Annihilation Reimagined

Introduction

This was originally supposed to be a YouTube video where I'd go through the score and all 60+ tracks. I finished the script and made roughly half of the voice over when Windows decided to implode on me two times in a row. The idea of installing old versions of plugins feels counter productive now that I've build back my system, and while a video would be better in almost every aspect, I've decided to settle on a blogpost since I lost all previous work.

Background

This project started when I found out that someone that I’d like to work with had a script in the works. I didn't know what the script was about, so I decided to make a custom-made pitch, showcasing my skills.

As for this breakdown, a friend of mine told me they liked to hear me talk about music and my thought processes, and that it would be cool to get a full breakdown of this project. Said and done, I decided to give it a go.

This conversation was had after I had finished a few sessions however, and I had bounced some of the MIDI tracks to audio. Still, I’ll do my best to explain what I think I did on the tracks I made early on.

Project 1: scrapped

I started by creating short compositions, keeping them in the style of cosmic horror, a style dear to me and the person I was pitching to. This kind of music comes naturally to me, so it was easy work. However, I realized that some short compositions and stabs would make a weak pitch.

Project 2: scrapped

The second project lasted only for a short while.

I tried syncing various clips and scenes from movies to the music I had made. This was an improvement but ended up feeling like a well-made hallucination, far too disjointed to be something I'd be proud of. I needed to figure out something better.

Project 3: Annihilation

Choosing a scene from Annihilation felt like an obvious choice in hindsight.

I love this movie and was certain the person I was pitching to did as well.

The choice of scene felt obvious too. I chose arguably the most memorable scene for three reasons:

1. Leaving pyrotechnics aside, it flips the whole script on its head, leaving the viewer with more questions than answers.
2. It stands on its own and works surprisingly well when isolated from the rest of the film, allowing someone who hasn't seen the film to be engaged throughout.
3. The score is phenomenal and even has a cult following. I figured I might as well shoot for the stars since my version would be compared to the original anyway.

Process

I started by stripping away the original score, only keeping the ADR, Foley, and sound effects. Then, I created ten regions in Reaper. Each region served as a template for the score, segmenting important parts.

Musings

I watched the scene repeatedly and wrote down the thoughts and emotions that came to me. I ended up interpreting the scene and the overall film as an uncomfortable look at impermanence.

The discomfort lies in the resistance to and lack of understanding of impermanence, as people, animals, nature, buildings, and even the alien itself change form. We are supposed to take a good look at the identity of all things and understand, quite forcefully, that we are clay for the molding hands of circumstance. The Buddhists in the room are laughing, of course.

There is also a clear reference to conception in this scene. Looking at the entrance, it is shaped like a vulva, and the ridged ceiling looks like the inside of a vagina.

Then there is a meeting of beings in the cavern as Lena first meets Dr. Ventress, now transformed into something other than human, and then stares into the essence of life itself while meeting the shimmer.

Finally, there is a merging of cells from which a new form emerges.

Combined with the acting, which mostly expresses wonder, confusion, and awe, it ends up being almost too on the nose.

Concepts

I wanted the score to be mostly an ambient piece and would therefore use instruments with slow attacks and long sustains, except for the intense parts where I would apply the opposite.

To further emphasize the point, I would morph sounds over time using various techniques and effects. It was important to me that the score too would change form, both on a micro and macro level.

As for melody and harmony, I chose descending lines, chromatic progressions, and disjointed chords with dissonance winning over consonance.

Lastly, it was very important for me to create a sense of cohesion. I reused several themes, snippets, and transforming techniques throughout the piece.

However, I wanted to try something different on a fundamental level: free time performances with set time effects.

The premise was to create a sense of commonality using the same tempo for effects even though the tempo of performances would vary drastically. I pivoted heavily into this concept as delays ended up playing a huge part in the score. The tempo was set to 120 BPM, the effects in various relations to the fixed tempo, and the score was performed by me in free time.

Feedback

I sent the score out for feedback when it was around 90% finished. Eight people responded. Their qualifications varied: some were professionals, some were aspiring musicians, some were hobbyists, and some had no interest in the arts. This wide array of people gave me crucial feedback that made the score great, and I couldn't possibly have done such a good job without them. I'm eternally grateful for their input.

