Siim Nestor interviews Michael, Arvo Pärt’s son, who has given his hand to help film director Francis Ford Coppola, rock band Arcade Fire and also pop artist Björk with the creation process of her last pieces.

Michael Pärt (30), his home, family and the office of his personal company Michael Paert Músik are based in Reykjavik, Iceland. This winter Michael is staying in Estonia. He is helping his parents Arvo and Nora to arrange and coordinate an archive system.

Michael was born in Tallinn from where he and his family emigrated to Austria at the end of 1970s. After that the family moved to Germany. For his higher education, Michael went to Kingston University (UK) where he specialised on film and television music studies. He got the specific knowledge in theoretical, practical and technical side of music.

"The trouble is", says Michael, "that many people know everything about music production and the technicalities involved, but they actually don’t know anything about music. I studied everything in combination – music writing, all the electronical principles and met lots of peculiarities in the backstage of film business."

As a film and television music producer Michael went to the different parts of the world. The most prominent job Michael had was very near to his home. He was working together with Icelandic superstar Björk on her latest album "Volta" (Michael took part in the production and recording of the album, he also gave his hand to the music writing).

Young Pärt has been a great help to one of the world’s most valued rock band – Arcade Fire. He helped to record the orchestrations to this wonderful indie-band and for their fantastic last album called "Neon Bible" (Arena "The Albums of the Year" 2007 album Number Three). Michael did the production and assisted Budapest Film Orchestra together with Arcade Fire.

At the end of last year there was a premiere of Francis Coppola’s (five time Oscar winner) new film called "Youth without Youth", starring Tim Roth. Inside the titles we can also find Michael Pärt’s name. He was the music editor for the film.

Michael Pärt is still in the beginning of his work and career. He has already done a lot of work to make great pieces even greater.

Why did you choose to study music?
It would not be an exaggeration to say that I was exposed to music from very young age. It is a natural way to follow if one is exposed to music, not because I wanted to be like my parents, like my father. I have always listened to the music and I guess this was the catalyst.

What was the music and which were the sounds you heard when you were a kid?
I can’t remember exactly if it was on weekends or schooldays, but I remember very often waking up to the sound of piano playing, my father working. It became like a very calming sensation of well-being, just hearing him work. I’m not here to speak on his behalf but I just know he is expecting madhouse at home. Ha-ha, well, not the madhouse but when a home is busy – when things are happening and kids are running around – then he finds the perfect place to work. I’m just saying it with my words not with his. Well, basically it was all the music that was around the house. I sometimes sat and contributed with my own radio playing but I don’t regard this as something of influence. I was playing classical piano and drum kit.

Did you go out to shops on your own to buy the records?
No, I didn’t. I’ve never been in this situation to go out there and be excited about a fantastic record of a person, partly because of the fact that we already had lots of records at home. There wasn’t this thirst. It can very often happen when there’s a lack of something and then you develop this thirst. In my particular case the appetite was never there. I just went downstairs to find the CDs. I didn’t really go on at length searching something interesting. It is good and bad. It makes you appreciate what is there but of course you can miss on things that are waiting to be discovered.

So you didn’t have the conflict between generations about different taste of music the youngsters normally have?
That isn’t exactly true. There was plenty of music on our house from the radio, in Germany, in the 1990s… let’s just say. This music played in my roof but it was really more the convenience not the passion. I liked to play the piano but there were periods when I didn’t want to do that. There was a time when I hated Mozart, didn’t want to hear anything about him. It takes a little time in order to like Mozart. Right now I love his music – the bass of it, rhythms... brilliant. But when I was 15 years old I didn’t care about it, I cared more about Chopin and that sort of music. But really, it does change.

How did you get involved with film business?
I applied for a job that I noticed on a message board at university. They were looking for a studio assistant, which meant also making tea and tidying up. I worked with people who trusted their employees and gave us plenty of responsibility. It really worked well on me. I was enthusiastic and work was great fun. So if you work better people can trust you to give more important tasks. I got involved in album recordings, assisting working processes in the Studio, film music preparations and recording. It all depends on how much time you are ready to give. I had no family then and I could be in the studio all the time. My flat mates, friends who I lived with, didn’t see me for three months even though I shared an apartment with them. If there’s a busy project one does what one would need to do.

