The Soundtrack Show podcast interview with Mike Matessino (parts 1 and 2 now available)

[Dr. Rick 1,186]

Forgive me if this has been posted already but I couldn't find it.  Pretty interesting and insightful interview with MM, had to chuckle with his comments about us crazed soundtrack collectors / fans

 

 

 

[Jay 38,811]

Brilliant, I will listen to this later!

[Disco Stu 15,501]

@Faleel J.M. and me in the background like

 

[bollemanneke 3,529]

More MM? Great!

[TSMefford 1,525]

This is a fantastic look into his process. He even goes into listening experience vs chronological (which probably explains why some of the HP choices were made) and mentions bootlegs as well. He even goes into why digital releases don't happen.

 

Thanks for sharing @ATXHusker. This has really helped answer some general questions I have.

 

EDIT: There's a sneak peek into one his "future releases" promised in Part 2 at the end on this. Hope it's more Potter!

[crumbs 14,629]

This is an amazing interview. Very in-depth and covers so many topics. Had to laugh at the discussion about choosing which music to omit from expansions; that the community's antenna go up at the first sign of 5 seconds of missing music, rather than focusing on the 75 minutes of new music they never had. He's not wrong with that observation. 😂

 

It's interesting to hear him reflect on changes to his assembly methodology over recent years, moving away from strict chronology and focusing on a better listening experience (so long as the score itself is complete; moving away from chronology seems to allow him to create a more comprehensive assembly because complimentary cues can now be combined rather than omitted due to repetition). 

 

I wonder if that means he's stitched together a few of the short Azkaban alternates with the final film versions, to create some meatier tracks? I can't remember the score but I'm certain he's done some similar things in the past.

[Jay 38,811]

Gonna finally listen on my car ride home from work!

[Incanus 5,785]

Another excellent interview with Mike and this was luckily just part one. Fascinating to hear him talk of his craft and all these different projects and their respective challenges as he says that none of them are ever quite the same.  I think his long view on these things comes through so loud and clear and how much a fan he is and how tremendous work ethic he has.

 

And he is really one of the few expert "archaeologists" in this field with such experience and ear for these details.  Also it brought a sort of self-aware smile on my face when he mentioned, how picky and persnickety film music fans are and how that in a way shapes how these release are compiled although he has more and more personally thinking of the listening experience while film music fanatics want every last cue exactly as in the film with the string sustains and all.  

 

It was also interesting e.g. how he while talking about the specialty labels receiving rights only for the physical releases actually mentioned and lamented how costly it is for fans over seas to order this stuff. Goes to show how Mike is thinking these releases from every possible perspective and also from the fan and consumer point of view as that is really beyond the film music preservation the core part of the business after all.  

[crumbs 14,629]

52 minutes ago, Incanus said:

It was also interesting e.g. how he while talking about the specialty labels receiving rights only for the physical releases actually mentioned and lamented how costly it is for fans over seas to order this stuff. Goes to show how Mike is thinking these releases from every possible perspective and also from the fan and consumer point of view as that is really beyond the film music preservation the core part of the business after all.  

 

Beautifully put mate. I keep pinching myself how lucky we are right now, knowing that Mike is working through Williams' filmography with the great man himself. We could not be in safer hands, as proven time and time again. His move towards slight non-chronology but steadfast insistence on including everything worth releasing is a fair compromise.

 

I also love the simplicity of his methodology: each release might be the last time anyone gets to touch that score, so let's do it right.

[Laserschwert 502]

I keep wondering if Mike is in a position to ask Williams to demand Disney to have Mike work on the SW scores right now. Or isn't even Williams in a position like that?

[crumbs 14,629]

It would be Williams' management probably, not Williams himself.

 

I think it's pretty obvious we'll have to wait until after IX for any traction in that arena (and fair enough, too -- the man is still yet to finish his magnum opus!)

[Jay 38,811]

I listened to this last night and it was, indeed great!

Or, I should say, the CONVERSATION was great!  David asked the right questions to lead Mike into interesting stories, and so much good information was given.

 

HOWEVER.  The constant interruption of their nice conversation by music clips started as annoying and ended as infuriating.  WAY too many clips, interupting the flow of the conversation and by the end the flow of individual sentences WAY too much.