Tools

I used Reaper as my DAW and DaVinci Reaolve as my video editor.

Some of the plugins I used are free, some are paid, and some are native to Reaper and therefore not accessible in other DAWs. I'm certain there are plenty of high-quality replacements for your DAW. Check out the Fx list below for a detailed view.

Fx list

Breakdown

Below, you'll find a breakdown of the ten parts. The headline of each track features a timestamp which you can click on to hear the track in action.

I have simplified many tracks to work for this blog post, and not everything is included due to outdated plugins and the fact that I rendered some tracks to audio early on in the project.

There is a 2-second offset in the project in relation to the video. This is because I only recently learned how to offset the start time in Reaper.

Part 1: Hål

“Hål” meaning hole in Swedish, is the opening part.

Lena, the main protagonist, looks off to her right as if she's heard something. She sees a hole made in the ground with a bunch of strange things growing out of it, then she inspects the hole and decides to step inside.

My goals for this section were to create the sound that Lena seems to hear, contrast the large bright space with the small dark space, and start building a sense of unease since this is obviously going nowhere pleasant.

Track 1 (00:00)

This is a long composition spanning the first and second parts (Hål & Search).

The composition can be interpreted as a C♯maj7 followed by a B - Hendrix chord, but that’s not how I think of it.

The idea was rather to pick five chromatic notes and write something limiting myself only to those notes. I thought about using a closed voicing but things seemed to fit together more nicely when I made a separate bass line.

I chose the range of B to E♭ but an A found its way in there by the end. Still, it was the basic idea that mattered in order to get me going.

The main instrument used was Solar Mercury. I started off with the “Mercury Bertoia Cross” preset but I only used “Bertoia - Bowed 3 (Core)” on the left section of the plugin. No other parameters were changed.

There were, however, three other things that I did with the intention to create contrast and unease.

Firstly, I used an instance of Pro-Q3 with the “Phone” preset that creates a mid-focused honky sound. I automated this to even out as Lena approaches the hole.

This makes it so that the sound is ever more encroaching. It contrasts the spaces well as Lena and the viewer tense up.

Then, I used ReaPitch to manually pitch down the whole track 32 cents over the course of the first two parts. It’s very subtle but manages to further stir the sense of unease.

Lastly, this track is being sent to a track with the Valhalla Supermassive plugin that I’ll cover in the Exploration part. For now, you need to know that it gets a little bit of reverb.

Track 2 (00:15)

This is the first of two Easter eggs. I don't remember exactly what I did, but I roughly remember cutting out a sample of Dr. Ventress saying the word “Annihilation”, then stretching it out and adding delay and reverb. One can't really make out the word, but there's an eerie human quality to it that fits perfectly as a sound that beckons Lena towards the hole.

Track 3 (00:41)

The third track plays a low C2 the moment Lena steps into the hole. For this, I used BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover and the “Strings: Basses” instrument.

The same track plays a lower C♯1 in the next part as Lena enters the cavern and has a bigger role during the Death/Birth part.

The track is routed to a parent track that has a tiny bit of EQ on it (Pro-Q3) and a reverb plugin (Solaris), once again to match the visual space.

There is a send to the same Valhalla Supermassive track as track 1.

Track 4 (00:47)

The fourth track was a sample I found of a windy shed.

This track was essential for creating the physical space in which the scene takes place. The volume automation increases as Lena traverses the tunnel and peaks in volume when Lena enters it.

Then it fades away while Ventress has her speech and returns at full force when she encounters the shimmer.

Finally, it ends when things start going haywire to create a sense of tunnel vision or hyperfocus that arises with fear.

The processing was simple. First, I pitched it down one octave using ReaPitch, then I messed around with Valhalla Supermassive to give it weight and mud.

Part 2: Search

In this section, Lena descends down the cramped and uncomfortable tunnel and finds a cavern with Dr. Ventress in the middle of it.

