John Debney scores a new Dozen

Posted on November 8, 2005 by Dan Goldwasser

This week John Debney took to the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox to record his score to Cheaper By the Dozen 2, directed by Adam Shankman (the two had worked together previously on The Pacifier).

With a large 87-piece orchestra conducted by Gordon Goodwin (Debney was needed in the booth), veteran score mixer Dennis Sands made sure it all sounded balanced and perfect.

The score has many of the energetic playful moments that one would expect from a comedy – and Debney called in the talents of harmonica master Tommy Morgan to contribute his skills. Orchestration was handled by Mike Watts, Don Nemitz, Frank Bennett, and Brad Dechter.

Two pianos were on stage, allowing Mike Lang and Mike Watts (who also played accordion on the score) to enhance the music, and even guitarist George Doering got in on the act.

But not everything in the score was comedy writing – there is an emotional core to the score as well, emphasized with lush sweeping strings and a tender melody. Cheaper By the Dozen 2 opens nationwide on December 21, 2005.