007 Goldeneye for N64 is my favorite video game of all time. I played it during a time in my life when I was the most impressionable. If you were a kid in the late 90′s and didn’t play this game you either didn’t have access to an N64 or your mom wouldn’t let you (she must have thought AK-47s and blood were too graphic for children… ridiculous…). Even if you didn’t play this game you have probably experienced its impact on the world of video games. It was such a step forward in the realm of the first person shooter and its multiplayer mode was revolutionary. I spent more hours mowing down my friends and siblings than I could ever count.

Main Theme

The score, written by Graeme Norgate and Grant Kirkhope is bold, strong in its theme use, and fits seamlessly with the aesthetic of the game. When you listen to tracks by themselves they instantly bring you back to the world of the game. I always consider that a success when a composer writes something so specific and integrated that it can’t be separated from the world it was meant for.

Mission Briefing

In video game composing, unlike film or television, you can’t ever predict how much of what music each player will hear. It’s unique to every individual. However, the one common track heard more than anything else in this game is the Mission Briefing menu music. It plays on an endless loop while you choose your mission, change settings, or all the players set up their characters. It also plays on an endless loop when you abandon it on the screen because your mom calls you away to complete some mindless household activity stealing away your valuable video game playing time. I’m pretty sure I’ve had secret spy dreams where this piece of music was playing in the background. If you were a Goldeneye player you’ve heard this a million times. At least it loops really well!

Severnaya Bunker Complex

As far as the music goes it is all synthesizers made to sound like real instruments. Video game music in that era was severely limited in scope due to, mostly, space restrictions on consoles and gaming devices. While composers today expertly hide fake instruments inside great mixes and alongside real instruments using complex technology, back then they were bold in their use of the fake. The fake drums, strings, and electric guitar are so obviously synthesizer imitations, but they write with them like they’re real. While you wouldn’t say it was good if you were to compare it to music played by real players it is good if it sits in a category on its own. The writing on this game is well crafted. Our ears 15 years later don’t recognize that as readily, but Norgate and Kirkhope are 2 gifted composers who did well with the tools at their disposal. I’m reminded of movies during this era and earlier in the 80′s that have the same feel. The score to The Princess Bride is almost exclusively fake-sounding instruments, but it contributes to the charm of the production. It’s fascinating to witness the evolution of music alongside visual media. If this sound were to be used today it would be in an overt, tongue-in-cheek way and not meant to be taken seriously.

Chemical Warfare Facility

The weaknesses in the score implementation are primarily in the mix between sound effects and music. When a battle rages in this game the sound effects can become deafening, losing that sense of balance between the two. This cannot simply be attributed to the technology of the time. The game Super Mario 64 came out a year before in 1996 and had an impeccable mix between the score by Koji Kondo and the sound effects.

This score has influenced me as a composer by reminding me to be bold with what I mean when I write. These tracks don’t play around. If it has a melody you will hear that melody! If it uses fake electric guitar it’s going to be a wailing electric guitar! As someone who suffers from second guessing herself I place a high value on this soundtrack sitting in my collection; an ever present reminder to be firm with my musical statements.

Also, that sometimes you have to resort to pistol whipping…

*All music is the property of the artist and is used here for educational and study purposes only.

Sunday Soundtracking is a weekly look at what I’m listening to from the film, television, and video game score world. It’s my effort to keep myself well educated in my craft, explore things that are new, and re-explore some favorites. There is more than a lifetime of score work for me to investigate. Here’s to making a dent in the list!

Carpathian Ridge

Gretchen Ross

This is time travel film with alternate universes, timelines, and destinies, and Andrews employs some brilliant tricks to score that aspect of the film. The beginning of this cue uses a heavily filtered and slowed down version of one of the film’s main melodies. Again, the effect here is so subtle it’s barely noticeable, but it unconsciously draws you into the scene and connects it to other parts of the film, which is incredibly important for a time travel movie. This practice is more common in film music now, but this was back in 2001… 12 years ago! I find this very innovative and creative.

The Tangent Universe

"One of the most beautiful phrases in the English language..."

This film had an incredibly low budget which, of course, affected the music budget. Michael Andrews played everything himself and only hired 2 vocalists for the project. He reached for unconventional sounds, synths, filtered recordings, and instruments instead of trying to use conventional instruments in their sub-par, software form. This is truly one of the most creative scores I’ve heard, and I can say the same about the whole film. I had this music on in the car one day and my husband didn’t want it on for long because it “made him sad.” I can’t think of a more fitting summary for this music. It is achingly sad while being piercingly beautiful. The glimpses of light and beauty only make the melancholy more stark. Isn’t that what good music (and life) really is? The mountains and the valleys and the tension between dark and light create the spectrum on which we all live. Otherwise it’s one dimensional. One of Andrews’ influences is the illustrious Ennio Morricone who was one of the great masters of this in his music. I hear this in Andrews’ score on cues such as this one toward the end of the film.

