Elfman’s Mysterious Mallet Instrument

[Chris]

Hey everybody, I’m new here.

I’m a huge Elfman fan, have been since I was young, and I pride myself on collecting as much of his work as possible. I’m an amateur composer, and my work is strongly influenced by Elfman’s.

Listening to his scores as religiously as I do, I can’t help but notice certain patterns. Sounds and motifs he repeats. Now I’m not talking about his obvious use of bells or the like, that’s a given. For example, the bullroarer sound you hear in the beginning of the Dead Presidents theme is the same sound you hear at the end of the Main Titles for The Frighteners. Repeating motifs in music have always fascinated me, and often times I can chalk up such strange sounds to synths Danny may have created over the course of his career that he likes to recycle.

There is, however, one instrument (I don’t believe it’s a synth) that I cannot place. I cannot for the life of me figure out what this instrument is. I’ve determined based on its timbre that it’s some kind of metallophone, perhaps with tubular bars since it sounds so similar to a wind chime. It has a wide tonal range, able to play very low notes and very high ones. I want more than anything to use this instrument in my work, but after all my research I have yet to find an instrument that sounds the same.

It is used very prominently in the Dead Presidents score. It comes in at around 38 seconds in the main theme, playing a steady tap of one note until 46 seconds in where the pace quickens and two notes are played in succession. It’s also very prominent in the piece “Nam”, where it’s the very first thing you hear before the drums set in. Dead Presidents is the only score I’ve heard it with such clarity. In his other work, it serves mainly as a backing instrument.

It makes appearances in his score for Men in Black (it can be heard clearly in the closing theme not 2 or 3 seconds in, played in the lower register), Nightbreed, Mars Attacks, Hellboy: Golden Army, and Planet of the Apes.

I’m around exotic instruments all the time, and despite my search I have yet to find a matching sound.
I already know it’s not a marimba, xylophone, balaphone, glockenspiel, or celeste. It could possibly be nothing more than a standard bass metallophone, but I have yet to hear one of these played low enough to confirm this. I’ve looked into several gamelan instruments, and though some come close, none of them sound quite right. Based on my search, I’m led to believe it does indeed have a similar construct to a windchime. I’ve tapped a couple larger windchimes together, and the sound was almost identical to some of the higher notes I’ve heard in Elfman’s work.

I know Elfman builds some of his own instruments, and it could simply be this is a sound of his own design.

I dont know how many avid instrumentalist geeks there are on this forum, but any help would be greatly appreciated!

[D-Bo]

If I’m recognizing correctly the instrument(s) you’re referring to, I’m pretty sure it’s part of a Gamelan ensemble. Check out the Wikipedia entry and this video example. Hope that helps!

[Mr. Dantz]

I’m fairly certain that’s a Verrophone (or a sample of one) played with mallets. I’ve used the same instrument sound in my compositions.

Edit: Either that or it’s a Gamelon instrument, as D-Bo pointed out. They kind of have a similar sound.

[Chris]

Thanks for the help, I’ll look into it. Any other suggestions are still welcome.
I’ve experienced firsthand the playing of several gamelan instruments, none of which sounded quite right, but there are still many I haven’t heard too.

The verrophone suggestion is interesting. I’ve never heard one played with a mallet, perhaps I can find a sample of one.

EDIT: After listening to some samples of glass marimba, I can say that this mystery instrument may indeed be glass. Though the marimba didn’t have the same tone, it was certainly similar, especially in the lower registers. Despite my search, I cannot find any samples of verrophone played with mallets. If anyone could provide me with an audio or video sample, that would be wonderful!

[reza]

38 seconds into Dead President? That’s Javanese gamelan from my country, Indonesia.

[Chris]

Which instrument?
Gamelan refers to the whole group. I need to know the specific instrument.

The standard Javanese Gamelan ensemble consists of:

Bonang
Saron
Demung
Peking
Slenthem
Gender
Gongs (Ageng, Suwuk, Kempul)
Kenong
Kendhang
Kethuk
Kempyang

Do you know which one of these, if any, is what appears in Dead Presidents and his other scores?
Based on what I’ve heard, it could be a Slenthem or Demung, or even Kenong, but I’ve had the opportunity to work with most of these live and they haven’t given me the same sound.

[Anonymous]

His instrument is a balophone (balaphone?)

i’m not sure of too many of the details about it, but I believe Elfman made his own

it’s now owned by Rob of Dead Mans Party, an Oingo Boingo cover band from so cal

If you are ever in so cal, I reccommend seeing them. Rob plays the balophone during
Grey Matter..

I have a picture but I don’t know how to post it.

[Chris]

I said in my first post I already know it’s not a balaphon.

[Mr. Dantz]

Well, it COULD be depending on the materials used to make it. You’re never going to get the exact sound unless you use the exact instrument that Elfman used, and PLAY it in the same fashion. There’s just no way around it – every instrument has differences, subtle or otherwise, as does each player. The best you can do is get a close approximation, or better yet, formulate your OWN sound.

[sajrocks]

Agree is sounds like glass. Could be Partch’s Cloud Chamber Bowl (http://www.harrypartch.com/ccbphoto.htm) sampled and pitched up a bit.

The real thing is much lower. You can hear/play the instrument here:

http://musicmavericks.publicradio.org/features/feature_partch.html#

saj

[Chris]

Thanks for all your help.
I’m gunna go on a bit of a hunt now.

[reza]

Sorry for the late response, I don’t visit this board very frequent.

Unfortunately I’m not familiar with each gamelan instruments. The instrument 38 seconds into Dead Presidents, I don’t think it’s saron, demung, peking, slenthem or gender. Definitely not kendang.

The instrument has the same shape with gong, but it’s not gong. It’s either bonang, kenong, kethuk or kempyang. It’s the smaller one I think. Sorry couldn’t be more specific..

Chris Wrote:

---

> Which instrument?
> Gamelan refers to the whole group. I need to know
> the specific instrument.
>
> The standard Javanese Gamelan ensemble consists
> of:
>
> Bonang
> Saron
> Demung
> Peking
> Slenthem
> Gender
> Gongs (Ageng, Suwuk, Kempul)
> Kenong
> Kendhang
> Kethuk
> Kempyang
>
> Do you know which one of these, if any, is what
> appears in Dead Presidents and his other scores?
> Based on what I’ve heard, it could be a Slenthem
> or Demung, or even Kenong, but I’ve had the
> opportunity to work with most of these live and
> they haven’t given me the same sound.

[Author]

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