In movie industry terminology usage, asound track is an audio recording created or used infilm production orpost-production. Initially, the dialogue, sound effects, and music in a film each has its own separate track, and these are mixed together to make what is called thecomposite track, which is heard in the film. Adubbing track is often later created when films are dubbed into another language. This is also known as an M&E (music and effects) track. M&E tracks contain all sound elements minus dialogue, which is then supplied by the foreign distributor in the native language of its territory.
Current dictionary entries for soundtrack document soundtrack as a noun, and as a verb.[3][4] An early attempt at popularizing the termsound track was printed in the magazinePhotoplay in 1929.[5] A 1992 technical dictionary entry in theAcademic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology does not distinguish between the form sound track and soundtrack.[6]
The contractionsoundtrack came into public consciousness with the advent of so-calledsoundtrack albums in the late 1940s. First conceived by movie companies as a promotional gimmick for new films, these commercially available recordings were labeled and advertised as "music from the original motion picture soundtrack", or "music from and inspired by the motion picture." These phrases were soon shortened to just "original motion picture soundtrack." More accurately, such recordings are made from a film'smusic track, because they usually consist of isolated music from a film, not the composite (sound) track with dialogue and sound effects.
The termoriginal soundtrack (OST), often used for titles of albums of soundtrack music, is sometimes also used to differentiate the original music heard and recorded versus a rerecording orcover version, and behaves as a unique type ofconcept album that revolves around a unified theme in a story.[7]
Albums of popular songs heard in whole or part in the background of non-musical movies. (Examples:Top Gun,The Bodyguard)
Video game soundtracks are often released after a game's release, usually consisting of the theme and background music from the game's levels, menus, title screens, promo material (such as entire songs of which only segments were used in the game), cut-screens and occasionally sound-effects used in the game. (Examples:Final Fantasy VII,Red Dead Redemption 2)
The soundtrack to the 1937Walt Disney animated filmSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the first commercially issued film soundtrack.[9] It was released byRCA Victor Records on multiple 78 RPM discs in January 1938 asSongs from Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (with the Same Characters and Sound Effects as in the Film of That Title) and has since seen numerous expansions and reissues.
The first live-action musical film to have a commercially issued soundtrack album wasMGM's 1946 film biography ofShow Boat composerJerome Kern,Till the Clouds Roll By. The album was originally issued as a set of four 10-inch 78-rpm records. Only eight selections from the film were included in this first edition of the album. In order to fit the songs onto the record sides the musical material needed editing and manipulation. This was before tape existed, so the record producer needed to copy segments from the playback discs used on set, then copy and re-copy them from one disc to another adding transitions and cross-fades until the final master was created. Needless to say, it was several generations removed from the original and the sound quality suffered for it. The playback recordings were purposely recorded verydry (without reverberation); otherwise it would come across as too hollow sounding in large movie theatres. This made these albums sound flat and boxy.
MGM Records called these "original cast albums" in the style ofDecca Broadway show cast albums mostly because the material on the discs would not lock to picture, thereby creating the largest distinction between 'OriginalMotion Picture Soundtrack' which, in its strictest sense would contain music that would lock to picture if the home user would play one alongside the other and 'OriginalCast Soundtrack' which in its strictest sense would refer to studio recordings of film music by the original film cast, but which had been edited or rearranged for time and content and would not lock to picture.[10]
In reality, however, soundtrack producers remain ambiguous about this distinction, and titles in which the music on the albumdoes lock to picture may be labeled as OCS and music from an album that doesnot lock to picture may be referred to as OMPS.
The phrase "recorded directly from the soundtrack" was used for a while in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to differentiate material that would lock to picture from that which would not (excluding alternate masters and alternate vocals or solos). However, partly because many 'film takes' actually consisted of several different attempts at the song edited together, over time that term became nebulous as well. For example, in cases where the master take used in the film could not be found in its isolated form (without the M&E), the aforementioned alternate masters and alternate vocal and solo performances might be used instead.
As a result of all this ambiguity, over the years the termsoundtrack began to be commonly applied to any recording from a film, whether taken from the actual film soundtrack or re-recorded in the studio at an earlier or later time. The term is also sometimes used for Broadway cast recordings.
Contributing to the vagueness of the term are projects such asThe Sound of Music Live!, which was filmed live on the set for an NBC holiday season special first broadcast in 2013. Thealbum, released three days before the broadcast, contained studio pre-recordings by the original cast of all the songs used in the special, but because only the orchestral portion of the material from the album is the same as that used in the special (i.e., the vocals were sung live over a prerecorded track), this creates a similar technicality. Although theinstrumental music bed from the CD will lock to picture, the vocal performances will not (although it is possible to create a complete soundtrack recording by lifting the vocal performances from the DVD, erasing the alternate vocal masters from the CD and combining the two).
Film score albums did not really become popular until theLP era, although a few were issued in 78-rpm albums.Alex North's score for the 1951 film version ofA Streetcar Named Desire was released on a 10-inch LP byCapitol Records and sold so well that the label rereleased it on one side of a 12-inch LP with some ofMax Steiner's film music on the reverse.
