Fall On Your Sword: Meet the Music and Sound Studio with a Cutting Edge

The respective crafts behind music and sound are, of course, totally distinct. Whilst sound carries the capacity to utterly immerse audiences in new worlds, music acts like an emotional trigger - changing the mood and feel of a scene. 

So, whilst the two arts are distinct, they’re also complementary. That’s why Will Bates and Lucy Alper have developed a fresh and holistic approach to both through their award-winning studio Fall On Your Sword. Initially founded by Will in 2009 and now with studios in LA, Fall On Your Sword has built up its name through stellar audio work across commercials, TV, film, and even interactive art installations. Underpinning it all has been that desire to bring as much cohesion as possible to the respective crafts of music and sound. 

There are no shortage of examples for the approach playing out in practice, but one of the most notable is the studio’s work with Siemens Wind Energy. “The job came in as the production company was looking for a sound artist who could make sounds from wind,” recalls Lucy. “And who could go to Iowa, record wind sounds, and be shot on camera as the subject of a docu-style long form spot”. 

Once in Iowa, Will set to work creating a rendition of Johann Strauss’ The Blue Danube purely from recordings he’d made from turbine factories, wind farms, and general wind sounds. 

“The spot won a bunch of awards that year which was really extraordinary for us as it was so beautifully sound-centric”, continues Lucy. “About a year or so later, we were engaged by the agency to collaborate on a follow up project - to build an interactive installation that would be featured at the AWEA Windpower convention in Orlando, FL. So we built a giant wall of screens and a custom mellotron synth that when played, would trigger different shots of ‘wind’ from the original Iowa shoot”. 

It’s just one example of how Fall On Your Sword’s open-minded approach to music and sound can bring about exceptional rewards. When asked to pick out a project that he feels best exemplifies the studio’s work, Will immediately jumps to something more recent. 

“The projects I’m always most excited about tend to be the ones I’ve just finished!”, he notes. “I recently scored a movie called Dumb Money directed by Craig Gillespie about the Gamestop short that happened a few years ago. Craig wanted an electronic score but with some kind of unusual twist. I suggested using low brass and woodwinds to evoke the sound of a coal miner's brass band - all recorded at Fall On Your Sword”. 

Will’s idiosyncratic idea got the green light, and the studio founder set to work on a typically out-of-the-box solution. “I wrote the theme for the main character Roaring Kitty on an esoteric synth originally intended to be a Japanese Poetry trainer”, he tells LBB. “That strange device now sits alongside all our other weird singular instruments in a backroom we call ‘The Orphanage’. Imagine the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but for single-use musical instruments”. 

Whilst Lucy and Will’s approach to music and sound carries a lot of genuine creative value, it’s obvious that the pair also have a lot of fun in doing so. Reflecting on how the studio first came to life, both the EP and composer recount an entirely organic story. 

“We met working together at Amber Music many moons ago in NYC. Will was an in-house composer writing music for ads by day and working on indie film scores after hours”, says Lucy. “I was producing there at the time, but also wanted to figure out how to incorporate my love of film and film music into work. We realised we both wanted to create an environment where music for all mediums could flourish and grow, and thus Fall On Your Sword the music production company was born”. 

At which point, they both had the opportunity to dive deeper into their central idea of bringing greater cohesion between music and sound design. “Creatively I spend a lot of time in that blurred area where sound design and music intersect, and where there’s a seamless handoff between some abstract musical idea and atmospheric design”, explains Will. “When the two are made in tandem, we’ve realised that something special can happen and any collaboration with sound designers during the writing process is something I often try to make happen. Putting it all under one roof just seemed to make sense to us”. 

It’s an offering on which Fall On Your Sword is continuing to deliver - not least including the recent addition of a Dolby Atmos mix stage in their Los Angeles studio. “Our 7.1 mix stage in NY was wired for Atmos, and built with the intention of upgrading as soon as the technology was available”, says Lucy. “At the time in 2014 it seemed like it was something that would take off at any moment. But when we relocated to LA three years later Atmos still wasn’t getting the traction we thought it would, and so we didn’t bother to build it into our initial design. We recently got a call about a Netflix feature film score that also wants us to mix it, and sure enough Atmos was part of the required deliverables. We agreed to take on the project, hung up the phone, and immediately started making plans to upgrade the stage”. 

As a result, the studio’s capabilities have levelled up once again. “The first time I had an opportunity to work in Atmos was for Mike Cahill’s feature I Origins”, says Will. “It won a Dolby grant which funded an Atmos mix for its premiere at Sundance. We mixed at Skywalker, and of course I was blown away by the sonic possibilities Atmos can offer”. 

But more than the technical offerings, it’s Fall On Your Sword’s holistic approach to music and sound which seems to have found its perfect moment for the way the wider industry is evolving.

“The whole notion of cross pollinating the various disciplines we involve ourselves in has become more normalised for a variety of reasons”, observes Lucy. “People seem to be branching out into all sorts of areas of the industry that they never expected to be in - and we want to be right there to help them”. 

Finishing the point, Will notes how he’s witnessed that trend play out since first arriving at the company’s LA outpost. “We’ve only been in Los Angeles a few years and already we’ve found a great community of collaborators. I see that circle of people widening, more people coming to our place to mix, to have their projects scored, and just to hang out”, he predicts. 

“Well, either that or I’ll have been squashed flat by the weight of one too many analogue synths!”