The visual landscape of Gotham City, created by Matt Reeves in the recently released The Batman, is filled with deep shadows, harsh red lighting, and gothic architecture unlike any other Dark Knight portrayal before. This gritty and artistic visual take must be equally matched by the sounds that fill this specific Gotham.
Composer Michael Giacchino, supervising sound editors Will Files and Douglas Murray, as well as re-recording mixer Andy Nelson, worked tirelessly to sculpt every single sound throughout the nearly 3-hour film. This team has worked together on previous Reeves films following 2007's Cloverfield and has a deep love for the nuts and bolts of how the sonic landscape of the film arrived at where it is today.
Catwoman's Noir Theme
Reeve's decision to embrace the detective nature of this Batman started scoring conversations of references to 70's Neo-Noir movies in The Batman. For example, Reeves and Giacchino discussed finding a similar sound to Jerry Goldsmith's Chinatown score for Catwoman's theme. Fitting her slinky nature, they wanted to evoke those smoky string sounds and lilting tones that often come with noir.
In a Variety interview, Reeves tells how Giacchino had written a beautiful theme but it leaned a bit "too purpley, with a sax and everything. So he stripped that back," and they arrived at the sliding string-centric theme that still has its noir roots.
Michael Giacchino Didn't Know About The Nirvana Song
In filmmaking, the scoring and soundtracking process are two separate entities. Though they often seem to overlap, in this case, the addition of Nirvana's "Something In The Way" didn't come up in conversation between Reeves and composer Michael Giacchino.
In a Dolby interview with the sound team, Giacchino is quick to say "I honestly... I never knew about that" in regards to the Nirvana song. Reeves is quick to laugh that it never came up in their countless conversations about music and the character leading up to filming. What is so fascinating about this, though, is the fact that Giacchino's "The Batman" theme is very similar musically to the backing track of "Something In The Way" making it seem like a natural and purposeful inclusion. Once again - great minds think alike.
"Multo Mysterioso"
Before shooting began or Robert Pattinson was even cast, Michael Giacchino and Matt Reeves often discussed their love of the Caped Crusader and what the vision was for this iteration. After many talks, Giacchino asked Reeves if he could write the musical suite before seeing a rough cut of the film, to which Reeves excitedly accepted.
A period of time went by, Giacchino secretly recorded his theme with an orchestra, and sent over an mp4 called "Multo Mysterioso" the night before Robert Pattinson's screen test with no context. Reeves said he immediately listened to it in his car outside the studio and cried. That first test ended up being used throughout the pre-production process, on set, and even made it into the film.
Too Simple Of A Theme For Batman?
Upon trying to find the right theme for the film, composer Michael Giacchino stopped at his piano and played a repeated four-note musical phrase. He immediately thought, "Is this too simple? Am I going to get yelled at for this?" as he says in the Dolby interview. But no matter how many other ideas he tried, adding more complexity or movement, he kept returning to the simple phrase.
Giacchino's justification was asking himself the question "what would I hear in my head if I were Batman?" He arrived at the obsession and grief that consumes Bruce, the simple but consistent phrase whispered over and over until it's too strong to stop. Giacchino's specific, "method acting version of composing" as Reeves calls it, often results in some of Giacchino's best film scores.
The Riddler Himself, Michael Giacchino
Though Paul Dano delivers the Riddler's best quotes with creepy perfection, it seems there was a different Riddler behind the scenes. Michael Giacchino is known to have fun titling the pieces in his film scores. With The Batman, Giacchino's additions were littered with riddles and puns like "Collar ID," "Escaped Crusader," and "An Im-purr-fect Murder" to name a few.
Having worked with him for many years, Matt Reeves' knew this was coming. In the Variety interview, he said they "still drive me crazy to this day" in reference to his insincere titles. The music is all truth, but Michael Giacchino will take this small chance to include a joke.
The Batmobile's Layered Sound
For Robert Pattinson's unique muscle-car batmobile look the sound designers had to sculpt what this specific batmobile might sound like. The way Reeves' directs the scene, the audience hears the menacing roar before it is seen. This tactic required the sound design to do the heavy lifting to make the scene convincing.
In the Dobly interview, supervising sound editor Will Files says the sound is a combination of "a layered and stretched bottle rocket going off for the whine [...], a '72 Bronco and a 1980 Bronco for the engine, and then a rocket blast." The layered sound adds a level of uncertainty to what it could be and signifies it is something of Batman's own creation before thrusting the audience into one of the best action sequences in The Batman.
Making the Batmobile A Beast
The intention behind the batmobile is to intimidate. In order for that to work, sound not only had to match the look of the hand-crafted car, but it had to sound like a beast. The trick the sound editors used here was the same way sound editors treated Jurassic Park's T-Rex in 1993.
Though fully created in post-production, the sound needed to feel real. In order to do this, sound editors treated the sound as if a real microphone was used and the sound was so overbearing that it clipped the audio, distorting it. This is the same tactic used for the T-Rex to make it feel like it was actually roaring right in front of the viewer.
The Orchestra Was Recorded Separately
Production was underway well into the pandemic, which forced the creative team to make adjustments at every step. One, in particular, was the recording of the score at Abbey Road Studios in London. The musicians were not allowed to be in the same room, which proved to be a challenge. The solution was to divide the orchestra "between Abbey Road’s Studio 1 and Studio 2, recording simultaneously with two conductors under COVID protocols" which allowed musicians to hear each other as stated in the Variety interview.
Though this was not ideal, it did, however, present an interesting opportunity to re-recording mixer Andy Nelson while mixing the film. He says "[Michael] had the advantage of [the musicians] playing together, but I had the advantage to have the sounds separately" to place around the mix of the speakers. This allowed the music to flow through the theater in ways not necessarily found during tradition, full orchestra, recording.
A Late Night "Accident"
Sound mixing is a long and tiring process that results in many late nights. For supervising sound editor Will Files, one of those long nights resulted in a mixing decision that composer Michael Giacchino refers to as "insanity. It drove me crazy in a good way."
The VFX shot where Batman reaches into a cage for the Riddler's note as a bat trashes around his hand was delivered late after a full day of mixing and Files decided to test out the right sound placement. "What if I took all those bat sounds [...] and literally just flew them around the room," he recalls in the Dolby interview. The late-night experiment worked because the camera was placed inside the cage, thrusting the sound of the bat into the audience, swirling around in terrifying chaos.
The Riddler's Mic Placement
Another recording decision was to place the Riddler's mic inside of his mask. This close placement allowed for Paul Dano's performance to feel as though the sound was too close, adding to the creepiness.
Supervising sound editor Douglas Murray explains in the Dolby interview that "you get all that spit and breathy sound overloading the microphone" when you place it inside the mask. It only accentuates Dano's already incredible performance, simply from a sound perspective.