The SCORE - Winter 2018 by The SCL in NY

WINTER 201 8

The Musical Side of

MEL BROOKS

Filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Shifting MIDDLE CLASS CLIFF EIDELMAN The Birth of a Symphony AL SCHMITT The Man Behind the Music

F O R

Y O U R

C O N S I D E R A T I O N

BEST PICTURE BEST ORIGINAL SCORE NICHOL AS BRITELL

“THE MUSIC IS

OVERFLOWING WITH RAW, ELECTRIC POWER. THE ORCHESTRAL SCORE IS PRACTICALLY A CHARACTER ITSELF,

SO EVER-PRESENT AND

COMMANDING.” –Chris Evangelista, SL A SHF IL M

FRO M

BA R RY J E N K I N S FI L M M AK E R O F

T H E AC A D E M Y AWA R D ® WI N N I N G

M O O N LI G H T

BAS ED ON TH E ACCL AI MED NOVEL BY

JAMES BALDWIN

“COMPOSER JUSTIN HURWITZ’S SCORE

ENVELOPES THE ACTION IN A DREAMY AUR A.” TORONTO STAR

FOR

YOUR

CONSIDE R ATION

BEST OR IGI NA L SCOR E JUSTIN HURW ITZ

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ContentsI Winter 2018 36 DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

Al Schmitt

THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC His story and his method of working is unique and now he has a new autobiography.

The Musical Side of Mel Brooks

Many may think of him only as a comedian, actor and filmmaker, he is also a great composer.

Film’s Shifting Middle Class WHERE DID THE VISIONARY STORYTELLERS GO? Expands beyond just music, this is looking at storytelling across all media.

President’s Message

OUR CHANGING TIMES For an organization like the SCL, it’s imperative that it strives to maintain currency and relevance.

Editor’s Desk

VOLUME 33 / ISSUE 4

New Gear

Performance Rights

MELDAPRODUCTION MRHYTHMIZER AND COMMON WORKS POSITIVE GRID PRO REGISTRATION Small boutique music publishing.

What’s Happening

LOS ANGELES Events around town that happened this fall.

SCL Emmy

RECEPTION 2018 Reception honored the nominees across all music categories.

CHANGING FOR THE BETTER We are continuing to SCL Events move forward and hopefully, everyone embraces LOS ANGELES AND Musical Icons NEW YORK the change. NIGHT TO Various screenings and seminars plus educational REMEMBER A group of legends, panels. Musical Shares six of them, some of the time’s top FILM MUSIC READY composers get together OR NOT Book Reviews for a night out. Can we really prepare 3 EXCITING BOOKS ourselves to be film, All related to the television or game industry. composers?

Cliff Eidelman

THE BIRTH OF A SYMPHONY In his quest to complete his symphony, Eidelman ended up on a creative journey that would test him both as a person and a composer.

Photo of Mel Brooks by Kevin Winter/Getty Images 2018 WINTER

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE OUR CHANGING TIMES BY ASHLEY IRWIN

...it behooves us to adapt oneself to the times if one wants to enjoy continued good fortune. —Niccolò Macchiavelli

Wise and prudent men—intelligent conservatives—have long known that in a changing world, worthy institutions can only be conserved by adjusting them to the changing time.

—Franklin D. Roosevelt

The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia. —Elbert Hubbard

Nothing endures but change.

—Heraclitus

You must change in order to survive. —Pearl Bailey

WINTER 2018

Much has been written about change. Why? Because it’s inevitable. While many embrace it, others shun it; most likely because they fear the unknown. For an organization like the SCL, it’s imperative that it strive to maintain currency and relevance. After all, our members, many of whom utilize cutting-edge equipment and techniques to realize their musical creations, operate in an industry where technological advances occur at a seemingly frenetic pace. Over the past several years, the SCL has introduced a number of mechanisms in order to streamline managerial operations and enhance the benefits and experiences for its members. So as 2019 looms, you can look forward to many changes rolling out over the coming months: a completely redesigned website, new branding, and educational videos to name just a few. The SCL’s Board strives to provide members the best service possible, while maintaining a voice for media music creators by raising the visibility and viability of our profession—which brings me to this publication. I’m excited to introduce the ‘new look’ of The Score magazine. While the content to which you’ve become accustomed will remain, and possibly even increase, the magazine itself is going to have a far more professional look and feel to it. That is by no means meant to disparage in any way, the dedication of so many to The Score over its lifetime thus far; none more than longtime editor Lori Barth and our dear departed graphic design maestro, Ron Grant. Without their unwavering efforts, we would certainly not be ready to take The Score to the next level, and we will be forever indebted to them for their talent and tenacity.

So now we move to the next phase—a phase that will provide us additional revenue to continue the growth of the SCL and allow us to provide more services to you, the members. Yes, there’ll be some advertising interspersed with the articles. But while overheads continue to rise, the SCL has maintained the same membership dues for more than 18 years, because we would rather have you engaged in the community than price you out of it. We intend to widen the distribution of The Score to include all film, TV and video game department heads. We also want to encourage anyone who would like to write an article to contact our editor, Kaya Savas (score@thescl.com), or me. We want The Score to become the media music creator’s voice to the entertainment industry and with your support, I have no doubt we will achieve our goal. Happy holidays.

Ashley Irwin President president@thescl.com

MUSICAL SHARES FILM MUSIC: READY OR NOT... BY CHARLES BERNSTEIN, VICE PRESIDENT

Preparing for some things can be easy, especially if we understand what’s needed. Getting ready for a vacation, a big celebration, a college exam, a cold snowy winter, a bicycle tour—these things shouldn’t be too difficult to prepare ourselves for. People generally know how to plan for the basic, everyday events. But, preparing ourselves for other kinds of things can be nearly impossible. How do we prepare to become a great poet, a compassionate caregiver, or an inspiring teacher? Can we really prepare for our roles as a spouse, a parent, or a human being? Is there a preparation for living a fulfilling life? Preparation isn’t necessarily the same as “training” or “education.” Highly educated and well-trained people can still be completely unprepared. (Otherwise, the Boy Scouts motto might well have been “Be Educated” or “Be Trained,” rather than “Be Prepared”). Can we really prepare ourselves to be film, television, or game composers? This is an open question. Getting a musical education and professional training would certainly be a good start. After that, there might be a number of steps that come to mind: Constant study, deep listening to every kind of music, going to lots of movies, exploring various media experiences, attending concerts and live events, meeting musicians, playing music. All of these things might help prepare us in a general sense to write film music. Maybe we could add some creative exercises to challenge our imaginations, like creating music in our heads to accompany whatever we happen to be looking at; or by forming images in our minds to go with whatever music we happened to be hearing. In a larger sense, we could also prepare ourselves by caring for and nourishing our bodies, minds, and spirits. All of this may prove to be useful in becoming a competent, employable composer; then again, there are no guarantees. We might wonder how other entertainment professionals prepare. Let’s take actors. There is a well-known book, An Actor Prepares, by the legendary Russian teacher and theater director, Konstantin Stanislavski. The book has a great title, and it introduced generations of actors to a new way of approaching their art and craft

that came to be called “method acting.” We think of the great mid-century naturalistic movie actors like Marlon Brando and James Dean, or perhaps more recently, Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, or Daniel Day-Lewis. Actors like these are known for their deep, original, believable performances. They seem to prepare themselves in very profound and personal ways that composers might never think of. Could there be a comparable “method” that composers can use to prepare for a life writing media music and songs? Since film composers seek an authentic, emotive voice to express a film’s musical messages, maybe an actor’s exercise could prove useful. Authenticity, spontaneity, and emotional honesty are hallmarks of Stanislavski’s acting technique. He spoke to the “inner,” as well as the “outer” work of preparation that an actor might do, not just to plan for a role, but to prepare generally for a life in the theater (and of course, movies). It’s that first, more personal preparation that might prompt composers to look to actors for some special insights and guidance. For example, actors often evoke

“The sudden, short windows of intense creativity…can leave anyone feeling ill-equipped and bewildered.” something they call “emotional memory” (the ability to summon deep emotions remembered from earlier times in their lives as a source for current authentic expression). Since film music is intended to evoke feelings, maybe we composers might consider our own emotions as more of an asset in creating film scores. One way of preparing may be to explore such a direct connection with our own feelings. A Brando-like level of emotional authenticity in a film score might be worth pursuing. But, actors and theater directors are not the

only professionals who can teach composers something about preparation. Being prepared is central to so many professions. Such differing occupations as fishing, athletics, and even ancient warfare, would seem to have a lot of insights to offer us composers as well. New Zealand artist Nabil Sabio Azadi said the following about preparing, “When fishermen cannot go to sea, they repair nets.” This reminded me of something that film composer John Powell recently said about being between jobs. Like Azadi’s fishermen, John keeps busy “repairing his nets.” In this regard, he simply continues composing, even without a film assignment—searching for melodic, harmonic, or compositional ideas that may prove useful when he finally does set sail on a new project. (This seems to work so well for John that these days he rarely has any downtime.) Similarly, if we look to athletes, their preparation also seems to be a full-time job. Champions know that winning isn’t just for the moment of competition. It’s in all those grueling minutes, months, and years of preparation that came before the competition. For athletes, constant preparation becomes a mindset. Perhaps this notion of strategic preparedness is most apparent in historical theories of warfare. We need look no further than Sun Tzu’s treatise The Art of War, to realize that wars are not just won or lost on the battlefields, but are preordained well before the battles are fought. The prior circumstances of any conflict, coupled with an informed preparation for engagement, will already have determined a battle’s outcome. So, if we think like fishermen, athletes, or warriors, we might re-consider a few of the issues that film composers literally confront every time a new project begins. 1) Short 2018 WINTER

MUSICAL SHARES schedules, 2) Limited budgets, 3) New music to conceive, 4) New employers to please. These kinds of things come with the territory, along with a host of other unknown demands that suddenly appear when a composer starts a project. On the first point (short schedules), no one should be surprised by how little time composers are generally given to write and produce a score. To be prepared for this means to make sure that our studio is ready, that all the technology is tested, that systems of backup and redundancies are in place, that players and helpers are available. As to the second point (limited budgets), composers should be constantly investigating cheaper ways to simulate big-budget sounds. The most obvious is by researching sample libraries, honing midiorchestration skills, or maybe by investigating new local session locations and services that might provide production facilities at more reasonable prices. When it comes to the third point (conceiving a new score), maybe the best preparation for this would be daily composing (à la John Powell), sketching, listening, analyzing, and studying the masters. Having some musical material “in the works” builds confidence, provides ideas, and generally prepares us to hit the ground running. On the final point (new employers), there may not be an effective way of preparing to take on an entirely new set of employers with each job. Being abruptly plunked down in the midst of a unique, and sometimes dysfunctional family can be disorienting. By way of preparation, anything that might improve “people skills” and self-control could be really useful. (Maybe regular sessions with a Buddhist monk, or getting an additional degree in psychology between films wouldn’t be a bad idea.) It’s possible that no one is ever adequately prepared for being a professional composer or songwriter. The sudden, short windows of intense creativity and crazy collaboration can leave anyone feeling somehow ill-equipped and bewildered. It’s true that anything and everything we do to prepare could come in handy, and yet nothing at all can guarantee readiness. When that mocking voice in our heads announces a new project with “Ready or not, here I come.” We might answer, “NO! NOT READY!… But bring it on anyway.” © Charles Bernstein 2018 www.charlesbernstein.com 12

WINTER 2018

NEW GEAR MELDAPRODUCTION MRHYTHMIZER AND POSITIVE GRID PRO SERIES BY JACK D. ELLIOT

MELDAPRODUCTION MRHYTHMIZER Similar to Imagine Line’s Gross Beat, which is only for PC, MeldaProduction made a Mac version. MRhythmizer is a software plugin that works with Mac and Windows. It works in any DAW and allows you to enhance your audio, samples, or MIDI sounds through gated, time, scratching, looping patterns, and filters that sync to the beat. It comes with 36 sequences for time jumping, volume and filter. You can load this plugin on any track and modify the sound. This has been used in tons of hip hop, EDM, and other genres for getting that half-time effect, gated rhythms, and lots more. This is probably the easiest way to apply these effects. MRhythmizer features the most advanced GUI engine on the market. The GUI engine is freely resizable and customizable. It also lets you choose between knobs, sliders, or buttons, whichever you like the most. MRhythmizer effects can be activated/ launched through MIDI, so you can easily

MeldaProduction MRhythmizer

change settings on the fly or through a MIDI key command like Kontakt. It’s super easy to work with. A nice addition is it includes automatic gain compensation, which quickly adapts to current settings and ensures the output sounds as loud as the input. This even protects you from thinking that something sounds better in cases where it is just louder. To set up the plugin, you insert it as an audio effect after a VSTi or audio track. You have to output a MIDI track to trigger

A MASTERPIECE .

