The Equalizer (score)

The Equalizer
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Basic information
Created by:	NAME
Executive producer:	PRODUCER
Soundtrack by:	Stewart Copeland
Original network:	ORIGINAL NETWORK
Original run:	1985-09-18 - 1989-08-24
Running time:	XX minutes
Number of seasons:	4 seasons
Number of episodes:	88 episodes
Country:	USA
Language:	English
IMDB link

Plot summary

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Cast

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Episode list & original airdates

• Season 1
• Season 2
• Season 3
• Season 4

The score

That’s Michael Finlayson, Stewart, The Equalizer, Jeff Lord and Jeff Seitz (L-R) This was taken in Studio B, but I remember that we did most of our work in Studio C (aka Midi City). Sorry about the quality. I don’t know if I have the original any more. The face of the MCI console was always blown out but it’s just not a well-lit photo to begin with. Probably because of the big reflection of the flash in the TV! It was a cool idea to have the Equalizer pose with us, but…

This is me working on a Fairlight in Unique’s programming room. Or goofing off, I can’t remember….. Anyway, I was thinking it was Stewart’s Fairlight, but I am wearing a sweatshirt from Sting’s Blue Turtle Tour. I’m pretty sure that I got that right after Stewart moved the project over to the Hit Factory. Stewart got my wife Lida and I backstage passes – Lida also worked at Unique – and also gave us roses at the concert (that I think he ran out and bought on the street.) Nice. Anyway, that is one hint at about when we finished at Unique. The problem is that Sting played Radio City September 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29 & 30, and I don’t know which night we went. No date on the backstage pass. Unless the 4 means the fourth night which would have put it on the 27th – the night of the hurricane (more on that later.)

Stewart autographed a copy of The Rhythmatist for me. “You have the money” was a quote from the first show after the pilot, China Rain. For some reason it became the catch phrase of the project.

When we were tired, or stressed, or in the middle of lunch, or for no good reason at all one of us would turn to the other and say, “But, you have the money….” In the whimpering tone of the actress and it would always send us into hysteria. It makes me smile to even think about it. I have no idea why. You had to be there….

As for the dates, I’m kinda vague. As a staff engineer, I never needed to keep a book. When I left at night I just checked when I needed to be back the next day. And once we started the EQ we worked 14 hours a day, seven days a week so I never wrote anything down. We worked EVERY day. I do remember one day off so Stewart could fly down to Florida to play polo. And we took the night off the for the MTV Video Music Awards September 13.

I know we started very close to the Pilot air date, September 18 – maybe a couple of weeks. The Pilot had been scored by Lalo Schifrin, but didn’t work I guess, so they got Stewart. By then they (the producers) had lost most of their lead time so they were literally shooting two weeks before air and we were working on the music the week before air. The show we were working on aired days after we finished. As I recall, I worked on the pilot and the first four shows, but that gets into October. Therein lies part of my confusion.

Another clue to the date he moved to the Hit Factory was a hurricane. At one point I thought I might move to the Hit Factory with the project, but in the end I didn’t. However, I was going to go over to the Hit Factory to hang out and see if I could be of any help in the transition. I distinctly remember calling the studio to see if they were going to cancel sessions because of “the hurricane.” When I looked up the 1985 hurricane schedule, believe it or not, there were two that hit NY at the same time. We NEVER got hurricanes in NY. Now I live in Charleston, SC and we get hurricane threats all the time, but this was very unusual to get ONE, much less two. Anyway, Henri hit eastern Long Island with winds of 40 mph (65km/h) on September 24th. Gloria, which formed and was named earlier, hit later and closer making landfall on Western Long Island September 27th as a Category 2 with winds of 96-110 mph (154-177 km/h.) It is MUCH more likely that Gloria is the storm I was concerned about.

So that’s about as close as I can get on the end date. By the 27th, I am pretty sure he had moved to the Hit Factory. It makes sense that we would have gone to one of the earlier Sting shows at Radio City, possibly the 23rd.

