How do people in Japan compose for their shows?

[Fionordequester]

If I've got this right, what'll happen is that some executives will walk up to the musician they hired, ask them to come up with some stock music for sad moments, action moments, awesome moments, etc., and then also say "hey, here's a brief overview of what'll happen during this season of the show, and the important stuff that we'd like you to score. We're going to start Season 1 soon, so if you could get all that music written by then, that'll be greeeaaattt".

They'll then use that music all-throughout the first few seasons, and then after a certain point, they'll go "hey, this show has been running on for a while so could you please come up with another set of music?" And then they'll use THAT set of music exclusively for some period of time, after which they may or may not go back to using some of the previous music...

I'm not sure I've got that entirely right, but it seems fairly consistent with the shows I've seen so far. Could someone please enlighten me?

[JulieYBM]

I'm sure Kei knows better, so but for the most you've got it right. It depends on the show, mostly, but a series like Dragon Ball typically gets new music for every arc and movie. I think the Artificial Human arc was the only major arc to not get any music composed specifically for it, probably because Toei was commissioning two film scores a year and just used those.

[Gaffer Tape]

Interesting you should specify just in terms of Japan, because a lot of compositions in American television are done the same way.

[Fionordequester]

Really? I didn't know that. Truthfully, I don't watch too many American shows. Aside from Spongebob and Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, I hardly even remember the music in the shows that I do watch.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I never got past the first episode of Season 2. That's because I'm reviewing the show as I go along, don't you know (and I recently got a camera to, which means I'll finally be able to start again!).

[cRookie_Monster]

What's in the opening post has been my impression of the Japanese score.

It totally depends on the show what they do. I've noticed a lot of CN shows that have very tightly scored scenes. For instance the Power Puff Girls, Samurai Jack, and Dexter's Lab definitely had music scored for each scene. Hmm, those were all from the same era.... I'm trying to think of other shows, but I can't say that I've noticed tightly synced music in the others shows that are coming to mind.

[Fionordequester]

Yeah...I would've included Power Puff Girls in my list of scores I remembered...but I've only watched like, one episode since I was a young boy, and that was in my Social Psychology class. And I still don't remember the score of Dexter's Laboratory despite having watched slightly more of that recently.

[kenisu3000]

What the OP described certainly seems to be what I've observed with TV anime scores (except that anime doesn't exactly work in "seasons", more like "arcs"). Pokemon, for instance: Masafumi Mima (the man in charge of the music department there) makes a list (called a "music menu") that he hands the composer Shinji Miyazaki, and says "have at it". This music menu contains a tentative title for the piece, a memo as to what kind of theme it is, what I'm assuming is a description of what the piece is supposed to "feel" like (I'm working from a very small photo here of a few of the menu's sheets, and a lot of the text is impossible to read), and even rhythm and tempo indicators.

Though there have been instances where I'll see some anime with a piece of music that's just so specific, I can't help but say, "OK, that HAD to be written at least with that particular scene in mind." Movies, however, are of course scored to scene.

The way DragonBall was handled, as far as I can tell, was much the same manner. The first recording session covered something like 150 pieces (of course, that's a bit much to record in one day, so it might have been broken up into two or three sessions - but I'm still pretty sure they all came from the same commission of music), the next all of the M-numbers under 100, with each new session jumping forward to the next "hundreds" category, which resulted in each batch's arc being easily identified by its position in the hundreds. (M1XX is the pre-Karin Red Ribbon stuff, M2XX is from movie 1, M3XX is from the Karin arc, etc.) And again, with the exception of the movies, the music was very likely scored not to scene, but by a similar "music menu" method.

Now Disney's DuckTales, on the other hand, was handled differently, being Western animation. Ron Jones scored each cue to scene, though keeping in mind that the music had to be flexible enough to be recycled in subsequent episodes.

(And, like Columbia Music, Disney Records is terrible about releasing the scores from its hit cartoons of the past on CD.)

