Gramophone – September 2019

oflinesandflashesonthescreengivingthemwarningsand“hit

points”fordown-beats.AfewyearsagoIstartedexperimenting

withrubatoclicktracks,wherethesubtletendenciesofrubato

areprogrammeddirectlyintothetempomap.Usingthis

techniqueit’spossibletocreateaveryfree-sounding,rubato

performancethatmightnormallybeheardwithoutaclicktrack,

butwithalltheadvantagesyougetwhenusingaclicktrack–for

example,beingabletooverdubachoiroramassivebatteryof

percussionontopoftheorchestraatalaterdate.’

THE‘TEMPLOVE’TRAP

Ifyou’veeversatinacinemaandthought,‘Thatmusicsounds

quitealotlike...’,thereasonisfrequentlynot,asonemight

assume,thecomposer’slackoforiginality,butinsteadtheresult

ofaphenomenonknownas‘temp’music.Thisispre-existing

music(usuallyfromotherfilms)thatisusedthroughthe

post-productionprocesstoestablishthemoodandpaceofthe

scene,afterwhichthecomposeristheneffectivelyexpectedto

replacethe‘temp’musicwithanoriginalscore.Thispracticeis

perfectlyunderstandableintheory,butthetroubleisthat,bythe

timethecomposercomesonboard,thedirectorandthe

producershaveoftengrownratherfondofthe‘temp’tracks

(orhavefallenintothe‘templove’trap,asit’sknowninthe

industry)anditcanbeverydifficultforacomposertodislodgeit

fromtheirhearts.Thisresultsinthecommonscenarioinwhich

thecomposerfeelsobligedtowritemusicthatalludesclosely

tothespiritandeventherhythms,harmoniesandmelodiesof

‘temp’tracks.

Incidentally,theuseof‘temp’musicisnotanew

phenomenon.Inoneparticularlypainfulexample,American

gramophone.co.uk GRAMOPHONESEPTEMBER 201925

COMPOSING FILM MUSIC

21 – 23September

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4 – 5October

SKYFALL

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18 October

SETTLINGTHE

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The trouble is that, by the time the

composer comes on board, the director

may have grown fond of the temp music

Hans Zimmer’s use of electronics and sampling has greatly inluenced the industry

PHOTOGRAPHY:

ANN JOHANSSON/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES