{"id":698,"date":"2010-10-20T01:07:30","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T05:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=698"},"modified":"2010-12-27T20:39:26","modified_gmt":"2010-12-28T01:39:26","slug":"lisa-coleman-and-wendy-melvoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=698","title":{"rendered":"LISA COLEMAN and WENDY MELVOIN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Exclusive Interviews & Profiles<\/a> \/\u00a0Composers<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

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Even if you\u2019ve only seen the\u00a0Heroes<\/strong> pilot, it would be hard not to be moved by the refreshing scoring approach by series composers Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. Their music is sometimes ethereal, with light touches of exotic sounds from an eclectic collection of ethnic instruments, or the fusion of addictive percussion motifs that propel scenes while giving us a hint of a character\u2019s psychology.<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the haunting vocal contributions of Shenkar that amplify the yearning and exhaustion of characters struggling to maintain or establish some sense of normalcy when their sense of security is hacked away by human monsters hungry for greed, power, or revenge.<\/em><\/p>\n

Melvoin and Coleman have been scoring films and TV series for about 14 years, but they also enjoyed a dynamic career as members of Prince and the Revolution, and it was through Prince\u2019s move into feature films that the two composers gradually eased into film scoring.<\/em><\/p>\n

The popularity of\u00a0Heroes<\/strong> has moved the spotlight on the show\u2019s composers, but they\u2019re hardly newcomers in the scoring field. Melvoin and Coleman scored the entire six-year run of\u00a0Crossing Jordan<\/strong>, and that series was undoubtedly a great training ground for working under tight schedules while creating haunting themes and underscore for a complex cast of villains and ephemeral victors.<\/em><\/p>\n

With a CD of music from Season 1 just released by La-La Land Records, fans can finally enjoy some of the most refreshing music in TV, and in our conversation with Lisa Coleman, you\u2019ll get some insight into how the sound of\u00a0Heroes<\/strong> was created.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>: I understand that you\u2019ve been collaborating with Wendy Melvoin for over twenty years. Has your working relationship as co-composers changed over time?<\/em><\/p>\n

Lisa Coleman<\/strong>: It changes in the context of what we\u2019re working on, because we each have strengths in different areas. I\u2019m the keyboard\/piano player and I do more of the string arrangements and that sort of thing, whereas Wendy is a lot more rhythm-based.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s really great about collaborating is having that extra set of ears there to do the meta-brain activity\u2026 I\u2019ll start playing something on the piano or a string line or something like that, [and] where I can concentrate on the harmonic beauty or dissonance or something that I think it needs, Wendy can watch and really be affected by it, and tell whether or not it\u2019s working, if it\u2019s too much, or whether it needs to be pushed more or less.<\/p>\n

When we\u2019re doing an album project where it\u2019s drums and bass and that sort of thing, Wendy really excels at that\u2026 We both play drums, but she usually ends up doing most of the drumming and is a great bass player\u2026 It\u2019s a really beautiful partnership.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/strong>: How did you get involved in film music, because you both came from a different background, even though your earliest work included Prince\u2019s\u00a0Purple Rain<\/strong> (1984) and\u00a0Under the Cherry Moon<\/strong> (1986)?<\/em><\/p>\n

LC<\/strong>: We really wanted to score those films, but the film companies and the suits at the time felt more comfortable hiring a professional composer. We hadn\u2019t done anything yet [and] there were a couple of little string pieces that we had done for albums that they placed in a couple of spots, but really, we didn\u2019t get our first break into film scoring until the Kinks came to us for a song for\u00a0Dangerous Minds<\/strong> (1995).<\/p>\n

We had written a song called \u201cThis is the Life.\u201d It was a ballad, and they needed a piece to represent Michelle Pfeiffer\u2019s character, so somebody had heard that song and really liked it and came to us [for] a new version for the film, and in doing so, we met producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer.<\/p>\n

Mark Isham was scoring the film at the time. I\u2019m a huge fan of Mark Isham, but they weren\u2019t happy with the style that he was doing for the film and they wanted something more contemporary. So at first they paired us with Mark, and we tried that for just a day, and\u2026 it wasn\u2019t fair for anybody to be pairing us, so Mark was extremely gracious and kind of just backed off and said, \u2018You guys should just do the film. I don\u2019t think they\u2019re happy with what I\u2019m doing. You guys are great.\u2019<\/p>\n

