Sundance Premiere of VERBATIM: THE FERGUSON CASE

I finally got to watch Verbatim: The Ferguson Case, the powerful short film that I scored, on the big screen here at Sundance this week. A thrilling experience for many reasons, but I was especially struck by how good the music sounds! I’m not talking about my writing here. I’m referring to the work of both some really good instrumentalists – a string section and a pianist – and the engineer, my long time collaborator Paul Berolzheimer. Paul always mikes the room in a way that allows the instruments to vividly speak. And he expertly mixes the tracks to capture the best takes and create an overall sound where no musical element is lost. Then he EQs the musical cues so that the most important motives emerge without in any way competing with the dialogue. He’s an artist at least as much as he is an engineer - and he’s very, VERY good at what he does. I have watched the film many times on the computer, but the excitement of seeing and hearing it in a real theater here at Sundance reminds me yet again that as much as the success of a score is about about the composition, and the director's vision that inspires that composition, its the musicians and engineer I have to thank for making my notes on paper truly come to life!