The Amazing Race > The Amazing Race Discussion
TAR 25: Lee Sanders' Music Podcast!!
Lee Sanders:
--- Quote from: Jobby on October 07, 2014, 01:21:39 AM ---have you worked on any music for the asian leg(s) [not saying which just in case it is a spoiler] visited this season and if not, will you be deconstructing some local music to create possible appropriate music for different various scenarios?
--- End quote ---
This is a big question, and a great one. Let me answer that this way: Researching musical styles is part of what we do for nearly every location. Even in the case of countries we've visited before, there are regional variations which can make huge differences. And part of my job is to be aware of that, and knowledgeable about those nuances. You mention Asian-location cues for this cycle, and I think I'm in the clear to answer that yes, I've written some of those recently. :)
But.
There are a few other factors at play. First, the style and instrumentation of the local music may not lend itself well to the emotional needs of the scene. Styles that feature smaller, more delicate instruments, for example, often have to be augmented a lot to serve tense, active events. So that's a balance that we're constantly trying to achieve.
Second (and this is something I talk about on the podcast), the show editors are placing quite a bit of the music you hear. To do that, they're drawing from cues that have already been composed. They are phenomenal at their job, and they're consistently careful about keeping the music location-appropriate, but you can imagine the challenge they're facing.
We do several things to make that job easier for them (every cue, for example, has a number of alternate mixouts, that omit certain elements… so, for example, a cue might be delivered in a FULL mix, a NO ORCHESTRA mix (i.e., drums and ethnic instruments only), a NO SITAR mix (if, say, a sitar was carrying the melody line—these types of mixouts help a cue "get out of the way" during dialog-heavy moments), etc. Sometimes a cue will have eight or nine additional mixes! Cues are also organized and databased in a proprietary way once they arrive at the show.
Last thing I'll mention here (I've written a book already—!): In some cases, it's just not possible to replicate a given style. Rare, but it's happened a couple of times over the years. Usually it's because the style is dependent on local performers, or on extremely exotic instruments. It's beyond the scope of our schedule and budget to travel to, say, a certain village in Indonesia to find this one gamelan player who uses this very specific tuning.
That's the kind of thing I would love to do, btw, but it's just not realistic under the time and budget demands of the show. So again, we strike the best balance we can.
Hope that answers the question, Jobby!
Neobie:
Thanks for being here, Lee! I've got a ton of questions that will come to me as I dig up my references, but for now:
Do you try to sync up your music with the scenes (or do the editors sometimes try to fit the scenes into your music)? One of my favourite scenes set to music was in TAR 5 when Colin/Christie were racing Brandon/Nicole to the Pit Stop in Dubai from opposite sides of a Detour; the former was in a dune buggy, the latter skydiving from a plane. Each time the focus shifted from one team to the other the musical cue changed, and it went back and forth for a minute or so; it was awesome!
(Would love to see a similar race to the Pit Stop with the score switching back and forth between a major and minor key between the "heroes" and the "villains"! :D)
Lee Sanders:
--- Quote from: Neobie on October 07, 2014, 10:37:25 AM ---Thanks for being here, Lee! I've got a ton of questions that will come to me as I dig up my references, but for now:
Do you try to sync up your music with the scenes (or do the editors sometimes try to fit the scenes into your music)? One of my favourite scenes set to music was in TAR 5 when Colin/Christie were racing Brandon/Nicole to the Pit Stop in Dubai from opposite sides of a Detour; the former was in a dune buggy, the latter skydiving from a plane. Each time the focus shifted from one team to the other the musical cue changed, and it went back and forth for a minute or so; it was awesome!
(Would love to see a similar race to the Pit Stop with the score switching back and forth between a major and minor key between the "heroes" and the "villains"! :D)
--- End quote ---
So the short answer is: a bit of both. Some editors prefer to have the music written as early as possible, then use the rhythm as a guide to cutting the scene. Others like to get the edit fairly tight, then have my custom score arrive considerably later in the process to drop in. There are advantages and disadvantages to both ways of doing it.
If I'm working with a cut that's nearly locked (i.e., they're not going to tweak it much further), I'll definitely score "to picture," observing and reacting to events on-screen. If it's just a first assembly or a "string-out," where the footage isn't tightened up at all, I'll write something that includes many musical "hits" for the editors to use later, as they figure out the pacing and the dramatic beats of the scene.
Bottom line: either way, I have to write it a little loose, because I'm almost never working with a completely locked picture. Exceptions would be for the beginning of the first episode in a cycle, and for the finish line… those are much more frequently scored to locked or near-locked picture.
mandk:
Hi Lee,
I wanted to ask about the music you used for the second leg of all stars (2014). What was the music played during the run to the pitstop. The intense music i mean. Thank you
Jobby:
Wow amazing reply Lee! Thank you and I learnt so much more about the behind the scenes production of TAR.
Ok here's one last one (cause I'm greeeeeeeedy)
Any new TAR theme song soon? I loved the change during Season 14 and was hoping we'll hear another mixed up version of the theme song soon for future seasons!
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