Daniel Schweiger over at Film Music Mag has yet another great, in-depth audio interview up – this time around with Brian Tyler, composer on “The Expendables”.
Given Brian Tyler’s talent for also registering myth-making emotion through the mayhem, it seems a given that his powerful work would catch the ear of the legendary Sylvester Stallone, who enlisted Tyler in the formidable task of following in Jerry Goldsmith’s boots to accompany a new adventure of “Rambo.” Tyler’s mix of ethnic rhythms and a gung-ho orchestra made sure that Stallone would stand vibrantly tall as he wiped out another army.
Now Tyler’s re-upped with the actor-writer-director for his biggest, most knowing salute to all that is macho with “The Expendables,” whose army of Mercs make exhilarating mincemeat out of the villains holding thrall over a Latin American island. And leave it to Tyler to once again do them proud with patriotic bombast, batteries of percussive action runs and a virtual marathon of explosive builds- not to mention some real melodic heart to the high-fiving destruction of lives and property.
Hear the interview right here, or hop on over to the original post:
Jake over at Designing Sound has an exclusive interview up with the sound team on “A Nightmare on Elm Street”:
DS: Transition stings seem like a lot fun to cut in horror films due to their startling nature. Do the sounds that comprise the sting have to be related to the shot? What makes a perfect transition sting? AC: Stings are tough. To be effective they need to be shocking enough to jar your nerves. The problem with stings is that they are not a “satisfying” scare. If you have too many of them, the audience will become annoyed. There is a scene where Jesse shows up outside Kris’s window. Initially we had a more “traditional” sting here, but we all felt we were over staying our welcome with stings. So to mix things up, we used a LOUD window bang. This still jars the audience’s nerves, and gives us a shock, but because it is tied to a real world event, it doesn’t feel “stung.” So the elements can be real like the window example, or comprised of all sorts of goodness.
‘Inception’ opened in Danish theaters yesterday, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it. Check out this recording from the ‘Inception’ US premiere, featuring live performances of some of tracks from the movie:
Michael Coleman over at the Soundworks Collection delivers yet another great feature on film sound – this time around, on the audio for Christopher Nolan’s Inception. It features supervising sound editor and sound designer Richard King, re-recording Mixer Lora Hirschberg, and re-recording mixer Gary Rizzo.
It’s a composer’s job to unlock the imagination of their directors, translating their flights of fantasy into melody. Few musical dreamweavers have shown as much imaginative dexterity in that regard as Hans Zimmer. Yet even fewer directors have given Zimmer a true match for his talent like Christopher Nolan, whose enigmatic oeuvre consists of such head scratchers as “Memento,” “Insomnia” and “The Prestige,” not to mention two movies featuring The Dark Knight, whose imposing bleakness was abetted by the anti-hero rhythms of Zimmer and James Newton Howard.
If hearing Nolan’s imagination was a tough nut for Zimmer to crack before, then his new film “Inception” takes the filmmaker’s intellectual bent to spectacularly inscrutable heights. It’s a brain-bending, sci-fi tinted mix of “Mission Impossible,” impeccably dressed James Bond action and enough meditations on the nature of humanity and dreams to make Carlos Castaneda scratch his head. Providing a thematic through line to “Inception”‘s multiple, and insanely complicated plains of dream action is an equally surreal, and beautifully thrilling score by Hans Zimmer.
Hear the interview below, or hop on over to the original post here.
Miguel Isaza over at Designing Sound has a brilliant exclusive interview up with Ann Scibelli, Sound Designer on Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood”:
ANN: I started working on the film in its early stages, really as soon as they began assembling the first cut. As far as doing something sonically different, I think all the medieval films have the same elements really, like: horses, swords, and other weapons. I wanted this film to have a very accurate feel in terms of the backgrounds and I really wanted to concentrate my design on the bows and arrows to really create their own signature sound.
I first started to develop all the background locations and the elements for the arrows. I did this even before I had any of the visual effects. I worked on the sounds for the battles, battering ram, swords, and horses. I also did some research on indigenous insects and birds in the Sherwood Forest. In the original cut of the movie there were a lot of scenes with the lost boys. The boys mostly communicated by vocalizing animal and bird calls. The boys were also sick and had coughs.
We had a lot of the crew imitating vocals along with kids and used real animal vocals as well. Although, most of the scenes with the boys were cut out of the movie they still ended up playing a role in the soundtrack. One thing I also wanted to accomplish was creating a fresh sound for all the weapons and arrow whiz bys. We recorded a lot of the elements for the weapons. We actually acquired all the props that were used on the set. We had all the bows, arrows, crossbows, chain-metal, shields, clothing, and boots.
Film Music Magazine has a great, in-depth audio interview up with acclaimed composer John Debney on his score for Predators. Well worth a listen!
Debney drives the chase with a role that’s equal parts acolyte and new interpreter, turning the vibe of one great hunter into his own fresh meat.
But then, for all of the sunny comedy he’s popularly played with the likes of “Liar Liar,” “Jimmy Neutron” and “Valentine’s Day,” Debney has shown a dark side that’s gone for the throat with “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “The Relic” and “End of Days,” not to mention a mammoth sense of symphonic adventure in his rollicking work for “Cutthroat Island.”
All of those styles come into play for “Predators” with a vengeance, making for a score that’s an homage in all the best, creative possibilities- and one, that along with “Iron Man 2,” will likely propel Debney further up the list of summer blockbuster action composers.
The Soundworks Collection takes a look at the sound for Toy Story 3 in this excellent feature – check it out!
Join Skywalker Sound’s Re-Recording Mixer and Sound Designer Tom Myers, Sound Re-Recording Mixer Michael Semanick, Director Lee Unkrich, and Stuart Bowling, Technical Marketing Manager at Dolby Laboratories as they take you behind-the-scenes and discuss the sound of Toy Story 3.
Speaking of Toy Story 3, Tracksounds has reviewed Randy Newman’s score for the film – read all about it here.
Posted by Asbjoern Andersen, Epic Sound 
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