She seems to have noticed Lena entering, but the focus shifts to a wide-shot of Lena entering the cavern. Lena looks surprised as the environment is truly alien with things moving on the walls as a strange symmetry presents itself.

I wanted to wrap up the journey downwards, increase the tension, and emphasize the strangeness of the cavern.

A chromatic cluster was used for this section (C♯, D & E♭).

Track 1 (00:52)

Track 1 from the previous section finishes by the end of this section. The de-tuning is more obvious now, and I’ve hopefully installed a sense of unease.

Track 2 (01:08)

This was an instance of Analog Strings. I automated one macro and raised the pitch of one instrument. This track played C♯, D & E♭.

Track 3 (01:12)

The same bass from track 3 in the previous section plays a C♯1 here with far more gusto (71 velocity compared to 19) and therefore gets more reverb and delay than before. It was tricky scoring the reveal since it's far more strange than frightening.

Track 4 (01:12)

I modified the “Neon” preset in Noctua to create a texture that sounds brooding, dark, and mysterious.

It's one of my favorite things that came out of this project. I like it so much that I’ve made a preset for it - check out the presets section.

This track played C♯ and E♭.

Tracks 5-7 (01:12)

These tracks are also instances of Analog Strings that I cannot resuscitate. I didn't automate anything on them except volume. All of them play a low C♯.

Part 3: Find

Here, Dr. Ventress speaks, first in alien form, then in human form as she turns around to face Lena.

Dr. Ventress is slouched together and it becomes increasingly clear that she has been through something terrible.

It's almost as if she isn't speaking to Lena, but rather to herself, or the viewer, while trying to make sense of what she's been through.

Finally, the camera pulls back, portraying her as meager and defeated.

I found this scene very interesting. There are only a handful of scenes in the entire film that are shown to the viewer but not to Lena (opening impact and some cells dividing for example). So it is with this scene, and it seems to be an important choice.

I guess I can interpret it as a cheap way of creating tension by showing the viewer something that the main protagonist doesn’t know yet, but I think it's more clever than that.

I mentioned earlier that I think this movie wants us to focus on its metaphors (uncomfortable questions and concepts of identity and loss) and not on the plot.

That's why I think this scene deliberately tricks us by giving us more unanswerable questions.

Asking “is this Ventress?”, “if not, where is her body?” or “does it act differently because she had cancer?” is useless. The coin gets further away as we reach for it between the cushions, and the answer is simply to face the metaphor as this is deliberately confusing.

Track 1 (01:36)

I felt there was an opportunity to emphasize the unsettling form of Dr. Ventress shown only to the viewers. By making this part, I felt I could increase the tension created by the revelation as Lena approaches carefully.

This is unfortunately another track that I cannot restore, which is a shame because it did a lot of heavy lifting here and later on in the Enigma section. A low C-note is played on an instance of Analog Strings, then Saturn 2 gives it a tiny wobble and drive. Finally, an instance of Deelay gives it the pulsating crescendo.

Track 2 (02:13)

Yet another instance of Analog Strings that is lost. I automated two macros to go from 100% to 0% over the course of this part, but I don't know what these macros did.

The composition is in E♭ minor. This track plays the bottom part of the score while the next track plays the three top notes.

I originally wanted to make it all in harmonic minor but ended up on natural minor, though a major 7th (D) snuck its way in there making a B♭7 in the beginning and Bdim in the end. I like the way it turned out. It mirrors Dr. Ventress's speech and ends up sounding solemn.

The last thing worth noting is that I apparently felt the need to boost the low end on this track. There is a 5.1dB low-shelf boost at 96Hz.

Track 3 (02:34)

The melody track consists of an instance of Labs with the Guitar Bowed Drone instrument. I like this sound a lot. It reminds me of an electric guitar played with an E-Bow and a glass slide, but it's different enough to have its own distinct sound.

I used descending lines again and de-tuning to create a sense of cohesion with ReaPitch. An instance of Portal is here as well.

This section ends with Dr. Ventress looking small, weak, and defeated as we brace for impact.

Part 4: Roll credits

This part might not seem important at first glance, but there are several key things happening.

