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Ask HN: Why are some soundtracks of movies so powerful?

65 points by lichtenberger ↗ HN
Everytime I hear the soundtrack of Ben Hur from Miklós Rózsa I'm already thrilled. Same for soundtracks of Ennio Morricone. I wonder if these soundtracks only work if you saw the movies or if it's also special if you never saw the movies. On the other hand the movies for sure wouldn't be so emotionally intriguing without exceptional soundtracks. What are your thoughts?

43 comments

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newsbinator
Soundtracks are designed to be thrilling, uplifting, suspenseful, etc and they're an underrated source of programming focus. My muscle memory is to press they keyboard play button the moment I open VS Code. I don't even realize I'm doing it: programming = soundtrack listening.

The keyboard play button always works, btw, only because I've installed BeardedSpice to force it:

    brew install --cask beardedspice
I made a Spotify playlist with 32 hours of Soundtracks that help me stay in the zone. It's all sort of epic & uplifting, or suspenseful and building up to something... none of that 8-bit video game beep boop nonsense.

Lots of Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Danny Elfman, David Newman, John Williams of course...

Here's a link if you'd like to see the list: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/31buZEaVGW9f5Y4cEcKtbt?si=...

f0e4c2f7
Wow thank you for sharing the playlist. I was ready to go make my own after reading your comment.
Akronymus
I personally find myself much more drawn to game soundtracks.

Such as dead cells, a hat in time, hollow knight, risk of rain and kerbal space program.

Although, I pruned a lot of the more hectic pieces of music for the programming playlist.

Some examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn9trJXUrp0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysPtBjY8o_A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiIBmbKX8F0

RealStickman_
Not sure if it fits your tastes, but Nier Automata has an amazing soundtrack as well.
Akronymus
How could I forget Nier? Thanks for reminding me of it.

As for my tastes, I pretty much listen to whatever genre.

Might as well throw one of my playlists in here, while I am at it. (although, that isn't my programming playlist, because I don't have that one online) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLywFQp5QJX9v-0UvTG-gv...

Maybe you can find something to your taste in there.

Aromasin
To piggy back off your comment, for people with a disposition for electronic music I've curated a playlist over the past 6 or 7 years of largely lyricless progressive house, techno, and electronica that helps me enter a "flow state" when I'm working. I'll share below. It's nearing 300hrs long but I add to and prune it almost everyday. I personally find classical music to be too distracting/engrossing, while the aforementioned genres I find soothing to work to.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4kXkKPkOoKmWuhmGnBMVRp?si=...

ebb_earl_co
I see that you’ve named your playlist “flow state” so you might like the Flow State[0] “podcast” on Spotify. It is classified as such, but is really a playlist timed to the pomodoro method in which the author speaks about the science of flow state during the pomodoro breaks.

[0] https://open.spotify.com/show/4IssY4XjHXdpTNOzpaeyxh

Aromasin
Thanks, I've followed that for future listening! When I'm doing "light" work or studying I'm partial to short stints like the Pomodoro method. What the podcast author has done is very clever with the melding of playlist and podcast.

When doing "deep" work, I'm more partial to much longer stints without interruption though. I enjoy becoming engrossed in my work for 4-6 hour stints, only coming to when my partner or colleague throws something at me to bring me back to reality, which I find the playlist helps me achieve; especially if I set Spotify to meld songs together. There's a fine line between productive and meditative that music really seems to trigger in me.

50
I've never seen Empire of the Sun (1987), and yet the original soundtrack (OST)[1] composed by John Williams is special to me. But you are right, yes, soundtracks intensify feelings for particular scenes (or even for the entire film at large), i.e., for me: The Cider House Rules (1999) OST[2] composed by Rachel Portman exemplifies that.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_3_skKeGCc&list=PLSO9Kihiwr...

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zTbB0L3dqM&list=OLAK5uy_l28...

sidpatil
Michigan's tourism board used the theme of The Cider House Rules in many of their TV advertisements during the 2010s. That's where I first heard it, and I thought it fit perfectly.
themodelplumber
Theory: Sound qualities (texture, pacing, pitch, etc.) map to archetype, which map to general stories running through our minds.

(I guess you could map this to the theory of shared unconscious symbolic awareness, the patterns of stories that emerge from every culture)

To the degree that those stories REALLY run through our individual, subjective pasts/minds, the corresponding soundtrack will feel REALLY powerful.

This can also explain why you can play a soundtrack for someone else and they give you a flat "that's nice" rather than a "whoaaaa" every time you want them to give you a "whoaaaa". Which can be really frustrating. But the composer has your back.

efortis
Many musicians and composers will tell you they are passionate about music because that's how they can communicate their emotions.

For example, Yo-Yo Ma in this interview sort of says that: https://youtu.be/e0E0U-9XOt8?t=1256

So yes, they'll provoke the emotions without seeing the movie, but not necessarily the same ones or intensity due to the context of the movie vs. the kind of person you are.

---

Larry Wall was asked if he listens to music when coding and he gave an interesting answer: https://youtu.be/SKqBmAHwSkg?t=230

runjake
Any soundtrack by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network, Book of Eli, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, etc) is pretty powerful for me.

