What was it like working alongside David Lynch on Twin Peaks?

Dean Hurley: It was a very specific flavour. In hindsight, the innocuous moments were just as rich, if not more so than the time spent working on noteworthy projects. He infused so much enthusiasm into life, working environments and the people in them. You would start to notice your own attention and perception of things align with his: it was a unique feeling. David honestly didn’t really think like anyone else. He would get extremely fired up about concepts and had a seemingly endless reserve of passion and curiosity.

A lot of discovery would happen by his stating, initially kind of mischievously, “There’s gotta be a thing…”. His intense desire and sheer will would just command solutions into existence. He once got really into the idea of drilling. He wanted to drill on his land for oil and wanted to drill a tunnel between two of his properties in the Hollywood Hills, and had an assistant research diamond tipped drills for excavation. He’d often have the optimistic attitude that if he just found the right tools, he could do it all himself. There were a lot of wild ideas that got pitched… and some of them were so crazy that I’d often think: you can’t be serious. But I think he was 100 per cent serious, and that’s when things would start to get really ‘Lynchian’, to me at least.

Lori Eschler: I worked with David for over three years on Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me, On The Air (pilot), several television ads, and some exploration of ideas for the music that might define Ronnie Rocket. Mostly the schedules were demanding and there were lots of late nights and early mornings but I loved my job. Early on, he established a level of work culture that supported curiosity and deep focus. Even on days when he was on set, the post production crew was unified in delivering his vision. He loved having conversations about things unknown. We talked about lakes that were so deep that no one has seen the bottom. We were both obsessed with coffee and the different ways to roast it and brew it. We wondered if our late grandfathers knew each other in Montana. Mostly we talked about the possibilities of manipulating music and how to use it for cinematic effect.

He had a public persona that was sometimes a caricature of who people thought he was all the time. He was extremely funny and at the same time generous and sincere. A sweet memory I have was returning from New York having recorded music with Angelo [Badalamenti, composer] for Fire Walk With Me. It was very late when the plane landed and we were all pretty exhausted. He and Mary [Sweeney] had a driver that met them at the airport and when I said goodbye, I was going to grab a taxi, he said no you’re coming with us, we’ll drop you off at your place. I lived way out of the way but they put the music I was carrying into the trunk and me in the front seat and had the driver go to my place in Santa Monica before heading home to the Hollywood Hills. That was Lynchian.

In your experience, how involved was Lynch in the process of composing and editing?

LE: During the era that I worked with him, he put a lot of thought and energy into the music. He interacted with Angelo and the musicians as he did with actors. He directed them with descriptions of mood or energy, as though he was giving them motivations and intentions. At the same time he would be joking and laughing with everyone between takes. On the recordings of these sessions he was also the voice on the tape accurately slating the take. When he worked with me as the music editor, he used visual metaphors to describe placement and choices of music from the library of Angelo’s recordings. His work was great because he created as an auteur. During Twin Peaks, he trusted each director to do the same. His trust made the work much easier for me and many of my collaborators.

DH: Extremely involved. That is what makes his films so boldly him. He was in every frame and modulation of the soundtrack. The name of his approach was experiment, experiment, experiment; then react, refine, and employ. Nothing was left untouched by him. With Twin Peaks Season 3 he was in there at times doing some of the picture and sound himself. His hands were all over Episode 8 in particular. Often I would notice across many different projects, he’d find usage for some little fragment of something we did years ago – a random recording or improvisational thing – then flip it and use it in a manner that was totally exhilarating.

I made a recording once of a Catholic mass in Paris and played it for him and he immediately lit up and said, “I know exactly where I’m going to use that, Dean.” That example in particular ended up being the scene in Inland Empire where Laura Dern’s character dies on Hollywood Boulevard. I wouldn’t really use the word exacting to describe him, because he was so open to happenstance and discovery. I feel like there’s a misconception that it was a mindset of ‘it has to be exactly this way’, and I feel like it was more like he had an internal emotional Geiger counter and anything that made it go off or aligned with and improved his idea, he would follow and incorporate. In my experience, it was more of a, ‘oh, so it wants to be this way’. That is an incredible mindset to have as an artist. I’ve always felt that was his secret to getting things to be more than if he had a specificity with insisting things be an exact way.

To your mind, what are the aspects of sound design that make a Lynch film or TV soundtrack recognisable? What sonic elements did you feel able to add?

DH: Thick ambiences, things caught in reverb… Like a chef, Lynch would combine sounds in order to synthesize a particular feeling. Fellini, for example, utilised wind thematically and to emotional effect, and in some ways, I’ve always felt that was how David came to latch onto that idea as a cinematic device. However, David would take an ingredient and exploit it to the max. He and Alan Splet would take wind recordings and put them through harmonizers and filters in order to arrive at a wind sound that had so much more personality and expression. Something beyond reality and far more exaggerated. That was seemingly the ingredient whether he was reaching for train horns, low frequency material, music, wind, and so on.

