The second chapter of “Days of our Lives: Beyond Salem” debuted with the first of five all-new episodes on Monday, July 11, and with today’s release of the show’s fifth and final episode of the season, multi-Emmy Award-winning composers D. Brent Nelson and Ken Corday have unveiled a 44-minute score soundtrack in support of the popular daytime spinoff series which is available now across all digital platforms, including Apple Music. Corday is the executive producer of “Beyond Salem” and the parent series “Days of our Lives.”
Released by Corday Productions, Inc., the album was recorded at Eastwood Scoring Stage on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, CA where Nelson and Corday gathered a 44-piece live string orchestra and a harpist, a unique feat for a daytime series as most programs in the daypart don’t use an orchestra for music used in episodes. Having pre-recorded woodwinds and prominent percussion, the majority of the project was recorded in an unprecedented four hours, including the main title track “The Quiet Storm,” making it the duo’s most ambitious endeavor to date.
“There are places in our show where a cinematic approach enhances the storytelling in a BIG way,” explained Nelson in a statement. “Yes, we are absolutely pushing the envelope in terms of putting music to picture in our genre… And sure, we could settle for a string section half this size. But why? 44 strings sound AMAZING, especially on the Eastwood Stage at Warner Bros. It’s very exciting and so much more fun doing it this way. There’s a sense of tradition and magic happening as the cues are being performed. For me, this is it. This is the thing.”
To highlight the big moments on screen, Nelson and Corday pulled out all the musical stops to help bring the storyline to life. Since 2012, the two have been incorporating live string orchestras on “DAYS,” and they wanted to go even bigger for this series.
“This score for ‘Beyond Salem’ as with the mothership, ‘Days of our Lives,’ is always meant to enhance the story and in doing so only serves as a frame for the big picture,” said Corday. “There are times when the music is played in scenes without dialogue and in those moments the composers have an amazing opportunity to enhance the story in a much more direct way. It has always been my greatest pleasure and creative outlet to have been able to score ‘Days of our Lives’ since 1979. ‘Beyond Salem’ has given us an opportunity to raise the bar and somewhat change the game of composing Daytime Drama.”
For more than 18 years, Corday and Nelson have worked together in scoring “DAYS,” winning multiple Emmy Awards for their work, which has blended a complex palette of music styles, including traditional piano/string writing, and acoustic guitar cues, full-blown string orchestra, and smaller orchestra ensembles. Even live choirs have been incorporated into the signature of popular storylines. They have also written and produced all the original set-specific source music, ranging from country, jazz, roadhouse blues, coffee shop acoustic, solo blues piano, dance club, strip lounge and industrial, among others. Additionally, working with local singers/songwriters/lyricists have helped curate a rather large catalog of original songs, many of which have been used on “DAYS” in place of expensive licensed songs. Three have been Emmy-nominated for “Best Original Song.”
All five episodes of “Days of our Lives: Beyond Salem” Chapter 2 are now available to watch exclusively on Peacock. For more on the soundtrack and the series, visit https://www.peacocktv.com.
