The Conjuring (soundtrack)

James Wan asked on Bishara's involvement even before the film began production and the studio and producers were supportive of his decision to recruit the crew members he worked on Insidious.[1] The soundtrack consisted of a larger pallete with the scoring process taking a longer time with more people being involved. He started working on the score along with Insidious, so that he could explore and develop the sonic pallete with the heightened focus on the details of the film. He also visited the sets during production so that he could connect with the characters and the aspects of their stories involved. He also met Lorraine Warren (her character was not credited in the film) during the sets, where he went to her home and the museum of haunted artifacts in the basement.[2]

As an early response to the material, he collected some of the brass clustered sounds which provided a "quiet shimmering flutter tonge effect" and it became the primary sound for the film.[3] Avant-garde musician Diamanda Galás contributed to the score; she performed raw vocal improvisation on top of the previously recorded brass instrumentation at Capitol Studios. Much of the score followed the brass motions and as she heard some of the material, she decided to layer her multi-tracked vocals to improvise the brass recordings and then takes the shape from there. Composer Mark Isham also performed one of the themes entitled "Family Theme".[4]

Justin Chang of Variety commented "composer Joseph Bishara supplies another deranged symphony of screeching strings, working in nerve-shredding counterpoint to the film’s inventive soundscape of bumps, creaks, whispers and pauses."[5] Tim Grierson of Screen International wrote "composer Joseph Bishara has fashioned an elegant, restrained score that rarely oversells the shocks, preferring a quietly insistent mood of slithering unease to produce its desired effects."[6] Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter commented that "the churn and squall" of Bishara's score heightens the mood.[7] Kanika Johri of Hindustan Times wrote "the film is effective primarily due to its sudden sound transitions combined with the A-tonal music, kudos to Joseph Bishara and Mark Crozer for that."[8]

Music critic Jonathan Broxton gave a negative review, summarizing "The Conjuring is a vacuum, with an almost total lack of any sort of thematic presence, melody, harmony, or emotional connection besides the pervading sense of fear."[9]

Credits adapted from CD liner notes.[10]