How Inon Zur orchestrated Imagine Dragons’ hits for Hollywood Bowl performance

Composer Inon Zur, best known for his scores for Fallout and Starfield, delves into his role for Imagine Dragons: Live From The Hollywood Bowl, a concert (and soon-to-be-released, film) which featured his orchestral arrangements of the band’s hits played by the LA Film Orchestra, including Children of The Sky - A Starfield Song, which, incidentally, just became the first song transmitted to earth from the moon. “The event itself was, ‘Shoot for the sky.’ Let's put it that way,” smiles Zur, speaking to Headliner from his home in Southern California.

During the nearly two-hour concert, the band fused their explosive, cathartic sound with gorgeous, intricate symphonic arrangements played on stage by over 50 musicians. The one night-only event introduced many young fans to their first ever orchestral performance and gave the band’s OG fans a night to remember.

Conducting an orchestra is one thing, but doing so with a globally renowned rock band that had never worked with an orchestra before in front of thousands of fans is another. Zur reveals that he pulled it off with a lot of preparation, and a little luck.

“I don't want to say the words ‘sheer luck’, but I'll just give you the dry facts: I have never performed or conducted an orchestra in this kind of live setting,” says Zur. 

“They had never performed live with an orchestra. We had only one rehearsal before the show. So you take these three facts, then you look at the concert, and you tell me that it's not sheer luck,” he laughs.

“But seriously, I prepared a lot, including plan B, plan C, Plan D, Plan E. If something were to go wrong, I had prepared so that everything would go smoothly, taking into consideration the fact that I'm inexperienced with this kind of scenario, and they are totally inexperienced with this kind of scenario. 

"It took days and days of preparation before the concert to ensure the whole thing would go smoothly. So I love luck, but I never let luck conduct outcomes.”

Despite his rigorous preparation, Zur couldn’t help but feel nervous before the opening number: “The nerve-wracking moment was when the concert started,” he nods. 

“I had prepared for it and the band are pros, but they had never performed with an orchestra, and by the way, I can’t speak highly enough about the professionality of the Los Angeles Film orchestra, who only had one and a half rehearsals with us and played it like they played it all their lives,” he points out.

“I stood there and the first note started. I started conducting, and I knew that the band would either come at the right moment, or not, and if they were not going to come in at the right moment, then I would have to improvise. That was a bit of a nerve-wracking moment. 

"I looked at [Imagine Dragons’ lead singer] Dan Reynolds, and he looked so relaxed, like he’d been doing it all his life, and I just knew it was gonna be okay.”

The concert featured the live premiere of Children of The Sky - A Starfield Song, a collaboration between Zur and the band to celebrate Bethesda's space exploration adventure Starfield, which is where his collaboration with the band started.

“I was approached by a producer from Interscope and he said that Imagine Dragons are avid, passionate gamers, and they would like to contribute or be involved somehow with Starfield,” Zur recalls. 

“I said, ‘Wow, that's a huge honour’, because I have known and loved their music for a long time. The connection was made, and they started working on a song, and we went back and forth a little bit, and then they created this really great song called Children Of The Sky, and sent it to me.”

Zur thought it was perfect, but then had to consider how to make it fit within the Starfield world. “I basically took the hook – the main motif from the Starfield main theme – and started inserting it into their melody, and they were gracious enough to actually adjust to this. 

"We recorded it and the song went out, and I think this was the first time they were exposed to the majestic effect that a symphonic orchestra could have when it came to their songs.”

From here sparked an idea to incorporate an orchestra into the song, and the rest is history: “I said, ‘Okay, but how about we do a whole concert with orchestral arrangements?’ 

"They totally went with me on that and graced me with a lot of leeway and creative freedom to do whatever I wanted with the orchestra and their songs,” says Zur. “The whole collaboration process was amazing. It was really a dream come true.”

From there, it was up to Zur to work out how to blend the band's dynamic rock sound with symphonic arrangements, which he says wasn’t as difficult as it sounds.

“It's weird to say, but with their rock sound, I always heard an orchestra there,” he says. “So for me it was always there – it was just not audible. So when I arranged Radioactive or other amazing songs that they have, the orchestral part already was there. 

"Their writing is epic and almost symphonic, and the chords and the way the songs are built really accommodate the orchestral treatment. The big challenge was that I know what I like, but will the fans that have heard these songs for so many years in their original form accept it? How would they adjust to it? 

"I must say that I was a little nervous, but luckily, it was accepted very warmly and with a lot of enthusiasm, which was a great relief.”

The set included reimagined arrangements of Imagine Dragons staples like Radioactive, Demons, and Believer. Zur explains that when it came to the orchestral arrangements, he could have approached it in two ways:

“The first way, which will be obvious, is that Believer has a set of chords, so I could do an accompaniment where the strings and the rhythm section will play the same chords that the guitar plays, with some drums, low strings and some brass. 

"The other way is to take the song and use it as an opportunity to create an orchestral hook that will play alongside the song, and create melodic lines that were not there before. This way it could complement, emphasise and transform the song into something different. Obviously, this second option was way more challenging, so of course, I went for that,” he grins.

Inside Zur’s studio, he shares a key piece of gear he couldn’t do his work without: “I have been using my Genelec monitors since 2001,” he enthuses. 

“In fact, I worked with Florence and the Machine for Dragon Age 2, and then JJ Puig, the famous mixer for The Rolling Stones and other huge rock bands, mixed our version of the song. I went to his studio, and he has the exact same Genelec monitors. I thought, ‘Well, if he's using them, then I know they’re okay!’

“The great thing about the Genelecs is they are very balanced speakers, but they go as low as 30dB, so I do not need to use a subwoofer at all. The second thing is they possess a perfect balance between being a professional studio monitor, but not dry, because when I'm composing, I need excitement. 

"And they do have really brilliant highs, and the resonance is really vibrant from the Genelecs. I get as close as we can to a nominal and objective mix that will sound pretty much the same on any platform, and that's very challenging.

“The Genelecs are very reliable when it comes to what you hear. They give you everything, and you can trust what you hear. It's great to mix with them, but it's also great to compose with them. They're a perfect combination and I have no intention to replace them.”

Imagine Dragons fans around the world can experience the GRAMMY Award-winning rock band’s Hollywood Bowl residency when Imagine Dragons: Live From The Hollywood Bowl (with the LA Film Orchestra) comes to cinemas worldwide on Wednesday, March 26, and Saturday, March 29, courtesy of Trafalgar Releasing.

Listen to the full interview with Zur on the project in the audio podcast below:

Live photos in concert at Hollywood Bowl: Andi Elloway