John Debney scores Hannah Montana: The Movie with a new song by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Dan Goldwasser



Last month, composer John Debney was at the Sony Scoring Stage to record his underscore for the highly anticipated big-screen arrival of Hannah Montana: The Movie. Directed by Peter Chelsom, the movie stars teen pop sensation Miley Cyrus and features a whole slew of new original songs, including one written by the Grammy-winning songwriting team of Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard.


John Debney conducts the Hollywood Studio Symphony

Conducting the Hollywood Studio Symphony orchestra at Sony, Debney recorded both the underscore for the film as well another session with a 57-piece string and woodwind ensemble for "sweetening" some of the songs. The sweeping and upbeat score has some rustic qualities to it, courtesy of George Doering’s guitar work.


George Doering plays guitar on Hannah Montana: The Movie

Orchestrated by Brad Dechter and Frank Bennett, the score was mixed by Shawn Murphy and ProTools recording was handled by Bryan Carrigan. Music editors Jeff Carson and Ryan Rubin were also in the booth keep everything organized.


John Debney talks with director Peter Chelsom as orchestrator Brad Dechter, music editor Jeff Carson and Disney music executive Mitchell Leib look on

Composer John Debney talks with scoring mixer Shawn Murphy

Silvestri was busy with another film, but Ballard was at the scoring stage, to give feedback on the sweetening for the song he and Silvestri wrote, "Butterfly Fly Away".


Disney music executive Mitchell Leib and songwriter Glen Ballard

Hannah Montana: The Movie enters theaters on April 10, 2009, and a soundtrack album will hit stores March 24th from Walt Disney Records.


Disney music exec. Mitchell Leib, composer John Debney, director Peter Chelsom, and songwriter Glen Ballard

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