Justin Hurwitz & Tim Simonec - Whiplash [Expanded Score] (2014) [Hi-Res]

The director Damien and I started talking about this score a year before the cameras rolled. While the original jazz would be somewhat straightforward — I would write to specific styles and eras — the movie’s dramatic underscore was more of a conundrum. How do you score a movie that already has so much music in it? We knew it shouldn’t be a big band score, since there’s enough big band jazz throughout the movie. We knew an orchestral score wouldn’t fit the vibe of this film. And an electronic score doesn’t make sense in a movie about musicianship and instruments. Eventually we came up with the idea of building a score using the techniques of electronic scoring, but using 100% real instruments — in fact, only the instruments in a big band lineup. Doing so, we would have a score that felt atmospheric like an electronic score without actually being electronic, and organic to the movie’s existing soundscape, without feeling like just more big band music.

Our scoring session has to be one of the most tedious ever, as I recorded the score cues one note at a time. Literally, one note at a time. What this allowed me to do was layer and manipulate the notes in a way that musicians can’t. The resulting textures are reminiscent of an electronic score, except every note was either a sax, trumpet, trombone, piano, vibe, or upright bass. The majority of the notes in this score are slowed down to about 1/3 time, creating a hellish version of a big band sound. Damien and I joked that it’s like Miles Teller’s character Andrew is being tortured by the very instruments he makes music with.

Woven into these textures is one familiar melody — the tune that J.K. Simmons’ character Fletcher plays in the jazz club. The melody appears in almost every score cue, sometimes clearly stated, sometimes more hidden. It appears in major, minor, and other modes, depending on the situation. Damien and I love scores that are economical with melody — scores that establish one or two themes or motives, and use those themes or motives in every way they can be used. In this case, we found that one versatile melody was all we needed. The melody tied to Fletcher expressing himself at the piano seemed like the right melody.
--Justin Hurwitz

After being the orchestrator of so many films for the past few years, it was very exciting to be asked to compose … and in one my favorite idioms, Big Band Jazz. Working with director Damien Chazelle was truly an amazing experience. His knowledge of Big Band Jazz made him communicate exactly what he wanted for each scene, and his suggestions after hearing my ideas made the compositions that much better. After screening the film this week, I realized that this young man is a truly remarkable filmmaker.