[JamesD]

Wondering what others would offer as key components that result in what is often referred to as the Hollywood Sound.

Some categories include:

1 - Instrument/section selection and blending
2 - Harmony
2 - Recording Technique
3 - Playing technique
4 - Voicing

Thoughts?

[Newport]

I think it is very much a particular sound in as much the sound and recording technique is more 'toppy & bassy' and glossy than a more traditional orchestral classical style. The general feel can be very predictable - which is not suprising considering its main role is to support the visuals. The voicing must also not impinge on the dialogue and other sounds occuring within the film. As a style for film etc, I think it is fine (and there are some great soundtracks around), but listening to it as stand-alone music does nothing for me - I prefer a more 'traditional' orchestral sound.

[Acciacatura]

How to define, the Hollywood sound? I would say that even though there are examples of composer's who have added ethnic intrumentation, synths etc the foundation is fundamentally of a late romantic orchestral mode. Of course this is not to denegrate the contribution that composers like Copeland made the American Symphony sound that has permeated through film. But, to summarise, a Hollywood Sound can be best expressed in terms of a "large, bombastic symphony orchestra".

[Newbis2]

I'm not an an expert on this, but I have to agree with Newport...it sounds different from a big orchestra sound in classical music. For one thing, I think there's a vocabulary of added elecronic effects that aren't in the orchestra. But even if you take out the folley and just talk about orchestral music in film, part of it must actually be the emotions, the spirit of it, apart from any techniques. If you have a film score that orchestrationally sounds a little like Bruckner, it still isn't going to sound like Bruckner because it tends to have a certain mixture of bold optimism and fatalism that's so much part of our culture today, and it lacks the twisty, literary sort of "philosophical" digressive quality you'd find in Bruckner or other 19th century composers. Another thing is that there's a certain degree of influence of minimalism today, I think, which is very useful because repeated patterns tend to be easier to work with in film.

[Ventoxote]

Scott Smalley talked about this in his Film music orchestration course - it's the idea of big band jazz writing especially in the brass, but where the voicing hides the 7ths within the chord instead of on top. So you get this flavor without that jazz sound. That's a big part of it I think.