Hans Zimmer in his studio - Part 1

In many ways, the best thing about Sherlock Holmes is its score (released January 12), featuring exotic Hungarian and gypsy instruments. Its one of about a hundred movie scores delivered by prolific German composer Hans Zimmer, who has earned six Oscar nominations; he won for The Lion King in 1994. Articulate and charming, Zimmer invited me to his lair in Santa Monica, a sprawling complex housing other composers as well as rooms crammed with synthesizers, computers and towers of servers. Hes currently working on Inception for Chris Nolan, for whom he composed the score for The Dark Knight. He gave me a tour, showed me where and how he composes and explained his working process on the scores for Sherlock Holmes, Its Complicated, Gladiator, and The Dark Knight. He even plays a bit.