Editing Soundtrack (section)

==Types of recordings==
Types of soundtrack recordings include:
# [[Musical film]] soundtracks are for the film versions of musical theatre; they concentrate primarily on the songs.<br /> (Examples: ''[[Grease (1978 soundtrack)|Grease]]'', ''[[Evita (soundtrack)|Evita]]'')
# [[Film score]]s showcase the primarily instrumental musical themes and background music from movies.<br /> (Examples: ''[[Blade Runner (soundtrack)|Blade Runner]]'', ''[[Music of Star Wars|Star Wars series]]''<ref name=theguardian2007 />)
# For movies that contain both orchestral film scores and pop songs, both types of music.<br /> (Examples: [[List of songs featured in Shrek|''Shrek'' series]], [[Music of the Back to the Future franchise|''Back to the Future'' series]])
# Albums of popular songs heard in whole or part in the background of non-musical movies.<br /> (Examples: ''[[Top Gun (soundtrack)|Top Gun]]'', ''[[The Bodyguard (soundtrack)|The Bodyguard]]'')
# [[Video game soundtracks]] are often released after a game's release, usually consisting of the theme and background music from the game's levels, menus, title screens, promo material (such as entire songs of which only segments were used in the game), cut-screens and occasionally sound-effects used in the game.<br /> (Examples: ''[[Music of the Final Fantasy VII series#Original Soundtrack|Final Fantasy VII]]'', ''[[Music of Red Dead Redemption 2|Red Dead Redemption 2]]'')
# Albums which contain both music and dialogue from the film.<br /> (Examples: ''[[Reservoir Dogs (soundtrack)|Reservoir Dogs]]'', ''[[A Star Is Born (2018 soundtrack)|A Star Is Born]]'')

[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (soundtrack)|The soundtrack]] to the 1937 [[Walt Disney]] animated film ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' was the first commercially issued film soundtrack.<ref name=highbeam2007 /> It was released by [[RCA Victor Records]] on multiple 78 RPM discs in January 1938 as ''Songs from Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (with the Same Characters and Sound Effects as in the Film of That Title)'' and has since seen numerous expansions and reissues.

The first live-action musical film to have a commercially issued soundtrack album was [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]]'s 1946 film biography of ''[[Show Boat]]'' composer [[Jerome Kern]], ''[[Till the Clouds Roll By]]''. The album was originally issued as a set of four 10-inch 78-rpm records. Only eight selections from the film were included in this first edition of the album. In order to fit the songs onto the record sides the musical material needed editing and manipulation. This was before tape existed, so the record producer needed to copy segments from the playback discs used on set, then copy and re-copy them from one disc to another adding transitions and cross-fades until the final master was created. Needless to say, it was several generations removed from the original and the sound quality suffered for it. The playback recordings were purposely recorded very ''dry'' (without reverberation); otherwise it would come across as too hollow sounding in large movie theatres. This made these albums sound flat and boxy.

===Terminology===
[[MGM Records]] called these "original cast albums" in the style of [[Decca Broadway]] show cast albums mostly because the material on the discs would not lock to picture, thereby creating the largest distinction between 'Original ''Motion Picture'' Soundtrack' which, in its strictest sense would contain music that would lock to picture if the home user would play one alongside the other and 'Original ''Cast'' Soundtrack' which in its strictest sense would refer to studio recordings of film music by the original film cast, but which had been edited or rearranged for time and content and would not lock to picture.<ref name=Vulture />

In reality, however, soundtrack producers remain ambiguous about this distinction, and titles in which the music on the album ''does'' lock to picture may be labeled as OCS and music from an album that does ''not'' lock to picture may be referred to as OMPS.

The phrase "recorded directly from the soundtrack" was used for a while in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s to differentiate material that would lock to picture from that which would not (excluding alternate masters and alternate vocals or solos). However, partly because many 'film takes' actually consisted of several different attempts at the song edited together, over time that term became nebulous as well. For example, in cases where the master take used in the film could not be found in its isolated form (without the M&E), the aforementioned alternate masters and alternate vocal and solo performances might be used instead.

As a result of all this ambiguity, over the years the term ''soundtrack'' began to be commonly applied to any recording from a film, whether taken from the actual film soundtrack or re-recorded in the studio at an earlier or later time. The term is also sometimes used for Broadway cast recordings.

Contributing to the vagueness of the term are projects such as ''[[The Sound of Music Live!]]'', which was filmed live on the set for an NBC holiday season special first broadcast in 2013. The ''album'', released three days before the broadcast, contained studio pre-recordings by the original cast of all the songs used in the special, but because only the orchestral portion of the material from the album is the same as that used in the special (i.e., the vocals were sung live over a prerecorded track), this creates a similar technicality. Although the ''instrumental music bed'' from the CD will lock to picture, the vocal performances will not (although it is possible to create a complete soundtrack recording by lifting the vocal performances from the DVD, erasing the alternate vocal masters from the CD and combining the two).

Among MGM's most notable soundtrack albums were those of the films ''[[Good News (1947 film)|Good News]]'', ''[[Easter Parade (film)|Easter Parade]]'', ''[[Annie Get Your Gun (film)|Annie Get Your Gun]]'', ''[[Singin' in the Rain]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=Singin' In The Rain (1952) |url=https://the-numbers.com/movie/Singin-in-the-Rain|website=The Numbers | access-date=14 March 2022}}</ref> ''[[Show Boat (1951 film)|Show Boat]]'', ''[[The Band Wagon]]'', ''[[Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (film)|Seven Brides for Seven Brothers]]'', and ''[[Gigi (1958 film)|Gigi]]''.

===Film score albums===
Film score albums did not really become popular until the [[LP album|LP era]], although a few were issued in 78-rpm albums.  [[Alex North]]'s score for the 1951 film version of ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' was released on a 10-inch LP by [[Capitol Records]] and sold so well that the label rereleased it on one side of a 12-inch LP with some of [[Max Steiner]]'s film music on the reverse.

Steiner's score for ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' has been recorded many times, but when the film was reissued in 1967, MGM Records finally released an album of the famous score recorded directly from the soundtrack. Like the 1967 rerelease of the film, this version of the score was artificially ''enhanced for stereo''. In recent years, [[Rhino Records]] has released a 2-CD set of the complete ''Gone With the Wind'' score, restored to its original mono sound.

One of the biggest-selling film scores of all time was [[John Williams]]' music from the movie ''[[Star Wars]]''. Many film score albums go out of print after the films finish their theatrical runs and some have become extremely rare collectors' items.

===Composite film tracks included on record===
In a few rare instances an entire film dialogue track was issued on records. The 1968 [[Franco Zeffirelli]] film of ''[[Romeo and Juliet (1968 film)|Romeo and Juliet]]'' was issued as a 4-LP set, as a single LP with musical and dialogue excerpts, and as an album containing only the film's musical score. The ground-breaking film ''[[Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film)|Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?]]'' was issued by Warner Bros Records as a 2-LP set containing virtually all the dialogue from the film. [[RCA Victor]] also issued a double-album set what was virtually all the dialogue from the film soundtrack of ''[[A Man for All Seasons (1966 film)|A Man for All Seasons]]'', [[Decca Records]] issued a double-album for ''[[Man of La Mancha (film)|Man of La Mancha]]'' and [[Disney Music Group]] (formerly Buena Vista Records) issued a similar double-album for its soundtrack for ''[[The Hobbit (1977 film)|The Hobbit]]''.