BF.COM: When did you decide to become a composer and what influenced your decision?
DOUGLAS ROMAYNE: My first attempts at composing music were as a teenager, writing songs inspired by typical teen angst. I began music theory classes in high school, as well, and my teacher encouraged me to write instrumental pieces for the pops orchestra. It was a huge thrill to hear something I’d written performed by a group like that and I was immediately hooked on the experience.

My interest in film music was piqued a few years later when I was asked to help one of my teachers in Chicago on a short film he was scoring. There had been a few film scores that had caught my attention growing up, especially John Williams’ music to E.T., but not until I wrote music to picture myself did I realize how powerful the relationship could be between the two—and I was hooked again.

BF.COM: What do you like most about creating music?
DOUGLAS ROMAYNE: There are two things, actually, which go hand-in-hand and involve both sides of the brain. First, the experience of discovering a new idea is a real high. This may sound a little odd but it comes the closest to an out-of-body experience I’ve ever had. I lose all track of time, I can forget to eat, sleep, etc. I use the word ‘discovering’ to describe the process of writing music because it seems very much like archeology to me. Either by happy accident or because I’m looking in the right patch of ground, I come upon an idea that grabs my interest—could be a melody, a rhythmic groove or even just a sound. As I start exploring that idea I’m led to a related idea, and then another and another, and before I know it I’ve brushed away enough dirt that I start to see some structure.

The second step, the left-brain part, is puzzle solving—figuring out how all the different pieces fit together. This is true in writing music of any kind but it is especially relevant in writing to picture. Not only are there musical considerations but there are also timings to deal with, hit points in the story that I need to address musically, a line of dialogue that calls for the music to become more sinister, or hopeful, as the case may be. The story is king so the music has to work for the scene and make sense musically at the same time. Successfully pulling off all that is immensely satisfying.

BF.COM: How did you get involved with working on BTVS?
DOUGLAS ROMAYNE: My first encounter with Buffy was in the summer of 2001 while working for Chris Beck. Chris was hired to be co-music director on the “Once More With Feeling” musical episode. As his assistant I was responsible for helping in any way I could. Along with Chris, I spent many hours editing vocal takes, schlepped gear to recording sessions—typical assistant stuff. Toward the end of the process Chris asked me to write short intros to a couple of the songs and that was my first taste of writing for Buffy—and I loved it!

The following summer the opportunity came up to demo for season 7, which I did with Chris’s blessing. Joss liked what I did enough to hire me to score the show and I moved from being a composer’s assistant to a full-time composer.

BF.COM: How long does it generally take to compose music for one episode?
DOUGLAS ROMAYNE: The smart-ass answer to this question is “How long have I got?” The serious answer is that, with most every TV show I’ve worked on, there is usually a week from the time we spot the episode (deciding where music starts and stops and what it should be doing) to the dub of the show. That means there is less than a week to write, as there are revisions to make after turning in the score and getting producer notes, then recording and mixing the music. On a show like Buffy, which usually had 30 or so minutes of music every episode, that meant having to finish anywhere from 6 to 7 minutes of music per day.

BF.COM: Buffy is known for its quirky dialogue, heartwarming drama and fight/action scenes. How did you balance these tones musically?
DOUGLAS ROMAYNE: The easy part about coming on to a well-established show like Buffy is that many of those tonal decisions had already been made. The show had developed a cinematic approach to the score going back to Chris’s work on the early seasons. That meant big, symphonic action pieces for the fights and an emotive, intimate approach to the drama. The unifying thread in those various moments was the orchestral sound palette (strings, wood winds, brass) and, when appropriate, recurring melodic themes.

When it came to the quirky/comedic moments the music would usually clear for the joke, meaning the music cue would end before the funny line or hold a note while it’s delivered. That way the music itself never got “cute” and maintained its role underscoring the serious nature of the story.

BF.COM: How much direction were you given for the score and for the scenes in which you wrote the music?
DOUGLAS ROMAYNE: The producers and picture editors made most of the music decisions during the editing process, putting in temp music that portrayed the basic idea of what the eventual score should be. That would give me a pretty good idea of what the intention was for each scene. At the spotting session we would talk in more detail about specific points the music should play. For example, in the opening scene of “Lessons” it was obvious that there should be ethnic Turkish music over the Istanbul title. It was Joss’s idea to keep the ethnic elements going as the chase ensued, utilizing the energy of traditional Turkish percussion to underscore the intensity of the slayer running for her life. As the scene progressed orchestral elements were added to increase the fear factor, building to a frenzied climax as the slayer is held down and the knife is raised. On the cut to Buffy and Dawn in the graveyard an immediate shift was called for to a different mood; dark and menacing but not an immediate threat as Buffy is in control at this point, explaining some important things to Dawn. In a similar way, we would go through each scored scene and discuss what the mood should be and what moments the music should accent. By the time I sat down to write the score I already had a blueprint of the architecture of the scene and could concentrate my energy on finding the right musical material to meet those dramatic demands.

BF.COM: Do you have a favorite piece of score that you wrote for Buffy?
DOUGLAS ROMAYNE: I’ve gotten more comments about the final cue of “Lessons” than any other piece of music. It was called “It’s About Power” and underscored the various incarnations of evil taunting Spike in the basement. It’s a unique piece of music and I like how it turned out. But I would say that my favorite piece was one that never saw the light of day. I composed a Spike theme before the season began with the intention of bringing it back throughout the year. It was introduced in “Lessons” in the scene where Buffy finds Spike in the school basement. Before I was aware of plans to shuffle composer assignments on the show I had begun scoring the scene in episode 702 “Beneath You” where Spike throws himself on the altar in the church. The Spike theme was written with a bent toward sacred choral music and my plan was to have a boy soprano sing the theme as a Kyrie, eleison (Lord, have mercy) during that scene. The combination was pretty devastating and remains one of my favorite ideas. It was not to be, however, and the cue was never recorded. Serendipitously, a year later I was given the assignment of scoring the scene in Angel 502 “Just Rewards” where we see a flashback to the final Buffy episode when Spike saved the world. The Spike theme was a perfect fit and so I got to bring it back for that moment. It didn’t make the kind of sense to the audience that it was originally intended to but it was a fun experience for me.

BF.COM: What have you worked on since Buffy and how can people hear your music?
DOUGLAS ROMAYNE: After Buffy I worked with Rob Kral on seasons 4 and 5 of Angel. Beginning with episode 408 “Habeas Corpses” I contributed music to some degree or another on most of the episodes. I also composed additional music for three seasons of Duck Dodgers, a really fun animated series from Warner Bros that plays on Cartoon Network/Boomerang in the states and around the world. Most of my energy, though, has been focused on working with young, emerging filmmakers. They are the future of filmmaking, in my opinion, and by extension the future of my career as a composer. While most of these projects aren’t highly visible, I have released a CD of my music for some of these films. It’s a compilation titled Expressing the Inexpressible and includes a variety of styles, from drama to sci-fi to comedy. It’s available in hard copy from CDBaby and as a digital download at CDBaby, iTunes and MovieScore Media. I also have several new scores from this year that I plan to release in the coming months. Information about the CD and upcoming projects can be found on my site: http://www.douglasromayne.com

We at Buffyfans.com would like to thank Douglas for taking the time out to answer these burning questions we fans have about the hard work that goes into composing music!