Creators on Reddit

Bear McCreary

Composer, Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead

u/bearmccreary ↗AMA only

How we know it's theirs

Their 2012 r/IAmA AMA, posted from this account

We retrieved 1 post and 160 comments from u/bearmccreary, all from 2012, most often in r/IAmA.

Best moment

A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “I Am Bear McCreary (@bearmccreary), composer for "Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome," "The Walking Dead" and other cool stuff. AMA!”

Another question: Did you know how important the notes in All Along The Watchtower were going to be when you initially composed it, and were the coordinates developed with the music, or done afterwards?

u/bearmccreary replied

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Then, over a year later, Ron called me and told me (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!) that he needed the final coordinates for the ship's last jump to be channeled through Kara, remembering the song she was taught as a little girl. So, I called up Kevin Grazier, the science advisor and asked him how the coordinates work. He told me we needed 12 numbers to describe a location in three-dimensional space.

It was crazy, like it was pre-ordained. I knew in an INSTANT how to do it, because that melody happened to be 12 notes. It was one of those moments when you feel like things must happen for a reason.

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More moments

A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “I Am Bear McCreary (@bearmccreary), composer for "Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome," "The Walking Dead" and other cool stuff. AMA!”

Can you talk a little about the rare but strategic usage of the "classic" BSG theme music?

u/bearmccreary replied

So, in Season 2, there was a chance to introduce the 'National Anthem' of the Colonies. It was written in the script that it should be the old 'BSG' Theme. However, I wanted to re-arrange the theme and make it…

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So, I reached out to Stu and went over to his place. We sat down and looked at scores, parts, listened to cues. He gave me all these materials so I could get the theme right. Make it perfect and really reflect his intentions with my new version.

When I sent him the mp3 of my finished 'Colonial Anthem'... I've never been more nervous. But, he loved it. And he and I became very close friends.

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A redditor wrote in r/IAmA

On “I Am Bear McCreary (@bearmccreary), composer for "Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome," "The Walking Dead" and other cool stuff. AMA!”

Seriously incredible work you're doing, Bear. How did you come up with the idea of using Gamelan for the Cylon piece in BSG? Could you expand a little on your process of choosing which timbres/sounds work best for a given piece? Is it more intuition, experience, formal training…

u/bearmccreary replied

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As for why I picked the Gamelan sound for the Final Five, it was really that I wrote the melody first and found the sound fit it. (One of the rare instances where a melody came first). Years later, a friend came up to me and said he's been to Bali. He'd heard a gamelan orchestra playing a traditional tune in a village somewhere, and recorded it with his phone. He played it for me and sure enough... there was a melody there that was ALMOST my Final Five theme. It was weird.

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