SPOILERS AHEAD: This week’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” Save The Last One, focuses on the group’s efforts to save Carl’s life.  The story follows two different narratives.  The first takes place at the farmhouse where Rick and Lori wait with growing impatience while Herschel tends to his wounds.  The second storyline follows Shane and Otis as they try to get surgical supplies from a local high school, but are trapped by zombies at every turn.  I wanted to create a score that would unify both these narratives with unrelenting tension, and I brought an unexpected musical instrument to the score, as I discuss in this week’s video blog:

My initial plan was to only use the Rhodes for the opening cue, where we cut between Rick and Lori in the bedroom and Shane and Otis running for their lives.  The deep, warm bass tones of the electric piano, combined with the stereo vibrato, created a melancholy tension that was somehow also mesmerizing: (more…)

This week’s episode of “The Walking Dead” finally takes us to Herschel’s farmhouse, a location that fans of the original comic book have been waiting for. Carl’s life hangs in the balance, so the entire score is infused with a tense, percussive backdrop that increases intensity throughout the episode.  One of the most featured instruments this week is the drum set, performed by Young Beautiful in a Hurry drummer Bryan Taylor, as seen in this week’s video blog:

DEAD SPOILERS AHEAD: After being shot at the end of last week’s episode, Carl is in dire need of medical attention when Rick brings him to the farmhouse.  I created a simple percussive backdrop that lays behind the entire scene, beginning a tense “ticking clock” idea that will underscore most of the episode: (more…)

Tonight is the long-awaited return of “The Walking Dead” for its second season.  What Lies Ahead is an appropriately-titled episode because this season will build on the momentum and character arcs established in our six-episode first season, and also expand into new settings, new trials and new characters.  Similarly, my original score is rooted in the stylistic language I developed in the first season, and also introduces new themes and instrumentation for the journey.  The season starts off right away with an emotionally-charged cue as you will see in this week’s video blog:

WALKING SPOILERS AHEAD:  This sequence, where Rick sends one last heartfelt message to Morgan, was a real challenge to score.  The first few minutes of this new season needed to bring the audience back into the world, but also generate the excitement of anticipation.  The cue starts off with ambient strings, and slowly introduces new layers as it builds energy.  Guitars, small percussion and drum kit and bass slowly sneak into the arrangement, creating what I hope is the sensation that we’re gearing up for an epic tale. (more…)

Tonight’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” TS-19, brings the first season to an exciting conclusion.  To celebrate the completion of our first season, I’m doing something I’ve never done before!  We’ve been collecting little snippets from our video blogs that have been hitting the proverbial cutting room floor, and tonight I’ll share them with all of you.  Here are “Outtakes from the Blogging Dead:”

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The “Walking Dead” blogs thus far have focused on my creative process and the instrumentation.  But, bringing a score from imagination to reality requires the time and energy of many other people on the music team.  They are integral to the creation of the score, and work tireless hours to ensure my ideas are translated to the final recording (and frequently improve on those ideas as well).  With this week’s video, let’s shine a long overdue spotlight on the music production team:

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Tonight’s episode of “The Walking Dead” proved to be my biggest challenge yet on the series.  There were so many opportunities to create a dark, rich and bottom-heavy sound, I decided to make our string ensemble even more unusual.  I wrote the score for Vatos with an orchestra made up entirely of celli and a single contrabass, as shown in this week’s video blog:

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Some of the most unique and characteristic sounds in “The Walking Dead” score come from bluegrass instrumentation, including electric banjo, dulcimer, autoharp, dobro and guitars.  This week’s video blog focuses on these unusual instruments and how I use them in the score:

Ever since my first meeting with producers Frank Darabont and Gale Anne Hurd, I knew that southern blues instrumentation would be a big part of “The Walking Dead” sound.  I wanted to represent the geographic location of the story, without overtly calling attention to the score.  So, I worked closely with my musicians to create timbres that are reminiscent of country music, but ultimately unique to the series. (more…)

This week’s episode of “The Walking Dead,” appropriately entitled Guts, expands the cast and the world of the series.  Rick encounters a group of survivors, some of whom are more helpful than others, and we experience some intense action scenes as well.  The music, too, develops and the orchestration has become more layered.  This week’s blog video takes an in-depth look at the various orchestration techniques and effects I played around with in this episode:

SPOILERS BEYOND: This episode was an experiment in string textures.  I used the small ensemble of 2 violins, viola, 2 celli and a bass to create ambiguous harmonic “clouds.”  I avoided typical “horror genre” clusters, however, and searched for sonorities that were more emotionally nebulous.

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Tonight, celebrate a spooky Halloween with the world premiere of my newest series, THE WALKING DEAD.  Welcome to the first of six in-depth video blogs that will go online with each new episode.  The first focuses on the piece of music that I’m sure you all noticed tonight, The Walking Dead Main Title:

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