Did You Know Him

One of the best known tracks to come from this score is the cover of Mad World that Andrews arranged and brought in Gary Jules to sing. It was the perfect way to end the film, set in the 80′s, using an 80′s song by Tears for Fears, but played in the style of the film’s score. I enjoy the creative choice to take an existing song from that decade instead of writing an original. The result is truly beautiful.

Mad World

This score has been very influential on me in my own music and I look forward to continuing to explore it in the future. I think I’ve listened to enough dark music for today.

I need to go listen to some Carl Stalling….

*All music is the property of the artist and is used here for educational and study purposes only.

In recent years I have succumbed, almost entirely, to the new way of watching television: power watching. I consider Netflix to be one of the Internet’s greatest accomplishments. In most cases I wait long after shows have aired and digest full seasons in a matter of weeks days. Lost has been my recent journey, and before I go back and watch it again (to try and understand what on earth was going on), or fall to far down the rabbit hole of my Mad Men obsession, I’m taking a stab at studying the score while it’s fresh on my mind.

Michael Giacchino’s work on Lost is some of the most unique music on television. I choose that word carefully because within this show’s music there is the wonderfully unique and the “oh… that was unique…” As a composer I can enthusiastically say exploring this show was a learning experience. Giacchino continues to be an influence for me, and even when I disagree with his creative decisions I still have a large amount of respect for him. (For further clarification see the first 15 minutes of Up.)

photo via LA Times

The Good

Creative use of the (live) Ensemble

TV budgets are naturally smaller than film budgets (listen below for more about this from Michael). Giacchino used live players almost exclusively in this score. In being constrained to a smaller ensemble due to budget concerns, it caused him to be very creative with writing and orchestration. I can hear the space in between the instruments in most cues, and at times this is disconcerting. It feels like something is a bit missing, but then, I remember that that sound of the incomplete fits perfectly with the show where the audience never fully understands what’s going on. The music does its job well in melting into the fabric of the visual and becoming a visceral element inseparable from the other essential parts. I love the tiny details like the strange piano chord that is allowed to sustain fully and die out on its own without being faded out. Listen here for a great example of a cue that uses space to its advantage. There is something old-Hollywood about this score, but a bit less music than early film score. It makes a statement then takes a breath. Even within the statements is an airiness due to the small ensemble. It is truly eerie and beautiful. His writing makes up for the smallness of the group in cues like these.

Coffin Calamity

The Mix

I am a fan of how this music was mixed. It doesn’t try to hide the fact that it’s a small group of players. I feel like I can sometimes hear the individual trombone players playing those bombastic falls. It also feels like it’s in a bit of a smaller space than the typical, giant scoring stage where the orchestra can be 100 or more players. Again, there’s a continuity here in that they’re not hiding anything. The mix is bold and clearly says, “Yes. This is 40 players, but they sound incredible.”

This Theme

Moving On

There is little to say about this theme other than it’s the best in the show. This soaring melody encapsulates the deepest emotions of all the characters we love best, and even the ones we’re never sure about. This theme appears during big moments throughout the show, and of course, the end. It is the mark of a master craftsman at work.

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The Not-So-Good

On the flip-side of using this small, acoustic ensemble is that it is sometimes not punchy enough in scenes involving violence, killing, or intense action. The following scene is a good example of the small ensemble being swallowed up by the big sound effects from the on-screen action. There is not a substantial low-end bed in the score so the scene almost feels like the sound design is driving the scene during a few moments. Action scenes in Lost also feel a bit on-the-nose as well. This is often the result of the hearkening back to the old Hollywood style. What works for the medium and softer scenes can become a bit too literal when it comes to grit and action.

Below you will find the scene and the music by itself.

World’s Worst Car Wash

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I’m excited to share some exclusive content with you this week. The following is the edited-down version of an interview Michael Giacchino did for us when I was a Berklee College of Music student. He graciously gave his time and wisdom and now I share a bit of it with you. Here are his thoughts on Lost, TV music, and scoring in general.

Interview at Berklee with Michael Giacchino

The journey through Lost is a long and rewarding one. It’s one I recommend everyone take at least once. I love the sound that Michael Giacchino crafted for this show because it is inseparable from the picture. I can hear a few notes of the music and know exactly to what show it belongs.

