I'm interested in buying the soundtrack for the film, but at the same time, byro's contention that "Synchrotone" wasn't used enough in the arrangement piques my interest. What is "Synchrotone" and its ilk, and is it of the same calibre as the official soundtrack? What else do you recommend that approximates the soundtrack's sound, as in other works by Zimmer, etc.?

Thanks. I see some of you have been active here for a while.

Cheers,
Andrew.

Synchrotone is a 9 minute track on the Black Hawk Down soundtrack release. It fits the rest of the score brilliantly, mixing african instruments and drums with harsh guitar and techno riffs.

There is plenty of it on the CD - which is all the more reason for buying it. What I was complaining about was the film itself. I bought this soundtrack before seeing the actual film, and grew fond of synchrotone, expecting it to be a central battle theme in BHD because it was so effective. However, in the film, only snippetts of it appear for a few brief, overshadowed seconds.

Therefore, I highly recommend you press ahead and buy the soundtrack like you said you were considering.

Other music? Hmm... well, "Gladiator" is another good Zimmer soundtrack with similar african themes.

Paul Simon's album "Graceland" also mixes african music with american rock. I highly recommend that. Check it out and find some samples if you can.

Ah, ok. Thanks for the explanation. The soundtrack is already in the mail (presumably), and I'll be considering what you've said while listening to "Synchrotone". Thanks for your recommendations!

Cheers,
Andrew.

> Ah, ok. Thanks for the explanation. The soundtrack is already in the mail
> (presumably), and I'll be considering what you've said while listening to
> "Synchrotone". Thanks for your recommendations!

> Cheers,
Andrew.

No prob. Glad to be of help. When you listen to Sychro, you should hopefully be impressed, but also I think you'll agree with me that music such as this really needs a movie image to go with it. I hope Zimmer recycles it.