But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

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But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by TVfan721 » Thu Sep 28, 2017 1:00 pm

I haven't listened to it in years and it's worse than even I remember. I'm not knocking the musicial IDEAS, I'm knocking the horrendous production. This is the most unprofessional soundtrack I have ever heard. Shit on the Saban and Westwood music all you want, and rightfully so, but at least they were professionally made and sound as such. The Falcouner OST literally sounds like 16 Bit Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis music, it's all cheap sounding MIDI, especially the earlier seasons. There's geninuely good ideas hidden in the OST but everything is just shit on by the production. How did this make it to air, even with the fact that Funi had no money? The way the music sounds is completely embarrassing.

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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Bryesque » Thu Sep 28, 2017 1:50 pm

Just lemme get ready for this thread...

Image

For what it's worth, I... mostly agree. I do get why people like it, but the Falcouner score isn't something I'm nostalgic for at all, personally. It'll always represent the attempted "Americanized" DBZ of the '90s I'm glad we're mostly past now.

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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Bardo117 » Thu Sep 28, 2017 1:51 pm

For me, there are as much gems on that soundtrack as there are in the original Japanese BMG.


As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever downloaded a Japanese BGM song and had it on my iPhone. For the Falcouner tracks, I have about 4 or 5 of them.
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Thu Sep 28, 2017 1:51 pm

I disagree. The Westwood dub OST is way worse, even if I'm not fond of the Faulconer OST. Both would fit American action cartoons way more than Dragon Ball Z.
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Thu Sep 28, 2017 1:59 pm

Mostly because Tv execs didn't think the way we do about scores in animated shows and ignorantly assumed kids didn't notice poor production values and only wanted music blaring throughout the episodes.
8000 Saiyan wrote:I disagree. The Westwood dub OST is way worse, even if I'm not fond of the Faulconer OST. Both would fit American action cartoons way more than Dragon Ball Z.
I would say the Westwood dub score suffered from repetition more than the Faulconer OST but I give it the edge for being less unfitting for Dragon Ball.
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by 90sDBZ » Thu Sep 28, 2017 2:02 pm

TVfan721 wrote:I haven't listened to it in years and it's worse than even I remember. I'm not knocking the musicial IDEAS, I'm knocking the horrendous production. This is the most unprofessional soundtrack I have ever heard. Shit on the Saban and Westwood music all you want, and rightfully so, but at least they were professionally made and sound as such. The Falcouner OST literally sounds like 16 Bit Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis music, it's all cheap sounding MIDI, especially the earlier seasons. There's geninuely good ideas hidden in the OST but everything is just shit on by the production. How did this make it to air, even with the fact that Funi had no money? The way the music sounds is completely embarrassing.
I couldn't disagree more. Aside from the constant music sometimes intruding in comedic scenes and the general lack of silent moments, the Faulconer score is excellent. I don't care what instruments a score uses or what budget goes into it as long as the end result is an awesome score. And as far as the Westwood score being "professionally made" I'd also have to disagree. It was the most depressing and repetitive replacement score an English dub of Z has ever gotten, not to mention the fact that it was lifted straight from a completely different show.

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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Bardo117 » Thu Sep 28, 2017 2:10 pm

Dragon Ball Ireland wrote:Mostly because Tv execs didn't think the way we do about scores in animated shows and ignorantly assumed kids didn't notice poor production values and only wanted music blaring throughout the episodes.
8000 Saiyan wrote:I disagree. The Westwood dub OST is way worse, even if I'm not fond of the Faulconer OST. Both would fit American action cartoons way more than Dragon Ball Z.
I would say the Westwood dub score suffered from repetition more than the Faulconer OST but I give it the edge for being less unfitting for Dragon Ball.

Which kids obviously DO NOT notice, given the massive success of the show. I didn't notice, and neither did anybody else I knew. For 95% of the Audience that grew up with DB, they probably only watched the show as a kid and never again gave it a second thought. What I mean by that is that 95% of the audience of DBZ back in the day is grown up and has long moved on from the show.


They never moved onto that adult stage of criticizing BGM of a Children's Cartoon. Only a few select people, like us actually take the time to dissect the details.
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by ABED » Thu Sep 28, 2017 2:34 pm

So kids program should just try to get things past them because they are young and ignorant?
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Hellspawn28 » Thu Sep 28, 2017 6:19 pm

Any anime aim to kids on American TV had shitty music replacement at the time. Funimation was trying to make DBZ feel like any other typical American cartoon as if it was still the 60's-80's at the time.
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Kinokima » Thu Sep 28, 2017 7:21 pm

I don't know but my friend and her sister who got me into the show absolutely loved the BF music. I always preferred the original Japanese soundtrack.

There are a few specific tracks I did enjoy but the way the music wa usually so inappropriately placed ruins a lot of scenes.
Last edited by Kinokima on Thu Sep 28, 2017 7:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by SylentEcho » Thu Sep 28, 2017 7:33 pm

It has a few good tunes, but overall, it's quite terrible.

