Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1261193
34 I M PS E . O R G post production workflow, the music editor is the responsible person behind the music delivery at the dub. When the show is completed and print-mastered, they are the ones who compile the preliminary music cue sheet. This is the document that notates each piece of music, score, songs, and any on-camera music. Each cue must be timed to within a few seconds and the writer and publisher documented. Then, after being reviewed and approved by the legal affairs person, this becomes the legal document for the distribution of performance royalties for each artist of the music. 2. PL: Most music editors I know are either musicians and/or composers. In fact, veteran music editor Ken Wannberg even scored several films under his own name. Would you speak a little about your musical background and the path- way that led to your current career? SS: While most music editors come from a composer or musician background, a successful music editor can supersede that training and tap into their musical and film sensibilities. Additionally, people skills are a major part of a music editor's success. My background is as a composer and I hold a degree in composition and film scoring from Berklee College of Music. I play guitar and keyboards and was in a band in NYC, eventually coming to Hollywood to compose for film. It was and still is a very competitive market with limited opportunities. I had a great serendipitous opportu- nity to transition into music editing which led me to my current path, over 20 years of music editing work. While starting my career at Modern Music, there became an opportunity to be the assistant music editor for The Preacher's Wife. That allowed me to get into the union and the rest is history. 3. PL: Obviously, no one is punching holes in magstripe to create click tracks anymore, or for that matter, creating timing notes. Would you care to speak to how the role of the music editor has changed—especially given the necessity to accommodate last-minute picture changes, even after scoring is complete? SS: The days of mag and timing notes have been incorporated and delegated into the digital-comput- erized technology of MIDI sequenc- ing and DAWs. And to be honest, thankfully so. This aspect of the job was very tedious and time-con- suming. We believe that computers save us time and in many respects they can, as digital audio editing can work miracles that could have only been imagined before. I would argue that current computers and tools are amazingly useful and edits and sound problems can be fixed in minutes, however, sometimes the demands of post production re- quests can actually take a significant amount of time in a different way. Problem solving using computers still takes human time to implement well. While I keep up with and totally embrace the digital audio world and all its new technological advanc- es, in some ways those days before computers were simpler and fresh. 4. PL: What do you think the current environment is like for music editors, or for those who wish to get into this or are coming up through the ranks? Is there a role for music editing in TV, video game music? SS: The current environment for music editors is both a traditional role and yet changing. As the new composers step into this world of film scoring, their teams are taking on many of the music editorial tasks such as spotting, sending demos, prepping for the dub, conforming both via MIDI and digital audio and fielding musical comments from the directors and show runners. The technology has allowed this evolution of workflows. These changes are often a function of budgets and how complex the musical challenges are on a per- project basis. If the requirements are pretty straight ahead, then the composer or their team can usually handle these things but if it is complex or there are time constraints, which is more common now than ever, having a music editor on board can be more effective and often truly valued. The role for music editor is the same for television as it is for films. The main thing regarding television post production is usually condensed schedules and generally a faster turnaround. The music editor can play a critical role getting to the finish line. There is a slightly different trend in streaming television as compared with true weekly episodic. The weekly repetitive deadlines can lead to more repurposing of previous music cues. That is, an actual deliberate re-editing of music score from previous episodes to be reused, recreated through editorial to respond to the new show's needs. This approach becomes useful when there are more than one or two seasons. Counter to this scenario when a show and its respective episodes are produced all at once or over many months to be uploaded for streaming as a collective of episodes, allows for the composer to write and produce their music stretched out over a longer period of time leading toward less need to use a music editor. That's not to say a composer would not still appreciate a music editor to take on conforming, preparing for the dub, and attending those dubs. So, the short answer is 'it depends.' The video game sound and music workflow is usually very different from our traditional post production workflow. The musical needs are split into cinematic and gameplay. Each has their separate purpose in the game but the requirements to prepare and deliver are different and usually do not require a music editor in the same way as for film and television and falls more completely on the composer. COVID-19 is changing all our lives, commanding a new approach to our working together. While it is disappointing not able to interact with our colleagues face to face, I find it no surprise that we in the post production sound community have been able to continue our work through remote computing. For many years, the sound community has been working remotely both out