Composing : How Music Shapes the World of Fallout by Ashley Renee Smith

What does the apocalypse sound like? According to music supervisor Trygge Toven, it’s a blend of heartbreak, irony, and mid-century optimism that perfectly mirrors Fallout’s retro-futuristic wasteland.

In this insightful interview, Toven explains how he shaped the show’s soundscape, balancing composer Ramin Djawadi’s score with licensed classics from artists like The Ink Spots, Johnny Cash, and Nat King Cole, to ground viewers in the world’s duality of charm and chaos.

“You want to actually connect with the audience and further the story with the music. That’s my focus: any way I can elevate the connection with the audience, that’s always the goal.”

Read more here: https://composer.spitfireaudio.com/en/articles/music-supervisor-trygge-t...

Toven’s process involved diving deep into the music of the ’40s and ’50s, curating songs that reflected the Vault dwellers’ idealized optimism and the wasteland’s gritty realism. By recontextualizing vintage tracks, he preserved Fallout’s nostalgic DNA while crafting a new sonic identity for the series.

For composers and music supervisors—how do you approach building a cohesive sound world for a story that spans drastically different tones or eras? Do you begin with theme, texture, or emotional resonance?