There was also too many ad breaks for a 38 minute podcast.  I listen to 2 hour podcasts that have less.

 

if I ever listen to this again, I'll edit out all the superfluous fluff and just enjoy their conversation.

 

Seriously though, great conversation and I am so glad we get to hear it

[Holko 10,016]

I do really like how they quickly illustrated wrong speeds, hiss and wowing with Sound of Music!

[Jay 38,811]

It was clever but was also mixed much louder than their dialogue volume so I had to reach for the volume knob

[Holko 10,016]

It's like the LLL CE3K how you can play Roy and build your interpretaton out of what's provided: You can try out what Mike does and extract the conversation so you can enjoy it!

[Disco Stu 15,501]

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

I listened to this last night and it was, indeed great!

Or, I should say, the CONVERSATION was great!  David asked the right questions to lead Mike into interesting stories, and so much good information was given.

 

HOWEVER.  The constant interruption of their nice conversation by music clips started as annoying and ended as infuriating.  WAY too many clips, interupting the flow of the conversation and by the end the flow of individual sentences WAY too much.

if I ever listen to this again, I'll edit out all the clips and just enjoy their conversation.

There was also too many ad breaks for a 38 minute podcast.  I listen to 2 hour podcasts that have less.

 

Seriously though, great conversation and I am so glad we get to hear it

 

This is an adaptation of what I posted in the general discussion thread for this podcast on Wednesday.  I enjoyed the interview of course, but I thought it was a bit of a missed opportunity.

 

David Collins has a vast, wide audience of mostly casual movie music fans.  Many of them won't get as much out of the interview as dedicated film score enthusiasts like ourselves.  Their takeaway will probably just be a general "sounds complicated."  I think Collins missed an opportunity to guide the interview in such a way that it could have been, like, "Primer for Budding Film Score Fans".  He could've stepped back further to have Mike explain to people, like, the difference between the recording sessions and the music stem of the audio mix, etc. Really walk laypeople through the film music process.  A step-by-step explanation of how you get from the elements to the album bought by them.  It's easy to forget how confusing all that is when people are just starting to delve deeper.

 

Just my two cents, a bit of constructive criticism.  Mike was great as always.

[Jay 38,811]

OK, that's an interesting take on things.  Thanks for that.

 

Also, I wonder which score they were referring to at the end, when they indicated there'd be a preview for an upcoming release?

 

Did this drop before the Potter/Schindler/Giants announcement, or after?  I'm sure it was recorded before so it could just be referring to one of those.

[JohnnyD 1,275]

The date of the post is November 28, so it was after the announcements for Land of the Giants, Schindler's List, and Harry Potter. As to the time of recording, that I do not know. Most likely, it was before, so the preview could be either Schindler's List or Harry Potter. I would be really surprised if it was referring to a release coming in 2019, but I doubt that will be the case.

[Jay 38,811]

It's probably going to be clips from Harry Potter, I'd reckon

[Disco Stu 15,501]

35 minutes ago, Jay said:

There was also too many ad breaks for a 38 minute podcast.  I listen to 2 hour podcasts that have less.

 

Yes, I remain a loyal listener every week because I love Collins, but I definitely won't ever try any other podcasts on that network.  It's insane how they do the ad breaks.

[The Great Gonzales 6,041]

11 hours ago, Jay said:

It's probably going to be clips from Harry Potter, I'd reckon

We will find out wednesday! (It's a weekly show)

[rough cut 1,739]

MM is great to listen to.

 

But a lot of the interview, I thought was too broad in its way to handle the topics. Collins seems to have his strength in musical analysis, not in conducting an interview. The discussion feels a bit rushed.

 

I would’ve liked Collins to stop and dig into the details.

 

120 scores a year? How do you handle that? How does a minor score differ from, say, HP?

 

Your own studio? How did that happen? In what instances do you have to leave it?

 

MM mentions that “they fostered the community to want everything.” What did he mean by that? What releases, when and how?

 

But the flaws are no fault of MM. Clearly an intelligent and talented man, who is very interesting to listen to.

