Alan Howarth Interview

Alan Howarth website : https://www.alanhowarth.com

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.

His main career break came in 1979, when he met the sound effects team for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and was taken on as a sound designer for the following six Star Trek films.

Howarth’s collaborations with John Carpenter include: Escape From New York, Halloween II, Halloween III, Halloween IV, Halloween V, Halloween VI, Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness. and They Live.

His music been featured in films like The Dentist and The Dentist 2, Boo, Evolution, Basement Jack, Hansel and Gretel, Zombie Night, and Brutal.

His award-winning sound designs have appeared in Star Trek I, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Poltergeist, Back to the Future Part II, and 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