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Danny Elfman question

Synthpopbean

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I had posted this earlier, but I cant find it now?

Anyways, does anyone know firsthand or whatever to what Danny's protocol to scoring melodies, etc is these days? And what was the deal with that? Ho<ping this rumor was squashed?

And were the rumours of past true about him not writing his own Melodies/scores? Hes been open about using orchestrators, tho. Not sure what's so controversial about that amidst all the old rumors.



Also..heres the Bartek interview where he explains Danny's process..which doesnt seem to say he used ghostwriters..only orchestrators. https://www.boingo.org/articles/FSMBartek.html
 
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Listen for yourself:



I remember found this post from another fellow VIC member who has worked for Danny:

I worked for Danny for two years and can confirm that that man is a genius and writes his ass off. The myths about him are so annoying...he's a great orchestrator, yes he can read music, etc. He has help, but so does everyone, and having help has nothing to do with ability or work ethic, usually.

So yeah... screw the naysayers.
 
Hey that's me!

So many great memories in that room. Danny is just wonderful in every way. A total one-of-a-kind, brilliant, has tons of quirks and hilariously niche interests/hobbies, has endless stories, never stops evolving. If you think he's just his "Burton sound," check out The Circle, Rabbit & Rogue, etc.

He's never stopped searching -- I can't respect the man enough. A true artist.
 
That old farts are in particular who? Just interested

I reopened my book "Danny Elfman's Batman - A Film Score Guide" by Janet K. Halfyard to find exactly where it started :)

I can't scan the book for obvious reasons, but fortunately this part is available as a free preview on Amazon. Just scroll to Page 11, there is a chapter called "The controversy".

It says it all started with a series of letters published in Keyboard Magazine in 1989.

Another part of the book raises a very interesting point, where it is said that Elfman spoke so openly in his interviews about his close collaboration with Bartek and Shirley Walker than he may have created a part of the legend himself, as it was going against the myth of the super-composer doing all by himself.
 
I reopened my book "Danny Elfman's Batman - A Film Score Guide" by Janet K. Halfyard to find exactly where it started :)

I can't scan the book for obvious reasons, but fortunately this part is available as a free preview on Amazon. Just scroll to Page 11, there is a chapter called "The controversy".

It says it all started with a series of letters published in Keyboard Magazine in 1989.

Another part of the book raises a very interesting point, where it is said that Elfman spoke so openly in his interviews about his close collaboration with Bartek and Shirley Walker than he may have created a part of the legend himself, as it was going against the myth of the super-composer doing all by himself.
Thank you mate,will check that out:thumbsup:
 
These rumors came from some of the old farts in Hollywood who thought his Batman score was too good to be written by someone who wasn't classically trained.

Ah! Makes sense. Thought was either that (jealous industry jerks) or from that idiotic Keyboard magazine guy that blasted him.
People are nasty. .
 
I reopened my book "Danny Elfman's Batman - A Film Score Guide" by Janet K. Halfyard to find exactly where it started :)

I can't scan the book for obvious reasons, but fortunately this part is available as a free preview on Amazon. Just scroll to Page 11, there is a chapter called "The controversy".

It says it all started with a series of letters published in Keyboard Magazine in 1989.

Another part of the book raises a very interesting point, where it is said that Elfman spoke so openly in his interviews about his close collaboration with Bartek and Shirley Walker than he may have created a part of the legend himself, as it was going against the myth of the super-composer doing all by himself.

I dont understand how people could take it as him not writing his actual compositions, though. Hes very known to have been alongside Bartek since the Oingo Boingo days...and not sure why the orchestration part is such a big drama if say said composer didnt also orchestrate.
Im totally an idiot to anything regarding the whole way the music/film industry works in this regard but I always thought what danny did was commonplace anyway???
Hows that mean hes not a true musician or composer? Hell...through history, many legendary musicians/symphonies had no training and played by ear!
If anything, real world experience is the best education. Danny sure had a lot of that prior.
Unfortunately maybe its cos Boingo was rather kinda obscure as in they were more just a cali based band? And maybe most werent fully aware of the extent of his experience? Yet they were very aware of bartek.. kinda confusing.
 
