What musical element you don't like in film scores?

[Brónach 1,302]

oh the rotary valve is from Paris? i had it wrong: i thought they'd made the piston one from a german one with rotary valves..

[Chen G. 3,952]

Ah.

 

Yes, Rotary-valve brass instruments (mostly trumpets) are more popular in Germany, whereas otherwise we use piston-valves. And the rotary-valve trumpet was originally invented in Germany, but it didn't enter the repertoire in earnest until after the piston-horn.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

4 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

Pan pipes. Sorry. I hate them. But even these might sound nice when played by a shepherd in Chilean mountains.

 

4 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Not a fan of Morricone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, then?

 

No love for UNDER FIRE?

[GerateWohl 4,379]

1 minute ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

 

 

No love for UNDER FIRE?

No.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

(softly, almost silently) "fuck!".

 

... and 3-2-1: you're back in the room.

It is against the law to dislike UNDER FIRE.

[Thor 7,526]

36 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

(softly, almost silently) "fuck!".

 

... and 3-2-1: you're back in the room.

It is against the law to dislike UNDER FIRE.

 

He, he. Indeed. One of the top 10 scores JG ever did. But to each their own and all that nonsense.

[1977 1,743]

Not an element per se but I hate it when the orchestra gets processed in post to sound distorted or that kind of thing.

 

Also, BWWAAAMM.

 

52 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

It is against the law to dislike UNDER FIRE.

 

Is it ok to prefer the City of Prague re-recorded suite to the OST? Because I really, really do. 

[Edmilson 7,474]

17 minutes ago, JTWfan77 said:

Not an element per se but I hate it when the orchestra gets processed in post to sound distorted or that kind of thing.

 

I hate that as well, but this seems to be hip and trendy with new composers.

[TolkienSS 407]

17 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Agreed. Bag pipes have an annoying sound, but Horner used them to great effect. Zimmer did too on the arrival on Arrakis cue from Dune, even though both this score and this cue in particular is not something I'd like to listen outside of the movie.

 

That's not bagpipes in Zimmer's Dune, it's an ensemble of a particular African woodwind I can't remember. Zimmer talked about it in a Dune video I saw.

Which highlights Zimmer's pretentiousness some people have a problem with. If it's gonna sound just like bagpipes, why not use bagpipes?

It comes across as that one kid in school saying "Well, aaaaactually ..."

[Thor 7,526]

3 minutes ago, TolkienSS said:

 

That's not bagpipes in Zimmer's Dune, it's an ensemble of a particular African woodwind I can't remember. Zimmer talked about it in a Dune video I saw.

Which highlights Zimmer's pretentiousness some people have a problem with. If it's gonna sound just like bagpipes, why not use bagpipes?

It comes across as that one kid in school saying "Well, aaaaactually ..."

 

 

[Chen G. 3,952]

20 minutes ago, TolkienSS said:

it's an ensemble of a particular African woodwind I can't remember.

 

Zimmer did use Duduk and Zorna in the score, but the cue in question definitely uses bagpipes. I think a good 25 of them, in fact.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

1 hour ago, JTWfan77 said:

Is it ok to prefer the City of Prague re-recorded suite to the OST? Because I really, really do. 

 

(sucks in breath, through teeth) As it's you, we'll allow it 

[Brónach 1,302]

bagpipes are great! more bagpipes!

[Jurassic Shark 12,094]

1 hour ago, JTWfan77 said:

Not an element per se but I hate it when the orchestra gets processed in post to sound distorted or that kind of thing.

 

Balfe would like a word with you. 

 

[A24 4,347]

Bagpipes? I much prefer (the smaller) Uillean pipes.

 

 

No, that's no me, it's Paddy (from the Chieftans).

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

I know that it's not a film score, but I really like Moloney's Uillean pipes, on "Ommadawn". 

[A24 4,347]

1 minute ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I know that it's not a film score, but I really like Moloney's Uillean pipes, on "Ommadawn". 

 

Those make me cry, I sh!t you not. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

The whole record has a innocence, a childlike simplicity, reminiscent of a nursery rhyme.

It might just be Oldfield's most underrated masterpiece.

[A24 4,347]

The Uillean pipes are mixed so beautifully loud (which is realistic) it's like they want to hit you in the core of your soul.

