In a career spanning over two decades, Nainita Desai has created scores for numerous critically acclaimed projects, including the OSCAR-nominated documentary For Sama and the Emmy-acclaimed Netflix films The Deepest Breath and 14 Peaks - Nothing Is Impossible series. Desai's distinctive style blends traditional orchestration with electronic elements and sound design, reflecting her diverse musical background and deep understanding of narrative storytelling.
Classically trained as a composer at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Harry Peat spent his formative years as a producer and remixer on the electronic dance music scene. He has recently worked on the BBC crime drama Silent Witness and National Geographic's Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth and his music has also been used on commercials for brands such as Guinness, O2, Nokia, Cadbury, McDonalds and many more.
Similarly to Nainita, his sound blurs the boundaries of orchestral writing and experimental synth programming and sound design so it’s no surprise that the duo have been known to team up on several projects, including their recent collaboration on the movie score of Something In The Water.
We are proud to count Harry and Nainita as Sonora Cinematic customers and recently had the great opportunity to learn more about their most recent composing partnership...
So how did you end up working together on Something In The Water?
It came from a two-pronged approach. The director had a long-standing relationship with Harry and wanted him to score the film, and the studio were keen for Nainita to score it. Luckily we had both worked together recently on other projects and knew each other well with an established way of working, so to keep everyone happy it made sense to score it as a collaboration.
What was your initial process when you first approached this project? Was there much input from the Director or were you pretty much left to your own devices?
Initially we were given the script, from which we devised a concept for our vision of the score. Director Hayley and Harry both shared a deep love of Jon Hopkins, and we discussed injecting a modern twist on the hybrid high-octane thriller genre, with contemporary electronica sitting alongside traditional pulsing tension and orchestral elements. We wanted to create something bold and distinctive that would elevate the film into new territory for the genre.
Was much of the process done together in the same studio, or remotely?
Everything was done remotely. it’s much easier and more efficient to be working in one’s own familiar space. Even the live musician recordings were done remotely as well as the score mix, which was an effective use of time when deadlines were tight!
What are the challenges (if any) when collaborating?
When working collaboratively you need to give each other space and free rein to explore whatever creative avenues might be appealing. Being flexible with ego and control, and embracing a mindset of creative freedom is a healthy approach. One is not always right and it’s great to be surprised by the direction your collaborator might find. Also giving the director a couple of different approaches at times helps the decision making process.
The soundtrack of this movie is quite wide-ranging in emotion, how would you summarise the music?
Yes it certainly is! The idea was for it to be fresh and contemporary and follow the roller coaster journey that the characters go on. There are long tension cues based around electronic drums and synths with fast ostinato strings. We worked really hard to capture the terror of being out on the open water and not knowing what lurks beneath by using unusual sound design. But key to the score, and what we hoped would set this apart from others in this genre, were the ethereal, haunting elements of female voice, piano and strings. We have an all-female cast, so infusing a human female voice helps to make the score a little more distinctive alongside the tense, non-stop thriller sections. On every cue we were trying to push sonic boundaries to make the soundtrack as fresh and exciting as possible.
What are the main musical themes or motifs in the soundtrack?
It’s important to point out that everyone involved wanted to avoid any comparison to John William’s ubiquitous double bass motif from his seminal score for Jaws! The first theme worked on was the shark motif; a sliding bass figure from Harry’s Dominion 1 synth. There is also an unsettling Eb-Gb-E-G pattern which features heavily in the high tension cues. For the emotional sections there is a haunting duet of female voice and piano which brings us back to the same place of desolation and grief. Sonically we aimed for the score to have a consistent aesthetic, which hopefully ties the contrasting scenes of terror and grief together.
How was the music created – did you largely work with virtual instruments etc or did you record many of the sounds yourself with ‘real’ instruments and objects?
A combination of virtual instruments and bespoke sounds were utilised, augmented with real players and organic elements. We recorded and processed a lot of clangourous sound sources to signal the fear of what lurks beneath, such as halldorophone, oil drums and an unusual tea chest bass. There are also some Caribbean flavours we recorded such as Nainita’s hang drum and Harry’s gamelan strips. There’s a fair amount of bespoke synth programming on Harry’s modular and other hardware. All the strings, piano and voice parts were recorded by musicians at the end of the writing process.
Which plugins were staples within your template for this soundtrack?
Strings - Audio Bros LA Scoring Strings, Vienna Synchron Strings Pro, Olafur Arnalds and other Spitfire Evolutions, London Contemporary Orchestra Strings, Albion 5, Sonora Cinematic Poiesis Cello!
Synths - NewFangled Audio Generate, Knif Audio Knifonium, u-he Zebra, u-he Diva
Sound design - UVI Falcon, Void & Vista Strands, Slate & Ash Cycles
Percussion - Auddict PercX, Spitfire Audio Hammers, Hans Zimmer Percussion, Native Instruments Battery
Which is your favourite track from the movie and why?
Harry: Where Is She? - an unsettling, nightmarish cue where Meg slowly realises she has lost her friend. It was a fun challenge to create a sense of rising panic and a great opportunity to experiment – like eerie slides from a bowed noise box, and using Metasynth to create the shifting tonal pulse that builds through the scene.
Nainita: The Bracelets - the most touching moment of the film, with lovely countermelodies between violin and voice, alongside piano and electronic textures. This encapsulates the heart of the film; the friendship between the girls. It’s poignant and offers a moment of breath and emotion amongst all the breathless tension.
Finally, we couldn’t do this interview without mentioning that you’re both users of our Poiesis Cello instrument, what do you each find it most useful for in your work?
Harry: I’m a massive fan of the eerie, glacial Icelandic string sound. Poiesis Cello is up there with the best! I often prefer a cello playing interesting articulations in a high register to a violin.
Nainita: I love the cello as it’s such a versatile instrument. Poiesis is so malleable; it’s delicate and intimate one minute with extremely well recorded and useful articulations and dark and unsettling the next. It works well being layered with other elements and versatile. It’s a real gem!