Yesterday, Brian Cox OBE was on Start the Week complaining about the recent decision to remix the sound on his BBC show, Wonders of the Universe. He argued the music was loud because it wasn't a lecture, but well, television. He has a point, people will watch his show for entertainment. But even though I have only seen a bit of the first episode, I must admit my eyebrows went north with the soaring strings.
It's an issue I have with documentaries. I know Wonders of the Universe is not a doc, but it is factual, and without sounding like a bit of a curmudgeon, I think you have to be careful about manipulating viewer emotion. A soundtrack should never get in front of the story. It shouldn't tell anyone watching the film, this is what you have to feel right now. Many of the complaints to Points of View about Brian's show were around this argument, you can read more about the story here, but the gist is that it 'dumbs down the subject matter'. Whether simply turning down the strings will make the content 'smarter' remains to be seen.
I think soundtrack has a place in documentary, it can flavour the story, but only with the lightest of touches. Of course, there are still the old cliches – I've really gone off the cello and any shimmering vibes because of their ubiquity.
So with that in mind, I've started writing bits and pieces for ATC, and I've asked others to contribute. Ideally, I want to make the soundtrack available alongside the film. I'm still deciding where that will be, but it would be great to get it on iTunes and Spotify. The way I see things is the soundtrack for ATC will be fairly sparse, but any recording released should be 'expanded'. Now how that will work out, I don't know. But there will be no shimmering vibes or mournful cellos. I promise.
I'm also fairly mindful there are some pretty cool things about the audio in ATC. At Santa Pod, the Tannoy churns out classic seventies rock all day long and that sounds interesting as it bounces around the speakers. Then there's the noise of the engines and other ambient stuff. I don't want to lose all that. So for a bit of inspiration, I've been listening to soundtracks that blend well with their story. Two composers spring to mind: John Luire's sparse arrangements for Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train and Don Ellis. Ellis wrote the soundtrack for the French Connection, and although it was never properly released, his discordant and spooky score is one of my favourites.
Posted via email from antigob
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