Soundtrack
For the digital music creation software of the same name, see Soundtrack Pro.Soundtrack refers to the recorded sound accompanying a visual medium such as a
motion picture,
television show, or
video game.
In
film formats, the soundtrack is the physical area of the
film which records the synchronized
sound. For the early history of the soundtrack,
see the article sound film.
The term
soundtrack most commonly refers to the
music used in a movie (or television show), and/or to an
album sold containing that music. Sometimes, the music has been recorded just for the film or album (e.g.
Saturday Night Fever). Often, but not always, and depending on the type of movie, the soundtrack album will contain portions of the
score,
non-diegetic music composed for thematic effect as the movie's plot occurs. In
1916,
Victor Schertzinger recorded the first music specifically for use in a motion picture, and releasing soundtracks of songs used in films became standard in the
1930s.
Henry Mancini, who won an
Emmy Award and two
Grammys for his soundtrack to
Peter Gunn, was the first composer to have a widespread hit with a song from a soundtrack.
The
soundtrack on a record can contain all kinds of music (including "inspired by"; see the
Harry Potter soundtracks), contained in a movie; the
score contains only music by the original film's composer(s).
The best-selling soundtrack to date is
The Bodyguard, the lead single of which, "
I Will Always Love You" by
Whitney Houston, is one of the best-selling singles of all time.
Soundtrack may also refer to the
music used in video games. While
sound effects were nearly universally used for action happening in the game, music to accompany the gameplay was a later development.
Rob Hubbard and
Martin Galway were early composers of music specifically for video games for the
1980s Commodore 64 computer.
Koji Kondo was an early and important composer for
Nintendo games. As the technology improved,
polyphonic and often-times orchestral soundtracks replaced simple
monophonic melodies starting in the late
1980s and the soundtracks to popular games such as the
Final Fantasy series began to be released separately. In addition to compositions written specifically for video games, the advent of CD technology allowed developers to incorporate licensed songs into their soundtrack. (The
Tony Hawk series is a good example of this.) Furthermore, when
Microsoft released the
Xbox in
2001, it featured an option allowing users to customize the soundtrack for certain games by ripping a CD to the hard-drive.
Only a few cases exist, of an entire soundtrack being written specifically for a book.
A soundtrack for
J. R. R. Tolkien's
The Hobbit and his trilogy
The Lord of the Rings was composed by
Craig Russell for the San Luis Obispo Youth Symphony. Commissioned in 1995, it was finally put on disk in 2000 by the San Lois Obispo Symphony.
For the 1996
Star Wars novel
Shadows of the Empire (written by author
Steve Perry).
Lucasfilm chose
Joel McNeely to write a score. This was an eccentric, experimental project, in contrast to all other soundtracks, as the composer was allowed to convey general moods and themes, rather than having to write music to flow for specific scenes. A project called "Sine Fiction" has made some soundtracks to novels by
science-fiction writers like
Isaac Asimov and
Arthur C Clarke, and has thus far released 14 soundtracks to science-fiction novels or short stories. All of them are available for free download.
The 1985 novel
Always Coming Home by
Ursula K. Le Guin, originally came in a box set with an audiocassette entitled
Music and Poetry of the Kesh, featuring three performances of poetry, and ten musical compositions by Todd Barton.
In comics, Daniel Clowes' graphic novel
Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron had an official soundtrack album. The original black-and-white
Nexus #3 from Capitol comics included the "Flexi-Nexi" which was a soundtrack flexi-disc for the issue.
Trosper by
Jim Woodring included a soundtrack album composed and performed by
Bill Frisel.
[http://www.fantagraphics.com/artist/woodring/woodring.html]Many
audio books have some form of musical accompaniment, but these are generally not complex enough to count as a complete soundtrack.
*
Audio restoration*
Film score*
List of soundtrack composers*
Soundtrack album*
Original cast recordings â€" for musical theater
