Citywalk Studios Helps Branson Attraction Make Big Splash

16 March 2006

Award shows have been given a bad rap so to speak based on the Oscar's recent tribute paid to the song, “Hard to Be a Pimp”. If a movie needs a hit song to promote itself, it begs the question, what's wrong with the movie? Music, when it's incorporated into a story, should never draw attention to itself. It should merely enhance the story, drawing out the emotion within the viewer.

Music makers have an extremely difficult task of mixing the perfect combination of sound, pitch and rhythm to underscore everything from song lyrics to commercial voice-overs. Few master the fine art and rare is the studio that can effectively produce the variety of music necessary to underscore the spectrum of styles demanded by Branson's one hundred plus shows and attractions.

Citywalk Studios, headed by Boston's Berklee College of Music Graduate Mark Owen, has proven to be the go-to place for just the right mix. Mark Owen was the music director for Branson's popular show Legends for over seven years, and prior to that taught Digital Audio and MIDI courses at the Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts. He scored the music for the Miramax film, Jet Li - The Master, and has worked with such names as The Osmonds, Jim Stafford and The Lennon Sisters.

Citywalk Studios also produced the music for the newest Branson attraction, The Titanic, which takes you on an emotional journey depicting the grandeur, excitement and tragedy from within the vessel. Each room of the attraction has a different musical theme and sound. A penetrating rumbling bass tone and ethereal chorus transport you back to the year 1912, a lively ethnic jig gives a taste of hope in the lower class accommodations and the string quartet plays until the very end. The Titanic, featuring Mark Owen's original score, is slated to open March 2006.

Music can subtly transport the listener to an emotional place or memory in time and magnify feelings without the listener being aware that it was the music that transported them. However music is also asked to take the focus as well. Mark Owen's arranging services were put to the test for the original music of the Christian comedy Act of God. Each of the ten original songs of Act of God ranged in style from Country to Jazz, Latin to Broadway, and were each recorded live using a Pro Tools HD Accel set up. “Citywalk studio is a great place to record”, says John Lindsay, writer/composer and producer of Act of God. “With Mark it's all about creating a relaxed atmosphere. Everyone was prepared and patient and it's hard to get in God's way when no one has an ego to feed. They were economically comparable and exceeded our expectations. Before coming to Citywalk we spent a substantial sum of money somewhere else. We waited five months only to receive an incomplete product that wasn't radio worthy and were forced to start over from scratch.”

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