It was needed at the time, because Funi's target audience was a lot younger than the ages most people/kids become Dragon Ball fans. Thus, fast trance-like fighting music was preferred to have been constantly playing in the background, instead of the more dramatic Kikuchi score, which needed one to be a little older and have developed an ear for better music than that.

I think there's two kinds of people that like the Faulconer score better than the Kikuchi score - People who haven't watched at least a good chunk DB/Z in JP and people that like to listen to repetitive music, like the stuff they play when you go to a club or a lounge. Most people that actually choose to listen to that stuff in their spare time, usually don't like music with actual instruments and proper song structure.

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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Gaffer Tape » Thu Sep 28, 2017 8:31 pm

Bardo117 wrote:Which kids obviously DO NOT notice, given the massive success of the show. I didn't notice, and neither did anybody else I knew. For 95% of the Audience that grew up with DB, they probably only watched the show as a kid and never again gave it a second thought. What I mean by that is that 95% of the audience of DBZ back in the day is grown up and has long moved on from the show.
So you never noticed the score, and yet it has stood out to you enough to download individual songs? I admit that confuses me.
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by ABED » Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:15 pm

It was needed at the time, because Funi's target audience was a lot younger than the ages most people/kids become Dragon Ball fans. Thus, fast trance-like fighting music was preferred to have been constantly playing in the background, instead of the more dramatic Kikuchi score, which needed one to be a little older and have developed an ear for better music than that.
Where did this idea come from that kids are not only stupid but have zero taste? You don't need to be older to appreciate good music or recognize bad music.
proper song structure.
What constitutes proper song structure?
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Shaddy » Thu Sep 28, 2017 9:49 pm

I don't hate the tunes. I outright like the...that one piano piece. What I dislike is that the music was changed at all, and the way it was implemented. It's always-on, and incredibly distracting, and the difference in music genre between it and the Kikuchi score brings unwanted, unnecessary division between fans, and if that icon above my name tells you anything, it's that I'm not a fan of dealing with a divided fanbase.

But to answer the title question, it was wrought of an old mentality that localizing a show meant changing a ton of aspects of it, other than dubbing and modifying a script. They thought American kids would like loud synth music and electric guitars better than Kikuchi's more...refined, let's say, accompaniments. And for all we know, they may have been right. We don't know whether the series' popularity in the US would have been better or worse if the music wasn't changed, and I don't think the music was at any point "needed", for either the series' success or for kids to like it. Only that the execs deciding to change the music at all believed it was. Kids have standards, too.

I'll say that I definitely resent the superiority battles that having two soundtracks bred, though. Hearing Kikuchi's score called "kazoo music" or calling any fans of the original score weeaboos (which I mean, I still like the dub better, so..?) isn't exactly my cup of tea.

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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Kokonoe » Fri Sep 29, 2017 3:23 am

TVfan721 wrote:The Falcouner OST literally sounds like 16 Bit Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis music, it's all cheap sounding MIDI, especially the earlier seasons.
LOL "literally", huh? As someone who has these consoles sitting right next to me while being a huge fan of them and have listened to their music on a daily basis, you are giving their hardware specs too much credit. I know sub fans love hating on the Faulconer OST, but this takes the cake.

I'm just going to assume you really don't know what you're talking about and just dislike the OST for other reasons.

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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Bullza » Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:00 am

I'm midway through the Namek Saga right now and I'm counting down the episodes until the Bruce Faulconer music starts.

I can't bare to listen to this dreary Japanese music anymore. I don't think the show would have been nearly as popular in the West without the Faulconer score.

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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by MajinMan » Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:43 am

Bullza wrote:I'm midway through the Namek Saga right now and I'm counting down the episodes until the Bruce Faulconer music starts.

I can't bare to listen to this dreary Japanese music anymore. I don't think the show would have been nearly as popular in the West without the Faulconer score.
I disagree. The show was incredibly popular before the "Faulconer" era. Believe it or not, the show was doing just fine without him.
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Fri Sep 29, 2017 6:24 am

Bullza wrote:I'm midway through the Namek Saga right now and I'm counting down the episodes until the Bruce Faulconer music starts.

I can't bare to listen to this dreary Japanese music anymore. I don't think the show would have been nearly as popular in the West without the Faulconer score.
Actually, the show was a smash hit all over the world with the Kikuchi score. There's no reason why it wouldn't have done as well in the US and other western countries that aired the Funimation dub.
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by ABED » Fri Sep 29, 2017 6:31 am

If anything, it's the Faulconer score that's dreary.
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Re: But seriously, how did the Falcouner soundtrack even make it to air?

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Fri Sep 29, 2017 6:34 am

Bullza wrote:I'm midway through the Namek Saga right now and I'm counting down the episodes until the Bruce Faulconer music starts.

I can't bare to listen to this dreary Japanese music anymore. I don't think the show would have been nearly as popular in the West without the Faulconer score.
Given that the show was popular in Europe with the Kikuchi score, I have to disagree.
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