''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' soundtrack (1951) was composed in July, and recorded in August 1951. It was

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...

's first soundtrack after he moved from New York to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

. Herrmann chose unusual instrumentation for the film including violin, cello, and bass (all three electric), two

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

electronic instruments (played by

Samuel Hoffman Samuel J. Hoffman (July 23, 1903 in New York City – December 6, 1967 in Los Angeles) was a notable thereminist. At age 14, began playing the violin professionally in New York City. Under the stage name Hal Hope, he led nightclub and society ...

and Paul Shure), two

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

s, a large studio electric organ, three

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

s, two

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

s, two pianos, two harps, three trumpets, three trombones, four tubas, and extensive percussion including cymbals and tam-tam. Unusual overdubbing and tape-reversal techniques were used, as well. 20th Century Fox later reused the Herrmann title theme in the original pilot episode for

Irwin Allen Irwin Allen (born Irwin O. Cohen, June 12, 1916 – November 2, 1991) was an American film and television producer and director, known for his work in science fiction, then later as the "Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film gen ...

's 1965 TV series ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

''.

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

noted ''

The Day the Earth Stood Still ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (a.k.a. ''Farewell to the Master'' and ''Journey to the World'') is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Renn ...

''s score inspired his interest in film composing, and made him a fan of Herrmann.

Remake soundtrack

Tyler Bates Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film, television, and video game scores. Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres, with films like '' Dawn of the Dead, 300, Sucker Punch, Ha ...

was brought in to compose the score for 2008 remake of ''

'' after Derrickson heard his work on ''

The Devil's Rejects ''The Devil's Rejects'' is a 2005 black comedy horror film written, produced and directed by Rob Zombie, and is the second film in the ''Firefly'' film series, serving as a sequel to his 2003 film ''House of 1000 Corpses''. The film is center ...

'' and '' Slither''. Bates decided that instead of imitating the original score by

he would try and convey the message of the new film, which was different, and assumed that most people would not even realize it was a remake. He said: The origins for the sound on the new score came from Bates attending the filming of a few scenes with Reeves and Smith. When he got back to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

he created a loop on his

GuitarViol The GuitarViol is an interpretation of the Arpeggione (bowed guitar) built by guitarist/luthier Jonathan Eric Wilson. It has six strings, 24 frets (a.k.a. “stopping points”), and is tuned E2–A2–D3–G3–B3–E4 (standard guitar tuning), ...

to which Derrickson responded "I think that’s the score!" when it was played for him. Taking just a piece of the original score, Bates utilized the

, which Herrmann heavily used for the original film. Bates and the theremin player he hired used the instrument in a manner reminiscent of a sound effect, especially during Klaatu's surgery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day The Earth Stood Still 1993 soundtrack albums 2008 soundtrack albums 20th Century Fox Records albums Bernard Herrmann albums Film scores Varèse Sarabande soundtracks