He was so supportive, and we sort of got the film handed to us. That was a huge break\u2026 because we had both abilities to do string and piano or funky drums and bass, so it kind of fit perfectly.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/strong>: In your song writing, certainly for non-film projects, you\u2019ve done a lot of melodic work, and I wonder if that\u2019s helped you in developing themes for characters?<\/em><\/p>\n

LC<\/strong>: Absolutely. That is very important, and in a show like\u00a0Heroes<\/strong>, it\u2019s been great with so many lead characters to give everyone a little theme. It is important to have a little bit of a melodic stance. Really the fun part of scoring is putting a simple melody into different situations; you can play it scary, happy, silly or dreamy, and it makes scoring actually a lot easier because you don\u2019t have to write music all the time \u2013 you just write moods. If you come up with a motif for a character or a situation, you\u2019re much better off, and that\u2019s pretty much the job.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/strong>: How did you get involved with\u00a0Heroes<\/strong>, because I had heard of Tim Kring when he did a really short-lived TV series called\u00a0Strange World<\/strong> (1999)?<\/em><\/p>\n

LC<\/strong>: That was a young Tim Kring, but then he got a couple of jobs writing for TV shows, and eventually developed\u00a0Crossing Jordan<\/strong> (2001-2007)\u2026 We got hired to do that series because we had a relationship with Allan Arkush who had hired us on another short-lived series called\u00a0Snoops<\/strong> (1999), which was a David E. Kelly show, and of course David Kelly was married to Michelle Pfeiffer, so he kind of knew of us, and trusted Allan when he came up with the idea [to hire us].<\/p>\n

[Allan is] very musically eccentric and wanted something different for this show, and he had heard that we were into scoring and he was wondering, \u2018Who can I get that\u2019s kind of different? What are Wendy and Lisa doing? Let\u2019s have a meeting with them.\u2019 We met Allan, and we just hit it off as friends, and we\u2019ve done pretty much everything Allan\u2019s ever done since\u00a0Snoops.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then Allan got hired onto\u00a0Crossing Jordan<\/strong> and suggested us to Tim\u2026 When Tim came up with the\u00a0Heroes<\/strong> idea, he wanted us to do that with him, and it was such a lucky break. It\u2019s been a dream working on that show because the usual protocol is to write the music and then do playback for the directors and the executives, and they give you notes and then you go back and do rewrites.<\/p>\n

With\u00a0Heroes<\/strong>, we\u2019ve just been able to watch the show after they put their first edit together, and then we take it away and we have about five days at the most \u2013 lately it\u2019s been like three days \u2013 to write the score. We just deliver it, and they mix it.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/strong>: One of the things that impressed me about the pilot episode and certainly the one or two episodes that followed, is there\u2019s a huge amount of information that has to be processed by the viewer and a huge amount of characters that they have to warm up to.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s got to have been one of the bigger challenges where you had to write music so people would bond with the characters and understand them, because one of the hardest parts in making a pilot is getting people hooked on the show.<\/em><\/p>\n

For example, I can recall that I didn\u2019t like the pilot for\u00a0Homicide<\/strong> (1993-1999), and I didn\u2019t like the show\u2019s jump cut style, but later on I watched it and a few episodes again, and then I warmed up to it, and I think the music helped because it\u2019s new characters with which you have to bond.<\/em><\/p>\n

LC<\/strong>: Absolutely. There are choices that you make when you are scoring, like whether to just emphasize a character. What we really wanted to do and still try to do is to create an atmosphere, so that in that entire hour when you\u2019re sitting there watching the show, it\u2019s not too jarring\u2026 Every time it cuts to another scene and another character and another place, there has to be this cohesive quality\u2026 There\u2019s so much information and you don\u2019t want to overwhelm the viewers, but you just want to make them feel a certain way.<\/p>\n

For instance, there was a scene where Claire rushes in to save a man from a burning train, and where typically you might do heavy drums and percussion and action style music, we went the other way and we made it dreamy, and it was just this hollow glass pad sound and a voice, and they took out all the production sound so it was really quiet. It just made the scene much more psychologically affective because it was this little girl in a cheerleader\u2019s outfit discovering she could save this guy. Her uniform caught on fire, but she wasn\u2019t hurt, and it was very odd, and it wasn\u2019t like a cop show scene.<\/p>\n