I was working with film composer Richard Harvey (his film music works include "Death of President", "Da Vinci Code") and technically I still am on a freelance basis. I was involved with his projects and his studio. He got a company and studio in London and I was working together with his contacts. I was a greenhorn at that time, just rushed out of university. I mean, you really start learning what you supposed to do when you come out of university and start working. University is a great place to prepare you but the real school starts after that.

And then you got involved with Francis Ford Coppola?
The first involvement with Coppola was through Richard Harvey back in 2001. Richard was scoring a movie called "The Legend of Suriyothai". The film was directed by Chatrichalem Yukol, the prince of Thailand, who went to film school together with Francis Ford Coppola.

The sound of this film was mixed in Napa. Coppola has his own dubbing studio there and he was glad to help his royal Thai friend. That was the first contact. And for the international version of this film we returned there, after with I stayed in touch with production team and producers there. Exactly a year ago they contacted me to tell about Coppola’s new film "Youth with Youth". They invited me to work for the planned three weeks, even though I enjoyed working on the project for three-monts. It was quite an intense time.  I had just finished a long working process together with Björk and my younger child was only month old…

Coppola’s film reached to the US cinemas in December. What about the feedback?
It was his return to the film business after a gap of ten years. I think in a big context now he is doing the things he always wanted and are really keen to do. This is "his own" project with no external involvements or financing. Therefore he directed and produced exactly what he wanted to do. The film is a gem, a beautiful little story. Working on this film was very enjoyable. I’ve done a bit of research and it seems that film critics love to hate the movie. They really criticize it right in the centre. But after having heard Francis explaining why he was using the film – and other techniques he did, I wouldn’t pay attention to those critics, I’m happy to defend the film.

How is Francis Coppola as a person and as a boss?
Great. The cooperation was pleasure even though I was very sad that I wasn’t there for film shooting, but we met up in his American Zoetrope studios. I saw photos and videos of him playing double bass during the film shooting times and he also took over the kitchen in a restaurant and prepared pizzas for whole film crew. He is fun, calm, relaxed and an inspiring character. I’m sure he has fiery moments; otherwise he wouldn’t be who he is today. He clearly knows what he is doing and knows the people, how much to ask and when to give some free time if one needs it. He has the ability to deal with people so that everybody is inspired and motivated to work. We all like him. I guess that’s a good quality for a film director.

How did Arcade Fire find you?
Arcade Fire and Björk both have contracts with the same management company in London. One day Björk’s manager did some research for the recording place in Eastern Europe on the Internet. He found my name on Google and discovered that I was the same person who worked on Björk’s album. They called me up and asked if I knew some orchestras I could recommend. I replied saying that as a matter of fact I do. We ended up working in Budapest; it was a short trip – three, four days. I was helping them to prepare the orchestra for recording, had the scores prepared and printed and afterwards worked on the music editing at the band’s hotel room. It happened all very quickly, as I knew most of the music off by heart – I was following the orchestra for three days recording and lots of notes were made about the music.

They made the recording in a church, right?
Yes, they put much of the proceeds of their first album "Funeral" into the second album’s production –  they bought an old church, renovated it, got an old piano there and other beautiful instruments. But it was a huge cathedral and it was quite difficult to do the recording. So they did a lot of editing for separate instrument groups, mixed the sound very carefully, it was all high standard. It was something new for them to work together with the big orchestra. I was really happily surprised how interested they were about sounds rather than faster playing or stronger or calmer sounds etc. They had their own strong opinions. Very often if one is staying in the front of 60 people you don’t have an opinion. But they were full of opinions which was really good. Not too many, of course (laughing).

How do you like the result – record "Neon Bible"?
It is really good. As I said, I know how the sounds are recorded. I work in the music production and I can appreciate the good quality what has put into it. That alone is the enjoyment. It’s not difficult to listen to and it’s very well mastered album. Not to mention how great Arcade Fire’s music is. The lyrics are also better than many others. They don’t have to be complicated but they should mean something, at least to the artist. So many people have just lyrics and they are trash.

