Bruce Faulconer

[simtek34]

Does anybody like Bruce's music as just plain old music? Because to me, it disentangle fit Dragon Ball but I like a few tracks as just regular music tracks. Such as the theme song track https://youtu.be/_Jx7nDibANE

And These two songs. SS3 and RoSaT https://youtu.be/k1eXDZ3jhWA

Any other replacement songs you like just as music and not as Dragon Ball songs?

[Dbzfan94]

I like some of the Team Faulconer score as music on it's own and for Dragon Ball

SSJ3 Powerup is probably one of if not my favorite Dragon Ball piece period.

[Nightmare Wheel]

Most of the Faulconer score is too boring and redundant for me to like as music or as a score for Dragon Ball.

[Kakacarrottop]

I used to like the BF stuff when i was playing those Legacy of Goku games as a kid, but now even as stand-alone music most of it sounds too bleak and dreary for my liking.

[linkdude20002001]

Maybe a few guitar songs. Most of Faulconer Productions' music, tho, sounds like MIDI files. They did have some real guitars, and that's why it's really only the guitar tracks that I like.

[Hellspawn28]

Some of his tracks are good. I do admit his music is not bad, but it's not Dragon Ball to me.

[Lord Beerus]

I do like certain select tracks from Faulconer's OST, such as the SSJ Theme, Vegeta's SSJ Theme, Gohan Power's Up and the SSJ3 Ascension Theme.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Some of his tracks are fine as standalone pieces of music, but in my opinion it's unfitting for Dragon Ball.

[Danfun64]

Faulconer isn't as consistently good as the Japanese composers, but I like a lot of his work...not all of it, mind you, but a good portion.

Personally, I think Faulconer is better than Levi, as Levi's music doesn't sound good standalone. Even then, Levi's music is better than Menza's in GT, and I think Menza's GT music might be better than Johnson's Ultimate Uncut music. From what little I heard of it, it's positively awful.

[nato25]

Let's do a quick comparison. Obviously ignore the poor video quality here and try to focus on just the music.

Japanese - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXY7sayP8rY

English - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH7Tk9rWZX8

Now I will note I grew up on the Falconer English dub so of course that's kind of what I think of but I've had my fair share of the original Japanese score in Z and have watched all of Dragon Ball which of course only has the original track which I wouldn't change for the world. I've always thought the music fitted that show much more than Z though.

Let's talk about this scene in particular though. I prefer the Falconer score for most of it. The beginning part with Gohan failing to go SSJ in Japanese doesn't fit right at all to me. If I remember right that song was used constantly in Dragon Ball over shots of the world with the narrator explaining current events so not sure why it's being used in such a 'hardcore' scene where Gohan is putting out all this effort. That being said I like the song used with the whole Frieza montage. That fits much better with slow build up that swells up to the end where Gohan becomes a SSJ for a brief moment and then has like a small triumph piece before the silence comes in. Then the song used at the very end also fits beautifully as it's like 'after all that effort we've done it!'.

For the Falconer track, I like the song used in the beginning and love the atmospheric theme behind Goku's mentoring of Gohan. The song fits nicely with all the dialogue and goes well with Goku's mentoring. I love the dream intro theme but I'm not really fond of the track used in the Frieza flash back although it does sort of fit I guess, it's just a bit too dark but that goes along with all the death Frieza is causing. The song also just repeats obviously which is poor editing. The track does end nicely with the way Gohan becomes a SSJ and then goes back into that calm track of Gohan failing. While i like the song at the end, the dialogue is needed much more to complete that scene as opposed to how the song basically did that on it's own. Funnily enough, all that dialogue was inserted and is not present in the original Japanese version which makes a lot of sense and ties in with what I was just saying.

Exact same scene, similar meanings and tones in both but they are both unique. I think both tracks made mistakes and shone in different areas. None are bad. None are perfect, but both are unique and pretty good.

[Nekis13]

I do like some BF tracks, but hate how they're used. You could say they "never shut up". An example would be when Gohan turned SSJ2 for the first time. The English dub had soundtrack playing over what is supposed to be a silent moment which ruined it in my opinion.

[Captain-Sora]

The beginning part with Gohan failing to go SSJ in Japanese doesn't fit right at all to me. If I remember right that song was used constantly in Dragon Ball over shots of the world with the narrator explaining current events so not sure why it's being used in such a 'hardcore' scene where Gohan is putting out all this effort.

