Alexander Bornstein has had a vast career that blends music and entertainment together. His credits include The CW’s Supernatural and film comedies Ride Along, Sausage Party and Pitch Perfect 3. Bornstein is now the composer of the new Netflix special animated series Transformers: War for Cybertron. The first six episodes, SIEGE, debut this Thursday July 30th.

Jackson Murphy: My introduction to the world of Transformers was the 2007 blockbuster movie. What was your intro?

Alexander Bornstein: I go back a little bit farther. My first memory of Transformers was watching G1 on the Syfy channel around 1992/’93 when they first started broadcasting an animation block in the morning. The first anime I ever saw was in that block, and the first Transformers I ever saw was in that block. I was into the show for a little while as a kid. I had missed the initial hype of the ’80s when it was out, so there weren’t a lot of toys to get at the time. There wasn’t a lot of merchandise to bite into it. I didn’t get as deep into the fandom as I could have. But that was my first exposure to Transformers and the mythology of it all.

I watched a little bit of Beast Wars and I would keep up with the franchise here and there. And then the next big introduction is kind of similar to you: the 2007 movie. It really kind of caught me off-guard: the fact that they got Peter Cullen to come back as Optimus Prime, and it was such a rush of nostalgia I hadn’t been expecting. G1 and the 2007 film both have special places in my heart.

JM: And when you got the opportunity to be a part of this new special series, did it instantly take you back to watching that first series in ’92/’93?

AB: Oh yeah. It was a really surreal thing. As a composer you’re always thinking, ‘Oh, what if I did this and what if I did that?’ on all the franchises that are out there. It was surreal and humbling to realize, ‘I am actually gonna have to come-up with ideas for Optimus Prime and Megatron’ and things that will resonate with the show but also stand alongside all the other great music that’s already in the Transformers franchise.

JM: When Optimus Prime comes-in in that first episode, what does it mean to you to help bring in the entrance of such an iconic character?

AB: It was very daunting, and that particular moment I probably wrote four or five versions before I finally felt comfortable submitting one for F.J. [Desanto, Executive Producer] and team to review. It was a lot of pressure in wanting to make sure… when Prime shows-up in the series for the first time, it’s kind of like Batman. He rolls in as he does and takes control of the situation, and it’s a really great moment. I wanted to make sure the music was keeping up with the visuals. Basically it was capturing that heroic essence of Prime was a big challenge, but I hopefully pulled it off.

JM: Yes, you did. And in listening to the music in the first couple episodes, it blends electronic vibes with this classic, rousing feel. How did you approach that balance?

AB: It took some trial and error. As you get the feel for the project (and every project is like that), you’re kind of like a chef and experimenting with different levels. I was directed early on by F.J. that he wanted a very strong, hybrid sound. And that’s something that I really like doing as a composer: melding organic sounds with more electronic, processed sounds like analog synthesizers or heavily effected processed organic material.

What we did… is do the three principal themes that anchor the musical world of the show. Then it was a matter of finding a handful of electronic sounds that I like and a handful of orchestral palettes and melding them together and seeing how they work with the context of the show.

JM: And there’s big action moments. Characters are moving around all the time. Are you working with the sound effects teams and the editing teams on that timing?

AB: Not until the final mix, but usually I work to a temp sound mix. To the show’s credit, I get a lot of room to really be the first person to take a stake in the sound of the show. The sound designers are doing their thing, and they do an amazing job with the show. But I kind of get free reign to establish a lot of these hit points in the sequences. They’re already rendered when I work to them, but I get a lot of opportunity, especially in that first Megatron and Prime fight in Episode 1, they just want you to go balls to the wall with the music all the time.

So it’s a lot of fun to really amp it up, and it’s why the orchestra becomes so useful in those situations. I love analog synthesis as much as the next person, but sometimes you really do need an orchestral foundation to get that rousing feeling or that really tense drama. Especially too, when you go to the opposite and some of the emotional moments, you really do need the lush strings or the single melodies. As cool as all those textures are, you do need a strong thematic base to support all of that.

JM: So do you feel like some of the sound and editing teams are taking cues from you? Since you have such free reign, do you realize that some things are shifting a little bit because of the work that I’ve put in?

AB: That’s a good question. There are times where I’ve definitely noticed that the sound design kind of dips down so the music can actually come to the front of the party, and that’s really exciting as a composer. You sometimes don’t get that creative latitude, so it’s really exciting when all these really cool sound effects are going on – but then they come down so the music can come-in and get sweeping and take part in the storytelling of the show. It’s not just wallpaper.

JM: Because this is three parts, is there a little more pressure to have to do three different story arcs, and why do you think the team decided to break this up into three parts?

AB: The challenge is to make sure that you’re staying fresh. Once you establish these themes, you have to make sure you’re staying on top of the variety. And also too, we definitely wanted to have a very distinct structure for each chapter. SIEGE has a very specific sound. And when we moved on to EARTHRISE [coming soon], which I’m currently working on, we decided to develop the palette further and go in a direction that still carries along a lot of what we did in SIEGE but EARTHRISE ups the dramatic stakes and dramatic content of the music. As much as it’s daunting, it’s an exciting challenge because you know the pressure is on you to make sure that whatever you’re doing is impressive and making some kind of impact on the show. And it’ll be the same case with the third chapter as well.

JM: I heard the third chapter doesn’t have the title [unveiled] yet.

AB: Not yet.

JM: Do you know it and just can’t reveal it?

AB: I can’t get into anything. (laughs)

JM: Okay. So you’re working on EARTHRISE from home – how has that been for you?

AB: It’s been good. I transitioned to working from home in 2018, actually. I used to be in a studio in Los Angeles, and I was renting there. I’ve since re-packaged, moved my studio out, and now am just based at home. I was doing some recording for the show at Sonic Fuel Studios [in Los Angeles], but obviously because of the pandemic, we’ve had to scale that back. But everyone’s been really flexible and great with adapting to that change. I send the materials to them and they send them back to me. I get everything ready to go – it goes off to the mixer, who can also work from home. It’s been surprisingly organic, the sort of transitioning into this workflow, which I’m thankful for because I know some people have had a hard time.

JM: But you’ve been preparing for this the last couple years by working at home!

AB: Right. Who would’ve thought? (laughs)

JM: And it seems like it wouldn’t have been a faster process if all of this was done the normal way.

AB: We’ve kind of been full steam ahead since I started on the show in August 2019. I talked with them a little bit, and then in August I wrote the themes. And in September I started working on the first couple episodes of SIEGE. And I’ve been doing a couple episodes at a time since. Now I’m in the middle of EARTHRISE. I’m equally excited for that to come out too. There’s so many cool surprises for fans of the show.

JM: What do you think is the lasting appeal of this franchise and these characters?

AB: I think it’s a very timeless story about good vs. evil. I think that people really gravitate towards a character like Optimus Prime, who’s this embodiment of what you want people to be. That’s what keeps me coming back to it. For younger fans, there’s something cool about the transformation from a truck to a robot has this sort of innate appeal. I think the themes that it talks about are always relevant in one form or another. There’s a timelessness to all of that, and the characters have been around for so long now they just feel part of the pop culture lexicon. And I’m excited for people to see War for Cybertron because I think we go a little bit deeper than fans have seen before with these characters and getting into Megatron and Optimus Prime’s heads. They’re still the characters that everybody knows and loves, but we get to hear a little bit more about what makes them tick. It adds a nice nuance to everything.