They all have classical education. They all went to university, I can’t remember who did what but it is the list of literature, history, science... and then they became rockstars. This is not the normal combination. I wouldn’t call them nerds but they are not the rockstar rockstars. They are very special rockstars but they are still exceedingly cool.

Is Win Butler the leader of Arcade Fire?
Well, you know what they say about marriage. That a woman is really the boss (laughing). I don’t know if that applies entirely to Win and Regine (Win Butler and Regine Chassagne are the founders of Arcade Fire) but they work very well together. They’ve had their moments of different opinions and I’m not saying who won because it is not about winning. It’s all about creative process and chewing it through. They are both very active and exceedingly creative.

How did you come to work with Björk?
Many years ago, about 1998 Björk contacted my father to take part in a TV show to talk about composers and I was present. The TV show was called "Dazed and Confused" which was shown in British Channel 4 and it was about nowadays composers. Björk was interviewing them and my dad was one of them. I was there just to help my dad with translation and communication part. This was when we first met.

It was only when I moved to Iceland when I got the phone call from Björk’s PA asking me to help them out, they needed some assistance. Funny enough, Björk remembered me, she knew who I was but her PA found me through my website. It was very nice to be in contact with Björk again, specially the fact that I was living just around the corner from her.

What was your job with her album "Volta"?
That was much more lengthier process – one and a half years really. I helped her out when she was writing, making sure that her writing environment was right. She has lots of tools, specially in the computer, they have to be operated, prepared and processed. All this applies to somebody and I was that somebody.

She has the summerhouse in Pingvellir, the little place in countryside in Iceland where the world’s oldest parliament is. It is the place where Europe and America are drifting apart, there are lots of cracks on the ground. We went there in the early stages of the album. It was winter time, absolutely beautiful place, it was almost always dark. She was working on her things and I was helping her. Sometimes she sent me out, she didn’t want me to be there. She was experimenting with her voice and she needed extreme privacy.

It went over a period of time, there was also some travelling involved. We spent one and a half month in the Mediterranean. She has a boat, we set up a little studio there and started to record on the boat. She was singing and we ended up spending a month of recording there.

So she wanted to sing in some sunnier place?
It is all about finding the right environment. It might have not been the sun or the light. Maybe because she has just bought the  boat ?. After all she is very Icelandic person, she likes to be in Iceland. Anyway, it was interesting, different scenario, because normally you don’t record on the yacht, specially in the Mediterranean near the Tunisia.

You were working with all the tracks in "Volta"?
Two thirds of the tracks. She was also working with other production people. For example with Timbaland who had their own production army. Like the factory full of people. There were tens of rooms where everyone was dealing with separate sections of production. The situation was that she goes to one room and says: "You do this!", then she goes to the second room to say: "You do that!", then she goes to the tenth room: "But you do this!" and then she goes back to the first room: "Now you try to do like this!" It’s unbelievable, there were so many programmers, sound technicians, recording engineers... Everybody got very specific instructions and after they mixed all together in one room.

There were various tracks we recorded with Björk that didn’t get to the album. Some takings you can’t really consider as pieces, for example just takings at five o’clock in the morning. But many of these tracks we recorded in the beginning would be enviable to the album. They might go there to the B-side.

Does Björk have some specific routines when she is dealing with creating process in music?
She works very differently when she is alone and with people. I’d like to imagine that when she was working with me if she was working alone. Of course, I wasn’t there to tell her how to write, she was the grand master of it. I wanted to be there as invisible person.

When she was collaborating with other people, you can really sense the transformation. For example when we were recording together with Anthony Hegart from Anthony and the Johnsons. They met first time before the recording and I was driving – she doesn’t drive- to the summerhouse. Björk was really nervous and anxious. She worried about how we’re going to plan the recording, there was nothing planned. They went there, thought about it and with two or three hours the vocals were sung in. After that the microphones stayed in and (whispering) they were singing and singing... playing with their voices, getting to know each other... it was like the first date... it was dark outside, you could see the lights in horizon, there was a lake in front of you and the mist... Don’t get me wrong, they are great professionals but singing... it is like being naked. I remember sitting there and thinking to myself: "This is the Day, remember it." Björk becomes absolutely shiny person when she is singing. Very inspiring!

