122 - Daniels and the Music of Everything Everywhere All at Once

Part two (of two) of our exclusive, in-person interview with the filmmakers. If you missed part one, be sure to check out that episode (#121) from earlier this week, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.

Joining us again are directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known collectively as "Daniels"), as well as the film's sound designer and sound effects editor, Andrew Twite, and the re-recording mixer and sound supervisor, Brent Kiser.

Today we're devoting the entire episode to the music of "Everything Everywhere All at Once" because it was such an intensive process. So much so that the composers, the indie band Son Lux (comprised of members Ryan Lott, Ian Chang, and Rafiq Bhatia) spent an unusually long time working very, very closely with the filmmakers on this project:

"They came on before we started photography. They helped us write some songs that needed to be on camera. Like the fake musical and stuff. They gave us their entire library of all their personal projects, as well as all their records [and] instrumental versions. And we cut the whole movie to their music. And then they were on during the whole edit, working on the score. So they were part of the project for over two years and created over two hours of original music."

— Daniel Scheinert, co-director, co-writer, and co-producer, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"

If that sounds like a lot, that's because it was. As part of this episode, we also speak with Ryan Lott, the founding member of Son Lux, to describe his journey working on this film and all its many parts, including crafting different musical styles for each multiverse, collaborating (and singing a duet!) with Randy Newman, as well as discovering the artistic potential of working in Dolby Atmos®.

"There were times where we were very specific about 'the front wall' and keeping most things really focused on the front wall. And then, finding moments and specific elements too that could basically embrace you, sonically. And I started to think, during that mix, how that is a musical choice. That's an artistic choice. That's not just a technology choice. That's not just an engineering thing."

— Ryan Lott of Son Lux, composer, "Everything Everywhere All at Once"

Be sure to check out "Everything Everywhere All at Once" at a cinema near you, now playing in Dolby Atmos®, where available.

Many thanks to our friends at A24 for helping us pull this conversation together! 

If you enjoyed this two-part conversation with the filmmakers, please subscribe to Sound + Image Lab: The Dolby Institute Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, as we have many more episodes just like this one coming up in the near future!

You can also check out the video for this episode.

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