On the Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring

by Rayburn Wright and Fred Karlin

Book Overview

On the Track offers a comprehensive guide to scoring for film and television. Covering all styles and genres, the authors, both noted film composers, cover everything from the nuts-and-bolts of timing, cuing, and recording through balancing the composer's aesthetic vision with the needs of the film itself. Unlike other books that are aimed at the person "dreaming" of a career, this is truly a guide that can be used by everyone from students to technically...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415941369
• ISBN13: 9780415941365
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 3.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

The Greatest and Most Complete Book I Ever Seen. Don't care about its price

This is the greatest book I ever seen. It' a complete guide for film and tv scorig. It analyses every aspects and tasks of the film music production for a composer. From the spotting to the business... It explains very clearly the concepts, also with a lot of quotations from today's most famous film composers, editors, executives, producers, directors... (more than 100 professionals have contributed with quotations to this 'bible'). There are many many printed score examples. It is very up to date, with modern films examples, and there's also a chapter concerning digital music composition. I've copied the whole contents pages, so you can see this book professionality. Just don't care about the price, it's really a great investment. I was in doubt to buy it for the price, but when I've opened it I've realized that my money was spent in a great way. CONTENTS of On the Track by Fred Karlin and Rayburn Wright Foreword by John Williams Preface to the First Edition Preface to the Second Edition Acknowledgments for the First Edition Acknowledgments for the Second Edition Introduction How iv Use This Book I PRELIMINARIES 1 The Filmmaking Team Meeting the Filmmakers. The Director. Communicating with the Director. Support and Guidance. Two-Way Dialogue between Director and Composer. The Producer. The Producer's Power. Communicating with the Producer. The Film Editor. The Music Editor. Music Executives and Supervisors. 2 The Script, Meetings, and Screenings The Script. The First Meeting before Screening the Film. The First Screening. First Cut, Fine Cut, and Assembly. The First Discussion after Screening the Film. Composing before the Film Is Finished. 3 Role Models and Temp Tracks Specific Film Scores or Cues as Role Models. Specific Film-Scoring Styles Used as Role Models. Specific Classical Pieces or Styles Used as Role Models. The Composer's Use of Role Models. Evoking a Role Model Inadvertently. Role Models and Plagiarism. Temp Tracks. Music Editors and Temp Traclcs--How It's Done. Why Filmmakers Use Temp Tracks. How Composers Work with Temp Tracks. 4 Spotting the Film Talking It Over. Making Decisions. When To Use Music. Starting a Cue. Ending a Cue. Short Cues, Transitions, and Long Cues. The Importance of the Acting. The Director Communicates. Spotting Notes and Timing Notes. Changes in the Spotting after Scoring. Score Lengths. 5 Budgets and Schedules Cost Factors. Figuring Costs. Working with a Smali Budget. Scoring Union or Nonunion. The Assumption Agreement. Working with the Contractor. Composing Fees. Budget Estimates. Time to Compose. Copying Time. II CONCEPTUALIZING 6 Developing the Concept Characterization. The Central Character. The Singie Dramatic Theme. Two Dramatic Themes. Ethnic/Geographic Considerations. Musical Styles. Combining Two or More Stylistic Elements. The Process of Elimination. Scores for Study. 7 Demonstrating the Score: Mockups and Electronics Electronic Mockups. Mockups for Communication. C

MUST BUY IT :)

This book is a MUST for everybody who is involved in the film industry (composers, producers, directors, film and music editors, etc...) and wants to know the insides of composing film scores: It has many examples, references, quotes and the expertise of such a great composer as Karlin is. Wanna be serious in this business, must get it. It's worth buying it.

The Veda of Film Scoring

Fred Karlin and his orchestration teacher Rayburn Wright both passed away but their spirit comes alive through the pages of this book. Fred's love for film music and to impart fledgling composers to imbibe the intricacies of film music composition is well documented and presented and is current with examples of cues from movies till 2002 in the 2nd edition of the book. Fred's reverence for film composers is both inspirational and exhaustive and reveals what a brilliant human being he was. This world and the music community needs people like this who have taken their chosen art form and has the good heart to share that information which is hard earned to let other men take lead and become CAUSE over their own vistas of expression in film music. Fred is BRILLIANT AND ALIVE. It is inevitable that you can't help but think of him with gratitude and call out to him and say THANK YOU. These are the people who can bring about changes in the field of film music education and the evolution of man in general by helping us create better art. This is the Veda of Film Scoring. Its that good.

Excellent

This is a great book to add to your collection and to improve your technique and knowledge of film scoring. it's worth the price!

The basic contemporary film-scoring text.

An excellent book, and the principal how-to text in the field of film scoring. It's used as the text in university-level film-scoring classes, and it's on the desk of many practicing feature-film composers. Karlin and Wright teach their subject by means of interviews and case studies, and also discuss the terms and technologies that relate to the gear being used today. Content-wise, Karlin and Wright don't hold back, presenting a whopping 886 pages of information. Ron Simpson, Brigham Young University Author of MASTERING THE MUSIC BUSINESS