There was an element of ‘turn it to 11’ in his approach that I loved, latched on to, and wanted to exploit at every chance. The sound of the electricity in Twin Peaks Season 3 is a great example of this: the words he used to initially describe it, it had to be almost an exaggerated caricature of the power of electricity. That’s where sound design, in my opinion, starts to really be able to lift the picture to another level.”

LE: I love how the sound and music track will build and become more complex with layers of sonic events and musical moments as the scene progresses and then elements will start going away and what’s left is a single thing, like wind for instance, or a ringing wine glass or a scream. This technique brings focus to the scene and says: pay attention. I was trusted to manipulate the music tracks, changing the pitch or tempo or direction and layering multiple tracks to create a new piece of music and deciding where to place it in a scene.

Were you surprised by the reaction to Lynch's death earlier this year? Did anything surprise you about your own reaction?

LE: I’m very moved at how people have come together with so much passion for him and his work, sharing stories of their first Lynch film, writing songs about the first time they saw Snoqualmie Falls, or setting up elaborate events screening his work and interviewing cast members and specialists. I’m also overwhelmed by the recent acknowledgement of the details of the work I did with him. People have been really gracious in asking me to share my experiences. I’m still very sad that he’s not physically here but so grateful that his work has permeated so many facets of our humanity.

DH: The thing that surprised me the most was the sheer number of tributes. It was very moving to see his image everywhere and read the words written about him. To look at a phone or open a web browser in the days after he passed and see him reflected back everywhere when he was no longer here was powerful.

There’s a poem I came to know by [Japanese poet] Bashō, which roughly goes: “The temple bell stops, but the sound keeps coming out of the flowers.” The vibrational impact David had on so many people and cinema still pulses and radiates; you can still see it and feel it. I’m personally still working through stuff with his passing. Seeing things from his studio for public auction right now is strange and it ignites a lot of feelings. For me, it’s a lot of confusion and bewilderment. I did not expect it to feel like this. It has sparked a lot inside me and I’ve found I’m looking back quite a bit to try and grasp some of the feelings and try to understand that experience.

Twin Peaks had a huge impact on audiences in the 1990s. What do you hope younger audiences who might not be familiar with the show, or Lynch’s work more generally, might find in it?

DH: It’s a show that has its own lane and hits a very specific, unique spot. I think overall there is a swagger and boldness to it that continues to feel fresh and unique. David had a rare ability to synthesize the human experience in a particular way. His spirit is so strong in everything he did, so it’s a way to discover a bit about him as a person really.

LE: My feeling is that people young and old who are witnessing something made by David Lynch will have an intimate connection with how he sees life from many angles. I hope they will learn to be curious, look more closely, and welcome the surprises.

How did you choose the tracks for this mix?

LE: This mix illustrates how the music of Twin Peaks has influenced and inspired songwriters, musicians, and composers. I’ve included examples from Twin Peaks to highlight the correlation.

I used several cues that were created for the film and the series by manipulating Angelo [Badalamenti]’s music. The techniques I developed while working with David have informed my own musical style. The tracks I’m sharing of my recent work are from an upcoming release of A Cosmic Industrial Love Story, a collaboration with [musician] Dale Flattum called (LXD). I have also included several songs by songwriters who were inspired by both the story and the music of Twin Peaks. This mix takes a nostalgic journey through moods and textures reminiscent of the work of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti with deep respect to every person who ever worked with them to make their visions happen, every scholar that documented the work, and to the fans who keep the work alive.

Tracklist

Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch “Phillip Jefferies”
Lori Eschler & Dale Flattum (LXD) “Spokane World’s Fair 1974”
Angelo Badalamenti “Moving Through Time”
CC Nova “Song For Amelia Earhart”
Xiu Xiu “Falling”
Angelo Badalamenti & David Lynch “Teresa Banks”
Lori Eschler & Dale Flattum (LXD) “Dub Night”
Angelo Badalamenti “Theme From Fire Walk With Me”
Lori Eschler & Dale Flattum (LXD) “1,899 MILES”
Angelo Badalamenti “Dance Of The Dream Man”
Silencio “Slow Sin Jazz”
David Slusser & David Lynch “Deer Meadow Shuffle”
Jenny Gabrielsson Mare “The Black Lodge”
Angelo Badalamenti “Best Friends”
Angelo Badalamenti “Barbershop”
Scott Ryan “Fantastic”

The Wire 486 featured a cover designed by Lynch, an interview with the director and his music collaborator Chrystabell, and 12 pages of essays exploring the unique sound world created by his films. Buy a copy of the issue here. Subscribers can read the issue online in the digital archive.