A wise professor used to tell me something along these lines, and I am energized and inspired by someone who does it well. Lost wouldn’t be itself without Giacchino’s distinctive score.

*All music is the property of the artist and is used here for educational and study purposes only.

River Crossing – Carter Burwell

If you closed your eyes and listened to this track, having no idea what it was from, I would wager you would pin it as music from a western. There is something Americana about it in its simplicity and openness in the melody. The notes are resting on chord tones and the string ostinato is a simple, moving support bed. It’s also in the key of G which is the most “country” of all keys (see the entire contemporary country music genre played by guitar…).

I listen to this score and try to analyze it, but it is so simple. I find that I often look for complicated reasons why I love something so much. This score is a case that baffles me. My brain thinks that it should be made up of more parts or contain more musical agility. The following is a great example of simplicity in this score. Listen to this then keep reading.

The Wicked Flee – Carter Burwell

If you grew up in church like me you will instantly recognize this as the hymn Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. This is not exclusively original score and, in fact, this score didn’t qualify for best original score for any awards due to the large amount of referencing of old material.

When I listen to this track I feel like I’m sitting in the front row of a church with my eyes closed. Then the church pianist, who happens to be in her 70′s, starts playing this old hymn just for me. She’s played it a thousand times and all the moments of her life are included in each note. In the film this cue is played under the main character’s narration in the very beginning. She ends her speech with the words, “There’s nothing free in this life except the grace of God.” The script and the score go hand-in-hand. I can’t think of a more appropriate choice in score than a hymn that has the same message as the dialogue. Later in the film the choice of hymns becomes a direct juxtaposition with the violence and corruption on screen in the wild west. The well-known melodies are often re-harmonized and made to sound agitated and minor.

I attribute the success of this score to Carter Burwell‘s incredible arranging and composition, and the amazing group of musicians he assembled. This score is clearly the work of a successful collaboration not only with the talent hired to play the music, but with his long-term relationship with the Joel and Ethan Cohen. The success the three of them have achieved in cinema is testament to the fact that film scoring and film making is a team sport. Only in the compromise and collaboration is it truly successful. I could have chosen a handful of other films by these gentlemen and had the same things to say about the score.

This film is an interesting case from a scoring perspective. It’s rare as a composer to not be the one writing the main themes for a film. Burwell had several minutes of original material, but it all is born out of the themes from these hymns. It’s not too different than someone who would score a well-known film adaptation of a musical and have to score the scenes in between the songs using the same pre-written themes.

This score blurs the lines between church hymn and folk song, but there is something beautiful in that. It mimics the history of the American people and hearkens back to a time when the two were one in the same. This score is full of simplicity and nostalgia. If music can make me feel something with less notes rather than more I’m all for it. It makes me listen harder and ponder more in the silence between the notes.

*All music is the property of the artist and is used here for educational and study purposes only.

I’m kicking off my first Sunday Soundtracking with one of my favorite scores. It’s one that’s stuck with me ever since I heard it. I have to admit that I’m always partial to anything Harry Potter, but after exploring this soundtrack, for what is probably several dozen hours, I’ve determined that it stands on its own as a masterpiece and one of the best scores I’ve heard in recent years.

Alexandre Desplat’s score for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 certainly did justice to the penultimate film in that series. He also scored Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, and while scoring the first part he didn’t yet know he had the job for the last film. That’s an interesting fact to keep in mind while absorbing this music. I like to think that he tied some loose ends he left in the first part and finished the narrative he began. Every composer in the Harry Potter series since The Prisoner of Azkaban (number 3) had the job of filling the shoes of John Williams and using his masterful theme. John Williams is not an easy act to follow, but by the time Desplat got his hands on the series he had the chance to redeem it from some scores that were slightly lackluster.

The first thing you hear when listening to this score on a good set of headphones or speakers is that the sound is HUGE! The difference between loud and soft is so vast that I have often found myself with my hand on the volume knob to compensate. Upon further research I discovered that Desplat decided to double the amount of string players for this score from what is typically used on a feature film. Not only was the sound wide because of that, but he put half the violins on the right side of the orchestra. Anyone who has attended the symphony even once will know that violins are almost always on the left. Violins play the majority of the melody in the string section, and since the strings are basically the bread and butter for orchestral film scores the violins are incredibly important as the high end or “sopranos” of the strings. By putting them left and right it means the melody and the main themes are more prominent. It gives the orchestra a non-traditional quality while still keeping the orchestration typical of an orchestra.

