Hans Zimmer
By: Annette Nielsen
Music 1010
Semester Project
Early Years
• Born on September 12, 1957
• Hans Florian Zimmer
•Born
in Frankfurt am Main, Germany
(otherwise known
as just Frankfurt)
Love and Hate of Music
• Up until his father’s death as a child, Hans Zimmer
did not have an interest in music, he didn’t like the
discipline of formal lessons. But with his father’s
death, he escaped through music.
• “My father died when I was just a child, and I
escaped somehow into the music and music has
been my best friend.”
• Completely self-taught, he learned everything he
knows through collaboration and experimenting.
Career
• Hans Zimmer’s career first started with the
Pop group The Buggle’s and their hit single
Video Killed the Radio Star, in 1979.
Career
• While in London, Hans Zimmer was under the
tutelage of Stanley Meyers, and together they
composed numerous film scores.
• With films and shows such as Moonlighting,
Insignificance, and My Beautiful Launderette.
Music Style
• Together with Stanley Meyers, Hans Zimmer
helped co-found the London-Based Lillie Yard
Recording Studios.
• This focused on mixing traditional orchestral
sound with electronic instruments.
Career
• With the start of their recording studio, Zimmer
went on to start his solo career.
• One of his first movies was A World Apart, in
which Zimmer combined the old and new musical
technologies that he experimented with Meyers.
Because of this, he is known as being “the father
of integrating the electronic musical world with
traditional orchestral arrangements.
Down to Business
• When he moved to Santa Monica, Zimmer wanted
to offer opportunities to other composers. He
founded the Remote Control Productions or “Think
Tank”. This helped launch the careers of:
• Mark Mancina-August Rush
• John Powell-The Bourne Series
• Harry Gregson-Williams-Kingdom of Heaven
• Nick Glennie-Smith-X-Men: First Class
• Klaus Badelt-Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of
the Black Pearl
• 1988
• This movie won Hans Zimmer his first Academy Award
nomination for Best Original Score
• Zimmer uses synthesizers mixed with steel drums. He
said: "It was a road movie, and road movies usually
have jangly guitars or a bunch of strings. I kept
thinking don't be bigger than the characters. Try to
keep it contained. The Raymond character doesn't
actually know where he is. The world is so different to
him. He might as well be on Mars. So, why don't we
just invent our own world music for a world that
doesn't really exist.”
• The film won four Academy Awards including Best
Picture
• 1994
• The Lion King was Hans Zimmer’s first big notice.
• There were 15 million copies sold
• It earned him an Academy Award for Best Original
Score, a Golden Globe, an American Music Award,
a Tony, and 2 Grammy Awards.
• 2000
• Became one of the best selling film score albums
of all time
• Received an Oscar nomination in addition to a
Golden Globe and Broadcast Film Critics Awards
• Sold more than THREE MILLION copies worldwide
• The album was so popular that it spawned a
second album…Gladiator: More Music from the
Motion Picture
Partial Discography
– Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
– Days of Thunder (1990)
– Thelma & Louise (1991)
– Backdraft (1991)
– True Romance (1993)
– Crimson Tide (1995)
– Smilia’s Sense of Snow
(1997)
– As Good as It Gets (1997)
– The Thin Red Line (1998)
– Mission: Impossible II
(2000)
– An Everlasting Piece
(2000)
Partial Discography
– Hannibal (2001)
– Riding in Cars with
Boys (2001)
– The Ring (2002)
– Spirit: Stallion of the
Cimarron (2002)
– Matchstick Men
(2003)
– Tears of the Sun
(2003)
– Something’s Gotta
Give (2003)
– Shark Tale (2004)
– Spanglish (2004)
– The Weather Man
(2005)
– Batman Begins (2005)
My Favorite Scores
• My favorite film scores that he has done include:
– Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
At World’s End (2007)
On Stranger Tides (2011)
‒Pearl Harbor (2001)
‒Madagascar (2005)
‒A League of Their Own
(1992)
‒Inception (2010)
‒The Road to El Dorado
(2000)
‒Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Pirates of the Caribbean:
Dead Man’s Chest
• This CD consists of 12 tracks:
‒Jack Sparrow, The Kraken, Davy Jones, I’ve
Got My Eye On You, Dinner is Served, Tia
Dalma, Two Hornpipes (Tortuga), A Family
Affair, Wheel of Fortune, You Look Good Jack,
Hello Beastie, He’s A Pirate (Tiesto Remix)
• My favorite on this track is Davy Jones.
MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SCORE
• This CD consists of 13 tracks:
– Hoist the Colours, Singapore, At Wit’s End, Multiple
Jacks, Up Is Down, I See Dead People in Boats, The
Brethren Court, Parlay, Calypso, What Shall We Die For,
I Don’t Think Now is the Best Time, One Day, and Drink
Up Me Hearties
• My Favorite track on this CD is At Wit’s End
MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SCORE
Composition History
• At Wit’s End…Track 3…(8:10)
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0:00 (Introduction)-Percussion Drums in the background, and it sounds like strings come in and
with tremolo, shortly after it sounds like either woodwinds or brass instruments come in with
chimes
0:38-there is a shift in the music to make it more dramatic
1:09-You hear the chimes again as the main instrument on top of the background music, then at
1:12 you hear pizzicato with string instruments
1:22-It seems like the cello comes in as the main instrument for about 4 seconds then you hear
the violins come in
1:34-The repeating theme comes back in and it sounds like a horn of some kind, with a
background of string instruments and chimes
1:59-It sounds like a choir joins in, but after reading about Zimmer’s love of synthesizers, it sounds
like it could be a synthesizer as well. Strings are in the background until 2:11, and then it’s the
synthesizer with a deep percussion instrument
2:40-Horns come in
3:12-The strings come back with a crescendo, with the violins playing the main repeating theme
3:45-You hear a crash of the cymbals and then you hear percussion and brass instruments coming
back in playing yet another crescendo
3:57-You hear a decrescendo and what almost sounds like chimes, yet I know it’s not, it could be
triangles
MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SCORE
Composition History
• At Wit’s End…Track 3…(8:10)
• 5:20-You hear a crescendo with percussion and brass instruments coming back in
playing a foreboding theme
• 6:12-You hear the cello as the main background instrument with other background
instruments consisting of brass, percussion, and other strings. The violins leads up
to a faster rhythm
• 6:53-You hear what sounds like a choir saying something quick, then you have
violins playing a tremolo and get up into 5th position playing “shrilly”. At 7:02 you
hear what sounds like the choir again, but again, I’m not sure if it’s a choir, or
simply a synthesizer
• 7:07-You hear a group of cello’s again with violin’s playing a variation of the main
theme, then at 7:20 you hear the brass instruments, synthesizer, and percussion
come in
• 7:31-You hear the string instruments doing a trilling and then you hear the main
theme repeated with a couple of variations
• 8:00 (Finale)-You hear the percussion come in and the percussion and the
synthesizer ends the song
• This CD consists of 18 tracks. The first 11 are the
regular tracks, and tracks 12-18 are the remixes of
tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9:
– Guilty of Being Innocent of Being Jack Sparrow,
Angelica, Mutiny, The Pirate That Should Not Be,
Mermaids, South of Heaven's Chanting
Mermaids, Palm Tree Escape, Blackbeard, Angry
and Dead Again, On Stranger Tides, End Credits
• My favorite track on this CD is Mermaids
• This CD consists of 9 tracks:
– There You’ll Be (the only song with lyrics), Tennessee,
Brothers, And Then I Kissed Him, I Will Come Back,
Attack, December 7th, War, and Heart of a Volunteer.
• My favorite track is the one sung by Faith Hill:
There You’ll Be. But my favorite instrumental track
is a tie between Tennessee, Brothers, And Then I
Kissed Him.
Composition History
• Tennessee…Track 2…(3:39) (Which other than Faith Hill’s song, There You’ll
Be, is my favorite from this soundtrack)
• 0:00 (Introduction)-You have what sounds to be a piano and string
instruments starting off the main theme that plays throughout the movie
• 0:34-There’s a crescendo starting and ends at 0:40
• 1:00-This starts a new melody which has high piano notes, which earlier, it
was just the lower piano notes used, harmonizing with the strings
• 1:30-You hear a crash of the cymbals and the music becomes louder, and
played with more feeling, and again at 1:44
• 1:51-You hear a deep drum
• 2:02-Begins a new theme which is the piano as the primary instrument with
strings in the background going back and forth from trilling to a simple
vibrato
• 2:22-Begins the first theme again
• 2:58-Beginning of a crescendo
• 3:07-Vocals begin harmonizing in the background until a quiet fade out
• This CD consists of 12 tracks:
– Half Remembered Dream, We Built Our Own World,
Dream is Collapsing, Radical Notion, Old Souls, 528491,
Mombasa, One Simple Idea, Dream Within a Dream,
Waiting for a Train, Paradox, and Time.
• My favorite track is the last one, Time
• This CD consists of 14 tracks:
– El Dorado, Someday Out of the Blue (Theme From El
Dorado), Without Question, Friends Never Say
Goodbye, The Trail We Blaze, 16th Century Man, The
Panic in Me, It’s Tough To Be a God, Trust, Me, My
Heart Dances, Queen of Cities, Cheldorado, The Brig,
and Wonders of the New World
• My favorite track is The Trail We Blaze. It Reminds
me of childhood and my own adventures.
• Hans Zimmer co-composed this with John Powell
• Many of the Songs are song by Elton John
• This CD consists of 12 tracks:
– Discombobulate, Is It Poison, Nanny?, I Never Woke Up
In Handcuffs Before, My Mind Rebels at Stagnation,
Data, Data, Data, He’s Killed the Dog Again, Marital
Sabotage, Not in Blood, But in Bond, Ah, Putrefaction,
Panic, Shear Bloody Panic, Psychological Recovery, and
Catatonic.
• My favorite track is Catatonic
Bibliography
• ZDF Infokanal interview, June 2006 (in German with
English subtitles)". Retrieved 2009-09-13. (Quote
on slide three).
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer#cite_no
te-zdf-4
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001877/bio