Flatliners Composer Nathan Barr on Using Nails as an Instrument, Hans Zimmer & More
Likely best known for scoring the entirety of HBO’s now-culturally iconic True Blood, composer Nathan Barr’s career is hardly limited to accompaniment music for genteel Southern vampires. He’s currently working on projects as diverse as a new version of Flatliners (out September 29th and starring Keifer Sutherland and Ellen Page), AMC’s new western series The Son, and the ongoing The Americans. With films like The Boy Next Door,
Composer Christopher Willis on Mickey Mouse Shorts, The Death of Stalin & More
From London’s Royal Academy of Music to Mickey Mouse? Why yes — for composer Christopher Willis, it’s all part of an extensive, varied resume that’s seen him receive a PhD in Musicology from Cambridge as well as score everyone’s favorite series in political satire, Veep. We sat down to chat about the rather complicated music going on in those Mickey Mouse Shorts, why creating a soundtrack to a Disney ride is so tricky,
Emmy Nominated Planet Earth II Composers on Scoring the Most Interesting Animals in the World
Ten years after the original series aired, BBC returns to explore our natural world in Planet Earth II. The stunning exploration of the green planet’s jungles, grasslands, deserts and more spawned a viral video of a daring iguana escaping certain death that couldn’t be more hair-raising if it had been scripted. The show’s dynamic score earned composers Jasha Klebe and Jacob Shea of Bleeding Fingers Music an Emmy nomination. The duo had worked separately on major blockbusters including
Comic-Con 2017: Composers Talk Music to Fight Super-Villains By
Comic-Con’s fifth annual “Musical Anatomy of a Superhero” featured composers from comic book movies and television shows. Brian Tyler showed us the funeral scene from Thor: the Dark World that had special meaning to him because it was a “pivotal moment” with no dialogue or sound effects, just the music to create the mood and tell the story. David E. Russo explained the challenges and opportunities of Gotham, a series that, in its third year,
Austin Composers Use Old Synthesizers for New Stranger Things Music
Ever since they bonded over a shared obsession with electronic dance music as Texas fourteen-year olds, Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein spent every spare minute listening to techno artists like Aphex Twin and creating tracks on their laptops. But after college, Dixon and Stein shared an epiphany that would eventually lead to a break-through gig as co-composers for '80s-era Netflix hit thriller Stranger Things. "We didn't even knowing there had been these things called synthesizers in our teens,"
From Italian Disco to Tupac Shakur, Master of None Music Supervisor Explains Tonal Twists &Turns
Aziz Ansari fans probably have no idea who "Mina" is, but they'll hear plenty from the famous-in-Italy pop singer when Master of None season 2 begins streaming on today. "Mina was an Italian pop star in the late sixties, very much in the Phil Spector / Dusty Springfield vein," says deejay-turned-music supervisor Zach Cowie. "Aziz found out about her when he was in Italy and now she's kind of become the guiding voice for the season."
Fargo Song Picker Finds Obscure Gems to Underscore Quirky Criminality
It was weird enough that bleakly funny Minnesota noir series Fargo (Wednesdays on FX through June) kicked off its third season last month with an eight-minute interrogation set in Cold War East Berlin. Adding to the strangeness was the spooky recording of of an ancient Russian folk song performed by the Ural Cossacks Choir, which played throughout the scene. Maggie Phillips, the artist-turned song picker who supervises music selections for the series,
Music Supervisor Frankie Pine on Nashville‘s Original Sound
Award-winning Music Supervisor Frankie Pine knows how to orchestrate powerful sounds to accompany action and drama — her extensive credits for film and television include Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen, Aaron Sorkin’s series Newsroom, and the Academy Award-winning movie, Traffic, for which she nabbed a Grammy nomination. Pine oversaw music for Dead Man Walking,
The Music of the Emotional First Season of This is Us
This is Us was this year’s break out show that everyone can’t stop crying about. The first season came to its heart-wrenching conclusion last night, but fans didn’t witness the death of Jack Pearson (Milo Ventimiglia) as previous episodes hinted they might. What could be an overly saccharin family melodrama becomes a tightly woven emotional power punch thanks to sincere performances and a thoughtful score by Siddhartha Khosla. Founder of the band Goldspot,
How The Man in the High Castle’s Composer Set the Dystopian Tone
Based on Philip K. Dick’s chilling 1962 alternative history novel, The Man in the High Castle has become Amazon’s most watched original series. Set in a world where Hitler’s Reich and Imperial Japan were victorious in World War II, the action explodes from the opening scene with high stakes tension and a season long mystery. Composer Dominic Lewis wrote the first season’s score with Henry Jackman and took over the reins in season two.
