{"id":2101584,"date":"2025-10-19T10:22:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T10:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2101584"},"modified":"2025-10-19T10:22:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T10:22:43","slug":"the-simpsons-makes-music-for-treehouse-of-horror-with-bleeding-fingers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-simpsons-makes-music-for-treehouse-of-horror-with-bleeding-fingers\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Simpsons’ makes music for ‘Treehouse of Horror’ with Bleeding Fingers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Matt Groening knows what a real theremin sounds like.<\/p>\n

As a kid who grew up on the celluloid junk food of the 1950s and \u201960s, \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d creator heard the ghostly wail of that early electronic instrument in sci-fi film scores and in albums by his beloved Frank Zappa. Its cousin, the ondes martenot<\/a>, was featured in one of Groening\u2019s favorite classical pieces \u2014 the \u201cTurangal\u00eela-symphonie<\/a>\u201d by Olivier Messiaen \u2014 which would inspire the name for a lead character in \u201cFuturama,\u201d Turanga Leela.<\/p>\n

So, when composer Alf Clausen was recruited in the sophomore season of Groening\u2019s popular new show about a yellow nuclear family and answered a request to use theremin<\/a> \u2014 a small lectern with two metal antennae sticking out, which a musician plays by moving their hand in the space between \u2014 in the inaugural \u201cTreehouse of Horror\u201d episode in October 1990, Groening immediately recognized it was a fake; it was bouncing around the scale in a way a real theremin can\u2019t do.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd [Clausen] admitted, yeah, it wasn\u2019t a theremin; it was a keyboard,\u201d Groening recalls. \u201cAnd it took many years for us to get a real theremin. The downside of the theremin is that it can\u2019t<\/i> play all the notes \u2014 but it\u2019s got a feel to it that is so great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clausen quickly became a fixture of \u201cThe Simpsons,\u201d scoring every episode from that first \u201cTreehouse of Horror,\u201d<\/a> now an annual Halloween tradition, all the way through the end of the 28th season, which wrapped in 2017, as well as composing many unforgettably funny songs with the show\u2019s writers. Groening often referred to Clausen as the show\u2019s \u201csecret weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
<\/picture>\n
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A scene from \u201cTreehouse of Horror XXXVI,\u201d this year\u2019s Halloween episode of \u201cThe Simpsons.\u201d<\/p>\n

(\u201cThe Simpsons\u201d & 20th Television)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

The show\u2019s producers were always pushing to save money, Groening says, and to have the show scored with synthesizers and a drum machine \u2014 par for the course for TV music in the 1990s. But Groening felt differently. \u201cI always thought that the music really helped the show in a way, because I thought the animation was kind of … primitive,\u201d Groening punctuates the word with a laugh, \u201cand I thought, man, though, if we have great orchestral music backing up these goofy drawings, it\u2019ll mean: \u2018Hey, we really meant it!\u2019 And Alf got that right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groening was none too happy, then, when Clausen was fired by Fox in 2017<\/a>. The official reason stated was the high cost of recording every episode with a live orchestra; but the veteran composer, who had previously scored TV series like \u201cMoonlighting\u201d and \u201cALF\u201d (no relation), was 76 when he got the boot, later suing Disney and Fox over age discrimination<\/u><\/a>. (Clausen died<\/a> earlier this year at age 84.)<\/p>\n

Enter Bleeding Fingers Music, a composer collective founded in 2014 by Hans Zimmer, Russell Emanuel and Steven Kofsky that has grown from its original six composers to a stable of 26. Zimmer had been a longtime go-to for \u201cSimpsons\u201d executive producer James L. Brooks, and he won over a skeptical Groening with his zany score for \u201cThe Simpsons Movie\u201d in 2007.<\/p>\n

With a composer void, Brooks approached Zimmer about taking over the series, and Zimmer proposed Bleeding Fingers \u2014 whose credits at that point included several entries in the \u201cPlanet Earth\u201d series and various History Channel documentaries and reality shows.<\/p>\n

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\"A <\/picture>\n
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Russell Emanuel of Bleeding Fingers.<\/p>\n

(Kevin Shelburne)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cIt took a long time for the decision to be made,\u201d says Emanuel, a cheeky Brit who got his start making soundalike rock albums in the 1980s and co-formed Extreme Music in 1997, a music library company that produced EDM tracks for shows like \u201cTop Gear.\u201d Zimmer was an early contributor to Extreme Music, and in 2001 the company moved into his vast Remote Control Productions campus in Santa Monica.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was taken very seriously,\u201d Emanuel adds. \u201cThe first I knew about it was Hans calling me into his room and going, \u2018We\u2019ve got \u201cSimpsons.\u201d Don\u2019t f\u2014 it up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It was an awkward arranged marriage for Groening \u2014 and a \u201cbaptism by fire\u201d for Emanuel and his cohort. They had an ample three weeks to tackle their very first episode, a \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d parody titled \u201cThe Serfsons,\u201d which featured some theremin solos. Groening asked if it was a live theremin. It was not, the new composers sheepishly replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could hear it immediately, and completely called us out on it,\u201d says Emanuel. \u201cWe had to go back and redo that whole thing. There were two or three big issues for him \u2014 but, you know, that was part of us learning the language.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a recent Friday morning on the Fox scoring stage, just around the corner from Groening\u2019s office of nearly four decades, the \u201cSimpsons\u201d creator was smiling as a live orchestra recorded the score for Sunday\u2019s new \u201cTreehouse of Horror\u201d episode (streaming next day on Hulu). There was a woodwind virtuoso, Pedro Eustache, making wild and beautiful sounds in an isolated booth with his arsenal of flutes \u2014 and out on the stage there was a real, live theremin.<\/p>\n

