't have.

So the revelation was, if I'm going to try to make a go of this music thing, I need to find a way to show what I can do. At this point in the mid-'80s, things were just starting to happen in the electronic music world."67 Of course, nowadays, it's still difficult to get into the business since most of it is based on relationships, the right connections and taste. At the beginning, one still has to earn money with a day job because filmmusic cannot finance your life and it takes quite a while to establish yourself.

But nowadays, it has become easier as well. Shirley Walker is also referring to financing the recordings of demo tapes. So back then, you had to have a lot of money to rent a recording studio or buy equipment yourself, rent musicians or buy a synthesizer to produce demo tapes to get a job.

Nowadays, everybody can have an inexpensive home studio with decent samples. Everybody can make recordings, edit them and burn them on a CD. Therefore, creating a portfolio with good sounding results isn't nearly as financially unreachable as it used to be.

Either way, electronicas have revolutionized film music and become indispensable in its production process, as Shirley Walker (orchestrator, conductor and synthesist) explains: "If you want to work in 66 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 358-363 67 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 344

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic the business today, you have to have some technology. There's no way around it unless you're way at the top of things and you just hire it. I enjoy it now because I finally have gotten good enough with the sequencers and the recording technology to where I can create electronic music that has the same kind of emotional whole that I know how to get with a live orchestra. ."68 Sources of Chapters 3.1 - 3.5 69

68 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 359-360 69 Sources: "Lexikon Musikelektronik" by Bernd Enders "Neue Allgemeine Musiklehre" by Christoph Hempel "dtv-Atlas: Musik" by Ulrich Michels "Music Composition for Dummies" by Scott Jarrett & Holly Day "Complete Guitde to Film Scoring" by Richard David "Filmmusic - a neglected art" by Roy Prendergast "Listening to Movies" by Fred Karlin "On the track" by Fred Karlin & Rayburn Wright "Knowing the Score" by David Morgan "The Art of Writing Music" by John Cacavas "MGG - Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart" by Ludwig Finscher "The New Grove Dictionary of Music" by Stanley Sadie www.wikipedia.de www.wikipedia.org www.philharmonia.co.uk/thesoundexchange/make_music/samples/sample_story/ www.fys-online.de/wissen/allg/filmmusik.htm www.e-filmmusik.de/artikel1.htm www.filmmusicjobguidebook.com/ www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/1999/14_Jul---Is_Todays_Film_Music_Still_Interesting.asp www.filmmusicmag.com www.berklee.edu/careers/film_scoring.html www.mediamusiccreation.com/wiki/filmmusik-produktionstypen.html www.songwriting-guide.com/ www.americancomposers.org/hollywood_chihara_article.htm www.negativ-film.de/2011/05/eine-kleine-geschichte-der-filmmusik.html www.skillset.org/film/jobs/post_production_sound/article_4769_1.asp www.heise.de/tp/artikel/25/25816/1.html www.ehow.com/about_6542890_job-description-film-music-editor.html www.media-match.com/usa/jobtypes/music-editor-jobs-402743.php www.musicianwages.com/musician-profile/music-editor-producer-and-composer-ethan-stoller/ www.hollywood-music.at/inhalte_dw.html http://gettingthescore.com/?p=7 http://themen.t-online.de/news/filmmusik http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/LessonPage:Film_scoring:Introduction http://music-technology.wikia.com/wiki/Music_Technology_for_Composers_Wiki All documentaries listed in the references

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Future Prospects 4. Future Prospects This chapter is based on three interviews I've initialized with Johannes Becher (marketing & PR department at Vienna Symphonic Instruments, AT), Vincent Beijer (founder of and songwriter at ProjectSAM, NL) and Nicki Marinic (sound designer at Native Instruments, DE).

4.1 The Further Development Of Sound Libraries There are different views on how libraries will be developped further among my interview partners but they all agree that controllers are most likely to change first. The way sounds are controlled by hardware and software seem to be behind in development compared to the quality of the libraries. A user has to go through too many steps, make too many mouse clicks before producing a good sound.

Vincent Beijer stated the following belief on the question if ProjectSAM is developping a plug-in to simulate a real orchestral hall with frequencies of all instruments interfering with each other, creating the typical light and floating sound of a live orchestra: "If it influences our sound, yes, we will. But for now, we don't really have a problem with it. I think, for now it's working fine but I know, they've been doing that, for example, with "Nord Lead Piano". They started recording the string resonances which gives a more natural sound for the piano. But for orchestra ... . [...] Well, is it doable? I mean, if you change one file in the setup you would already have another frequency, so it would get very complicated, I think." One would definitely also face the problems of phasing.

