Soundtrack
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- For the digital music creation software of the same name, see Soundtrack Pro.
Soundtrack refers to the recorded sound accompanying a visual medium such as a motion picture, television show, or video game.
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[edit] Physical portion of film
In film formats, the soundtrack is the physical area of the film which records the synchronized sound. For the early history of the soundtrack, see the article sound film.
[edit] Movie and television soundtracks
The term soundtrack most commonly refers to the music used in a movie (or television show), and/or to an album sold containing that music. Sometimes, the music has been recorded just for the film or album (e.g. Saturday Night Fever). Often, but not always, and depending on the type of movie, the soundtrack album will contain portions of the score, non-diegetic music composed for thematic effect as the movie's plot occurs. In 1916, Victor Schertzinger recorded the first music specifically for use in a motion picture, and releasing soundtracks of songs used in films became standard in the 1930s. Henry Mancini, who won an Emmy Award and two Grammys for his soundtrack to Peter Gunn, was the first composer to have a widespread hit with a song from a soundtrack.
By convention, a soundtrack record can contain all kinds of music including music "inspired by" but not actually appearing in the movie; the score contains only music by the original film's composer(s).
The best-selling soundtrack to date is The Bodyguard, the lead single of which, "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston, was one of the best-selling singles of the all time. [citation needed]
[edit] Video game soundtracks
Soundtrack may also refer to the music used in video games. While sound effects were nearly universally used for action happening in the game, music to accompany the gameplay was a later development. Rob Hubbard and Martin Galway were early composers of music specifically for video games for the 1980s Commodore 64 computer. Koji Kondo was an early and important composer for Nintendo games. As the technology improved, polyphonic and oftentimes orchestral soundtracks replaced simple monophonic melodies starting in the late 1980s and the soundtracks to popular games such as the Final 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. (The Tony Hawk series is a good example of this.) Furthermore, when Microsoft released the Xbox in 2001, it featured an option allowing users to customize the soundtrack for certain games by ripping a CD to the hard-drive.
[edit] Book soundtracks
Only a few cases exist, of an entire soundtrack being written specifically for a book.
A soundtrack for J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and his trilogy The Lord of the Rings was composed by Craig Russell for the San Luis Obispo Youth Symphony. Commissioned in 1995, it was finally put on disk in 2000 by the San Lois Obispo Symphony. [citation needed]
For the 1996 Star Wars novel Shadows of the Empire (written by author Steve Perry). Lucasfilm chose Joel 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" has made some soundtracks to novels by science fiction writers like Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke, and has thus far released 14 soundtracks to science-fiction novels or short stories. All of them are available for free download.
The 1985 novel Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin, originally came in a box set with an audiocassette entitled Music and Poetry of the Kesh, featuring three performances of poetry, and ten musical compositions by Todd Barton.
In comics, Daniel Clowes' graphic novel Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron had an official soundtrack album. The original black-and-white Nexus #3 from Capitol comics included the "Flexi-Nexi" which was a soundtrack flexi-disc for the issue. Trosper by Jim Woodring included a soundtrack album composed and performed by Bill Frisel.[1]
Many audio books have some form of musical accompaniment, but these are generally not complex enough to count as a complete soundtrack.
[edit] See also
- Audio restoration
- Film score
- Image album
- List of soundtrack composers
- Soundtrack album
- SoundtrackNet
- Original cast recordings — for musical theater
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- For questions and answers about movie and television soundtracks
