{"id":2654,"date":"2012-11-01T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T22:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.andreas-grimm.com\/?page_id=2654"},"modified":"2025-05-02T05:17:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T03:17:53","slug":"glossary-what-does-it-all-mean","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/glossary-what-does-it-all-mean\/","title":{"rendered":"Glossary"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div><\/span>

What Does It All Mean?<\/h1><\/span>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Score<\/h2>\n

Music created for dramatic purpose. The term relates to “scoring”\u2014writing musical notation\u2014which one indeed does, especially if the production can afford an orchestra. The term does not include source music or songs, such as those used in a film montage. The complete body of a film\u2019s music is instead called the soundtrack<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Source Music<\/h2>\n

Music that has a rational justification within the film\u2014unlike the dramatic and emotional function of the score. Specifically, this means music whose source one sees, senses, or at least believes to exist (unlike the thousand violins on the boat of a drifting castaway). For example: music from a radio, a television, or a song played by a pianist on a nightclub stage. Source music may be licensed, but can also be custom-written by the composer. Sometimes it even costs more than the entire score. Especially if it\u2019s by Taylor Swift.<\/p>\n

Cue<\/h2>\n

A piece of music with a clear start and end. A film score may have over a hundred\u2014or fewer than ten\u2014cues, depending on the film\u2019s length, tone, and the director\u2019s vision. Cues can last a few seconds or be as long as a symphonic poem (like John Williams\u2019 finale for E.T.<\/em>). Very long cues are often subdivided. With good old Max Steiner (King Kong<\/em>), it feels like there\u2019s only one cue\u2014the music just never stops. You don\u2019t really do this anymore.<\/p>\n

Spotting<\/h2>\n

The most important meeting between director and composer. Here, the timing, structure, and purpose of each cue are discussed in detail based on an edited version of the film. Directors often communicate their vision using temp tracks<\/em>. Neglecting elements during spotting can later cost a lot of time, effort, and money. Still, a good spotting session does not replace ongoing communication during the composition process.<\/p>\n

Layouts<\/h2>\n

The first versions of various cues, usually created on a computer. Extremely important, as their approval by the director or editor confirms the composer\u2019s direction and also gives the production and sound design teams an initial sense of the film\u2019s musical atmosphere. Some composers make their layouts so brilliantly that they can send a moody orchestra home on recording day, if necessary. Others are used to directors who can imagine a full orchestral version from a solo piano cue or a quickly cobbled-together demo. I lean toward the former approach\u2014you can\u2019t rely on the imagination of clients. That wouldn\u2019t be fair either, since I\u2019m the one paid for the music, and others are paid for many things, but not for having a grand musical imagination.<\/p>\n

Temp(orary) Tracks<\/h2>\n

Temporary pieces of music placed by the director during rough cuts at all the points where music is intended. At best, this is a great help for composers, since\u2014if the director has been thorough\u2014they know exactly where the musical highlights should land in a cue. But one should not cling too tightly to the form of these tracks, since they usually come from other film scores and, despite working in isolation, cannot possibly create a cohesive musical arc across the full film. The trick is to quickly produce your own layouts before the director and producers become too attached to (“locked into”) the temp tracks.<\/p>\n

Carpet<\/h2>\n

\u201c\u2026and there needs to be a little something underneath, so it doesn\u2019t feel so empty\u2026\u201d
\nIn fact, a subtle musical underlay with no strong accents can sometimes help when a dialogue scene feels a touch too dry. But that\u2019s no reason to make it shapeless or boring. Ideally, such a carpet is developed from musical material used elsewhere in the score to subtly enhance the soundtrack\u2019s cohesiveness. Good film composers know how to weave very fine carpets.<\/p>\n

Sound Design<\/h2>\n

All audio elements other than music are merged here before the final mix. In addition to sound effects and ambient atmospheres, sound design gives each scene its distinct sonic character. A room can sound pleasant or threatening\u2014sound designers achieve this through variously constructed reverberation spaces, in which speech and sounds resonate, or through added layers of sound, sometimes in inaudible frequency ranges. Sound designers are usually just as proud of their work as composers are. And since their domain is the claim to “sonic realism,” whereas musical composition seeks to emotionally transcend that reality (at least within the score), the final mix can become a battleground. (\u201c\u2026that crash is smothering the melody!\u201d, \u201cBut thunder always comes after lightning\u2026\u201d, \u201cYes\u2026 but we\u2019ve had thunder for five minutes, people get it\u2014it\u2019s a storm\u2026\u201d)<\/p>\n

Approval<\/h2>\n

A prerequisite for everyone involved to feel good\u2014and for the composer to receive payment. The score must be approved by both the director and the producers. This can sometimes take a while, especially if scenes are changed after the final mix, or if the director and production are not in agreement. In case of doubt, you can consider the music as being approved once the film is broadcast or shown in theaters.<\/p>\n

Final Mix<\/h2>\n

Here all sound elements come together: score, source music, sound design, sound effects, production audio, and of course, dialogue. This is often where the battle of egos unfolds\u2014sound design and music run in parallel, and on top of that, speech clarity is at stake. Ultimately, the balance is decided by the director and the re-recording mixer. It helps to remember\u2014even during the most beautiful cue\u2014that the music wouldn\u2019t exist without the film. So it can only be in the foreground in rare exceptions. Its main task is that of a supporting role. The film makes the music.<\/p>\n

Crisis<\/h2>\n

It happens all the time. Just when you think everything\u2019s going smoothly\u2014schedule and budget on track, no writer\u2019s block a week before the final mix, and for once you\u2019re even making some money\u2014bam, after the first test screenings, the film gets completely re-edited and shortened by twenty minutes. No cue fits anymore, the beautiful main theme scene is gone, and everything has to be redone\u2014and well\u2014preferably by yesterday. Yep, a crisis.<\/p>\n

Why didn’t I learn a useful profession\u2026?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2654","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-projekte-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2654"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2790,"href":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2654\/revisions\/2790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andreas-grimm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}