Independent research, Hans Zimmer

As my final blog entry for my music History 2 class I was given the assignment of choosing any person, recording, or innovation that has revolutionized the music industry. Many names of people and projects popped into my head, but the one that was most profound was that of the composer Hans Zimmer.

Hans Zimmer is not an old school fundamental developer of the industry but an innovation inspiring current composer that has worked on some of the most popular and industry shifting projects of this century.

Zimmer’s style comes from Germany and is a collaboration of Electronic and Orchestral music. He has forged his own path in the music and film industry and has created a new following of the collaboration between electronic and orchestral music.

The movie that really jumped started Hans Zimmer’s career was Rain Man, where he kept the music small and simple to never over power the characters or what was happening in the film. He was quoted saying, “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?” Two recent movies that he has been given a lot of recognition for is Inception and The Dark Knight were he created a truly menacing and dark ambience with his music in the background. Really accentuating the original feel of the movie. He also is a huge supporter of giving credit where credit is due and this has cost him some Academy Award disqualifications because there were too many composers listed on the films he has worked on. Most recently he did the score for Rango and Rio and the new Pirates of the Caribbean that has not been released yet.

To me, Hans Zimmer can do it all. He is a genius and an artist with technical and creative abilities that few have the ability to posses. I also enjoy the fact that he doesn’t lock himself into one box of music side of the entertainment industry. He will do anything from Video game music, to hard-core action films to Disney movies and documentaries. The amount of flexibility and knowledge is astounding and if I could ever produce a fraction of what he has I would be extremely proud of myself. He inspires me to make music.