Didn't you just ask this over on Gearslutz? https://www.gearslutz.com/board/mus...s-composing-nd-has-anyone-worked-met-him.html

They seemed to give a fairly conclusive answer there - what are you hoping to find?

Yesterday morning. Seemed to be a bunch of hearsay or "I heard through a friend who has a friend" and I had received a bunch of private messages over there saying danny and zimmer once used a load of ghostwriter composers...and one claiming still did yet the person later said they didnt have firsthand knowledge...only what they heard thru college teachers. Lol. To which contradicted what was being said over there. Plus over here you guys actually work in the actual industry and more knowledgeable so...should have just asked over here instead. So...wasnt really sure what the heck.
 
Biggest question was why the heck were they claiming he didnt even write/compose his actual music itself (aside from the orchestrating) and that it was really someone else/bartek or whoever else? He openly admits using orchestrators. No secret. So not sure what the issue was. This question was stemmed from an interview he did for Movie Collector after the keyboard mag fiasco ...regarding this actual thing and where he says that rumor was going around, too. So was trying to figure out what that was all about as I'd been out of the loop to all this stuff and after receiving weird private messages from what sounded like more jealous industry people.

Heres the article:
 

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Plus over here you guys actually work in the actual industry and more knowledgeable so...should have just asked over here instead. So...wasnt really sure what the heck.

You MUST be joking.
drBill and Etch-A-Sketch have probably done more work in the film industry than 95% (or more) of VI-C'ers.

But really - what are you looking for?
 
You MUST be joking.
drBill and Etch-A-Sketch have probably done more work in the film industry than 95% (or more) of VI-C'ers.

But really - what are you looking for?

I don't know anything about those guys or their backgrounds or who they are...and I'm way too young to even know much about any of this stuff or the history of this stuff. I was only shown your forum from some fans. How would I know their life experiences?? I just like literally joined there.


Not looking for anything but what I just asked. I explained that. Just what I literally said, so was getting another perspective and I found it super interesting, being a fan and just really started getting into Oingo Boingo a couple years ago and recently found out about all these rumors and things. As a fan with not much prior knowledge it's a bit like woah. But if I was getting private messages contradicting what was said on the other thing then yeah I was like..naturally confused. I explained that.

Plus I get mega focused on random whatever kind of topics, especially music related. Maybe I'm autistic (it's been suggested in the past). I don't know..but always been that way. There actually is no other reason apart from what I explained. I simply got contradicting messages by people I dont know anything about. And I think some might've thought I meant "orchestrators" in terms of the ghostwriting question in those messages. Private messages.
I have trouble explaining stuff sometimes.
So that was why I kept referring to and sharing the above article screenshots to explain what I was asking about and nobody seemed to reference to that. On the other board, that is.

All in all, hoping that was he said in the interview I posted attached was true and that the music isnt a lie. Again..I'm a FAN ...who just recently started really getting fully into OB and his other stuff. I dont know shit about the industry or its inner workings or good and dark sides. And I honestly had no idea where all this shit started until now...you guys covered that.
I find it a very intriguing topic to begin with. But given OB is probably quickly becoming my favorite band, I honestly just like knowing its honest music, too. It might sound obsessive! But its harmless. I'm just weird. Sorry.
Plus I had seen you all on here had some more cooler discussion on the topic in the past, via search, so ... and a couple musician fan friends said ask here. That really was it.
Plus, I know about the orchestration part. Everyones explained that. My question on there and partly here, though I added question about more discussion on the actual style of writing this time, about the stuff elfman refers to in that article I posted regarding composing..not just the orchestration.
 
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Got it - that explains things a little better.

If you read music, OmniMusicPublishing sells 2 different Batman scores - well worth checking out.
 
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