SuperMansion is an animated television series about how an aging superhero, Titanium Rex, and his has-been team known as The League of Freedom struggle to stay relevant in a changing world.
Crackle’s latest stop-motion animated project, SuperMansion, has proved to be a hit for the Sony app. The show, now in its 3rd season, continues to receive critical acclaim for bringing an unseen originality to the superhero universe, while doing so with a distinctive comedic flare. Helping give SuperMansion a unique edge is the show’s composer, Kurt Oldman, whose thematic tunes do everything from define the character’s personalities to elevate the action scenes. Having been in the business for almost 20 years now, the Swiss born musician has made a name for himself as an innovative voice in the composing world. We spoke to Kurt about his work on SuperMansion and other titles below.
You have gotten to score a lot of different musical genres with SuperMansion. Is there one that you haven’t gotten to explore yet that you would like to?
Kurt Oldman: Yes, we certainly have covered a lot. Show creator Zeb Wells and I have been talking about doing a ‘show tune’ episode as a classic Hollywood Musical since early Season 2. Now that would be interesting and we have some incredibly talented singers in the cast. Chris Pine is one hell of a singer and puts his own twist on everything. He also has a couple hundred characters floating around in his head. Crazy how many voices he’s done for this show. I’d love to do more songs with Chris. We were talking about Dr. Devizo having a song in the last session.
Keegan-Michael Key is one of those people who surprise you. I just remember when I first heard his voice thinking, “Wow, this guy can really sing”. I’ve given these guys some incredibly difficult material that’s for sure, without any time to prep really. They’ve all been troopers and have done a wonderful job, so having a song-based episode would be really cool.
You have 72 composer credits listed on your IMDB. How do you keep each project’s score feeling original and fresh?
KO: For me it always starts out finding the right score for the project. If time allows I write a ten to fifteen minute suite before scoring to picture with ideas and initial reactions away from the picture. Sometimes even just textural material or Synth programming. Most of the time I start at the piano, which I find more organic than sitting at my sequencer, and figure out ideas, themes or just simple moods. I know some guys shy away from writing suites separated from picture, but for me it has really worked well on many projects. It’s sort of liberating too and you don’t deal with the limitations the picture may present. And of course, it’s also a way to experiment and really dig deep on the tonal aspect of the show. Once the musical vocabulary is established, everything else falls into place much easier.
I have collaborated with director Nadeem Soumah on six or seven feature and TV projects. He’s always on board with making sure that each film has its own unique musical voice. He is also very conscious of the tone of the film. It’s just one of those creative relationships that brings something new and exciting to every project we do.
A show very similar to SuperMansion and having some of the same creatives is Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken. Are you ever in contact with the composers of that show just to bounce ideas off each other?
KO: The animations and actors, in combination with the spotting session guides much of my inspiration. By the time I’ve discussed the episode, beat-by-beat with the Zeb and the director, I have a pretty solid road map for the emotional, action, dramatic and comedic beats. I know I’m working with a full orchestral Action/Adventure pallet, so from there I can pretty much go wild. Zeb is open to creative and crazy ideas and has allowed me to push things a little further. In fact, he lets me cross the line without being worried of going too far. Sometimes, for the ‘Special’ Episodes, we change up the musical palette completely. In the upcoming Summer Special airing in August, the score is actually very much retro influenced. We wanted to make it like our favorite shows we grew up with: Hawaii Five-0, The A-Team and The Brady Bunch. I absolutely love TV scores from the 70’s and 80’s. We ended up with lots of bowed Vibraphone, Percussion and a smaller String Section than we usually use. We also recorded a Drum Kit in mono with a single microphone to get just the right sound.
In SuperMansion there is obviously a lot of comical moments given the nature of the show, how do you know when to ramp up the score or back off?
KO: I really treat the score for SuperMansion as an action adventure show. Interesting enough we actually score very few of the comedic moments. Every so often we have a lighthearted montage or need to bridge a quick gap musically but most the time I stay away. I have gotten used to doing a lot of ‘leading in’ to a joke or punchline and then just drop out. A bit like ‘wait for it … wait for it …’ And then nothing. And that’s the way our characters are. They will prepare to do something really grand and then completely f*ck it all up. Zeb Wells educated me on that really. I believe treating the music like this over punchlines is a tie over from ‘Robot Chicken’.
Has there been any new characters in Season 3 that you have particularly enjoyed scoring for?
KO: Yes, there are quite a few new characters in episodes that haven’t aired yet. I just spent a couple days writing new themes for a major character first appearing in episode 312 and sticking around for a while, but I can’t really reveal anything about the storyline yet. In the beginning of Season 3 we had the monstrous ‘Schwein Kampf’. On one hand we scored him like this gigantic hellish creature, throwing the whole orchestra and choir at him, on the other hand I wrote source music for him sitting at home listening to German ‘Ländler Music’. My dad played this stuff on the Accordion all the time while I was growing up. I was just thinking ‘what would my dad do’. It’s fun balancing things like this a bit.
What would be your ideal project to score?
KO: I’ve been very lucky with the projects I’ve worked on. I need to be challenged and like to push the envelope to serve the storytelling and my directors and producers are usually pretty terrific at being open to suggestions and working in a collaborative environment. For me, the ideal project comes down to the team. I’ve had just as satisfying an experience writing for a small, emotional film as I have for some of the bigger action films I’ve done. If I’m working with a well-oiled team that respects what each individual brings to the table then that’s my ideal project to score.
Has there been a score on a show airing lately that has particularly stood out to you?
KO: I strongly believe that a show can and should be branded and defined musically. I found the score in ‘Killing Eve’ absolutely fascinating in that way. It’s just not what you would expect for this kind of genre but makes complete sense with the characters as you move further through the season. I love that when a show is unafraid that way and is not trying to play it safe. Nothing but the outmost respect for going all the way.
The SuperMansion Vacation Special will be airing on August 16, 2018.
Learn more about Kurt Oldman here: http://kurtoldman.com/