Inside The Harmonious Collaboration Between SATURDAY NIGHT Music Editor Chris Newlin and Composer Jon Batiste
When Chevy Chase first shouted “live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!” to open NBC’s legendary comedy/variety broadcast Saturday Night Live (then known as NBC’s Saturday Night) on October 11, 1975, the show’s debut episode — featuring rollicking yet network-appropriate humor from fiery stand-up comic/host George Carlin, wacky skits from a versatile troupe of young soon-to-be stars dubbed the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players”, and compelling musical performances from singer/songwriters Billy Preston and Janis Ian — began a five decade (and counting) run for one of comedy’s most remarkable, enduring and often controversial institutions.
Though viewers from coast-to-coast and in NBC’s Studio 8H watched the historic launch of SNL unfold with few mishaps, the 90 minutes before its premiere were anything but smooth for show creator Lorne Michaels as he dealt with temperamental talent, assorted technical troubles, an unfinished set, anxious NBC bigwigs, a frustrated production crew and overbooked guests (such as actor/comedian Billy Crystal, who never appeared on SNL’s first episode but ultimately made his debut on the series a few weeks after its premiere).
Almost 50 years later, director Jason Reitman dramatizes the frenzied moments before SNL’s maiden voyage in the award-winning feature Saturday Night, starring Gabriel Labelle as Michaels, Cory Michael Smith as Chase, Matt Wood as Belushi, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris (no relation), Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner and Kim Matula as Jane Curtin.
Performing in the film on-camera as Preston and creating its frantic musical world off-camera is Jon Batiste, Oscar/Golden Globe/Grammy-winning composer, singer, songwriter and former bandleader for CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, who scored Saturday Night with top-notch rhythm, piano, guitar and brass sections during a lively and improvisational series of sessions recorded on the Atlanta set of Reitman’s movie.
Building an even broader aural experience around Batiste’s fast-paced and freewheeling score was Saturday Night music editor Chris Newlin, who culled from an extensive amount of cues tracked by Batiste and his ensemble and combined them with a host of different audio sources — from Batiste’s band’s warm-ups to tap dancing — to create an impactful sonic compliment to Reitman’s chronological recreation of the apprehension and anticipation that preceded the start of what’s now a late night TV tradition.
In the following interview, Newlin — who’s also a brilliant composer and musician in his own right — explains his thorough process for making Saturday Night’s soundscape as key to the film’s emotional power as Batiste’s score and Reitman’s cast are, and discusses how his contribution to the project was informed as much by its narrative as it was by its music.
Chris Hadley: What was it like working with Jon on the soundtrack for Saturday Night?
Chris Newlin (music editor, Saturday Night): I can’t help but be in awe of watching Jon work. The level of musicianship, creativity and spontaneity is other-worldly. It’s incredibly inspiring and hard to describe unless you’re in the room. Getting to work with him and the tracks he created in order to help build and shape the final score was an incredible honor. The music he wrote just jumps onto the screen and is so effective in providing the exact pulse this film needed.
CH: In what ways did you work together during the recording process, and how did Jon’s score and the improvised nature of it influence your work on the overall sound design of the film?
CN; Unfortunately, I wasn’t on set in Atlanta to witness that material go down, but we did work together in Los Angeles at Sony Studios, where we recorded the piano cues and overdubs along with the solo violin and tap dancing. I also virtually attended a session in New York prior to production. It all felt like a musical conversation. I took Jon’s tracks from Atlanta and New York and spent a few days building out various “toolkits” of material so that myself and the picture editors, Nathan Orloff and Shane Reid, could shape cues to different scenes with Jason Reitman’s direction.
From there, we’d play those cues for Jon and he’d react and take them to a whole other level. The entire experience somehow felt both loose and off-the-cuff, but also incredibly purposeful and detailed — not unlike the first episode of SNL! The score really drives the film without taking away or pulling focus (from it), and (it) feels incredibly original to my ears.
CH: As a musician and composer yourself, how has that not only influenced your work on Saturday Night but also your work as a music editor and the skills you’ve developed in that craft in general?
CN: (All that) certainly helps, most importantly when it comes to story. Between the work I’ve done as a musician, (as a) composer and (as) a music editor for film and TV, it always comes back to story. What do you need to do to support the action or emotion on the screen? I was particularly thankful for my composing and musical experience on this film, as it hopefully allowed me to apply the incredible music that Jon wrote to picture and (to) hopefully tell the story that Jason Reitman wanted to tell!
CH: Given that you had to work with over 50 cues from Jon Batiste’s score, and that the music was incredibly improvised, how were you able to determine not just what cues would work the best for certain scenes but also the edits and placements of each cue?
CN: Honestly, a lot of it was just by gut. (Often I asked myself), “does it feel right?” I try not to be too precious about any of it. It’s a feeling I would get and as I would go through them and fly them wild against picture, I would then note 3–4 cues that might work for a specific scene and then build further from there. Thankfully, the music Jon wrote really wanted to jump on screen. So we had a wealth of options in the edit, and it wasn’t just me (working on this) — Nathan and Shane also really helped shape the final score in the edit, and of course Jason Reitman was directing us all and (he) really had a vision of what he wanted this score to sound (like), feel like, and do to picture.
Also, prepping most of the music the way I did for myself, Nathan (and) Shane to work with certainly helped the process. To maximize their effectiveness, I created different loops from sections of Jon’s recordings so we had control over different dynamics, builds (and) drop-outs, as well as singular moments that could be layered on top. The flexibility to shape the score to picture so fluidly and easily in this fashion really aided the process.
