I always like to tweak things and push things forward.

We knew we wanted to have our own tone for the show. And then the big instrument that actually we came up with was the cello. It has a big range. It can play really low. It can play high. And it has a dark sound, and 'Game Of Thrones' is obviously - it's a dark show, and the cello became the featured instrument.

I always try to pick projects by: Is this something that excites me? What are the people like to work with? Obviously you spend a lot of time in a room together with them, so I always try to find projects that hopefully have great people attached.

I feel choir just has a great sense of power when used with an orchestra, or even by itself.

My dream that I followed and that I'm living now is that I actually always wanted to go to music college, play in a band, do a world tour, and then eventually get into film music.

I love to do animation movies, and those might be some scores that are lesser known, unless you really kind of dig through my work and see.

I would sit at the organ and just start making up things by myself - I was maybe 7 years old, which was too young to even know how to notate music. So I never wrote anything down, but when I'd make things up, I'd memorize them.

Most of the time, I'll be conducting the orchestra, but there will be some pieces that I'll be playing an instrument as well, just because I love playing. There's pieces where I want to grab an instrument and play with the rest of the group, like 'The Light of the Seven,' for example; I would love to play the piano for that.

With 'Westworld,' the player piano plays a very important role.

I always really wanted to do film scoring, largely because I hate writing lyrics. I just won't do it. I need help with the words.

I used to just scribble things on a piece of paper whenever an idea would - came to mind. Now with cell phones. It definitely has gotten a lot easier because I can just take it out and just - I'll just sing into my phone.

Absolutely, I'm living my dream. Yeah. My wife always jokes, says I'm a big kid, you know, playing in the studio and coming up with melodies and sounds. And, you know, I wouldn't know any other way because I just have music in my head all the time, and I just love it.

I used to love American Westerns, growing up in Germany.

Deep down, classical Romantic music is what I love: Brahms, Tchaikovsky, the Romantics.

At the beginning of each project, I like to create a palette of sound for that particular project.

Performing was always something that I actually used to do before I settled in the studio as a composer.

There's been a great development with scale on TV, but my approach is always the same across projects, whether it's a video game, a movie, or a TV show: I always try to set up my sounds and my themes. I really try to stay with the characters and do the storytelling through the music.

What I like about 'Game of Thrones' is that there's such a wide range. We have everything from very small, just solo instrument pieces, just the solo violin or solo cello, and then we go all the way to these bigger action moments.

What's so great with 'Game of Thrones' is that there are so many characters and they're so many locations and that it's just very inspiring.

There's so many great themes from the '80s: 'Magnum,' 'Miami Vice.'

When I write music, these colors pop out of me. It's hard to describe, but basically when I write music, I paint, and I add colors, and I add notes.

When you know you have great support from the studio, that's a great feeling, and when it's the creative support, that's great.

I'm actually really good at keeping secrets.

'Game of Thrones' is one of the most groundbreaking series on TV. The fact that I get to make music every day is such a privilege, and I'm incredibly grateful to be doing so with an amazing show such as this.

I'm a very visual person when it comes to writing music. I like to see something besides just a script, even if it's just a storyboard or pictures from the set.

I can almost see the music. It comes in the form of colors - colors jump out at me, and that translates into notes. They come fully formed: the orchestration parts, not just the melodies. Even though they're not always the right ones to use, the initial idea comes like that.

I might even go for walks, just kind of come up with ideas in my head and then even sleep over it. And, yeah, the next day, when I wake up in the morning, I feel like that's when the ideas come, because you kind of wake up fresh and clean. You're not influenced from music on the radio or any other source.

I always like to think of music as if you were to turn the picture off, actually. Just by listening to the piece of music, there's a story there and a connection to the characters and the plots and all of that.

I began making music at the age of four. According to my mother, once I just sat down at the piano and played back a tune by ear. My parents were watching and said to each other, 'Maybe we should give him music lessons.'

First, I started to play the organ. I did that until I was 11. From the age of 11 to 13, I gave up music entirely. And then at 13, I picked up the guitar, and after one and a half years, I started practicing intensively. I began playing in rock bands, and it was there that I discovered that the music I liked to write was always instrumental.

I collect many ethnic instruments, and as a guitarist, I'm usually able to play any sort of instrument - as long as it has strings. That's why I like to experiment with different sounds.

I literally work every day and weekends.

When I work on multiple projects, I'm really good at dividing my days, so I start in the morning with a clean slate.

I think it's great to see that there is such a connection to film music and the way people react or connect to a character or scene.

Many times, the way I write my themes or melodies is that I hear it, and then I sing into my phone or something, or I'll scribble down on a piece of paper.

One of the most fun parts about my job is that when the music gets recorded live at the end of the project and real musicians play it, I still get goosebumps every single time.

The music I wrote as a kid already was always instrumental. It was never based on lyrics.

I just always hear music in my head. I thought that was normal. My wife said, 'Ramin, that's not normal.'