As for why the shows were airing much later by then, either we made up time, or they showed repeats for a few weeks. IMDB shows the dates as consecutive, but as I recall after a few shows they showed the first few over again. This was fairly common practice back then, to allow people who had just heard about the show to catch up from the beginning. Now of course they just play the early shows over the internet. Anyway, we were having zero lead time between shooting at the air date so this would have given them a few weeks padding.

Bottom line? He was at Unique the bulk of September, roughly September 4-27. I have contacted the studio owners to see if they can provide any more detail and I’ll let you know.

I have other assorted stories about the sessions if you’re interested. For instance, when Stewart’s Fairlight arrived we were having all kinds of problems. We had to switch it to US voltage of 110/120, of course, but later realized that although the main instrument didn’t care, the hard drives were spinning at the wrong speed due to the 60 cycle alternating current. I went to high school in Stuttgart and remembered all of my records playing at the wrong speed because the juice over there was 50 cycle and my record player motor was setup for 60. But as of September ’85 I had never thought about computer hard drives having the same problem!

I'm confused about the Fairlight myself. We might have bought one on the heels of working with Stewart's. Or he might have left it for a while. I know we almost bought a Synclavier but Bobby decided against it.

You may use my telling of the events as you wish, or edit or quote me as room allows.

Another Euro/American technical issue we encountered was with video frame rates and timecode. Stewart was used to working with 25fps and in the US we use 30fps. Up to this time we had not done a lot of video work at Unique, at least not that required syncing. I don't think we were even rolling locked 24 tracks at that point. I can't remember the name of the unit we acquired, possibly a Lynx, but I do remember a great deal of fooling around with 25 and 30 fps and then drop-frame and non-drop.

You asked if Stewart went to the MTV Awards. Yes, and therein lies another interesting insight. Stewart asked Jeff (Seitz) to go buy him a shirt to wear, because we were always under the gun and if he was taking the night off, and we were going to meet deadline, there was no way he was leaving the studio. Jeff came back with a shirt. An EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLAR shirt. And this is 1985 dollars. I probably said 'WHAT?!?!" or at least audibly gasped and Stewart turned and said, "That's one thing about making so much money. I've lost track of the value of a dollar. I know the value of a thousand dollars or ten thousand, but not a dollar." That is not an exact quote, but the concept is there. This was proven true a few times when we let Stewart order lunch. We were used to getting a sandwich or meatball hero sent in. Maybe $3. He'd send somebody to a restaurant and then we'd find out when the food came that our share was $20! It was always delicious though. Ha!

I don't know if you want to use this, but it was another interesting evening on the project. Stevie Nicks was downstairs in Studio A. She wanted Stewart to come down and play hi-hat on her record. As I recall he was going to blow her off and then he got an idea to have her do her trademark scatting over the intro theme of the Equalizer. Midi City had a large control room and a booth maybe 6x6 or 8x8. (feet. I keep assuming from your name that you're not from the US, although I have nothing else to base that on!) Anyway she agreed. So I set up a mic and a small tv monitor for playback iin the dimly lit booth. Meanwhile, Stevie and her assistant (whose main job appeared to be to manage Stevie's alcohol and/or pharmaceuticals) listened to the track in the control room. When I was set, Stevie went in and started singing along with the track. We did multiple takes and she just seemed to be meandering, not really emphasizing or locking in with the visuals. I pushed talkback and Stewart said something to the effect of "just watch the tv and try and highlight the action onscreen." I lifted the talkback and she responded, "What TV?" She was standing in a small dark room with a tv not three feet from her face. I think we called it after that. I don't think Stewart ever made it down to Studio A. The saddest part of this story is that I saved those outtakes, probably on beta-hifi. When beta went the way of the dodo, so did all my old tapes. Wish I had that one back. It actually sound pretty cool.

PS Yes you can use the pictures. I don't know who took them, probably Lida. You might just say "From the collection (or archives?) of Michael Finlayson" Something like that. I'll ask Lida if she remembers taking them.

Release history

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Cover art	Release title	Release date	Country	Format	Language	Special features
	RELEASE TITLE	YYYY-MM-DD	Country	Examples: VHS (PAL), VHS (NTSC), DVD (Region #/PAL or NTSC)...	Language	List of any special features

See also

• The Equalizer & Other Cliff Hangers

External links

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References

source: Michael Finlayson