[Super Sonic]

Now Disney's DuckTales, on the other hand, was handled differently, being Western animation. Ron Jones scored each cue to scene, though keeping in mind that the music had to be flexible enough to be recycled in subsequent episodes.

(And, like Columbia Music, Disney Records is terrible about releasing the scores from its hit cartoons of the past on CD.)

They're also terrible about releasing their hit cartoons of the past on dvd period. Release most of them, then not release a dvd of the last eps. Gets kinda frustrating.

Though on topic, I have wondered how they compose/decide the musical scores, in both Japanese and Western animated tv shows.

[songohan619]

What the OP described certainly seems to be what I've observed with TV anime scores (except that anime doesn't exactly work in "seasons", more like "arcs"). Pokemon, for instance: Masafumi Mima (the man in charge of the music department there) makes a list (called a "music menu") that he hands the composer Shinji Miyazaki, and says "have at it". This music menu contains a tentative title for the piece, a memo as to what kind of theme it is, what I'm assuming is a description of what the piece is supposed to "feel" like (I'm working from a very small photo here of a few of the menu's sheets, and a lot of the text is impossible to read), and even rhythm and tempo indicators.

Though there have been instances where I'll see some anime with a piece of music that's just so specific, I can't help but say, "OK, that HAD to be written at least with that particular scene in mind." Movies, however, are of course scored to scene.

The way DragonBall was handled, as far as I can tell, was much the same manner. The first recording session covered something like 150 pieces (of course, that's a bit much to record in one day, so it might have been broken up into two or three sessions - but I'm still pretty sure they all came from the same commission of music), the next all of the M-numbers under 100, with each new session jumping forward to the next "hundreds" category, which resulted in each batch's arc being easily identified by its position in the hundreds. (M1XX is the pre-Karin Red Ribbon stuff, M2XX is from movie 1, M3XX is from the Karin arc, etc.) And again, with the exception of the movies, the music was very likely scored not to scene, but by a similar "music menu" method.

Now Disney's DuckTales, on the other hand, was handled differently, being Western animation. Ron Jones scored each cue to scene, though keeping in mind that the music had to be flexible enough to be recycled in subsequent episodes.

(And, like Columbia Music, Disney Records is terrible about releasing the scores from its hit cartoons of the past on CD.)

Woohooo, Pokemon! BTW, i know this is not related to DB, but does Shinji get told what pieces from the games he must use, or does he chose this himself?

[kenisu3000]

does Shinji get told what pieces from the games he must use, or does he chose this himself?

He gets told; it's all there in the music menu.

Anyway, the more time goes on, the more I find myself wishing for not only a full BGM release for DragonBall, Pokemon and every other show I've admired the music of, but also a documentary of some sort to be included with the sets. I want to see the orchestra performing the very pieces we hear - and so far don't hear - on the CDs (this is, of course, assuming somebody got it on film).

It just seems so damned stupid (not to mention namelessly frustrating) that all these companies are adamant about locking their shows' scores up to rot in a heavily-guarded vault and throwing away the key. What's the point?!

[JulieYBM]

Yeah, it's a real shame these pieces aren't out in their entirety. I'm actually surprised we don't have more interviews with the composers, because it seems like something we'd see come out considering the cost of producing these pieces.

[MCDaveG]

does Shinji get told what pieces from the games he must use, or does he chose this himself?

He gets told; it's all there in the music menu.

Anyway, the more time goes on, the more I find myself wishing for not only a full BGM release for DragonBall, Pokemon and every other show I've admired the music of, but also a documentary of some sort to be included with the sets. I want to see the orchestra performing the very pieces we hear - and so far don't hear - on the CDs (this is, of course, assuming somebody got it on film).

It just seems so damned stupid (not to mention namelessly frustrating) that all these companies are adamant about locking their shows' scores up to rot in a heavily-guarded vault and throwing away the key. What's the point?!

Well, I would love to have these soundtracks with orchestra recording sessions. Unfortunately nowadays, orchestra is kinda rare thing to use for series, as most people are doing even the orchestral works digitally from synths and sampled orchestral instruments as it is cheaper and faster than work with actual orchestra.