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Re: OT: final mixing and mastering of film score....hints?



Title: Re: OT: final mixing and mastering of film score....hints?
Hi Mark,

 Glad to help.  Logic is a very serious program, no doubt. I've been using it for over 15 years (and Notator and Creator before that!).  I have become dismayed at Apple's apparent appeasement of "4 on the floor" techno artists, but  it is still more flexible than any DAW I've seen.  Nearly every film composer I've worked with uses Logic, and the tempo functions are amazing.  Doing music for film is  an incredible feat. I've  found it humbling to see a composer present a brilliant score only to get a re-cut of the film and have to start over. But it is fun, too.
I see more sheer innovation in scoring than ANY pop record I've mixed... In December I mixed over 50 cues in one  8 hour day for an upcoming film ( http://www.discoverersmovie.com/about.html  ).  The composer on that film refused to use any samples, and instead created what he called his "Craigslist Orchestra".  He purchased instruments off of Craigslist and taught himself how to play them.. Cello, Trombone, Banjo, flute,  any sort of "found object" for percussion, etc.. incredible...your Bones and Cellos are in good company!

The key on that project was to strip away all the post processing that the composer had employed while writing and bring the music back to life.  It was simple, no-nonsense hard work.

Dealing with existing "on screen" vocals is tricky. Recutting is sometimes a luxury, too...  I recently cut vocals with the lovely and talented Julianne Moore for an upcoming movie called "What Masie Knew" ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1932767/ ).  In one scene she sings and plays guitar.. not wanting to tie up a day of filming we decided that it would be best to cut the performance in the studio. She actually learned the song on guitar herself so that she'd look convincing on screen as she lip synched.

Keep us posted!

-Chuck

At 14:51 +0100 13/2/12, mark francombe wrote:
Hey Chuck!

Thanks for the gratz..

I dont think I would dare to try those techniques without some serious experimenting anyway Charles, waaay out of my league.. what I like about your POV is that.. this I can do! Its part and parcel of writing in the first place..
I have completed a rough score and am awaiting suggestions and changes from the director,  and my post was hoping to get some idea about the next stage... the tweaking... I have been struggling (and got lots of help from Mr Boysen) regarding maybe aspect of the composition in Logic. Many of them are things related to exactly what you are saying, Like simply being able to slow down subtly has proven a headache on a DAW that expects us to be a techno musician. BUt in Logic its very easy, I just didnt know how, and the results are astounding. Musically Ive had alot of fun, Ive been mixing cellos with human thighbones, and sampling an actress screaming and made it into an organ, Ive also covered 5 minutes by just playing, improvisationly, fingers on keyboard head up at screen.

I have to work with this "turning it down thing.. It sound great at top volume, but thru computer speakers, just my "top" comes thru... Here I really want to compress the shit out of it, I would if it was pop music, but I dont want to ruin the dynamics I have worked hard to create...

(Psst.. How much do you cost per hour?? kidding... there no budget!)


thanks again..

Mark
On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 2:13 PM, Charles Zwicky <cazwicky@earthlink.net> wrote:
Hi Mark,

Congrats on the film score!   I'm a professional mixing engineer, and in the last 30 years I've mixed thousands of records and hundreds of film and TV scores.  I've been following the thread here, and I am a bit concerned at some of the  advice you've been given. 
-Chuck Zwicky
New York

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mark francombe
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