[Mephariel 451]

1 hour ago, TolkienSS said:

 

That's not bagpipes in Zimmer's Dune, it's an ensemble of a particular African woodwind I can't remember. Zimmer talked about it in a Dune video I saw.

Which highlights Zimmer's pretentiousness some people have a problem with. If it's gonna sound just like bagpipes, why not use bagpipes?

It comes across as that one kid in school saying "Well, aaaaactually ..."

 

What? The first bagpipe statement prior to them stepping out of the ship was actually an electric guitar. The rest of the anthem was actual bagpipes. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

9 minutes ago, A24 said:

The Uillean pipes are mixed so beautifully loud (which is realistic) it's like they want to hit you in the core of your soul.

 

Absolutely!

I often hear people playing the Scottish bagpipes, where I work. One bagpipe is freakin' deafening!

[Jay 37,375]

9 hours ago, Holko said:

I don't think I have real problems with most instruments on their own, I don't reject any of them as an "intrusion" to the classical idea of a perfect orchestral sound on my high horse. I only have problems when they're used uncreatively or overbearingly in a way that's just unpleasant and jarring to me. It's all in the context and execution. Synths can add wonderful dark or romantic or magical texture, or they can make everything sound stupid and cheap. Strange, old or exotic instruments can greatly enhance the range of textures the composer can work with. Rock percussion and guitar can be really fun or yeah if overdone, make it feel pandering and dumbed down. Bagpipes and accordions have wonderful unique timbres that can be a great asset, to dismiss them outright is baffling to me. Choir can be used in fantastic diverse ways, or it can just be a sampled-sounding mush slapped on to make it "ePiC". Or it can just be the wailing woman over every cue. Or operatic singing, god, that's my least favourite thing, thankfully not very prominent in film scores. But even inside the classical idea of the orchestra, strings can be dramatic or soulful, or they can keep sawing a 3-note unchanging boring ostinato in an amateur way of trying to create tension. Woodwinds are some of my favourite things, or they can be piercing shrieking goddamned things. Brass can be noble and rich, or it can just be slapped on top of itself playing deafening held notes with no melody or accessible structure (oh god why did I listen to Beneath the Planet of the Apes again).

 

Great post!

[Brónach 1,302]

48 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

 

Absolutely!

I often hear people playing the Scottish bagpipes, where I work. One bagpipe is freakin' deafening!

 

well yours have so many drones

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

40 minutes ago, Brónach said:

 

well yours have so many drones

 

I'm not sure how to take that.

[Jurassic Shark 12,094]

Just now, Naïve Old Fart said:

 

I'm not sure how to take that.

 

Take it like a man.

[Bayesian 1,364]

8 hours ago, Bayesian said:

You know what I can’t stand? The shawm. What a ridiculous instrument! I mean, honestly, you’d have to be an incredibly bad composer without a shred of talent or imagination to write anything for that thing.

Well, way to go, you guys. I write a brilliantly funny post that all you JW nerds should have pissed yourselves laughing over and I get one single solitary lol??? I mean, this thread was begging for a shawm cue reference and I freakin’ pulled it off exquisitely.
 

Man, folks aren’t kidding when they say comedy is hard.

[Brónach 1,302]

i thought it was serious

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

Doesn't JW use a shawm on PIECE OF ASS, or is it an oboe?

[A24 4,347]

Didn't you hate the element that is called the Yamaha CP-70, Richard?

 

 

Anyway, if the reason why Vangelis didn't release The Bounty is because he didn't think it made for an interesting stand-alone experience, then I agree with him.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

I don't like electric grands. Period.

THE BOUNTY, however, is an electronic score, so I tolerate it.

[crocodile 8,020]

I generally find overuse of big epic choirs tiresome. You know, the kind that is just there to make big things bigger for no reason.

 

For same reason, I often dislike big percussion in modern scores. There are some exceptions (Desplat's Godzilla).

 

In short, anything that makes the music sound like a big heavy lump. Any element is good if used in good proportions.

 

Karol

[Chen G. 3,952]

17 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I often hear people playing the Scottish bagpipes, where I work. One bagpipe is freakin' deafening

 

Scottish bagpipes are incomporably louder than uileann pipes, though.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

32 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

Scottish bagpipes are incomporably louder than uileann pipes, though.

 

Don't I know it!

