THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOUND TRACKS

The term soundtrack refers to three related concepts: recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; and the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized recorded sound.

Origin of the term
In movie industry terminology, a "sound track" (two words) is an audio recording created or used in film production or post-production. Initially the dialogue, sound effects, and music in a film each has its own separate track (dialogue track, sound effects track, and music track), and these are mixed together to make what is called the composite track, which is heard in the film. A dubbing track is often later created when films are dubbed into another language.

The contraction soundtrack (one word) came into use with the advent of so-called "soundtrack albums" in the early 1950s. First conceived by movie companies as a promotional gimmick for new films, these commercially available recordings were labelled and advertised as "music from the original motion picture soundtrack." This phrase was soon shortened to just "original motion picture soundtrack." More accurately such recordings are made from a film's music track, because they usually consist of the isolated music from a film, not the composite (sound) track with dialogue and sound effects.

The abbreviation OST is often used to describe the musical soundtrack on a recorded medium, such as CD, and it stands for Original Soundtrack; however, it is sometimes also used to differentiate the original music heard and recorded versus a rerecording or cover of the music.

Soundtracks are not the same as "cast albums". Original cast recordings are studio made recordings of the songs from a stage musical. The performers sing the score live every night. They do not lip-synch to pre-recorded tracks. Incorrect use of the terminologies creates confusion in the marketplace. For example as of July 2008 there are two albums of the "Mamma Mia" score. The first is the original London cast recording from 1999, while the latest is the film soundtrack. While it is correct to call the soundtrack a cast recording (since it is the cast of the film version) it is incorrect to call the original London cast recording a soundtrack.

Types of Recordings
In the soundtrack genre there are three types of recordings:

1. Musical film soundtracks which concentrate primarily on the songs (Examples: “Grease”, “Singin' in the Rain”)
2. Film scores which showcase the background music from non-musicals (Examples: “Star Wars”, “”Exodus”)
3. Albums of pop songs heard in whole or part in the background of non-musicals (Examples: “Sleepless in Seattle”, “When Harry Met Sally”)

The first musical film to have a commercially issued soundtrack album was MGM’s film biography of Jerome Kern, “Till the Clouds Roll By” The album was originally issued as a set of four 10-inch 78-rpm records. Only eight selections from the film are included in this album. In order to fit the songs onto the record sides the musical material needed editing and manipulation. This was before tape existed, so the record producer needed to copy segments from the playback discs used on set, the copy and re-copy them from one disc to another adding transitions and cross-fades until the final master was created. Needless to say it was several generations removed from the original and the sound quality suffered for it. Also, the playback recordings were purposely recorded very "dry" (without reverberation) otherwise it would come across too hollow sounding in large movie theatres. This made these albums sound flat and boxy.

MGM Records called these "original cast albums" in the style of Decca's Broadway show cast albums. They also coined the phrase "recorded directly from the soundtrack." Over the years the term "soundtrack" began to be commonly applied to any recording from a film, whether taken from the actual film soundtrack or re-recorded in studio. The phrase is also sometimes incorrectly used for Broadway cast recordings. While it is correct to call a "soundtrack" a "cast recording" (since it represents the film cast) it is never correct to call a "cast recording" a "soundtrack." Among their most notable soundtrack albums were those of the films “Good News”, “Easter Parade ”, “Annie Get Your Gun”, Singin' in the Rain, Show Boat, “The Band Wagon”, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”, and “Gigi”.

Film scores albums did not really become popular until the LP era, although a few were issued in 78-rpm albums. Alex North’s score for the film version of “A Streetcar Named Desire” was released on a 10-inch LP by “Capitol Records” and sold so well that the label later re-released it on one side of a 12-inch LP with Max Steiner film music on the reverse.

Steiner’s score for “Gone with the Wind” has been recorded many times but when the film was reissued in 1967, MGM Records released an album of the famous score. One of the biggest-selling film scores of all time was John William’s music from the movie “Star Wars”. Many film score albums go out-of-print after the films finish their theatrical runs and some have become extremely rare collectors’ items.