“

OF LOVE OVERCOMING HATE ”

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY PAUL GREENGRASS

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE SUNE MARTIN

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

MICHEL LEGRAND A NETFLIX FILM

“MICHEL LEGRAND’S SCORE IS PROPULSIVE, ENERGETIC AND ALIVE WITHOUT EVER BEING INTRUSIVE OR DISTRACTING.

IT STANDS AS ONE OF THE OUTSTANDING COMPOSER’S GREATEST FILM SOUNDTRACKS. A SINCERE, CAREFULLY AND ASTUTELY JUDGED ASSEMBLAGE.”

NEW GEAR MRhythmizer effects. You have tons of choices from gating effect, scratching, repeaters, halftime, double time, vinyl start and stop, and backspin. Modulate any parameter from the unique set of modulation sources, which includes LFOs, audio level followers, envelope generators, randomizer, and pitch detectors. A fun feature is the scratching effect. You can scratch easily using a simple slider. There are no limits to what you can do with it. It works great on anything from trip hop, electronica, trailers and orchestral effects for anything your heart desires. If you want to be a DJ, you can. MeldaProduction did an amazing job at a very affordable price. Also free for life updates. I highly recommend MRhythmizer. I give it 10/10.

POSITIVE GRID PRO SERIES Compression is one of the most widely used processing tools within the mixing and mastering processes. The Pro Series bundle costs $199 (AU/VST/AAX). It includes FET, Tube, and Optical compressors. The three compressors are modeled after the most famous hardware originals. Optical Compressor models the Teletronix LA-2A. Tube Compressor models the Fairchild 660.

The FET version is not a direct emulation, but it has the look and vibe of a Urei 1176. Adding a single instance of each model adds a modest amount of CPU load. The GUI graphics are awesome. They did a great job making the plugins graphics have a cool vibe. Not that this affects the sound, but in my opinion, if it excites me when working, then I will be more likely to enjoy my workflow. All three, however, offer additional control options that the original hardware versions did not have. The tube and optical model offer four components that you can swap in and out based upon a number of selections. The FET version has less, but you have additional controls to tweak the compressor. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take a look at the three versions. 1. Optical compressor emulates the LA-2A. I love the fact that you can add a ton of gain reduction, and the source still sounds transparent. A wide variety of compressors will color the sound dramatically with such high gain reduction. Using the compressor on a drum bus brought that LA-2A magic out. I was able to get a lot of punch out of the drums, without killing the peaks too much. You can easily get the pumping effect, as well, with minimal effort. Changing the additional options like the input tube type brought a warmer sound.

But this was very subtle. 2. The tube compressor version based on the famous Fairchild compressor was nice. It did not impress me as much compared to the other two. But nevertheless it was very good. Pushing the gain reductions sounds nice. But if you go too far, the tone was getting a little too crunchy and dark for my taste. Moderate compression sounded great. 3. The FET model was my favorite. On bass and vocals the sound was full and punchy with a lot of depth to the track. A great feature that was added is a look ahead switch. This allowed me to smack the compressor harder and more extreme. This is one of those options where a plugin wins over hardware. 4. Overall there are tons of emulations of the three original hardware version like Waves, UAD, T-Rack, etc. The addition of extra features and the amazing sound make Positive Gridâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s version stand out. The cost factor is great too. Some companies charge more unless you find a sale. I give this bundle a 9/10.

Positive Grid Pro Series 2018 WINTER

WHAT’S HAPPENING

On October 17, THE 18TH

ANNUAL WORLD SOUNDTRACK AWARDS

were held in Ghent, Belgium. A few of the nominees and guests gather during the celebration.

On August 9, composer Jeff Russo and director Peter Berg attended the

L-R: Jeff Russo, Peter Berg

PREMIERE OF MILE 22.

L-R: White Bear PR’s Chandler Poling, Atli Örvarsson, Volker Bertelmann, Tamar-kali, James Edward Barker, White Bear PR’s Thomas Mikusz

On October 7, composer Dominic Lewis attends the

PREMIERE OF GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN

with director Ari Sandel.

L-R: Ari Sandel, Dominic Lewis

On September 27, BMI hosted a

LISTENING SESSION WITH MUSICAL GROUP WHITE SUN, comprised of composers

Adam Berry and Gurujas Khalsa. L-R: Adam Berry, BMI’s Doreen Ringer-Ross, Gurujas Khalsa

On October 19, Hans Zimmer is awarded the MAX STEINER AWARD at the annual HOLLYWOOD IN VIENNA

gala. Hans Zimmer celebrates being honored with the Max Steiner Award.

On September 16, composer Nathan Barr attended the

PREMIERE OF THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS. L-R: Director Eli Roth, actress Cate Blanchett, Nathan Barr 16

WINTER 2018

On October 23, Lorne Balfe took home TOP FILM SCORE OF THE YEAR for The Lego Batman Movie at the 2018 London ASCAP Awards. L-R: ASCAP’s Simon Greenaway & Katherine Hinchey, Lorne Balfe, ASCAP President Paul Williams, ASCAP’s John Titta & Shawn LeMone

On October 25, composer Brian Tyler returned to London to perform some of his greatest hits at ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL. The concert featured Tyler at the podium, conducting many of his most celebrated scores.

On October 19-21, composer Richard Bellis held two in-depth

MASTER CLASSES AT THE INTERNATIONAL SOUND & FILM FESTIVAL in Croatia.

Brian Tyler conducting onstage.

Richard Bellis talks about the importance of music in storytelling during his master class.

On October 30, Variety held its inaugural MUSIC FOR SCREENS SUMMIT. The summit features panels and keynote interviews with the music supervisors, composers, publishing executives and creatives driving music for TV, film, theater, video games and commercials. L-R: Moderator Elvis Mitchell, Atticus Ross, Trent Reznor

On November 18, Lalo Schifrin was honored with an honorary Academy Award for his career in film music at the 10TH

L-R: Director Clint Eastwood, Lalo Schifrin

ANNUAL GOVERNORS AWARDS.

2018 WINTER

FROM THE CO-WRITER AND DIRECTOR OF

THE BIG SHORT

Christian BALE • Amy ADAMS • Steve CARELL • Sam ROCKWELL • Tyler PERRY

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION IN ALL CATEGORIES INCLUDING BEST PICTURE

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Nicholas BRITELL

WHAT’S HAPPENING On October 29, the 2018

CHINESE AMERICAN TV FESTIVAL GOLDEN ANGEL AWARDS CEREMONY was held at

the Writers Guild Theater. L-R: Neal Acree, Michael Tuller, Max Aruj, Joe Kraemer, Kevin Kliesch, Michael Levine

s On November 5, BMI celebrated the 20TH

ANNIVERSARY OF “BMI DAY” at Berklee College of

Music with two-time Emmy award-winning composer Trevor Morris. Film scoring student Noa Beazley was named the 2018 BMI Film Scoring Scholarship recipient.

L-R: Berklee Chair of Film Scoring Alison Plante, Noa Beazley, BMI’s Doreen Ringer-Ross, Trevor Morris, Berklee Assistant Chair of Film Scoring Sean McMahon

On November 12, THE

SCL AND ALLIANCE FOR WOMEN FILM COMPOSERS had their first

lunch meeting in Burbank.

L-R: Starr Parodi, AWFC President Lolita Ritmanis, Ashley Olauson, Lynn Kowal, SCL SongArts Chair Adryan Russ, SCL Seminars Chair Fletcher Beasley

On October 31, director and composer John Carpenter played all treats and no tricks for a concert that featured all of his celebrated film scores at the Hollywood Palladium. John Carpenter and his band perform Big Trouble in Little China to an excited crowd on Halloween night.

2018 WINTER

SCL EVENTS September 20

THE SONG OF SWAY LAKE SCREENING

L-R: SCL COO Mark Smythe, composer Ethan Gold, director Ari Gold

Sepulveda Screening Room

October 2

BLACKKKLANSMAN SCREENING

The London Hotel Screening Room

L-R: SCL COO Mark Smythe, composer Terence Blanchard, SCL President & moderator Ashley Irwin

October 16

October 14 - FIRST MAN SCREENING

Linwood Dunn Theater L-R: Director Damien Chazelle, moderator Jon Burlingame, composer Justin Hurwitz, SCL COO Mark Smythe

RBG SCREENING

The Landmark

L-R: SCL LA administrator Chris Wirsig, composer Miriam Cutler, SCL President & moderator Ashley Irwin, songwriter Diane Warren

October 26

HEREDITARY SCREENING

Dolby Screening Room, Hollywood WINTER 2018

L-R: SCL COO Mark Smythe, moderator Tim Greiving, composer Colin Stetson, White Bear PRâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chandler Poling

F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R AT I O N

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE Music By

Danny Elfman

BEST ORIGINAL SONG “I Am The Grinch”

Written, Produced and Performed By

Tyler, The Creator

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SCL EVENTS November 8

THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS SCREENING

The London Hotel Screening Room

L-R: SCL COO Mark Smythe, composer Carter Burwell, moderator Jon Burlingame

November 1

A QUIET PLACE SCREENING

The Landmark

L-R: SCL COO Mark Smythe, composer Marco Beltrami, moderator Borys Kit

November 9

THE HATE U GIVE SCREENING

Blakely Theater/ Newman Scoring Stage L-R: SCL COO Mark Smythe, singer-songwriter Arlissa

November 5

GREEN BOOK SCREENING

RealD Theater November 7

THE FRONT RUNNER SCREENING

Chaplin Theater

November 13

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS SCREENING

Theater 2, NBC Universal Studios  22

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L-R: SCL COO Mark Smythe, composer Max Richter, moderator Jon Burlingame

L-R: SCL COO Mark Smythe, composer Kris Bowers, SCL Board member & moderator David Das L-R: Composer Agent Laura Engel, SCL COO Mark Smythe, composer Rob Simonsen, BMI’s Reema Iqbal, moderator Tim Greiving

NOTES FROM NEW YORK

SCL NEW YORK EVENTS SEMINAR: UNCONVENTIONAL SCORING CAREERS

Moderated by Joel Beckerman Panelists: Amy Crawford, John Kaefer, Jeff McSpadden Thursday, Sept. 20, at Man Made Music SEMINAR: MUSIC FOR ADVERTISING

Moderated by Adonis Tsilimparis Panelists: James Harrell, Rich Andruska Thursday, Sept. 27, at Alchemical Studios Attendees at the Music for Advertising seminar

SEMINAR: METADATA FOR MUSICIANS

Moderated by Eric Hachikian Panelists: Neeta Ragoowansi, Ben Allison, lan Silverman Thursday, October 10, at Local 802 AFM L-R: Elizabeth Rose, Neeta Ragoowansi, Eric Hachikian, Alan Silverman, Ben Allison, Local 802 recording secretary Andy Schwartz

SCREENING: AT ETERNITY’S GATE

with composer Tatiana Lisovskaya Moderated by Mark Suozzo and Ron Sadoff Monday, October 15, at the Francesca Beale Theatre at Lincoln Center