[Jay 38,811]

It didn't sound to me like Collins had prepped MM about what he'd be asking him about.  A little prep goes a LONG way for a conversation like this

[rough cut 1,739]

I’m very sad I didn’t get to see MM in London. That would have been a highlight.

[crumbs 14,629]

Part 2 coming tomorrow?

[Disco Stu 15,501]

13 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Part 2 coming tomorrow?

 

Later today for us!  But yes, for you it's tomorrow.

[crumbs 14,629]

Only just! It's nearly midnight.

[bollemanneke 3,529]

When is it for Europeans?

[Disco Stu 15,501]

I don't know if there's a set time when new episodes go up.  It's usually mid-to-late afternoon in the eastern time zone.

[crumbs 14,629]

At some point after reading this post. 

[bollemanneke 3,529]

25 minutes ago, crumbs said:

At some point after reading this post. 

Thanks, that clears that up.

[bollemanneke 3,529]

I don't know what I was thinking, but was convinced this was going to be the Tim Burden 2 episode. Oh well. It's just fascinating to hear Matessino talk about the things he discussed. He needs to write a book.

[Jay 38,811]

I think that comes out next week

 

Anyways here's a link to part 2 of this!

 

https://www.soundtrackpodcast.com/podcasts/producing-soundtrack-albums-an-interview-with-mike-matessino-part-ii.htm

[TSMefford 1,525]

2 hours ago, Jay said:

I think that comes out next week

 

Anyways here's a link to part 2 of this!

 

https://www.soundtrackpodcast.com/podcasts/producing-soundtrack-albums-an-interview-with-mike-matessino-part-ii.htm

 

I briefly scrubbed through it (I will listen in whole on my way home) and didn't hear any Potter. I look forward to the interview though!

[Disco Stu 15,501]

I just finished Part 2 this morning and enjoyed it a lot.  It felt more personal and more about the music.  I think it helped to zero in on specific projects that Mike is passionate about.

 

And yeah, it was a bit depressing when he was talking about the cratering of the soundtrack market  

[Holko 10,016]

Precisely my thoughts.

[Disco Stu 15,501]

5 minutes ago, Holko said:

Precisely my thoughts.

 

 

What a coincidence!  

 

[bollemanneke 3,529]

I wish he had elaborated on why we weren't getting digital releases (not that I'm interested in those in the slightest).

[Disco Stu 15,501]

I'm very interested in digital releases.  But it's clearly extra legal hassle that wouldn't be worth the money, if it would be possible at all.

[TSMefford 1,525]

Yes. Another excellent interview.

 

This did inspire me though to save up and buy some more specialty releases I haven't picked up yet. After Potter ships though. I don't want anything delaying that. 

 

I still need to pick these up from La-La Land alone:

• Home Alone (Already got the second one)
• E.T.
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Schindler's List
• Saving Private Ryan
• Empire of the Sun
• Superman (When it's released)

Time to save up.

[bollemanneke 3,529]

I ordered SL together with HP. SPR is not on my wishlist and I've already got Debney's fantastic re-recording of Superman, but I'm very glad I bought ET. CE3K will not be considered.

[phbart 623]

I'm kind of lost about how many podcasts with MM interview we had in the last couple of months. There are these two here and there is another one in 3 parts, right? And there's one on Dracula too, I think.

 

Please, help. 😀

[Bryant Burnette 681]

21 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

CE3K will not be considered.

 the fuck

[bollemanneke 3,529]

Well I don't really like the score.

[Bryant Burnette 681]

8 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Well I don't really like the score.

 

the fuck

[Jay 38,811]

I listened to part 2 on Wednesday and I loved it!  Overall much better than part 1.  This could either be because of the topics discussed, the fact that there was way less interruptions to the flow of conversation with music clips and ads, or both, I'm not sure.  But man, these 2 parts together make for one essential listen to fans of expanded score releases, that's for sure.

 

I loved that David asked Mike for any personal favorite scores he's worked on, and Mike's answer was terrific.

 

I loved the discussion of the sad state of affairs of current film score sales, as depressing as it may be.  It's so interesting that live film music concerts are a bigger business than ever, but catalog score expansions have been the same for decades.

 

Great stuff all around.