In a few rare instances an entire film dialogue track was issued on records. The 1968 Franco Zefferelli film of “Romeo and Juliet” was issued as a 4-LP set, and also as a single LP with musical and dialogue excerpts. The ground-breaking film “ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” was put out by Warner Bros Records as a 2-LP set containing the complete film play.

Film score
The term soundtrack now most commonly refers to the music used in a movie (or television show), and/or to an album sold containing that music. Sometimes, the music has been recorded just for the film or album (e.g. Saturday Night Fever). Often, but not always, and depending on the type of movie, the soundtrack album will contain portions of the score, music composed for dramatic effect as the movie's plot occurs. In 1908, Camille Saint-Saens recorded the first music specifically for use in a motion picture (L'assasinat du duc de Guise), and releasing recordings of songs used in films became prevalent in the 1930s. Henry Mancini, who won an Emmy Award and two Grammys for his soundtrack to Peter Gunn, was the first composer to have a widespread hit with a song from a soundtrack.

By convention, a soundtrack record can contain all kinds of music including music "inspired by" but not actually appearing in the movie; the score contains only music by the original film's composer's.Video game soundtracks
Main article: Video game music
Soundtrack may also refer to music used in video games. While sound effects were nearly universally used for action happening in the game, music to accompany the gameplay was a later development. Rob Hubbard and Martin Galway were early composers of music specifically for video games for the 1980s Commodore 64 computer. Koji Kondo was an early and important composer for Nintendo games. As the technology improved, polyphonic and often orchestral soundtracks replaced simple monophonic melodies starting in the late 1980s and the soundtracks to popular games such as the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy series began to be released separately. In addition to compositions written specifically for video games, the advent of CD technology allowed developers to incorporate licensed songs into their soundtrack (the Grand Theft Auto series is a good example of this). Furthermore, when Microsoft released the Xbox in 2001, it featured an option allowing users to customize the soundtrack for certain games by ripping a CD to the hard-drive.

Audio restoration is a generalized term for the process of removing imperfections (such as hiss, crackle, noise, and buzz) from sound recordings. Audio restoration can be performed directly on the recording medium (for example, washing a gramophone record with a cleansing solution), or on a digital representation of the recording using a computer (such as a AIFF or WAV file). Record restoration is a particular form of audio restoration that seeks to repair the sound of damaged records.

Modern audio restoration techniques are usually performed by digitizing an audio source from analog media, such as lacquer recordings, optical sources and magnetic tape. Once in the digital realm, recordings can be restored and cleaned up using digital audio workstations (DAWs). DAWs can perform various automated techniques to remove anomalies using algorithms to accomplish broadband de-noising, de-crackle and de-hiss tasks. Often audio engineers and sound editors use DAWs to manually remove "pops and ticks" from recordings. DAWs are capable of removing the smallest of anomalies without leaving artifacts and other evidence of their removal. Audio restoration is often a time consuming process that requires skilled audio engineers with specific experience in music and film recording techniques.

Overview
The majority of audio restoration done today is done for music sound recordings and soundtracks for motion picture and television programs. The demand for restored audio has been fueled by new media consumer technologies such as CD and DVD. Modern audio reproduction systems require that sound sources be in the best condition possible to enhance the listening experience. Media content owners have come to recognize the importance of having clean sound on their products to enhance the commercial value of their media assets.

The byproduct of these restoration efforts is that many audio sources are brought into the digital world and preserved for future use. An unfortunate fact is that most of the sound recordings and motion picture soundtracks created over the past century have been lost due to improper storage and neglect.

Enhancements are often done to motion picture soundtracks. For example taking a mono or stereo soundtrack and re-mixing it to a modern 5.1 surround soundtrack. When sources from original discrete audio "stems" containing dialog, music and sound effects are used and properly restored, the enhancements can be significant and highly effective.

