I dont see a problem of people disliking his material, the problem i see here with some of you is the attitude.
Its ridiculous really, although the same people who always troll cubase threads are also trolling here, coincidence?

 

I was never his fan. I am nobody's fan whatsoever unless it's R2R or Radium etc lol. I can tell from personal experience and double on what @Von_Steyr insists on, soundtrack work is the hardest in the music biz. In my 35 yrs in music, i 've scored only one ost for a short -12.5 minutes- ecological documentary film. It took me about 2 fucking months to finish, working at least 8 hrs a day while being checked anytime of day or night. At the end i got what would be today's equivalent of 3k euros and a nice thank you for your services. My name was put in there somewhere in the end titles and that was it. It's been 20 yrs since then and although i have had a couple of other offerings for similar work, i declined both times. I'm not doing this again man, having to go through this ordeal, working with people who just maybe are able to feel the music but don't understand one bit of its creative process. And for what, a measly salary and a pat on the back "you're my hero" Bruce Willis style ? No thanks. I need to keep my sanity.
And this is why i can honestly, evidently understand at least a fraction of Zimmer's workload. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes and i don't even know if given the opportunity i could fill them anyway. So all you guys bashing, i'd like to see you do it, see how far you get.
Cheers
EDIT: Imagine after a week's work, you finally got a working arrangement to fit your main scene. Suddenly your phone rings and its the director saying "you know mate we edited this scene from 4 mins down to 3:30 mins" And then you find out that your "crescendo peak moment" you were so proud of, has no meaning now since the climax has to be edited accordingly. How many times will you be able to withstand this happening and adjust to produce something that can be equally pleasing and fit the narrative? And this is only one of many situations a composer has to face when dealing with this.

 

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BOOM

Not to mention this one "we really love it and want to keep it in its full length but we need you to speed it up"(or slow it down)
- When you have used real musicians and it's not a sequenced or sample-triggered section (other than the recording)section. - not so hard in the last decade, but before, it was.

Or "Can you add strings, a didgeridoo, a banjo...."....whatever.... and you do it with them sitting there only to find they had no idea what they were hearing in the first place and then go back to what you had, realising they were actually happy with it in the first place.
Or worse again, you get a Director that speaks in colours - don't ask.

 

thats no argument to keep a cartel...and just a little picture of a huge

oh really...thats is total news...

 

yeah and hans never worked for such an guy...such guys decline

 

Is it ? I am glad for you that you learned something

 

That´s ok @Von_Steyr you win!!!
Win Oscars is the absolute and ultimate argument and proof that the man is a genius

You say massive egos: yawn!!!

A basic problem with you @Von_Steyr is when it comes to discussions about eg HZ and other of your idols. You always start listing a whole lot of awards and the like to substantiate your views. Do you really have nothing else in the box other than statistics and numbers?
Some personal preferences would actually be more interesting and compelling.

I dont hate HZ, I´ve watched nearly all the movies he made the music score for.... some are a bit better than others - read: music score.

My basic problem with HZ is that he can´t write an honest and compelling melody but has a tedious tendency to get lost in a lot of effective but indifferent orchestrations just to play with muscles and impress. And it gets a little boring at length.

 

My fault @The Dude with the missing n.

But it doesn´t change the fact he was/is one of the most superb composeres in Western music.

 

If everyone here had his bank account, not only would they not be here, nor reading any of this, they probably would not care what anyone thought anyway. I know I wouldn't.
As you all were.

 

opinionating on a light spontaneous level i would agree on not finding him to be much interesting, to me it seems he belongs to the current trend of "fast effective products", a bit cold and without themes that move you, without warmth. but that goes for much of what comes out of that corporate entertainment industry today.

 

Well spoken @EddieXx Wish I could explain myself in so few words.

 

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The hundreds of millions in his bank account don't care what any of us think.

 

Haha. Good observation! After those statistics come irrelevant facts like ..he runs a company..he feeds people..he's only got 24 hrs in a day. Seriously?? This reasoning is wrong on so many levels that it's off putting.

 

Headshot has largely answered most of the Handzy fanzys' points quite well, a lot of the familiar spambot arguments have been answered years ago on his website. I guess, when you speak about Gladiator and other soundtracks, it would be a good idea to educate yourself. His music is good for the environment at least, what with all that recycling, I guess.

I was just a bit baffled by the dandelion man argument of von Steyradent et al, my rather more sharp-toothed friend!

Seems Hanz spends a lot of time online taking credit for Shirley Walker's (among others) work, while denigrating her as "not all that good". She wasn't able to defend herself or reveal how much she'd written of that score, since she'd passed away. Only Hanz is credited on iMDB.