He also adds another perspective: "When you have an assignment you want it to sound as good as possible. For games and movies: If it sounds good, then it's good. That's the main thing. It doesn't always need to sound realistic as long as the sound is good. Many times, there's a synth bass added to the double bass because it needs to sound fat. It depends on the assignment but in the movie and games industry this usually is the main purpose."

VSL marketing and PR staff member Johannes Becher explains their further solution: "Changing recording rechniques is an approach, but these techniques aren't "new" themselves. It makes a huge difference in handling, however, if I have e.g. a sample of a brass ensemble as a stereo-file or as a discrete mono signal of every single musicians available. With a corresponding and appropriate user-interface as in Vienna Instruments PRO, one can then have access to every individual virtual player and control his volume, stereo-positioning, but also timing and intonation. Especially individual timing and intonation unsteadiness while playing together brings a lot more vitality and 76

Future Prospects liveliness into the interaction what customary, converntional libraries are lacking in many cases."

NI Sound Designer Nick Marinic explains further: "The technical aspect of the sound creation, i.e. whether a sound is synthesized, sampled, modelled or a combination thereof, should not be the main focus (at least not for the user) - the way how the musician can control the sound indeed is much more interesting. A musician wants to express his or her ideas directly, meaning a software instrument should not impose additional obstacles. The combination of hardware and software therefore will play an important role in the future."

Vincent Beijer agrees: "That's what you see in the market: a lot of new controllers come out. A lot of hardware companies look into that, too. I think, it will be a focus on for example stuff like the ABLETON controller and MASCHINE. There's definitely a shift towards making music needs to be more fun and easily accessable. So from that point of view, I think you can expect new techniques."

Becher on controllers: "Considering hardware controllers, a sample producer also has to act in accordance to what the market provides and what users ask for respectively. The vast majority comes from the piano or keyboard and our library has been oriented towards that fact in an optimal way. Of course wind controllers can be used as well, but especially when it comes down to the configuration of keyswitches, a masterkeyboard with 88 keys provides more extensive possibilities in most cases. Very often, we see the use of breath controllers in combination with keyboards to e.g. simultaneously create dynamic changes in volume while shaping the sound like a wind player; of course, this also works with string sounds. Ultimately, it is also a question of personal taste, one prefers using pedals, another again rather uses slide controls. For percussive sounds, diverse triggersystem have been established. These, however, also require adequate rhythmic and drumtechnical skills of the user and are therefore mainly used by drummers and percussionists.

Vincent Beijer also points out that controllers need to be more intuitive and fun for everyone so he doesn't see the future in breath conrollers or guitar controllers since they aren't handy for everybody.

There would have to be a unversal solution in the future. "You also have guitar MIDI controllers.

They've been around for quite a while, they've gotten cheaper, but I don't think that's a big selling success. But maybe something else very handy comes out, for example the iPad. The iPad is a good example of a new way for controlling which gains ground very rapidly. It's fun to control sounds, people like the iPad, they buy a three dollar app and they can make sounds with the iPad. It makes them look good, like they can actually create something. So I think that's a good example for new 77

Future Prospects techniques of making music and also using samples." By this statement he unconsciously also mentions the current growth of non-professionals making music at their home computer and the industry adjusting to that development, making everything easier accessable for everyone.

Johannes Becher: "A problem that has been mentioned already is that nowadays, sample libraries often sound too "perfect" and therefore unnatural because even a professional musician would never play that perfect. Making live-music lives from slight timing and intonation variations; musicians attune to a certain audible situation, e.g. a key, and react more or less spontaneously to particular situations during the piece. Here, we have already made a step towards the right direction through the implementation of "Human Performance Control" or "Auto Humanization" in Vienna Instruments PRO which - at the right dosage - breathes more live into the samples."