Mentor Program Events MENTOR PROGRAM EVENTS: • SAMPLE LIBRARIES WORKSHOP WITH ERIC HACHIKIAN • MUSIC NOTATION WITH GREG ONDO • GAME SCORING WITH TOM SALTA • MUSIC EDITING WITH MISSY COHEN

SEMINAR: MUSIC NOTATION TOOLS AND TACTICS

Moderated by JoAnne Harris Panelists: Greg Pliska, Philip Rothman, Greg Ondo Thursday, November 1, at Alchemical Studios Attendees at the Music Notation Tools and Tactics seminar

L-R: Bo-Xun Lin, Boris Rappo, Ching-Shan Chang, Justin Rosin, Kevin Farrell, Danny Gray, and Tom Salta (center)

2018 WINTER

AL SCHMITT

THE MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC INTERVIEWED BY LORI BARTH

Al Schmitt is a legendary engineer in the recording business today. He has won 20 Grammy Awards, two Latin Grammys, and a Trustees Grammy for Lifetime Achievement. He has worked with everybody, including Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Natalie Cole, and Quincy Jones, to name a few. Al has engineered on over 160 gold and platinum albums. His story and his method of working are unique, and now he has a new autobiography where he shares his life’s work with the reader. The Score had a chance to sit down with him for an interview. SCORE: How did you come to California? Al: I was doing a lot of jazz work in New York of big bands and stuff, Dick Bock of World Pacific Jazz came to New York to use me all the time. We worked on Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Bobby Brookmeyer, Jim Hall, all the great jazz artists and he said, “Al, why don’t you come to California so I won’t have to come to New York to use you?” We were kind of joking around, and I said, “Get me a job out there and I’ll come.” Three weeks later he called me on 26

WINTER 2018

the phone and said, “I got you a job out here with Radio Recorders. It’s the best studio out here, they know your work, they love your work, you’ve got the job.” I packed up my wife and three kids at the time, and I came to California, and I’ve been here ever since. I love New York, I go back to visit but I wouldn’t move back there for anything in the world. I love California, and I love where I live, and my life is good. SCORE: Being an engineer is both an art and

a science. Once you get past all the technical stuff, engineers have a touch to their work. How did you develop yours? Al: Well, I started when I was 8 years old in the music business. My uncle had a recording studio in New York City, and every weekend until I was about 13, I would go over and spend the weekend with him in the studio and I just watched him recording and how he did things. I went into the Navy, and when I got out at 19, he got me a job at a studio and I’ve been doing it ever since. I’ve been a lover of music all my life; I collected records when I was young, mostly jazz and bebop and that sort of thing. It was just something I wanted to do all my life. I never wanted to do anything else. I wanted to be like my uncle. SCORE: You used to play drums. Has that helped you in general? Al: Not really, I was not a very good drummer. I could have never made a living as a

F O R

Y O U R

C O N S I D E R A T I O N

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Performed by DOLLY PARTON Music and Lyrics by DOLLY PARTON and LINDA PERRY

JENNIFER ANISTON

DANIELLE MACDONALD

Screenplay by KRISTIN HAHN Directed by ANNE FLETCHER

“

I never use EQ. We didn’t have EQ when I started. We learned how to use EQ with the microphones...

”

—Al Schmitt musician. I had good ears, and I was able to make it as an engineer. SCORE: How do you research a project you are going to start? Al: First thing I do is call the producer, try to find out what they have in mind, talk to the artist if possible so I can find out what they have in mind, what their vision is for the record. I find out what the instrumentation is going to be, where it’s booked. Usually I like to work at Capitol; that’s my favorite actually. I get there 2-3 hours before the session, set up everything make sure everything is working, and we start. SCORE: How do you know which gear you are going to use? Al: Usually on a vocal I will have 2-3 mics available. I have one go-to mic, the Neumann U47, and I try that, and 90% of the time that works. But if not, I have other mics, a Brauner microphone that I like that I’ll use, and sometimes female vocalists work better on different mics, so I have a variety of microphones. I know what I’m going to use, how I’m going to set up a big band, I know what mics I’m going to use if it’s a big string orchestra date, so I have mics I know beforehand what I’m going to use on everything since I’ve been doing it since forever. It’s all trial and error. SCORE: How do you pick a sound? What do you listen for? Al: I go out in the room and listen to what the musicians are playing when they do their first rundown, and whether it’s an orchestra or a big band, I stand right next to the conductor and listen so I know what they’re doing, and when I go inside I know what I have to capture. SCORE: Engineer verses producer. Sometimes don’t you feel like you’re coproducing because you have so much to do with the sound? Al: Often and quite a few times I felt like I was producing. Years ago, sometimes the producer would be on the phone during

the session, and I would be working with the musicians or the artist. I was a producer six years at RCA Victor. I was producing Jefferson Airplane, Sam Cooke, Eddie Fisher, Gail Garnett, and others. SCORE: So, what made you want to go from being a producer to just wanting to be an engineer? Al: I went from engineering to producing, and then when I left RCA, I was just producing, and one of my dear friends, Tommy LiPuma, was working on a project, and his engineer had to leave to go do a Doors session. He said, “Al, you used to engineer. Would you finish it up?” And I said, “Tommy, I’m not sure I can even do it anymore.” So, we made a deal that if I didn’t feel comfortable, we’d pass and still remain friends. Well, when I got there and started doing it, I realized how much I loved engineering; why I got into the business in the first place. That record came out fantastic, and I started doing more and I was producing and engineering like with Jackson Browne, “Late for the Sky.” With Neil Young, “On the Beach.” But then I slowly morphed into just doing engineering, and that was it. SCORE: How did you learn about EQ and getting the sound? Al: I never use EQ. We didn’t have EQ when I started. We learned how to use EQ with the microphones, so if I needed something brighter, I would put a brighter microphone on it. If I wanted something warmer, I would put a warmer microphone on it.

Road, and I was calling my daughter to wish her a happy birthday and Paul came out, and I was standing right in front of him and I said, “Wish my daughter a happy birthday,” and he took the phone and sang happy birthday to her. He gave me the phone back, and she said, “Oh my god, I didn’t record it and nobody will believe me.” SCORE: Tell us about some of the great people you’ve worked with over the years. Al: I’ve worked with everybody—Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington when I started, Natalie Cole, Diana Krall, Bob Dylan. I’ve worked with them all. When I came into record with Dylan, he didn’t want to see any microphones, he had a microphone on his voice obviously, so all the microphones for the musicians were kind of hidden, and they were out of his view. We recorded with no earphones just like we used to do, everything done at one time. When he came in to listen to the first playback he said, “Al, my voice hasn’t sounded this good in 40 years!” It’s just learning to do things. When I did “Unforgettable” with Natalie Cole, trying to match her up with her dad, that was a lot of work because of the different time it was recorded. SCORE: How did you get it to match then? Al: What I did was I worked on the echoes mostly. We recorded full and we had him full, and then David Foster was the producer and he figured out where he wanted each one to sing, and we got that done. I tried to use the same kind of microphone that I knew her dad had used, and I tried to match up the echo. That was the most difficult part. One night I woke up in the middle of the night and I said, “I got it! I know how to do that.” And I did it the next day and we were still mixing, and I was able to match it up.

SCORE: And as far as miking, if you’re doing a bass drum or an upright bass or guitar, was it just trial and error where you would place the mic? Al: Yes. I go out and listen to the instrument. I find the best place wherever it sounds the best and that’s where I put the mic. SCORE: Tell us some of the stories in the book. Al: Working with Paul McCartney on his album, Kisses on the Bottom, we were in Abbey

Al worked on the McCartney album at Abbey Road. 2018 WINTER

Schmitt recorded Toto IV next door to where Prince was recording.

SCORE: Do you have a favorite kind of session to do, whether it’s a big orchestral date or a smaller, more intimate group? Al: You know, I love having many musicians 60, 70, 100. I did 100 with Neil Young. I love that. That’s one of my favorite things. But, also having a big band which is 18 pieces. When I hear the sound, I always get goosebumps when I hear a big band come at me. It’s an amazing sound. I grew up loving big band. SCORE: There’s nothing like standing out in the middle of an orchestra, how it feels. Al: Exactly. It’s wonderful. And the fact that it’s all teamwork when you work with a large orchestra, when you’re working with the conductor. And if the French horns are too loud, and they’re covering everything, and you have a problem, you talk to him, and he’ll keep the French horns down in sections. Or if you need more celli, he’ll bring the celli up a little more in those sections. SCORE: Tell us another story. Al: When I was recording Toto IV, “Rosanna” and “Africa,” and those big hits, my son was 8 years old, and Prince was in the studio next to us. My son would be out shooting baskets, and Prince would come out and shoot baskets with him and would never talk to him. Never said a word. We were in recording, and he came in and said, “Prince talked to me!” We all said, “Oh my god, what did he say?” He said, “Nice shot, kid.” With Sinatra, Phil Ramone was the producer. He had built a booth at Capitol (there were no vocal booths in those days) for Frank to go in. Frank and I were standing in front of the band, and he turned to me and said, “Al, where do you want me?”

and I said, “In there.” He looked in there and he looked at me and said, “I’m not going in there.” We had a bottle of Jack Daniels, we had a carton of Camel cigarettes and a bunch of Tootsie Rolls (he liked Tootsie Rolls). I said, “Where do you want to be?” and he said, “Right here in front of the band, and how about a handheld microphone?” So, we didn’t use the normal mic he used, but this was at the end of his career, he wanted it to be like a performance. He stood with the handheld microphone right in front of the brass section. I wasn’t too concerned with it because I wasn’t producing the record. It was Phil Ramone’s problem and Phil just shrugged his shoulders and said, “If that’s what he wants, that’s what he wants.” When I was working with Henry Mancini back in the late ’50s, he liked to work in the evenings and at the time, the sessions were three hours long. If you went over one minute, it went into overtime. We would get a final take a few minutes before 11 and we would say, “Hank, that’s great, we’ve got it.” Hank would say, “No, no, I gotta do one more. There’s something wrong in the violas or in the trombones.” That would put us a minute or two after 11 into overtime, and that was his way of saying thank you to all the musicians. He did this on every session. SCORE: Tell me your feelings with what is going on with recording nowadays. Al: The best thing is when all the musicians are in the room together, whether it’s just the rhythm section or whatever because they play off each other and they have suggestions for one another, and it just works as a great team. But now you’ve got a drummer that is recording at Capitol, now you’re overdubbing a bass player in his home in Encino and a guitar player who is in Phoenix, Arizona. I mean, it’s good, but there is no conversation. There’s no playing off one another and that sort of thing. I hate that. I love having everybody in the room playing together. When Phil Ramone and I did Sinatra’s “Duets” together, we were the first people that used the EDnet system. The EDnet system is where we’re in New York, Charles Aznavour was in Paris singing, and we were recording. Barbra Streisand was in LA, we were in New York recording. CORE: And there was no latency or S anything? Al: There was, but we were able to adjust for that. We set up the timing in front. That was the biggest album Frank Sinatra ever had. It sold over 2 million copies. And it was Phil because

he was a great technical guy who wanted to try everything, and we did, and it worked. SCORE: What is in your new book, Al Schmitt on the Record: The Magic Behind the Music? Al: The book is about my career and how I started and when I was in the business. Tommy Dowd was my mentor at the studio, one of the great engineers of all time. SCORE: How did he help you? Al: He helped me with setups, and he bought me a notebook. I drew copies of the way he set up and microphones he used on every different session, so that was handy. When I was there three months, I was able to come in on the weekends by myself and do little things, like piano and voice, guitar and voice, and I had three people one day. At 10 o’clock I had this guy come in and sing “Happy Birthday” to his daughter, he gave me the $15 and he left, the next guy came in with his guitar and recorded a song he wrote, and he gave me 15 bucks and left. The next guy at two o’clock in the afternoon was waiting for Mr. Mercer, the elevator doors opened up, and all these musicians started coming out and he said, “Where’s the studio?” and I said, “The studio is right there, but there’s a mistake.” “No, no, Mercer Ellington, Mercer Records.” And I said, “No, there’s a big mistake.” But he said, ”We’re ready,” and they were heading into the studio. I tried to call Tommy, but I couldn’t reach him, I tried to call my boss and I couldn’t reach him, I had my book that Tommy gave me, I looked for a band setup and, in those days, we only had eight inputs in the console, so I could only use eight mics. I put the mics up, Duke Ellington shows up, Mercer Ellington’s dad, the whole Duke Ellington band, and I’m saying, “Mr. Ellington, there’s a big mistake here, I’m not qualified to do this,” and he just looked at me and saw the fear in my eyes, and he said, “Don’t worry, son, the setup looks great, the band looks comfortable, we’ll get through it.” And that was it. SCORE: That was your first big session? Al: Yeah, that was the first. I got immersed in it, it was like being dumped into a big barrel of water. SCORE: Thank you for taking the time to sit down and talk to The Score. I can’t wait to read your autobiography. 2018 WINTER

