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The Struggle Behind the Soundtrack
Inside the Discordant New World of Film Scoring
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Book Presentation:
Do you want to pick up a light saber whenever you hear John Williams’ Star Wars theme? Get the urge to ride into the desert and face down steely-eyed desperados to the refrain of Ennio Morricone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? Does Hans Zimmer’s Pirates of the Caribbean score have you talking like Jack Sparrow?
From the Westerns of the 1960s to current blockbusters, composers for both film and television have faced new challenges—evermore elaborate sound design, temp tracks, test audiences and working with companies that invest in film score recordings all have led to creative sparks, as well as frustrations.
Drawing on interviews with more than 40 notable composers, this book gives an in-depth analysis of the industry and reveals the creative process behind such artists as Klaus Badelt, Mychael Danna, Abel Korzeniowski, Walter Murch, Rachel Portman, Alan Silvestri, Randy Thom and others.
About the Author:
Stephan Eicke was editor-in-chief of the only European film music magazine, Cinema Musica. He co-founded the CD label Caldera Records, and has taught classes in Germany, the Netherlands, Kenya, Ghana, and Belgium. He lives in Germany.
Press Reviews:
"Perspectives are informed and well-intended…Eicke’s book is a very interesting one by investigating a topic not elsewhere covered in film music books and daring to point a spotlight at struggles that lie within the film music workplace."—Musique Fantastique
See the publisher website: McFarland & Co
> From the same author:
The Unfilmable Confederacy of Dunces (2022)
How Ignatius J. Reilly Defeated Hollywood
Subject: On Films > Lost/unmade films
> On a related topic:
Springsteen as Soundtrack (2020)
The Sound of the Boss in Film and Television
Hitchcock and Herrmann (2026)
The Friendship and Film Scores that Changed Cinema
Subject: Director > Alfred Hitchcock
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