"Another problem is the unwanted multiplying effect of voices which can often only be solved by the user with a lot of effort (through loading of different sized instrument groups and the manual division on separate tracks). You are using for example a sample from an ensemble of 4 trumpets: If you play unisono, de facto 4 trumpets are sounding. But once you play divisi Ă 2, 8 trumpets will be audible - and with a chord made up out of 4 voices, you immediately hear 16 voices! That's an unwanted and unnatural enlargement of the ensemle and the resonating sound characteristics. This effect becomes especially uncomfortable when samples were additionally recorded with a high percentage of room level or much reverb which - fortunately - is not the case with the Vienna Symphonic Library. We could already solve this problem pretty well within the Vienna Dimension Brass and the new Vienna Instruments PRO in which - for the first time ever - all instruments had individual microphone set-ups but they were still also recorded simultaneously, which results in a very homogenous acoustic impression. With the "Auto-Divisi" function in Vienna Instruments PRO, one can completely control the voice-assignments via keyswitches in real-time, meaning the size of the ensemble consisting of 4 players stays independent from voice leading. The Vienna Symphonic Library will surely cause several surprises and innovations on that field in the future."

During our phone call, Mr. Becher also let slip that VSL is contemplating about the invention and introduction of a plug-in that can simulate the above mentioned room and air resonances between the instruments on a scoring stage to make it sound more real and to get the swiftness of an orchestra into libraries as well.

There have also been rumors about modeling virtual orchestras - taking only the attack of a sample to get the right defining formants and then get the rest of the sound through synthesis. Especially

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic breath controllers70 have been popular on this area. Vincent Beijer on the question if this might be the future: "Breath controllers go back to the eighties. I know there some - not sample libraries - the DSP libraries, modelled libraries like the WIVI and you can controll it with your breath controller. I don't really see that happening with samples because samples are static. So it's much more easy when you do that with synthesized sounds based on DSP. Otherwise we would have it already because the breath control - like I said - has been around for quite a while. But in the future, [...] if you could model an orchestra. You would need a very powerful computer, a lot of processing power to really make it realistic. But maybe in 10 or 20 years that's possible."

4.2 Will We Need Any Real Musicians At All In The Future?

All interview partners agreed that musicians will not be replaced by MIDI libraries in the near future. Vincent Beijer: "I don't think we will get to that point within the next (...) ten years. It will take a long time before libraries can replace real musicians. So I don't think there's a danger for the real musicians, to be honest. Because there's always a big difference. You're limited with the amount of articulations you can use within a sample library. You know, you can edit a lot but you also have to cover up a lot. You can't compose freely when using a sample library. So that's the biggest limitation."

Another aspect is added by Johannes Becher from Vienna Symphonic Instruments: "To this, one has to fundamentally make a note of how the live experience of a big resonating ensemble like e.g. an orchestra or a Big Band can never be compared to a recording, irrespective of the question if we are dealing with a recording of "real" musicians or samples. Especially in concert-life, samples won't be able to replace the living musician as probably no one would go to a concert to listen to a computer."

During my interview with Vincent Beijer, I explained the following experiment to him I had once made out of interest: I recorded a piece with my MIDI keyboard and edited it in my sequencer with the East West QL Pianos (Steinway D). Afterwards, I went to the ArtEZ Conservatory's concert hall and recorded the very same piece on the Steinway D grand piano there. Later on, when everything was mixed properly, I tested piano students as well as piano professors if they could figure out the real piano. In fact, the results showed that the majority even liked the sound and the diversity of the MIDI piano better even though both were recorded the same way with equal microphones. But of 70 or Wind Sensor: flute- or clarinet-like controller which sends information on the flow of air and the movement of the keys to the sequencer which translates it into musical data

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The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic course, with my MIDI sounds, I can correct a lot afterwards and put in nuances I wasn't able to play live. Therefore, I wouldn't need a pianist, a studio and a grand piano anymore. Anyway, the piano sounds seem to be advanced enough to even fool professionals. Vincent Beijer on that experiment: "Well, I don't think that's very relevant. You must go back to the situation where you are in a small studio, you're working and you need a piano sound. Then you'd go for the best sounding piano you have and if it's the "Quantum Leap Piano", then you take that piano - because you don't have a real piano with you all miced out, with different pre-amps and good mics etc. And even if you do, it's more complicated. When you're working, eenvoud en gemak dient de mens [simplicity and convenience serves mankind]. That's always the most important thing. [On the other hand] Playing the piano is a totally different experience. But you have to ask yourself, do you have the budget to rent a pianist? Would you otherwise rent a pianist [if you didn't have the QL Pianos]? Would you otherwise rent a studio with a grand piano in it? And [would you] make your recordings there? No, you would go for a synthesized piano. I mean, pianos have been back in the KORG M1 in '86.

