How Wendy Carlos changed film scores with the Moog synthesiser
For most seasoned musicians, there isn’t an instrument more dangerous than a synthesiser. Since many have been known to make the most out of every organic instrument available in an orchestra, having all of those sounds at your fingertips, along with different electronic noises, can be a dangerous tool for someone to have. In a world that was still dominated by film scores with heavily orchestrated sections, though, Wendy Carlos proved what could be done with just a few synthesisers to get some truly haunting.
Ever since she started out, Carlos was always looking to make something beyond the kind of fodder heard on the radio. One can only listen to traditional instruments for so long, so the advent of the synthesiser was just what she needed to go from any other songwriter to her own unique lane.
When Carlos got her foot in the door, though, the Moog synthesiser had only just been invented. Having been used by artists like The Beatles and The Doors, the sound of the synthesiser made for an otherworldly sound whenever you hit the keys, with many artists using them for just how “out-there” they sounded compared to putting a guitar through a fuzz box.
While Carlos eventually got her first taste of success with her interpretations of Bach’s most famous works on Switched-on Bach, her greatest musical ventures came just a few years later. Entering into the world of film, Carlos was prepared to put her signature brand of synthesised textures to the big screen when Stanley Kubrick approached her to work on some of his classic films like The Shining.
Since most of the story revolves around the horrid tale of a man slowly going insane and eventually trying to kill his family, no ordinary film score would suffice. Working with the synthesiser, Carlos’ score was truly one of a kind for its time, consisting less of musical motifs and relying most on unsettling noises to get her point across.
The same held true when she worked her magic a few years earlier on Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, toeing the line between actual musical themes and tracks that felt like they were soundtracking you losing your mind. Although Carlos found her voice working with a synthesiser, the rest of the film world started to approach the film score in a completely different way.
Considering how many artists have tried their hand at making chilling scores a la Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, some of the best themes in recent memory for horror movies have utilised electronic instruments to get their point across. It’s no small wonder why someone like Hans Zimmer is able to make the most out of both the organic and electronic sides of scoring these days, creating an unsettling mood with different glitchy tones and knowing when to strip things back to canvas with an orchestra.
Carlos would also find projects that were almost too perfect for her to work with, eventually scoring the movie Tron. Despite the operatic scope of the movie, the fact that the whole thing takes place in a digital world makes the songs feel oddly appropriate for any point in the movie.
More than anything, Carlos helped teach generations of film composers what synthesisers were meant to do beyond being traditional noise-makers. Some may have called the instrument the death of “real” music, but for true artists, the Moog synthesiser was just another creative tool to play with, and Carlos was one of the masters of the next generation of musical accompaniment.
