I enjoy a good TV Show, especially when it has a great opening title with awesome music. One of my favorites is Netflix’s Original Daredevil. l relish in the way the visuals and music come together in a beautiful way that sets the tone of the show. It creates an atmosphere with its dark elegances that viewers can use to piece together the aesthetics of the show. Opening titles are there for the viewers to easily capture the ideas and themes of the show, which is why l love watching opening themes and piecing together the show's hidden details.
The Director of the title was Patrick Clair. In an interview, he explains the creation of the opening title and theme for the daredevil tv show. One point he wants to state was the liquid was not to represent blood it was meant to represent “the insidious corruption that’s creeping into the city in the wake of The Avengers, as the reconstruction efforts start.” (How the Daredevil opening title sequence was made: An interview with director Patrick Clair | VODzilla.co | Where to watch online in the UK. 2016).
The composers of the song were John Paesano and Braden Kimball, they start composing the song after the production of the title was finished. In the same interview Clair talks about the song, how’s it suits the visual so well that it becomes part of it and not an attachment.
Here l will breakdown what is heard and explain each component used for the opening theme of the TV show.
Body
The songs internals – The theme is written in the key of C major, BPM is 108, the duration is 1:06 and the Camelot is 8B. Which l had to look up to understand and the found that the harmonic comparison of C major is A minor, D minor, and E minor.
The theme is a simple piece of music, but it holds a certain beauty within itself. A nice mix of piano, kick drum, snare, and string instruments but also has some synth pads and a few different sound effects that present an atmospheric feel to the theme. The piano is the melody and the strings maintain the rhythm; the synth pad produces a nice pulsing beat that blends well with the drums. What l find interesting that the kick drum acts as a heartbeat, with its dull thud that builds up when the song moves forward. The snare is like a clap that holds the place of the drum and creates a finish that completes the instrumentation.
This chord layout is taken from the street music from the piano cover. The key of the song is C major, where the melody line is mainly constructed with the note being played in the order of G, Eb, D, C for 2 lines in 2 bars. Then the G is moved up to a G sharp (G#), Eb, D, C for 2 lines in 2 bars and back to the start. After that, the octave moves down 3 Scales and repeats the pattern. (Musescore.com, n.d.)
Another thing l enjoy about the theme is the atmospheric sound incorporated in the song, it adds a sense of darkness and uneasiness to the song. All of these elements work extremely well with the visuals of the deep red background and the red paint-like substance covering the city and structures of New York City.
The overall balance of the song is nice the piano and strings are in the middle of the track with the rest of the instruments surround them in a pleasant sonic space. The piano has a nice fourth note build then changes to a chord progression. As the song moves forward the volume of the piano increases to match the tone and pace. The strings start 19 seconds in and they build the intensity creating the dramatic feel. The bass is a consistent beat that is heard from the start but when the song builds up the bass fall into the back, almost completely giving room for the drums.
The drums sound great in this track, it like they recreated a heartbeat and embedded it into the song, and again as the song builds with intensity so does the speed of the beat. The sound effect work so well with the instruments adding to the darkness and mysteriousness of the song. At the start, we hear a wash of pulse that moves away from left to right from the sound space create a whole psychoacoustic feel. It’s this stuff that adds to the darkness but also keeps the song together but also adds to the message about the tone of the TV show.
I downloaded this song from iTunes and decided to listen to it on 2 different speakers, one is my Logitech Z150 computer desk speakers and the other is my JBL T450BT on-ear Bluetooth headphones. I used the dB meter on my phone to record the levels of the song. With my computer speaker’s volume control at noon, the dB meter registered the quietest being 29.9 with the loudest be 60db on average 40db through the whole song.
A lot is happening in this 1-minute theme. It starts simply with a detailed piano note played in succession with a nice soft amount of reverb to give it space. As the song goes on the volume and velocity get stronger. The strings hold together when they are introduced 19 seconds in but 36 seconds, they separate one half continuing the rhythm line with the added pace the other create a new following the synth bass with a 3 pules movement making harmony with the rest of the strings in the song.
The kick and snare are heavily treading in the song, they sound like someone only wanted to focus on a part of the audio spectrum for both instruments. Thus, creating a new tone for both instruments and a specific feel to the song. The synth pads and bass seem to be quite heavily treaded also with reverb creating a lot of space for the rest of the song to develop around it.
Conclusion:
The instrumentation, the mix, and the visuals of the daredevil title theme is one that expresses the shows dark elegances perfectly. The simple piano melody and the variation in the strings create a level of drama. The sound effects and the drums build the mystery that ties the dark theme together. Finally, the pulsing bass moves the song forward and builds on the intensity of everything that makes it song so good. It perfectly expresses the theme of the tv show which l motioned in the intro was its main purpose.
I like to think that l will be able to do something like thing in the future. I will start now with the production of the instrumental track for Project one and the side project l have with a friend working on an animation project.
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