I walked by someone practicing the bagpipes, last week. I was very glad to get out of the room. Brilliant sound, though.

[Chen G. 3,952]

Yeah, but the uilean pipes are quite soft. You could listen to them in a closed room whereas highland bagpipes are really meant to play in the open air.

[Jurassic Shark 12,094]

Like in Dune.

[A24 4,347]

 

 

Bagpipes were used in war to intimidate the enemy. Uillean pipes are much more emotional sounding. 

 

 

 

Here's the reason why Chen loves bagpipes so much ...

 

 

[GerateWohl 4,379]

16 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Doesn't JW use a shawm on PIECE OF ASS, or is it an oboe?

Yes, he did. 

21 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

(softly, almost silently) "fuck!".

 

... and 3-2-1: you're back in the room.

It is against the law to dislike UNDER FIRE.

I didn't say, I dislike it. I said, I have no love for it. I just just indifferent to this score. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,094]

What musical element I don't like in film scores?

 

Balfe.

[Brónach 1,302]

3 hours ago, Chen G. said:

Yeah, but the uilean pipes are quite soft. You could listen to them in a closed room whereas highland bagpipes are really meant to play in the open air.

 

i've seen breton, asturian and galician bagpipes both inside and outside, but mostly outside. i'm not as familiar with the pipes from trás-os-montes and miranda but i imagine they're made in the style of the latter two. then there's the aragonese bagpipe, but i've never heard that one in person.

[Thor 7,526]

8 hours ago, A24 said:

Anyway, if the reason why Vangelis didn't release The Bounty is because he didn't think it made for an interesting stand-alone experience, then I agree with him.

 

Not at all. True, some of the cues (primarily storm cues and cues related to Bligh's madness) aren't that interesting and wouldn't translate to album well, but there's a GREAT album in that score. And I'm not only talking about the two tracks on the THEMES compilation. I have an...uhm....unofficial release of this, which I've playlisted into a smokin' 53-minute album that works like gangbusters! Much better than the flawed BSX rerecording thingie. I'd welcome a proper score release, curated for listening, with open arms.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

17 minutes ago, Thor said:

I have an...uhm....unofficial release of this...

 

Naughty 

 

 

4 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

I didn't say, I dislike it. I said, I have no love for it. I just just indifferent to this score. 

 

(softly, almost silently) "fuck!"

 

... and 3-2-1: you're back in the room.

It's against the law to be indifferent to UNDER FIRE.

[GerateWohl 4,379]

17 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

It's against the law to be indifferent to UNDER FIRE.

I am not completely indifferent. I dislike the pan pipes.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

It's against the law to dislike the pan pipes, in UNDER FIRE 

[DeltaPupJux 47]

wailing vocals

[Bayesian 1,364]

One thing I’ve never warmed to is the way Goldsmith would write action cues for brass. They always seemed written too thinly, if that makes sense, like as if every instrument was only playing in unison or in octaves. The piercing quality of that voicing starts to feel like the musical equivalent of a dentist’s drill after awhile. The worst offender I can think of is Air Force One — indeed, it’s the expanded soundtrack I most regret buying. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,211]

7 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

I am not completely indifferent. I dislike the pan pipes.

 

They're not actual pan pipes.

5 hours ago, Bayesian said:

One thing I’ve never warmed to is the way Goldsmith would write action cues for brass. They always seemed written too thinly, if that makes sense, like as if every instrument was only playing in unison or in octaves. The piercing quality of that voicing starts to feel like the musical equivalent of a dentist’s drill after awhile. The worst offender I can think of is Air Force One — indeed, it’s the expanded soundtrack I most regret buying. 

 

"Thin"?

 

Unison?

 

[Mr. Hooper 1,806]

Ostinatos à la Hans Zimmer, and Danny Elfman-esque "la-la-la-la-la" choir.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

14 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

They're not actual pan pipes.

 

"Thin"?

 

Unison?

 

 

I'm not a musician, or a musicologist, or a music historian, and I can barely read music, but following the POTA cue wore me out!

I can only imagine how the musicians reacted, when they first played it.

No wonder this is Jerry's meisterwerk. 

[filmmusic 1,843]

3 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

wore me out

What do you mean by that? I'm not sure I understood.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,556]

It exhausted me. It left me gasping for breath.