MICHAEL GIACCHINO

It's very difficult. Those are techniques primarily established in th 20th century and esp.later on with atonal / serialism / 12-note systems. I've seen, filmed, recorded and worked with musicians who specialize in the said repertoire in relevant 'modern music' ensembles and those techniques including, and believe me mate, you have to be a hell of a good classical string instr.player FIST and then come those extreme techniques. And you have to have a decent amount of experience and study very hard in order to be able to play this kind of music! Hollywood studio symphony is very rich with this kind of musicians.

See this:

http://www.violinslover.com/photos/Beginner_Violin.jpg

This is the Classical way of holding the violin (and classical haircut ) Notice the area the bow's is sitting and also that its base is resting completely horizontal on the strings...most of the classical repertoire requires the bow to be sited at the specific area.

The afore-mentioned modern techniques though move the bow's place much nearer the bridge * and also bent it so that the bow's base creates an angle with the strings and doesn't sit perfectly horizontally on them as displayed in the 'classical' way of playing - photo above.

* see lame graph i just did:
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/6770 … linhz8.jpg

This new placement in comparison with difference in dynamics of playing (more aggressive and snap bowings) result into the specific sound but it's not as simple as it sounds

Sometimes they even play directly over the bridge which results in almost no musical note being heard other than plain metallic noise and that's what Giacchino has them doing all the time, swinging to and away from the bridge in varying dynamics (softer and louder and again softer and louder) while holding the same note in violent vibrato, something that gives that specific blend of aggressive noise and musical note those pieces in LOST carry along. That's just one of the many little details that set the score of LOST apart the vast majority of film / tv music these days; that's one of the several small musicological reasons that drive me crazy with LOST's score that if i was to sit down and analyze each and everyone of them with graphs like i did above, man that would take me ages! And that's just a couple of techniques in the strings' section...The brilliance of Mr.Giacchino ladies and Gents.

LOL ok, thanks Demetris.

See this. It is a perfect audio-visual example of what i am saying. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1K4Fsk3rG8 At some point there's a cellist that showcases the said techniques.

Has anyone played the demo of Turning Point? As a game it's straight out awful.

Btw, was Giacchino's score to the console version of Call of Duty Finest Hour original or just reused stuff?

Edit: I remembered the name of COD.

I love cod.

Original music... and the "End Titles" of my favorite Giacchino pieces. Great score! The choral music is heartbreaking but at time is grand and powerful, especially in the "Stalingrad" cue. Lots of suspense music, high octane action material and brilliant dramatic cues. And surprisingly I like Dan Wallin's mix. you can really feel the music fill the room!

As for ROAR!, Fall of Liberty and Lost Season 3... I'll try and ask Michael again... but right now he is extremely busy with Speed Racer and the Oscars. But I'll try and get in touch with him for an update as soon as I can.

-Erik-

Unfortunately, no. Michael kindly sent it to me for my radio show.

-Erik-

Sorry... I played that a few years ago. I don't keep achieved programs on my site. Maybe I'll do another Giacchino program. "Bunker Charge" as to be heard!

-Erik-

I'm just going to leave it as "I got this from Michael."

-Erik-

Long story... so I'll keep it short.... I hope.

About the time Medal of Honor came out, I read a review of the score at Filmtracks. Christian gave it a glowing review so I emailed Ford Thaxton asking for Michael's contact info. Ford gave it to me and I emailed Michael. He responded and kindly sent a copy of the score for air-play on my radio show. I fell in love with the score instantly so I decided to play a one hour suite of music from that score on the show instead of the normal 15 minute suite. I then emailed Michael, thanking him for the score and told him what I did. He was thrilled that I played so much on the program and then proceeded to tell me that they were recording the sequel the following summer in Seattle and asked me if I wanted to attend the sessions. I say sure, saved my money, jumped on a plane that following summer and attended the sessions. I armed myself with my video camera with the intention of just capturing my first recording session on video. About half way through the sessions I decided that I would take my footage and create a music video featuring the main theme as a way of saying thank you to Michael for the invite. This video ultimately led to more videos for Frontline, SWON and Mercenaries. Michael was a cool guy and we had a boat load of fun with the crew and members of the Northwest Sinfonia. Those trips were some of the best times I've ever had. Hanging out with people who love the same music that I do and having the opportunity to pick the brains of the people in the industry and finding out inside information that some times SHOCKED me (John Williams and that one theme from E.T. he didn't write and ghostwriting on Return of the Jedi) and other times made me laugh out loud! BTW, Tim Simonec is an absolute hoot!

Good times!

-Erik-

Must.Get.Finest.Hour

No, this time i wasn't talking to VARESE.

We've all given up with Varese anyway. Lost is still the top of my list though. Then Turning Point, then this, then Roar!