Desplat Conducting Harry Potter *Photo Credit NY Times*

Desplat wrote a handful of new themes for this film which is an incredible concept for the eighth in a series of eight films. One would think the character themes would already be developed and exhausted. However, as the focus of the film shifted it required new musical ideas to form. The two most significant for me are Lily’s Theme and the Severus and Lily music. Lily’s Theme plays such an important role in this score mirroring the important role Lily (Harry’s mother) plays in this film.

Lily, who has been dead for this entire story was simply a memory. Desplat encapsulated what it sounds like to feel a memory of someone with whom you have a deep connection. This theme is spread generously throughout the score and often gets intertwined with important moments in Harry’s journey and represents important moments in his struggle and triumph. His theme and hers even become entwined and flow into each other representing the characters own journeys. The first time we hear Lily’s Theme in the film it’s a haunting woman’s voice, presumably Lily’s, singing the melancholy melody. Then, we hear it re-orchestrated in several different ways, but because it’s heard first as a lilting voice it reminds us of that quality. In the story Harry lives because of his mother’s sacrifice, and I could not think of a melody that more perfectly captures this supernatural relationship.

The hugeness of this score is what I consider to be its greatest success. It does a marvelous job wrapping up what is one of the most epic film series in movie history. Desplat had a huge undertaking having taken the baton from several other composers which is historically atypical from other epic film series who usually stay with one composer (i.e. Lord of the Rings and Star Wars). This score stayed strictly orchestral which is becoming increasingly rare in the film scoring landscape. It’s hard to find film music that doesn’t include synthesizers, electronics, and, in the very least, non-traditional instruments.

I feel that Desplat proved that the medium of orchestral film music is still relevant and it’s alive and well when in the hands of a master.

*Photo Credit eveninghour.org

*All music is the property of the artist and is used here for educational and study purposes only.

My siblings.

The only ones who share the same starting place as me.

I struggle with being so far away. 3,000 miles is a tough pill to swallow in those moments where the busyness ceases and I’m the only one awake to think about things. Things usually means people because I am a product of those in my life. I have developed an acute sense of these 2 in me… how my sister’s existence taught me to not be a spoiled brat (for the most part), how my brother taught me how to live with a boy, and how the resolution of a fight is, ultimately, a chance to become closer to that person even if it takes a decade.

My parents told me this would happen…. that there would be a day that I missed sitting around the table with all of us, or letting my sister borrow my shirts.

Well, that’s today.

All the little things that have been added to my life working in the film scoring world in LA have changed so many little things I used to take for granted. I don’t remember the last time I got my hair cut, and am still not sure that is going to happen in the near future.

As all of the realities of my new life in LA and working in film scoring crash around me. I have been forced to search for a new normal in a life yet unknown to me. I thought I knew what I was getting into… I spent all this money on a top education… What if I made a mistake?

Then I go to a giant scoring session…

I track my first cue knowing that the audio I’m editing will end up in the final version of our TV show…

Someone important tells me that I’m doing a great job…

Can I please stop being a woman for one second and get off this roller coaster of emotions? No?

Must be impossible. I’m a lady working in an smallish, all male company and I’ve been in the process of putting on my tough skin.

One of the greatest phrases I heard recently was:

“Stop the Glorification of Busy.”

It’s so easy to do and busy is so easy to idolize. In searching for balance I happen up on these deeper truths and lasting themes that should and will take me through my life and career. In being pushed to the limit I learn my own limits and there is something terrifying and exhilarating about that. We all know we are finite and that our life is a quick vapor, but to know your extent or, at least, most of it…. What a way to live.

It’s 3:15 AM….. must be time to stop.

Circa August 2012

I came across this photo today and my heart now feels warm. This was from our recent 6th anniversary trip to NYC. He had spent a lot of time, with some setbacks, making sure that an FAO Schwarz trip fit into our schedule. I had wanted to go there since I was a kid. The look on his face, the fact that he’s chewing on a popsicle stick, and the giant animals captures my husband so perfectly.

He is still making my dreams come true… even little girl ones.

He pushed me to go back to school. He suggested terrifying leaps of faith that turned into amazing opportunities. I am now working in my chosen field and working toward an incredible career.

None of it would be if not for the man that makes sure I always get to go see giant pianos.

Air mattresses and suitcases.

Laptops and takeout.

It’s actually a freeing experience to not have most of your belongings. We’ve borrowed dishes and chairs from neighbors and have found ourselves in the middle of a sweet community of Fuller students in our apartment building. If anything has been a lesson to me in building community this is. As someone who dwells on good memories, I hope I cling to the incredible ones being made now when life becomes a blur of hard work again. I’ll just revisit the feeling of sitting on a mesh chair in front of an empty house with my laptop and my dreams.