Summary: Thursday morning, millions of people made a frantic dash to the iTunes store, and, for once, it wasn’t for Beyoncé. It was for the final episode of the unlikely hit podcast, Serial. The re-investigation of a 1999 murder case in Baltimore, Maryland became one of the most unexpected cultural sensations of 2014. Serial was a legit phenomenon: Every new episode brought another chance for fans to obsessively pore over the latest facts laid out, write detailed analyses in blog posts and Reddit threads, and offer theories of their own in other recap podcasts. It even inspired a few spoofs, remixes and mashups. And if you’re one of the nearly 2 million listeners who downloaded each week’s episode, you know that the moody and gently suggestive music that percolates throughout the narrative plays a key role in the show’s appeal. As the final episode of the series drops today, Soundcheck host John Schaefer talks with two musicians who created Serial's soundtrack. Nick Thorburn is the songwriter behind the bands Islands and The Unicorns; he was tapped to write Serial's catchy theme song. Mark Henry Phillips has a long relationship with public radio, and has provided scores for This American Life and other podcasts. Both musicians talk about the pitfalls of providing emotional cues through music; the need to create distinctive themes for the story's narrative cycles; and how to find and score the most important moments with minimal production time. Interview Highlights Nick Thorburn, on setting the mood of Serial through music: Music from SERIAL by Nick Thorburn I was sent the first episode and was told just to score where I saw fit. Right away the true crime nature of the show dictated where it was going to go and what kind of mood and tone was appropriate. Twin Peaks is an obvious touchstone and Angelo Badalamenti’s work -- that kind of moody twangy guitar and atmospheric synthesis. Thorburn, on an alternate version of theme song, “Still Dreaming”: Music from SERIAL by Nick Thorburn I replaced the piano stabs with guitar, so I basically kept the same progression and structure [as "Bad Dream"], but put the the main thrust with the guitar. I think that’s where that’s where I guess I get off the train at that point. There are certain motifs that I handed over, certain cues that can still be used here and there. When Mark sees fit he can drop them in. As far as going forward it is pretty hard to score something that doesn’t yet exist. I did what I could with that. Mark Henry Phillips, on scoring specific moments: It’s really hard when there are these specific moments to score to. Some tracks I’ll do four different versions. I work really closely with Julie Snyder, the executive producer, who’s this amazing editorial force. Sometimes she’ll be like, “Eh it’s a little too ominous, too sad.” In the story there’s so much mystery and ambivalence. If the music just goes one inch too far in the direction, you’re telling the listener, don't believe this person, they’re lying or this person is wrongly accused. It’s really delicate. it takes a lot of fine tuning and throwing stuff out that’s a fine track but not coloring it the right way. Phillips, on scoring the moment when Sarah Koenig and Dana Chivvis try to recreate the murder timeline: Sarah Koenig, the host and her producer, [and] Dana tried to reenact the prosecution's timeline that said that Adnan had to leave school and get a ride from Hae -- he’s the accused killer. They basically created a timeline that he had to get to school, Best Buy, kill her and then call his friend to be picked up in 21 minutes. They tried to recreate that because current day Adnan is saying that’s impossible, there’s no way with the school buses and traffic, it’s impossible. I guess I was going for a “the clock is ticking” type thing. It’s score, so it’s not really meant to be listened without the talking and great story on top. On Anan’s recurring theme “Adnan”: Music from SERIAL by Nick Thorburn Thorburn: I was working off the first episode. But that was definitely the idea -- to create specific moods for these specific characters and create these based on everything I knew was based on the first episode and that he was in jail for a crime that he claims he didn't commit. I wanted that to inform the sinister and kind of sort of uncertainty in that piece. Phillips: That piece is amazing and we use it pretty much every week. It’s always hard to find a piece that really fits in. That one really seems to work after a new piece of information is given that you kind of need to think on. Phillips, on the challenge of mixing a weekly show: We have one day to fit music in and do all the mixing. It’s a mad dash and it’s really hard to find the right tone. My trick is to focus on Sarah’s emotion. No matter where you fall on whether Adnan did it or not, there’s a few things that are undeniable and that is -- Sarah is unsure, she goes back and forth and that’s something I can focus on. When Adnan talks about his family whether he did it or not, I think people still have emotions for caring for your family. But I'm really trying to score the ambivalence, and when you think of it -- What does ambivalence sound like? It's really hard to think of the sound of it ... to come up with that sound for each scene. On the songwriting process: Phillips: This is one of those classic moments, where the more Sarah learns the less sure she is. It’s kind of the opposite of what you would think. The sound of uncertainty and ambivalence is what I was going for. To me I was thinking, I try to picture a scene. I was picturing clouds, a foggy scene at night you’re not sure where you are. It has this drone and ominous pulsating synthesizer that comes in through the end and high harmonic strings that add a mystery to it. Thorburn: To be frank, I listened to the pilot episode in the rough mix one and a half times. I did what I always do. I come from the world from songwriting and a recording artist who I write and produce my own stuff. let that intuition be the guide. Definitely, I trade in lyrics but that was definitely no room for more words. I think it’s highly possible to be influence by this in the future. It was definitely getting the blood flowing by working on this and having this process. Phillips, on scoring "The Search": That’s classic again. It’s like that could be colored so differently if the music was threatening and ominous. Later on, Sarah says something later “Eh I don’t think it’s a big deal. It’s too Agatha Christie novel.” I didn’t want it to make it seem like a big deal but also that it’s not inconsequential. It’s more driving the story forward, we’re learning more, we’re getting and closer to the prosecutions case against him. Focusing in on the story rather than that piece of evidence. On the challenge of scoring a podcast rather than film: Thorburn: When you’re scoring to picture you can see people’s expressions, or the landscape or a beautiful tracking shot. But here, you’ve got to rely on inflection and tone and voice and obviously the host, the narrator who’s guiding the story and weaving and bobbing through it. It’s a different process but it’s a really fun challenge. When I sit and write things for Islands it’s a very similar thing. I’m just sitting and staring in the middle distance. Phillips: It was pretty similar to film work that I’ve done. That was sort of my approach. there are a lot of radio shows like This American Life, before Serial, a lot of the times it’s just a song. But what if we create it just like a score where a single piano note creeps in? It’s hard to do unless you're creating custom thing. I used to work in public radio -- now I do mixing and sound design. But I really wanted to treat it like a film. In film, we do a lot more restoration and EQ for tiny patches. In film, I don’t know why we do, but we get so tedious. I tried to apply that to the show and make it a mix that could stand up in a theatre.