It arguably sets off the third act in the context of the entire film and in the context of my 6-minute scene. By doing so, it triggers a dramatic change in pace and mood.

Contrast is the oldest trick in the book, after all, and one that I love to use.

Tracks 1 - 3 (03:04)

I decided to properly mirror the change in pace and mood by using an instrument with an attack. I chose BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover again (routed through the same folder track as the bass in parts 1 & 2), but this time I chose the Untuned Percussion and Tubular bells. Both play B-notes one octave apart.

This category of sounds (bells, chimes, untuned percussion) played a big part throughout the score. My intention was to use these types of sounds in recurring and contrasting ways. Some sounds would signal doom, while others bliss.

Track 4 (03:04)

This track is almost inaudible but adds to the tension. It was another one of the tracks that I made early on, so I don't know what I did exactly other than reversing it.

It sounds like two instruments (maybe a piano and some strings?) playing a Bdim chord in reverse.

Track 5 (03:04)

The item on the last track is simply named “RNDR001” in the source properties. I don’t know how I made it besides having the vision of creating something reminiscent of a casket closing.

Part 5: Death/Birth

This is the first action-packed scene. Dr. Ventress is obliterated in a pretty yet harrowing way while Lena watches her dissolve.

This is one of the parts I spent most time on. I made several iterations that didn't feel right, mostly because I tried making something that ultimately didn't fit the video.

Part of the reason I found it difficult was that it really stands apart from the rest of the scenes. It goes from very dark to very bright, flips between perspectives, and shows something truly alien. There are few frames of reference, so I had to make my own. I let my imagination loose: is this a Carl Sagan reference, of us being made of star stuff? Is it a psychedelic reference, of one purging what's tormenting us? Or is it an inverted one where we purge our very being?

There is no clear answer, but this line of thinking helped a lot.

Tracks 1 & 2 (03:08)

The first note played by this track is a low rumbling note that goes up in pitch and volume, creating a sense of acceleration as the on-screen death unfolds.

I used an instance of Noctua where I modified the “Bender” preset. It was then processed through ReaPitch followed by Efx REFRACT where I automated the wet parameter.

Finally, I used Saturn 2 with the Old tape setting where I automated the drive-knob to match the on-screen events.

The second track plays the same notes but through Vital instead. I used the “Feather Reese” preset. It made for a good pairing, adding much-needed sub-bass. The only thing that was automated was volume.

Track 3 (03:10)

The basses from the BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover make a return and act as an important foundation to the rest of the instruments during this section.

An F♯m6 is implied (though there is no root).

I made sure to automate dynamics and expression and played the notes with higher velocity. Since this instrument was still being processed through the same buss, it ended up being affected more by the effects.

Tracks 4 & 5 (03:10)

Layered on top of all of this are two final Labs tracks using Violin instruments.

Here, I wrote simple rising melodies in the half-whole diminished scale.

I needed to make a top line that distinguished itself from the rest of what was going on, so I processed them through multiple plugins to make them stand out in a familiar yet strange way. First, I used Saturn 2, then Archetype Plini X using the “Glass slide” preset (delay synced to 1/4 notes) from my song Infinity Bug.

The grinding effect made them sound like a glass harmonica, and I like the way these turned out.

Tracks 6-9 (03:13)

The sound of Dr. Ventress screaming was unfortunately cut short in my extraction, so I had to do some workarounds. I kept the original scream, then copied it to 3 additional tracks.

The first track has the original scream stretched out.

The second was processed through Baby Comeback to give it an echo effect.

I don't know what I did to the third, but it sounds like I might have processed it through Portal since there are some artifacts and what sounds like reverse delay.

Track 10 (03:15)

I wanted to make the sound of Dr. Ventress regurgitating her own life, which led me down a strange rabbit hole of finding samples of various liquids exiting the human body. I ultimately landed on something mechanical instead of biological: https://freesound.org/people/Sadiquecat/sounds/707263/

It was the obvious choice for the twinkly-astral-death-vomit on screen, strange as that might be.

