Nicholas Britell

Nicholas Britell grew up loving Star Wars. During production of the Andor television series, executive producer Tony Gilroy decided that the show would need a new musical vocabulary to set the right mood. In the spring of 2020, Britell started secretly talking with Gilroy before shooting had begun. Gilroy then recruited Britell to compose the score for Andor. Gilroy and Lucasfilm Ltd. president Kathleen Kennedy gave Britell "total freedom" to imagine a new and unique soundscape for the series. Long before the show would enter the scoring stage to record, in August, 2020, Britell and Gilroy started their ten-month journey of preparing the music that would be heard on set. They also spent time "brainstorming, experimenting" and establishing priorities in terms of key sequences. The extra time allowed them to develop an understanding of the focus and commitment needed to score Season One's twelve episodes. The amount of work ended up being much more than they both expected. Britell was honored to compose the show's music, and he enjoyed working with Gilroy. He tried to construct a "musical landscape that feels woven into the fabric of this story." He wanted the audiences to experience every emotion in the show's story.

Britell and Gilroy first started working on the on-camera music and a few specific moments that Gilroy wanted to figure out early. Maarva Andor's funeral was the first element that Gilroy worked on, particularly the music. He insisted that real instruments would be played by on-screen actors instead of professional musicians, and it would be recorded on the Ferrix set. He understood the importance of the scene, so he and Britell worked together to create a seven-minute piece two years before shooting started. Britell made sure that the piece would be about the people of Ferrix and be a tradition they would naturally connect with. He knew the sound would have to feel like it was part of the people's folk tradition and be meaningful enough that it could bring them together.

Britell wrote all of the score and their source music, drawing inspiration from composer John Williams. Britell created the music for the Morlana club. The duo figured out the sound for the Time Grappler and the beskar steel he hits with hammers. A percussion piece was used for the alarm signaling in the third episode, and Britell and Gilroy figured out how it would sound and feel on set. Britell was challenged by having to portray Cassian Andor, who started out as a mysterious figure and progressively learned his place in the universe. When Britell penned the main theme, he made it about the whole series. He wanted the theme to uncover itself and emerge. Each episode had a different variation with a different orchestration, making all of them a unique interpretation of Britell's work. The theme was accompanied with a rhythmic pulse that became stronger in each version. When Gilroy first heard Britell play his theme for the series, he called Kathleen Kennedy and told her they had a theme.

In May, 2021, Britell started writing the scene-specific scores in New York. While he was writing, orchestrator Matt Dunkley regularly conducted an 80-piece orchestra in London's AIR studios, and percussion recordings occurred at Mark Knopfler's British Grove studio. Britell was was not able to attend the London recordings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The final sound included orchestra, synthesizers, sampled sounds, strings, brass, and advanced production techniques, all totaling more than seven hours of score for Season One. Britell started recording in the fall of 2021. Writing musical solutions for specific scenes led to Britell creating themes for the relationships between characters.

Britell created an edgy, textural rumbling sound to match the dark and gritty atmosphere of Morlana. He inserted several metal sounds throughout Ferrix because of the masonry and metallurgy present in the planet's culture. Britell and Gilroy made some of those sounds together using the pipes in the latter's basement. Britell added rustling leaves into the Kenari recording so that the audience would hear the forest in the music. He managed to create a wistfulness as well as a sense of loss and memory. Britell created a musical signature for Bix Caleen, B2EMO, and Mon Mothma. Gilroy visited Britell's studio three or four times a week, where he would spend four to six hours working with Britell. Recording ended in the end of July, 2022. Britell and Gilroy finished mixing the twelfth episode on August 3. Britell said that Andor was the most work he had ever done in his life. He also said working in Star Wars was an amazing experience. In September, Britell attended the Andor launch event in Hollywood, California. As of September 26, Britell had started to work on Season Two.

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