THE MUSICAL SIDE OF

MEL BROOKS INTERVIEWED BY LORI BARTH

Mel Brooks is a multi-talented dynamo. His energy and originality abound and though many think of him only as a comedian, actor and filmmaker, he is also a great composer. Mel is one of the only people to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award for the musical The Producers, making him one of the few EGOT winners in the world. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010, the 41st American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in June 2013, a British Film Institute Fellowship in March 2015, a National Medal of Arts in September 2016, and a BAFTA Fellowship in February 2017. Three of his films ranked in the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 comedy films of the past 100 years (1900–2000), all of which ranked in the top 15 of the list: Blazing Saddles at number 6, The Producers at number 11, and Young Frankenstein at number 13. The Score was lucky enough to catch up with Mel and sit down for a chat about songwriting the themes to his movies and the songs to his Broadway musicals The Producers and Young Frankenstein. We learn about how he discovered his path in music, having been a drummer early on, and his lifetime collaboration with composer John Morris. Married to his beloved wife and actress Anne Bancroft until her death in 2005, Mel carries on like a house-on-fire. He is enthusiastic, funny, and warm and makes you feel so comfortable when you talk with him. Please enjoy this interview. SCORE: I know you’ve told this story in a 2005 interview in Billboard magazine, but I’d love it if you told us the story about your uncle and the taxi cab and how you wanted to become a filmmaker and write songs. Mel: I was nine years old. I had never heard about Broadway or Broadway shows. My uncle Joe could walk under a coffee table with a high hat on (that’s how short he was). I once said to him, “Joe, why don’t you put telephone books [on the seat] so you can see through the windshield?” And he said, “I got 20 telephone books on my seat, but Mel, nobody has a telephone, they are very thin.” That’s how it was in those days, it wasn’t like today. In the ’20s and ’30s when he was driving a cab, telephone books were five pages. One night he said, “I just got two tickets from a doorman at the Alvin Theatre on 52nd Street (which is now the Neil Simon Theatre). There’s an opening of a new Cole Porter musical tonight called Anything Goes. Would you like to see the show?” And I said, “Sure.” 32

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He said, “Okay, get in the cab, lie on the floor because I’m going to keep the flag up.” This meant, in those days, taxis had a flag over the meter. If the flag was up it meant the taxi was empty, so the police would know that everybody would know that. You couldn’t have a passenger with the flag up, it meant you were cheating. I lay down on the bottom of the cab in the back, I knew when we were going over the Williamsburg Bridge, heard the hum-um-um-um, I know when we passed 34th Street because I could look up and see the Empire State Building, and I could see 42nd Street, I could see the Chrysler Building, I could see it from the bottom of the cab, and we pulled up to 52nd Street outside the theatre. In those days, I think it was 1935, you could park anywhere, there weren’t that many cars in New York. So, we parked outside. The doorman had given him two seats but you know doormen don’t get great seats, so those seats were in the second balcony in the last row. Okay, we trudged up to the second balcony. There was William (Billy) Gaxton, Victor Moore, and

the glorious Ethel Merman. There were no mics in those days and when Ethel Merman sang the title song “Anything Goes,” I thought it was too loud. She had the biggest voice in show business. The show was so thrilling I was crying. I said to uncle Joe, “I know everybody in Williamsburg and I know everybody in our building on 365 S. 3rd Street goes to the garment center, but I’m not going there, uncle Joe. I’m going into show business.” And it was that night that turned me from being a nine-year old heading to be a cutter or a salesman, or a shipping clerk in the garment center to something in show business. I just loved it so much. That was the night that changed my life. S CORE: After that did you start studying music? Mel: I never studied music. I’ve always played music. I did take a few piano lessons to learn what was a full note, a three-quarter note, and what was middle C, some basic stuff I did learn later on in life. I was a drummer, so the notes weren’t really critical to me. SCORE: Well, I heard you studied with Buddy Rich. I want to ask you about that, but before that you played the drums? Mel: Yeah, I was in Lincoln High School in Coney Island, Brighton Beach. It was a very famous school and I went there for two years. Then I went back to Eastern District High School back in Williamsburg. We moved. Now Lincoln High had a good band and Mickey Rich, who was Buddy Rich’s brother, played alto sax and I played drums. Well, I was the second drummer, I was too little, I was only about thirteen. We became buddies and I walked him home one day. I lived on Brighton 16th and he lived on Brighton 10th Court. And I went into his house and so he gave me some juice and I said, “Mickey, that drum set—it says Big AR and there’s a shield that says BR.” That’s Artie Shaw and that’s Buddy Rich. “Yes, that’s my brother, you know, my brother Buddy.” I didn’t put it together. I came back that Saturday and I said, “Mickey, would your brother mind if…” and he said, “Well, he’s not around.” So I sat down

“

It was John Morris who showed me what you could do with four notes. You can make it silly, funny, or you could make it heartbreaking. —Mel Brooks

”

and I picked up his sticks and played a little bit, and from the doorway I heard, “Not bad,” and then I heard, “But not good.” For about 10 or 12 Saturdays, Buddy gave me and my friend Bobby, we were both drummers, an hour or a half hour on how to hold the sticks and what was important on being a drummer and how to drive the band, how to use the hi-hat. It wasn’t to show off, but we were the pulse of the band, and he made sure that we understood our job was to drive a band, give the band the pulse. SCORE: So that really gave you your sense of rhythm that you’ve carried all along? Mel: It works in jokes too. It worked all my life in comedy. The rim shot is the punch line. The rim shot on the snare is the equivalent to the punch line in the joke. SCORE: When did you start writing songs? Mel: In the Army. When I was drafted, the first song I wrote was a parody, “When we begin to clean the latrine, it brings back a smell…” [singing to melody of Begin the Beguine]. It was comedy songs—that’s how I began. And then later, when I was doing my movies, there’d be a special number that I knew, like High Anxiety, I needed a title song, so I asked

a couple of guys and nothing worked, and my wife Anne [Bancroft] always said, “Come on, do it yourself.” So, I wrote “High Anxiety.” When I wrote The Twelve Chairs, it was the first time. SCORE: Tell us that story and how you came up with that title, “Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst,” for that movie. Mel: I really stole it. There was Brahms, I think, in his 3rd Symphony, he stole some native dances and put it in his 3rd Symphony, “BaBaBaBa…” (Mel singing the melody of the song). They were kind of Balkan/Yugoslavian/ Austro-Hungarian. I think he stole that melody from the peasants, and I stole it from him. I added some things and did my own release. I said to Anne, “I’m going to call somebody to help me with The Twelve Chairs. I have no clue.” She said, “Go to the attic.” She gave me a legal pad and a pencil and she said, “The tune’s in your head, write some lyrics.” I know I wanted that Brahms peasant folk dance tune. I was trying, “the twelve chairs, the ten chairs, the nine chairs…” and then it was all about the quest for survival, the movie. Hope for the best, expect the worst just came to me. It just wrote itself. SCORE: Those lyrics are amazing. They’re inspirational actually.

Mel: There’s one lyric that I’m so proud of, the line is “Live while you’re alive, no one will survive.” SCORE: You did play in the Catskills. What do you remember about being in bands and playing in the Catskills and that whole experience? Mel: You know, I was a drummer, and I was doing well and I was playing in a little fivepiece band up there, and one night I was at the Butler Lodge in Hurleyville and the owner (he called me Melbenm), he said Jacky (all the comics were Jackies, Jacky Green, Jacky Berman, Jacky Winston, Jacky Vernan, there were a million Jackies…). He said, “Jacky’s sick, I don’t have a comic! You know that junk, you know those bad jokes. Will you go up and do them?” He said “Please.” That night I went up and told jokes like, “I fell in love with this girl, she was very thin, she was really thin, I took her to a restaurant and the head waiter said, ‘Good evening sir, check your umbrella?’ ” Those were the Jacky jokes. Finally, I had to do it for a couple of weeks because he was sick or didn’t show up, and I began writing my own jokes. That’s how I became a comedy writer. There was only one really good joke that I loved. Myron Cohen told this joke. Like 2018 WINTER

Milton Berle, we just stole from each other, there were no original jokes in the mountains. But this joke was Myron Cohen’s original joke, and it was beautiful. He said, “A guy goes into a grocery store and says, give me a pound of lox, give me six bagels, give me some cream cheese and he stops, and he looks and he says, ‘Salt. So many boxes of salt, on the first shelf you have 20 boxes of salt, on the second shelf you have 30 boxes of salt, and the third…you must have a hundred boxes of salt. Tell me, I don’t mean to pry but do you sell a lot of salt?’ and the grocery says, ‘If I’ll sell a box a salt a week, it’s a lot, I don’t sell a lot, but the guy that sells me salt, boy can he sell salt!’” That joke really worked, I loved that joke. That was the beginning of better jokes. SCORE: What’s your writing process? Do you write the lyrics first, the music first, do you have help? Mel: There is no process. Sometimes I get an idea for a poem and that will turn out to be a lyric, sometimes I just hear a melody that says something to me, therefore I write some words that skillfully fit the melody. But they just don’t come out of the blue. First of all, I usually write songs for a show which starts with a premise, which starts with a bunch of characters. I had a lot of help from the late, great Tom Meehan, who wrote Annie. I wrote a movie, so that’s a book, and he wrote the book of the musical with me and he would tell me when it was so emotional and it should sing. And he helped me immeasurably about what the song should be about, because both of us always wanted the songs to push the story forward rather than just sit down and simply celebrate an emotional moment.

Morris to sit at a piano, and I sing the song to him. And he uses that as the basis for his score for the whole movie. Let’s go way back to The Producers. I wrote a song called, “Springtime for Hitler.” Then John Morris used [Mel sings the first few bars] or he would use the song from The Twelve Chairs, and use that song for the theme. In The Producers, he used the melody sometimes frivolously, sometimes in a minor key, he would take that same song that I wrote and make it heartbreaking in a courtroom. Later I used his ideas for my musical on Broadway. It was John Morris who showed me what you could do with four notes. You can make it silly, funny, or you could make it heartbreaking. SCORE: But you wrote in so many styles. It’s reflected in some of the songs in those two shows—Young Frankenstein and The Producers. Mel: Yes, and it all depends on the storyline and the characters—who they are and what they would sing, how they would sing it and what the mood would be. When Matthew Broderick sings “’Til Him,” it’s actually a love ballad to Bialystock, to Nathan Lane. It depends on what the need is, it’s always for the show. It’s never for the song. The song simply services the show, so the audience is never troubled about how they should feel and when they should feel it. SCORE: But on all the lyrics to all your songs, they are clever, brilliant, original, they’re personable. Does your mind just go there?

Mel: Well, I tried to get the late, great John

Mel: When I did my movies, I was tutored by John Morris about how songs could be employed. That’s why those musicals are good. Because he was my teacher, about how to use his chords, his counterpoints, his fills. I mean, John Morris was a rich, brilliant composer. He really was my mentor when it came to music. We just lost him this year.

THE TWELVE CHAIRS Ron Moody and Framk Langella

HIGH ANXIETY Mel Brooks

SCORE: Do you sing them into a tape recorder, do you play an instrument when you write them? How do you actually end up with a whole song?

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SCORE: What are some of the other experiences you remember about working with him? Mel: I wrote a song for Madeline Kahn called “I’m Tired,” and he said, “You’re not afraid the song is a little naughty?” I said, “No, that’s Marlene Dietrich.” That’s the only time he ever said that song might be a little too dirty for the movie. For Blazing Saddles, nothing was too dirty. I said, “This is the last movie we’ll ever make, no one else will ever employ us again, John. We’ll never get a job after this movie.” You know, we used the N word, thank god I had Richard Pryor as my co-writer. I said to Richard, “Can I use that word here?” and he said, “You have to.” You know, he pushed me over the edge. Shame on him. But it worked. When I do my act today and go somewhere, I show Blazing Saddles. I just went to the Hammersmith Apollo, which is now called the Eventim, in Hammersmith, London. 3000 seats, they’d never really seen Blazing Saddles. I was crying with joy when I heard that audience reacting to that movie. I came out, and they cheered, and I couldn’t sit them down. SCORE: The theme song you wrote for that movie really does pay homage to all the Western songs. Mel: It does. I wrote that together with John Morris because he played four or five Western songs for me and that was it, that beat, a-dump-didie dump. I said, “We’ve got to go with that.” I wrote most of the words, and he wrote the important notes in that song. We got an Academy Award nomination for that song. We wrote it as a satire of Western songs. When Frankie Lane sang the song, he came to me with tears in his eyes and said, “That’s a beautiful song.” He didn’t know it was a joke. Wouldn’t he get an idea it was pretty funny and silly, and he loved music and he loved the song. And he was the perfect singer for that song. Everything was

SILENT MOVIE Brooks, Dom DeLuise, Marty Feldman

perfect, the big red letters, the yellow borders. That was the Western. Everything in it was Western with a little switch.

Mel: Some take a month, six weeks, and some of them take six hours. It’s never less than six hours because you have to polish them. You have to go back and make sure that the first refrain, the first chorus, matches after the release or the interlude matches the second chorus. It’s not as easy as pie, but I’ve written some good songs in six hours.

theme. It was his theme, it was beautiful. I didn’t write anything in Young Frankenstein until the musical, and then I wrote 20 songs. John had led the way. In Silent Movie, he came up with that march for Burt Reynolds. In High Anxiety, I wrote the song [Mel sings a little]. He took that song and he made that the whole theme of the movie. I was sitting next to Hitchcock showing him a rough cut of it, and he said, “Did you write that music, it’s beautiful.” I said, “I did, no I really didn’t. It’s John Morris.” I said, “Hitch, I just wrote the song. I didn’t write the score.” He said, “It’s beautifully scored. I wish I’d known him.” I said, “But you had Bernard Herrmann. He wasn’t so bad.” He said, “Yeah but he gave me a lot of trouble.” I said, “He wrote you great scores, he was worth the trouble, Hitch.”

SCORE: Do you ever feel like you have to do a rewrite, or you just write it and it works?

SCORE: Do you listen to music today, and if so, what do you listen to?

Mel: When I did Young Frankenstein on Broadway, I didn’t realize that it was a little too heavy. When I did it in England, I took out some heavy songs and put in one or two light ones, and I cut 20 minutes out of the show, and it goes like a streamlined train. It flows and you’re sorry it’s over. It’s so much better than the one we did at the Hilton Theatre.

Mel: I do. I listen to Broadway, and I listen to the ’40s music and then Sinatra on that Sirius channel in my car. I’m glued to that channel; I’ve got three or four different stations I listen to. I love the ’40s music, because that’s the music I grew up on. I mean, the ’40s was it for me. I never got to bebop really, and I certainly never got to rap, even though I wrote two rap songs myself. You know, “It’s Good to be the King,” was a rap and I wrote a rap called “The Hitler Rap.” You’ve got to hear it sometime. I mean, I’m not pushing Hitler but “The Hitler Rap“ is pretty funny.

SCORE: Congratulations on the success of Young Frankenstein at the Garrick Theatre in London. On both Young Frankenstein and The Producers, you wrote over 20 songs for each show. How long did it take for each show to write all those songs?

SCORE: Do you think the new version will come back to L.A.? Mel: I think it will. I think it will play everywhere. Of course, it’s a better version and it’s just as emotional, and I used some of John Morris’s themes for about 20 seconds when Frankenstein was about to be hung and he sings “I am a Frankenstein” and he claims his name. SCORE: When you worked so closely with John, did you have to give him any guidelines for the scores, or did he just think like you thought? Mel: He took the main song and scored the whole picture with it. S CORE: Okay, so the songs came first? Mel: Oh yeah. I wrote “Springtime for Hitler,” he had that for The Producers. I wrote “Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst,” for The Twelve Chairs—he used that song all throughout, sometimes in funny ways, sometimes in touching ways. Then when I did Young Frankenstein, he came up with the

SCORE: You’re the only person who could take anything about Hitler and make it funny. It wouldn’t work for anybody else…How do you feel about film music and songwriting in general in today’s world? Mel: You’ve got John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, you’ve got beautiful scores like The Shape of Water, the early Star Wars. Years ago, I used to love Miklos Rozsa, I used to love Gone with the Wind, all these big scores. We don’t have quite those score anymore but you can’t say one aspect of Hollywood film music is better than…it’s how it hits you, how old you were, and what it meant to you, and how it will always be in your mind and heart. It’s always different. Listen, if you’re 75 years old, you’re going to know “Opus One” by Tommy Dorsey; you’ve got to be 75 or older to know what an incredible song that is. I’m using it in Spaceballs. If I ever make Spaceballs 2, they’re going to dance to “Opus One.” It’s the best swing number ever created, and Tommy Dorsey’s version is the best. By the way, a

FROM TOP: Nathan Lane, Uma Thurman and Matthew Broderick in THE PRODUCERS; Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN; Cleavon Little and Wilder in BLAZING SADDLES.

simple ballad like “Stardust,” instrumentally, I’m not talking about Bing Crosby’s incredible rendition of the Hoagy Carmichael song, but Artie Shaw, starting with a high trumpet for the first chorus and then coming in with his elegant clarinet on “Stardust” is worth your life to get that Artie Shaw record and listen to what a melody can be if it’s rendered exquisitely. SCORE: Oh no, it’s time to go, I have overstayed my welcome. Thank you so much for this interview. It’s been lovely talking to you. The Score wishes to thank Jay Cooper, Jim DiGiovanni and Ed Brooks, without whose help this interview could not have taken place. 2018 WINTER

By Kaya Savas

FILM’S SHIFTING MIDDLE CLASS C

Where Did the Visionary Storytellers Go?

hange is always happening. It’s what drives us forward and keeps us free from complacency, and the entertainment industry is always in a state of change. The stories we tell for a living are a reflection of our society, of the human condition. But we are all living and working within the business structures and economy of our industry. This expands beyond just music, as well; this is looking at storytelling across all media. But for this examination, we’re going to focus on the film industry, specifically the middle class of movies and what happened to them. Now, you might see people phrasing it differently, with something like “the disappearance of the middle class.” It definitely feels like the middle class of filmmaking has disappeared, but in reality it’s just shifting. But what is the middle class of films? What do we define as “middle class.”

When we talk about “middle class,” we’re talking movies made for anywhere between $50 million-$110 million. And that would be in today’s dollars of course. Typically, these films are not sequels, which seems like a rarity these days. These movies were the bread and butter of the film industry. Movies like Forrest Gump, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, Dances with Wolves, The Fugitive, Se7en, Ghost, Mrs. Doubtfire, Philadelphia and many more. These were movies with big stars, usually a great balance of escapist fare, and powerful award contenders. In fact, did you know that all the movies that were just listed were all in the top 10 box-office earners of their respective years of release? Let’s rewind just two decades back, and take a quick look at the top 10 worldwide grosses from 1998. Let’s see what kind of films ended up grossing the most worldwide, how much they made, and what they cost to make. Of the top 10 grossing films of 1998, only three were either sequels or a remake of an existing established franchise. Also take a look at the variety of production budgets and the different genres all represented here. We even see the Oscar winner for Best Picture of that year with Shakespeare in Love cracking the top 10. The film landscape was so incredibly different. So what does the film landscape look like today? Are films with mid-range budgets and varying genres still our top earners? Let’s take a look at the top 10 worldwide grosses from 2017, just last year. In 2017 we see how much has changed in 20 years. In 2017, our top 10 worldwide films were all sequels or remakes, and all were action tentpoles. Also, only 3 of the films were produced for under $100 million. So what happened? When did this all start, and where did our middle class go? It was in 2008 that we saw a shift start to happen. The U.S. economy was in the midst of a recession as were other countries around the globe. 2008 was also the first year to have a Marvel Studios movie released. Iron Man did a respectable $585 million at the box-office worldwide, fantastic numbers for the year. But still, Iron Man placed eighth in worldwide grosses for the year, being beat out by movies like Mamma Mia! ($609.8 million), Hancock ($624.4 million), and Kung Fu Panda ($631.7 million). The top film for 2008 was of course, The Dark Knight, which barely crossed the $1 billion mark. We are already seeing our current state of the industry appear in 2008, and while sequels are not dominating the top 10, we see this push towards franchise films. The great

1998 HIGHEST-GROSSING FILMS

“Of the top 10 grossing films of 1998, only three were either sequels or a remake.” recession occurred worldwide during the late 2000s and all the way to the early 2010s, with the worst in the U.S. being during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The core recession years for the U.S. were between 2007 and 2009. This was right around 2008 when we saw The Dark Knight skyrocket to success, and when Marvel Studios planted the first seed for its cinematic universe. During a recession, spending becomes constricted. One of the first things cut back from household spending are nonessential goods, and entertainment falls in there. While entertainment is a huge part of our culture, the cost of going to the movies was an expense that many people cut back on. And if people were going to go to the movies and spend a good amount of money, they wanted to make sure they were going to spend their hard-earned money on a movie they knew they would enjoy. Just 10 years prior, families had way more discretionary income. The general public would be much more willing to take a chance on a film simply based on general plot, actors involved, filmmakers involved, or just the genre of the film. People were much more willing to roll the dice and experience a variety of different types of movies, and if they didn’t necessarily love the movie then it wasn’t a big deal. Filmmaking took on a larger role during

the recession as being a form of escapism. And people wanted to guarantee themselves a good time for the money they were spending. This is why tentpole blockbusters, sequels and specifically the rise of comic book heroes rose. In the ’80s and ’90s, action entertainment was seeing good guys take out terrorists and serial killers. But look at our culture and economic climate at that time; things were good. It was “fun” to see John McClane drop a terrorist from the window of a high-rise or to see the President of the United States yell, “Get off my plane!” and then break the neck of a Russian terrorist. Fast-forward a bit, and that no longer was fun. Our escapist entertainment turned to superheroes, true good guys fighting for peace and justice. Today when we turn on the news, we are bombarded by images of war, images of violence. Whether the news is reporting a new mass-shooting or a new incident of a police shooting, we became saturated in reality. Isn’t it interesting that a movie like Die Hard with a Vengeance, a film that includes a scene of a school being evacuated because of a suspected bomb, was the second-highest grossing film in the world for 1995? Today, we want to see superheroes save the day from super villains, and not be reminded of what the world is. While the good guys always win in action movies, having them being a bit supernatural and steeped in fantasy became 2018 WINTER

2017 HIGHEST-GROSSING FILMS

“In 2017, our top 10 worldwide films were all sequels or remakes, and all were action tentpoles.” a draw not just for fans but for the general public. It was almost that the general public wanted a sense of familiarity in their entertainment, they wanted to know what to expect. And Marvel Studios saw that need and tapped into it. Another series was already laying the groundwork of how big franchise recognition could be, and that was the Harry Potter series. The last film opened in 2011 yet we are still seeing “wizarding world” films in 2018. Also, at first, Hollywood was still experimenting with new properties. We saw studio pictures pumped with some large budgets get greenlit, but in the end they mostly flopped. Movies like The Lone Ranger, John Carter, Final Fantasy, The Alamo, Speed Racer, Pan, and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword all lost hundreds of millions for their respected studios. While a few of those movies are based on existing properties, they were attempts at creating something new, and they all failed. A loss of $100 million or more stings, and studios don’t like getting stung. This prompted a prediction from two filmmaking veterans that pretty much came true. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas spoke at the grand opening of USC’s Interactive Media Building in 2013. There they spoke to the next generation of film students, mostly hitting them with a dose of reality. The Hollywood Reporter reported Lucas 38

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stating, “I think eventually the Lincolns will go away, and they’re going to be on television,” Lucas said. “As mine almost was,” Spielberg interjects. “This close—ask HBO—this close.” Lucas continues, “We’re talking Lincoln and Red Tails—we barely got them into theaters. You’re talking about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can’t get their movie into a theater,” Lucas said. “I got more people into Lincoln than you got into Red Tails,” Spielberg joked. “The pathway to get into theaters is really getting smaller and smaller,” Lucas said. That prediction in 2013 has come true. Streaming giants have grown so much and so rapidly, it’s a bit weird because it feels like we’ve always lived with Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video and HBO Go. Netflix only launched its online streaming model in 2007, at a time when no one was really using it. You needed internet fast enough to handle the bandwidth, and of course quality was still an issue. Today, Netflix’s standard format for their originals is 4K resolution with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. And that is where our “middle class” finally found refuge. A platform to exist. When Netflix and Amazon began looking for original content, there was a whole generation of storytellers eager to work, but with no place in the current theatrical exhibition space. Directors could direct again, without serving a brand vision. We saw challenging and more unique offerings.

