Sound Of Music

ISN'T IT SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO HEAR WHAT THEY SAYIN' AND SINGIN' ON TV?

To work with television, film and media is not as easy that some may belief. When all program content is recorded, edited, FX ed, and scored, the time has come for put everything together.

Sometimes every piece is just in right place at once, and you can relax. Other times the sound engineer and the director has to struggle and sweat all nights long. Regardless of all tweaking with filters, perspective or levels nothing seems to fit. The music is too loud and the dialogue too weak - or on the contrary.

When sitting there and struggle maybe someone will come with that brilliant idea to change music. That's a hard thing to do, but lets try that at last - and whops! - It worked (you have to learn to "kill your darlings")! Why?

AN EXAMPLE FROM THE REALITY

I was putting together diegethic music (source music, that is music from a pretended source in a scene, for instance a loudspeaker) in a romantic scene in a drama program. I first tried a favorite romantic song (Tommy Nilsson's Öppna din dörr - (Open your door) that I thought was perfect. The result was extraordinary good, so good so my tears was dripping down my cheeks, and that very feeling that appears that use to appear when you success to affect a strong feeling. It felt almost a little bit holy.

There was only one problem - together with the bubbles in the bath, the champagne glasses and the dialogue, the music drowned all these elements. And terrified I realized that this beautiful and perfected music not was useful with optimal result, so that everything could be heard crystal clear. Reluctant I took another favorite romantic song, but from a slight other genre (Bach's Air). Immediately everything was in perfect balance. Why is some music working and everything is transparent and clear, and some music fights with the dialogue - when the balance of the sound level is the same? What's the kernel of the problem?

THE NATURE OF MUSIC

For be able to plan, act or have constructive ideas about to lay music in a production, an absolute condition is to have basic knowledge about what music is:

Music has three main components:

1. Rhythm
2. Harmony
3. Melody

1. Rhythm is the pulse in the music. Compare to the pulse in the body - in many ways similar about rest, activity, stress, panic. The tempo in the rhythm and the tempo in the pulse in the body is approximate the same.
The graduated scale for pulse or tempo is BPM and means Beats Per Minute. A common tempo is 120bpm and is the same as two beats per second.

Common instruments are:
- Drums, percussion (other rhythm instruments)
- Bass, rhythm guitar, percussive synthesizer sound

2. Harmony is mainly chords and can be major (glad) or minor (sad or melancholy), with or without colors in the harmonies. Creates often the feeling in the music.

Common instruments are:
- Piano, strings, synthesizer sound
- Bass, acoustic or electric guitar

3. Melody is the lead motive in a music piece. Usual the most important instrument in the music. But here, with television/film is it very special:

Common instruments are:
- Piano, acoustic or electric guitar, saxophone, harmonica
- Vocal
- The dialogue

You can't have two melodies fighting with each other. The dialogue won't be happy with the lead motive on for instance an acoustic guitar. One melody - the guitar and the dialogue, gladly together but not simultaneous.

When you understand this you will have better conditions to get a clear dialogue and strong expressive music simultaneous.

SOUND WITH HARD AND SOFT PROFILES

Sound can be divided in two main groups:

1. Sound with hard profiles
2. Sound with soft profiles

Sound that has a hard profile has a little sharper timbre, and sound that has soft profile has a little more dull timbre

HARD PROILES	SOFT PROFILES
Spoken voices/dialogue Fireworks Gunshots Paper noise Computer typing Telephone signals Singing of birds	Mumbling crowd from distance Sea and wind Interior car- and train sound Streaming water from distance Dull music Wood sounds from distance
Drums and cymbals Percussion Bras section playing fortissimo Electric and acoustic guitars Piano Harpsichord Vocal Dialogue	Strings Synthesizer pads Soft woodwinds, such flute playing soft, low notes
Techno Music Rock and Crunch	Ambient Music String Orchestra Soft Soul

 

Music as well as all other sound has a hard profile or a soft profile. If two sound will be blend with a successful result (that's when the booth sounds can be heard clear) one sound has to be with soft profile and one sound has to be with hard profile. If not, at least one of the sounds will loose its character and maybe even its understanding.

