ScoreNotes: What would you say is the musical style, or spirit, that your score for The Devil's Tomb conveys?

Bill Brown: I would say overall the score is atmospheric, mysterious and suspenseful. Initially I was hoping to create a theme for the military team that would follow them through the entire film, and as I wrote and the film progressed, I discovered what was needed for the first sections of the film was very different from what was needed as the team goes underground and discovers the nephalim (an ancient evil). The director (Jason Connery) had from the beginning a clear view of the score having one sound above ground, and another underground...and it was important for the score to really shift as they begin to discover there was more down there than they bargained for. Also, I had fun with some leitmotivs as things got more complex. As soon as they find the first priest within the military compound, which was unexpected for them, I introduced a mysterious alternating half-step theme in the strings that follows that storyline through it's evolution until they discover the nephalim...where it becomes a full-blown melodic statement supporting the dark gravity of the nephalim.
ScoreNotes: Can you take us behind the scenes on The Devil's Tomb and tell us about the orchestra and choir you used for this project? From the performances, it seems like it must have been a robust and productive scoring experience!

Bill Brown: We recorded the strings in Prague (through orchestra.net) and I recorded and sequenced the remaining parts in my studio in LA. The main titles sequence in the film ("The Message") gave me an opportunity to let the audience know there would be something big, dark, sinister and even religious in nature to come later in the film. That was a lot of fun for me because we still hadn't officially spotted the film, and no one had thought of really leaning into the title sequence in that particular way. I was taking a chance in writing this full-blown orchestral / choral piece (in Latin) programming and recording all of the choir myself (with the help of the East West Symphonic Choirs), which was pretty time consuming! Luckily, it paid off, and everyone liked it. I was able to bring that choir piece back at the climax of the film and support to religious nature of that sequence. Sometimes it's great experimenting in the computer...my friend Steve Tavaglione (who performed some of the ambient design on Devil's Tomb) calls it "happy-stance". In this case, I left the mod wheel down on all of my choir tracks, even at the biggest crescendo and climax of the piece (where usually we would dig into the vibrato to get that "religioso" effect) and an interesting thing happened. As I continued to multitrack the Latin text over and over with no vibrato in any of the tracks, the choir took on that haunting sound of a Bulgarian Choir...which I've recorded before, but hadn't thought of for this sequence (yet) thus, happy-stance. As I heard what was happening with the sequence, I just went in that direction and wrote the last section in the style of Bulgarian choir and it was surprisingly effective against picture.
ScoreNotes:  When transitioning from the arena of game music and into film scoring, which really can be on a project to project basis, what were some of the adjustments you have to make in your overall approach when switching mediums?

Bill Brown: When I get started on a game project, there is usually a longer start-up time where we discuss the game, look at visuals and work on mock-ups to find a voice and direction for the score. On a film project, the film really dictates the texture, tempo and mood of the score. I would rather see the film without music (as I did with Devil's Tomb) and let the music ideas happen organically - just letting the film inspire me. The same applies for most television work as well. With game music, there is a more open palette to score - more freedom to just compose something, anything - as long as it's cool and works within the context the game. Game music can also get painfully specific. I worked on a demo for a game project last year where the music reacted to what was happening every 5 to 10 seconds, and changed according to what the player decided to do - and still needed to sound like a fully realized, linear orchestral composition! It was a great challenge, and I was dizzy afterwards for a week. It was nice to hear it was successful though.

ScoreNotes: It seems you had to pick just the right spots for the action cues in the score. How important was it to make those sequences really stand out when called upon?

Bill Brown: The action sequences for the most part were not epic in nature, they were mostly simple hand to hand combat, the last of which happens during an underground earthquake, adding another layer to score. I tried to support the action and at the same time stay away from cliche action gestures or rhythms. Instead, I tried to create forward momentum using violent, odd-meter (or poly-meter) rhythmic gestures in the strings and brass. It was an idea I want to continue to explore in the future. I feel like I just got to scratch the surface of what I was hearing in my head. I composed several variations that seemed to fit. The visuals and editing really dictate the rhythm, the tempo, the texture of the music for me. They have to.

ScoreNotes: Can you please tell us about your relationship with MovieScore Media and how important it is to have a label like this in the industry?

Bill Brown: This is my first soundtrack release with Mikael Carlsson and MovieScore Media. I'm grateful he was excited about the score and offered to release The Devil's Tomb. We've been having a lot of fun putting it together during the last month. It is actually pretty rare these days for a score to get a release, especially one from a direct-to-dvd release, so I'm really thankful to Mikael and MovieScore Media. Not to mention, Mikael has been around supporting composers and fans of film music for years. I think he deserves an award of some sort!

ScoreNotes: : Moving on to some other activities -- how engaged have you been on the Wolfenstein interview circuit of late?

Bill Brown: I've done about seven or eight interviews for the US and the UK alone so far, and since the release is coming up, I'll be doing even more soon! I'm really excited about the release of Wolfenstein. I hope this score gets at least a digital release as well...it's really epic, different.

ScoreNotes: : Is working on films and video games really the best of both worlds for you?

Bill Brown: I'm very fortunate to be able to work in all of these mediums, and very grateful. I really enjoy it, and there is still so much to learn and do. It's an amazing career and very gratifying work. And they don't call it "playing" music by accident.

ScoreNotes: What are your plans for the rest of 2009?

Bill Brown: CSI:NY Season 6 kicks off this September, and I hope to get a head start on my next film some time this fall as well. The CSI:NY season 5 DVD is slated to come out on September 29th and includes a "making of the 100th episode" feature that shows the making of the episode from beginning to end (including our spotting session, and interviews with all of us) - you can find more info on my site's news page here http://www.billbrownmusic.com/news.htm
 
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