Steve Jablonsky Recording Skyscraper in Studio One

Steve Jablonsky Recording Skyscraper in Studio One

13th July 2018
Opening today in cinemas nationwide, Skyscraper follows former FBI agent and decorated veteran Will Sawyer, played by Dwayne Johnson, as he rebuilds his life following a nearly fatal hostage rescue. The film is brought to life with Steve Jablonsky's score for Skyscraper, recorded at Abbey Road in Studio One. Engineered by Andrew Dudman and assisted by Matt Jones and George Oulton, the score features classic orchestral instrumentation, juxtaposed with electric and acoustic guitars to create a more grounded theme throughout.
 
 
One of the first things I wrote was the theme for the family. It was a simple guitar riff, and Rawson really liked it, I didn't want to have some heroic French horn theme like you'd hear in a Marvel film. It needed to be more grounded, like Dwayne's character. Jablonsky also employs several unorthodox methods in the score, including a unique percussion rhythm created by running a tom-tom through several distortion pedals and a compressor.

This eliminated the high end of the drum and gave it a more aggressive, distorted sound. Steve kindly spoke to us about his experience recording at Abbey Road: Early on while I was writing themes for Skyscraper, our director Rawson Thurber mentioned to me that one of his lifelong dreams was to experience Abbey Road. As luck would have it...Abbey Road is one of my favourite studios on planet earth and was already my top choice for this score. When it came time to record Rawson travelled to London to attend the sessions and, needless to say, was completely blown away. The facilities, the staff, the players, the history...all unrivalled. Dwayne Johnson himself thanked me for providing power and emotion for his film, and I pass those thanks along to everyone at Abbey Road. Thank you for helping me bring this score to life. Released on Milan Records, listen to the title track below.
 
 
 

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