Scoring Session 101 - Part 4: The Booth

After having a look at click tracks and session preparations in the previous parts of this series, it is time to finally get to the scoring stage and record. Depending on the size and budget of the project, the numbers of how many people are in the recording booth varies.

If you as a composer don't also conduct, you will basically be the center of attention in the booth which sometimes can become quite stressful if all sorts of questions are directed at you requiring quick and problem solving thinking.

The bare minimum of people in the recording booth to run the recording should be you (or someone to stand in for you in case you conduct), the engineer and a Pro Tools Operator.

The job of the engineer is to set up the microphones, levels, and generally focus on spotting any technical problems in the recording like noises, clipping, phasing issues etc. while the Protools Operator well... operates Protools, making sure that everything that needs to be recorded is recorded as well as handling precounts, overdubs and keeping track of takes.

In general however, I would recommend  having a few more pairs of trained ears in the booth. It is practically impossible to focus on everything that needs attention so having a few more people listening is definitely helpful. Even more so if these people know the music as well and can maybe even read score sheets.

In many cases, orchestrator(s) and/or copyist(s) will be present as well in case some spontaneous reworks need to be done or a part is missing or anything that is related to scores and parts on the musician's stand. Ideally they should also listen carefully to the takes and give possible feedback as they will know the music pretty well, too.

Another person that you will often find in the booth is the music fixer who deals with all sorts of contracts/organisation of musicians, making sure that everybody is there on time and required breaks are being held.

In higher budgeted productions you will also have a Music Editor present who keeps track of all the takes and makes notes on takes that were good or  how to comp several takes together later, what is being recorded as overdubs etc.

All of the mentioned positions might bring in one or more assistants as well so it can become quite crowded in the booth. 

I personally try to have as few people as possible in the booth as every person that doesn't need to be there and isn't essential for the recording can be a factor for distraction. Even just the occasional whispering between two people can be distracting when you need to focus on details.

One essential factor that hasn't been mentioned of course always is that the client/director/producer + several other associates of them might be present. This can be a mixed bag. While some clients understand the pressure and need for concentration in the booth and simply want to be there to enjoy the session, others feel like they need to constantly give their opinion or feel it is appropriate to chat about all sort of things in the room while recording. Unfortunately with them being your client, you can hardly use any sort of "putting the foot down" though it has helped before to explain the situation to them as some might not be aware of what is going on and what your role as a composer is in this.

In general, I can recommend working with a fixed team of people whom you know. The more routined everybody is in such a constellation the more it will work like clockwork with everybody knowing their role. If for instance (as it often happens) the composer is not really experienced and really doesn't know how to communicate their vision to the musicians, it might be needed that someone else spontaneously needs to step in to take the role of leading the session which of course can create quite a bit of chaos and uncertrainty. With everybody knowing each other, it means that also everybody knows what to expect from everybody else making the process much smoother without much guesswork.

But as always, these things come with years of experience.