Michael Giacchino rebuilds Spider-Man's theme note by note — Sunday Loop #019
Why Sunday Loop exists
The week moves fast. Between work, sessions, and everything else, the good reads get lost in the noise.
Every Sunday evening I share a few links — things I found worth reading during the week. Logic Pro, sound design, sampling, the occasional curveball. No algorithms, no filler. Just a few things I’d genuinely recommend to a friend.
Grab a coffee. It won’t take long.
— Ewald
This Week
1. Web of Loss: Composer Michael Giacchino on Rebuilding Spider-Man’s Theme Note by Note
Category: Sound Design
Michael Giacchino opens his Spider-Man: Brand New Day score with “Web Letter Days”, the old theme with altered chords and notes removed until only a few remain. The missing notes stand for what Peter has lost, and the full theme only comes back by the end of the film. Jean Grey gets a three-note figure built from half steps that turns dissonant when played as a chord, while the action cues lean on synths and nonstop low brass. If you write themes yourself, the subtraction idea works in any genre.
2. Interview with Volker Bertelmann
Category: Sound Design
Volker Bertelmann says every score of his starts at the piano, which he began preparing with metal tacks at age 12 because he couldn’t afford a synthesizer. Since All Quiet on the Western Front he works one motif per film until it is used up, for example turning a three-tone motif into a high violin melody with a different character: “I don’t want to let it go before I have squeezed everything out of it.” He also explains why he wrote the Conclave finale last, with the melody played on a Cristal Baschet.
3. “Beef” Composer Finneas O’Connell on Building a Synth-Driven Score for Netflix’s Emmy Juggernaut
Category: Sound Design
Finneas O’Connell scored all eight episodes of Beef season 2 alone in his LA studio, on a retro synth palette that ties into the Moog in Oscar Isaac’s garage. His track “Vicious Thoughts” is the love theme. It appears in episode 1, fragments as the couple falls apart and returns much larger in the finale. He sent it to creator Lee Sung Jin during the shoot, and the episode 8 script ended up with the cue written in. The score was planned backward from there, from playful in episode 1 to rave in episodes 7 and 8.
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