Composer Oli Julian brought a bold, character-driven approach to Netflix’s adaptation of The Twits, drawing inspiration from the Roald Dahl book he loved growing up. His score captures the story’s twisted humor and unpolished charm while finding space for moments of emotional depth. Across the soundtrack, Julian combined unconventional instruments like banjos, jaw harps, and musical saws with orchestral layers and choirs to create a world that feels chaotic but deeply musical.
Working closely with director Phil Johnston, known for Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia, Julian shaped distinct themes for each character and used playful instrumentation to match their personalities. That collaboration turned Dahl’s short, anarchic story into a full-length feature score packed with color, texture, and energy. The end result feels handcrafted and unpredictable, shifting seamlessly between comedy and cinematic drama.
An RTS Award winner and Ivor Novello nominee, Julian’s previous work spans series like Sex Education, Motherland, and Breeders, as well as features like How To Build A Girl and Greatest Days. With The Twits, he extends his signature mix of humor and heart to one of Dahl’s most mischievous creations out now on Netflix as of October 17.
Spitfire Chamber Strings
Spitfire Chamber Strings is often the first thing I go to when I need strings and with good reason. It’s a total workhorse, they’re really great for getting good sounding string ideas down quickly whether it’s as a section or for sketching out solo lines.
The legato (fingered) preset is great for the latter, and the ensemble patches are nice and playable on keys for the former. There are tons of strings in The Twits score with all sorts of techniques, so fiddling with the usual automation like dynamics, expression, controlling the mic positions in the plugin as well as a bit of soft compression gets you in pretty good shape before recording.
Abbey Road Vintage Drummer (Native Instruments)
Abbey Road Vintage Drummer from Native Instruments did wonders on the cue Twits Get Romantic when trying to get a proper vintage drum sound. The Ebony Kit preset along with the tremolo guitars and doo-wop style vocals just worked so well.
Changing the mixer preset can be a quick and effective way to get a different vibe from the same kit too, before moving on to processing outside the plugin. I prefer having each part of the kit on a different track so routing it that way lets me have more control over each element.
Valhalla Vintage Verb
Valhalla Vintage Verb makes it onto pretty much every session in some form or another. It sounds amazing on default but has so many great, usable presets as well as really nice parameters if you need to dial stuff in.
Even though it has a strong character it can work on pretty much every instrument, bus or mix. I usually make sure to roll off some of the low end below 150Hz, especially if I’ve got a lot of orchestral plugin or recording layers.
UAD Massive Passive EQ
UAD Massive Passive EQ is such a great tube EQ emulation. I like using it on guitar or vocals but this time it found its way onto the trombone bus in Riot in The Twits.
There’s a lot going on with strings, choir and percussion, and it really helped bring out the top of the horns without losing the weight of the lows to make sure the rhythm and energy levels of the trombones poke through.
Hot Takes
Hot Take #1: Being a nice person to work with is worth a lot more than people give credit.
Hot Take #2: Understanding the process of mixing better can often help with writing and arranging.
Hot Take #3: Artists should focus on finding their own voice. It’s always going to be better to find your own niche sound than feeling like you need to sound like someone else.
Hot Take #4: Learning to use EQ subtractively and using limited gear rather than buying new gear will usually get better results musically, as well as help you get better faster. Using the wrong tool for the job can be great.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
