Junkie XL On Scoring Tomb Raider

Composer Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) has kicked off a new season of Studio Time – a video series offering an in-depth look how he scores for film.

Each episode of Studio Time offers a behind-the-scenes look at the work of one of Holkenborg’s work, which includes soundtracks for films like Mad Max: Fury Road, Deadpool & Black Mass.

In the first episode of the third season of St, Holkenborg discusses his process for scoring the new Tomb Raider film. It’s a deep look at a single cue from the soundtrack, that combines orchestral and electronic sounds.

Holkenborg covers how he outlines the pace for a cue, introduces some key melodic material, plays the full cue and then dissects the electronic sounds in the cue, including sounds from Omnisphere, U-He Diva, Zebra  and Kontakt and a discussion of how he uses effects.

For a look at his DAW setup, see his Template Setup episode, from Season 1. And, for a ‘big picture’ look at how he works, see Junkie XL & The Art Of Scoring With Synthesizers.

5 thoughts on “Junkie XL On Scoring Tomb Raider

  1. Really appreciate these thoughtful videos from him, he surely has other more lucrative things he could be doing with his time.

    1. Agreed – another fantastic video from Holkenborg. I’m impressed that he takes time out from scoring the next blockbuster to make videos that seem like they’re tailored to a pretty niche audience of synth geeks and composers.

      His modular synth tutorials last year were especially interesting.

  2. I remember the days when I thought Synthtopia was pushing a weird looking dude with a strange name for some bizarre reasons to my face, over and over again. I was sure he was somebody’s boyfriend on the site, or something. Then I gave up and clicked on a video one day.

    What a fantastic dude! Beyond the music he seems to be a good human being, sharing what he knows. For free.

    Thanks Synthtopia.

  3. 15.31-16.17 quite lovely. Well done Tom. You deserve all the success you have as you are humble regarding your craft, you share.

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