CTV National News Unveils New, Updated Theme Music

Tuesday, 14 February 2012 19:49

Written by Newsdesk

CTV National News viewers have been greeted with a new, updated version of the theme music for Canada’s most-watched news broadcast.

The new musical score was produced exclusively in Canada with an all-Canadian orchestra comprised of some of the finest musicians in the country.

“The new composition will sound familiar to viewers, but has an all-new feel for an all-new era at CTV News,” said Wendy Freeman, President, CTV News. “Many broadcasters head out of country to produce their music, but as Canada’s #1 newscast, we wanted to do this at home. Every aspect of the music is Canadian - from the composer and local recording studio, to the recording engineers, technicians, and of course the musicians.”

Led by producer and composer Doug Pennock, co-arranged, orchestrated and conducted by Jamie Hopkings, recorded and mixed by senior recording engineer Gary Gray, the new theme music was performed at Revolution Recording in Toronto. Nearly 80 musicians were involved, playing instruments including strings, woodwinds, brass, harp, percussion, timpani, and even a cimbasso. Musicians were all personally selected by Pennock and Bev Spotton from the ranks of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, the National Ballet Orchestra, True North Brass, Oshawa Philharmonic, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Hamilton Philharmonic, and even the orchestra pits of Toronto's theatre district.

“We have kept a lot of the sound already associated with CTV NATIONAL NEWS, but we have given it a fresh sparkle with subtle differences and new sections,” said Pennock. “How many people get to write and work on something that viewers hear every single night? It’s definitely always a career highlight for me.”

CTV’s new music involves an unprecedented number of musicians. The string session was the largest, with 50 players in the studio at the same time. The smallest session was for the harpist, who played her tracks alone in the studio. Other notable musicians and instruments include the Bonjour Stradivarius Cello, one of the most valuable cellos in the world on loan from the Canada Council. Played by Rachel Mercer, it is valued at $8 million and boasts its own Wikipedia page. The score also features a cimbasso, an uncommon member of the trombone family that plays in the same bass range as a tuba, played by Scott Irvine of the Canadian Opera Company and the True North Brass. Also of note was the use of nine French horns, more than are found on stage at any one time during a symphony orchestra performance, for an especially powerful brass sound.

“We recorded the sections separately over two days and then combined them for maximum control,” said Hopkings. “But we also had to do this because we had more musicians than we could physically get into the studio!”

Click here to listen to the new music.