Half of them, I’ve played the soundtrack numerous times before ever watching it’s movie, which gives a strange sense of familiarity.

x-n2o
During the first few months of the pandemic lockdown, their new album (Ghosts V-VI by Nine Inch Nails) was one of the most powerful musical experiences I’d ever had.
lichtenberger
Really interesting that you played the soundtracks and liked them even without watching the movies. Did it change after watching the movies? Did you like it even more?
companycalls
I do the exact same thing with their soundtracks. I've listened to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo soundtrack a lot but still haven't got around to watching the movie. It's going to be a very strange experience.
wara23arish
The Social Network soundtrack got me through college. I felt like the music would induce natural breaks while studying and then the intensity would rally me to keep going.
ipnon
You could get into a whole paychoanalysis here, but it is sufficient to say you associate this music hyper relatable characters and emotional narratives. It's like Pavlov's dog for creatures with neocortices: C, E flat, G when the dog dies, cue the tears. This is horribly reductive but the extra media you experienced along with the music gives it power beyond the immediate experience of the music itself.
fuzzfactor
One night C, E flat, and G walk into a bar. The bartender says "Hey, we can't serve a minor here!"
pschuegr
Would be funnier if it was C, E, and A. Your version should have the punchline "Hey, we can't serve C minor here!" :P
thehappypm
How is this a better joke ?
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
lurquer
It’s not a better joke, because he screwed it up… with C, E, and A the punchline should be “We can’t serve a minor here!”

Of course, that joke sucks too. But, at least it’s not defective.

coldtea
Well, both are minors, so can just use C-minor and say "can't serve a minor", doesn't have to make it a double pun and use A-minor just to say "can't serve A minor".
fuzzfactor
Wouldn't want to end on a sour note.
labster
Of all of the ways a joke could fall, that joke be flat.
kaczordon
It’s pretty simple, humans are actually more sensitive to sound than visuals. You can watch a fuzzy image no problem. If that same movie had a clean image but extremely static noise you’d instantly switch it off. Probably because sound is one of the first senses developed in the womb.
2Gkashmiri
Interstallar movie is on its own pretty stupid. Seriously, just your regular sci fi bs.

Hans summer OTOH, makes it a masterpiece. Docking scene or the cornfield chase are made awesome with its soundtrack. If you watch it without the music, it won't have that punch to it.

stephbu
Watching the “Making of the Interstellar Soundtrack” is quite simply inspiring. The process and mechanics of making such moving art with such primative tools is amazing.

“On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter used in the opening scenes of Arrival is one that really punches you in the gut - if the theme and monologue isn’t enough to already give you a lump in the throat as a parent.

2Gkashmiri
yeah. arrival is also sort of magical.i feel like arrival movie should have an entire back history, spin offs and sorts because it feels like that, "there is more to this"
sohkamyung
I really enjoy James Horner's soundtrack for "Apollo 13". I think this is partially because I got an edition that includes actual audio from the movie itself as part of the soundtrack, which helps to place the music in the context of the movie scene.

So, during the Saturn V lift-off, I get to hear the dramatic music, the dialogue from Mission Control and astronauts, and the roar of the rocket itself.

I still get goosebumps every time I play that piece of music on the soundtrack.

devnull3
Sound/music creates/evokes mood or emotion. Words/visual needs processing by brain but sound is something effortless. That is why you can listen to a song and still work.

One of my fav: (Charge of the Rohirrim, LOTR = https://youtu.be/EmTz7EAYLrs?t=315). The violin beautifully captures the mood and ride to inevitable death.

badrabbit
Music like words is a form of communication. You like what is being said, much like how you like a story being told or A text being read. It agrees with you. Like taste of specific food.
j4yav
I love when sound design and soundtrack meet, like in Annihilation and Archive 81. It was Ben Salisbury & Geoff Barrow in both cases, I believe.
guilhas
Star wars https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_D0ZQPqeJkk

Saw a documentary about it, that can't find now, the behind scenes of the recording, where you see the composer John Williams telling the orchestra to start stop change... Amazing how they know exactly what they want to achieve, it appears, goosebumps

daniel-cussen
Ennio Morricone is amazing, I haven't seen any of his movies but I want to only in order to see what they're the soundtrack to. Also Rocky series, I never saw it but the music (well also Chuck Mangione) was so so good like how could the movie be worse than the soundtrack.
BlameKaneda
In terms of powerful soundtracks, Hans Zimmer's score of The Lion King is usually the first to come to mind.

As a kid, it was the first soundtrack that moved me to near tears. I was less interested in the vocal songs (to be fair, I still love them) and found myself drawn to the orchestrations.

When I got older I learned that Hans' father died when he was a kid and that he was able to bring a personal touch into the score, and it showed.

To answer your question, the most powerful soundtracks that I can think of paint a clear picture or emotion (or at least a few interpretations of them). For instance, the song "The Illusive Man" from the Mass Effect 2 soundtrack gives me feelings of power with a sinister undercurrent.

Illusive Man Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBLOvSb56Vc

This Land (The Lion King): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGDXTZFleHQ

dangom
Read about the concept of Leitmotif [1], that some claim was introduced by Wagner but seems to have already been present in the early 17th century. Leitmotif represents the idea that you can imply dramatic progression through music. The idea is that by using short melodies and simple chord progressions you can bind together elements of a story.

Also see [2] for a birds eye view on soundtrack design by major movie makers.

[1] https://wikiless.org/wiki/Leitmotif?lang=en [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vfqkvwW2fs

mav88
Tarantino said once that if you put the right music with the right visual, that is the most cinematic thing there is. If you really get it right, then you cannot listen to the music again without seeing the visual. He was talking about matching popular songs to movie scenes which is what he often does; music specifically written for the scene has even more of an advantage.