{"id":818,"date":"2010-10-20T12:33:01","date_gmt":"2010-10-20T16:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=818"},"modified":"2010-12-27T20:31:17","modified_gmt":"2010-12-28T01:31:17","slug":"richard-marvin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=818","title":{"rendered":"RICHARD MARVIN"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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As Richard Marvin explains in the beginning of our Q&A, he\u2019s a veteran musician from the eighties when keyboards and synthesizes rose to prominence in orchestras, and for a period, became the signature sound on television and in countless films.<\/em><\/p>\n

Whereas younger composers today have countless options to choose, shape and create new sounds, the palette during the eighties was more limited, and as Marvin progressed from session musician to solo composer, he\u2019s taken that knack for innovation and applied a careful group of sounds for his latest film score, the sci-fi thriller <\/em>Surrogates<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The film\u2019s murder mystery element takes place in a future where humans use robotic surrogates to deal with work and unnecessary social interaction, as well as a detective\u2019s decision to leave his cozy anti-social life and handle the investigation first-hand.<\/em><\/p>\n

To some, letting robots deal with daily monotony sounds like a fantastic fantasy, but there are trade-offs within a marriage, particularly the emotional issues when there\u2019s the loss of a child, and neither half wants to deal with the tragedy and push on.<\/em><\/p>\n

Those unique conflicts, as well as the futuristic setting are some of the challenges Marvin faced in his first feature score after working for several years on some of TV\u2019s most successful series. \u00a0Chances are you\u2019ve been hooked on at least one of the shows Marvin scored or worked on during his early years, and in our conversation the composer talks about his latest project, working again with director Jonathan Mostow, and electronic elements in film scoring.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mark R. Hasan<\/em><\/strong>: How did you get into film scoring?<\/em><\/p>\n

Richard Marvin<\/strong>: Originally I was a studio musician in the eighties in Los Angeles, playing synthesizers, keyboards, piano \u2013 anything with keys \u2013 in the film and television score arena.<\/p>\n

I worked for such people as Mike Post, David Newman, Thomas Newman, Maurice Jarre, Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams \u2013 all the big composers of the eighties when synthesizers were really very popular. I worked on some great electronic scores like\u00a0Ghost<\/strong> (1990) and\u00a0Fatal Attraction<\/strong>(1987),\u00a0Jacob\u2019s Ladder<\/strong> (1990) \u2013 some really great scores of Maurice Jarre.<\/p>\n

In the early nineties, as I was also doing most of Mike Post\u2019s TV work as one of his synthesizer guys, he gave me an opportunity to help write on a couple of TV shows that I think wereHardcastle and McCormick<\/strong> (1983), and the\u00a0A-Team<\/strong> (1983) and\u00a0Magnum P.I. <\/strong>(1980), and I sort of got my first little experience with composing to picture.<\/p>\n

Shortly after that, a friend of mine was a production designer on a small direct-to cable movie called\u00a0Flight of Black Angel <\/strong>(1991), directed by Jonathan Mostow, and that was my first score on my own.<\/p>\n

