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

[Soppa Saia People]

It's just decent synth rock, it's not bad, it just doesn't fit the show, which is where the problem is for most most people. And for what it's worth, I don't even think that highly of the Kikuchi score, it's a bit of a snore.

[Timetraveller]

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.

Production quality isn't the only thing that people enjoy about music. Otherwise everything would sound like an orchestra. There's a reason people enjoy those lofi soundtracks

[Gaffer Tape]

I just think that it's a little silly to judge a series that was released between 1996-2002, by today's standards.

In before Kunzait shows up. But I think you're missing a lot of context here. There were plenty of fans who didn't like the Faulconer music in 1999. There were plenty of fans in 1996 who balked at the replacement scores when the dub first came out, including those who run this site. This isn't and has never been present day fans projecting modern standards on 1990s dubbing practices. This has ALWAYS been a point of contention in the DB community.

[ulisa]

As a general rule, I tend to agree that the replacement music feels out of place and doesn’t really fit the show. Having said that though, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy some of it. It’s pretty rare that I prefer the English soundtrack, music wise, to the Japanese but in at least three cases, yeah, I do:

The music in the Time Chamber. I really dunno why and to be honest, maybe it is some nostalgia but I think there’s something to this theme. Granted, it’s played too much whereas the Japanese music knows when to use silence but there’s something about this theme that seems to convey that disconnect and isolation of the Time Chamber.

The defeat of Cell. I’ve watched it in both Japanese and English several times but the English music just feels more triumphant to me. I enjoy the Japanese background music fine but it’s one of the rare instances where I’ll switch back to English.

I actually don’t know if this was Faulconer or not (I’m assuming so) but Future Gohan’s death in History of Trunks. It sounds so much more depressing and heart breaking in English.

Overall, should they have replaced the music at all? No, not really. There really wasn’t a reason to. However, while I generally prefer the Japanese, there are some gems in the Faulconer score but that all boils down to personal taste anyway.

[TheGreatness25]

[spoiler]

I just think that it's a little silly to judge a series that was released between 1996-2002, by today's standards.

[/spoiler]

In before Kunzait shows up. But I think you're missing a lot of context here. There were plenty of fans who didn't like the Faulconer music in 1999. There were plenty of fans in 1996 who balked at the replacement scores when the dub first came out, including those who run this site. This isn't and has never been present day fans projecting modern standards on 1990s dubbing practices. This has ALWAYS been a point of contention in the DB community.

No, no, I completely understand. But there's a difference between not liking it and claiming that it never should have happened. I feel like the Faulconer score and script rewrites get this label of "it never should have happened" more than the opinion that it was bad. I think that a lot of people pre-judge things like the Faulconer score because they know it doesn't belong there. But what I was trying to allude to, is that it's not about whether it belonged there or not, it shouldn't be judged that way. And the reason for it not needing to be judged that way, is because it was standard operating procedure back in the day. That was me getting the generalization out of the way.

Then, to the music itself, I acknowledge its flaws -- which really are subjective. There are some nice gems in there. I like most of the music, other than the moments when it really should just be quiet. I really like "Buu Is Fighting," "Cell and Piccolo Fight," "DBZ Finale," "Earth Music," "Episodic Trunks," "Evil Buu," "Full Power," "Garlic Jr. Theme," "Ginyu Force Theme," "Gohan Angers," "Gohan Angers 2," "Gohan Approaches," "Gohan Powers Up," "Goku Dies," "Gotenks Is Born," "Heaven Sent Trunks," "Heroic Trunks/Mysterious Youth/Mysterious Youth Revealed," "A Little Help from a Friend," "New Earth Music," "Perfect Cell Runs," "Perfect Cell Theme," "Pikkon's Theme," "Scary Buu," "SSJ Transformation," "SSJ3 Power Up," "Time Chamber," "Vegeta - Super Saiyan," "Vegeta Fights Frieza," "Vegeta Knows His Son," "Vegeta Powers Up," and "Vegeta's Theme."

That's a lot. I wish that they used instruments and were more natural-sounding, but I find all of those tracks to be pretty enjoyable. There were some hits and misses, but it's not like the entire thing was just so horrendously awful. Even though it's subjective, I just hope that people who absolutely detest all things Faulconer, aren't doing it because the soundtrack just "shouldn't exist," but really because they just don't like any of it. Had any of these tracks been taken out of Dragon Ball, would people feel differently? I'm just curious. But yeah, the Faulconer team had a lot of tracks -- 283 tracks spanned across multiple CD releases (not counting some repeats). Out of 283 songs, can someone really say that every single one was so bad that it shouldn't even exist?

I'll agree that they sound too synthesized. I'll agree that there were obviously lots of misses. But I feel like people place way too much emphasis on the Faulconer score, when really, it's just a regular score for an action cartoon. Nothing more, nothing less.