How Sidney Hall Composer Created the Film’s Score Using Only a Computer
Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Elle Fanning (Maleficent) star in Sundance selection Sidney Hall about a young novelist struggling with his own fame. Listen closely and it might surprise you that a single artist created the music. Composer Darren Morze wrote the film’s score and recorded it himself using instrument samples and his own audio creations on the computer.
Our Complete 2017 Oscars Coverage
And here it is, the complete guide to our 2017 Oscars coverage. Our annual "Know Your Nominee" series once again looks at every category, giving you the information you need to conquer your Oscars pool.
Know Your 2017 Oscar Nominees: Original Score
We’ve gone big for our Oscars coverage this year. Our annual "Know Your Nominee" series once again looks at every category, giving you the information you need to conquer your Oscars pool. Learn more about the nominees for Lead Actor, Foreign Language Film, Costume Designers, Documentary Short, Editing, Live Action Short, Actress in a Supporting Role,
Know Your 2017 Oscar Nominees: Original Song
We’ve gone big for our Oscars coverage this year. Our annual "Know Your Nominee" series once again looks at every category, giving you the information you need to conquer your Oscars pool. Learn more about the nominees for Lead Actor, Foreign Language Film, Costume Designers, Documentary Short, Editing, Live Action Short, Actress in a Supporting Role,
Legion Composer on the Mind-bending Music of the New X-Men Show
Marvel’s Legion is premiering tonight on FX and it’s going to be unbelievable. In fact, you should probably be careful not to believe everything you see. Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) plays the X-Men character David Haller who learns that his schizophrenia diagnosis may not be what it seems and neither is the world around him. As he explores the powers he possesses and embarks on a journey to become Legion,
Hear the Score From Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2
Director James Gunn has once again taken to Facebook to give us a fresh look at how Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is coming together in post production. His latest reveal focuses on the film's all important score; no Marvel film has better music than the Guardians franchise—even the title of the sequel is a nod to song.
The score for the film is being recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios,
The Music of A Monster Calls Captures the Hope of Humanity
A Monster Calls is a simultaneously explosive and fragile tale that finds some of its most powerful moments in the quietest scenes. Celebrated composer Fernando Velázquez carefully molded the score to cradle audiences as the tender story unfolds. The film illustrates the imagination of a young boy coping with his mother’s illness, but Velázquez reveals how the story transcends the fairytale. “It’s a movie about why we do movies,” he explains.
Composer Jake Monaco on Building His Instruments, Scoring for Pixar & More
Composer Jake Monaco has worked on everything from big budget comedies like Keeping up with the Joneses, to children’s animations like Amazon’s The Stinky and Dirty Show and the recent Pixar short Piper. Nothing is off limits to Monaco in his search for the perfect sound- he explains how instruments made from everyday objects like vodka bottles, or a $6 wok from Ikea, help him hit the right notes.
Chopped & Screwed: How Moonlight Composer Morphed Acoustic Music into Rumbling Soundscapes
Composer Nicholas Britell played classical piano as a kid, attended Juilliard School's Pre-College program and studied music at Harvard University. But Britell brought an entirely different skill set to bear when director Barry Jenkins asked him to score coming-of-age Oscar contender Moonlight with "chopped and screwed" southern hip hop in mind.
What, exactly, is 'chopping and screwed'? "Basically, it’s when you slow down tracks so the pitch goes really low and you get these deep-end,
Composer Justin Hurwitz on Creating La La Land‘s Gorgeous Score
The collaboration between writer/director Damien Chazelle and composer Justin Hurwitz has produced three of the most musically ambitious films of the last seven years. Their first, which began its life as a student film and ended up becoming a major calling card for both of them, was Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench. The original concept for the film, as Hurwitz explained it to us in 2014, was to make a sixteen millimeter black and white vérité style movie,
