BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Have you ever watched a movie and noticed you’ve started breathing just a little bit faster? You feel a burgeoning rush of adrenaline. You start to become drawn into the action on the screen.
If the answer is “yes”, it’s likely the composer has done their job well.
This is the effect Hannes De Maeyer achieves in his new score for The Racer. Sure, the Belgian composer was tasked with crafting a soundtrack that would drive characters and narrative. But his job was also about sweeping his audience into the excitement of the sport itself — and through careful curation of music and instruments, he has created a powerful environment for this Tour de France film.
Taking a breather, Hannes tells us how he wrote this music — and what he does to make a strong impact on his audience. (The movie itself is set in the ’90s, so along with its competitive cycling themes, it also feels nostalgic of retro club beats.)
The Racer — an Irish drama directed by Kieron J. Walsh — was selected for the 2020 SXSW Film Festival and will soon be released.
(And if you want to talk awards beyond The Racer, Hannes has been nominated for Best Original Score for a Belgian Production and Public Choice at the 2020 World Soundtrack Awards for another work — Torpedo. Fifteen years earlier, he won Best Young Belgian Composer at the same awards.)
Hannes, you’re a versatile composer, musically speaking — but I have say, you have been commissioned to write music for some seriously high-octane movies (Gangsta, Torpedo, and The Racer come to mind). What draws you to films that get the blood pumping?
Thank you! Yes, that’s right. And I enjoyed every one of them!
I love to enhance the adrenaline, tension, action with my music. But it’s not that I pursue those kind of movies, they all came to me by accident. Not that I’m complaining!
I’d like to get straight into the composition process with you. For The Racer, you’ve orchestrated the visceral experience of cycling. How do you use music to communicate a physical sensation — and a gruelling one, at that?
The director wanted the music to be repetitive, just like the repetitive movements the bikers make when they are racing, or the sound of the chains.
Also, the movie is set in 1998 — a time where house music was very popular — so we quickly ended up by electronic music. That kind of music is repetitive in nature, has a lot of energy, and makes your blood pumping.
We didn’t want the soundtrack to be electronic only. It also needed a heart, which acoustic instruments can give you. Something cinematic. Strings and solo violin were perfect for that. They also blend perfectly with the electronics.
When thinking of repetitive acoustic music, we also thought of minimal music. It almost sounds like electronic music, but is all played with live instruments.
When recording the strings, we recorded almost all cues in two passes, where in the second pass I let them play another articulation than the normal arco (bowed). For example, tremelo, repeated eighth notes, harmonics; the result is a sound that keeps on moving and is never too static.
Another element in the music was the sound of a bike chain I recreated with percussion. I used this as a percussive element throughout the score.
So, what do you feel music needs to achieve in a film about sport? That is, do you need to compose music that will mimic, or even induce, the adrenaline and other feelings a person reaches when they are competing in a sport? Or is it more about the overarching narrative of the film?
I think it depends on the movie itself, of course. In this movie, on one hand we wanted the music to underline the excitement, adrenaline, the racers feel when riding a bike race. But on the other hand, it had to illustrate the emotions of the character.
We have a lead character that is struggling with different things in his head, positive and negative. The music helps the audience to connect more with him.
How much priority, or balance, do you give to the physical aspects of sport compared to the psychological aspects?
The two vibes of the music can exist together. For example, in the racing sequences, I added strings to add the emotion or extra tension. In the more acoustic cues, I added electronic elements — pulse underneath, or pads — to make it more interesting and have different layers of emotions in the cues.
From a technical viewpoint, what are some of the common elements listeners expect when they engage in a sports-themed soundtrack? Listening to your soundtrack to The Racer, we can hear beats that sound like a heart thumping; strings that build a feeling of anticipation; electronic rhythms we’re familiar with moving our bodies to (if not on a bike, in a club!). How deliberate is all of this, and why do these sounds feel physical?
Yes, exactly! I like the reference to moving our bodies. I think the music in the race sequences must get the viewers on the edge of their seats and raise their heartbeat; let them feel like they are on the bike themselves.
I tried to put that kind of sensation into the music by having a constant pulse, whether it’s a kick drum, a synth arpeggio, repetitive melodies; I can imagine the race cues are a perfect accompagnement to listen to when doing sports. Combine that with build-ups in the arrangement and tension in the strings, and you have an explosive cocktail!
Let’s return for a moment to the setting: the late ’90s. This was a factor in the decision to craft your soundtrack with such era-specific synths and beats?
Yes, definitely. But the director didn’t want it to sound all the way ’90s. So I went for a hint to ’90s elements, combined with contemporary film music.
I was born in 1986, so I am a ’90s kid! I love the music of the ’90s.
Though I really wanted to talk to you about composition in this genre of storytelling, I am not going to let you go without asking you how you feel about being twice nominated for the World Soundtrack Awards with Torpedo. Congratulations!
Thank you so much! I’m really honoured to be nominated next to all those talented composers!
Torpedo was a passion project, so it’s really heartwarming that the people and jury enjoyed the soundtrack.
Thanks, Hannes!
Thanks for having me!
Listen online to Hannes’ soundtrack for The Racer.
