Writers, your "soundtracks" please?
- Thread starter SicOne
- Start date
1) Movie soundtracks and other forms of lyric-free music.
2) On The Spot was too short to have a soundtrack. Reservoir Ferengi (when it comes out in March), I forget some of it, but the Revenge of the Sith soundtrack was on some of the time.
Non-Trek, most recently...
The Light Of Heaven was mostly written to Basil Poledouris' Conan soundtracks, David Arnold's Bond stuff (especially African Rundown from the CR score) and Murray Gold's Dr Who soundtracks (especially the Daleks' leitmotifs).
William Shatner Presents: Quest For Tomorrow has been written almost entirely to John Powell's music from The Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum.
2) On The Spot was too short to have a soundtrack. Reservoir Ferengi (when it comes out in March), I forget some of it, but the Revenge of the Sith soundtrack was on some of the time.
Non-Trek, most recently...
The Light Of Heaven was mostly written to Basil Poledouris' Conan soundtracks, David Arnold's Bond stuff (especially African Rundown from the CR score) and Murray Gold's Dr Who soundtracks (especially the Daleks' leitmotifs).
William Shatner Presents: Quest For Tomorrow has been written almost entirely to John Powell's music from The Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum.
I mentioned here having the just-released "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" soundtrack playing while reading "Andor: Paradigm", and particularly the Annie Lennox song commencing during the eerie funeral scene at the end - only to have author Heather Jarman tell me she listened to "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" while writing it! Freaky!
Since this is sort-of related to the thread at hand...
To David Mack: I was re-reading Lost Souls recently, and there were three scenes that stuck out to me as being incredibly moving. Since you've described writing to specific soundtracks, I would wondering if you could shed some light on what soundtracks -- or even what specific songs -- you were listening to when you wrote...
I'll say this -- every time I read that last scene I mention, I always hear "The Song of Purple Summer" from the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Spring Awakening for some reason. It just captures the feeling of that scene to me.
To David Mack: I was re-reading Lost Souls recently, and there were three scenes that stuck out to me as being incredibly moving. Since you've described writing to specific soundtracks, I would wondering if you could shed some light on what soundtracks -- or even what specific songs -- you were listening to when you wrote...
The sequence in Chapter 13 when the Borg are exterminating all life on Deneva, the sequence later on when they're simultaneously devastating Vulcan, Andor, etc.... and the sequence in the finale, where Erika and the Caeliar destroy the Queen and the Collective and transform the Borg.
I'll say this -- every time I read that last scene I mention, I always hear "The Song of Purple Summer" from the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Spring Awakening for some reason. It just captures the feeling of that scene to me.
There was a similar thread a few months ago you might find interesting. 
Haven't heard that, and never got round to seeing the movie (even though I've had the DVD for about four years) - how does the score compare to Zimmer's other recent stuff?
Don't, it's a pile of shite and the one and only time I endeavoured to watch it, I fell asleep.
^The movie isn't that good, but the score is great.
^ My feeling exactly. Couldn't sit through more than a few minutes of the film on cable, but I really enjoy Zimmer's score for it.
Coincidentally enough, I wrote my latest Warhammer 40,000 novel with 2-disc version of that OST on a loop...
I almost always listen to 80's rock really loud on the headphones when I write. I've been listening to those songs for 20 years so they are comforting and I can tune out the words and let my mind wander through story possibilities. Sometimes I crank up the Rush.
If I need a Trek boost, I listen to the TMP soundtrack.
If I need a Trek boost, I listen to the TMP soundtrack.
Awesome sauce, thanks!
With hundreds of movie and TV scores and soundtracks on my iPod, I can't hope to list the ones I'd recommend, other than "a lot." I tend to write with an appropriate score in the background as noise, whether I'm working on a fantasy piece, or sci-fi, or something else.
Lately I've been listening to a lot of Bear McCreary's BSG music and the scores to Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and The 13th Warrior, for various and sundry projects.