There is a piano in there. You would probably use that. Or you would go back to your old aRts synthesizer [analog realtime synthesis] and try to make it sound like a piano. So it always depends on the situation. We are pretty aware of this because we also get questions like "Hey, are you taking away work from orchestras?" Then we always say "No, most of the times not because a guy working on a commercial doesn't have the time to go to a studio and rent a full orchestra. He doesn't have the time and he doesn't have the budget. It's just the quality of sound that gets better but most of the time it's not even an option to rent an orchestra or to rent a pianist [...]. There's also a really good modelled piano out there, it's called "Sampletank". It's only 20MB and you can download the demo. It's fully modelled. But does that lead to less piano sales? I don't see that as a problem."

So to sum up, when there is no budget and/or time to make live recordings, one will always take the best artificial sounds available. The overall sound improves but it doesn't take away jobs from musicians. If there's a budget for a whole orchestra one will go for that, also for prestige reasons.

Johannes Becher from Vienna Instruments goes even further. He states that their library is actually pretty close to real musicians already. "Concerning recordings, we have however reached the point already at which even professionals often cannot distinguish between recordings with musicians and those with samples. To this, there had already been an experiment in the year 2007 in which four short excerpts from different recordings of a Beethoven symphony were played to two music experts (both professors of renowned American music universities). Three of these recordings contained real orchestras, the fourth had been exclusively produced with samples of the Vienna Symphonic Library. In their first tries, both experts falsely classified one of the three real orchestra recordings as the sample-version - and vice versa determined the sample-version as "real". A more 80

The Influence Of MIDI On Filmmusic recent impressive example is the production of the complete "Sacre du Printemps" by Jay Bacal, exclusively using our library. However, virtuosic solo works are difficult to realize. But one has to take into consideration that in the case of a violin, 400 years of instrument construction in its entire masterly expertise and perfection stand in contrast to the still quite young art of sampling that presumably has had 30 years of development so far.

However, the goal of the Vienna Symphonic Library was never to replace the professional musician, but rather to simply provide composers, arrangers and producers the best possible tool to realize their ideas as quick and authentic as possible."

Nick Marinic from Native Instruments adds: "Replacing real musicians was never our goal and it will never be. As an instruments manufacturer, we don't have the intention of replacing musicians simply because the instruments are created for musicians and used by them, so why replace them?

Software instruments should not be seen as competitors to acoustic instruments; just like their acoustic counterparts, a software instrument must have its own character, regardless if it's a sampled grand piano in KONTAKT or a synthesizer ensemble in REAKTOR. In this case, the software instrument will broaden the musician's possibilities rather than replacing anything."

Beijer agrees: "It's a good development. It empowers yourself to do something."

5. Conclusion: MIDI – A Positive And Negative Influence As with every invention, there are positive and negative sides to it. As we have seen in this work, that development has fundamentally changed a filmmusic composers job.

Johannes Becher on that topic: "Surely, a positive effect is the fact that nowadays everybody - even with little financial means - has the possibility to produce high-quality music. In a way, there has been a process of democratization: The idea, the creativity counts and not the financial means. But today's versatile possibilities can also be a handicap and cause the proverbial "vor lauter Bäumen den Wald nicht mehr sehen“. Due to the former limitations of techniques, one was often virtually forced to find nonorthodox, creative solutions which occasionally initiated a whole new "sound" one only has to think of the "gated reverb" by Phil Collins which is nowadays provided as a preset in every decent effect device. The endless and unlimited possibilities can be intimidating, especially to beginners, and even repress their creativity. Plus, particularly on the field of filmmusic, it is to be judged negatively when music budgets are cut with the argument of sample libraries (only to use

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Conclusion that budget in other areas)."

The overload of information is surely a general problem of our society but it also reflects the situation of composer. To give an example: When I first opened a session in Apple's Logic Pro I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of samples, plug-ins, screens and possibilities I had. It was such a huge amount of information, even though I had worked with Pro Tools before, that I felt totally intimidated by the sheer lack of clarity about where to begin at all.

The cutting of budgets in smaller productions that Becher mentions is not only a problem for musicians who are not hired. Surely, mock-ups can have a great sound, but when a composer knows, he only has his library to create the sound, he is also very limited to what samples he has. It won't be possible to write something, e.g. a slur, of which he doesn't own a sample. When limited to samples, a composer cannot compose freely which restrains his creativity.