We ended up scoring a lot of scenes like that; when something action-oriented would happen, we went counter-intuitive, and made it more like a dream sequence rather than an action movie.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/strong>: I think that\u2019s one of the reasons I noticed the music in the pilot because it had a very interesting sound. You\u2019ve incorporated some instruments that maybe aren\u2019t unusual, but they\u2019re used in unusual ways without transforming the scores into a kind of world music style, and that approach elegantly ties together all the disparate characters from around the world, and some of the characters who\u2019ve have converged in New York City.<\/em><\/p>\n

Your approach is maybe unusual for TV because sometimes there\u2019s a reliance on going for standard action writing and the use of sounds from music libraries.<\/em><\/p>\n

LC<\/strong>: We buy the same library discs as everybody, but I\u2019m really super-sensitive to that, and when I watch TV or see a movie and hear a sound that I know, I cringe; we really do take our time to use it in a different way or put in an effect or tune it down.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always played samples \u201cwrong\u201d so they don\u2019t sound like how they\u2019re supposed to sound, but that also seems to lend itself to the show because these are humans that are kind of being morphed into super-humans or have these powers or abilities that kind of change into whatever \u2018the normal\u2019 is, so when you make a sound \u2018more than normal,\u2019 then it goes along with the feeling of the show.<\/p>\n

Thank you for noticing that, because it is something that we take time and work on, and it was part of the mission \u2013 having the show take place all over the world. Even though we do sometimes go to Japan and play Japanese instruments, we like to mix it up more, because the world is becoming more and more integrated\u2026 and it\u2019s so unimportant to be specific in that way, I think, especially with a show like this where it\u2019s a human story, and everyone is coming together and sharing something.<\/p>\n

So yeah, we buy the same libraries as everybody else, but we just mess them up and distort them and put delays and tune them down. The libraries are incredible, and they get better and better. Every time you buy one, you hear \u2018the new one\u2019 and go \u2018I want that one,\u2019 spending thousands of dollars on libraries, but then if you use the pure sample, you\u2019re going to hear it some place else, and that\u2019s not composing; it\u2019s a scrapbook or something.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/strong>: With\u00a0Heroes<\/strong> now in its third season and the changes that have gone on with the characters, how do you adapt themes and keep the sounds fresh so that people can still identify closely with the characters?<\/em><\/p>\n

LC<\/strong>: Well, a lot of times we just go back. We evolve the sounds and explore the themes, and then there will be scenes where we just have to go right back to the pilot sounds and just go pure\u00a0Heroes<\/strong>. Sometimes there are even shots of Hiro or Claire and we have little sound things that we\u2019ll put over their faces, and it really does seem to be affective.<\/p>\n

[It\u2019s also] because the directors and the writers are very involved that way too, and they refer back a lot. There\u2019s a lot of mythology and rules that recur and are explained and are developed throughout all of the episodes\u2026 It\u2019s good because it helps the heart and the sentimentality of the show.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been difficult with the writers\u2019 strike and the show changing and people getting fired, you know. We lost a lot of viewers, so it kind of feels good when we go back to the roots of the show; even though it\u2019s only three years old, it\u2019s very satisfying for fans when they [see and hear] those kind of things.<\/p>\n

We love the music that we do. We get a lot of compliments on it, and it is pretty much different than anything I hear, and it\u2019s a labour of love. We\u2019re friends with Tim and Allan, and we\u2019re fans of the show and just love doing it, so it\u2019s exciting to get the score CD out there.<\/p>\n

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For more information on Lisa Coleman and Wendy Melvoin, visit the composers\u2019 <\/em>website<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

For additional information on Shenkar, click <\/em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Visit the official Heroes website <\/em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

All images remain the property of their copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article and interview \u00a9 2009 by Mark R. Hasan<\/em><\/p>\n

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Related external links (MAIN SITE)<\/em>:<\/p>\n

CD: \u00a0Heroes<\/a><\/strong> (2006)<\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Return to<\/strong><\/em>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Exclusive Interviews & Profiles<\/a> \/\u00a0Composers<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Exclusive Interviews & Profiles \/\u00a0Composers . Even if you\u2019ve only seen the\u00a0Heroes pilot, it would be hard not to be moved by the refreshing scoring approach by series composers Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. Their music is sometimes ethereal, with light touches of exotic sounds from an eclectic collection of ethnic instruments, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[22,28,25,4212],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-bg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=698"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2013,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698\/revisions\/2013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}