Film Score Work
Posted: 21 Dec 2005 12:39 pm
There were some questions asked about the pedal steel work I did on “Brokeback Mountain” and I’m happy to discuss that specific subject. First, I must say that this was a great musical experience – Gustavo Santaolalla is a truly gifted musician and producer. He’s considered the “George Martin” of Rock En Espanol music and was recently awarded the Latin Grammy for Producer of the Year. His partner Anibal Kerpel is equally talented. Together, we all had a blast recording the music and I am quite proud of our work.
Here’s some background information on the sessions. (Forgive me if this goes on too long.) I had known Gustavo through my former life as the head of corporate communications for Universal Music Group – Universal has a joint venture with him for his label Surco Records. We often talked about music instead of business – Gustavo has a great passion for many different genres of music and was quite interested in pedal steel. In addition to his gigs as both a producer and an artist, he made the move into film scores a few years ago and created the acclaimed soundtrack for “Motorcycle Diaries.” Having heard that soundtrack, Ang Lee was interested in having him as the composer for “Brokeback Mountain” and wanted to hear what Gustavo’s ideas would be for the project. Gustavo created a series of cues – very ambient-sounding music, using mostly acoustic guitar with some other instruments like harmonium and glass harmonica. Then he thought that pedal steel could be another ambient-sounding instrument that could say “cowboy” or “country” without being too overt.
Gustavo had never worked with a pedal steel before. I went to his studio and we played for many hours overdubbing steel onto his cues. It was a really challenging but stimulating exercise. There were no charts. I would often ask him to play the guitar part so I could see the specific notes he was playing -- there were chords he played that did not necessarily sit naturally on the steel, so it sometimes took me a while to find the right voicings. Gustavo was great in pushing me musically – helping me stay away from anything too trite and thinking in broad musical strokes. When Ang Lee heard the cues, he was thrilled – and, actually, most of the work we did that first night was used in the movie. He later had the orchestrations done based on our original cues. I went back and overdubbed steel over those string parts.
Gustavo was also called upon to create the “source” music for the film. So a few weeks after the original sessions, he called me to play on the songs that he had written. In one day, we cut the majority of tracks for those tunes live.
For the sessions, I did most of the work on my Emmons LeGrande III, a Peavey Session 500 amp, and an Ibanez Echo Machine (one of their inexpensive “Tank” series). For the overdubs with the strings and the Emmylou Harris track, I played my Emmons p/p through a Peavey Nashville 1000. Although not credited, I played a bit of dobro on one of the tracks – it’s an inexpensive Regal. I’ll have to ask them which microphones they used – I think they were Shure SM 57s.
Thanks again for everyone’s interest and all the kind words. Best wishes for a happy holiday. Boo
Here’s some background information on the sessions. (Forgive me if this goes on too long.) I had known Gustavo through my former life as the head of corporate communications for Universal Music Group – Universal has a joint venture with him for his label Surco Records. We often talked about music instead of business – Gustavo has a great passion for many different genres of music and was quite interested in pedal steel. In addition to his gigs as both a producer and an artist, he made the move into film scores a few years ago and created the acclaimed soundtrack for “Motorcycle Diaries.” Having heard that soundtrack, Ang Lee was interested in having him as the composer for “Brokeback Mountain” and wanted to hear what Gustavo’s ideas would be for the project. Gustavo created a series of cues – very ambient-sounding music, using mostly acoustic guitar with some other instruments like harmonium and glass harmonica. Then he thought that pedal steel could be another ambient-sounding instrument that could say “cowboy” or “country” without being too overt.
Gustavo had never worked with a pedal steel before. I went to his studio and we played for many hours overdubbing steel onto his cues. It was a really challenging but stimulating exercise. There were no charts. I would often ask him to play the guitar part so I could see the specific notes he was playing -- there were chords he played that did not necessarily sit naturally on the steel, so it sometimes took me a while to find the right voicings. Gustavo was great in pushing me musically – helping me stay away from anything too trite and thinking in broad musical strokes. When Ang Lee heard the cues, he was thrilled – and, actually, most of the work we did that first night was used in the movie. He later had the orchestrations done based on our original cues. I went back and overdubbed steel over those string parts.
Gustavo was also called upon to create the “source” music for the film. So a few weeks after the original sessions, he called me to play on the songs that he had written. In one day, we cut the majority of tracks for those tunes live.
For the sessions, I did most of the work on my Emmons LeGrande III, a Peavey Session 500 amp, and an Ibanez Echo Machine (one of their inexpensive “Tank” series). For the overdubs with the strings and the Emmylou Harris track, I played my Emmons p/p through a Peavey Nashville 1000. Although not credited, I played a bit of dobro on one of the tracks – it’s an inexpensive Regal. I’ll have to ask them which microphones they used – I think they were Shure SM 57s.
Thanks again for everyone’s interest and all the kind words. Best wishes for a happy holiday. Boo