One problem are of course still the samples themselves in general. There are definitely libraries like the "Vienna Symphonic Library" that give a composer the opportunity to really express himself.

Johannes Becher pointed out that the VSL has now achieved a very realistic sound but one shouldn't forget that the full Vienna Library still costs 6.000 â‚Ź. So when a composer really wants to have the best and most realistic sound, he will still have to spend a lot of money. Of course, there are great symphonic libraries which are a lot cheaper but then again they are lacking "Realism and variations.

Samples are static and they stay static. It's in the name. I think that's the main disadvantage. In the real world, everything is slightly different, every note you hit [...]." (Vincent Beijer) The VSL does have the tools to evercome these problems but normal libraries don't. When composing, one is limited to the samples one has if there are no live musicians available. This restricts a composer a lot since he cannot write music which he knows won't work with the samples, nor can he use orchestral effects which his library doesn't provide. I asked Vincent Beijer why the variation problems aren't also solved by smaller library manufacturers, e.g. by having more round robin possibilities. "Yes, but it's still limited. It's all a budget and editing question. You know, it's very very expensive to go out there and record orchestras. If you want to have 20 variations you get all different prized libraries. So that's the main reason [why not more variations are recorded]." So after all, money is still an issue amongst filmcomposers - the more money one has, the more differentiated your library can be, the better and more realistic your sound is. What has changed is only the average sound quality of this competition. It has become some sort of luxury problem we have these days because anybody can get a great sound for a few hundred dollars - but few can afford the perfect sound.

As explained earlier, filmmusic had been made available for less trained musicians as well. The 82

Conclusion reason for that lies back in the 60's and 70's: It was the time of a generation that bought more records and went to more concerts than any other, looking up to their rock musicians for philosophical, political and social leadership. When filmmakers of that generation started making movies during the 80's they wanted to incorporate their icons to transport the same feeling of a concert as a message into cinemas - a great idea in theory. Nevertheless, this has mixed success for several reasons. Filmmusic needs the musical structure to tell a story and it has to be harmonically and melodically sophisticated enough to stay interesting for about 2 hours. As we know, the average popsong lasts between three to four minutes and many of these artists becoming filmcomposers didn't have the expertise, knowledge and skills to sustain and develop their ideas how a filmscore demands it. Another aspect is thefact that non-trained rock/pop musicians weren't accustomed to using different textures of sound, at least not the wide variety of orchestral sounds which is sometimes demanded by a movie. Furthermore, composers who only know concert performances sometimes don't understand the idea of filmmusic being a supportive art, lacking the sensitivity to follow a drama and underline it, making it more important than the music.

But of course, there are as many counterparts to what I just described. The most oustanding one is probably Danny Elfman who started out in popular styles and then began writing filmscores for Tim Burton at the end of the 80's. He was one of the people to establish himself as someone with great creativity when it comes to melodies and sound textures, capturing the moods of the films he writes for and above all catching many people's imagination. Samples also enable such composers to establish their own sound, like Hans Zimmer did.

"There are many composers coming up in the ranks of pop and rock music that do not orchestrate, and occasionally there are stories of those who cannot even read music. This is a far cry from the Korngolds and Steiners, but it is the state of the industry today. But if a musician can create the right mood, and with the right musical support can appropriately heighten the drama of a film, is it a bad thing that they know nothing about an orchestra? This is an open-ended question that has proponents on both sides."71 Vincent Beijer adds another aspect of MIDI libraries influencing composers: "I think you could argue that people get lazy and use presets and pre-recorded sounds. That's because it works quickly.

You also see that with loops - in "Spectrasonics" you hear the loops popping up. Composers move more towards being a preset oriented composer instead of fiddling around, trying to make your own sounds. But you won't hear me say that this is an overall negative effect. It also has good results."

The above mentioned "Einheitsbrei" (Becher) we have to face nowadays could also be stated as a 71 Complete Guide To Film Scoring, p. 66

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Conclusion negative effect. This also has to do with computers visualizing the music and making copy and paste a very valuable tool when working on a tight schedule. Many critics and old-school filmcomposers blame the advent of sample libraries and music technology in filmmusic for that development. But Becher also states: "Such developments and tendencies, however, are not the result of music electronics or sample libraries, in the end they've been present in every epoch of music history. The composition of good filmmusic itself is independent from the use of sample libraries, though nowadays composers of the "old school" - so those who exclusively write with pencil and paper - have to face difficult times due to the formerly named working conditions."

