Anthony Baldino

Hollywood’s trailer soundtrack artist du jour talks to James Russell about hanging with soundtrack royalty, working on his special edition Nebulae module and happening upon an ARP 2600 with a story to tell…

- James Russell

In 2020, movie trailers have grown to become cinematic events in their own right, with major projects like Star Wars announcing release dates for the latest promotional shorts – never mind the film itself. Naturally, in this world of previews for previews, a trailer’s audio has to be louder, better and more polished than the next one’s. It’s all in a day’s work for Anthony Baldino.

“It’s funny, when I first got started, I didn’t even think about trailer music being its own genre,” says Baldino. “A lot of people think they would just pull the music from the movie. But there’s so much that goes into these trailers. All the Star Wars trailer work I’ve done was an awesome experience, and I’m so grateful to be invited into that world and to get to pay homage to the mighty John Williams!”

If you’ve seen a movie trailer in the last six years, the chances are that at least a handful of sounds within have come from Anthony Baldino’s studio. With his list of trailer credits spanning horror, sci-fi and action/adventure, including many recent Marvel movies, his new album, Twelve Twenty Two, is packed with analogue modular character, spacious synth rolls, ambient soundscapes and hard-hitting drums. It’s cinematic, sure, but there’s a sense of musical purpose that’s clearly been bursting to get out.

It must be great to be involved with so many cinematic worlds, but how hard is it to distil everything into its purest form for the trailer?