We met Tyler Bates in his Los Angeles-based home studio at the foot of a popular canyon hiking trail. Sitting in his studio, we couldn’t decide whether to gaze at the nature to the right (a rare sight in LA) or the wall displaying his extensive guitar collection to the left. Tyler has composed music for 60 films, hundreds of hours of television, video games, and commercials. He was in the mid-1990s alternative rock band Pet, and is about to embark on a world tour as the lead guitarist for a major rock star whose album he just produced.
We really wanted to talk to him about how he’s been able to do so much in one lifetime, but for his sake, we focused specifically on composing the Guardians of the Galaxy score that we found to be both thrilling and emotional in equal measure. As he put it, “The music in the movie has a bittersweet quality to it, and it kicks you in the butt at the same time.” We do agree. (Side note: we were especially moved by the tender and somewhat lonely “To the Stars.”) We also asked Tyler to tell us a little bit about the nature of his job in general, and to serve up some advice for aspiring young composers:
His musical background:
My mother was a huge music enthusiast and from such a young age, I was just intrigued by records. Before I could really read, she would read the liner notes to me, because I wanted to know who was doing what on the records. She turned me on to all kinds of music.
My first serious instrument was alto sax; I played jazz band, concert band, marching band, all that stuff. Then I got a guitar when I was 12 or 13, and that was the end. I just became so driven to make music and to play music. I never made a decision in my life to do music, it was just always what it was.
The difficult times:
Along the way, I’ve had a lot of pitfalls. I’ve been completely broke a number of times, I’ve painted houses in the neighborhood I live in now while being signed to Atlantic Records with my band on MTV! I chose to do that instead of a job that would take my energy away from music.
Becoming a composer:
I never set out to be a film or television or video game composer. I was asked a long time ago to start doing cues for movies—of course they’d run out of money—and I’d be doing a record or whatever, so I would do some rock cues and one thing led to the next. Through a series of lower budget films, I started learning the language through directors, re-recording mixers, and producers. They were very gracious in sharing that with me instead of just getting the music out of me.
The “average” day working on a big-budget film like Guardians of the Galaxy:
Sleep is not necessarily abundant during a process like this. I’ll get up at 6:00 or so, take two to three hours before the phone rings and really put the majority of my creative thought into that time. Because from that point forward, the phone’s ringing and there are emails that I have to respond to… and write music.
Because everything is in the digital realm, the picture never sits still. So you’re constantly adjusting music. Sometimes there may be 15 versions of a cue… it’s constantly revising a sculpture of sorts and hoping that you maintain its original intent.
The parts of the job besides writing music:
You’re thinking about so many things: creativity, logistics. These properties are so huge that you have to earn and maintain the confidence in all of the people involved in the making of the film, or you could find yourself gone. It requires a lot of clear thinking and communication, and I have to be a buffer for all the stress. A lot of our job is to bring comfort to the situation.
His approach to writing a score:
I try not to write. Instead of sitting down and starting to hammer out music, I’m waiting for a feeling of this movie to imbue my consciousness. Once I feel a strong feeling that I can relate to emotionally and psychologically to some experience in my own life, so that my emotions are engaged authentically in that property, then I begin.
Advice for aspiring composers:
1) There’s no reason not to continue to build a body of work. You can go anywhere and find art that should be inspiring enough to respond to in some way. If I went to a young composer’s website and saw a painting and heard music to that, that would be a lot cooler than someone scoring a trailer for a new movie.
2) I would develop a portfolio of original ideas—not your version of John Williams. Develop a style that is distinct and try to become pigeonholed. Do one or two things that work well together so people know what it is you do.
3) As a young composer, I would not listen to film music, unless there’s just something that you want to learn from it. But to listen to it, like driving around in your car, I don’t think that’s productive. Drawing inspiration from works of art that are not related to film enable you to come to film with a unique voice.
4) If you want to be great, don’t write 5,000 notes. Write three that show us who you are. Because that comes from your heart.
5) The opportunity to work is important, and I would never overlook that, but nothing is important enough to destroy a family or friendships.
What it’s all about:
To me, it’s about the collaboration. It’s about making music. It’s about hopefully being available for that moment to occur where you feel like, “Man, I’m really happy to be alive today, because something really cool happened.” That’s the most important thing, to feel that you’re alive.
Don’t miss Tyler’s score in Guardians of the Galaxy, coming to theaters this Friday.
