The film music recording engineer cum composer like ARR is a
rare breed. They are also known as music scoring mixers, music
mixers, film mixers, scoring engineers or mixing engineers. Their
purpose is to uniformly capture the sound of an orchestra or music
so that when we go to the movies we can hear the blazing brass on
Star Wars or to hear electric guitar as James Bond walks the
screen. To do this they must deploy microphones throughout the
orchestra which are fed into a mixing desk and then to a tape
machine. Film music recording engineers differ from a "standard"
orchestral engineer in that they must record and mix the music with
sound effects and dialogue in mind. They must be aware of the audio
and visual content of a picture for whose score they are recording.
This is why some engineers like AR Rahman, those whose style I like
the one of the most, mix with a wide stereo image -- that is,
instruments are placed further to the left and right speakers than
to the center.
Film music engineers are used to long working days, in the order or
12-15 hours a day, for a few weeks at a time: they must deliver the
mixed down tapes on time or the film will be behind schedule and
budget. As a result of this, highly esteemed and sought-after
engineers are paid a considerable amount of money.
Film music recording engineers can cover everything to do with the
music in a film: from looking at scores and talking with clients to
setting up the studio and checking the "pipe-line" from orchestra
to tape.
It is not uncommon, however, for more than just one person involved
in the recording of film music. We often only see the "head" or
"main" recording engineer get the credit but he (or she) will
usually have assistants, or scoring crew, who set-up microphones in
positions decided by the engineer, who will operate tape machines,
cut tapes (analog), route cables and make recommendations on how to
tackle problems, etc. It is often a team affair being captained
from the control room. At other time sit is under the directions of
the main composer.AR Rahman is an engineer who has recorded most of
his assignments this way.
After the many takes of cues from a film are recorded the recording
engineer cum composer must then "mix" the music. (As mentioned
earlier this is sometimes done by a different person.) The producer
is often present, as is the composer, who I guess have the final
say over the mix but most times the engineer is left pretty much to
their own devices. The mix of the music is greatly determined by
the style of recording. If close-miking techniques were used
(placing microphones closely to intruments or groups of
instruments) then many more degrees of freedom are available to the
mixer. Intruments can be panned (or placed) in their respective
positions in the stereo field, as if one was standing on the
conductor's podium. For example: double basses can be panned hard
right, French horns left, flutes and clarinets center. Close-miking
achieves a much more punchy sound, especially in the basses and
some percussion but as a side effect it requires extensive
artificial reverberation (Reverb is the sound you get when you clap
your hands in a recording studio and the sound reflects, or comes
back, a fraction of a second after). I think two seconds is around
the norm for reverb. Close-miked recordings without added reverb
would sometimes sound too "clean".
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