[Exclusive] A part of The Mandalorian’s music was recorded in Budapest

Multiple tracks from the first season of The Mandalorian was recorded in Budapest last summer – a participant musician told Ziro.hu. The artist, who wished to remain unnamed, said that  multiple tracks – including the main theme – were recorded last July in the studio of Jenő Hubay Music School.  This info about Budapest recordings was confirmed by another source of ours, who also wished to remain unnamed.

Our primary source told us that musicians from all symphonic orchestras of Budapest had participated in the recordings.

The project was so secretive that the musicians were not told the name of the production. The tracks did not have titles, only listed by numbers, so the artists did not even know what they were recording for.

The musician also shared some insight from the workflow. When recording music for movies or series, one of the production leaders responsible for music watches a live stream of the recording, and sometimes provides instructions as well. Everything is recorded on video, so those in charge can watch it later. Our source, however, does not remember who had been watching the live stream of The Mandalorian’s recording from Hubay.

The fact that a part of such a high-class production was recorded in Budapest can have two reasons: the quality and the price. Hungarian musicians can create world-class music on short notice. If some tracks of The Mandalorian had to be recorded in July, speed could have been essential for Lucasfilm, as the series started on Disney+ in November. Los Angeles musicians most likely have busy schedules (at least they had, before the coronavirus pandemic), tight deadlines can have extra costs. However, Hungarian musicians can provide the same for a lower price, but with keeping the high quality.

Hungarians worked on the final season of The Clone Wars

This is not the first time that the work of Hungarians musicians could be heard in a Star Wars production. A part of Star Wars: Rebels was also recorded in Budapest. We thought that Budapest Scoring (the company that recorded the soundtrack for Parasites), that participated in creating the Rebels’ tracks was the one working on The Mandalorian as well.

However, Bálint Sapszon, CEO of Budapest Scoring, told us that the music for The Mandalorian was recorded in Los Angeles. He nonetheless added that they recorded tracks for the final season of The Clone Wars at the end of last year, and they will soon post a video about is. He added:

“Working on Star Wars always feels fantastic; we pay special attention to these recordings.”

Göransson also denies

We managed to reach the representatives of composer Ludwig Göransson, who we asked whether they had recorded tracks for The Mandalorian in Budapest or not. Their reply matched the answer from Budapest Scoring:

“All of Ludwig’s recordings for The Mandalorian were made in Los Angeles.”

This is also suggested by the photo shared by Ludwig Göransson on Instagram at the end of last year. He can be seen with lead actor Pedro Pascal, showrunner Jon Favreau and some musicians at the Newman Scoring Center, in Los Angeles.

However, our sources are sure that they had participated in recording several tracks for The Mandalorian in Budapest.

Translated by Bence Magos