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Soundtracks
Both of the
soundtracks I've written have been for my friend, Brian Thomas, who, as of
February 2003, is working in Los Angeles.
"The Incredible Vibrating Man" 1998
 When
Brian gave me a draft of this short script, I thought sounded like a porno.
Well, it wasn't a porno―just a story about a superhero who vibrates at
super-fast speeds and also has problems with his love life (the villains keep killing or
kidnapping his girlfriends).
Brian told me early on that he thought drums or percussion
would work well for the movie―especially since the
hero, John Devlin, "vibrated." I'd
always wanted to do a percussion soundtrack!
I began experimenting with drums, cymbals, and my Roland R-5
drum machine.
But it
was a visit to Mazatlan, Mexico, that inspired me to come up with one of the
trademark "Vibe" sounds―maracas.
Many months later, I was using maracas, wind chimes, and
cymbals to produce the soundscape for "The Incredible Vibrating Man." I'm happy
with the result―especially the droning, eerie sounds created with cymbals.
Credits
Incredible
Vibrating Man Home Page
"Shattered"
This is the film that got Brian into NYU film
school. He filmed it with all his friends one summer in Richland, Washington.
During the fall, we
were roommates again in Seattle, and Brian had a little Casio keyboard
that we both played whenever we could.
Brian came up with the melody that would become the main theme
for "Shattered." I remember many nights of just sitting around playing
that theme, the two of us banging away on that little keyboard.
Then I broke the
keyboard―or at least I thought I did. The problem with this was Brian had to
finish the soundtrack so he could send the movie off to NYU. My brother made a call to
Martin Rose, a future member of the band Wake, and on a Saturday Martin carted
over all his "professional" equipment―a keyboard and drum machine. We hooked
everything up and scored the movie right there in the living room, with Martin
doing most of the playing. It turned around pretty good―and
reminds me of a John
Carpenter soundtrack.
After that, I told Brian I'd try to fix his keyboard―or buy
him another one. I gave it to my cousin, Chuck, who was good with electronics.
He took one look at it, and then proceeded to put new batteries in it. It was
one of those happy accidents. If the keyboard hadn't broke, the soundtrack
wouldn't have been half as good!
Shattered
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