Winning Score
As of late Trevor Rabin, has been giving some thought to his evolution as a musician. Thirteen years ago, as a member of progressive rock band YES, he had just piloted them through their critically acclaimed album, Talk. It was in his Jacaranda Studio that he wrote, produced, engineered, played keyboards, guitars and vocals for the album. In fact, Talk holds it place in the history of the recording arts as the first album comprehensively recorded on a non-linear computer system. It is for 90125, however, the Yes “comeback” album, that Trevor is most lauded. Released in 1983, 90125 went on to become the biggest-selling of the group's career, launching YES' only #1 single, Rabin's “Owner Of A Lonely Heart,” and only Grammy, “Cinema.”
Trevor's passion for music began as a child in Johannesburg, South Africa. His father Godfrey Rabin, who was a highly respected violinist, performed as first chair for the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra for over a decade. His mother was a well known actress and an accomplished classical pianist. Keeping the family legacy alive, Trevor has passed his musical genetics on to his son, Ryan, who is the drummer for Fearless Records act, The Outline (check it out at www.theoutline.net). “I'm really proud of Ryan,” Trevor beams. “He's been touring to some very enthusiastic, packed crowds. It's exciting!”
In 1989 Trevor took a leap of faith and left YES. It occurred to him at the time that the only way for him to stay happy in the music business was to concentrate on what he wanted to do.
And what he wanted to do was compose. The natural place for that was film. “When I first started doing film scores I didn't know whether I would be doing one movie, two movies, five movies. I always intended to see what I could achieve, and then get back and make rock and roll albums. Plus or minus thirty movies in, I'm still doing this,” he reveals. It's a strategy that's paid off with 32 movie scores to date with half of those movies entering the box office at number one. With the release of Snakes On A Plane, The Guardian, Flyboys, and Gridiron Gang within one month, Trevor has earned the unique distinction of three movies in the Top Ten Box Office simultaneously.
The process of composing the film score for each movie is completely different, according to Mr. Rabin, “They all have their own personality and their own completely different life, but there's never been a formula. Each time it's a new thing.” An important part of working in this medium is the collaborative effort of the director. Of course each movie's director also influences the direction of the score. “It's like being in a band; only it's like being in five different bands a year,” Trevor says with a laugh.
Trevor relates an anecdote from his work on The Guardian. The director came to his studio to listen to the first cue. “It was a massive sounding cue. When you first get into the ocean - 'Oh, sh**,' you think! 'This is what the Coast Guard is all about! This is scary!' That's what the cue was about, and it really worked well. The director said, 'That's fantastic. My only problem is, let's play it with the sound effects louder.' So I turned it up a bit, and he said, 'The effects are going to be a lot louder than that relative to the music.' So I pushed it up to where he thought we were going to be seating it. It became completely apparent that this cue didn't work after all, and he said, 'No, it will work - we just have to mix it differently.' But I said, 'No, I'm completely convinced it's the wrong music,' so I had to go and completely rewrite it. And I rewrote a lot of it. The music had to fill a different position. “
For Trevor each score is an artistic work in and of itself, rather than what many regard solely as a reference point to the film. “I love doing film and I wish people would listen to film scores with the same interest,” he asserts. “I wish people would listen to the Remember the Titans score or The Guardian score with the same interest as 90125. I'm very happy and proud of 90125, but I don't think in any way, shape or form it's close to my best work when I look at certain film scores I've done. I have said for years I'm going to do an album, and I look back, and I think I've done more albums since I've been doing film than I've ever done in my life. People perceive them as different than albums. If you're looked upon as a fine artist and you're doing fine art paintings, that's respected in a certain way. If however you're a great artist, but you get commissioned to do a poster for an advertisement, somehow that's not perceived as legitimately artistic as if you're doing fine art. Film scores are looked upon as one of the devices to put the movie together as opposed to legitimate music. I think that film composing gives one the most freedom. Being in a band and doing a rock and roll album has so many aspects that can be confining. Doing film scores ¬- there's nothing confining about it. Once you finish that movie you can be a chameleon and try a completely different style.”
One keystone throughout Mr. Rabin's career has been his relationship Korg. Since it began in 1983 Mr. Rabin has found the people at Korg “unbelievably supportive.” “The reason I've always gravitated towards Korg,” he states, “over and above any other keyboard is the ability to treat Korg like a horse. Once you get in the saddle and learn how to ride, you can gallop and make it individual. With ease you can get in and manipulate the sounds. Take the 01/W. To this day the piano sound that I have created is from their basic sound. I've used it on The Guardian, Gridiron Gang and Flyboys. I've been able to utilize their sound in such a way - people don't know what it is, and I tell them, 'It's just an 01/W,' and they say, 'You're kidding me! That's from years ago!' Well yeah, and I still use it.”
On the recent film score for The Guardian Mr. Rabin co-wrote and co-produced the title song “Never Let Go” with Bryan Adams, who sang lead vocals. “The funny thing is there's a ton of guitar on it, but the guitar solo was an idea that I came up with when I was using just the guitar sound on the TRITON. Once I finished I thought, now I'm going to do the guitar solo. Guess what I ended up using on the master? The Korg. I'm a guitarist. I'm not bad. You would think that I would want to redo a guitar solo that I did on a keyboard, and I didn't. “
When reflecting on the qualities that set Korg apart, Trevor comments, “So many little things. Bass sounds. When I want to grab something and anchor it, without exception I can blindly go to one of the four fundamental keyboards I use… the TRITON, the Trinity, the 01/W and the M1. Even if it's so old now I've gone away from it! Then I'll be looking for a sound I did on Deep Blue Sea and say, 'That was a great sound.' I'll go back to it, and I'll come up with something different from that old keyboard. There's always a character about it. I remember when the DW6000 came out. Back then it was a great keyboard. The T-1 was my mainstay on the Talk album. The architecture of Korg is always evolving.”
The addition of a Korg microX to his keyboard arsenal came from a mixing session of The Guardian. The technician who ran the Warner Brothers scoring stage is not only brilliant electronically, but is also known for walking into the studio with the latest gadgets. One day during mixing he brought in the Korg microX and Trevor began playing it. Within minutes he knew he needed one. Move ahead three days later to the last day of the dub, when the entire movie was being mixed together. Mr. Rabin explains, “All the tracks are subdivided - you have a 5.1 mix of orchestra, and I rehearsed the whole orchestra together. But then I would record strings and woodwinds together and a separate take of brass. Because if you do it all together you can never get the brass enough off of the string mics to take it away if you don't want it. So there's a real attempt to make this as flexible as possible. But no matter how flexible you make it there's always a possibility you need a little more bottom end or a little more this or a little more that. And I thought, 'Well, this microX is good enough if I need to enhance something.' And you're talking about enhancing the Los Angeles Philharmonic. You're not enhancing a four-track demo or something. It's great to have it, and it's in my back pocket all the time now. If I get a vibe going on it that really works, I can use it. I don't have to say, 'Now I have to do this with the real thing, I have to bring in the big artillery.' I can use it - it sounds fantastic!”
Judging by the success of his box office blockbusters so do his film scores!
