When you watch a movie or a television show, it’s easy to get caught up in the story, the plot details, the characters, and the action. That’s the point of entertainment. If you’re not involved in the film industry in some way, you probably don’t think about the things that go on behind the scenes. But if you watch the scroll of credits at the film’s end you’ll realize how many people it takes to make a movie, both on set and behind the scenes.
Music is an integral part of every movie-watching experience. A soundtrack serves to enhance the story by setting a mood, emphasizing certain onscreen actions and complementing details. When you watch a scary movie, for example, a “jump scare” that jolts you is much more effective thanks to the music behind it.
In Quentin Tarantino’s summer 2019 movie “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” a wall-to-wall soundtrack of 1960’s pop and rock music presented in parts as what characters might be listening to on their car radios or via records on a turntable, not only set the perfect mood for the story that was being told, but it also played a role in the film as some lyrics, whether you caught them or not, paralleled what you saw on the screen.
There are some recording facilities that excel at creating movie music, and the Evergreen Stage is one of them. With it’s 3,000-foot live room that can accommodate up to 60 musicians, 70-channel Neve 8078 console and wide and diverse variety of digital and analog equipment that includes an impressive collection of vintage microphones, the Burbank studio, which itself was once the site of a legendary movie theatre, has been creating music used in films for four decades.
Its list of film credits include “Back to the Future,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” “The Blues Brothers,” “Urban Cowboy,” “Octopussy,” and “The Simpsons Movie.” On the smaller screen, the Evergreen Stage has recorded audio for such television shows as “Friends” and “Dallas.”
Just this roster alone exemplifies the diversity of music that’s been recorded and produced at the Evergreen Stage. “Dallas” aired during an era that might be referred to as a golden age of television programming during which pretty much every show had a distinctive theme and soundtrack. You could always tell which show was an Aaron Spelling or Quinn Martin production, while such music writers as Mike Post and Lalo Schifrin were always kept busy.
Film scores have been an integral part of movies since the early days, when there was a relatively small handful of folks in Los Angeles who wrote those scores, each of whom brought his or her distinctive touches to each projects. What makes this musical endeavour different from creating other types of music is that it needs to work in union with the action that’s taking place on screen. You’ve probably seen photos of orchestras or bands recording film music under the direction of a conductor, while a movie plays on a giant screen in the studio. As the movie progresses the recording taking place in the studio is being matched to each scene and even each action within the scene. It’s painstaking work, but highly essential to the story, as well as to the audience’s experience.