Steiner's score forGone with the Wind has been recorded many times, but when the film was reissued in 1967, MGM Records finally released an album of the famous score recorded directly from the soundtrack. Like the 1967 rerelease of the film, this version of the score was artificiallyenhanced for stereo. In recent years,Rhino Records has released a 2-CD set of the completeGone With the Wind score, restored to its original mono sound.
One of the biggest-selling film scores of all time wasJohn Williams' music from the movieStar Wars. Many film score albums go out of print after the films finish their theatrical runs and some have become extremely rare collector's items.
In a few rare instances an entire film dialogue track was issued on records. The 1968Franco Zeffirelli film ofRomeo and Juliet was issued as a 4-LP set, as a single LP with musical and dialogue excerpts, and as an album containing only the film's musical score. The ground-breaking filmWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was issued by Warner Bros Records as a 2-LP set containing virtually all the dialogue from the film.RCA Victor also issued a double-album set what was virtually all the dialogue from the film soundtrack ofA Man for All Seasons,Decca Records issued a double-album forMan of La Mancha andDisney Music Group (formerly Buena Vista Records) issued a similar double-album for its soundtrack forThe Hobbit.
When a blockbuster film is released, or during and after a television series airs, analbum in the form of a soundtrack is typically released alongside that.
A soundtrack typically contains instrumentation or alternatively afilm score. But it can also feature songs that were sung or performed by characters in a scene (or a cover version of a song in the media, re-recorded by a popular artist), songs that were used as intentional or unintentionalbackground music in important scenes, songs that were heard in theclosing credits, or songs for no apparent reason related to the media other than for promotion, that were included in a soundtrack.
Soundtracks are usually released on major record labels (just as if they were released by a musical artist), and the songs and the soundtrack itself can also be on music charts, and win musical awards.
By convention, asoundtrack record can contain all kinds of music including musicinspired by but not actually appearing in the movie; thescore contains only music by the original film's composers.[12]
Contemporaneously, a soundtrack can go against normality, (most typically used in popular culture franchises) and contains recently released and/or exclusive never before released originalpop music selections, (some of which become high charting records on their own, which due to being released on another franchises title, peaked because of that) and is simply used for promotional purposes for well known artists, or new or unknown artists. These soundtracks contain music not at all heard in the film/television series, and any artistic or lyrical connection is purely coincidental.
However depending on the genre of the media the soundtrack of popular songs would have a set pattern; a lighthearted romance might featureeasy listening love songs, whilst a more dark thriller would compose ofhard rock orurban music.
In 1908,Camille Saint-Saëns composed the first music specifically for use in a motion picture (L'assasinat du duc de Guise), and releasing recordings of songs used in films became prevalent in the 1930s.Henry Mancini, who won anEmmy Award and twoGrammys for his soundtrack toPeter Gunn, was the first composer to have a widespread hit with a song from a soundtrack.
Before the 1970s, soundtracks (with a few exceptions), accompanied towardsmusicals, and was an album that featured vocal and instrumental, (and instrumental versions of vocal songs) musical selections performed by cast members. Or cover versions of songs sung by another artist.
After the 1970s, soundtracks started to include more diversity, and music consumers would anticipate a motion picture or television soundtrack. Majority of top charting songs were those featured or released on a film or television soundtrack album.
In recent years the termsoundtrack sort of subsided. It now mostly commonly refers to instrumental background music used in that media. Popular songs featured in a film or television series are instead highlighted and referenced in the credits, not as part of asoundtrack.
In the late 1980s,cognitive psychology andpsychology of music started an investigation on the impact that the soundtrack exerts on the interpretation of audiovisual stimuli. Canadian psychologist Annabel J. Cohen is one of the first scholars who systematically studied the relationship between music and moving image within the interpretation process of brief animated videos. Her studies converged in theCongruence-Association Model of music and multimedia.[13][14] More recent empirical studies proved that the film music goes far beyond the role of an emotionalizing accessory in film contexts;[15] contrarily, it can radically alter the empathy experienced by the viewers toward the characters on screen, attributed emotions (e.g., whether a character is happy or sad),[16] evaluation of the scenic environments, plot anticipations,[17] and moral judgement of the characters.[18] Furthermore,eyetracking andpupillometry studies found that film music is able to influence gaze direction and pupil dilation depending on its emotional valence and semantic information conveyed.[19][17][20] Recently, new experiments showed that film music can alter time perception while watching movies; in particular, soundtracks deemed as activating and arousing lead to time overestimation as opposed to more relaxing or sad music.[21] Lastly, soundtracks have been proved to shape the memory of the scene that the viewers form, to the point of biasing their recall coherently with the music's semantic contents.[22][23][24]
Soundtrack may also refer to music used in video games. Whilesound effects were nearly universally used for action happening in the game, music to accompany the gameplay was a later development.Rob Hubbard andMartin Galway were early composers of music specifically for video games for the 1980sCommodore 64 computer.Koji Kondo was an early and important composer forNintendo games. As the technology improved,polyphonic and often orchestral soundtracks replaced simplemonophonic melodies starting in the late 1980s and the soundtracks to popular games such as theDragon Quest andFinal Fantasy series began to be released separately. In addition to compositions written specifically for video games, the advent of CD technology allowed developers to incorporate licensed songs into their soundtrack (theGrand Theft Auto series is a good example of this). Furthermore, whenMicrosoft released theXbox in 2001, it featured an option allowing users to customize the soundtrack for certain games by ripping a CD to the hard-drive.