Recent developments
Two researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Drs. Vitaliy Fadeyev and Carl Haber have been experimenting with an audio restoration method which involves taking a very high definition digital photographic image of the vintage recording medium. They use a precision optical metrology system (designed to scan silicon detectors) to form an image of the groove on a 78 rpm record. After processing the digital file, they have an audio stream that represents the variations in the groove walls, allowing them to 'play' the record virtually without using a phonograph stylus. 2D images can be made more quickly and have proved worthy of further investigation on 78 rpm discs cut laterally. A 3D method is possible, though it takes much longer for the photographic survey of the recording and it requires much more storage space for the larger digital file. 3D methods are required for non-flat media such as "hill-and-dale" recordings (an early vertical cutting method by Pathé), Edison cylinders and Dictabelt rolls. 3D imaging is required for stereo phonograph records in order to capture the full detail of both inner and outer groove walls.

In the summer of 2007, the U.S. Library of Congress moved their audio, video and film restoration group to Culpeper, Virginia where the newly completed National Audio-Visual Conservation Center Packard Campus is sited.[5][6] Gene DeAnna heads the Recorded Sound Section. With 3 million sound recordings and many more film and video works that include synchronized sound in the archive, the mission of the Sound Section is twofold: preserve the treasure of vintage sound recordings and increase public accessibility to the collection.[7] One of the ways that access can be increased is through the diligent digitization of analog media. The Library has expressed interest in the Fadeyev/Haber 2D imaging method for quick digital archival of their vast collection of vinyl and shellac phonograph records. Audio restoration tasks will take place in parallel with the digitization effort. A massive multipetabyte storage array is nearing completion; it will hold the large digital audio and moving image files.


Usually, after the film has been shot (or some shooting has been completed), the composer is shown an unpolished "rough cut" of the film (or of the scenes partially finished), and talks to the director about what sort of music (styles, themes, etc.) should be used — this process is called "spotting."[2] More rarely, the director will talk to the composer before starting shooting, so as to give more time to the composer or because the director needs to shoot scenes (namely song or dance scenes) according to the final score. Sometimes the director will have edited the film using "temp (temporary) music": already published pieces that are similar to what the director wants. Most film composers strongly dislike temp music, as directors often become accustomed to it and push the composers to be imitators rather than creators. On certain occasions, directors have become so attached to the temp score that they decided to use it and reject the score custom-made by a composer. One of the most famous cases is Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, where Kubrick opted for existing recordings of classical works rather than the score by Alex North[3], which eventually led to a law suit by composer György Ligeti when he was surprised to hear his compositions in a motion film[4]; though one should note Kubrick hired two composers (the other Frank Cordell) to do a score, and while North's 2001 is indeed a famous example, it is not the sole example of well-known rejected scores. Others include Torn Curtain (Bernard Herrmann)[5], Troy (Gabriel Yared)[6], Peter Jackson's King Kong (Howard Shore)[7] and the The Bourne Identity (Carter Burwell).[8]

Once a composer has the film, they will then work on creating the score. While some composers prefer to work with traditional paper scores, many film composers write in a computer-based environment[9]. This allows the composer and orchestrator to create MIDI-based demos of themes and cues, called MIDI mockups, for review by the filmmaker prior to the final orchestral recording. Some films are then re-edited to better fit the music. Instances of this include the collaborations between filmmaker Godfrey Reggio and composer Philip Glass, where over several years the score and film are edited multiple times to better suit each other.[10] Arguably the most successful instances of these are the associations between Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone. In the finale of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Morricone had prepared the score used before and Leone edited the scenes to match it.[11] His other two famous films, Once Upon a Time in the West and Once Upon a Time in America, were completely edited to Morricone's score as the composer had prepared it months before the film's production. Another example is the famous chase scene in Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. The score, composed by long-time collaborator John Williams, proved so difficult to synchronize in this specific scene during the recording sessions that, as recounted in a companion documentary on the DVD, Spielberg gave Williams carte blanche so to speak and asked him to record the cue without picture, freely; Spielberg then re-edited the scene later on to perfectly match the music.