The bulk of the work was made with editing. I chopped up parts to match the on-screen events, focusing on timing, length, and intensity. Then, I low- and high-passed it with Pro-Q 3, used Reafir to clean up the audio, pitched it down 5 semitones with ReaPitch, and finally used the “Cloud Spray” preset in Portal to make it glitchy.

Tracks 11 & 12 (03:34)

Having made the sound of the particles that Dr. Ventress spews out, I felt I might as well make a sound that matched the disintegration of her body as well. I wanted to make something less subtle as the light is now completely overbearing.

I made two tracks with Labs, one playing a Glockenspiel Trio panned 100% L and one playing Moon guitar 02, panned 100% R.

Then, I played a chromatic run from C♯6 to A3 on the first track and copied it and transposed it down one octave on the second track (C♯5 to A2).

As for the processing, both tracks have an instance of Saturn 2 where I automated the drive knob on the Heavy Saturation setting. These tracks were then processed through the same buss as the BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover tracks.

Track 13 (03:34)

The final track is named “Annihilation Reimagined_stems_MIDI Kontakt-001” in the source properties. This means that it's a sample I made, but I don't remember how I did it. The only thing I'm certain of is that I used Analog Strings. Its purpose was to match the bright transition shown on screen. It's a slow riser that gets increasingly intense before fading out into the brightness.

Part 6: Exploration

This section and the next are closely related, but I felt that I had to break them apart to handle them better.

It starts off with tiny particles left over from Dr. Ventress floating around and through Lena, after which there is a big reveal: the shimmer in a fractalized form. Then there is a long scene where Lena approaches the shimmer with awe, curiosity, and levity. The framing presents Lena and the shimmer as equals in size and position.

The original score for this section enters an otherworldly realm, and so does my score, but in a different biome.

I thought I might lean into the sense of wonder and awe and wanted to convey a feeling of meeting with something greater than oneself.

Tracks 1-5 (03:46)

I wanted to make the sound of the tiny particles floating around and through Lena as they first introduce a new presence in the room, then guide her to the shimmer.

I felt that I could get away with using some consonance for once since there is a sense of levity.

That's why I chose a familiar progression of I-V-IV, in C, with stable intervals (octave, fifth, and fourth). Finally, I decided to play these notes at the same time when the particles go through Lena, forming an Gm11 chord (3rd inversion, no 9th).

I used Addictive Keys Studio Grand - Grand Noir and processed it with Portal using the “Rain and Chill” preset. Since the LFOs of this preset are not synced to the project tempo, it would spit out different iterations of glitchy goodness every time. I liked this a lot, so I rendered out several versions and picked ones that matched the on-screen effects.

Then, I time-aligned them and automated the pan to match the movement of the particles.

All four tracks are being sent to the Valhalla Supermassive plugin.

They are also being parallel-processed in a parent folder with a low-pass and high-pass filter and an instance of Saturn 2 with a “Warm-tape” setting at roughly one o'clock.

Tracks 6-10 (03:46)

It is a while until the wheels fall off, but I wanted to hint at this early as there is plenty of doubt mixed in with the awe and curiosity in this scene.

I also wanted to try something new.

I have previously tuned up or down whole instruments and tracks, but I wanted to try to detune part of an instrument, specifically the inner voicings.

The first three tracks are the same instance of Labs playing a Brass pad.

The first track plays F and A, implying an F-chord, and the next two simply play a G note in between, adding a ninth. Other than that, they are exactly the same, which allowed me to tune these individual G notes as I pleased.

I pitched one G note up to A♭ and one down to G♭ over the course of this section.

This, in turn, would make the cluster F, G♭, A♭, A, making a minor/major b9 chord. If you listen closely, you can hear the chord being pulled apart from the inside out.

The next track has an instance of Labs with the Cyclosa instrument.

It plays an important emphasis: a D note, adding a maj6 to our F-cluster. I've always liked sixths; to me, they're brooding, and here I synced the D notes to shots that are ominous in some ways. See if you can pick these out when you watch it again; I feel it worked out well as a gentle reminder that things might not be safe.

Other than that, the track plays a Cm chord.

These four tracks are sent to a parent track with the Valhalla Supermassive plugin that I’ve been mentioning throughout this post.

