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The Bear McCreary Thread


Taikomochi

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How do they make it clear?

You say there are no other score composers in sight, yet admit you have no idea what exactly those who are credited for additional music actually do?

So are you just making assumptions, like me. Or do you have any actual facts to offer?

They make it clear in the album credits and legal/publisher information. He is the only score composer credited. ie 'Music by Bear McCreary', 'Music composed by Bear McCreary', 'All compositions by Bear McCreary'. After going through all the albums for your benefit, the only one that mentions additional music is the Defiance album which has the TV show on disc 1 and the video game on disc 2. On the booklet credits it says, 'Additional Music and Arrangements by Michael Beach and Jonathan Ortega'. The back cover of this album states, 'All compositions by Bear McCreary' for both disc 1 and 2 with the song covers credited to their appropriate authors. This is the only place where additional music people are mentioned and it is clearly stated that they are not acting as composers here. Also, Richard Gibbs is credited for the prologue and main title cues for Battlestar.

The albums and TV shows are different animals. We have the albums and the credits/publisher information where we can see who is responsible for the compositions. For the TV shows there is obviously more music and no one ultimately knows the exact breakdown unless you have access to the cue sheets or into the working practices of the team. Speculation onto whether it is x or y % is futile.

I hope I'm not the only one who sees the irony of you asking someone for facts to offer. The reason you are in this discussion is your lack of tact when speculating about a composer's integrity when in receipt of no facts. Anyway, I think I'm basically repeating myself at this stage so I'll leave it there.

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I never claimed that the music on his releases isnt all Bear's, unless indicated.

You yourself state that you are unsure what the deal is with music that hasnt been released.

So essentially we are wondering about the same thing.

Personally if I were a fan of his, I would like to know if he uses additional composers or anything like that. Just like I would like to know if every note from The Force awakens is composed by John Williams or if Williams Ross lend a hand....

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I never claimed that the music on his releases isnt all Bear's, unless indicated.

You yourself state that you are unsure what the deal is with music that hasnt been released.

So essentially we are wondering about the same thing.

Personally if I were a fan of his, I would like to know if he uses additional composers or anything like that. Just like I would like to know if every note from The Force awakens is composed by John Williams or if Williams Ross lend a hand....

Ok. Fair enough, but like I said it's futile to speculate unless you actually get a chance to find out. Until I learn otherwise, I'm coming from the position that it's all Bear, or at the least going from the albums that a large majority and any significant moment is Bear. I don't follow all the shows but if I found out that someone else was responsible for a great moment in the show it would be disappointing. Until I know otherwise, I'm not going to worry about it. Following the guy's blog and youtube videos he just comes across as genuinely dedicated and actually interested in the shows and the music he makes for them. I know you have a problem with the volume of work he does, but he also manages to conduct and he has performed piano, accordion, hurdy-gurdy and others along with even providing vocals on his music. Immersed is an understatement.

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I know this guy of genuine passion and dedication, but his music does little for me. Though I did like his score for Europa Report.

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I know this guy of genuine passion and dedication, but his music does little for me. Though I did like his score for Europa Report.

Don't know if you play, but this might float your boat either way.

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I know this guy of genuine passion and dedication, but his music does little for me. Though I did like his score for Europa Report.

Don't know if you play, but this might float your boat either way.

Yeah, I really liked the Europa Report theme. Good stuff.

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I hope his Outlander scores are good, for I just bought them sight unheard.

I hope you like them. They're in the running for the best thing he's done, in my opinion of course.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've yet to be impressed by any of Bear McCreary's work. Granted I haven't followed his complete oeuvre, I generally find his work "meh", crossing between generic and average, but ultimately not that interesting for me.

His BSG scores are 90%+ filler material for me, but every season there are a handful of absolutely gorgeous and musically fascinating piano and/or string pieces, for which I hold McCreary in quite high regard.

I'm currently deep into Season 3 in watching BSG and I totally agree with this assessment. There are several filler and interchangeable throughout, but the standouts trully are standouts

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I've yet to be impressed by any of Bear McCreary's work. Granted I haven't followed his complete oeuvre, I generally find his work "meh", crossing between generic and average, but ultimately not that interesting for me.

His BSG scores are 90%+ filler material for me, but every season there are a handful of absolutely gorgeous and musically fascinating piano and/or string pieces, for which I hold McCreary in quite high regard.

I'm currently deep into Season 3 in watching BSG and I totally agree with this assessment. There are several filler and interchangeable throughout, but the standouts trully are standouts

Agreed.

His music for Da Vinci's Demons is quite entertaining in the show itself. I think I'll explore it on album soon.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

This morning when I woke up my phone let me know "Assassin's Creed Syndicate: Jack the Ripper" was now available on Spotify. How does he have time to score these things in between all the TV shows he does?

