Alan Howarth (born 1948) is an American composer and sound designer who has worked on soundtracks for Hollywood films including the Star Trek and Halloween series, and is known for his collaborations with film director and composer John Carpenter.
Alan Howarth grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Playing music in local rock bands, he opened for national touring acts including The Who and Cream. He then began to create original music in bands Braino and Pi Corp, using synthesizers. From 1976 he provided synthesizer support for fusion jazz band Weather Report, which relocated him to Los Angeles. Howarth caught his big break in 1980 when his music was used for a Star Trek movie trailer. After that he worked on the next five Star Trek films.[1]
Howarth's collaborations with John Carpenter include: Escape from New York, Halloween II, , Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness and They Live.
His music has been featured in films like The Osterman Weekend, The Lost Empire, Retribution, , , , The Dentist and The Dentist 2, Boo, Evilution, Basement Jack, Hansel and Gretel, Zombie Night, and Brutal.
His award-winning sound designs have appeared in , , , , , and , Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, Back to the Future Part II, Back to the Future Part III, The Little Mermaid and Total Recall. His team received Academy Award awards for Best Sound Effects for The Hunt for Red October and Bram Stoker's Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He has also created some sound effects for Sound Ideas's award-winning "Series 6000: The General" royalty-free sound effects library.
Howarth performs his film scores in live concert to excerpts from the films, and has performed in Geneva, Kraków, St. Petersburg, New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London and Paris.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS8MdFmC-9Q
Howarth pioneered immersive multi-channel surround sound systems with Steven Taylor's "Dimension Audio" that included the early prototype theatrical 48.4 systems that are now known as Dolby Atmos and DTS sound immersion. His current research has resulted in founding of RA Music, which holds several worldwide patents for the conversion of standard musical recordings into tunings of the Natural Frequency Spectrum as defined by nature, science and ancient architecture.
| Year | Title | Role(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Sound effects creator | ||
| 1980 | The Final Countdown | Special sound effects, composer | |
| Galaxina | Special sound effects | ||
| Battle Beyond the Stars | |||
| 1981 | Student Bodies | Electronic music producer, electronic music recording | |
| Escape From New York | Sound effects, music composer | With John Carpenter | |
| Halloween II | Music composer | ||
| Raiders of the Lost Ark | Special sound effects | Uncredited | |
| 1982 | |||
| Poltergeist | |||
| National Lampoon's Class Reunion | |||
| The Thing | Special sound effects, additional music | With John Carpenter | |
| Music composer | |||
| 1983 | Christine | ||
| The Osterman Weekend | Electronic sound designer | ||
| Special sound effects | |||
| 1984 | |||
| Gremlins | Uncredited | ||
| Buckaroo Banzai | Special synthesized sound effects | ||
| Exterminator 2 | Sound effects creator | ||
| Hyperspace | Synthesized sound effects | ||
| The Lost Empire | Music composer | ||
| 1985 | Head Office | With James Newton Howard | |
| Runaway Train | Electronic sound effects | ||
| My Science Project | Special sound effects | ||
| 1986 | Wired to Kill | ||
| Duet for One | Electronic sound effects | ||
| Big Trouble in Little China | Music composer | With John Carpenter | |
| 1987 | Prince of Darkness | ||
| Retribution | |||
| The Running Man | Sound processing | ||
| 1988 | Music composer | ||
| Brothers in Arms | |||
| They Live | Music composer, synthesized sound effects | With John Carpenter | |
| Beetlejuice | Special sound effects | Uncredited | |
| Norman's Awesome Experience | Sound | ||
| Phantasm II | Sound designer | ||
| 1989 | Special sound effects | ||
| The Little Mermaid | Processed sound effects | ||
| Music composer | |||
| 1990 | The Hunt for Red October | Additional sound effects | |
| Class of 1999 | Electronic sound effects, sound effects editor | ||
| Back to the Future Part III | Special sound effects | Uncredited | |
| Total Recall | rowspan"39" | ||
| RoboCop 2 | |||
| Processed sound effects | |||
| The Rescuers Down Under | |||
| Project Alien | Special effects sound editor | ||
| 1991 | Final Approach | Additional sound effects | |
| Cool as Ice | Additional sound design | ||
| Salmonberries | Sound design | ||
| Special sound effects | |||
| Grand Canyon | Special sound effects editor | ||
| The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe | Music composer | ||
| 1992 | |||
| Honey, I Blew Up the Kid | Special sound effects | ||
| Army of Darkness | Sound designer, sound supervisor | ||
| Bram Stoker's Dracula | Additional sound effects | ||
| The Waterdance | Sound effects editor | ||
| Fortress | |||
| 1994 | The Mask | ||
| Stargate | Processed sound effects | ||
| 1995 | Music composer | ||
| Tank Girl | Special sound effects | ||
| 1996 | The Dentist | Music composer, special sound effects | |
| Mørkeleg | Music composer | ||
| 1998 | The Dentist 2 | ||
| 1999 | Her Married Lover | ||
| The Omega Code | Music composer, special sound effects | ||
| She's All That | Additional sound designer | ||
| 2000 | The Prince of Light | Music composer, sound | |
| Alone with a Stranger | Music composer | ||
| 2002 | Britney, Baby, One More Time | Sound designer | |
| Star Trek: Incident at Beta 9 | Sound effects | ||
| 2003 | The Sleep of Reason | Supervising sound editor | |
| 2005 | Boo | Music composer | |
| 2007 | Headless Horseman | Music composer, sound designer | |
| 2008 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Special sound designer | |
| Evilution | Music composer | ||
| 2012 | Brutal | ||
| Dead Shadows | Sound designer, sound mixer | ||
| 2019 | Hoax | Sound designer |