I made this preset specifically for this project, but I have ended up using it on other projects as well, and you can download it from the Presets section or just copy the settings from the image.

It’s tailored to make anything tremolo sound good, as you will hear in the next section, but since so many tracks are being processed through it, I feel it is the real hero of this score as it manages to glue things together while also being versatile, depending on what goes through it.

Tracks 11 - 16 (04:02)

I named this track “KASATKA”, which means orca in Bulgarian.

I sampled orcas killing sharks and found the noise equal parts terrifying and fascinating, as there is something ruthless and musical in their growls.

I planned on using these in the beginning of the score, as they would call Lena towards the hole, but I moved them around and struck gold when I aligned them with the shimmer in this scene instead.

I wanted to make a slow and grand reveal as this scene is one of the most memorable ones in the movie.

Firstly, I cleaned up the audio, then I positioned the snippets into place.

After that, I processed the track in several ways:

1. An instance of ReaPitch was used to automate 3 different parameters:Shift (cents) from 0 to 184 cents from the first to the last sample.Shift (semitones) with tiny variations.Formant shift (semitones) with tiny variations.
2. Pro-Q 3 was used to open up the high-cut filter. This made the shimmer more defined and encroaching as time moved on. The low-cut filter was also engaged halfway through.
3. The “Magic bM” preset in Saturn 2 gave it some wobble.

The “KASATKA” track was first sent to the track with the aforementioned Valhalla Supermassive plugin.

Then, it was sent to three separate AUX tracks that, in turn, have a send to a parent track.

The Valhalla Supermassive track is set to 1/16-notes and has no automation.

The parent track to the three AUX tracks has a Pro-Q 3 plugin on it that turns off the high-cut filter in the middle of this section.

The next two child tracks contain one instance of Deelay and one instance of Pro-Q 3 each.

The first track with the green Deelay has 3 parameters automated:

1. Modulation amount.
2. Modulation rate.
3. Time.

I used automation items with high Amp skew values, which made the oscillation more intense as time progressed.

The second track with the yellow Deelay had no automation.

The Pro-Q 3 on both of these tracks had the “Phone” preset, which was turned off in the middle of the section.

The final track has an instance of Ambient Reverb.

Track 17 (04:05)

Since the huge cluster in F turned out to be mostly in the higher register, I found I needed to fill out the lower part of the spectrum. I didn't want to complicate things, so just playing F notes made sense, but I decided to sync a few parameters in Vital to the intensity on screen.

The aptly named “Alien lead” patch came in handy as I found the ready-made macros were great to play around with. I automated the volume, cutoff, and macros 1 & 3.

Part 7: Enigma

This part has an arc of its own as it starts off with a dreamy sequence where Lena is in awe as she stares into the inside of the shimmer. It then plucks a drop of blood from her tear canal, after which we get to follow it as it duplicates in a horrifying way, creating a new form. Lena is finally taken aback, and the mood goes from good to bad as the final crescendo arises.

The references to conception and the womb are further clarified here with the juxtaposition of the background entrance, Lena, and the shimmer as she stares into its core.

I think we're supposed to subconsciously find the first scene comforting, which is why the unfolding events feel so disturbing in contrast. There is almost an uncanny valley effect as the alien takes on a human form.

Luckily, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do with these scenes as there was a lot of ground to be covered.

Track 1 (04:28)

The same Vital track from the previous section finishes playing during this one. Its parameters are further modulated in sync with the scene.

Tracks 2 & 3 (04:30)

I had a very specific idea for the scene where the camera passes over Lena's shoulder, takes on her perspective, and passes over the lip of the shimmer, showing us its insides.

It was crucial to present this scene in the right way since it is here all the emotions of wonder and awe have their peak. There is an ineffable sense no-self and oneness.

With that in mind, I used bells again. I made two tracks with Labs, one playing an Fmaj add9 on the Glockenspiel Trio and one playing an F without a fifth on the It Tolls instrument. They are both routed to the Valhalla Supermassive plugin. It was, in fact, for this section that I made the settings in the plugin. These instruments are played in free time in a tremolo style with increasing intensity. The plugin then creates the sense of otherworldly atmosphere.

