The Mysterious Composer Who Remade the Sound of Podcasts

Breakmaster Cylinder takes off the helmet

In the frenetic ecosystem of podcasting, one figure has quietly shaped what we hear before our favorite shows begin. Working under the pseudonym Breakmaster Cylinder, this anonymous composer has created ~200 podcast themes, establishing the sonic DNA of everything from Reply All to Today Explained. Charlie recently had the rare opportunity to speak with the person behind the helmet about their creative process, the art of mystery, and how they became the Hans Zimmer of podcasting.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts

Do you mind introducing yourself?

My name is sort of Breakmaster Cylinder. I mean, my parents didn't name me Breakmaster Cylinder. They're not that insane.

How did podcasting even happen for you?

Alex Goldman (former host of Reply All, current host of HyperFixed). He listened to my albums and he saw weird things I put on YouTube and one day he tweeted, if I ever have a podcast, I will have Breakmaster Cylinder write my theme song. They started calling me the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder. And that I think works on people. Everyone likes mystery.

Is it fun to be mysterious?

Yes.

What does the education of Breakmaster Cylinder look like?

Formal piano lessons. Which turns into writing techno songs for my friends in high school using Fruity Loops 3. I get addicted to sounds and artists and styles and then I replicate them. I'm definitely autistic but didn't realize this until like an hour ago. I just need my brain to be soothed all the time. And writing music does it.

Could you break down how someone approaches you for a theme?

They send an email, a claxon goes off in the ship. I take one of those fire poles down to the studio. I read the email. The email will be very straightforward or say something completely insane. You tell me the show you're doing and what it's about and how you want it to feel when people listen. And you either use musical language or you don't use musical language. One guy was like, “can you redo the bass? But make it feel like it sort of, nurtured you as a child and you grew up with it.” [The Girl’s Girls Podcast] was like, “this needs to sound like Sex in the City or maybe nineties Verucha Salt, like feminine, but like we go to church and don't wear underwear there also, we're in a coven.” That is almost an exact quote and clearly that didn't leave my mind, for how could it?

What are the go-to instruments for podcast themes?

I'm all about hip hop beats, I love drums and bass, I love breakbeats. I listened to a lot of Squarepusher and I played a lot of classical music when I was a kid, so I liked harmonies and things intertwining, and that's kind of what breakcore and breakbeat music is about anyway. Fitting sounds into things and making it kind of, you know. I don't know, man, assembling a puzzle, but yeah, everybody loves marimbas more than marimbas. I love pizzicato strings. It works for everything because it makes it feel like the bass has nurtured you from a young age and it's holding you in its round bubble. The podcast music is all about moving things along and hopefully not saying too much, especially if you're doing scoring.

Do you have a theme that you're most proud of?

There are a few, I guess probably the first one that came to mind is Outside In, which I like that was out of my comfort zone. They were like, make Appalachian hip hop. So I got to play dirty, like one string guitar 'cause I couldn't find the other strings. And it was just like some really rough sample, little, you know, folksy kind of stuff. And then I just put it over beats and I, it was a show about nature and such, so I have bird sound records, so I got to scratch back and forth. So it had just like an outdoorsy vibe. Very me.

I imagine you've scored more podcast themes than anybody else.

Oh, maybe, I know with all the indie ones we're approaching 200 or we've hit that, it's somewhere around there. Yeah. Over like 11 years.

What do you wanna be doing going forward?

I just wanna do something interesting. I like weird work. The last thing I did that I got really excited about was the Mad Max thing, and that was like just pure joy. I took a 13 minute car chase scene from the beginning of Fury Road, and then I erased all the audio and then I, you know, second by second replaced it all. It has a rhythm already. And I dunno, now all the war boys make bird noises, which really felt appropriate.

Seems like you have a lot of fun.

Oh my God, it's so much fun. I just wanna keep having fun. I like music. Let's just keep doing that. Gimme something to do.

 Thank you for sharing about your mystery and your music.

You're welcome.

Listen to the full interview on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts

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Other great podcast themes

We asked our listeners for their favorite podcast themes. Here are a few of the responses:

The Amelia Project. “It sounds a little archaic, which is fitting for the show. They've also rearranged it in different styles for particular episodes e.g. heavy metal, Scottish bagpipes, carnival-style, Renaissance, etc. The composer did a whole bonus episode about the theme as well.”

16 sunsets. “It’s epic, it’s awesome! A podcast about the space shuttle, with a score that’s like something from a blockbuster movie! Written by Christian Lundberg from Hans Zimmer’s bleeding fingers composers collective.”

Maintenance Phase “Not only is it an ear worm but I become completely giddy when I hear it because I can’t wait to hear the show. Maintenance Phase doesn’t post as frequently as they used to so when they do, and when I hear their theme song, I get so excited”

Know Your Enemy “has a lovely theme”

The Dig “uses music at the end of episodes in a nice way”

Blowback “(at least in early seasons) used World Destruction by Time Zone, which I found very effective”