How ‘The Marvels’ Composer Infused the Lack of Sound in Space Into Her Score

The Big Picture

• The Marvels composer Laura Karpman collaborated with deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie to create unique sounds that make the audience “feel” the score in space.
• They also used actual space junk, such as titanium discs, to generate sounds for the film’s score.
• Karpman emphasizes that you can make a cool score from anything, which is especially helpful for Marvel movies with otherworldly creatures and devices that require distinct sounds.

Ever since we started caring a bit more about what real a story set in space should look and sound like, everyone from composers to foley artists has faced the challenge of how to make space action sound believable while acknowledging that sound doesn’t propagate through a vacuum. We’ve seen some possible approaches to that, but The Marvels composer Laura Karpman had her own ideas for when we catch up with Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) in the next MCU movie.

In an interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, the composer revealed that her way of making the audience “feel” the sound for the film’s space sequences was by working closely with percussionist Evelyn Glennie, as well as getting creative with… trash. She explained:

“Here’s the thing about Evelyn, she’s profoundly deaf. When she plays, she actually doesn’t wear shoes. She feels the sound through her body, which is exactly how you feel it in space. It’s so crazy. So we started creating sounds together that were not like anything that you have ever heard before. And because of the way that she listens, and it’s a very physical thing for her, I think that that permeates every aspect of the sonic life of this project. So that was one way. The other way, which is way sillier, is we went to a prop house in Burbank, and we rented space junk, literally stuff that fell out of the sky.”

The Weirdest Piece of Space Junk That Helped Complete ‘The Marvels’ Score

Once it was decided that the sound and score team would actually use space junk in order to bring the sound of The Marvels to life, Karpman revealed that it was just a matter of thinking outside the box, saying “I went there and we figured out how you could make sounds out of them. We went there with a bow and various beaters and stuff like that, and anything that you could make a sound out of we rented and then used in the film.” Karpman notes that the weirdest piece of space junk they used on the score was “titanium disks, which are really weird because they’re super light,” she explained. “They look like they’d be heavy, but they’re really light and you can bow them, and it’s this incredible sound. It’s like nothing you’ve ever heard.”

Needless to say, you’ll want to pay attention to the sounds and score of The Marvels. Karpman underscores that you could make “a cool score” from just about anything saying “Listen, we could go around this room and make a score for a film with just what’s hanging – these lights, your shoes. I don’t know what else is hanging out here, but we could play anything in here and make a cool score.” This must be especially helpful for Marvel movies, in which audiences have contact with all sorts of otherworldly creatures and devices that need to have a sound that is as distinct as possible.

The Marvels premieres in theaters this Friday, November 10. Check out the rest of Nemiroff’s conversation with Karpman below and readers in the U.S. can grab tickets for The Marvels at Fandango.

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