Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Interview with Sound Genius Robert Duncan!

We spoke exclusively with Robert Duncan who worked on Buffy and now on Eliza`s new series Tru Calling.

How did you become a composer on ’Buffy?’

I came on the show at the beginning of season seven, starting with 7.02 ’Beneath You’ as a trial, and ended up scoring episodes 7.04-7.22. My demo CD was passed to Marti Noxon by a friend and she responded very strongly to it.

You joined the staff of ’Buffy’ in season 1, I believe. Could you imagine from beginning that this show would run for 7 years ?

I wasn’t involved with ’Buffy’ until season seven, but it’s such a great show, I am not surprised it lasted so long, and I’m sure if Sarah Michelle Gellar hadn’t left, it would probably have kept going.

What is your favorite score or moment of the scores played in the episodes?

Of the episodes I did, some of my favorites are the final act from ’Chosen’, the end of ’The Killer in Me.’ There were other moments that were a lot of fun to score like the scary scenes in ’Conversations with Dead People’ and especially fun was the episode ’Lies My Parents Told Me.’

’The Body’ is the only episode without a score. If you had the choice, would you make a score for it?

I wasn’t on the show for that episode, but I think the fans would agree that a big part of what made Buffy so brilliant was the bold and unconventional directions the writers and producers took the show in. Conceiving a show without any score is one good example of this.

Do you miss ’Buffy’ and the whole staff?

Absolutely, everyone I met was great.

Have you ever met a cast member? What experience did you have if yes?

I have have very little contact with the cast, but of those that I’ve met, they’ve all been really down-to-earth and nice.

Who is your favorite character on ’Buffy?’

I like them all, but I have to say I think Alyson Hannigan is an incredibly talented actor. I got a really big kick out of the character D’Hoffryn as well.

Did you watch the episodes?

Always.

What’s up after ’Buffy’?

Now I’m working on the show ’Tru Calling’ with Eliza Dushku. It’s very different from working on ’Buffy,’ but it’s also very rewarding.

Explain to me the process of creating a score. Do you watch the nearly finalized episode or do you only have scripts as the base of your work?

I did get scripts sent to me to read in advance, but most of my work starts when the picture becomes ’locked’ which means all the editing has been finalized, and none of the timings for the scenes will change. It is at this point that the audio post-production starts, which means music, sound effects, foley and ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) I will have a meeting with the producers and they’ll give me notes on where they want music to be, plus any specific direction they want the music to go in. Then I go back to my studio, digitize the episode into the computer, pull up the notes and begin working, scene-by-scene, until the show is finished. During this process I send VHS tapes to the producers to get notes back regarding any changes they want in what I’m doing. When everything is approved, I hand in the final score on a hard drive to the music editor who brings it to the mixing stage where it gets mixed with the final dialogue and effects. This was very often only a few days before it aired!

Is there one score on ’Buffy’ you would change now if you could?

No, I’m very happy with how everything turned out.

Have you any advice for the fans of Slayerverse.de?

Sure, in my experience, I would encourage people to take risks on their dreams. My risk was moving to Los Angeles to pursue my dream of writing music for film and television. I left a very comfortable life in Toronto for it, but it turned out to be the best decision of my career. Dreams don’t come true easily, but if you’re persistent, realistic, and are willing to recognize the areas in which you need to grow to accomplish your dreams, I believe that almost anything is possible.

Thank you for the interview. we hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for your interest, and best wishes to all the fans out there, you guys are great!