Help me find non traditional action music
September 20, 2010 10:57 AM Subscribe
Help me find non traditional action music
I'm helping someone with some music for a film, and for a fight sequence, they want music that is not your traditional orchestra/electronic/rock that you hear during almost every fight scene. They want something more organic, and if possible, something where you can't really recognize the instruments. I don't really have a good idea of where to go with this, since I am definitely more of a traditional music kind of composer, so can anyone point me to some high energy action music that might fit this bill to use as inspiration?
I'm helping someone with some music for a film, and for a fight sequence, they want music that is not your traditional orchestra/electronic/rock that you hear during almost every fight scene. They want something more organic, and if possible, something where you can't really recognize the instruments. I don't really have a good idea of where to go with this, since I am definitely more of a traditional music kind of composer, so can anyone point me to some high energy action music that might fit this bill to use as inspiration?
Night Fight, from the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon soundtrack might fit the bill, though it would lend a decidedly Asian air to things.
posted by jquinby at 11:10 AM on September 20, 2010
posted by jquinby at 11:10 AM on September 20, 2010
Ugh, this one instead - music, no dialogue. The action sequence itself starts about 0:45 in.
posted by jquinby at 11:11 AM on September 20, 2010
posted by jquinby at 11:11 AM on September 20, 2010
I like a litle jazz in my action sequences, something like the end of the Thomas Crown Affair (remake.) The Nina Simone-ness starts around 0:45.
posted by acheekymonkey at 11:32 AM on September 20, 2010
posted by acheekymonkey at 11:32 AM on September 20, 2010
Tuvan throat singing has been used in a number of films to add a menacing air - I believe it was used in a few of the latest Herzog movies.
Idle Chatter by Paul Lansky might work to convey a confused, jumbled atmosphere.
For high energy breakcore you could check out Venetian Snares, especially some of his more abstract pieces.
posted by benzenedream at 11:45 AM on September 20, 2010
Idle Chatter by Paul Lansky might work to convey a confused, jumbled atmosphere.
For high energy breakcore you could check out Venetian Snares, especially some of his more abstract pieces.
posted by benzenedream at 11:45 AM on September 20, 2010
How about some gamelon/electronic music? Take a listen to the Akira soundtrack by Geinoh Yamashirogumi.
posted by mr_roboto at 11:46 AM on September 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by mr_roboto at 11:46 AM on September 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you want to do a bit of diving yourself, I just linked to ccMixter -- a creative commons music resource -- over on the main page. There's a "dig" section where you can browse free-to-use music of all sorts: the soundtracks section might be of some use.
posted by Shepherd at 12:36 PM on September 20, 2010
posted by Shepherd at 12:36 PM on September 20, 2010
Oh hang on, you're composing it yourself, which kind of negates the need for CC stuff. By way of apology, I direct you to Mike Patton's Crank II soundtrack, which destroys a lot of action music clichés and rebuilds them into something clever and quite different.
posted by Shepherd at 12:38 PM on September 20, 2010
posted by Shepherd at 12:38 PM on September 20, 2010
Unadorned percussion can work well -- see the middle section (4:14-5:08) of "Mombasa Suite" or the first two minutes of "4th Movement of the Odyssey" from the Halo 2 soundtrack for good examples. Done right, and it can carry its own kind of oppressive, pulse-pounding melody.
You might also want to check out the Soundtrack Dissonance page on TVTropes, which lists various media that have scored tense action scenes in an unorthodox way. One that stuck out for me was the lonesome and ponderous piano piece that played over the car chase scene from A Beautiful Mind.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:37 PM on September 20, 2010
You might also want to check out the Soundtrack Dissonance page on TVTropes, which lists various media that have scored tense action scenes in an unorthodox way. One that stuck out for me was the lonesome and ponderous piano piece that played over the car chase scene from A Beautiful Mind.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:37 PM on September 20, 2010
(Sorry, wrong timestamp -- that first link should have pointed here.)
posted by Rhaomi at 1:38 PM on September 20, 2010
posted by Rhaomi at 1:38 PM on September 20, 2010
Check out Bear McCreary's score from Battlestar Galactica. It used a lot of eastern instruments, such as the duduk, and other less-traditional uses of Western instruments, such as the electric violin. His blog contains lots of details as he discusses his approach to creating an atypical score to a sci-fi TV series and attempting to avoid the traditional John Williams orchestra approach.
posted by andrewraff at 1:53 PM on September 20, 2010
posted by andrewraff at 1:53 PM on September 20, 2010
Response by poster: I should have mentioned before that I am a big Battlestar fan, and that has been the main influence over what I have already come up with. It's just not quite what the director wants.
Lots of interesting suggestions so far, but nothing that is quite right yet. All of the jazz/rock/indie/electronic ideas are cool, but won't fit this project. If the director hears a guitar, or bass, or violin, or anything else recognizable, it's not going to fly.
posted by markblasco at 3:26 PM on September 20, 2010
Lots of interesting suggestions so far, but nothing that is quite right yet. All of the jazz/rock/indie/electronic ideas are cool, but won't fit this project. If the director hears a guitar, or bass, or violin, or anything else recognizable, it's not going to fly.
posted by markblasco at 3:26 PM on September 20, 2010
Aphex Twin's Bucephalus Bouncing Ball (used in Pi) has portions done with ball bearings.
posted by benzenedream at 4:13 PM on September 20, 2010
posted by benzenedream at 4:13 PM on September 20, 2010
Some of composer Yoko Kanno's stuff is pretty avant-garde, but of course, the more avant-garde it is, the less likely you are to be able to find it on Youtube...
Maybe you need to use a Tesla Coil (yeah, this is the guy who did the fantastic Paprika soundtrack).
posted by wintersweet at 7:41 PM on September 20, 2010
Maybe you need to use a Tesla Coil (yeah, this is the guy who did the fantastic Paprika soundtrack).
posted by wintersweet at 7:41 PM on September 20, 2010
What about the human voice? Parts of the Ramayana Monkey Chant might work with a bit of post-processing.
posted by jquinby at 10:18 AM on September 21, 2010
posted by jquinby at 10:18 AM on September 21, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
The score was by Maurice Jarre.
I don't think I spelled anything right in this post.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 11:01 AM on September 20, 2010 [1 favorite]