Track 4 (05:00)

This is another one of my favorites. Labs offers an instrument called "Metamorphosis" that is delicate, haunting, and beautiful all at once.

I thought it fit perfectly with the scene of the droplet traveling and dividing into another cell.

The score can be interpreted as Gdim7(♭9), but I initially wrote it as B♭dim (with the top notes B♭, D♭ & F♭) and then added the lower notes as I went along, guided by what sounded good to me.

Regarding automation, I used an instance of Pro-Q 3 to remove the low-end while also reducing the reverb in the Labs plugin. This allowed the track to lose its magic as the mood shifted while also creating space for the upcoming bass-heavy tracks.

Tracks 5 - 9 (05:20)

I picked four different samples from my collection to create a series of risers that ebbed and flowed. An interesting aspect was that each successive sample was slightly higher in pitch than the previous one. I believed this would create a natural rising effect, and I think it worked out well.

The fourth track (from top to bottom) also featured an instance of Portal with the "Time Strain" preset, which added a lot of motion to the sample.

These tracks were processed through a parent track that had a formant shift automation the last few seconds. I got the idea to process an entire group so that the final little push happened across several tracks.

Tracks 10 & 11 (05:38)

The final two tracks are ones that I knew I wanted to use early on in this project. I mentioned them earlier.

They are unfortunately instances of Analog Strings that I cannot recover, but I remember playing chromatic clusters creating oscillating, mean, and grinding synths.

I then automated a filter to open up over time as the shimmer took human form. Out of all the Analog Strings tracks that I lost, these are the ones I lament the most.

Saturn 2 plays a part as well, with the “Smear bM” preset.

Part 8: Kulspruta

“Kulspruta” means machine gun in Swedish. I wanted this section to feel visceral and intense, since it's the release of all the tension that has been building.

Tracks 1 & 2 (06:01)

The top two tracks are extracts from the movie, one of Lena screaming and one of her gun firing.

Track 3 (06:01)

I re-used a tubular bell hit that occurred in the Roll credits section in order to create a sense of cohesion throughout the piece. It plays a C♯ one octave lower in this section.

Track 4 (06:01)

Another instance of Analog Strings that is lost. This is unfortunate since it makes a big statement. It played a C2.

Track 5 (06:01)

Up next is the first track that I made in the entire project, if I recall correctly.

I wanted to overlay the sound of the machine gun with an effect to match the way in which the bullets interact with the shimmer. I don't remember what I did, but by just listening to it, I can tell that I've pitched everything up one octave and used reverse delay. I remember thinking that it would be cool to reverse the sound of the bullets as they pass through the shimmer.

Track 6 (06:01)

The final track is a sample I've had lying around for ages. I added an instance of Deelay to it (set to 8-notes) and EQed it a bit. The last thing I did to it was to automate volume and add a fade.

Part 9: Fred

“Fred” means peace in Swedish. Here, I wanted to create a sense of doubt after all the tension that was released in the previous section, as the outcome of the confrontation is not yet certain.

I purposefully followed the loudest section with the quietest, as I felt this gave both sections more gravitas.

Tracks 1 & 2 (06:05)

The only two things that are heard are my breath, heaving in unison with Lena's, and the echo of the tubular bells that played in the previous section.

This makes for an intimate, yet uncertain pause.

Part 10: Steg

“Steg” means in step in Swedish.

This section picks up the pace again after the standoff in the previous section.

The framing tells us that Lena lost the altercation, as she is presented as being smaller and is positioned beneath the shimmer. They mimic each other's body language, but this too presents a winner and a loser, as the shimmer steps forward while Lena does the opposite, signaling defeat.

For this final section, I decided to cut to black as the shimmer takes a step. This felt like a good place to leave the viewer hanging.

I wanted to present the shimmer as even more powerful and make a callback to previous sections by using bells again.

Track 1 (06:08)

Here, the orca track makes one final loud statement with far more rhythmic regularity and low-end rumble. I deliberately overlapped the same snippet multiple times in a row to make a defined sound, as this would be the shimmer's final form.

