9 replies to this topic

[filmmusic]

Hello.
I was wondering if anyone knows any good examples of film music cues where there is a drone, and the cue is very sparse , minimalistic etc.
This kind of music seems too simple to me (that anyone could write such a cue), and I wanted to find some examples that have a degree of sophistication and are not simplistic.

edit: By the way, i am interested in orchestral cues, not electronic ones..

[Josh500]

How can a cue just be a drone and not be simplistic?

_____________

This is probably not the kind of thing you mean, but...

In Home Alone's "Man of the House," there is a very brief moment toward the end when all music stops, and all we hear is a kind of "drone," before the music--fast-paced strings--picks up again.

I always thought this was kinda effective.

[filmmusic]

I mean a drone as a basic layer, and then over the top various things here and there very sparsely..
(eg. like the first track from "The Tree of life" soundtrack. but i want to listen to more complex examples)

eg. one way for the drone note itself (in the case we have a sustained note) is to score it all the time with different instruments or differnet techniques blending into each other.
let's say a string drone that is doubled by a flute here, a clarinet there, a horn later etc in pfp dynamics..

but what about the rest on top?

If anyone has examples from classical literature too please feel free to suggest.

[Josh500]

This is probably not the kind of thing you mean, but...

In Home Alone's "Man of the House," there is a very brief moment toward the end when all music stops, and all we hear is a kind of "drone," before the music--fast-paced strings--picks up again.

I always thought this was kinda effective.

By the way, I've always wondered how this was achieved. Synths?

Anybody know?

[Quint]

There Will Be Blood, which I hate.

The Shining, which I love.

[Neimoidian]

The Thin Red Line.

[Chaac]

The Thin Red Line.

I love this one.

[indy4]

What about the trumpet solos in Born on the Fourth of July? The low strings sorta sounds dronish before the trumpet comes in.

[Josh500]

The low almost Tibetan-monkish all-male choir in War of the Worlds, when those aliens enter the shelter...

[airmanjerm]

Several of the non-chant cues from Horner's score to "The Name of the Rose" featured this type of music. Some of it is definitely electronic, but not something that couldn't be achieved similarly by acoustic means.