2001: A Space Odyssey - The Remix

"2001" the movie was a big influence for me, my friend Chris even re-created his own version of 2001 on video. I always took the opportunity to see it on the big screen when a revival showing was in town, including the magnificent Cooper theatre. A few years ago, I read about this controversy that a composer had scored the film, but Kubrick got married to the temp tracks he had in there. Mostly classical pieces. We will never know officially what the movie would have sounded like with the other soundtrack. One thing that struck me when watching the movie yet again, was how little of a soundtrack there was. And when there was music, it was mostly during a period in the movie where there was no dialogue or other sound effects.

The thought came to me that I could create a new soundtrack for the film, because there was only one real scene in the entire movie where music and dialogue where mixed together. I could cut out the music for the space scenes easily. Even for sections where some sound effects where available, I could dig into my large SFX library and mix them back in.

Michael Stearn's "Chronos" soundtrack fits with the "Dawn of Man" sequences. An Orb track from the excellent "Orblivion" fit well with the space travel scene. All major ambient artists have been included: Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Maurice Jarre, Peter Gabriel, and Bill Nelson. Using music with a cool drum machine beat set the precedence for more modern artists like Boards of Canada. When visiting the Monolith site on the moon, a remix of Dayvan Cowboy provided a perfect modern sound.

There was one thing iconic about the original music for this title sequence. The lone trumpet back by a full orchestra is one of the most memorable and often copied piece of music in movie history. I dawned on me (pardon the pun), that this track could easily be Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man", an equally stirring fanfare. Although it is not an ambient track, it needed to be the opener so that the viewer wouldn't lose that sense of grandeur. I added some of my own synth pads as an underscore behind this track to help make it fit.