Andrew Hulshult: For a lot of boomer shooter followers, he is generally known as THE man for soundtracks in that style. When his title flashed on the display screen through the opening credit of Iron Lung, I used to be stunned to be taught one in every of my favourite composers was concerned with this venture. Because the credit rolled on the finish of the movie, the gears began whirring in my head: I actually need to speak to him about this movie’s soundtrack.
Because it seems, going from strictly online game OSTs to movie was as sudden for Hulshult because it was for me discovering out he composed for Iron Lengthy. And so, after asking round, I used to be in a position to speak to the person himself and be taught extra about his technique of composing for movie versus video video games, the challenges he confronted, and the enjoyable he had whereas on Iron Lung’s set.
On the Set of Iron Lung
Until you are deep into the boomer shooter area, you won’t know of Hulshult’s connection to Iron Lung recreation creator David Szymanski. The movie wasn’t their first artistic endeavor collectively — Hulshult composed the soundtrack for the gritty, darkish, retro-style shooter Nightfall, the very recreation that put Szymanski on the map.
Round 2018 or 2019, after Nightfall’s improvement, Hulshult would typically casually inform Szymanski that it could be cool to do a rating for a movie, if the possibility ever arose. Whereas we do not have a film for Nightfall (a minimum of, not but), round 2022, Hulshult bought a name from Szymanski a few completely different venture.
“He referred to as me and was like, ‘hey, you bear in mind the way you stated you needed to work on a movie?’ He is like, ‘so what if I informed you you could possibly and that I feel that you just’d be excellent for it?’ And I used to be like, I am considering [it’s a] small factor, ‘I am like… yeah, what do you bought.’ He is like, nicely, Markiplier.”
Markiplier is an enormous presence on YouTube and past. With almost 40 million subscribers on YouTube alone, something along with his title behind it pulls lots of weight. Even whereas writing this text, he is streaming a horror recreation and pulling a staggering 90,000 viewers. So, for him to be concerned, Hulshult knew it was an enormous deal, and was keen to leap into this venture, that being Iron Lung.
“It was sick, man, prefer it was a lot enjoyable,” stated Hulshult. “That man is a continuing artistic, is at all times searching for one thing to raised the venture with out going too loopy into it, is at all times open to concepts, is at all times searching for recommendations, and it is simply been superior.”
Hulshult later had an opportunity to go to the set of Iron Lung, the place he was in a position to get inspiration and concepts for the music. For a few minute, he felt like an outsider on set, however virtually instantly, he grew snug with the professionalism and friendliness of the crew.
To not point out, Hulshult was blown away by the dynamic set — a sub rigged right into a machine that might create the sensation of underwater turbulence — and seeing all of it in motion over the course of every week served as unbelievable inspiration for his music.
“It was superior to be requested to come back on the set simply to jot down demos. And I’ll inform you that about half the demos I wrote beneath that, I by no means touched once more, and so they simply made it into the movie. We simply appreciated them. I used to be simply catching vibes off of Mark’s performing that I used to be like, I genuinely didn’t assume that I might catch. I used to be connecting with that dude’s performances on a special degree.”
Facets from the set made it into Hulshult’s music, as nicely. Large vats of synthetic blood, latex, metallic, and even Markiplier’s personal voice contributed to the rating. By sampling these sounds, Hulshult labored some darkish magic and created the ominous, brooding sounds we hear within the Iron Lung OST.
I used to be simply catching vibes off of Mark’s performing that I used to be like, I genuinely didn’t assume that I might I might catch I used to be I used to be connecting with that dude’s performances on a special degree.
“And I might feed in all of these sounds into granular synthesis,” stated Hulshult, “and simply mess with them till I discovered one thing that gave the impression of a notice that I loved, however nonetheless gave the impression of, you already know, metallic or a sub or Mark’s voice. After which I might simply use it, and it form of turned like a little bit little bit of a meme the place I used to be like, I will go dwelling and write music with this metallic shitty orchestra for this movie, is what we at all times say.”