As inSound of Music Live! the music or dialogue in question was prepared specifically for use in or at an event such as that described above.
In the case of theme parks, actors may be ensconced in large costumes where their faces may be obscured. They mime along to a prerecorded music, effects and narration track that may sound as if it was lifted from a movie, or may sound as if it had been overly dramatized for effect.
In the case of cruise ships, the small stage spaces do not allow for full orchestration, so that possibly the larger instruments may be pre-recorded onto a backing track and the remaining instruments may play live, or the reverse may occur in such instances asElvis: The Concert orSinatra: His Voice. His World. His Way both of which use isolated vocal and video performances accompanied by a live band.
In the case of event soundtracks, large public gatherings such asHands Across America, TheLive Aid Concert, the 200th Anniversary Celebration of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia,The MUSE Concerts or the variousGreenpeace events (i.e.The First International Greenpeace Record Project,Rainbow Warriors andAlternative NRG) all had special music, effects and dialogue written especially for the event which later went on sale to the record and later video-buying public.
Only a few cases exist of an entire soundtrack being written specifically for a book.
'Kaladin', a book soundtrack to popular fantasy novelist Brandon Sanderson's book, 'The Way of Kings', was written by The Black Piper. The Black Piper, hailing from Provo, Utah,[25] is a combined group of composers who share a love for fantasy literature. 'Kaladin' was funded through Kickstarter and raised over $112,000. It was released December 2017.[26]
A New York Times Bestselling series,Green Rider byKristen Britain, celebrated its 25th anniversary with the release of a book soundtrack by the same name. It was recorded in Utah, featuring artist Jenny Oaks Baker and William Arnold and was released in 2018.
For the 1996Star Wars novelShadows of the Empire (written by authorSteve Perry),Lucasfilm choseJoel McNeely to write a score. This was an eccentric, experimental project, in contrast to all other soundtracks, as the composer was allowed to convey general moods and themes, rather than having to write music to flow for specific scenes. A project called "Sine Fiction"[27] has made some soundtracks to novels byscience fiction writers likeIsaac Asimov andArthur C. Clarke, and has thus far released 19 soundtracks to science-fiction novels or short stories. All of them are available for free download.
The 1985 novelAlways Coming Home byUrsula K. Le Guin originally came in a box set with an audiocassette entitledMusic and Poetry of the Kesh, featuring three performances of poetry, and ten musical compositions by Todd Barton.
The Brazilian graphic novelAchados e Perdidos (Lost and Found), byEduardo Damasceno andLuís Felipe Garrocho, had an original soundtrack composed by musicianBruno Ito. The book was self-published in 2011 after a crowdfunding campaign and was accompanied by a CD with eight songs (one for each chapter of the story). In 2012, this graphic novel won theTroféu HQ Mix (Brazilian most important comic book award) in the category "Special Homage".[29][30]
AsInternet access became more widespread, a similar practice developed of accompanying a printed work with a downloadabletheme song, rather than a complete and physically published album. The theme songs forNextwave,[31]Runaways,[32]Achewood, andDinosaur Comics are examples of this. The novellaChasing Homer (2019) byLászló Krasznahorkai was published with an original soundtrack by Miklos Szilveszter, accessible through aQR code at the start of each chapter.[33]
InJapan, such examples of music inspired by a work and not intended to soundtrack aradio play or motion picture adaptation of it are known as animage album orimage song, though this definition also includes such things as film scoredemos inspired byconcept art and songs inspired by a TV series that are not featured in them. Manyaudiobooks have some form of musical accompaniment, but these are generally not extensive enough to be released as a separate soundtrack.
^abCowan, Lester (1931).Recording sound for motion pictures. New York and London: McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc. p. 37.a strip along the side of the film, known as the sound track.
^"sound, n.3".Oxford English Dictionary (online). Oxford University Press. Retrieved6 October 2020.
^"soundtrack".Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford University Press. Archived fromthe original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved6 October 2020 – via Lexico.com.
^"A Dictionary of New Talkie Terms".Photoplay. Chicago: Photoplay Magazine Publishing Company. April 1929. p. 31.Sound track – the narrow band of space along the left side of picture film on which is printed the ribbon-like strip of light and dark lines which constitute the record from which sound is projected.
^Morris, Christopher, ed. (1992)."soundtrack or sound track".Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology. San Diego: Academic Press Harcourt Brace Jovanovich publishing. p. 2039.ISBN9780122004001.Acoustical Engineering 1. a narrow band along the edge of a motion-picture film on which the dialogue and other sound accompanying the film is recorded. 2. this accompanying sound itself; the audio portion of a motion picture. 3. a portion of a tape on which the electroacoustic signal from one channel of a sound system is recorded.
