How the Escape From New York music was made (feat. Alan Howarth)

Published on Apr 20, 2019 Alex Ball

Another great bit of synth history from Alex Ball who brought us Land of the Rising Sound | A Roland Retrospective.

"In 1981, John Carpenter and Alan Howarth worked on their first film score together; Escape from New York. This was the genesis of a fruitful decade of collaboration.

The film has gone on to become a cult-classic, but the score has taken on a life of its own and had great influence upon many musicians.

I was planning to break down how some of the cues were made and decided to try to contact Alan Howarth to ask him some questions. Amazingly, he responded and was gracious enough to be interviewed for this film.

A rare treat, we hear from the horses mouth how the whole collaboration came about, how the music was composed, what equipment was used and how on earth they sync'd things up in a pre-digital world.

Alan is still active and working on new scores and new technology, so we also get to hear what he's up to in 2019 and even get a peak at his current studio where some gear from Escape from New York still resides.

Massive thanks to Alan and thank you for watching."