 

and im sad for society that you even cant determine plainest sarcasm

 

and here we have the problem...you plaincapitalist money chaser..fck all youre money...
you talk such a nonsense instead of try to get the others site points...pure adult you are

exactly this is distroying individualism and art..things you dunno a dime bout...but of course you have won a grammy so nach dem motto..

the obsever...great nickfor totalitarianism

 

word
and he is club assigned

 

I think a lot of people here have missed the point of scoring for moving images and probably have never been paid to do it. You don't write a magnificent aria full of complex composition and orchestration as that is too distracting. Scores are INTENDED to sit in the background and almost unconsciously move an individual's emotional state in line with the script/acting/story. The music is not meant to be World-beating compositions. They are BY DESIGN there to play a supporting role. As someone scoring to moving images, this already provides you with limitations as to what you can create.

Add to that the fact that music and technology has evolved. With this the industry has also evolved. When John Williams scored Star Wars in the 1970, all he had was pen and paper and then orchestrators would expand his composition for an orchestra to come in, at a cost of thousands, to record the music. Nowadays, with technological evolutions and studios wanting more for less, there is no longer opportunities to score in the same way that the likes of early John Williams and Bernard Hermann used to do it. Now studios know pretty convincing scores can be created using computers, so why would they want to pay hundreds of thousands to bring in an orchestra if they can avoid it? My answer would be for the human expression that music relies on, but film studios quite often go by the bottom line, i.e. the money. This means that there is less opportunities for composers to create themes and sketches on paper and evolve them with their orchestrators and a live orchestra; instead having to now create a virtually entire score in isolation on a computer before hiring an orchestra for a couple of days to come into a scoring stage and record what's put in front of them and then leave.

Music is about evolution. If you look at more recent scores by the likes of John Williams and Ennio Moriconne, they have clearly struggled to adapt to Hollywood's new way of working. Hans, coming from a synthesiser and technology background has clearly embraced it, and led the way in it, hence why he is now so well-known and in demand. I'm sure there will be another revolution at some point where current film scorers will struggle, and a new generation will grasp and embrace it and take scoring in a new direction; that is, it will evolve.

To fail to recognise that society, technology, the industries we work in etc are not stagnant and evolve is what will cripple progression. Those who embrace evolution are the ones that will thrive.

Therefore, considering all of the above, I find it particularly harsh to be critical of someone who has written some of the most iconic scores of recent times, whether that is alone or with his Remote Control colleagues. If you think John Williams, Bernard Hermann, Ennio Morricone etc write in isolation with no input from others, then I'm afraid you are either very blinkered or need to educate yourself some more on the music and film industries.

Like him or loathe him, simply look around this forum or take a look on YouTube and Hans has without a shadow of a doubt inspired and influenced an entire generation to want to make music for films. Not only has he stirred music creator's in this way, but he has also stirred more of an interest in listening to film music by music listeners too. In days gone by, it was only those interested in classical music or were studying music that largely listened to film music in their own time, whereas I would argue that Hans' influence on film scoring has now made film music much more contemporary and mainstream. I mean, how many other current or past film composers have/are selling out global stadium shows?

Musically, you may refuse to identify a "style" associated to Hans. However, when he started scoring in the late 1980's there were two types of film score; classical orchestral scores and full on Giorgio Moroder or Vangelis synth-filled scores. He was, arguably, the first person to begin to fully meld the two together in his earlier films. That in itself is arguably a style, only it's not recognised as so nowadays because that is what virtually all film composers too, but that doesn't take away the fact that Hans is the one who kinda started that movement. I would also say he has an evolving style too that seems to trigger other composers into shadowing his style, whether that the brassy barps of Inception or the the doubled ostinatos of The Dark Knight. Remember, you are trying to compare someone who was self-taught in guitar and synthesisers and was then thrown into the film scoring World against classically trained composers, so there is obviously going to be some 'schooled' parts of composition where he may lack, but in his treatment of orchestras as if it were a rock band (thinking of the distorted cellos in The Dark Knight), he has brought something unique and different that has captivated Hollywood.

To criticise him, I think, is a failure to recognise the evolution and differences that make music creators who they are.

PS - not a fan boy as he has some questionable scores, as does any other film composer, but I just like to give everyone a fair shot at credit where credit is due!

 

Famouslut, if I may, is transposition part of a composers tools?
Why transpose? Is it a common technique?

When composing for films, do you think a recognizable theme is important?
Why?

Do you use those in your compositions? Why not?

Thank you!

By the way, any comments about the movie? (not the documentary on Youtube) It's a really interesting story in my opinion.
I recommend.

https://yts.lt/movie/supermensch-the-legend-of-shep-gordon-2013

 

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At least we have your catalog of work to enjoy, when we want to listen to something exquisite, maestro.