Instruments you don't like hearing in Orchestral Scores.

[p0llux 238]

This is very subjective topic. For me, I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to orchestral scores so synthesizers, pads, and other electronics don't work for me. I also don't like opera voices either. Otherwise, I'm fine with any other instrument.

[Chen G. 2,536]

Since we've extended into choral sounds, I'd add the "exotic" crooning woman vocals.

[Jurassic Shark 8,703]

1 hour ago, HyenaBoy said:

Yep. I can name two examples: "The Lion King" and "Pirates of the Carribean"

 

Those were done by Elton John and Klaus Badelt.

[Bespin 6,313]

23 hours ago, Bespin said:

Conductor's voice or humming sounds.

 

Ah, chairs also.

[HyenaBoy 5]

26 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Those were done by Elton John and Klaus Badelt.

I was talking about the score for The Lion King, not the songs.

If you look at the album cover for the Lion King, it literally say "score composed by Hans Zimmer". 

[Muad'Dib 1,506]

19 minutes ago, HyenaBoy said:

I was talking about the score for The Lion King, not the songs.

If you look at the album cover for the Lion King, it literally say "score composed by Hans Zimmer". 

 

He's baiting you.

[Jurassic Shark 8,703]

Must be a typo.

[King Mark 2,917]

1 hour ago, p0llux said:

 I also don't like opera voices either.

oh yeah.That Tintin track=insta skip. Several minutes of wasted album space where he could have put something else

[Jurassic Shark 8,703]

You should get more out of your comfort zone.

[Andy 1,364]

I remember the first time I heard the music for the Mynocks going bonkers around  the Falcon in the album edit of the ESB album.  Those piccolos were a bit tough on the ears. Perfect for the scene, but rather unpleasant.   13 years later I felt John got carried away with those piercing piccolo accents for Jurassic Park action music.   Again, I get it, and I think on both cases he’s finding a register of the orchestra that will compete with the sound design, but it’s not my favorite technique. 

Now the piccolos in The Patriot theme?  Divine. 

[Stu 13,978]

All you harpsichord haters, you despise the Tintin main title?

[Edmilson 3,706]

16 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

But I saw the latest Spiderman movie and egads, that is not a film that needs an epic choir

I remember laughing out loud when I First heard Giacchino's Spider-Man theme with EPIC CHOIR. It was ludicrous. It would've been much more interesting If he somehow mixed his own theme with Elfman's and Horner's

 

[Tom 2,675]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

All you harpsichord haters, you despise the Tintin main title?

I am not a big fan.  It is good piece, but A) it sounds too similar to Catch me if you can, 2) it has a harpsicord, and D) any genuine, true, authenic, and real fan of Williams wanted him to have Tintin's theme played heroically on trumpet to open the movie.

[ragoz350 282]

In Spotlight's recording of Tintin's main theme, the harpsichord sounds terrific (better than in OST) - how could anyone not love this instrument? 

[Jay 26,851]

I love what Joe Kraemer does with the harpsichord in this Mission Impossible 5 track (starting at 2:45)

 

 

[Schilkeman 60]

On 25/05/2022 at 8:12 PM, Tom said:

I am not a big fan.  It is good piece, but A) it sounds too similar to Catch me if you can, 2) it has a harpsicord, and D) any genuine, true, authenic, and real fan of Williams wanted him to have Tintin's theme played heroically on trumpet to open the movie.

Tintin is not Indiana Jones, though. As a film, it's actually fairly close in tone to Catch Me if you Can, so it makes sense. It would probably sound better on a real harpsichord instead of synthetic. I'm not sure about the "real" fan gatekeeping, but I appreciate the Home Alone reference. 

[bruce marshall 1,248]

I hate flute solos . Especially for romantic music

They sound sappy, saccharin and maudlin

[Andy 1,364]

We should have an instruments you love thread. 
 

I like the oboe. Did the oboe ever offend anyone?  

[LSH 597]

12 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

I hate flute solos .

 

You... what?

[Brónach 488]

I can't think of anything for me. I was going to say duduk maybe.

 

Synth is great and so are harpsichords.

[LSH 597]

Theremin?

 

Rather than focusing on what we don't like, let's talk about what we'd like to hear more of; I have a long list.

[Jurassic Shark 8,703]

I like non-Zimmer scores.

[Datameister 1,392]

This thread is baffling to me. So many wonderful instruments!

[MikeH 748]

Do the synth-haters know that most of JW’s “symphonic” scores contain synth parts, or are you talking about synths as a separate color to the orchestra alá Goldsmith?

[HyenaBoy 5]

20 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

I like non-Zimmer scores.

Which Zimmer scores do you like? I know Lion King is one of them.

[Jurassic Shark 8,703]

31 minutes ago, HyenaBoy said:

Which Zimmer scores do you like? I know Lion King is one of them.

 

Elton John did fine work there.

[HyenaBoy 5]

46 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Elton John did fine work there.

As did Hans Zimmer (I mean, you can't deny tracks like "This Land" are epic, can you?). Or do you not like the score, and only like the songs?

[Jurassic Shark 8,703]

Sure, there's epicness.

[HyenaBoy 5]

19 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Sure, there's epicness.

Whysay you dislike Hans Zimmer, then?

[Chen G. 2,536]

On 28/05/2022 at 3:52 AM, Datameister said:

This thread is baffling to me.

 

Is it? There had been composers who sported dislike for certain instruments, too.