Gradually, I sort of stopped doing sessions; I think the last sessions I did were with Thomas Newman on\u00a0The Horse Whisperer <\/strong>and\u00a0Meet Joe Black<\/strong> (both 1998), and by then I was doing a lot of TV movies and direct-to-cable things. I also did a couple of things for Disney \u2013 the\u00a03 Ninjas<\/strong>kids movies \u2013 and in the late nineties I stopped doing sessions and was writing and composing full-time, which led to getting into Jonathan Mostow\u2019s second movie, which was\u00a0Breakdown<\/strong>(1997), [and his third],\u00a0U-571<\/strong> (2000).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then I got into doing TV series, with\u00a0Six Feet Under<\/strong> (2001-2005),\u00a0The O.C.<\/strong> (2005-2007),Without a Trace<\/strong> (2008-2009),\u00a0In Treatment<\/strong> (2008) and\u00a0Three Rivers <\/strong>(2009).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a brief history!<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: Because you\u2019ve worked with Jonathan Mostow on 4 films, you must have an established shorthand, and a special understanding of his use of score.<\/em><\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: He and I have a shorthand and an understanding of what works, and what we like. Obviously one of the big things with a director is that you have the same aesthetics; when you look at a piece of music against picture you get the same sort of feeling and same reaction, and I think John and I are really in key in the that respect, and in tune with each other, and thankfully he keeps coming back.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: It\u2019s interesting that you mention that you had a strong background in synthesizers. During the \u2018synth heyday,\u2019 a lot of synth scores were written for films and TV, and there were some attempts to transpose a more classically written orchestral score to the electronic realm. One of the earliest examples of that approach was Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s <\/em>Runaway<\/em><\/strong>, which doesn\u2019t really hold up as well as it initially did when it came out.<\/em><\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: Yeah, I agree with you. I think the other one that I worked on that was another attempt was\u00a0Witness<\/strong> (1985) with Maurice Jarre, when he tried to do the whole orchestra with\u00a0Kurzweil synthesizers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: <\/em>Witness<\/em><\/strong> has aged better. It has some really unique sounds.<\/em><\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: That\u2019s an observant thought. I think it\u2019s also musically a classic score, with classic melodies. The Barn scene [\u201cBuilding the Barn\u201d on the soundtrack album] is something that will stand the test of time. Now that we went through the synthesizers scores and went back to the big orchestras stuff, the hybrid thing is the norm, which Hans Zimmer and his troops [helped pioneer and advance].<\/p>\n

Surrogates<\/strong> could\u2019ve been an opportunity to really go for an electronic kind of score, but I really didn\u2019t feel (and neither did John) that that was really the essence of the movie\u2026 We took an orchestral approach, maybe in the style of Bernard Herrmann or something, updated with modern rhythms and percussions, and [in spite of] big drums and things for all the chases and stuff, some of the string effects that I did were really very old fashioned.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: There are certain sounds that do put audiences in a \u2018futuristic\u2019 mindset, and there\u2019s that danger where you can make it too spacey, and the score no longer has any links to a reality, which allows the audience to bond with the characters. How do you create a balance in the music that hints at a different time period, yet remains accessible so the drama and characters feel contemporary?<\/em><\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: I don\u2019t think that I was aware of trying to really make it sound futuristic at all because it was sort of a modern day future; it wasn\u2019t fifty years in the future.<\/p>\n

Maybe the challenging thing about the movie for audiences was to understand what time frame we are really in. Things seem very present day but [Surrogates<\/strong> is] supposed to be set in an advanced futuristic society, so I was never asked to make it sound anything more in the future, or electronic\u2026The interesting thing about the story, which hopefully came across, is that there was an emotional quality to Bruce Willis\u2019 character and his wife that I don\u2019t think would\u2019ve been served well with no electronic approach.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: In regards to Willis\u2019 character, there\u2019s one cue \u2013 \u201cI Want You\u201d \u2013 that I think is the only really gentle cue on the album, and what I liked about that particular track is its warmth, but at the same time, every so often you drift into chords that are a bit dissonant; they\u2019re a little close to being uncomfortable and hinting at a lurking danger, but they don\u2019t quite cross-over into that, and I thought that it was a very clever cue because you\u2019re \u00a0obviously expressing a moment of affection and longing, but at the same time you\u2019re also hinting at some surrounding danger.<\/em><\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: I\u2019m glad that that came across, because that was exactly what we were going for. Willis\u2019 character is just longing for his wife to not be in her surrogate form but as a human; he just wanted her to be herself.<\/p>\n

In her story they had lost their son, and as a result, the human wife did not want to come of a room except in surrogate form, so there was a real tension between them, and a longing for Willis to just connect with her in a human way, but John also wanted to make sure that there was tension always between them. We felt that there was some sort of ominous quality underneath their relationship.<\/p>\n

