Well personally I think there's some middle ground in all that's being said… Hans isn't totally honest with this sentence. But his scores are not the "I drop you a piano theme and do the scores for me" either.
Hans: "I mean, *on all of these scores* I have at one time or another played every single note. But unfortunately the story of me just sitting there by myself and writing is far less exciting and scandalous than the idea of assistants and ghostwriters."
Hence my earlier comment…Hans has most of the time written at least the basic versions of all the cues we're hearing, and his buddies, while working substantially, aren't "writing the whole score." Zimmer scores *are* Zimmer scores, even if they're not completely and totally Zimmer to the exclusion of anyone else's ideas.
People who complain about additional composers, look at other composers most of the time we don't even know at least one of theirs. They don't even give credits. For Hans' scores the names are always there. You just have to open your eyes and look.
And people who say that "Hans can't write real complex Orchestral Scores", well you really are not familiar with his work. One doesn't simply become one of the most famous composers in the world just by writing "simple" stuff.
vced, I see your point, but it raised another question in my mind: if Lorne Balfe really composed (almost) the whole of Madagascar 3 or Kung Fu Panda 2… then why are they both so much more enjoyable than Home or Penguins? I think this is an evidence than Zimmer's role is a lot more important than some people would believe.
I never blamed Hans when I thought credit wasn't due. Why would he put Lorne as a "producer" on the screen if he wanted to hide him. He never attempted to take credit for Pirates 1, while Monty Norman and John Barry sued themselves over decades, lol.
I guess the reason why some fans are upset is that they fall in love with the music and then once they already got attached to thought of: " This Hans Zimmer is brilliant!", they find out that not everything is Hans Zimmer. Something is Jim Dooley, or Geoff Zanelli, or Lorne Balfe.
I guess it's just badly communicated with the fans and for lack of information they start to make up conspiracy theories like how Hans tries to take world domination. I mean, it really got better. Since anyone barely buys a CD today no one can open a booklet and see who else worked on the score. For chappie he put Steve and Andrew on the front cover. Great move if only 2 people helped him out, but how about 7 people? Guess that would look a bit crowded then. :P (And recently they added credits for some scores on spotify.) I think he could reach most people through facebook if he sometimes posts stuff like:"Hey, check out some music by Lorne Balfe, he worked with me on TDKR."
Sorry for the wall of text but I wanted to write this for a long time. :)
Zoe : "Does it piss you off when people question the way the studio works? In terms of having people write for you—you know, when it’s made out to be Hans Zimmer’s Musical Sweatshop?"
Hans : "Well,they can’t have it both ways. Because on the one hand I get knocked for “sounding the same,” which of course doesn’t actually make any sense—look at the films I did with Ridley [Scott], and that’s just one filmmaker: Thelma & Louise doesn’t sound anything like Gladiator, which doesn’t sound anything like Black Hawk Down, which doesn’t sound anything like Hannibal, which doesn’t sound anything like Black Rain, which doesn’t sound anything like Matchstick Men…"
Zoe : "I really liked Matchstick Men."
Hans : "So did I, but I think we were the only ones. So anyway, on the one hand there’s obviously a very strong imprint in the architecture of the studio, and on the other hand… I mean, you already know all of this. I write these pieces and they’re very complete, everything’s done on them—the orchestration, everything. But like everybody, I need assistants. I’m the architect, but I need a couple of bricklayers, y’know? Do you think Michelangelo painted every square inch of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Probably not—it would have killed him if he had to do it all by himself!"
Zoe : "Fair enough. So do you think people who make those assumptions are just uninformed about the system? Because assisting and writing additional music is basically how you get your foot in the door, right?"
Hans : "Well, yes and no. It didn’t really used to be like that. When I got to Hollywood it was slightly different. The studios had orchestrators and arrangers on staff, and they never really got credit for anything. They were just “Backroom Boys.” So now I really do fight for credits for people, even really small credits. It’s important to me that people get to participate, and that they get credit and that they are visible, so I really do fight fort hem. They might not be the architects, but it’s still their time that they give me, that they give to these projects."
Zoe : "Interstellar was all you though, wasn’t it?"
Hans : "All me. Interstellar nobody got to write a single note on other than me. And although a lot of musicians played on it, one of the things we tried to preserve was the singularity of my touch and my vision, and literally me playing every note. I mean, on all of these scores I have at one time or another played every single note. But unfortunately the story of me just sitting there by myself and writing is far less exciting and scandalous than the idea of assistants and ghostwriters."
vced, I used to think just like that, but the fact is, even if another composer (Lorne) has his name on every cue in an HZ score, the fact is we really don't know how much Hans may or may not have done…Very frequently, the material that gets turned into cues will have already been written by Hans in some unreleased suite, or Hans will have done 80-90% of the cue before Lorne (or whoever) finishes it.
There's more to these scores than meets the eye, and while Hybrid admitted Hans wasn't focused on Madagascar 3 very heavily, it's impossible to jump to the conclusion that he barely writes anything on his scores. We simply don't know, and more often then not, in cases where I've formerly thought, "Oh, Hans had nothing to do with that music," he actually wrote most of it.