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Sounds cool. Only the main title is out at the moment, full EP out digitally on the 15th.

https://play.spotify.com/album/785HHYPkiBCXFxffIkqc35

http://www.bearmccreary.com/#blog/blog/video-games/assassins-creed-syndicate-jack-the-ripper/

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  • 1 month later...

This man is unstoppable.  He scored that new Natalie Dormer movie, apparently, and the OST is up on Spotify

 

 

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Neat. This is his third project involving Goyer, following 'Da Vinci's Demons' and 'Constantine'. He also has 'The Boy' starring Lauren Cohan coming out in 2 weeks. It would be nice if he could get a shot at some non-horror/thriller film scores.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is exciting! I saw Bear tweet the director last year, so I suspected this movie was on the horizon. It was called "The Cellar" originally when I checked for what they could be working on. Bear appears to be taking a big leap into the motion picture world now. 2016 has seen "The Forest" already and "The Boy" is coming out tomorrow. Hopefully the standard and variety of projects will continue to improve.

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On 1/21/2016 at 2:45 PM, libraloco said:

Bear McCreary has scored the upcoming Bad Robot film 10 Cloverfield Lane.

 

I was really looking forward to a Giacchino score for this one. :/

 

I was hoping for Chris Tilton. :/

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10 hours ago, Gnome in Plaid said:

 

I was hoping for Chris Tilton. :/

 

Tilton would have been nice as well. :/

 

I went through a phase at the end of 2013/beginning of 2014 when I was really interested in McCreary, mostly because I was amazed at how productive he was. But there's something about his writing that, after a while, I just got really tired of, and it's difficult to explain. I think he can write some great themes, but I find his underscore very lacking/slow most of the time, and while his action music can be catchy at times, he uses this one sound in almost all of his music that annoys me after I listen to a few tracks. I don't know enough about music to explain what that sound is, but it's like a crashing "chhhhh" sound during the exciting parts, which could be cymbals or drums or ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I'll see if I can find an example and post it here.

 

I'm still amazed by his productivity, but I haven't listened to a full score of his in almost two years, I believe. (Also, I really, really don't care for his use of synths. At all. I find his synths to be very disruptive and distracting from the orchestra.)

 

That all being said, I hope his score for 10 Cloverfield Lane turns out well and isn't just an hour of tense strings or whatever.

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  • 1 month later...

10 Cloverfield Lane soundtrack samples!

 

CcufwOAVIAAXHH6.jpg

 

1. Michelle
2. The Concrete Cell
3. Howard
4. A Bright Red Flash
5. At the Door
6. Two Stories
7. Message from Megan
8. Hazmat Suit
9. A Happy Family
10. The Burn
11. Up Above
12. Valencia
13. The New Michelle
14. 10 Cloverfield Lane

 

Total running time: 1:03:32

 

I think the samples sound pretty good! I plan on purchasing this score.

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Bear hitting the big leagues! I like the samples for this. I hoped at the start of the year that some better quality films would start coming his way. Maybe this is the start of the great McCreary motion picture breakthrough...

 

 

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Nice interview! Jerry is the order of the day. Anyone seen Damien yet?

 

Quote

Damien is my love letter to Jerry Goldsmith. We’ve even had access and rights to use his Academy Award-winning score for The Omen in Damien, which is the primary reason I even did the show. That was my first question when I got the call, was “Can I use the Jerry Goldsmith material?” and [showrunner Glen Mazzara] went, “Yes,” and I was very excited by that.

 

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On first listen it stands out as clearly the best film score he's done so far (not too much competition to beat!). All of the McCreary trademarks are here yet this certainly feels new for him. I've read that Hermann and Goldsmith are influences, though I myself am not well-versed enough to point to specifics. It is also not really similar at all to Giacchino's great piece from Cloverfield. Like I suspected, I think JJ has had a good influence here. Working on better projects and with better people can only help McCreary to develop as a film composer. Onwards and upwards!

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59 minutes ago, scallenger said:

I LOVED both the film and score! I only see a digital release of the album so far. Anyone know if a label is picking up a CD release?

 

That's good to hear! I probably won't get round to seeing this in the cinema, though it's good to see that it is getting some decent reviews.

 

Bear's own label Sparks & Shadows will be releasing this on CD in the near future. I would guess within a few weeks with some signed copies available through La La Land records, regular copies from amazon.com.

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8 minutes ago, chuckster312 said:

 

Go Bear!  I can hear some Herrmann in this.  The background string ostinato reminds me of the background driving music in Pyscho.  For example at 0:06 of this:

 

Great example of a nod that is still distinctively McCreary.

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Been listening to the album all day at work.  I'm enjoying it fairly well. It's not really hooking me in like it has others but I'm going to see the movie tomorrow so hopefully context will provide the hook!

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