Music production

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There are seven steps to music production on The Simpsons.

Step one: Spotting session

Each episode's music starts with a 60-90 minute spotting session - when the composer, music editor, executive producer/show runner and sometimes the writer and film editor meet to pick the "spots" where music will play (Sound effect and dialogue production also utilizes these sessions with their respective editors). Usually these sessions are attended by Alf Clausen (composer), Chris Ledesma (music editor), Al Jean (executive producer/show runner), Larina Jean Adamson (supervising producer) and Dominique Braud (post production co-producer).

There are two sides to the spotting session based on the three key groups in the spotting session with Jean having the final decision. Jean forms ideas over the 7-9 months of writing, voice recording and animation while the writer may have inserted notes into the script. Meanwhile Ledesma and Clausen, having seen the episode for the first time, contribute fresh suggestions.

The group go through scene by scene discussing potential music. For every cue, Ledesma asks three questions crucial in the music spotting process: 1) Where does the cue begin?; 2) Where does the cue end?; 3) Why are we putting this cue in the show?

The timing is vital, as every second could evoke a different mood.

"A cue that starts on Bart’s face may suggest to the audience that the music is about his emotions. Start the cue ½ second later during Lisa’s reaction and the audience is led to feel what Lisa is thinking about Bart at that moment. Sometimes a cue ends right on the cut to a new scene or location. This helps tell the audience that we are on to new business. Sometimes the end of a cue is a long, held chord or note called a “tail”. When we tail from the end of a scene into the start of the next, it forms a sort of emotional “bridge” carrying the emotion of the previous scene into the next, connecting the two."

―Chris Ledesma

Question three is important, as although, sometimes it can be obvious (such as sad music during sad scenes) other times the music can point towards the subtext of a scene.

"Bart puts on a happy face to hide sad feelings he has over something that happened previously in the story. The audience already knows what he’s feeling on the inside and the music plays sad to remind them of that story point. Music for Homer is often ironic – he’s all pumped up about something he’s done or some scheme he is about to hatch and the music plays to his positive attitude. But by now the audience knows that like the Coyote chasing the Road-Runner or Charlie Brown trying to kick the football, things will not turn out as planned."

―Chris Ledesma