Therefore, sample libraries aren't necessarily to blame for it, they have just made plagiarism easier.

But still, after John Williams' Star Wars came out, about 95% of the scores released afterwards all sounded somewhat like The Planets by Gustav Holst. This problem seems to have been present BEFORE sample libraries, in all musical styles. Think of rock'n'roll or pop music, or even Mozart someone has an original idea which is then copied countless times by others who are lacking originality until no one can hear it anymore. In 1966, Alfred Newman already stated: "Today, it seems to me, if a gifted director creates a successful motion picture with a certain type of score [...] the formula is quickly plagiarized by others. Then the market is soon overrun by carbon copies of carbon copies!"72 As described before, this also has to do with temp tracks and the music editor's cliches. Not that every score should be original - part of how cinema works is the use of certain cliches to which the audience has been conditioned over decades. Having an original score in every movie would probably lead to some sort of disorientation for non-musicians. But if one is bound to the decisions, taste and maybe lack of originality of the music editor, there's not much choice left.

On top of that, there are money issues to be taken into account. To give an example: Before 2001, there had been directors who wanted to make epic fantasy movies but the production studios refused to invest money into them since this genre was dead at that time. When Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings came out in that very same year, suddenly the fantasy genre became all the craze.

After that, the studio bosses were permanently investing into fantasy to gain all the economic advantages of it as long as the hype lasted. As this is how the business works and film music being closely linked to genres, this is also an aspect which has to be taken into account. The money givers will always get a say and if they want to produce epic movies with epic scores for a decade, then this is what you get.

The changed character of filmmusic and its importance led to a lot more recognition during the past 15 years. Books have been written in the past in which musicologists complained about the unnecessary art of filmmusic, not even defining it as an independent art when it isn't willing to 72 Fred Karlin, "Listening to Movies", p. 90

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Conclusion develop into one, not tapping its full potential of possibilities. In the year 1998, though, three of the top five best-selling albums were movie soundtracks and 22 of Billboard's top 200 albums as well.

Furthermore, that year's top selling album was the soundtrack to Titanic, even motivating the producers to release two more albums with the complete underscores and source music. Ever since, the sales of soundtrack albums rose by 36 %! One only has to consider how long the Moulin Rouge soundtracks were in the charts, let alone the hundreds of versions of Zimmer's "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme or the uncut versions of Shore's "Lord of the Rings". Bringing pop elements and electronicas into filmmusic has definitely caused a huge amount of that popularity but also the appreciation for it has risen. People tend to actively keep more track of the filmmusic these days. If this is due to sample libraries changing the sound of filmmusic into a more modern pop-influenced thing is unclear but they have definitely contributed to it. So whatever negative influence samples might have had on filmmusic or the habits of filmcomposers, this positive shift to recognition stands above it all. Now, we're not copying romanticism or only popular music anymore.

Everything that is done happens for the sake of filmmsic on its own, enhancing this style to something new and independent every year.

All in all, we don't seem to have arrived at the proper point of mixing reality with virtuality yet, though we are closer than ever. Completely orchestral scores seem outdated and old-school but purely sequenced scores are lacking emotional depth. Combining the swiftness and liveliness of an orchestra and the power of electronic sounds seems the most sophisticated solution for cinemas and it is probably the highest state of development filmmusic has made so far to be recognized and considered as an art of its own.

"As a result, film music has finally gained an intellectual respectability that had eluded it for many decades, and a better public understanding of the film composer's role has led to a sympathetic awareness of the often impossibly restrictive conditions under which such music is created." (New Grove Dictionary of Music, Article "Filmmusic") "You will develop an enormous respect for the traditions that have gotten the art to where it is today."73 (Shirley Walker) Sources of Chapter 4.1 - 4.2 74 73 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring", p. 363 74 Richard Davis, "Complete Guide to Film Scoring" Interviews with: Johannes Becher (Marketing & PR department at Vienna Symphonic Instruments) Vincent Beijer (founder of and songwriter at ProjectSAM) Nick Marinic (sound designer at Native Instruments)

