A Final Day with Thomas Newman

Me and Tim Rodier from Universal

Today, the last day of recording, was pretty much a breeze mostly due to the fact that it was a single session, not a double (10-1 instead of 10-5). Much to everyone's surprise, Tom ended up spending 40 minutes on one cue in the morning, nearly triple the time spent on any other. This was not because of Tom, but because both Tom and the director wanted to try repositioning the placement of one of the string entrances as well as some orchestration alterations. I tell you, it is amazing what can be done from the podium on the fly. Perhaps the coolest example of this occurred today (for all you composers reading). Apparently, it is not a big deal at all to request that basses and cellos retune their C strings down to a B (scordatura if you want to get technical). I had always perceived this to be an absurd/obnoxious/unreasonable request and would either rewrite my music in different keys or reorchestrate.... but apparently it's not necessary! All it requires is a bit of planning ahead, that is, know where you want it to happen and record all your Bs at once so the players aren't retuning more than once in any given sitting. So, write those low Bs! 


In addition to being easy, this was also a particularly special day - Tom's birthday. Of course he wanted to keep it secret, but it wasn't. My copyist partner Tim did an arrangement of Happy Birthday the day before and passed it out to the orchestra unbeknownst to Tom. At the very end of the session the concertmaster counted off and the entire string orchestra burst into happy birthday, much to Tom's dismay. There was a party after, which I got to attend - true to form I baked a batch of cookies for the event. I just can't help myself...  It was quite something to see all the people who rally around in love and support of Tom - you can feel the sense of community at all his sessions. People love him, respect him, and want to be around him. It's something I aspire to have when I reach that stage of my career. 

George Doering doing his thing

Once the string players left and the party was underway, I assumed that was the end of the day.... but funnily enough, it wasn't. Yesterday I saw men lugging guitars and various equipment into the booth. Today I come to find out it is all the personal apparatus of George Doering, a legendary guitar player here in LA. He sat in the booth with his getup and played various effects and whatnot into some of the cues Tom had been recording that day. Must be nice...


All in all I had a tremendous time this week. The copyists were deeply appreciative of my help, I made a good impression on numerous members of Tom's team, and I managed to learn quite a lot in the process (Tim even showed me how to correct and tape parts). It would appear I've managed to carve out a position for myself, which is an achievement that still hasn't sunk in yet for me.... is this really my life?

Lord it's going to be tough to follow this blog entry...