This week we are charged with the task of producing a pitch for the theme music of an upcoming web series. The turnaround on this is very quick and it’s been a good exercise to see what can be done in a relatively short time. We were given the brief in Monday’s lecture, and one hour to present an initial idea. We can take any existing song and develop it to suit the style of the show, and twist some genres in the process. We found an old Elvis song called “Stuck On You” which has unintentionally creepy lyrics, particularly from a modern perspective, and also parallels with the premise of the show. Our treatment will turn a rockabilly 12-bar rock-n-roll song into swampy southern blues-rock along the lines of the “True Blood” theme song. This will hopefully add a sinister edge to the lyrics and suit the personality of the show’s antagonist. In Friday’s tutorial we sequenced a drum loop with the right feel and tone and added bass, rhythm and slide guitars. For the vocals I extracted the centre vocal from a stereo remaster of the song, slowed it down slightly and pitched it down a minor 3rd. Although it would have been nicer to use real drums the intention of the song is clear and sounds quite good.

On the differences between composed and sourced music for a TV show, I think that a lot of popular themes have used existing songs that happen to suit the message and feel of the show. This lets the song have an integrity in its own right, and the audience can make their own connections with the new context. I think these ideas are more powerful when suggested rather than spelled-out, as might be the case with a purposefully composed song. At the same time, there are a number of excellent instrumental TV theme songs, such as Mission Imposible, Hawaii Five-0, I Dream of Genie, The Simpsons, etc. Perhaps the use of lyrics is the decider. There are some shows with deliberately cheesy purpose-written lyrics, such as “Family Guy” and “South Park”.  but these seem to serve as a comic device. Just a theory.

Also this weekend I snuck of to Sydney to see some family friends and catch “Les Miserables”. The production level was very high as you’d expect. I was struck by the dynamic range of the overall performance – the opening scene was mixed quite softy, and this made the audience lean in and give their attention. It also leaves space for some dramatic transitions directly afterwards. I was also impressed by the seamlessness of the sound mixing – there must have been a huge number of hidden wireless mics to be managed throughout the show. There was the occasional surround fly-by effect in some scenes which was kind of cool, but I think they came across as a bit of a novelty as the majority of the mix was not noticeably using the surrounds. Overall a great show with breathtaking performances. I’ve included the obligatory tourist shots of Sydney Harbour. It’s a beautiful city.

Thanks for reading!