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One thing sucks more than film music at the moment...


robthehand

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...and that's TV music. It's apalling!

So many good TV shows and serials are now ruined by horrible synth music. Even period programmes. Who the hell came up with the idea of synth music in a period film?

TV themes and scores used to be written with the budget in mind, so if they could only afford 10 musicians, the music would be written with that in mind. Check out The Twilight Zone. Now they just mock-up a huge orchestra with synths, and it sounds crap.

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Well, a lot of shows seem to have come up with a semi-decent solution: use percussion-based scores, no matter what the show is about. The orchestra is small, but it still sounds real. Check House, for instance. Other shows, like Nip/Tuck (which has an impressive use of music), just base their scores on an electronic sound, like techno beats.

... God, we're so lucky to have Giacchinno.

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Doctor Who is another good example of that.

Yes, definitely.

Besides, huge orchestra-style music (even if they were real instruments) is entirely inappropriate for Doctor Who.

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Alias, David arnold on a budget.

Even if your claim was true, would that not be an impressive achievement in itself, considering the circumstances that music was written in?

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Depends. We've had some pretty good scores to TV here in Britain. Blue Planet, for example.

I don't think Planet Earth lives up to it, though.

As for Alias, what I've seen so far was very well-scored. Lost's music works very well, too (and when it occasionally gets more prominent, it makes for a good listen as well).

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Isn't the end result more important then the circumstances it was created in?

Yeah, and the end result of Alias is excellent, something that you fail to see.

And since it'd be very unlikely that you would change your mind based on one post, I just wanted to point out that having a spy-themed TV show sound like a James Bond movie on a budget is not really insult.

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I'll agree with that.

Would you recommend I listen to Arnold's Bond scores, since I really like Giacchinno's Alias? Never been a Bond fan, though.

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Dr. Who did strike me as having dreadful music. It really put me off the show (which was otherwise okay).

However, I think Giacchino's output for Lost is still good, and Bear McCreary has also written some gems for Battlestar Galactica. Hope remains. :mellow:

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I'd get TWINE before that, but Casino Royale is good too.

I wouldn't, that is Arnold's worst score, so bland and electronic. DAD is not much better, but at least has a few redemable tracks. For good Arnold, check out Casino Royale and Tomorrow Never Dies, a good mix of orchestral and electronics.

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I tend to think TWINE is Arnold's best Bond score.

I don't find the synths over-bearing at all, and the music seems to have more "character" than that in TND.

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You need to listen to some of the later Who scores more carefully, some were recorded live with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and sound fantastic. The Christmas Invasion, The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, and I think Army of Ghosts/Doomsday are all live.

As far as Galactica goes, they're lucky the rest of the show is so good, because all that rythmic percussion gets very, very old.

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Several TV shows recently have really impressed me with their music:

Doctor Who (Murray Gold) - this was so good I got the CD for Xmas

House (No idea who it's by, but couldn't sound more Newman)

24, Lost and Prison Break are good, but seem to be a little more wallpapery lately. 24 actually is going downhill a little for me. I absolutely love the first CD, but I didn't buy the second as it doesn't have so many highlights for me.

Plus, there's music for UK shows. I'm talking about George Fenton's Planet Earth. While I haven't yet give it a full listen, what I've heard is phenomenal, and entirely orchestral.

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If i were to name a single score were I thought orchestra and techno were mixed together just right. (both compositionally and technically) i'd say TWINE.

Haven't you heard Mr & Mrs Smith by John Powell? It's probably even better.

Karol

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Lost has some good music. 'Course, its suspenseful style may not be everyones cup o' tea.

The anime series Cowboy Bebop had some great music in it, too.

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I'm not talking about the actual quality of writing, but only about the combination of techno and orchestra if that wasn't clear. Powell is pretty good at it. TWINE is, of course, better score overall.

Karol

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I know that Burly Brawl was actually co-composed by the two, so I don't know. It went back and forth all the time. Or so said Davis in one of the interviews.

Karol

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It's a close candidate. But compositionally you can hear that it's been done by 2 different composers with 2 different styles, trying to meet in the middle.

But that being the concept, I think it worked out perfectly. At least in Mona Lisa Overdrive, which I find much superior to Burly Brawl (which does have its outstanding moments though).

As for the Arnold techno, I know you disagree, but I still feel the music sounds like it was "complete" with just the orchestra, and that the techno overlay is just a bit too much for its own good.

