Writers, your "soundtracks" please?

[DaveGalanter]

I must be the only writer who doesn't/can't listen to music while writing. I'll start to hum with the song or sing lyrics and lose what I want to write.

I always have the TV on. Often the show I'm writing for, or if not, something easy to ignore but there just for sound so I don't start hearing the cat purr.

 

[TerriO]

I have no set soundtrack. Mine is a complete mix of whatever I need to get me into the right frame of mind for the project. There's never one set category of music or group of songs that fits each project. The darker the project, the darker the music gets. The more romantic the project, the more romance songs go into the mix. Oingo Boingo is apparently the music du jour, and I really don't want to know what that says.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I must be the only writer who doesn't/can't listen to music while writing. I'll start to hum with the song or sing lyrics and lose what I want to write..

That's why I can't listen to songs with lyrics to work to, but I do need music of some kind. Oddly enough, I prefer to read to music as well, and, again, instrumental/orchestral/otherwise non-lyrical.

 

[SicOne]

This may sound a bit odd, but I had recent occasion to listen to the Main Title-Heist theme from the movie "Bad Boys", by Mark Mancina, and found myself picturing the title sequence from "Voyager", especially during the first two minutes. Is that normal? To mentally picture movie or TV show themes to other music? Or do you creative guys (and gals, thanks, TerriO) do that all of the time?

 

[Lonemagpie]

1. the middle of "Woad to Ruin," from King Arthur, by Hans Zimmer

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?

I got a hold of the score this week.

Great score, but there's one repeated theme that seems to be a mix of the climactic charge theme from Last Samurai and the "what shall we die for" bit of At World's End - which isn't unusual, as Zimmer frequently plagiarises himself. But the Knights March theme is a total knockoff of Jesper Kyd's "March Of The Empire" from the Freedom Fighters videogame soundtrack... I mean to an "I'm amazed Kyd didn't sue" extent...

 

[Allyn Gibson]

If you like the King Arthur soundtrack, also try Geoff Zanelli's score for Outlander.

 

[Lonemagpie]

If you like the King Arthur soundtrack, also try Geoff Zanelli's score for Outlander.

I'll look out for that.

On a general note, as I've been discovering this week, getting access to the works of trailer and library composition studios like Immediate Music or X Ray Dog is well worth the effort for inspirational music...

 

[Lonemagpie]

Speaking of King Arthur, I got round to watching it tonight.

9/10

You lot told me this was crap with a great score, but it played pretty well with me. Historically as nonsensical as any other fantasy version (what do you expect with John Matthews as "historical adviser", yech), and Clive Owen is somewhat miscast, and Keira Knightley can't act, but a nice change of take on it, and the knights and the fights are great - as is the score.

Bonus points for Arthur quoting G'Kar

 

[Sci]

Clive Owen is somewhat miscast, and Keira Knightley can't act

Pardon me, but Keira Knightly is one of the best young actors of her generation. She's been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, 2 Golden Globes for Best Actress, and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Now, I don't know if she was good in this movie (having not seen King Arthur), but having seen her and been impressed by her plenty of times -- and after having been blown away by her performance in Atonement -- I really have to contest the claim that she can't act. (She should, however, eat some more.)

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Knightley is horribly miscast in King Arthur. She is, quite honestly, the least convincing actor in the film.

What the role needed was someone who could play Guinevere a bit feral. Knightley comes across a bit too clean. And she's really haughty, or at least that's how she comes across.

I'm not sure whom I'd have cast in Knightley's place, however. It's easy enough to say in retrospect, "Oh, this person would have fit the part." I think she was cast because she'd worked with Bruckheimer previously on Pirates.

I like King Arthur a great deal, and I watch it every few months. (Clive Owen gets some great speeches in the film.) I think it should have done better at the box office than it did; the film should have been marketed to the audience that loved the Lord of the Rings films, but Disney (in this case, Touchstone) has never had a clue how to market their films.

If you like the film, I'd recommend Jack Whyte's Camulod Chronicles series or (and this will be much more difficult to find) Courtway Jones' Dragons Heirs series. The former uses the same basic idea -- Arthur as the last gasp of Roman Britain. The latter marries Malory to the 6th century, which does some interesting things as a consequence.

 

[David R. George III]

My soundtrack: silence.

Later, I let the tunes spin.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I think she was cast because she'd worked with Bruckheimer previously on Pirates.

That much is obvious - she plays it *exactly* as she plays Elizabeth Swan. No range at all on show, there.

 

[Greg Cox]

In current rotation: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (possibly my favorite TREK score) and TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA.

What can I say, I have eclectic tastes!