Given the phenomenal success of The Walking Dead, AMC decided to create a spin-off series that covers the events that lead up to the world that we see in The Walking Dead.
Fear the Walking Dead gave me the opportunity to once again work with the amazing Paul Haslinger, who I’d previously collaborated with on two series of Halt & Catch Fire.
Paul got in touch looking for some evil and atmospheric synth noises for the project, and we quickly decided that the best way to achieve the results we wanted was to work with the analogue-emulating beast, Diva, and also the newly released Omnisphere 2.
What we were looking for was a dark blend of the organic and analogue. So, we had strange metallic and wooden noises, being accompanied by thick synth tones – all of it dusty and unpredictable, overflowing with distortion, drifting in pitch and damaged with glitchy effects. In amongst the beating, lo-fi drumloops and growling, malevolent atmospheres, could be found esoteric instruments such as broken music boxes, out of tune string machines and Swarmatron style modular sounds.
This was just about the most fun I’d had on a synth programming project. Like dipping into a treasure chest of abnormal instruments. It also pushed my skills with both Omnisphere and Diva, making things that worked musically but also had that element of the unhinged and distubed about them.
Paul has done a fantastic job on the score for Fear the Walking Dead, and I hope we get to work together again soon.
Images: Copyright of AMC
Gabriel Dib Oct 1, 2015
Paul has been putting hidden musical gems on TV on the past couple of years. The closer you listen the richer his cues reveals themselves…
Matt Oct 1, 2015
Absolutely. It’s a serious source of pride for me to be involved in his wonderful work.