Well personally I think there's some middle ground in all that's being said… Hans isn't totally honest with this sentence. But his scores are not the "I drop you a piano theme and do the scores for me" either.
Hans: "I mean, *on all of these scores* I have at one time or another played every single note. But unfortunately the story of me just sitting there by myself and writing is far less exciting and scandalous than the idea of assistants and ghostwriters."
Hence my earlier comment…Hans has most of the time written at least the basic versions of all the cues we're hearing, and his buddies, while working substantially, aren't "writing the whole score." Zimmer scores *are* Zimmer scores, even if they're not completely and totally Zimmer to the exclusion of anyone else's ideas.
People who complain about additional composers, look at other composers most of the time we don't even know at least one of theirs. They don't even give credits. For Hans' scores the names are always there. You just have to open your eyes and look.
And people who say that "Hans can't write real complex Orchestral Scores", well you really are not familiar with his work. One doesn't simply become one of the most famous composers in the world just by writing "simple" stuff.
vced, I see your point, but it raised another question in my mind: if Lorne Balfe really composed (almost) the whole of Madagascar 3 or Kung Fu Panda 2… then why are they both so much more enjoyable than Home or Penguins? I think this is an evidence than Zimmer's role is a lot more important than some people would believe.
I never blamed Hans when I thought credit wasn't due. Why would he put Lorne as a "producer" on the screen if he wanted to hide him. He never attempted to take credit for Pirates 1, while Monty Norman and John Barry sued themselves over decades, lol.
I guess the reason why some fans are upset is that they fall in love with the music and then once they already got attached to thought of: " This Hans Zimmer is brilliant!", they find out that not everything is Hans Zimmer. Something is Jim Dooley, or Geoff Zanelli, or Lorne Balfe.
I guess it's just badly communicated with the fans and for lack of information they start to make up conspiracy theories like how Hans tries to take world domination.
I mean, it really got better.
Since anyone barely buys a CD today no one can open a booklet and see who else worked on the score. For chappie he put Steve and Andrew on the front cover.
Great move if only 2 people helped him out, but how about 7 people? Guess that would look a bit crowded then. :P (And recently they added credits for some scores on spotify.)
I think he could reach most people through facebook if he sometimes posts stuff like:"Hey, check out some music by Lorne Balfe, he worked with me on TDKR."
Sorry for the wall of text but I wanted to write this for a long time. :)
BAM. The man has spoken.
Hans was interviewed by his daughter recently…
Zoe : "Does it piss you off when people question the way the studio works? In terms of having people write for you—you know, when it’s made out to be Hans Zimmer’s Musical Sweatshop?"
Hans : "Well,they can’t have it both ways. Because on the one hand I get knocked for “sounding the same,” which of course doesn’t actually make any sense—look at the films I did with Ridley [Scott], and that’s just one filmmaker: Thelma & Louise doesn’t sound anything like Gladiator, which doesn’t sound anything like Black Hawk Down, which doesn’t sound anything like Hannibal, which doesn’t sound anything like Black Rain, which doesn’t sound anything like Matchstick Men…"
Zoe : "I really liked Matchstick Men."
Hans : "So did I, but I think we were the only ones. So anyway, on the one hand there’s obviously a very strong imprint in the architecture of the studio, and on the other hand… I mean, you already know all of this. I write these pieces and they’re very complete, everything’s done on them—the orchestration, everything. But like everybody, I need assistants. I’m the architect, but I need a couple of bricklayers, y’know? Do you think Michelangelo painted every square inch of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Probably not—it would have killed him if he had to do it all by himself!"
Zoe : "Fair enough. So do you think people who make those assumptions are just uninformed about the system? Because assisting and writing additional music is basically how you get your foot in the door, right?"
Hans : "Well, yes and no. It didn’t really used to be like that. When I got to Hollywood it was slightly different. The studios had orchestrators and arrangers on staff, and they never really got credit for anything. They were just “Backroom Boys.” So now I really do fight for credits for people, even really small credits. It’s important to me that people get to participate, and that they get credit and that they are visible, so I really do fight fort hem. They might not be the architects, but it’s still their time that they give me, that they give to these projects."
Zoe : "Interstellar was all you though, wasn’t it?"
Hans : "All me. Interstellar nobody got to write a single note on other than me. And although a lot of musicians played on it, one of the things we tried to preserve was the singularity of my touch and my vision, and literally me playing every note. I mean, on all of these scores I have at one time or another played every single note. But unfortunately the story of me just sitting there by myself and writing is far less exciting and scandalous than the idea of assistants and ghostwriters."
:D
vced, I used to think just like that, but the fact is, even if another composer (Lorne) has his name on every cue in an HZ score, the fact is we really don't know how much Hans may or may not have done…Very frequently, the material that gets turned into cues will have already been written by Hans in some unreleased suite, or Hans will have done 80-90% of the cue before Lorne (or whoever) finishes it.
There's more to these scores than meets the eye, and while Hybrid admitted Hans wasn't focused on Madagascar 3 very heavily, it's impossible to jump to the conclusion that he barely writes anything on his scores. We simply don't know, and more often then not, in cases where I've formerly thought, "Oh, Hans had nothing to do with that music," he actually wrote most of it.