For more than a decade Steve Jablonsky has been composing riveting scores for some of Hollywood’s most bombastic blockbuster films. From the Japanese anime Steamboy (directed by legendary filmmaker Katsuhiro Otomo), to Michael Bay’s The Island and Transformers series to scoring no less than 4 feature films in 2013 alone, Jablonsky’s epic sounds have become a staple in the world of action films. Whether things are blowing up on the silver screen, the TV screen or in video games, Jablonsky is one of only a handful of go-to composers who consistently deliver diversity and complexity along with high energy themes. Originally focused on becoming a recording engineer, Jablonsky’s career as a film composer developed after assisting…
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Interview…(Part II) Film Composer Carl Thiel Talks More Music, Robert Rodriguez and ‘Machete Kills’
Award-winning music writer/producer and film composer Carl Thiel was born into a European family and raised in Mexico City, Carl was exposed to a rich and wide variety of cultural experiences and musical styles from a very early age. As a young boy, he would listen to his father (a Swedish immigrant with a doctorate in music) play Mozart and Bach on the piano, while his older siblings would play Beatles and Carpenters albums. His mother, a perpetual student of the spiritual and healing arts and the daughter of German and Austrian immigrants, shared her love for Strauss and Vivaldi, as well as meditation and inspirational music. Immersed in the huge metropolis,…
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Interview…(Part I) ‘Machete Kills’ Composer Carl Thiel Discusses Collaborating with Robert Rodriguez
Film composer Carl Thiel is an award-winning music writer/producer. Over the course of his career he’s worked with a multitude of musicians and personalities including Willie Nelson, Bob Schneider, Los Lonely Boys, John Debney, and Del Castillo to name just a few. Carl currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Texas Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and frequently volunteers his time to teach and work with high school and college students across the state during educational events. But it’s his collaborations with visionary director/filmmaker Robert Rodriguez that occupy a large portion of his resume (he’s even a member of Robert Rodriguez’s pet project band Chingón). In the last decade Carl has lent…
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Film Composer Patrick Doyle Discusses His Commission with the Syracuse International Film Festival
The Syracuse International Film Festival (which runs October 2-6) is celebrating its 10th year and among the noteworthy talent attending is accomplished film score composer Patrick Doyle (Carlito’s Way, Brave, Thor). Not only will Patrick be attending, he has been commissioned by the Festival to compose an original 77 minute score for the 1927 silent film IT starring Clara Bow, something Doyle considers a “tremendous honor“. But an undertaking like this requires a bit of exposition/back story and who better to tell about it than Patrick himself? Our good friend and fellow film score fan Tim Burden, a radio personality out of Northern Ireland (check out some of his radio programs/interviews here), personally chatted with Patrick…
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Interview…Robin Foster on Scoring Sean Ellis’ ‘Metro Manila’
British composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Robin Foster may draw inspiration from bands like Radiohead and composers like Ennio Morricone but really he has a style all his own. What he calls “cinematic post-rock” is a mesmerizing and dreamy mix of electronic loops, and airy synths that are driven by waves of guitars. His close collaboration with Oscar nominated British writer/film director Sean Ellis has lead to soundtracks for prestigious global brand names such as Hugo Boss and Kenneth Cole and last year he composed the score to Ellis’ feature film, Metro Manila. The action thriller recently won the highly prestigious Audience World Dramatic award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in January 2013 where…
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Interview…Film Composer Elliott Wheeler on ‘The Great Gatsby’ Soundtrack and Scoring Mad Max ‘Fury Road’
Elliott Wheeler is a Sydney based composer, producer and founder of Turning Studios. Classically trained, he studied composition and brass studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and Philosophy at Sydney University. Since then, he has worked continuously as a screen composer and producer across a broad spectrum of genres from studio releases to film, documentary, commercials, and theatre. For over a year he worked on the soundtrack for Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby, collaborating on material from all of the film’s artists, from Jay Z, Florence + the Machine, Lana Del Rey, Jack White, will.i.am, Bryan Ferry and his Jazz Orchestra, Emile Sande and Kid Koala, Fergie, Q Tip…
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Exclusive: Interview (Part II)…Film Composer Harry Gregson-Williams Talks Tony Scott, Hans Zimmer and His Career
A veteran of the film music world Harry Gregson-Williams has composed scores for more than 50 films including The Town, the Shrek series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many, many others (including the Metal Gear Solid video game series), in addition to a slew of Tony and Ridley Scott films which make up a large portion of his career. In Part I of our exclusive interview we talked about his recent film The East and learned that the success and bulk of the score was less to do with him and more his assistant Halli Cauthery getting his big break on an amazing film. Harry was extremely open to this interview and touched…
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Interview…Film Composer Joachim Horsley On ‘Rapture-Palooza’ and His Debut Album
Composer, songwriter, performer, and orchestrator Joachim Horsley, generally referred to simply as “Jo” (pronounced “yo”) has an undeniable passion for music. His skill for enhancing both documentary and narrative films through music continues to pair him with the hottest established and up-and-coming directors. We recently spoke with Jo about his work on Lionsgate’s upcoming film Rapture-Palooza (starring Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, and Rob Corddry) which hits theaters this Friday June 7th. The film is an hysterically raunchy account of the end of days which includes, but is not limited to, the biblically above-mentioned Rapture (don’t worry, it really is funny) and features music that ranges from orchestral to rock to…
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Exclusive: Interview (Part I)…Film Composer Harry Gregson-Williams Discusses Scoring ‘The East’
As much as we love films at GST, we love film scores just a little bit more. Zal Batmanglij’s amazing follow up to his stunning debut effort Sound of My Voice, The East resembles a smart ’70s styled throwback thriller that is smart, engaging and dripping with cool. One fine element in the cog of that brilliant machine is the score, well themes really, from the one and only Harry Gregson-Williams. I was extremely excited to take a phone call from Harry to talk about The East as well as his astonishingly diverse and accomplished career. This was an amazing hour long interview and because of the breadth of topics I…
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Exclusive: Interview (Part II)…Film Composer Brian Tyler
Welcome back for Part II of our exclusive interview with film composer Brian Tyler. Yesterday we posted the first half of our session with him and touched on his sensational scores to Iron Man 3 and Now You See Me (which opens nation-wide) today. So sit back and enjoy some more insights into the world of scoring film music (and video game music) courtesy of this uberly talented musician. ——————————————————————————————————————————- – Brian, you’re multi-talented as far as playing so many instruments but you also orchestrate and conduct, so you really do it all. Is it necessary to be so versatile in order to get a job these days or do you…