That was a tricky little cue\u2026 We added piano at the very end of the scoring process because some of the people involved didn\u2019t feel that it was warm enough; they felt that the tension was there, but it didn\u2019t have enough emotion, so I added that little piano melody late in the day.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: One aspect that\u2019s very strong throughout the score is a driving ostinato that\u2019s primarily played by the strings, and it seems to remind audiences of an unstoppable, almost mechanical force, whereas there\u2019s some sly, groovy rhythms that seem closer to the dogged, independent-minded FBI character, and both converge in the powerful action cue \u201cWarrant and Foot Chase.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: The idea behind the ostinato was that there was always what we call \u2018the motor\u2019 going through everything. That was a long, long chase\u2026Trying to keep it so it didn\u2019t sound monotonous was a real challenge. I don\u2019t know if the piece really stands up on its own, but underneath all the cars and helicopters and explosions and everything, I think it held up really well.<\/p>\n

In that case in that cue, all the percussion – all the hits and everything \u00a0– was done electronically\u2026There was no live percussion on this score at all. It was all generated electronically.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: I noticed in some recent scores \u2013 Tyler Bates\u2019 <\/em>Doomsday<\/em><\/strong> (2008), for example \u2013 where composers have gone back to some vintage synth sounds. Bates\u2019 followed director Neil Marshall\u2019s desire for a retro John Carpenter sound, but there were also a few moments where you heard a bit of Tangerine Dream, and I think it\u2019s perhaps a testament to the original musicians who created these sounds that they still hold up well in a dramatic context, if not selectively.<\/em><\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: I think that\u2019s something I\u2019d like to get into. I used to have racks and racks and keyboards all over the place. Everything comes in a box now, but I agree with you. There\u2019s some value to theJupiter 8\u2019s<\/a> and all those\u00a0Prophets<\/a> and all those things that we used to have. That\u2019s just interesting and great that they\u2019re still around. It\u2019s hard to keep all those things working, though.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: My next to last question deals with your flexibility in working in various genres and formats. Do you find moving between films and TV refines your skills in tackling various genres and dramatic situations?<\/em><\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: Absolutely. I haven\u2019t done a film in several years \u2013 I\u2019ve been in TV land until Surrogates – and what I found is [because of] the pressure and the nature of the TV businesses, I create probably thirty minutes of music a week, and I\u2019ve gotten very quick.<\/p>\n

I remember in the early days of\u00a0Surrogates<\/strong>, when we were doing our temp and demos and stuff, John would come over and say, \u2018I need a three minute cue for a preview screening\u2019 or something, and I said, \u2018Okay, you\u2019ll have it this afternoon,\u2019 and the music editor and he were just amazed that I could create that stuff so quickly.<\/p>\n

I actually think that TV has been really great for me, as far as perspective of maybe going to things that I know are going to work, and one of the challenges of working on a film was to sort of slow down\u2026 and try to not go to the tricks that you know. That was a big luxury to do. Six minutes in a week was a total luxury.<\/p>\n

MRH<\/em><\/strong>: Lastly, will there be a soundtrack album?<\/em><\/p>\n

RM<\/strong>: Yes. We\u2019re right in the midst of getting ready to master it. Looks like Lakeshore is going to be releasing it. They\u2019ve released a couple of scores of mine along the way, so hopefully this good relationship will continue.<\/p>\n

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KQEK.com would like to thank Richard Marvin for discussing his latest score, and Melissa McNeill at Costa Communication for facilitating this Q&A.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more information on <\/em>Surrogates<\/em><\/strong>, visit the official website <\/em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

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

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

CD: \u00a0Surrogates<\/a> <\/strong>(2009)<\/p>\n

BR\/DVD\/Film: \u00a0Surrogates<\/a> <\/strong>(2009)<\/p>\n

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

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Exclusive Interviews & Profiles \/\u00a0Composers . As Richard Marvin explains in the beginning of our Q&A, he\u2019s a veteran musician from the eighties when keyboards and synthesizes rose to prominence in orchestras, and for a period, became the signature sound on television and in countless films. Whereas younger composers today have countless options […]<\/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":[26,22,40,4212],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-dc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818"}],"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=818"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1996,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818\/revisions\/1996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}