Running the session was Kara Talve, a young but dominant digit of Bleeding Fingers who has been the principal composer on \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d since Season 30; this is her sixth \u201cTreehouse of Horror\u201d episode. After graduating from Berklee College of Music, she took an assistant job at Bleeding Fingers \u2014 mostly, she says, because she wanted to work on \u201cThe Simpsons.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Kara <\/picture>\n
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Kara Talve of Bleeding Fingers, who has been the principal composer of \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d since Season 30.<\/p>\n

(Sage Etters)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cBut I had to convince Russell that I could do it,\u201d Talve says, sitting in her studio next to her boss. \u201cI don\u2019t think he trusted me yet. But also: Why would he, because I was like 5 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quickly apparent how self-deprecating and silly they both are \u2014 Emanuel recently got a tattoo of a Spotify code that, when scanned, triggers Justin Timberlake\u2019s \u201cSexyBack\u201d \u2014 but also how seriously they take this job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe responsibility of working on a show like this, we don\u2019t take it lightly,\u201d Talve says. \u201cAnd because I was so intrigued by the show, and I really, really wanted to work with Russell on \u2018The Simpsons,\u2019 I went back and I listened to those old episodes \u2014 because I want to honor the musical language that Alf left, and that Danny Elfman left.\u201d (Elfman composed the iconic theme song, which Emanuel and Talve consider \u201cthe heart of the show.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s a very specific palette,\u201d she adds. \u201cLike, not to get too nerdy about it, but there really is this harmonic language that\u2019s only in Springfield.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are other, subtle ingredients to a good \u201cSimpsons\u201d score: For instance, the music should (usually) duck out of the way for the verbal or visual punchline. And the show has always overflowed with pop culture references and spoofs, which requires an almost bottomless well of musical knowledge. That\u2019s one area where having two dozen other composers working in the same building comes in handy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this adaptability that you have to have on this show,\u201d says Talve, \u201cand it\u2019s every genre under the sun, and you kind of just have to figure out how to do that. And Russ was a big part in teaching me, because he\u2019s the king of production music.\u201d She adds that the composers in the collective also play a variety of instruments, so \u201cI can just ask them to come in and play this line, because we can\u2019t sell it to the showrunners if it sounds too fake.\u201d<\/p>\n

The average \u201cSimpsons\u201d episode has between five and 10 minutes of score \u2014 which might sound like easy street.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amount of starts is very challenging,\u201d Talve says. \u201cAnd it is deceiving. People go, \u2018Five minutes? Oh, you\u2019re just doing a bunch of stings\u2019 or whatever. But I want to debunk this because it\u2019s actually way harder, for me personally, to do 30 short cues for one episode than to have one long cue that\u2019s five minutes because the amount of emotional turns that the music has to have, and that you have to hit all this stuff within 10 seconds \u2014 it\u2019s actually really frickin\u2019 hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

(In 2014, Clausen told me he always joked that \u201cI can make you feel five ways in 13 seconds.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n
\"A <\/picture>\n
\n

The Simpson family in a segment from this year\u2019s \u201cTreehouse of Horror.\u201d<\/p>\n

(\u201cThe Simpsons\u201d & 20th Television)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Most episodes are recorded with small ensembles at the Bleeding Fingers facility, but the \u201cTreehouse of Horror\u201d chapters are special; they tend to have wall-to-wall music, and the producers splurge on a full orchestral session at Fox \u2014 just like the old days.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s anthology spoofs \u201cJaws,\u201d \u201cLate Night With the Devil\u201d and \u201cFuriosa.\u201d Talve\u2019s score bobs and weaves accordingly, from big brassy horror to eerie synths to world percussion and a custom-made plastic flute.<\/p>\n

Groening, who was full of praise for Talve\u2019s \u201cTreehouse\u201d score, has gradually warmed to the Bleeding Fingers team approach \u2014 viewing it less like a factory churning out product and more like the way animators work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nature of animation, with maybe two or three exceptions in the history of the medium \u2014 it\u2019s all a collaboration,\u201d Groening says. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of \u2018Simpsons\u2019 writers, we have a lot of voice actors, a lot of animators, a lot of musicians. I mean, one of the great things about that particular session was that these are some of the greatest musicians in Los Angeles, playing amazing music.\u201d<\/p>\n

He even wishes people could witness it in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be live concerts of this music because it is so much fun to listen to,\u201d he says.\u201d And it gets a little constrained, you know, when it\u2019s supporting goofy animation \u2014 but as music, it\u2019s really fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt Groening knows what a real theremin sounds like. As a kid who grew up on the celluloid junk food of the 1950s and \u201960s, \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d creator heard the ghostly wail of that early electronic instrument in sci-fi film scores and in albums by his beloved Frank Zappa. Its cousin, the ondes martenot, was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2101585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2101584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/The-Simpsons-makes-music-for-Treehouse-of-Horror-with-Bleeding.com2F1b2F8f2F62d6f90b43938fb1645f4271.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2101584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2101584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2101584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2101586,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2101584\/revisions\/2101586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2101585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2101584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2101584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2101584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}