Interstellar Sound Designer/Editor

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014) soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer, uses crucial various elements to build up suspense and intensity within the musical score and audio effects. There are three scenes where the audio is used to accomplish its task and does it by using a ticking clock. The scenes that have this technique are the Waves scene and the Docking scene. However, Nolan and Zimmer not only use a ticking clock but also use a lot of ambient noise mixed with human breathing and a church organ.

The wave scene is an example of the use of the ticking clock. The scene starts out with our heroes landing on Miller’s planet. There’s no music but only the ambient noise of the ship’s power shutting off, the sound of heavy footsteps and breathing. Once the astronauts begin their quest and start walking through the water, the ticking begins. It starts off low and slow. Time is counting down and suits one of themes of this film. Throughout the entire film, we are told that hours can be years between Earth and space. The clock keeps moving forward and our heroes are slowly running out of time to complete their mission. As danger pursues our heroes, in this case the incoming large waves, the beats begin to pick up. The rhythm increases. Suspense rises.

Later in the film during the docking scene, the ticking begins again once our protagonists find themselves in another dire situation, losing their ship. The ticking starts off slow once again but accompanied by an organ piano which grows louder and louder with each tick. The ticking slowly fades out and we are left with the organ music. This is the last time we hear the ticking. At this point we know things aren’t looking good for our heroes, so the piano takes control of the scene. Of course, this isn’t the last time Nolan uses the ticking as he incorporates again in Dunkirk (2017).

Another scene I want to discuss is a scene that takes place before the wave scene. The Atmospheric Entry scene is the calm before the storm. The sound design for this scene accomplishes creating tension and suspense but doesn’t use the ticking or any music. Its all ambient noise, metal shaking, computers beeping, wind, breathing and the roar of the engines firing.  These organic sounds also serve as an emotional experience and to give the viewer a sense of motion sickness, placing them in the character’s shoes.

During this production Zimmer chose to add a lot of experimental elements. He made the choir face away from microphones during the recordings to add reverb. Zimmer wanted the voices to sound more alien and distant as the protagonists traveled farther from Earth. Mix the choir with organ and you have a score that illustrates the mysteries and beauty of space travel.