Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg) has successfully made the transition from producing electronic dance music to scoring films, like the blockbuster Mad Max Fury Road & Johnny Depp film Black Mass.
In this video, Holkenborg shares some of the synth secrets of his soundtrack for Deadpool:
Holkenborg explains the genesis of his approach to scoring Deadpool:
“I was approached by the director, Tim Miller, and funny enough, he was raving in the 1990s in clubs in New York, and he loved my music back then. When he found out I was doing movie scores, and especially after seeing Mad Max, he was like ‘I’ve got to talk to this guy.’”
“I analyzed the movie, I watched it five times, ten times, before I even started. Just to think like ‘Okay, what am I looking for here?’ And what I found was that the character stopped growing up after 1990. All his musical references are before that, he’s got a Walkman from 1983, even the suit that he made was from that time period.
So I started to think I need to do something from the 80s. And I own a lot of these synthesizers that were made back in the day, and I went to great lengths to find special effects boxes that were made at the time that make the music sound the way it does.”
When he finally found the right sound, Holkenborg called the director and said, “‘I think I’ve found it. It’s going to be Frankie Goes to Hollywood meets Michael Jackson meets Miami Vice… but on speed.’”
In this second video, Holkenborg gives you a tour of his studio and a walkthrough of the synths of Deadpool:
I love Junkie XL, Love his style and it’s very cool that he does movies now.
Wow, how clean all the equipment is. 🙂 Nice.
I want to see this movie even more now.
Me too!
Nope, don´t like it. “The girl with the dragon tattoo” by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is way more interesting.
all that gear and he uses presets… ahem.., cough.
Although i get he was going for something people would recognise:)
“all that gear and he uses presets… ahem.., cough.”
So what? Making music > making presets.
Is it just me, or do most all soundtracks (especially the big-budget, action ones) sound pretty much the same?
honestly the composer has very little input after all the producers and so forth have their say
thats why its all so fucking homogenized
occasionally you get a thing where they are allowed to run free, and its awesome – or at least unique
Yes, yes they do. I will also add that they sound pretty uninspired as well. Kinda like the best of Yanni over and over again. I actually think Yanni is a step up from movie soundtracks in my opinion. Most soundtracks that have electronic music in it sound to me like almost anyone could make the soundtrack and it would sound just as good as Junkie XL or any other bloke. But I did like at least one electronic song from the following big pictures:
Sicario (The Beast)
Pioneer (Done by the Air dudes)
It Follows (2 songs from the soundtrack)
New TRON (2 or three songs)
Beyond the Black Rainbow(AWESOME+More)
I think that there is hope but very to little to none for my old ass.
You really hit the nail with your soundtrack selections. I’d also suggest Cub by Steve Moore: http://youtu.be/sGl8xS6u1pQ
There’s also a great, albeit long, classroom lecture by Disasterpiece (It Follows) in which he demos his entire sound/theme development process. He uses Massive, but more in the spirit of creative synthesis than Junkie XL does with all his vintage gear. It really increased my respect and interest for the It Follows score. http://youtu.be/PH04VJ8jxvo
“Is it just me, or do most all soundtracks (especially the big-budget, action ones) sound pretty much the same?”
He was able to do a pretty decent vision with Mad Max.
Awesome, He’s having fun with music and getting paid. What more do you want?
laser unicorns.
i also want laser unicorns.
Looks like a Komplete Kontrol S88 in that first photo, but to get the Apple keyboard to sit like that he must have pulled off the knobs?
EDIT: Ah, no. Quickly scrubbed through the video and I see it is actually floating above the deck.
Fooled by the transparancy of glass…..
I wish NI would have put the controls off to one side instead of smack in the center. Apple keyboard and trackpad then be a perfect fit.
Speaking of Apple, will search for this soundtrack on Apple Music. Don’t care to see the movie.
Hello efferyboddy, I em from Hollant, ishn’t dat veirt?
I’m not a big fan of Junkie XL’s soundtracks, but this synth tour was fun to watch 🙂
I loved the score of Mad Max. Yes, it’s partly “generic” big movie booms, but it really suits the movie.
Damn, I need to listen it now.
Its those orchestra hits and drums, and then the bass drops. always the exact same. Doesn’t matter if you layer it with vintage synth presets.If you want something original score look up the Under The Skin Soundstrack.
Hi;
What’s the name of the touch controller monitor/software above the keyboard?
Thanks a lot!
It’s a windows based touch screen tablet running a piece of proprietary software that controls macros in cubase. If you watch the other Junkie XL scoring videos, especially the in-studio tutorial ones, he discusses it and his working process