Do you ever listen to music without hearing all the technical sides of it?
This is a good question. There was a time of period when I made myself to take everything analytically. I was watching a film and I concentrated on the sounds, the rhythms of the scenes. That was natural thing during my university time. Now I’m trying to do the opposite, I want to switch myself off listening the details. Just trying to enjoy.

Have you done any music writing yourself?
I was doing a little bit of writing for documentaries and short films, so that I could know the thing. But I’m not born as a composer. I understand, of course, this expectant whisper: "Does he write? Does he write?" but, how to say... One does what he likes to do and what he can and what one finds to be a good challenge. In this stage my challenges are elsewhere than writing.

But if you would write, what kind of music it would be?
I can’t name any composer who I would compare it to. But my music would definitely be not too powerful nor too strong. And at the same time it wouldn’t be anything classical or modern. Even if somebody would come to me, playing something and asking: "Is it something like that?", I couldn’t say.

I really don’t want to plan too far, in the near future. Everybody always wants to be there not here – it’s the law of humanity.  But it’s nice to be here and I like to be here. I’ve got a bit shorter goals. Goals that are not so far into the future, more closer to the future. I don’t want to look out too far because otherwise I will lose what I have here. I guess it’s step by step and we’ll see what the future brings.

What about your next projects?
They usually come with very short notice. I was once told that I have to take the next flight to Thailand. And then I was on that flight. The Coppola’s project was only three weeks notice. These things happen very quickly.

There is nothing that I want to commit myself to. My diary is not full of appointments and I quite like it. There is a good amount of stress involved with uncertainty. You’ve got all kinds of commitments with your family. I’m not the nine to five person, more like six to ten (laughing) or from twelve to twelve 24/7 if one does projects.

All the projects I’ve been involved in have been in different countries. Last four years there was no work that has been in only one part of the world. I guess I don’t have to mention the fact because of that all the jobs have been so different. I can’t say what I want if I expect unexpected.

Michael Pärt
Michael was born in 1977 in Tallinn. He has a brother and two sisters.

He graduated the Kingston University in 2000. He presented his diploma work as the light and the sound installation "Cyclic Evolution" The feedback of the work was excellent. The work was the structure of pipes which the sun corners on different times during the day activated the special light sensors and they pushed to make the different sounds.

Addition to the Francis Coppola’s last film Michael has worked with the sound production of another films such as "Les Deux Mondes" (2007, director Daniel Cohen), "Eichmann" (2007, director Robert Young), "Luther the Movie" (2003, director Eric Till).

For more information also look http://www.paert.com

Michael’s passionate hobby has been photography, since the day when his relatives from homeland gave him the Russian camera Zenit with lots of buttons.

Michael is always asked to be a photographer in weddings. Michael says that photography and music have lots of common – in balance, contrasts, the strengths of the colours/sounds.

Who is music editor?
In Estonian film-making context there are only these certain people responsible for the sounds – for example composer, the film director and the recorder. Then in a big film world there are more people working in different stages of production. For example, the music editor. If you translate it in Estonian, a film editor would leave the music editor too much work. Basically, the music editor is the film editor, the sound editor.

His task is to settle the sounds and the music into the film. It could be easy if there is the exact music written and recorded for each paragraph of the film. Then you have to set the music to the right place inside the film and that’s it. But certain amount of music is recorded without considering the scenes. They count with the character of the film but it is usually for the general and coincidental background. In the place where it’s needed the music editor must find the most proper part of the music and sets it on the background.

There might be a situation where the scene is longer but the fragment of music is far too short. Music editor’s task is to cut everything together in a way that the line of the film and the music could reach to the audience as the same length. To mount it in a way that the recorded 10 second music fits to the 20 second film cine.

With Francis Ford Coppola film Michael used the music of Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijovi (the Grammy winner).

"I was given the free token, the opened opportunities were pleasant experience in a creative way", says Michael Pärt.

A music editor is in a bit different role if there’s an orchestral recording. There his function is to make sure that nobody is playing wrong, that there wouldn’t be any wrong notes or disharmonies. Everything has to be in tune. Also to note out the different parameters, for example the loudness and speeds, to select and mix together the best places of recordings. This was the work Michael did with Arcade Fire and Budapest Film Orchestra.

S.N.