Auteurs like the Coen brothers and Cary Fukunaga found a place to exercise their creativity. It wouldn’t be surprising to see someone like Terrence Malick follow suit. The theatrical space has no room for “award contenders” anymore. Studios don’t want to make them, and theaters don’t want to carry them because they don’t fill seats. Last year’s Best Picture winner was Moonlight, a film that cost $4 million and only grossed $65 million worldwide. A24 was the studio behind the film, and while they made a profit, given its small budget, it wasn’t till it started streaming on Amazon Video that it found a wider audience. Amazon knows there is a market for these types of films, which is why Amazon and A24 struck a timed exclusivity deal. Only recently did some A24 titles become available on Netflix, but it’s on Amazon where you can watch the newest ones available. Independent film distributors are adapting to the current landscape, and while everything is still changing before our eyes, it seems for now we know where the middle class has landed. The line between film and television is also blurring. Limited series have become extremely popular. Director Mike Flanagan just had great success with The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix, something that probably wouldn’t have been possible as a 100-minute movie, and something that wouldn’t have found a big audience in theaters. Television has been the haven for auteurs and bold visionaries for many years now, but now original films are finding a home here too. The good news for everyone is that more content is continuously being made, so much content is being made. It might be harder for those working in television, since TV orders are much smaller these days. Shorter TV seasons mean that below-the-line crew will have shorter periods of employment before having to find their next gig. It’s definitely a change that everyone is adapting to. The most interesting thing right now though is trying to predict where the industry will go from here. It’s quite hard to predict how things will be 10-15 years down the road, but there are some things that are starting to take shape. The big studios, who are currently dominating theatrical exhibition, are now building their own streaming services. Both Disney and WarnerMedia are in the midst of building their own services that will house all their content. Will that mean that studios like Disney and Warner Bros. would be open to producing more middle-class films and premiere them straight to their services? Or will it just house the continued onslaught of $200 million tentpoles all under their own

respective roofs? It’s hard to say, spending habits of movie-goers will always be the driving factor. What we decide is worth our money will always drive the industry, it always has. The most important thing is that the middle class never disappeared, it just found a new home. We are still seeing trends of visionary storytellers building wonderful relationships with their crew and continuing to collaborate through the years. Studio tentpoles will always have a revolving door of talent, but at the end of the day, it’s the studio logo that appears before the film that controls the creative direction of those franchises. While filmmaking at the grandest scale will be reserved for sequels and remakes, we are seeing the streaming model change not just TV but film as well. We have plenty of muddy waters to navigate going forward, including FILMS LIKE Shakespeare in Love, Mrs. Doubtfire, Forrest Gump, Moonlight, Something About Mary and Gladiator represent middle-class entertainment.

making sure everyone is paid fairly in this new streaming world. However, technology and new business models are driving forward to make sure the most diverse and stylistically rich stories have a chance to be seen. Up next will most likely be the big studios trying to occupy the streaming space with their own content, but it will hopefully lead to even more platforms for the middle class of filmmaking to thrive.

While “ everything is

still changing before our eyes, it seems for now we know where the middle class has landed.

”

CLIFF EIDELMAN THE BIRTH OF A SYMPHONY BY CLIFF EIDELMAN

The SCL reached out to composer Cliff Eidelman to share a very personal story. In his quest to complete his Symphony for Orchestra and Two Pianos, Cliff Eidelman ended up going on an immense creative journey that would test him both as a person and a composer. The story is incredibly inspiring, and while it might be typical to see a third-person article of a story like this, in this case, it comes best from the person who lived it. Cliff Eidelman was gracious to take us through his creative journey that will hopefully inspire anyone who is on a musical quest of their own.

y composer’s journey started when I wrote my first orchestral work in 1985; a ballet I called “Once Upon a Ruler.” I was 19 years old and still a student. I was emerging from my teenage chapter of playing with my many original rock bands (that began at seven years old), where I was the singer/songwriter and guitarist. Following completion of my ballet score, I was determined to have it performed but being a novice in this world, I had to go through the many ropes of figuring out how to make that happen. I had the fortunate chance to encounter a wonderful teacher in my music history class at Santa Monica College, Dr. Donald Richardson, who would become my mentor and greatest supporter. Dr. Richardson encouraged me and with his help, we managed to convince the associated student body to fund the project with $1,300 to cover the costs of copying the score and giving each musician a small fee. I then jumped onto the phone and reached out to numerous student musicians from UCLA, USC and Cal State Northridge. Each player was paid $60 for two rehearsals and two performances, which was enough to attract students looking for experience, and that’s how I got my orchestra together! I posted flyers around the campus and did what I could to promote the concerts. To my delight, we had a full house at both shows! The performances were recorded by Ira Rubnitz, a talented engineer who I worked 40

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with during my rock band days. The next semester, I transferred to USC for music composition. While there, I kept my “ballet endeavor” alive by sending a tape of the performance to a film director which got me a meeting and ultimately, led the opportunity to write several pieces of music based on the script. This resulted in securing my first film score and launched my career. Looking back now, I see this experience as the most crucial in preparing me for what was ahead. By 2011, I had composed many film scores, most notably Star Trek VI (The Undiscovered Country), some concert works, and a collection of songs, but I had never yet had a chance to write a symphony. I started sketching out ideas for a large-scale work. I had no preconceived ideas of what the form or orchestration would be, and so I allowed the composition to grow organically. I had images and fantasy visions floating in my mind related to water from overpowering oceans to serene streams. Working on the first movement, the colors and orchestration began to crystalize. The piano was expressing flowing themes that felt like raindrops. Though the piece was not a piano concerto, the piano was a very prominent voice, so much so that I added a second piano as the piece was calling out for four hands. Little did I realize while I was following my inner voice that I was creating a much tougher situation for the recording. My longtime collaborator director Ken

Kwapis had a new film (Big Miracle) for me to score that took me off the symphony but it was a welcome project and offered me a wide canvas for music. It was particularly interesting in that the location of the film took place partly in the ocean dealing with the saving of whales, so while I paused composing my symphony during that time, I was still working within the realm of water. After the conclusion of that film, I jumped back onto the symphony. I had always composed concert music and many earlier film scores the old-fashioned way, pencil to score paper, but with this project, I used Digital Performer. My method of capturing the ideas was similar to how I

“

Now I had a completed score, but where to go from here? —Cliff Eidelman

have done more recent film scores, except that I had only three MIDI sequences, one for each movement. I had a template of a few hundred tracks which covered the full orchestra. One by one, I played each part into the sequence ultimately completing all three movements in MIDI. At this point, I needed the music printed out on full score, so I could work pencil to paper. In full printed score, it is much easier to see the full ark of the composition especially in a symphony where the pieces are much longer. The very talented Penka Kouneva was thoroughly helpful inputting my numerous MIDI tracks into Finale, from which a score was printed out. At a later stage, Nicolas Repetto also helped

with that task. I began to mark up the score and really started working it over. Now I had a completed score, but where to go from here? My good friend Richard Guérin recommended that I send this piece to the well-known piano duo, Katia and Marielle Labèque. So, off went the audio rendering of the MIDI mock-up. I got a really nice phone call shortly after from Katia. She expressed enthusiasm for the work and a desire to pursue a performance. Around that point, I was inspired to add two piano cadenzas, which acted as preludes preceding the second and third movement. Since the orchestra plays such a prominent role, I felt that these two piano cadenzas would round out the

”

symphony and allow for the two pianists to take center stage at times. I thought that securing a performance was now likely in the cards. Scores and an audio MIDI mock-up were sent around. I soon realized that the classical music world had a whole different set of rules, and my experience in the film business did not transfer very well. I was used to the immediacy of a film score, where projects go from start to finish in a much faster period of time. In retrospect, I see that I was quite naive. I started to get very frustrated with how this process was going and soon recognized that the prospect for a performance or recording was going to be an uphill journey. 2018 WINTER

I 41

Months later, I kept thinking to myself that there must be other ways to get this music out. Remembering my youthful enthusiasm for the “do it yourself” style, I decided to go full steam ahead. I had already invested so much effort into this work and I was determined to move forward. That was the turning point! I turned to Richard Guérin again, and we talked quite a bit about options. At some point during one of our many discussions, I realized what was missing. I started to look back to where I was in 1985 and remembered what I had to do to get my ballet Once Upon a Ruler performed. I had to do it myself! I had gotten accustomed to the film music life, where budgets were handled by the studio and contractors took care of hiring the orchestra, ultimately leading to the release of the film and the soundtrack album. Even in cases of lower budget package deals, it all happens fast. But in the concert music world, a new symphony called for patience on a grand scale. So, this task of getting it out more quickly had fallen entirely

“

I had gotten accustomed to the film music life, where budgets were handled by the studio and contractors took care of hiring the orchestra. —Cliff Eidelman

on my shoulders. I had to find an orchestra, two concert pianists who play well together, an engineer, a studio, a copyist, a film crew and the whole shebang to get this going. My first move was to reach out to the brilliant Jonathan Allen, the engineer who recorded my concert work The Tempest with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 1997. To this day, this is one of my favorite sounding albums of mine, and I just had to have him for this recording. He strongly recommended recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, who he had worked with many times and who he thought would be perfect for this music. This orchestra is extremely versatile; recording a Mahler Symphony one week followed by a film score the next. They are open to doing all types of music, and this openness was what I needed. I sent the LSO my score and I was very impressed with the enthusiasm they brought to the project, effectively working at coordinating all the logistics. I then started listening to concert pianists from all over. Much of what I was hearing was highly trained academic playing, but my heart wasn’t touched. What I needed was a mix of someone who could play technically very tight yet bring a high level of emotion to the music. The fusion of both abilities was a must for this piece. I explained this to Jonathan and he introduced me to the wonderful concert pianist, Michael McHale. His playing just floored me. He had everything I was looking for. It was Michael who brought on Tom Poster to play Piano 2, and he complemented Michael’s playing beautifully. Finally, I chose

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”

