Murchandise
Walter Murch is a legendary film editor. He did sound for Apocalypse Now, he has won several Oscars, and he pioneered 5.1 sound. (If you ask nicely, in person, I'll tell you about my first experience with Apocalypse Now in surround sound. I'll never forget it.)
"Dense Clarity, Clear Density," an essay Murch recently posted at Transom.org, is a pedagogical masterpiece. In it, Murch--after cobbling together neurological research, the physics of light, the history of orchestral music, harmonic theory, and reliable laws and principles of sound that he stumbled upon serendipitously during his work on Coppola and Lucas films--serves up a seemingly flawless system for mixing soundtracks. His ultimate goal is to have all the individual elements of the soundtrack that serve the story--dialogue, orchestral background music, footsteps, city noises, etc.--stand out on their own, while simultaneously having all the sounds work together as a harmonious, coherent whole. Mixing all these sounds without turning them into white noise is complicated stuff. Somehow, through Ginsu-sharp metaphors and fascinating multimedia examples of his work on Apocalypse Now, Murch makes it seem as easy as painting-by-numbers.
Even if you are not a gear geek, even if you have no interest in how movie soundtracks are assembled, I cannot recommend this essay strongly enough.
"Dense Clarity, Clear Density," an essay Murch recently posted at Transom.org, is a pedagogical masterpiece. In it, Murch--after cobbling together neurological research, the physics of light, the history of orchestral music, harmonic theory, and reliable laws and principles of sound that he stumbled upon serendipitously during his work on Coppola and Lucas films--serves up a seemingly flawless system for mixing soundtracks. His ultimate goal is to have all the individual elements of the soundtrack that serve the story--dialogue, orchestral background music, footsteps, city noises, etc.--stand out on their own, while simultaneously having all the sounds work together as a harmonious, coherent whole. Mixing all these sounds without turning them into white noise is complicated stuff. Somehow, through Ginsu-sharp metaphors and fascinating multimedia examples of his work on Apocalypse Now, Murch makes it seem as easy as painting-by-numbers.
Even if you are not a gear geek, even if you have no interest in how movie soundtracks are assembled, I cannot recommend this essay strongly enough.
posted by disappearingink at 2:01 PM
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