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References REFERENCE LIST

BOOKS Author / Publisher

Title

Edition Publishing Company

Year, Place

Allen, Corey

Arranging in the Digital World

First

Berklee Press

2000, USA

Cacavas, John

The Art of Writing Music

First

Alfred Publishing Co., Inc., LA

1993, USA

Davis, Richard

Complete Guide to Film Scoring

First

Berklee Press

1999, USA

Enders, Bernd

Lexikon Musikelektronik

Third

Atlantis Musikbuch 1997, Germany Verlag, Schott

Finscher, Ludwig

MGG Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart Allgemeine Enzyklop채die der Musik

Second

B채renreiter / Metzler

Hempel, Christoph

Neue Allgemeine Musiklehre

Second

Atlantis Musikbuch 2001, Germany Verlag, Schott

Jarett, Scott & Day, Holly

Music Composition for Dummies First

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Karlin, Fred

Listening to Movies

First

Schirmer, 1994, USA Wadsworth, Thomson Learning

Karlin, Fred & Wright, Rayburn

On the Track

Second

Routledge

2004, USA, Britain

Michels, Ulrich

dtv Atlas - MUSIK

Second

B채renreiter / Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag

2010, Germany

Morgan, David

Knowing the Score

First

HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

2000, USA

Prendergast, Roy

Filmmusic - A Neglected Art

Second

W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

1992, New York, London

Sadie, Stanley

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

Second

Macmillan 2001, London Publishers Limited

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1994, Germany

2008, USA, Canada

References WEBSITES

www.wikipedia.org www.wikipedia.de www.philharmonia.co.uk/thesoundexchange/make_music/samples/sample_story/ www.zem-college.de/midi/index.htm www.fys-online.de/wissen/allg/filmmusik.htm www.e-filmmusik.de/artikel1.htm www.filmmusicjobguidebook.com www.filmscoremonthly.com www.filmmusicmag.com www.berklee.edu/careers/film_scoring.html www.mediamusiccreation.com/wiki/filmmusik-produktionstypen.html www.songwriting-guide.com www.americancomposers.org/hollywood_chihara_article.htm www.movingimagesource.us www.negativ-film.de/2011/05/eine-kleine-geschichte-der-filmmusik.html www.skillset.org/film/jobs/post_production_sound/article_4769_1.asp www.heise.de/tp/artikel/25/25816/1.html www.ehow.com/about_6542890_job-description-film-music-editor.html www.media-match.com/usa/jobtypes/music-editor-jobs-402743.php www.hollywood-music.at/inhalte_dw.html http://audio.uni-lueneburg.de/seminarwebseiten/auditges/site10.php http://gettingthescore.com/?p=7 http://themen.t-online.de/news/filmmusik http://recording.de/Magazin/index.html http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/LessonPage:Film_scoring:Introduction http://music-technology.wikia.com www.musicianwages.com/musician-profile/music-editor-producer-and-composer-ethanstoller www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/1999/14_Jul--Is_Todays_Film_Music_Still_Interesting.asp 87

References VIDEOS / TV / DVD

DVD "Star Wars - The Phantom Menace", LUCASFILM, Ltd. & 20th Century FOX, 1999 DVD "Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith", LUCASFILM, Ltd. & 20th Century FOX, 2005 Videos derived from www.youtube.com TV Documentary "Der Klang Hollywood's - Max Steiner und seine Erben", 2009 TV Documentary "Hans Zimmer - Der Sound f端r Hollywood", 2011 TV Documentary "Musik - Der unsichtbare Schauspieler", USA 1998 TV Documentary "The Film Composers", TV Ontario Web Documentary "Creating a Movie Soundtrack - with Mark Isham", 2011 Web Documentary "Der Hans Zimmer Sound", 2010 Web Documentary "Avatar - Creating an Otherworldly Soundtrack", by AVID, 2010 Web Documentary "The Evolution of Music Technology"

INTERVIEWS

Becher, Johannes - Marketing & PR - Vienna Symphonic Instruments - Austria Beijer, Vincent - Founder & Songwriter - ProjectSAM - Netherlands Marinic, Nick - Sound Designer - Native Instruments - Germany, USA

STATEMENT ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE WORK

I hereby formally and officially confirm that the entire content of this work is my own intellectual accomplishment. No one else has written or made up any of it. The content which is not my personal intellectual property is visibly marked and its origin can be found in footnotes or the reference list.

_______________________________________ Anne-Kathrin Dern

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