ReaTune did the bulk of the work as I changed 3 parameters compared to the previous sections:

1. 104 cents.
2. 4 semitones.
3. +9 semitones (Formant shift).

The same Pro-Q 3 EQ that opened up the orca sound in the Exploration and Enigma sections is used again, this time cutting some highs and adding a subtle wobble.

The instances of Deelay remain the same, but the volume of the instance with Ambient Reverb is automated to increase from -49 dB to -15 dB during this section. I found it gave the sound the weight that was needed.

Saturn 2 remained unchanged.

Tracks 2 & 3 (06:10)

These two tracks were the final ones in the score. I wanted to make a callback to the previous parts that used bells, chimes, and untuned percussion, since these ended up playing important parts throughout the score.

Panned to the left is an instance of Solar Mercury with settings that are unavailable to me. Here, I distinctly remember playing the G♯ and adjacent A note as a flam. It was important to me that they were not entirely synced.

The final track was also a render from Solar Mercury and yet again something I cannot recreate since it was made early on in the project. It is another untuned percussion hit, panned hard right and stretched a bit to fit the length of the previous track.

Miscellaneous

• The audio tracks from the video file were extracted to two separate tracks: one with ADR and one with the Foley and sound effects. Some parts ended up on the wrong track, but I just worked around that. There was a low- and high-pass filter applied to the Foley & sound effects that I automated the bypass on. For the ADR, I used another instance of Pro-Q 3 with the “Vocal Lead 1” preset (I can't remember if I changed something on it), followed by Tal Reverb 4 where I automated the wet parameter on one sentence, “vanished in the havoc.” I used reverb sparingly here, mostly to make the dialogue sound like it matched the space the characters found themselves in. Deesser was used on top of that. Another interesting thing to mention is that I added a track where I recorded myself breathing in sync with Natalie Portman's acting. I felt that her breaths were either not loud enough or that they were entirely lacking from the audio track. This track is routed into the ADR track and is processed in the same way.
• This project took roughly 150 hours to make
• It cost me 460SEK (Netflix + DVD + Notion Plus plan to upload larger files)
• I bought the DVD thinking that I'd get a good rip from it, but I had a bad feeling before I even started when a friend laughed in my face regarding the quality. He was right, of course, so I used Netflix and OBS, but the cheapest version isn't actually in HD, so I just ended up ripping the scene from a site for pirated movies.
• Originally, I planned a longer score that ended when the shimmer hit Lena in the head. This continued section featured a syncopated kick drum fed into a granular processor. Then, I modulated the rates and lengths of the kicks. Since I had micro and macro control, I was able to make swells of intensity, almost like wingbeat patterns: regular but not precise. There was also a detuned violin playing and, naturally, a growly synth, but I felt it all dragged on for too long and that the confrontation was anti-climactic.
• I haven't talked about the mix and master, so I'll do so here. Originally, there was a more dynamic version, but I couldn't risk sending something that would end up being dismissed simply because the recipient would listen to it on their phone or some other low-quality speaker. So, I smashed the mix. There was an instance of Ferric TDSmkII on the master chain as well as an instance of Smooth Operator besides ReaLimit and Ozone 8 Elements. Mixing-wise, I just EQ’ed the tracks and mostly used a buss compressor for glue and Trackspacer to create space amongst tracks. Here is the information from the render, after dithering to 41.1k: Annihilation Reimagined_render_stats44.html

Glossary

• ADR
• Cent
• Chromaticism
• DAW
• Ebow
• Foley
• Glass slide
• Granular synthesis
• MIDI
• On the nose
• Plugin
• Ripping
• Smashing a mix
• Sound effects
• Third act
• Uncanny valley

Support

I'm a 100% independent artist. If you'd like to support me, here are three ways I'd most appreciate:

1. Hire me! I'm available for gigs, sessions, lessons, compositions, and other music, video, and media-related work. Feel free to send me a request: Contact
2. Buy my music – you can purchase albums, EPs, and singles. My bandmates and I appreciate all the financial support we receive
3. The easiest way to help out is to share this with a friend and stick around. Check out the “Now” page for a list of all my ongoing and future projects