And I actually enjoy the Ocean score (and that includes for the Westwood dub). It has a Saturday Morning cartoon feel, and that's cool. Once again, I judge it based on its own merits, not comparing it to Kikuchi or whether it "belongs there" or not.

[ABED]

And the reason for it not needing to be judged that way, is because it was standard operating procedure back in the day.

Whether it was standard doesn't mean you can't judge it.

Once again, I judge it based on its own merits, not comparing it to Kikuchi or whether it "belongs there" or not.

I don't know exactly what to make of this as whether a bit of music belongs is important in judging its merit.

[TheGreatness25]

And the reason for it not needing to be judged that way, is because it was standard operating procedure back in the day.

Whether it was standard doesn't mean you can't judge it.

Once again, I judge it based on its own merits, not comparing it to Kikuchi or whether it "belongs there" or not.

I don't know exactly what to make of this as whether a bit of music belongs is important in judging its merit.

Both misinterpretations of what I wrote. In the first quote, I wasn't saying that you can't have an opinion on it, I said it shouldn't be judged by a standard of "well it's not the original music, so it sucks." And in the second quote, I'm not talking about whether the music belongs in a way that questions if it's right for the scene, but rather the same as in my first point.

[ABED]

I do think it's perfectly valid to say it's not the original so it shouldn't be there. There was no good reason to change it in the first place.

[Robo4900]

There was no good reason to change it in the first place.

According to Chris Sabat, the copies of the music track Funimation were given had a loud layer of hissing that made it basically unusable.

[ABED]

There was no good reason to change it in the first place.

According to Chris Sabat, the copies of the music track Funimation were given had a loud layer of hissing that made it basically unusable.

And they couldn't ask someone for a usable music track?

[Dbzfan94]

There was no good reason to change it in the first place.

According to Chris Sabat, the copies of the music track Funimation were given had a loud layer of hissing that made it basically unusable.

And they couldn't ask someone for a usable music track?

Considering the complete (lack of) money and resources they had at the time, probably not.

[Danfun64]

Then how did Funi manage to get the Kikuchi score for their dub of OG DB? Why would the music be of worse quality than the sound effects, which we know they used?

[Gaffer Tape]

There was no good reason to change it in the first place.

According to Chris Sabat, the copies of the music track Funimation were given had a loud layer of hissing that made it basically unusable.

I... have a hard time believing that. One is that Chris Sabat would not even have been employed there for a few more years after these decisions would be made, so he has no firsthand knowledge of such things. Two is that in all interviews of the time, people like the Fukunagas were very upfront about the reason they replaced the music: because they hoped it would appeal to their target audience. Conversely, they would readily admit the translations they received from Toei were not very good, and blame their lack of script accuracy on that. So since that kind of explanation was already in their wheelhouse, it doesn't seem like they'd shy away from using it in this instance.

Three... what Danfun64 says. But if I can add to that, it certainly didn't stop them from using the original score in the first three Z movies.

[ABED]

According to Chris Sabat, the copies of the music track Funimation were given had a loud layer of hissing that made it basically unusable.

And they couldn't ask someone for a usable music track?

Considering the complete (lack of) money and resources they had at the time, probably not.

But they had the resources to pay for an entire new score?

[Yuli Ban]

Honestly the only memorable theme from the Freeza saga was the ginyu theme. The rest was kind of forgettable.

Ginyu Force Theme, Ginyu Transformation, Heroic Goku, SSJ Transformation, Vegeta Powers Up and Vegeta's theme.

People forget those all started there lol.

On one hand, 'Babidi Casts Spell' gave me chills down my spine the first time I heard it on YouTube (about 8 years ago now, in fact; goodness, time flies!), and some unreleased tracks like 'Vegeta's Death' and Guardian of the Earth' are also great.


On the other hand.

GOOD LORD.

I almost refuse to believe someone actually sat down, listened to this, and thought "yep, that's fit to air on syndicated television." It's so cheap, it wouldn't even fly in the lowest budget 80s 30-minute-toy-commercial action cartoon. And there are many more with it.

I recall back in 2011 thinking these same things, that there was something so artificial about the Faulconer soundtrack that "organic/orchestral" music seemed to do better. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't like the Kikuchi score at the time either— I thought it sounded too outdated and childish, and I still liked the Faulconer soundtrack for the general melodies.

Nowadays, I think there are maybe four or five Faulconer tracks I still listen to (the aforementioned three, plus Ginyu's Transformation Theme which I'll always remember for 180,000!!, as well as another unreleased track that's no longer on YouTube; I might be forgetting some like Trunks' themes), whereas the Kikuchi OST has grown on me tremendously precisely because I've come to appreciate the nostalgic Wuxia nature of the score. Some of the melodies are still lackluster to my ears, but it's enjoyable. For the theme of the show, Kukichi wins.