Probably because that piece is a rendition of Gohan's theme. It's not the most desirable track for me either, but it's probably one of the few more energized variants of his material that could possibly fit at that point if they wanted to utilize his leitmotif during a training scene of his. One of the arrangements of the Teen Gohan version of the theme would probably be more suited for the moment, but obviously those weren't composed yet when that episode was done, so they're pretty much stuck with the Gohan material they could use at the time. The only other exciting variant of his theme that could possibly work is the rendition that played when he flies up with Krillin and Piccolo to fight Wheelo in the second movie, but that one's a bit too upbeat for this particular moment.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

I dislike Team Faulconer's music. It's forgettable and unfitting. It is one of the many reasons I can't stand FUNI's DB.

- Travis

[Bansho64]

I dislike Team Faulconer's music. It's forgettable and unfitting. It is one of the many reasons I can't stand FUNI's DB.

- Travis

Ditto.
Faulconer had very little good tracks like the music that plays when Gohan unleashes his unlocked potential for the first time in the Boo arc or the Earth music. Other than those two, it's all pretty much horrible. Hearing it outside of Dragon Ball makes it worse for me.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

I can't objectively say that the Faulconer score produced bad music, but it's in direct opposition to my taste.

[TheBlackPaladin]

While Bruce Faulconer is often credited as the composer, it turns out he only composed a few tracks himself, and that the more accurate way to put it would be "Team Faulconer"--and one of the members of Team Faulconer happens to post here. What was interesting is that Team Faulconer, according to this person, actually consisted of several people with very different musical styles, and I began to pick up on that more and more as I listened to the Faulconer score. I personally don't mind a score being a MIDI score in and of itself because I think there have been some absolutely brilliant, emotionally captivating MIDI scores that have been composed for videogames (I'm looking at you, Final Fantasy).

So, with that preface out of the way...my biggest complaint with the Faulconer score has been that it--with a rare exception here and there--didn't really sound like it fit Dragon Ball to me. It was the "mis-matched" feeling that bothered and still continues to bother me the most. Not every score goes well with every movie or TV show. I couldn't imagine the John Williams score for Star Wars working well for American Pie (to use an overly simplistic and, let's be honest, unrealistic example). If we take that out of the equation, though, I think there are some Faulconer tracks here and there that work perfectly fine as tracks in and of themselves.

[Kakacarrottop]

Personally, I think Faulconer is better than Levi, as Levi's music doesn't sound good standalone. Even then, Levi's music is better than Menza's in GT

I always thought some of the music from the Saban/Wasserman score you're talking about sounded really good due to how intense and heart-pounding it was, like this stuff which was commonly used as fight music. Obviously none of it is particularly memorable or catchy, but it's great as work-out music. I would have killed to have heard it in the later sagas or elsewhere.

[nato25]

Personally, I think Faulconer is better than Levi, as Levi's music doesn't sound good standalone. Even then, Levi's music is better than Menza's in GT

I always thought some of the music from the Saban/Wasserman score you're talking about sounded really good due to how intense and heart-pounding it was, like this stuff which was commonly used as fight music. Obviously none of it is particularly memorable or catchy, but it's great as work-out music. I would have killed to have heard it in the later sagas or elsewhere.

People say Faulconer is bad but to me that song is worse than nearly anything Team Faulconer produced. That track sounds like garbled noise to me and the only thing it makes me feel is frustrated. I'm guessing a lot of fans of that music grew up watching the original dub on syndication because nostalgia is the only reason I can think of for fans liking it. That being said I guess that could easily be part of the reason I like most of Faulconers work but I am still critical and praising of most of the music on the show, with Levi and whoever composed the dub GT track being the exception, personally those guys produced next to nothing of value.

[Bansho64]

I'm guessing a lot of fans of that music grew up watching the original dub on syndication because nostalgia is the only reason I can think of for fans liking it.

I really hate it when people pull this just because somebody likes something they don't. I like some of the tracks made by this dude and I grew up with Kai. Didn't even find out about the Ocean dub until last year. And I really think there's some good music in there. Nostalgia isn't always a factor in genuinely liking something.

[jjgp1112]

A lot of the music is great. I just wish it wasn't used nonstop throughout the episodes and wasn't so heavily synced to the scenes, which makes them a bit tougher to enjoy as standalone tracks because they shift so rapidly at times. Overall I wish they had more of a budget so the actual quality of the instrumentals would be greater, as opposed to synthesizers