From Naqoyqatsi by Philip Glass
Problems listening to the file? See media help.When the music has been composed and orchestrated, the orchestra or ensemble then perform it, often with the composer conducting. Musicians for these ensembles are often uncredited in the film or on the album and are contracted individually (and if so, the orchestra contractor is credited in the film or the soundtrack album). However, some films have recently begun crediting the contracted musicians on the albums under the name Hollywood Studio Symphony after an agreement with the American Federation of Musicians. Other performing ensembles that are often employed include the London Symphony Orchestra, the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (an orchestra dedicated exclusively to recording), and the Northwest Sinfonia.

The orchestra performs in front of a large screen depicting the movie, and sometimes to a series of clicks called a "click-track" that changes with meter and tempo, assisting the conductor to synchronize the music with the film.[12]

Films often have different themes for important characters, events, ideas or objects, taking the idea from Wagner's use of leitmotif[13]. These may be played in different variations depending on the situation they represent, scattered amongst incidental music. A famous example of this technique is John Williams' score for the Star Wars saga, and the numerous themes associated with characters like Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia (see Star Wars music for more details)[14]. The Lord of the Rings trilogy uses a similar technique, with recurring themes for many main characters and places. Others are less known by casual moviegoers, but well known among score enthusiasts, such as Jerry Goldsmith's underlying theme for the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact, or his Klingon theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture which other composers carry over into their Klingon motifs, and he has brought back on numerous occasions as the theme for Worf, Star Trek: The Next Generation's most prominent Klingon.

Most films have between forty and seventy-five minutes of music. However, some films have very little or no music; others may feature a score that plays almost continuously throughout. Dogme 95 is a genre that has music only from sources within a film, such as from a radio or television. This is called "source music" because it comes from an on screen source that can actually be seen or that can be inferred (in academic film theory such music is called "diegetic" music, as it emanates from the "diegesis" or "story world").[15] Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 thriller The Birds is a rare example of a Hollywood film with no non-diegetic music whatsoever.

In 1983 a non-profit organization, the Society for the Preservation of Film Music, was actually formed to preserve the "byproducts" of creating a film score[16]: the music manuscripts (written music) and other documents and studio recordings generated in the process of composing and recording scores which, in some instances, have been discarded by the movie studios. The written music must be kept in order to perform the music on concert programs and to make new recordings of it. Sometimes only after decades has an archival recording of a film score been released on CD.




Historical notes
Before the age of sound motion pictures, great effort was taken to provide suitable music for films, usually through the services of an in-house pianist or organist, and, in some case, entire orchestras, typically given cue sheets as a guide. In 1914, The Oz Film Manufacturing Company sent full-length scores by Louis F. Gottschalk for their films. Other examples of this include Victor Herbert's score in 1915 to Fall of a Nation (a sequel to Birth of a Nation) and Camille Saint-Saëns' music for L'Assassinat du duc de Guise in 1908 — arguably the very first in movie history. It was preceded by Nathaniel D. Mann's score for The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays by four months, but that was a mixture of interrelated stage and film performance in the tradition of old magic lantern shows. Most accompaniments at this time, these examples notwithstanding, comprised pieces by famous composers, also including studies. These were often used to form catalogues of film music, which had different subsections broken down by 'mood' and/or genre: dark, sad, suspense, action, chase, etc. This made things much easier for the in-house pianists and orchestras to pick pieces that fitted the particular feel of a movie and its scenes.

A full film score widely regarded as the first made by a popular artist came in 1973 with the film Pat Garret and Billy the Kid, by Bob Dylan. However the album received very little critical acclaim. This had not been done before in popular film history: any featured band had films written around the music (notably The Beatles with Yellow Submarine

A film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film. The term film score is frequently synonymous with film soundtrack, though a soundtrack may also include the songs used in the film while the score does not. A score is sometimes written specifically to accompany a film, but may also be compiled from previously written musical compositions.

Each individual piece of music within a film's score is called a cue, and is typically a composition for instruments (eg. orchestra) and/or non-individually featured voices. Since the 1950s, a growing number of scores are electronic, or a hybrid of orchestral and electronic instruments.[1] Since the invention of digital technology and audio sampling, many low budget films have to rely on digital samples to imitate the sound of real live instruments.