21 thoughts on “The Synth Sounds of Blade Runner

  1. I saw Blade Runner 2045 last night.
    Hans Zimmer and the other guy totally screwd up the soundtrack. Music was utter shit. No emotions, no expressions, and no depth at all. Cold. Nothing moved me. Just big Hanz one-note stabs and percussion hits like the ones you’ve heard in other Hanz movies. Hanz music doesn’t hold a candle to Vangelis whom should’ve been the composer.
    Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack is a sublime masterpiece!

    1. At this point we are faced with no musical content or subtlety as such
      -it is replaced by dense textures, clusters and 666 violins and trumpets
      competing for busting your eardrums.

      Basically at some point some Hollywood composers discovered that
      if they use an orchestra or some other big assembly of sound sources
      and make it really LOUD at precise the point that something
      is about to happen on screen, then it sounds impressive. That way they
      get paid, and they also do many scores a year easy.

    2. Next time go see Blade Runner 2049. At one of the NAMM shows in 2046, 2047, or 2048, some newer quantum computing synths came out that inspired the 2049 movie soundtrack. Blade Runner 2045 must be a bootleg copy.

    3. @ Hashmoder

      Agree .

      Just out of the Theatre.
      Wonderfully Filmed.
      Gorgeous set pieces.

      Utterly ruined by “sound track”.
      Had to cover my ears so terrible “soundtrack”.

      Eg. Intimate moment Ryan Gosling’s Joe with his dear female virtual reality companion we get just pounding drums !!!

      Ryan Gosling’s Joe enters distopian radioactive orange atmosphere Las Vegas we get deafening one hit drum.

      Zimmer + Wallfisch couldn’t you two string together a decent idea even just a half decent idea.

      ::::

      Zimmer you should be ashamed of yourself.
      Emperor’s New Clothes :
      No one in Hollywood , your collaborators had the guts to tell you how utterly you ruined this.

    4. This entire thread is a giant pity-party circle-jerk of people wishing for a nostalgic remake of the original movie.
      I don’t know if you watched the same film as I, but 2049 is supposed to be utterly cold, brutal, and unforgiving. The whole point of the score was to alienate and make the viewer feel tense, which is why you only hear hints of the theme at points of the film which reference Deck, and especially at the end, when the movie is brought to its conclusion. This movie shows the decay of the world, it’s suffocating on its own excess, poverty, crime, and evolutionary conflict between skinjobs and humanity. It’s earth in her death throes faced by a titan of industry who wants to gut her like he does his replicants. K is being chased and followed like a fugitive the ENTIRE movie. It’s supposed to keep you on edge, not fellate your nostalgia-boner.

      “…muh, one-note stabs and percussion hits…”

      Have you not watched the original Bladerunner? Literally the first sound effect in the entire film is a giant percussive bass-hit, followed by the theme which is IMMEDIATELY punctuated by repeated percussion hits for 2 minutes and a half.

      If you all dislike the score, fine, but by no means offer up a bullshit opinion as fact without criteria. The entire argument that this soundtrack is trash – at least in throughout this thread – is based on three things:

      1.) no subtlety – lol ok
      2.) Loud, grating, clusters of synths and orchestra haphazardly strewn about the film
      3.) Most importantly, it’s not Vangelis.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waBWUyWuZk8&t=638s
      If you dislike it great, but imo yall can listen to this, and specifically 18:11 and suck it.

  2. Maybe it’s just me and I’m loosing my hearing or have had a small stroke today but These patches sound very, very far from the mark. What do you fellow Synthtopiacs think? Should I go to the Dr.?

  3. It’s not so much the fault of Zimmer. Producers know him, what he does and generally what they are going to get with him. It shouldn’t be any surprise the new score dosent sound like Vangelis or Johansson. Zimmer did Zimmer and that’s what was expected. It’s more annoying that better attempts weren’t made to either keep Johansson on or get someone else more interesting. Regardless of the score, this film did not need a sequel or remake or anything of the such. As a one off it was near perfection untouched.

    1. For a while been uncertain exactly what Zimmer composes ..
      as his studio hands collaborators probably play important compositional role.

      Nevertheless
      Interstellar Main Theme makes me emotional …
      even though it is a mashup of
      Tangerine Dream Underwater Sunlight Song of The Whale Pt1 +
      Philip Glass Koyaanisqatsi

  4. I saw the movie tonite. meh. The guys that made the soundtrack to Turbo Kid shoulda done it…Le Matos…they would have done a wayyy better job. Their soundtrack to Turbo Kid sounds more like Blade Runner than this new soundtrack to Blade Runner! ffs

  5. Skipped through the vid for a bit and I have to say, it’s amazing how he recreates that bass line for example, spot on. Assuming all he’s trying to do is replicating the midi notes (oh, and not to forget the 12 bit converter, whoops :v)

  6. When I saw the live interview of Hans & Wallfish on Friday, it was clear as day that Hans had very little to do with this score. Hans even said it himself, he had to go on tour the very next day. The communication on the interview was nervous and they seemed to be tripping over each other constantly.

    As a big HZ fan..Love him or hate him, his stuff is bold and has a distinct style. You can hear the 2049 score has no HZ DNA. Its a watered down version of the original.. Where the heck was the theme guys? There will only ever be one HZ. But I dont know if all his ghost writers should be attempting at filling his shoes. Let them make it on their own, as Hans did for his career. Because if this is what is happening to our Bladerunner sequels. Who knows what else could happen.

  7. Its the way the world is going, when I saw the movie two nights ago, utter mediocrity. The music had no movement, a lot of compressed low bass that went overboard as it overpowered any theme music. It was a classic case of someone trying to through a bull into a china shop. There was no subtlety where the music and the movie blend into each other. Instead, they stood out and the trailer music was far better than the main theme. Jesus, waited so long for mediocre Junkie Xl sounding crap.

  8. The visual was definitely more memorable than the audio. I even thought the overall sound design and foley were pretty mediore/unoriginal.

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