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Well my opinion on the ALIAS music has been said to death, but I'll reinforce that it is the only TV series I've seen which has had consistently excellent writing throughout its entire run, in terms of quality, thematic continuity and interest. The limitations Giacchino works with certainly seem to work in his favour - the small size of the orchestra and limited time to write (i.e. a few days) for whole episodes bring out the best in him. Maybe that's why I didn't really connect with his score to MI:3.

I'm watching LOST from the start, and I'm optimistic it will leave me more satisfied that even ALIAS, as the highlights of that series were the emotional parts and the fantasy elements, rather than the action.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer started so well, what with Chris Beck creating some wonderful themes (Buffy/Angel theme, Jenny/Giles theme, among others). But then he left after the third series and the rest was lost in bland, uninteresting underscore - save for Beck's outstanding return to the season 4 episode "Hush" and season 5 finale "The Gift", respectively. I so wish he had returned for the last few episodes of the series; I can imagine he'd have created an awesome theme to rival "The Gift" in emotional impact. Robert Duncan's score worked well, but it could have been so much better with some continuity.

Star Trek: Voyager angered me with missed musical opportunities (among the rest of the shows flaws, which I do admit I still love). The action music - particularly with the Borg - was so boring I was shocked that "Endgame" was not only was nominated for, but won an Emmy for composition. Would it have hurt to study some of Jerry and Joel Goldsmith's rhythmic and instrumental ideas for the Borg (outside the synthesizer which almost worked in one episode, though the theme was nowhere near as effective as Jerry's)? Or to actually USE the Voyager theme in the show? I'm just repeating myself now, as I had this exact gripe in another thread. Moving on...

I really enjoy Murray Gold's work for Doctor Who. He's got some nice themes happening; the Doctor's, while admittedly and ethnic wail, is at least clever as it alludes to the classic theme without actually quoting it. It would be nice to hear the theme present itself in full one day, like if the TARDIS bursts into a room full of Daleks, Cybermen and the Master (don't laugh, at the present rate the contrived meeting of the three is inevitable any series now). That'd be cool. The "Army of Ghosts/Doomsday" action music is fun, and the simple bass/piano/vocal/guitar piece he wrote for Rose's intro and exit actually works despite sounding like a strange hybrid of contemporary rock and Zimmer ethnic wails. (I could make a predictable joke observing Zimmer's current meshing of the two, but I'll refrain)

What else... Well, there's really nothing interesting on the telly at the moment as it is; all of my favourite shows have long since finished. The current splurge is quirky, romantic comedy series leaving little room for useful scoring (as pop songs work well enough). I'll keep an eye on Heroes though.

I know I'll be drawn and quartered for this, but I'd like to see another Trek series. Not overly-modernised like "Enterprise", and not as generic as "Voyager", but a solid, seven-season (or at LEAST five) series with arc, arc, arc! That means continuity in (and interesting) writing, characters, music, production in general... It doesn't have to be original. If it's executed properly (which, of course, would never happen) it could be great. I'd prefer a new series over a new movie (especially one with old characters). But who knows, maybe the film will do well and a series could go into production...

As long as Giacchino does the music.

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Well my opinion on the ALIAS music has been said to death, but I'll reinforce that it is the only TV series I've seen which has had consistently excellent writing throughout its entire run, in terms of quality, thematic continuity and interest. The limitations Giacchino works with certainly seem to work in his favour - the small size of the orchestra and limited time to write (i.e. a few days) for whole episodes bring out the best in him. Maybe that's why I didn't really connect with his score to MI:3.

You really need to listen to tracks 5-8 more carefully. It's Giacchino through and through, he's just using a different, small-scale sound.

I actually love how Giacchino creates a sound for every project he's involved in - the heavy dissonant strings for Lost, the techno for Alias, the low piano notes MI:3... And yet, the music that these instruments are playing is always written in the same, great language.

Speaking of bad TV music, I forgot to mention how catastrophic Mark Snow's score for Smallville is. There was this episode in season five (last year's) when Clark ran into a super-powered female vigilante and Snow kept using.... Elfman's Batman theme for her acrobatics on Metropolis rooftops! And I mean (synth) choir and all.

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I have a friend who has been hooked on Smallville for years, and when he finally sat me down to watch the pilot, I could hardly get into it, mainly because of the awful synth score.

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So I was watching CSI last night(just because it's in HD and I just got HD cable) ....and when there was the montage of the crime scene evidence gathering....Santaollala guitar "Iguazuzu" like music with Babel athmospheric synths burst into the scene.

I want to hang myself now.

:pukeface::lol::flush:

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