[Stu 13,978]

Pretty baffling to me too.  There's no musical instrument whose timbre I find inherently annoying, not even bagpipes.

[Bespin 6,313]

Not even Kazoo?

[Stu 13,978]

16 minutes ago, Bespin said:

Not even Kazoo?

Nope!

 

 

 

[Bespin 6,313]

I love Kazoo, no one composed a concerto for Kazoo and orchestra yet

[Marian Schedenig 5,438]

On 28/05/2022 at 7:01 PM, HyenaBoy said:

As did Hans Zimmer (I mean, you can't deny tracks like "This Land" are epic, can you?).

 

On 28/05/2022 at 7:10 PM, Jurassic Shark said:

Sure, there's epicness.

 

6 hours ago, HyenaBoy said:

Whysay you dislike Hans Zimmer, then?

 

Why is epicness so often considered a measure of quality these days? As in "epic" equals "good music"? I like good epic music where it makes sense, and I like good non-epic music where it makes sense, but music that's written to be just epic, because epic is cool, and therefore it must be good if it's epic, is one of the most annoying properties of (mostly) modern blockbuster scoring, and one of the reasons why I dislike a lot of Zimmer's "big" scores.

 

Music that tries to be epic just because usually ends up pretending to be epic and also not even trying to be good music.

[Jurassic Shark 8,703]

What Marian said.

[Edmilson 3,706]

59 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

 

 

Why is epicness so often considered a measure of quality these days? As in "epic" equals "good music"? I like good epic music where it makes sense, and I like good non-epic music where it makes sense, but music that's written to be just epic, because epic is cool, and therefore it must be good if it's epic, is one of the most annoying properties of (mostly) modern blockbuster scoring, and one of the reasons why I dislike a lot of Zimmer's "big" scores.

 

Music that tries to be epic just because usually ends up pretending to be epic and also not even trying to be good music.

Lorne Balfe and Junkie XL should read this post.

[HyenaBoy 5]

3 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

 

 

Why is epicness so often considered a measure of quality these days? As in "epic" equals "good music"? I like good epic music where it makes sense, and I like good non-epic music where it makes sense, but music that's written to be just epic, because epic is cool, and therefore it must be good if it's epic, is one of the most annoying properties of (mostly) modern blockbuster scoring, and one of the reasons why I dislike a lot of Zimmer's "big" scores.

 

Music that tries to be epic just because usually ends up pretending to be epic and also not even trying to be good music.

I think Lion King is probably one of the few examples where Zimmer's music DOES work for the film (and isn't really trying to be "epic").

[Marian Schedenig 5,438]

I meant (but forgot) to mention: Lion King doesn't, or at least mostly doesn't, have this issue, and the Mozart-esque passages full of pathos work well in context. It's good because it's good, not because it's epic (which, as far as I recall, most of it isn't anyway).

[Brónach 488]

15 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

I meant (but forgot) to mention: Lion King doesn't, or at least mostly doesn't, have this issue, and the Mozart-esque passages full of pathos work well in context. It's good because it's good, not because it's epic (which, as far as I recall, most of it isn't anyway).

 

it has great melody work which is very inspiring

On 29/05/2022 at 3:54 PM, Stu said:

Nope!

 

 

 

 

oh, lovely

[Giftheck 573]

I'm in the crowd of 'I don't think there's an instrument I don't like in orchestral scores, it all depends on their usage and context'.

 

Having said that, maybe it's because it's cheaper these days, but it's become obvious which scores use VST percussion over a live-recorded percussion section.

[publicist 4,459]

On 29/05/2022 at 9:21 PM, Marian Schedenig said:

but music that's written to be just epic, because epic is cool, and therefore it must be good if it's epic, is one of the most annoying properties of (mostly) modern blockbuster scoring, and one of the reasons why I dislike a lot of Zimmer's "big" scores.

 

I have to cut him some slack here, because Zimmer may have been co-responsible for introducing this kitchen sink style, but he himself shied away from it more often than not, or at least adding specifics that made it stand out. Case in point is i. e. the fourth or fifth (don't remember, blame me) Pirates score with all these flamenco pieces by Rodrigo y Gabriela. 

[Anthony 467]

The generic "modern action music" drums.

 

Why does timpani seem to be forbidden these days?

[Chen G. 2,536]

7 minutes ago, Anthony said:

The generic "modern action music" drums.

 

They're called Taiko drums.

[Giftheck 573]

1 hour ago, Anthony said:

The generic "modern action music" drums.

 

Why does timpani seem to be forbidden these days?

[HyenaBoy 5]

3 hours ago, Giftheck said:

I'm in the crowd of 'I don't think there's an instrument I don't like in orchestral scores, it all depends on their usage and context'.

 

Having said that, maybe it's because it's cheaper these days, but it's become obvious which scores use VST percussion over a live-recorded percussion section.

What si "VST"?

[Giftheck 573]

5 minutes ago, HyenaBoy said:

What si "VST"?

 

Here's a Wikipedia article on what VSTs are.

 

One such example is that Ghostbusters: Afterlife uses the True Strike VST instrument set for its percussion.

[Jurassic Shark 8,703]

 

 

[King Mark 2,917]

I figured out why I can;t get into Eiger Sanction. Too much harpsichord, then you get a few tracks played with Saxophone and even accordion. A lot of my unwanted instruments

[JTWfan77 1,103]

The only thing I'm averse to is electronic processing of acoustic instruments to the point that they sound like electronics or become distorted. What's the point of doing that?