Spider-Noir Sound Uses Theremin, Trash Cans, Mag Reels
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- Composers Kris Bowers and Michael Dean Parsons anchored Spider-Noir's sonic palette after framing the show as "50% Spider-Man, 50% noir," opening with electric guitar, then "superhero-ish strings" and industrial percussion Parsons described as "very Nine Inch Nails."
- The sound team sourced unconventional percussion from New York City trash cans and used a wobbled old Nagra recorder alongside 50-year-old sound libraries they cleaned up for vintage texture.
- Sound designer Andy Sisul created Spider-Noir's grounded web sound by poking out the core of an old 2,000-foot mag reel and letting it spiral out, building on his prior work on "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse."
- Bowers built Ben Riley's theme around an "octave leap gesture" meant to evoke Spider-Man swinging, with the melody first written to the episode's climactic moment — when Riley decides to use his powers — before being applied to the opening.
- Parsons called the theremin "the perfect bridge between classic noir plausibility and a modern sound," deploying it as Ben Riley's signature instrument for moments when he's contemplating something "spidery."
- Re-recording mixer Ryan Collins said the team layered 1940s-era "wobbling window shades" for old-school thunder with newer thunderclap sounds to give the rain sequence vintage character.
Why it matters: For a Spider-Man property set in 1930s New York, the sound team had to honor the franchise's sonic DNA while pulling audiences into a noir-era Manhattan. Their use of theremin as Ben Riley's signature instrument, a 2,000-foot mag reel for web sounds, and NYC trash cans for percussion gives Spider-Noir a sonic identity distinct from the broader franchise.
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