Matthew Margeson scores Rings

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Dan Goldwasser



Earlier this fall, composer Matthew Margeson recorded his score to the third film in the horror series, Rings, directed by F. Javier GutiĆ©rrez, and starring Vincent D’Onofrio, Laura Wiggins and Aimee Teegarden. Scoring took place at the MGM Scoring Stage at Sony, and we’re thrilled to share our exclusive photos from the scoring sessions with our readers!


Conductor Tim Davies and the Hollywood Studio Symphony perform on Rings

The score to Rings was performed by a 40-piece string ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony, conducted by orchestrator Tim Davies. Executive music producer Hans Zimmer’s thematic ideas from the original 2000 film The Ring are referenced in Margeson’s score. To record the unique tones of the stringed instruments, scoring mixer Alan Meyerson split the ensemble up into a mirrored layout, with basses on the outer edges, then cellos and violas in the center. There were no violins, and the resulting sound was dark and affecting, especially when augmented with synths.


Conductor/orchestrator Tim Davies and the Hollywood Studio Symphony prepare to record with the playback

Conductor/orchestrator Tim Davies cues the orchestra

The viola section

The basses

The basses

The cello section warms up

The Hollywood Studio Symphony records a cue from Rings

In the booth, composer Matthew Margeson was joined by his orchestrator Jeremy Levy, scoring mixer Alan Meyerson, music editor Andrew Silver, ProTools recordist Kevin Globerman, and scoring assistant Fabio Marks.


Orchestrator Jeremy Levy, composer Matthew Margeson, and scoring mixer Alan Meyerson

The music team in the booth watches the session

Composer Matthew Margeson discusses a cue with orchestrator Jeremy Levy (left) and conductor/orchestrator Tim Davies (center)

Music editor Andrew Silver, ProTools recordist Kevin Globerman, and scoring assistant Fabio Marks

Rings opens in theaters on February 3rd, and a soundtrack album will be released by Paramount Music.