CH: You also worked with “band foley” sound captured during Jon’s ensemble’s warm-ups. How was that sound mixed with and integrated alongside the score?
CN: I built that “band foley” library from a couple of sources: one being the production audio captured by (sound mixers) Steven Morrow and Noah Hubbell on set in Atlanta, as well as a recording session that happened in New York at Power Station Studios before production started. Notably, the bits of the band warming up/jamming (occurred) before the session while Jon and some of the band were stuck at the Canadian border coming from his tour to the studio! Thanks and much appreciation to our engineer in New York, William Garrett, for always rolling the recorder!
Also, in that same session we had a ton of Jon just playing piano and improvising. A lot of that went into the 17th floor writers’ room scene where we see Paul Shaffer (future David Letterman bandleader/sidekick, played in the film by Paul Rust) playing piano in the background of a very busy and complex scene. All of that material lent itself to a realism that you couldn’t fake, and I thought it really enhanced the scenes we used it in.
CH: Considering that you’ve previously edited music for John Wick: Chapter 4 and Blue Beetle, and that you worked on synth design on The Last of Us, how did your work on those films help you to work on such a sound-intensive project as Saturday Night was?
CN: Each project has its own set of challenges and circumstances that hopefully add new processes and tools to how you approach and work on the next project. John Wick: Chapter 4 had so much music coming in from different sources last minute — (from) multiple composers (to) artist remixes, along with a bunch of needle-drops that all needed to be managed across ten reels. Blue Beetle had constant picture and visual effects updates, and we had to make sure our score and songs were all conformed to maintain the music’s original intent and had maximum impact.
The process of doing synth design for (The Last of Us) co-composer David Fleming still had to inform the story sonically and help create the world. Plus, it was just fun creating these dusty, wooden post apocalyptic sounds that didn’t sound overly “synthetic” or electronic in order to feel organic to that world. While there’s probably more to be drawn from the first two examples versus creating some of the base musical elements for cordyceps (the mutating fungus that transforms humans into zombies in The Last of Us), all the work you do informs you as you move on to the next thing — sometimes directly and (on) others, more indirectly.
CH: What were some of the biggest challenges that you encountered during your work on the film, and how did you overcome them?
CN: The biggest challenge on Saturday Night was probably the unconventional nature of how this score was done, from recording live on set, to putting it together to picture and preparing for the final mix — all while honoring Jon and Jason’s vision (for the film). None of it was particularly difficult per se when taken individually. It was just uncharted territory to some extent and it became about figuring out the best/most efficient way to accomplish it both logistically and creatively. We had a relatively short post schedule that also included three preview screenings. Honestly, it felt similar to how the first episode of SNL came together at times. We were making it up as we went, but (we) also knew we had something special!
CH: What were the editing and mixing processes like for this score, and how was each cue connected to the final edit of the film itself?
CN: There was a lot of sitting with Jason and going back and forth to refine things throughout the post-production process, (which also involved) going in to record piano, violin and tap dancing overdubs with Jon in a few sessions in L.A. (yes, tap dancing), which involved comping and further editing takes on my end under Jason’s direction. It also became clear to me that we weren’t necessarily going to be able to do a “proper” final score mix as you would on a traditional film, both due to time constraints and how it all came together.
So in lieu of a traditional score mix, I asked for some days to pre-dub music before the final mix. This allowed our dialogue and music re-recording mixer Tom Ozanich and I to hone in on what the music needed mix-wise, both on its own and specifically to picture. Tom really brought the score to life and did some amazing things to fill the room and have it jump off the screen in the (Dolby) Atmos mix. His contribution to how the score plays in the final film is invaluable, and I’m so glad we approached it the way we did.
CH: How did you, Jon and the film’s sound and editing teams work to achieve the final mix of music and sound that we hear in the finished product?
CN: Again, working with Tom Ozanich played such a huge part in the final mix. He was also mixing the dialogue, which was so busy and dense…so the sparse(ish) but percussive (and) driving nature of the score really allowed it to propel us forward while all these characters were often all speaking at the same time and even shouting. Our lead dialogue editor, David Butler, had so many microphones to cut and prep, which also led to some amazing use of principle characters in the backgrounds of scenes where you didn’t necessarily always see them, but you felt their presence as they were always mic’d up and in character. It just made for a whole other layer that enhanced the overall soundtrack.
Add to that the realism of the sound and mix work that (supervising sound editors) Lee Gilmore, Will Files and the team did — in mostly trying to not make the film sound overproduced — and it’s a deceivingly tricky film to pull off sonically. Just like the score, we wanted to make sure that it didn’t sound too polished but at the same time, you had to put detail and care into every frame for it to work the way it does and (to) not (have it) just sound messy in a bad way! It all had to work together to be successful. The final mix is incredibly detailed and a lot of work and effort went into it, and I think we’re all extremely proud of it.
CH: What projects are you working on now, and what have you taken away from the experience of editing the score for Saturday Night?
CN: I can’t say at the moment, unfortunately, but it’s a good one and will be a big summer release in 2025. I’m very honored to be a part of it, and (I’m) excited for everyone to see/hear it. It’s going to be awesome. The approach (to this project) and my role (on it) is very different (than my approach to and role on) Saturday Night, but again, each one informs the next…even if only subconsciously.
Saturday Night is presently available to stream for rent or purchase on Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube and other platforms.
Find out more about Chris Newlin and his work on his official website:
