Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1314046
C A S Q U A R T E R L Y I FA L L 2 0 2 0 23 Scoring engineer Scott Smith Some weeks after having viewed the webinar video, I was working on a project with scoring engineer Scott Smith. Scott is well known for his work on The Revenant, The Handmaid's Tale, and David Fincher's upcoming Net ix release Mank, featuring a Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross score. Needless to say, he is in good company. During our working lunch, I asked him what he had been up to during the lockdown. What he told me had my jaw on the oor. How are things going scoring-wise? The pandemic turned the scoring community on its head very fast. Our business is dependent on groups of people sitting side by side in windowless spaces for long periods of time. On top of that, wind and brass instruments require the player to blow air into their instrument and subsequently into the room. It's got to be one of the least pandemic-friendly processes we have in entertainment. But, necessity being the mother of invention, you found a way to deliver! How did you change to meet the challenges? The biggest change has been the switch to remote recording. Almost overnight, we worked to get musicians set up to record themselves in their homes! It's a massive undertaking on the technical side. Suddenly, world-class orchestral musicians have been thrust into the position of being their own recording engineers! We send out Pro Tools and Logic fi les, as well as raw audio and MIDI to give them the best chance of being able to record themselves somewhat easily. It's not an easy thing we're asking them to do; most of these players have only focused on perfecting their instrument for decades and now they have to tackle the technical end of things. Once they 've recorded the score, they deliver their tracks to us. It then becomes a full-steam-ahead editing job to make it sound like a cohesive orchestral performance. Once the editing is complete, it's time to mix. This process has changed, too. If I record an orchestra at The Eastwood Stage on the WB lot, I don't have to worry about the group sounding like they're in one cohesive great sounding room, because they are. However, 70 different musicians in 70 different living rooms with 70 different microphones are a very different story. In short, reverb and room emulation are very much your friend. I recently completed a project with the great Alan Meyerson CAS who processed the orchestra using a very interesting orchestral hall emulating software. He sent me his fi rst mix and I was blown away. There was no audible trace of DIY home recording in those mixes; all I heard was a gorgeous sounding orchestra. It goes to show that in the hands of someone exceptionally capable like Alan, we can achieve something special even in the midst of all this. And, we've been able to slowly restart here with in-person sessions using smaller groups of players and incorporating long breaks and cleanings—but we're far from where we were pre-COVID. Europe, on the other hand, is way ahead of us. Orchestra sessions are underway in London and things are sounding great. I hope we can follow suit soon. Wow, what an incredible heavy lift to get things in the bag! Bravo! What are you up to now? Mixing, mixing, and more mixing! I'm fortunate to have had work through all of this craziness. Music mixing is a pretty solitary gig anyway, so not too much has changed on that end. I'm extremely lucky to work with a brilliant engineer named Jeff Gartenbaum who has quickly become an ace at making these remote recordings go smoothly and sound great. The amount of work this all takes is pretty daunting, but I know we're all happy to be employed. Hear! Hear! Any thoughts of what the near future might bring? If only I knew! Realistically, I think remote recording is going to be around for a while. With so much uncertainty, it's the only way we can absolutely ensure everyone's safety during this pandemic. I do hope we see a quick return to "normalcy " on scoring stages soon, but that, of course, will [depend on] the virus and its continued impact in our country. If I had to make a completely unscientifi c guess, I think we'll be bouncing back-and-forth between these two approaches for the next couple of years. Hopefully, I'm wrong and we can all be back together creating music soon. From your lips to God's ears! I can't wait to be on a stage with people in an easygoing way again. I think a lot of us do what we do because of the environment in which it is done. And, currently, it's more than a bit lacking without the folks that should inhabit those spaces. Here's to swift return!