Lately I've been listening to a lot of Bear McCreary's BSG music and the scores to Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and The 13th Warrior, for various and sundry projects.
Just to show that it takes all sorts, I absolutely love Antoine Fuqua's King Arthur. (Which is a remake of sorts of Fuqua's earlier Tears of the Sun.)
To stay on topic, I don't write to soundtracks. "Performance Appraisal" was written mainly to Enya, Ring Around the Sky was mainly Carbon Leaf and Barenaked Ladies. "Make-Believe" was Coldplay, Radiohead (Hail to the Thief specifically), Embrace ("Gravity"), Carbon Leaf, Green Day, Dido, and a couple of others. "Spindle of Necessity" (my Doctor Who story) was written largely to Def Leppard and G-N-R, as I needed something angry to write that story.
The playlist on my current project is mainly Scottish folk rock, including Y'All Is Fantasy Island and My Latest Novel. But there's also The Leisure Society, The Editors, Melody Gardot, and some other odds-and-ends.
FWIW, when I'm writing, music and/or any background noise simply disappears for me. If I'm at home, I might have the radio on, but if I'm in the library or a coffee shop, I work to ambient noise. And, with all due respect to the universe of film composers, I usually pay zero attention to instrumental scores, either.
I can't write and listen to music at the same time. I also can't read and listen to music at the same time. Certainly nothing with lyrics. I find it seriously distracting in both instances.
That said, I do tend to develop ideas and emotional arcs while listening to music. For example, Chakotay's interior life during the epilogue of Full Circle was entirely conceived while listening to Annie Lennox's "Into the West" from Return of the King. I'd heard the song a thousand times before but one morning I was driving and it came up on my ipod and the scene was just there right along with it.
Kirsten
That said, I do tend to develop ideas and emotional arcs while listening to music. For example, Chakotay's interior life during the epilogue of Full Circle was entirely conceived while listening to Annie Lennox's "Into the West" from Return of the King. I'd heard the song a thousand times before but one morning I was driving and it came up on my ipod and the scene was just there right along with it.
Kirsten
I write to a combination of jazz standards, swing, hip hop and dance pop.
I'm currently in love with Melody Gardot and Lady Gaga.
i don't think any of that really matches up with what you're reading, though.
I listed most of my favorite sountracks in the previous thread, but lately the CDs in heavy rotation are:
TERMINATOR SALVATION ('cuz I'm writing a TERMINATOR novel).
THE SHADOW (one of my staples)
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (new show, of course).
CUTTHROAT ISLAND. (good rousing music for getting me going in the morning when I need caffeine).
TERMINATOR SALVATION ('cuz I'm writing a TERMINATOR novel).
THE SHADOW (one of my staples)
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (new show, of course).
CUTTHROAT ISLAND. (good rousing music for getting me going in the morning when I need caffeine).
When writing non-fiction, just about anything is fine although I default to the online broadcast of WUMB, a predominantly folk/acoustic radio station our of Boston.
For fiction, it's always jazz or movie soundtracks. Soundtracks that get used a lot include all three LOTR films, Jurassic Park, Superman the Movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blackhawk Down (Thanks, Dave!), Pirates of the Caribbean, and others.
I find myself watching films these days with half an ear tuned to the soundtrack deciding whether or not its worth getting for writing. Some of the ones listed above sound great.
Deb, my wife, on the other hand, barely pays attention to soundtracks so when I cheer or diss one, I get a blank look.
For fiction, it's always jazz or movie soundtracks. Soundtracks that get used a lot include all three LOTR films, Jurassic Park, Superman the Movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blackhawk Down (Thanks, Dave!), Pirates of the Caribbean, and others.
I find myself watching films these days with half an ear tuned to the soundtrack deciding whether or not its worth getting for writing. Some of the ones listed above sound great.
Deb, my wife, on the other hand, barely pays attention to soundtracks so when I cheer or diss one, I get a blank look.
Similar threads
- Poll