Its not possible to blend two sound with hard profile and get a successful result, for instance spoken voices and fireworks. Its also hard to hear a dialogue simultaneous as drums and cymbals fights with the toneless consonants.

And its not possible to blend two sound with soft profiles and get a successful result, for instance soft synthesizer pads and and a crowd of people from distance.

But its possible to blend two sound with different profiles and get a successful result, for instance fireworks and string orchestra, or a crowd of people from distance with rhythm guitar.

Let's take a little moment and try this out:

SOUND	PROFILE	RESULT
Fireworks & piano	Hard	Hard to get a balance between the sounds
Fireworks and strings	Hard/Soft	Easy to hear booth sounds
Crowd of people and strings	Soft/Soft	Hard to get a balance between the sounds
Crowd of people and piano	Soft/Hard	Easy to hear both sounds

Conclusion:

Blend two sound of same profile, and it will be hard to hear what they say or to hear different sounds.
Blend two sound of different profile, and it will be easy to hear what they say or to hear different sounds

 

ONE WAY TO MAKE MUSIC

When I write music for different scenes, the process use to be something like this:

1. Watch the pictures and try to understand the feeling of the screeners

2. Make a draft with some harmonies, normally with a piano sound

3. What sound contains the scene? The atmosphere, voices, natural effects and what about additional effects and other sounds? I chose instruments and sound that don't fight with existing/additional sound that shall be heard.
A rule is that what is seen in the TV/on the screen also shall be heard.

4. If there's a dialogue, it very often has its own rhythm. There is also a rhythm between the words and phrases. I mainly use these gaps for create the music.
Vocals has a hard profile. But mark this:

- Vowels - soft profile
- Consonants - hard profile

Then the music will grow like a painting. Its absolutely necessary to synchronize the pictures with time code (normally in the computer). This way to line up different sound sources, hard profiles vs soft profiles is called interleave:

INTERLEAVE

During the dialogue, with the hard profile - lay music pieces with soft profile. When the actor is breathing is the profile not hard, so in that moment the profile of the music can temporary be made hard. Then, during next phrase with the actor the music is made to soft profile again. In the next gap the music's profile can be hard again. This way of making music, to continually change its profile is called interleave.

The basis for a clear and detailed sound is a hard profile vs a soft profile. To let the profile of the music vary depending on the the vocal. That makes the vocal clear and the music can be exiting and expressive.

 

TO WORK WITH PRERECORDED MUSIC

If you don't have access or budget for a composer and have to lay prerecorded music or library music to a voice, you can follow this:

- Use music that don´t mess with the vocal. Best is to use striped arrangements, where for instance the melody is aborted. Then you can add the full arrangement with melody before and after the voice.

- Different music recordings has a nature of more or less hard/soft profile. Don't use music with to hard profile. Use music with soft profile instead.

- If necessary, cut some of the top of the music with an equalizer when a vocal is present.

-Try different music - that's a winning concept!

 

RULES FOR MUSIC AND VOCALS TOGETHER

TYPE OF DIALOUG OR VOCAL	PROFILE OF THE MUSIC	EXAMPLE OF INSTRUMENTS
Fast or intensive	Soft The dialog is sensitive	Pad, strings. Be careful with rhythm instruments
Thin	Can be harder Make the music from the basis of the gaps in the dialog. Use the rhythm in the dialog.	Guitar, Piano, Drums The music can have more rhythm without problems
Non	Soft or hard	Whatever If there are atmospheres or effects, chose instrument that complement and not compete with the total sound

 

Good luck with the music in your productions!

Torbjörn "Toby" Frisk
Composer

This compendium was downloaded from www.soundofmusic.se