Soundtrack
A soundtrack[2] is recorded sound accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film, video, or television presentation; or the physical area of a film that contains the synchronised recorded sound.[1]
For part of a multi-track recording, see audio track.
In movie industry terminology usage, a sound track is an audio recording created or used in film production or post-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 the composite track, which is heard in the film. A dubbing 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 term sound track was printed in the magazine Photoplay in 1929.[5] A 1992 technical dictionary entry in the Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology does not distinguish between the form sound track and soundtrack.[6]
The contraction soundtrack came into public consciousness with the advent of so-called soundtrack 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's music track, because they usually consist of isolated music from a film, not the composite (sound) track with dialogue and sound effects.
The term original 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 or cover version.
Psychology of music and film soundtracks[edit]
In the late 1980s, cognitive psychology and psychology 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 the Congruence-Association Model of music and multimedia.[12][13] More recent empirical studies proved that the film music goes far beyond the role of an emotionalizing accessory in film contexts;[14] 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),[15] evaluation of the scenic environments, plot anticipations,[16] and moral judgement of the characters.[17] Furthermore, eyetracking and pupillometry studies found that film music is able to influence gaze direction and pupil dilation depending on its emotional valence and semantic information conveyed.[18][16][19] 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.[20] 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.[21][22][23]
Theme park, cruise ship, and event soundtracks[edit]
As in Sound 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 as Elvis: The Concert or Sinatra: 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 as Hands Across America, The Live Aid Concert, the 200th Anniversary Celebration of the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia, The MUSE Concerts or the various Greenpeace events (i.e. The First International Greenpeace Record Project, Rainbow Warriors and Alternative 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.