Out of all of them, I personally enjoy Yamamoto's score the most (hitting the right mix of orchestral, guitar, and electronic music without making any of them sound cheap), which makes it so heartbreaking to know he's a plagiarist— tracks like Heroic Face Off are downright epic.

Faulconer would have been a fantastic replacement soundtrack if only it didn't sound so cheap and wasn't so overplayed. So many tracks on the official releases sound schizophrenic, breaking into entirely different songs after a couple seconds only to then turn to yet another motif, barely keeping consistency. Others are just fine, if not great, if only the production value was higher. But over all, it just sounds like the Faulconer songs were created from some freeware that was downloaded after a five-minute search on Altavista and the team struggled to haphazardly combobulate something in time to air.
I know what people said before, that the quality of the instruments doesn't matter as much as the quality of the music and melodies, but it really does make a difference listening to a song recorded from orchestral samples compressed to 64 bitrate vs. an actual live orchestra uncompressed.
Some of these Faulconer tracks just don't cut it.

[TKA]

Regarding the title of the thread: it did so because money.

But seeing as the thread has become "Do you like Faulconer's score?"

Yes, yes I do. I like it quite a lot.

The thread is also "How does Faulconer's music compare to the original?"

My biggest problem with DBZKai is the use of the Japanese score, which was just terrible to me and never complimented, punctuated or accentuated what was happening. In many cases, it actively detracted from what was happening onscreen (any time they use that slidewhistle).

I watched some original Z as well, and couldn't tolerate the soundtrack. Further, I've enjoyed those rescores on youtube where they use Faulconer's music for Super, Resurrection F and Battle of Gods more than their original scores. All in all, I'm a Bruce Faulconer guy.

Just to be clear, my favorite iteration of dragonball is the manga.

[ABED]

And they aren't interested in money anymore?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

And they couldn't ask someone for a usable music track?

Considering the complete (lack of) money and resources they had at the time, probably not.

But they had the resources to pay for an entire new score?

It may have cost more to commission but having a replacement score also meant Funimation got royalties from any broadcasts or DVD releases that played it. That's not to say Funi had a right to replace the original score, because they really didn't, but that was how anime dubbing was done at the time. Today, thankfully the industry has developed and companies no longer feel the need to rely on their custom made scores because they've seen good dubs can stand on their own.

[Robo4900]

I... have a hard time believing that. One is that Chris Sabat would not even have been employed there for a few more years after these decisions would be made, so he has no firsthand knowledge of such things.

He was there at least as early as 1998, which is a little before the Faulconer score was decided on.

Two is that in all interviews of the time, people like the Fukunagas were very upfront about the reason they replaced the music: because they hoped it would appeal to their target audience. Conversely, they would readily admit the translations they received from Toei were not very good, and blame their lack of script accuracy on that. So since that kind of explanation was already in their wheelhouse, it doesn't seem like they'd shy away from using it in this instance.

Three... what Danfun64 says. But if I can add to that, it certainly didn't stop them from using the original score in the first three Z movies.

I think it may have been a case of the early episodes having unusable music tracks, then later on they already had the established tradition of using a replacement score for Z, so while they did end up going the other way for DB, their early Z ones really didn't have that as an option. At least, not in 1999 when they first moved it in-house and are known for sure to have started getting most of their materials from Mexico(Before they moved it in-house, we don't really know either way, I don't think. I've always assumed they only started taking material from Mexico in 1999 when they moved it in-house, as a cost and time saving measure).

Besides, there's really no reason for Sabat to lie about this. This was in his Geekdom101 interview a while ago, so it's not like he was obliged to be complimentary of the old work. If all he'd been doing was towing the line and trying to make Funi's version sound good, he likely wouldn't have spent as long as he did praising the Ocean voice actors when Geekdom asked about the events that lead to Funi moving it in-house.

[TheGreatness25]

Yeah, I don't think that Sabat would lie, especially since he seems happy enough to bash the pre-Kai dub.

Look, say what you will, but obviously somebody took pride in those tracks because that was their work of art. There's a member on here that worked on it (and posted an interview with two other musicians for that series). It's honestly subjective, I choose to try to be unbiased toward it, and at the end of that day, there's nothing particularly bad about a lot of it. It had limitations, and it happened to land on something that had an original score. But otherwise, to trash it so hard, is just (to be honest) annoying. It's such an easy target that I've seen being bashed for years and years. This topic, quite frankly, has been beaten to death and when someone says, "No! It doesn't belong there! It's garbage!" and refuses to budge on the various reasons for why it was what it was, well, there's not much of a discussion to be had.