Okay, we're taping from this end.
I do love it how we still call it tape.
Even if we're recording an interview via Zoom, we say, "I've got to tape that."
I still do exactly the same thing. I go, "Are we getting this on tape? Is tape running?" It never changes. It doesn't matter if it's all [Avid] Pro Tools or not. "We've got it on tape."
Even the word "analog" means "comparable."
I know. I thought about putting a 24-track back in my studio again for the hell of it. I know that some people do believe in that.
There are two decks here.
[rotates camera]
What are those?
Otari MX-80s.
Otaris, yeah. At my first studio, back in Topanga, I was down 85 steps under the house on a hillside. I dug out, lifted up the house, put in a retaining wall, put the house back down on it, and called that my studio. I had an MCI 24-track and a Soundcraft mixing board, and I was so excited. "I'm in business here." That was my world, for years.
Keeping those running was a pain.
Do you remember the synchronizers, the [Time Line] Lynx [Time Code] Modules?
Yeah. I've got an Adams-Smith Zeta~Three in here. I've never even hooked it up!
Back in the day, that's what we had to use. I reached a point, in the '90s, where it was getting insane. On film scores we had four 24-track [tape decks] going. Then we'd bring in four of these digital multitracks, 8-track units, and we must have had eight Lynx all going. We'd start out a cue, and we'd be watching. Like, "Sync 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6… No, come on; god damn it! Cut. We didn't get the last Lynx up."
They'd have to have a lot of pre-roll on tape to get the units to have time to sync.
So much pre-roll. I swear to god, we had to roll a minute before it started to sync up.
There are obviously aspects that none of us miss about that analog world. It's hard to explain to someone who didn't grow up seeing that in action.
It's funny, because when it comes to tracking for a song, I still sometimes miss tape. It's not as big of a luxury as it is in the film score, where we've got 100 tracks going. Being able to stop and start, roll back four bars and pick it up again with an orchestra… oh, my god; that was a game changer. When I'm playing along and hit a mistake, "Okay, cut! Let's roll back to bar 116 and pick it up. There we go. Thank you."
And to be able to easily "see" and know where that is, instead of rewinding and searching around for the bar.
Exactly, exactly. Anyhow, I'm sorry. I already digressed hugely. Apologies.
Oh, no issue! I thought we'd have an easy chat. I co-produced and recorded "Miss Misery" for Elliott Smith for Good Will Hunting. You did the score, and you arranged and co-produced his "Between the Bars (orchestral)" version for the soundtrack.
Sitting with Elliott and Gus [Van Sant, director] in the basement of Gus's house is still one of the great treats I've had. I do remember heading out to see Gus in Boston, [Massachusetts], and he goes, "Look, I know this seems odd, but I'm going to give you a tape. Do you know who Elliott Smith is?" At that point I hadn't been aware of him. He goes, "I think this will be the only artist in the score for songs, and I'd like to get your opinion and soak that up." I listened, and it totally made sense. It was such a rare treat. Usually, songs are dropped in at the end. When I'm scoring, I don't even know what they are until I go to the premiere, because they've changed ten times. Here I was able to take the score and make it go rather seamlessly into the song and back into the score. To try to make it all cohesive was such a pleasure. Of course, Elliott was a pleasure. Later, for the Academy Awards, we were both nominated. Elliott called me one day, and he said, "Danny, I'm at rehearsal, and it's not going well." Bill Conti did an arrangement of the song ["Miss Misery"] for the rehearsal. I could see that was a bad match. I said, "So, when do you need something by?" He said, "By tomorrow." I banged out the arrangement and got him his music by the next day!
He told me you had done the arrangement he sang to during the awards.
Well, I didn't really do anything. It was just the strings. They wanted to have the orchestra play along. Keep it simple and stay out of the way. It was the most basic, simple, easy arrangement, because there was nothing that needed amplification or help. It was really to give it some texture, let it play along, and stay out of the way. Don't try to compete with the song. It was a lovely way to end that process with Elliott, to get called into that emergency orchestration. After 110 films, or whatever it's been, one of the only two times I feel I collaborated with anybody – between the score and the songs – was with Elliott on Good Will Hunting and with Tyler, The Creator on The Grinch. Everything else has been totally separate and removed.
The people who do music placement for film frequently just seem to drop something in.
Yeah, exactly. With Gus, it's all very purposeful. He was already shooting the movie. He had a clear idea, and he was only halfway through the shooting.
Speaking of songs and string arrangements, your new record, Big Mess, is intense! I wouldn't call it a mess, but it is big.
