How Hans Zimmer extended the Netflix ‘ta-dum’

By MixDex Article may include affiliate links

Most Netflix users are familiar with the sometimes startling “ta-dum” soundmark.

The three second long sound is typically accompanied by an animated version of the company’s logo. Depending on the platform, the soundmark and logo plays when you launch the app or service or at the start of original programming.

However, the shortness of the sound means it’s not ideal for use as a production logo vanity card before a theatrical release (think the 20th Century fanfare or softer Dreamworks tune that plays while the studio logo appears on screen).

While Netflix content is, at its core, produced for streaming, the company typically tries to get theatrical runs for some of its productions to make them eligible for Oscars.

Netflix worked with iconic film composer Hans Zimmer to create an extended 15 second clip that builds up to the “ta-dum” for this type of use.

Zimmer has worked on Netflix’s “The Crown” and the new clip has many of his trademark styles — a sense of drama, suspense and action that builds up to a rather muted version of the “ta-dum.”

Zimmer’s version doesn’t end with the “ta-dum” — the music slowly fades out at the end.

Meanwhile, a matching animation featuring a myriad of colored bands that merge to form the company’s “N” icon appears on the screen (this visual isn’t new — it’s been used before original programming before, though it appears to have been tweaked to match the music).

The Netflix "ta-dum" soundmark is one of the all time greats, but doesn't work as well in a theater because it's only 3 seconds long.

So Netflix commissioned Hans Zimmer to extend it for theaters and … it's … so … good.pic.twitter.com/RGw26vCAGY

— Siqi Chen (@blader) August 9, 2020