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Film & Television vocabulary · Sound and Music

Soundtrack

Meaning in film & television, with examples

/ˈsaʊndtræk/nounCore term

In film & television, soundtrack means: The music used in a film or series, often released as an album. Technically it also means the whole recorded audio of a film: dialogue, effects and music.

In Turkish: film müziği, soundtrack, ses kuşağı

How it is used

In everyday use, a soundtrack is the collection of songs and music from a film: the original soundtrack (OST), a soundtrack album. Music supervisors choose existing songs for the soundtrack, while a composer writes the original score.

Example sentences

  1. The soundtrack mixes 1980s Turkish pop with an original orchestral score.

  2. The soundtrack album went to number one a week after the premiere.

Common collocations

  • original soundtrack
  • soundtrack album
  • film soundtrack
  • on the soundtrack
  • scoreThe original music composed specially for a film or series to support its emotions, rhythm and story.
  • sound designThe creative work of creating, choosing and shaping all the sounds of a film so that they support the story and the atmosphere.
  • sound effectsRecorded or created sounds, other than dialogue and music, that are added to a film to make actions and places feel real, such as doors, cars, rain or explosions.
  • voice-overA voice heard over the images that does not come from someone speaking on screen, such as a narrator or a character's thoughts.

More terms: Sound and Music

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