Composing for Video Video games vs. Movie
At varied factors throughout our speak, we touched on the variations between composing for online game music versus movie. Hulshult has credit for over a dozen video games, together with the aforementioned Nightfall, but additionally the latest Heretic + Hexen Remaster by Nightdive, and even Doom Everlasting’s The Historic Gods DLC.
“You possibly can’t function this the very same approach,” stated Hulshult. “You possibly can’t come to it the very same approach. It’s a must to come to it and speak concerning the imaginative and prescient, like what this man’s imaginative and prescient is, and perceive it to some extent the place you do not even want him within the room, which I really feel like I bought to that. And each time that I might have a chunk of music, I simply despatched it over to him, and he liked virtually all of it right through, which I used to be like, thank god, it is my first time. This might have gone so sideways.”
Due to Hulshult’s expertise within the business, he mentions there’s a longtime belief between him and the online game producers he works with. In fact, video video games and movie are fully completely different types of leisure, which was one hurdle he needed to get round.
“…so like movies, it’s much more static, however the the difficulty with movies is that they’ll change, so you may get cuts, proper? Like one thing can fully change in every week, and you have to rethink it. And with video games, it isn’t a lot that. It is like, that is the extent, that is how we need to do stuff. So you’ll be able to form of write what’s in your head entrance to again, virtually multi function go.”
One distinct facet about Iron Lung is that it takes place fully inside one self-contained submarine, whereas Hulshult is often composing for video video games with sprawling ranges and dynamic themes. This was intimidating, particularly given the truth that music was essential in creating the ambiance for the movie.
“It has been some time since I had like a very good problem,” stated Hulshult. “Everlasting felt like a very good problem, these DLC felt like a very good problem, and I feel I used to be prepared for one more huge problem and that is what excited me about this.”
I feel I used to be prepared for one more huge problem and that is what excited me about this.
Hulshult commends the cinematography and enhancing of the movie, making use of such a small area to continually innovate and thus maintain the viewers engaged. Along with the superb work by Markiplier as director and his staff, Iron Lung recreation creator David Szymanski served a pivotal position within the course of as nicely.
Szymanski not solely developed the gameplay for Iron Lung, he additionally created the music as nicely. For analysis, Hulshult went again and listened to Szymanski’s work, which he calls “bizarre, attention-grabbing and actually dreadful.”
There was a selected motif from the theme tune of Iron Lung that caught with him, and interested by how Szymanski created a sure whirring sound, Hulshult was shocked to be taught it was sampled by an previous fan.
“And that modified how I perceived every part with the soundtrack,” stated Hulshult, “that little tiny interplay with David Szymanski, as a result of I used to be sitting again right here going, ‘I am about to jot down like music for a film — I gotta go discover all these loopy string libraries and we gotta go discover the good synths that we are able to, we will go spend some cash.
And instantly was like, nope: We’ll work on sound design, is what we will do. We’ll discover bizarre sounds which can be associated to both the set or the sub, and we will write with that.”
The Unprecedented Reception of Iron Lung
Iron Lung’s movie adaptation has been nothing wanting a rousing success. With a smaller finances of $3 million and created by a YouTuber — not a longtime director — Iron Lung’s accrued almost $50 million in income. In a heartfelt, tear-filled video by Markiplier, he displays on the movie’s monumental efficiency. By extension, Hulshult’s been blown away by all of it as nicely, calling it the “largest reception” he is ever had along with his music.
“A bunch of individuals did not know that I used to be going to be writing the music for this,” stated Hulshult, “and so they’re like tagging me like, ‘oh my God, you wrote for this? ‘ They usually’re within the theater. And I am simply, I actually needed to jot down again: ‘Please simply watch the film, ship it to me afterwards.'”
“Anytime I could be part of one thing cool with cool folks and other people need to speak about it for a couple of years down the highway, I am all for it, that’s what it’s for me. If we made a sufficiently big affect to the place you are like, I bought to speak about this, that is cool. I really like that.”
Be sure you try our full video interview in the event you’re serious about the complete dialog with Andrew Hulshult, together with extra particulars on his time on set and his artistic course of for each video video games and movie music! Should you’re serious about listening to Hulshult’s rating, you’ll find it on main streaming websites comparable to Spotify.