Abbey Road Studios for the recording. Landing a date took numerous emails between Mario de Sa from the LSO, Jonathan Allen, Michael McHale, Tom Poster, and Abbey Road. The only date where everyone was available was January 29, 2018, so I grabbed it. This was the most concrete step toward the materialization of this project, and I was getting very excited. I now had to prepare for the recording. I knew my recording time had to be efficient, so I had to make sure everything was going to be more than ready. I went through the score to the point of exhaustion to weed out any mistakes. Every minute of recording time was crucial, and I could not afford a single hiccup on my limited budget. I practiced conducting in my studio, so all the conducting cues would be memorized. Unlike in film, I had done months of extensive preparations during which I developed my own interpretive ideas ahead of time, in addition to knowing the score inside and out. Upon arriving in London, I first met with Michael McHale and Tom Poster and we ran through the music at Steinway Hall in London. The only room they had available for us was about 12x12 in size, located in the basement of the store where the smell of varnish was strong in the air. We were right next to the room where pianos were being worked on and restored. None of that mattered because we had a room to rehearse in, and that is all I was consumed with. Michael played on a baby grand and Tom only had an upright. It was a magical afternoon in that basement room. It was my first moments of hearing the music played beautifully by Michael and Tom, I felt deep emotions and relief. The next day was Sunday, my day off before the big sessions. We all went out for brunch to air out and it was just what was needed. That night, I got no more then a few hours’ sleep because I was too excited to finally hear this symphony played. I got to Abbey Road and the first hiccup hit immediately. There was no third trumpet or fourth horn. I was a bit freaked out, but after 45 minutes of nail biting, finally they showed up at the last second. I stepped onto the podium and looked down at the score. I got to stand before one of the greatest orchestras in the world. Here I was, finally arriving at the moment I had been anticipating forever, yet my head was sort of cloudy from being sleep deprived and still jet lagged. I had to adjust to the sound of the room. The woodwinds were not coming through very well in my headset, so initially I wasn’t sure exactly what

Cliff Eidelman and London Symphony Orchestra album near completion. Photo courtesy of Cliff Eidelman.

I was getting. I was also looking down at the score too much. I finally realized, I didn’t need to do that. I looked up at the orchestra and continued almost never looking down at the score again, making the connection with the musicians much more intimate. It was exhilarating, hard, joyful, and exhausting, but I would not have traded it for anything. It was the culmination of a long journey and a dream come alive. Getting all three movements recorded in the time allotted was a big task but we finished in the nick of time. It was time to switch gears to record a chamber work I composed in 2014, Night in the Gallery (to be released January 2019). The orchestra was sized down to 23 players, all first chair and soloists from the London Symphony Orchestra. This piece is a four-movement work inspired by paintings mainly from a book called Treasures at the Louvre. It’s a programmatic work where the characters from the paintings jump off the canvas and come to life in music. Having these musicians play this character-driven piece was an absolute treat. In the piece, each instrument is fully exposed, and each player had to play a musical “acting role.” It went down very smoothly and far exceeded my expectations.

Following the Night in the Gallery recording, the two pianists returned to record the two piano cadenzas for Symphony for Orchestra and Two Pianos. Afterward, the film crew did interviews with the pianists, Jonathan Allen and myself. We were done. Before leaving Abbey Road, my family and I had to do a quintessential family photo in front of this world-famous studio! The next day, I was off to Jonathan Allen’s countryside studio about an hour outside of London. We mixed for several hours, and then I took the train back to London. I had recently signed on for representation with Maggie Rodford and Becca Nelson at Air Edel. Maggie and her team in London were extremely helpful in assisting with the details of the recording, she was very knowledgeable in the nitty-gritty details of the agreements between my company and the UK union, and her input was invaluable. I was very grateful to have that kind of support in London. After my return to Los Angeles, the work began yet again with the next phase. We had to continue our mixing remotely between my studio in Santa Monica and Jonathan’s near London. It really worked well, and we were able to mix as if we were next to

each other. We completed the mix which concluded this whole recording process. Now, how do I get people to listen to the music? I hired a small camera crew to film the sessions, so I could share the process. I was introduced to a talented film editor Sandra McCallig who created the “Behind the Scenes (EPK)” of my experience with the LSO. Promotion soon started and on November 2, Symphony for Orchestra and Two Pianos was released. I had finally sent this piece off into the world! It felt really good! Within a day of the release, I received an email from the director of the Film Music Prague Festival informing me that they will perform the Symphony for Orchestra and Two Pianos as part of a concert that features film composers who compose concert works. It’s a launch! Whatever the life of this piece, I feel good about having stretched myself to create and produce this project. I hope my journey and process motivates other composers, whether it be a piece recorded entirely on plugins or having musicians. In my view, it’s a matter of perseverance, patience, hard work, and believing in what you are doing to find a way to make it happen. 2018 WINTER

BOOK REVIEWS AL SCHMITT ON THE RECORD: THE MAGIC BEHIND THE MUSIC

session. He reflects on his life, and there are some great stories about the artists he has recorded with. To get more of a glimpse into what you will read in his autobiography, see the interview in this issue of The Score, and by all means, pick up this book. It is fascinating!

BY AL SCHMITT WITH MAUREEN DRONEY

OTHER BOOKS BY AL SCHMITT

FOREWORD BY PAUL MCCARTNEY

Al Schmitt on Vocal and Instrumental Recording Techniques $24.99 Metalliance Academy Series: METAlliance Academy Publisher: Hal Leonard Books Format: Softcover Author: Al Schmitt

REVIEW BY LORI BARTH

Published by Hal Leonard Books $29.99 Spanning from Al Schmitt’s early days as an engineer until the present, you will read the story of his life, many of his recording experiences where he takes you through some of the great sessions he has engineered. There are diagrams of his setups and some technical information on the mics he has used and his outlook on how he personally engineers a

MUSIC MONEY AND SUCCESS:

THE INSIDER’S GUIDE TO MAKING MONEY IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS BY JEFF BRABEC AND TODD BRABEC REVIEW BY LORI BARTH

A great book discussing how Al Schmitt uses microphones when he is recording instruments and vocals. A little more technical, but some truly great information if you really want to dive in a little deeper.

Published by Schirmer Trade Books $34.99 This is the new and revised 8th edition of Music Money and Success. Absolutely one of the greatest reference books that everybody should have on their bookshelf. Just about any question you could think of asking which relates to legal and business issues in the music industry is answered in this book. Over 100 pages have been added to discuss such topics as up-to-date rates, royalties, negotiating tactics, contracts, licenses, deal summaries and more. I cannot tell you the number of times I personally have reached for this book to look up issues I have been faced with. Never fail, the book always measures up to my getting the answers I need to be successful. This book has got it all.

New and Revised 8th EDITION

Music Money AND Success The Insider’s Guide to Making Money in the Music Business

Jeff Brabec and Todd Brabec 44

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PERFORMANCE RIGHTS COMMON WORKS REGISTRATION: MY STORY BY ABBY NORTH

My company, North Music Group, is a small, boutique music publisher. While my catalog does include some substantial evergreen hits, we control fewer than 20,000 compositions overall. I began my music career as a composer, and roughly 15 years ago, I decided to start a production music catalog. I knew enough to get into the business, but nowhere near enough to be a great administrator. A couple years after I entered the production music world, I was fortunate enough to marry into a catalog that includes “Unchained Melody,” one of the biggest songs of all time. My father-in-law, Alex North, was a composer and songwriter, who wrote the music for “Unchained Melody” with the lyrics written by Hy Zaret. Up until the beginning of 2014, “Unchained Melody” had a publishing administrator, but in the beginning of 2014, the Zaret and North families formed Unchained Melody Publishing LLC, a single-song publishing entity. I had passion for “Unchained Melody,” along with the belief that I could take better care of the copyright than someone who did not have a personal connection to the copyright and its authors. Because I wanted to prove my administration abilities, I made it my mission to learn everything I could about international music publishing. “Unchained Melody” is an incredible tool for this, as it is popular across all generations and territories, it has been adapted into at least 20 different languages, and it has been covered by thousands of artists. To be clear, the scale of a copyright’s ubiquity and earnings does not affect how it should be registered and how it should be administered—all works must be registered in order for rights holders to effectively collect their royalties. In the beginning of my production music career, I had sub-publishers in only a few territories, and I could manage works registration on a manual basis. When Unchained Melody Publishing began

administering “Unchained Melody,” we selected various major and boutique subpublishers to register and collect in many territories, and we also directly affiliated with a handful of ex-US CMOs so we could have access to data, be able to monitor registrations and avoid paying sub-publishers’ admin fees. Having access to data is very helpful in income tracking. The more data we have, the more easily we can see when royalties are not being distributed to us, whether due to incorrect registration information, missing contact information, or genuine distribution errors. Monitoring registrations is crucial as we regularly find incorrect parties attributed as rights holders of our works and we find incorrect shares. CMOs do not regularly or efficiently share their registration data with one another, so consequently, we must register our works at all societies in order to most accurately and successfully collect our royalties. As our network of sub-publishers and direct CMO affiliations expanded, I was desperate to find a way to create CWR files so I could batch register my works. A few years ago, I learned about Musicmark’s EBR (Electronic Batch Registration), and I began using that standard to deliver registrations to ASCAP, BMI, and SOCAN. I have always subscribed to a DIY philosophy. Around a year and a half ago, I found a young software developer in Portugal who helped me build a database in Microsoft Access that I use to process my statements. We have been using this tool successfully since its development, and this database allowed me to avoid investing big money in Music Maestro, or some other similar tool. Before building my own database, I tried a few other options on the market, but none were user-friendly enough or comprehensive and robust enough for my needs. Once our database was working, I had the ability to process my royalty statements for my clients. However, in spite of being able to process statements on my own, I was still without CWR capabilities. As I began administering other copyrights for various legacy songwriters and composers and their estates, manual registration was a real and time-consuming problem for me. A couple years ago, a colleague pointed me to a blog that discussed CWR. The owner of the blog is a Croatian developer named Matija Kolaric, who has worked for more than a decade building royalty administration

systems for major European music publishers. I contacted Matija, and we discussed the possibility of him creating software for me that would allow me to create CWR files. At that time, I did not have the budget required to fund the software development, and therefore, I hit a dead end. Fortunately, near the beginning of this year, Matija reached out, informing me he had decided it was time for him to develop a SAAS product, specifically, a CWR tool for the music-publishing masses. Matija had skills and unmatched knowledge regarding works registrations and the nuances among the various CMOs. I had data, time, and desire to be Matija’s beta tester, and hands-on experience with both production and commercial music. Using my data and that of a few other publishers, Matija quickly built a miraculously helpful tool—one that takes an EBR file and converts it to a CWR file. The first time I tried it and successfully converted my EBR file to CWR, I felt as if I had been given a magic wand! It almost seemed as though I was cheating. Matija has various other free and paid tools in addition to his EBR to CWR Converter. The free tools include a CWR Syntax Highlighter, which illuminates the contents of CWR files, and an ACK Overview tool, which interprets ACK (acknowledgment) files from CMOs. The paid tools are geared toward large publishing companies and are more robust than the simple, free tools. For small publishers like me, Matija’s tools are a godsend. My CWR files have been accepted and successfully validated by ICE, PRS/MCPS, BUMA/STEMRA, and my sub-publishers (both major and boutique). At last, CWR is available to each and every music publisher, regardless of its size or budget. 2018 WINTER

SCL EMMY RECEPTION 2018 The SCL hosted its annual Emmy reception on September 7, 2018, at NeueHouse Hollywood. The reception honored the nominees across all music categories, and was a night to celebrate music in television.

