Movie and TV studios do n’t often seek out the expertness of Stephen Kent Goodman , the owner of a company that provides euphony transcription services for enthusiasts of player pianos . So when the production squad behindHBO’sWestworldsolicited Goodman ’s helper in produce the bespoke customs duty rolls seen on the hit show , he was understandably psyched , if not a little daunted .
" They were under deadline , " said Goodman in a recent telephone set interview with Thrillist from theGnaw - Vol - ty Rollsworkshop in California . " They presented what we perceived as a about inconceivable labor that had to be nail within a very short timeframe . pealing - arranging and -perforating does n’t work like that . It ’s a lengthy process . "
The request to produce authentic scroll fit withWestworldcreators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy ’s ( expensive ! ) commitment to depicting the common as a meticulously crafted vacation experience for the very rich . So , despite his misgivings about the time constraints , Goodman was eager to work on a project that would shed luminosity on the melodious instrument , popular in the late-19th and early-20th hundred , that he touch on to as " America ’s well - maintain antique secret . "
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If you ’ve caughtthe ambitious sci - fi seriessince itspremiereon October 2nd , you ’ve visit and heard the end ware of Goodman ’s meticulous work : the player piano featured in the initiative credits ( above ) and scenes set at the Mariposa Saloon , soundtracked by distinctive old - timey renditions of Soundgarden ’s " Black Hole Sun " and Radiohead ’s " No Surprises . " As we afterward give away , Anthony Hopkins ' Dr. Robert Ford also keep one in his office . Goodman , who dropped out of the euphony program at USC to prentice with a repairer of ego - playing instruments , found the player pianoforte every moment as appealing . " It was the answer to my prayers because there were no human being involved in the instruments , " said Goodman . " There ’s no arguing . You just do the gyre and stick the thing on and there you go . "
Despite how easy Goodman makes it voice , the actual appendage of creating a piano bowl is a painstaking one – though modern computer technology has sped it since the 1920s when composer like Igor Stravinsky used the role player pianoforte to create original authorship . After accepting theWestworldjob , Goodman was send out a MIDI file of the composition he require to work on . He then used his own notation platform to interpret the canonic sound data file into a " cutting file , " which the perforator creative person apply to punch twat in the paper and create the roll . When spun through the actor pianissimo , the roll creates the music you hear inWestworld’sbrothel .
The skill Seth required to create an original roll is implausibly rarified . The perforator artist who work with Goodman lives across the body politic from him in Georgia . Because of the production caller ’s meter compaction , the finished roll had to be overnighted by FedEx back to California to meetWestworld ’s tight yield deadline . " We made the last flight of steps to LA , " says Goodman .
As originative as the use of the machine is onWestworld , Nolan and Joy are hardly the first skill - fable writers to use the role player forte-piano as potent metaphor for humanity ’s human relationship to technology . In 1952 , a then-30 - year - sure-enough Kurt Vonnegut release his unveiling novel with the titlePlayer Piano , which depicted a highly mechanized , post - WWIII society where middle - course jobs have been eliminated by highly efficient machines . Vonnegut used the the date reparation of early 1900s saloon life as symbol for a world running without human involvement , placing it at the center of a scene early in the book of account that takes place at a rundown bar favored by small - class patron . The player forte-piano clang aside as they drink off their sorrows . " make you feel kind of creepy , do n’t it , " remarks one of the characters after pick up the self - wager legal document in action . " watch them keys go up and down ? you’re able to almost see a ghost sitting there playing his heart out . "
Ever the optimist , Stephen Kent Goodman sees the contraption as something less ominous but just as fantastical . " They ’re meter machine , " he says . " The machine does n’t know it ’s not 1912 . And there it is smash out something that ’s a current strike of the day all on vacuum and pressure technology . "
alas , it ’s a time car that ’s harder and harder to find – at least outside of premium cable dramas starring Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood . accord to Goodman , many of the most beautiful ego - playing melodious pawn are owned by private collector and not routinely put on public display . He says that he care to prioritise his repair business on machines that will be exhibit at museums , local business , fairs , or other public surface area . It ’s light to see why he would be fearful about the histrion pianoforte ’s time to come : now the iPod is dismissed as a patch of superannuated technology . For Vonnegut and forWestworld , the player piano is a symbol of a descend world . For Goodman , it ’s just waiting to be distinguish .
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" There ’s a whole generation that ’s waiting for it , " he says . " That ’s what motivated me to cease what I was doing and take on thisWestworldassignment . I thought , ' They ’re move to get through a pot of younger people with this and it needs to be done right . ' So , they come to the right place . "
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