The Various Roles in the Music Team of a Hollywood Film
A student of mine recently asked me about the various roles found in a typical music team for a Hollywood film. It can often take a small army to help bring a score from inside the Composer's head onto a film, so I thought I would share some info on some of the more prominent roles within a typical music team:
Composer - The vast majority of films/tv series will typically have one 'main' composer - think of these as the Head of the Music Department. Their responsibility is to ensure that music is written, approved and ultimately delivered to the project on time and on budget.
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βAdditional Composers - these will often be brought in when the deadline is particularly tight. Supervised by the main composer, they will often take music and ideas, which the main composer has previously written for that particular project, say a suite of themes, and incorporate them into a score. Lorne Balfe has written a lot of additional music for various Hans Zimmer scores over the years. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1154632/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1β
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βMusic Editor - The person responsible for all the technical aspects regarding the synchronization of the music to the picture. Music Editors will often be the composer's main representative with the film maker, especially at the dubbing stage - where Dialogue, Music and Sound Effects are mixed together. They can also handle the complicated logistics that occur when a new cut of a film is made - sometimes an almost daily occurrence on a large budget movie! A well known Music Editor was Kenny Hall, who worked closely with composers such as John Williams, John Barry and most extensively with Jerry Goldsmith. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355792/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr251β
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βOrchestrator - For a film which has a budget large enough to use live players, an Orchestrator or team of orchestrators is essential. An orchestrator's main role is to prepare the music that was mostly likely written in a DAW, so that it can be played by live players. They help to achieve the very best sound from the players, in turn helping to elevate the music further. Composers will often work with the same team of Orchestrators for decades, such as the collaboration between composer James Newton Howard and Jeff Atmajian (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0040873/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1)
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βCopyist - Once an orchestrator has finished putting a written score together, the copyist's job is to prepare individual parts for the Musician's to read from. It would be hard for say a violinist to read from a full Orchestral score, as you typically only see 4 bars per page - they would always be turning pages! So parts are prepared with mostly a single instrument per page - meaning most cues or pieces fit onto say 2 pages or less. One of the busiest copyists in Hollywood is Mark Graham https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0334204/β
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βRecording Engineer - The recording engineer oversees the recording process and is responsible for the technical aspects of capturing the sound from the live players. They have an extensive knowledge of aspects such as how to use microphones to achieve the best sound from the Orchestra and recording space. A well known engineer is Geoff Foster https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0287816/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1β
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βScore Mixer - The Score Mixer is responsible for bringing together all of the sonic parts of a score - the recordings made by musicians, along with any additional parts like synth or percussion parts. They have extensive knowledge of how to achieve a clear and well balanced mix, using a variety of hardware and software products. The Recording Engineer and the Score Mixer are often the same person - a well known Score Mixer is Shawn Murphy https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004156/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1β
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βMusic Contractor - The Music Contractor is responsible for assembling the musicians for a recording session. They often have an extensive network of highly talented players that they can call upon, often in major music hubs such as LA or London. A well known Music Contractor in London is Isobel Griffiths https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0341690/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_8_q_Isabell%2520Griffβ
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βComposer's Assistant - The composer's assistant could be required to do a whole host of jobs and roles, overall supporting the composer and helping them get to the finish line of delivering the completed score. Tasks could include making coffee, fetching food etc up to even some composing or orchestrating. Being an assistant can often be a great way to learn the 'ropes' of being a film composer. Assistants will often rise up through the ranks and even end up with a co-composer credit on large scale projects.
