Skip to main content

Hans Zimmer Masterclass Review

Image
By
I am currently watching the recently released Hans Zimmer online masterclass which can be purchased for 90$, it contains 31 video tutorials in which Hans talks about various subjects such as how to tactically choose a key for your composition, creating sound palettes and templates, scoring to picture and many more. Hans Zimmer is one of the most influential film composers in today's film industry he is one of my biggest idols. His credits include iconic films like: The Lion King, Gladiator,  The Thin Red Line, Crimson Tide, The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar, etc.
He has won one Academy Award, four Grammy Awards and a number of other Awards.

I have started watching the masterclass and I am enjoying it a lot, his insights about the industry and small tips about communicating with directors or other industry professionals really help and I feel like I can always take something away from each video episode.
The production team really did an excellent job on making the experience very intimate and personal, it feels like you are in the room with Hans asking him the questions.
The whole masterclass is broken down into segments of different topics so it's not necessary to watch the masterclass in chronological order and the length of the episodes is not too long so you can simply watch one in a work or school break or before going to bed which I think is a very positive thing.

Hans is a very humble person and in one of the episodes he says how he still thinks "How on earth will I do this" before composing the score for each new film. This helped me realize that matter how experienced you are each new project poses a challenge and it isn't a bad thing to be intimidated by the task at hand. Another great thing I took away about how important and necessary simplicity is because you can always stack instruments and make something big but you need a starting point and somewhere to go back to.
Having a recurring simple theme at the core of a soundtrack is also really practical because it makes the theme memorable, a great example of this is in the film Interstellar where Hans used an extremely simple and emotional piano part at the heart of the composition and then developed the whole soundtrack from it.

I would definitely recommend watching the Masterclass.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Project 4, Session diary 7: Mick Gordon's DOOM soundtrack

By
Week 3, Monday 15th of May Goals: Optimize workflow, continue working on the instrumental, practice sound design in serum and with the Korg Volca Bass, write notation for instruments to record Resources: DAW (FL Studio, Logic), instruments (guitar, piano, etc.), leads, mics, Diary: I completed 3 of the 4 goals I set myself this week, I practiced sound design and wrote a blog post about how I jammed with the Korg Volca Bass. I continued working on the instrumental and have nearly completed it now. I tested the mix in MIT 3 through the Genelec speakers and wrote down some things I need to focus on and change to make it cleaner. I also restructured my room to create a more comfortable working environment, I moved my bed to the window to create more space to sit at the desk and removed equipment I don’t use to have more desk space. This really helped me optimize my workflow because I didn’t have things lying around and distracting me and additionally I could easily get t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Project 4, Session Diary 3: Industry related project & agenda for Thursday

By
Today I started with my Research Task A, I chose the songs that I will analyse and wrote down the main focus points of my research for example: Performance accuracy Audio quality Recording techniques Mixing techniques Arrangement Production techniques I started analysing the first of the three tracks “True Friends by Bring Me The Horizon”. I listened to the track multiple times and wrote down some key aspects of the track and how it differs from the typical metal song. I analysed the music video and tried to figure out what gear Jordan Fish (the keyboard player and programmer uses) in the studio and for his live performances. I found an interview where he shines some light on this topic and I will probably use some quotes from it. In the lesson Industry Related Project I learned how to cite correctly using the Harvard format and Colin Duran our lecturer showed us a very useful website called “Cite This For Me” which automatically creates citations for your ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Learning a second instrument: drums

By
At the moment I'm trying to learn to play drums, I'm currently collaborating on a coupke of tracks with my very good friend Tom who is a extremely talented drummer. One of my favourite things to do when producing a track is to programm the drums, not just accoustic and/or electronic but also epic cinematic percussion. My hands and feet are usually tapping on something in a rhythmic way (I'm very bad at sitting still) and because of all this I figured: why not just try playing drums? Three days ago I was in the studio jamming with Tom and he taught me some basic drumbeats which I picked up pretty quickly, I really enjoyed it.... So yesterday I went to the drum pods and booked one for 1:30 hours and just jammed along to tracks that I liked and it was so fun! So today I bought some used drumsticks from Max and I'm going to try to practise at least 3 days a week to hopefully be mediocre by the time of christmas. Atleast that is my goal.
Post a Comment
Read more