All language subtitles for MasterClass Danny Elfman Teaches Music For Film - 10.Creating Your Template

[MUSIC PLAYING]

DANNY ELFMAN: When
I start a score,

the first thing I'm
thinking is the tone.

And so, yes, the tone
involves color, orchestration,

and I'm going to build a
template in my software

based on what I think I'm
going to need for that score.

So I'm going to put
a whole week of work

into just building my template,
because obviously, once I

start writing, I want to
be as clearly just focused

on writing as I possibly can.

Kind of an analogy,
I-- a long time

ago, there's a wonderful artist
named Francesco Clemente,

and a friend of mine,
who was an artist,

brought me into his studio.

He was just setting
up for a show,

a new series of paintings.

It was just the very
beginning, and the room

was lined with blank canvas, and
he was getting all his colors,

all his pigments, lined up
in the middle of the floor.

And I learned a lot from
this because this is actually

the image of how I begin to
try to get my shit together

when I'm starting a score.

He was getting all
the hues and pigments

he thinks he was going to
use for this project from one

side of the floor to
the other, and that was

his way of organizing himself.

Now, I have no idea
what his mind is

like, what his process is like,
how chaotic or not chaotic

it is, but I liked that idea.

And so when I'm trying to
spend that week or 10 days

at the beginning of a
score organizing myself,

I see myself as
doing the same thing.

I'm lining up these pigments,
so when I begin painting,

I know where most of them are.

And that doesn't
mean I'm not going

to want to find a color
that I didn't imagine

I was going to want,
but it does allow

me to start with
some organization,

lining up my sounds--

my colors, my pigments--

in a way that I'm going to know
where to find them, at least.

But on top of that, I might have
a feeling that, for this score,

I'm going to need a
lot of ethereal sounds.

I'm going to really
look at everything

I have in bowed glass,
in synthetic sounds,

and on many scores,
I might spend a week

just programming synthesizers.

If I'm going to use synths, I'm
going to go through my library,

and I'm going to tweak sounds.

And in that template, I'm
going to have 20 ethereal synth

sounds that I'm already liking.

If it's a certain
type of score, I

might be building
arpeggiated things.

And so even though I'm
going to want much more,

I want to start with 20
arpeggiated sounds that I like,

that it feels like I'm getting
into the ballpark of what

I think the color of the
score is going to be.

If I'm looking for
samples, I might go and do

a deep library I've done on
prepared pianos and piano

harmonics because I love piano
overtones and piano harmonics,

and I'll find the ones
that are appealing to me.

So, yeah, there's a lot of
work in the beginning that's

going to go into, before
I've written anything,

a feel of color, and/or another
word for tone, of what I think

the film is going to be.

And then over the course of,
as I'm starting to write,

I'm going to expand on that.

But I want to get myself
focused in the ballpark

because I don't want
to, while I'm writing,

be searching for a ton
of sounds all the time.

That's going to interrupt my
flow, so I want to get as much

of that done before--

in the beginning, so
when I start writing,

I've got a pretty
deep pocket of sounds

that I've already thought
this is a good way to start,

and I could use.

And then inevitably, I'll
hit something where I go, no,

I need something that's--

I need something
that's edgier, that's

got a certain kind of a feel.

And I'll go back to
my library, and I'll

find another type of sound.

But I really will
put work into that

because tone is the
first thing that I want

to accomplish in the score.

Before I've written
a melody, before I've

written anything
else, I want to think

about the tone of the movie.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Most of the time,
an idea I have has

something to do with harmony
or harmonics or a figuration.

It's not something that
depends on a specific sound

that I don't have,
so it's just like--

if it's with an orchestra,
I've got my orchestra laid out.

It's not a problem.

If it's with synthetics
or percussion,

hopefully I've laid out
enough that I could just

go jump right into it.

On occasion, though,
it's like I have an idea,

and I don't have the sound for
it, and then I've just got to--

all right, I've just
got to find the sound,

or I've got to make the sound,
whatever it is you have to do.

And that's where, if you're
used to working with mics

and preempts, and that's
how you get your sounds,

then that's what you
need to have ready.

I tend to have as complete
a template as I can have,

and I always have a
microphone close at hand,

and I always have my
guitar plugged in behind me

because sometimes
I need feedback.

I want to know that
my guitar is behind me

and is reasonably in
tune, so I can grab it,

spend 15 seconds
tweaking the tuning,

and then I have preset amplified
sounds through a software

that I use.

It's all about trying
to be prepared,

and you can only try
to be prepared so far.

It's like going into battle.

As you go into battle, you
want to get all your gear on.

You want to have your gun.

You want to have your armor.

You want to have your--
make sure helmet--

and this thing,
and I got my water,

and I got my protein bars.

I'm ready to go.

All you can do is get
ready for what you can do,

but you walk out there, and
there's an alien shooting a ray

gun at you.

OK, this isn't quite working.

I have to improvise around how
to deal with this laser ray

that nothing that I'm wearing
is going to be suited for,

and then you have to
start improvising.

I use a device called Axe-Fx--

Axe like an axe--

and I love this thing because
it has hundreds of presets.

But I go in there with
my guitar, and generally,

I have like a go-to--

a couple of go-to guitars
that I really love.

One is a handmade guitar that
a artisan in town made me,

and the other is a Paul Reed
Smith guitar that I've had

forever.

And they're both really
good, dependable guitars,

and they also tend to
stay in tune, which,

when you're needing to grab
your guitar and work quick,

that's a handy thing.

And the Axe effect--

I'll already, over
a period of time,

have set up dozens and
dozens of favorite presets.

But you can go in
there on your screen--

because even though
it's a hard--

it's a actual unit that
I'll have in my rack,

it has a software
screen that comes up,

and I'll do all
my editing on it,

and changing the
size of the amp,

changing the size
of the speaker,

changing the era of
the speaker, changing

the amount of distortion,
the overdrive--

all these different things.

You can really do a lot with
it, and for certain sounds,

I have to be
careful because when

I plug my guitar
into this sound,

it's going to be an
instant squeal of feedback.

But the Axe-Fx, I love it,
and I use it all the time.

And I also have a couple
of specialty guitars.

The sustainer guitar that is
designed for these feedback

loops is something I've
just started working with,

and I really love
it, but I haven't

used it a lot in scores yet.

The acoustic stuff-- I'm
OK at acoustic playing,

but I'll pull out a mic
when I need acoustic guitar,

and I'll kind of play
the part, but I'll

be expecting it to be replayed.

I generally use my own playing
when I want something funky.

So if it's kind
of a funky sound--

now, if it's just
an arpeggio, and I'm

going to want to play
it by real guitar,

but I need that
arpeggio to play along,

I'm just going to use a sample.

So unless there's something
about the figuration that's

like, I need to bring
somebody who can really

play this a certain way,
I try to do it myself.

And when I can't, I can't.