L-R: Don Peake, SCL President Ashley Irwin, Judi Pulver

Back row L-R: A. Patrick Rose, Kevin Kiner, Adam Wayne Blackstone, Gregg Field, Sean Callery, Jeremy Zuckerman, John Nordstrom, Vivek Maddala Top middle row L-R: Chris Bacon, William V. Malpede, Joerg Huettner, Daniel Pemberton, Max Matluck, Tony Morales, SCL President Ashley Irwin, Kevin Kliesch

L-R: SCL President Ashley Irwin, Diane Warren

Bottom middle row L-R: SCL Vice President Charles Bernstein, Cyrille Aufort, Mychael Danna, Benj Pasek, Dominic Messinger, Carlos Rafael Rivera, D. Brent Nelson Front row L-R: Justin Paul, Cindy O’Connor, Michael D. Simon, John Paesano

L-R: Greg O’Connor, Elena Maro, Jack D. Elliot, Lori Barth

SongArts Chair Adryan Russ and Dale Alan Cooke

L-R: SCL President Ashley Irwin, Kevin Kiner

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L-R: Mychael Danna, Jeff Russo, Diane Warren

L-R: SCL Vice President Charles Bernstein, Mychael Danna, Mark Isham, Sean Callery, Jeff Danna, BMI’s Ray Yee

L-R: Mark Isham, Daniel Pemberton, Jeremy Zuckerman

L-R: Mac Quayle and Tony Morales L-R: Mychael Danna, Jeff Danna

L-R: Michael D. Simon, Mark Isham, Cindy O’Connor

L-R: SCL Vice President Charles Bernstein, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul

L-R: Vivek Maddala, Adam Wayne Blackstone

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Diamond I Members

Gold I Members

KRISTEN ANDERSONLOPEZ LORI BARTH RICHARD BELLIS BAREND BENDORF ALAN & MARILYN BERGMAN BRUCE BROUGHTON DENNIS C. BROWN CARTER BURWELL JAY CHATTAWAY GEORGE CLINTON BILL CONTI JAMES DIPASQUALE CLINT EASTWOOD DAN FOLIART CHARLES FOX ELLIOT GOLDENTHAL ARTHUR HAMILTON

CATO NEAL ACREE JOSH ALEXANDER AMY ANDERSSON TAMMY ARI ALEXANDER ARNTZEN SEBASTIAN AROCHA MORTON SPRING ASPERS MELISSA AXEL LORNE BALFE STEVE BARDEN NATHAN BARR JOE BARRERA JR. JEFF BEAL JONATHAN BEARD JOEL BECKERMAN ARBEL BEDAK CHARLES BERNSTEIN DAVID BERTOK KEVIN BLUMENFELD PETER BOYER STEPHEN BRAY RICHARD BRONSKILL RUSSELL BROWER BENEDIKT BRYDERN KENNETH BURGOMASTER DENNIS BURKE BYRON BURTON JUAN CAMMARANO JEFF CARDONI KRISTOPHER CARTER DENVER CASADO SACHA CHABAN DONGLIANG CHEN MICHAEL CHOI SHAWN CLEMENT JERRY COHEN KAVEH COHEN BRIAN CURTIN IMRE CZOMBA MYCHAEL DANNA TIM DAVIES ALBERTO DE LA ROCHA JOHN DEBNEY

JAMES HOWARD MARK ISHAM ROBERT LOPEZ JOHNNY MANDEL BLAKE NEELY RANDY NEWMAN DAVID PAICH MIKE POST J. PETER ROBINSON LALO SCHIFRIN RICHARD SHERMAN DAVID SHIRE ALAN SILVESTRI MARK SNOW DENNIS SPIEGEL MIKE STOLLER MARK WATTERS JOHN WILLIAMS MAURY YESTON

Platinum I Members JACK ALLOCCO GENE BACK JOHN BEAL MARCO BELTRAMI AMIN BHATIA NICHOLAS BRITELL ANTHONY CHUE JOSEPH CONLAN ALEXANDRE DESPLAT KURT FARQUHAR RANDY GERSTON MICHAEL GIACCHINO TIRA HARPAZ WILL JENNINGS MICHAEL LEVINE DEREK MACHANN

JOHN MASSARI BEAR MCCREARY PETER MELNICK MARIELLA NELSON THOMAS NEWMAN MARK PETRIE JOHN POWELL DAMIR PRICE MAC QUAYLE JUAN RODRIGUEZ DAVID SCHWARTZ HOWARD SHORE CARLO SILIOTTO EDWARD TRYBEK KUBILAY UNER ANGELA WHITE AUSTIN WINTORY

In Memoriam

Advisory Board Members ELMER BERNSTEIN JOHN CACAVAS JERRY GOLDSMITH MAURICE JARRE 48

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PETER MATZ DAVID RAKSIN PATRICK WILLIAMS

JOHN DEFARIA ARHYNN DESCY JOHN DICKSON SCOTT DOHERTY DENNIS DREITH ROBERT DUNCAN LAURA DUNN ERICH EINFALT JARRYD ELIAS JACK ELLIOT DEL ENGEN JOEL EVANS EVAN EVANS LAURENT EYQUEM SHARON FARBER SHELLEY FISHER PABLO FLORES ATTILA FODOR ANDY FORSBERG ALEXANDRE FORTUIT GRANT GEISSMAN SCOTT GLASGOW ETHAN GOLD EVAN GOLDMAN WILLIAM GOLDSTEIN JOEL GOODMAN JENS GROETZSCHEL ERIC HACHIKIAN CHRISTINE HALS WAYNE HANKIN BRUCE HEALEY REINHOLD HEIL LEE HOLDRIDGE SCOTT HOLTZMAN TREVOR HOWARD RUSS HOWARD III FRANK ILFMAN GIOVANNA IMBESI ASUKA ITO LYNDA JACOBS MICHAEL JAY GARRETT JOHNSON QUINCY JONES FEDERICO JUSID LAURA KARPMAN TAISUKE KIMURA DAVE KINNOIN CHRISTOPHER KLATMAN JASHA KLEBE

KEVIN KLIESCH REBECCA KNEUBUHL CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT LYNN KOWAL RAASHI KULKARNI MICHAEL A. LANG DIDIER LEAN RACHOU MICHAEL LEHMANN BODDICKER EDIE LEHMANN BODDICKER TORI LETZLER PAUL LIPSON ANGELA LITTLE JOSEPH LODUCA STERLING MAFFE DAVID MAJZLIN VANCE MARINO BILLY MARTIN RICHARD MARVIN BENJAMIN MASON ARLENE MATZA-JACKSON MICHAEL MCCUISTION MARK MCKENZIE JOEL MCNEELY BRUCE MILLER BRYAN MILLER TRICIA MINTY BRIAN MOE SANDRO MORALES JEFF MORROW HELENE MUDDIMAN DAVID MURILLO R. JONATHAN NEAL RHETT NELSON DAVID NEWMAN MATT NOVACK GREG O’CONNOR CINDY O’CONNOR ANELE ONYEKWERE JOHN OTTMAN BENJ PASEK CARLA PATULLO JUSTIN PAUL ORLANDO PEREZ ROSSO STU PHILLIPS

The Society of Composers & Lyricists is committed to

Diamond I Sponsor/Patron

the creation of scores and songs for motion pictures,

JAY COOPER

television, and other media to advance the interests of its members within the music community.

Platinum I Sponsor/Patron BONNIE CACAVAS

Gold I Sponsors/Patrons ART PHILLIPS JOHN PISCITELLO KIM PLANERT DANIEL RAIJMAN J. RALPH RON RAMIN NICK REDMAN TRENT REZNOR ALLAN RICH LOLITA RITMANIS CARLOS RIVERA DAN ROMER EARL ROSE LIOR ROSNER WILLIAM ROSS ATTICUS ROSS ENIS ROTTHOFF ADRYAN RUSS BRENDA RUSSELL JEFF RUSSO JEREMY SCHIEFFELIN

TONY SCOTT-GREEN ROXANNE SEEMAN ELIZABETH SELLERS BATU SENER ROCHELLE SHARPE RYAN SHORE HELEN SIMMINSMCMILLIN ROB SIMONSEN MARK SMYTHE CURT SOBEL HENRY STANNY SALLY STEVENS KAREN TANAKA DARA TAYLOR BRANDI THOMAS JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE JEREMY TISSER TREY TOY JEFF TOYNE TYLER TRABAND JOHN TRAUNWIESER

SARAH TREVINO JAKE VERSLUIS DANIEL WAKEFIELD JACK WALL DIANE WARREN JASON WEBB HAROLD WHEELER FREDERIK WIEDMANN ALAN WILLIAMS ALLEE WILLIS CHRIS WIRSIG JOHNATHAN WOLFF GERNOT WOLFGANG DAVID WOOD CATHARINE WOOD CHRISTOPHER YOUNG RENDRA ZAWAWI

BURT BACHARACH ALAN & MARILYN BERGMAN BRUCE BROUGHTON CARTER BURWELL GEORGE S. CLINTON RANDY EDELMAN CHARLES FOX ELLIOT GOLDENTHAL DAVE GRUSIN ARTHUR HAMILTON JAMES NEWTON HOWARD MARK ISHAM ROBERT LOPEZ

KRISTEN ANDERSON-LOPEZ JOHNNY MANDEL RANDY NEWMAN THOMAS NEWMAN MIKE POST LALO SCHIFRIN RICHARD SHERMAN DAVID SHIRE ALAN SILVESTRI MARK SNOW MIKE STOLLER DIANE WARREN PAUL WILLIAMS MAURY YESTON

IN MEMORIAM

SCL I Ambassadors

VAN ALEXANDER RAY CHARLES HAL DAVID RAY EVANS EARLE HAGEN JACK HAYES JERRY LIEBER VIC MIZZY ROBERT SHERMAN PATRICK WILLIAMS

Lifetime I Achievement Award BILL CONTI PHILIP GLASS

QUINCY JONES GINNY MANCINI

LALO SCHIFRIN

JAY L. COOPER, ESQ. JIM DIPASQUALE

CLINT EASTWOOD DENNIS SPIEGEL

JOHN WILLIAMS

Honorary I Lifetime Members

MARCO VALERIO ANTONINI TODD BRABEC LES BROCKMANN JONATHAN BROXTON JON BURLINGAME SAVINA CIARAMELLA ANDREW COHEN RAY COSTA JANA DAVIDOFF LISA DONDINGER BRUCE DUKOV LAURA ENGEL KEVIN ESTWICK SCOTT FREIMAN SUSAN FRIEDMAN JEFFREY GRAUBART KEN HELMER SHARI HOFFMAN SABRINA HUTCHINSON JOEL IWATAKI SETH KAPLAN LAURA KATZ JONATHAN KINTZ COLIN KNOEDELSEDER RICHARD KRAFT TOM LEE JEHAN STEFAN LEGROS DUSTIN LIGGETT CHARLEY LONDONO PATTY MACMILLAN ARIEL MANN CHRIS MCGEARY ROBERT MESSINGER JAKE MONACO ISABEL PAPPANI CHANDLER POLING JUDI PULVER MARK ROBERTSON JOHN RODD CHRISTINE RUSSELL PAULA SALVATORE JEFFREY SANDERSON KAYA SAVAS KYLE STAGGS CANDACE STEWART JOHN TEMPEREAU ROBERT TOWNSON ALEXANDER VANGELOS VASI VANGELOS RAYA YARBROUGH 2018 WINTER

A MEETING OF THE MAESTROS

icons

MUSICAL

A group of legends, some of the timeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top composers, together for a night out. Front L-R: Pete Rugolo, Bill Conti, Henry Mancini, David Rose. Back L-R: Dick Hazard, Jack Hayes Photo courtesy of Angela Rose White 50

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IN APPRECIATION OF OUR

PREMIER PARTNERS ALFRED MUSIC

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‘‘LUDWIG GÖRANSSON DELIVERS A SINGULAR PIECE OF WORK.

‘‘

D A V I D

E H R L I C H

PRIZE-WINNING ‘POET LAUREATE ‘‘PULITZER OF HIP-HOP’ KENDRICK LAMAR HAS MADE HISTORY WITH HIS MUSIC.

‘‘

L I S A

R O B I N S O N

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

BEST PICTURE BEST ORIGINAL SCORE LUDWIG GÖRANSSON

BEST ORIGINAL SONG “ALL THE STARS” MUSIC AND LYRICS BY

KENDRICK LAMAR | ANTHONY TIFFITH MARK SPEARS | SOLANA ROWE AL SHUCKBURGH

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