Does a composer whose style is between Kikuchi and Faulconer Productions exist?

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

Well first of all I want to say that I grew up with Kikushi soundtrack it is still my favourite music for Dragon Ball. But without being an haters I think Faulconer does some nice soundtrack too. So I wanted to know if you ever found someone who for you feel that his soundtrack symbolise kinda a mix between the two ?

Or do you have find composer who are close to their scoring ?

I am looking for composer who are close to what's Kikushi and Faulconer have done.

[VegettoEX]

I'd say the middle ground between those two polar opposite ends of an approach to scoring Dragon Ball would be Norihito Sumitomo's various Kai, Super, and movie scores.

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

Norihito Sumitomo

I''ll check his soundtrack In fact I'm looking at soundtrack who also feels Dragonballesc.

[Robo4900]

I personally think Sumitomo sounds a bit more like a sort of early 2000s cartoon score in a similar vein to Invader Zim more than a style like Faulconer's or Kikuchi's.

I think the score that sort of meets in the middle for me is probably Ron Wasserman's score; it often had an intense, synthy sound like Faulconer's did, but it could have the more subtle orchestral sound too, like Kikuchi's. It is probably more comparable to Faulconer than Kikuchi, but given how wildly different the styles of Faulconer and Kikuchi are, it's kind of hard to find any kind of middleground between them. One thing that came to mind for me was the Anitunes score(The one for the Westwood dub composed by Tom Keenlyside, John Mitchell, and David Iris); it's got quite the mix of styles, with some synth rock in there, some more orchestral-sounding stuff, some straight-up rock, etc., but the actual sound of the music, and the way it was mixed ends up giving it a sort of... Low-fi sound, if that makes any sense? Like, even when the music itself is actually fairly intense in terms of what the actual composition is, it ends up having a very atmospheric sound from the fact it's usually played quite quietly, and from the way the instruments don't sound all that intense. If you played the Anitunes Dragon Ball Z opening theme on a guitar with a Metallica-type sound to it, the song would probably sound like slow metal, but they sort of went the opposite approach when putting the song together...
Anyway, the point I'm going for is that the way it ends up turning out, the Anitunes score ends up being a rather low-intensity-feeling, atmospheric soundtrack when you're watching the show, but it has some moments where it dials things up and can sound a lot more heavy, going into some proper rock -- or sometimes synth rock -- territory, so you could argue the Anitunes score is half-way between the two... But, I feel like the actual music itself probably wouldn't give that vibe so much if you listened to it on its own, since a good bit of the vibe there comes from the fact the music is often quite quietly played in comparison to the voices and SFX, so in terms of actually how the music sounds, I think Wasserman is the one who comes closest to being an even mixture of the two styles.

[DB1984]

Akihito Tokunaga for GT.

[TheGreatness25]

I think that Kenji Yamamoto's tracks for "Dragon Ball Z: Greatest Dragon Ball Legends" ("Dragon Ball Z Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu") are probably the closest Japanese soundtrack to having that Faulconer feel -- more specifically, the earlier Faulconer stuff (Namek/Freeza). I think it's because that synthesizer sound is so prevalent in these tracks. Some tracks also have that slow, "mystical" (which is what I'm sure Faulconer was going for with tracks like "The Ginyu Force Theme" and "A Little Help From a Friend") feel to it. I honestly wouldn't be in the least surprised if Faulconer used this soundtrack as inspiration for his score (though I wouldn't want to pin that on him without knowing).

But yeah, I always felt that the soundtrack from that game felt very Bruce Faulconer in some ways. I don't know if it resembles Kikuchi's score, though. I think the instruments used make all the difference, to be honest. And yes, I'll agree that Kai felt like it was in the middle as well.

Well first of all I want to say that I grew up with Kikushi soundtrack it is still my favourite music for Dragon Ball. But without being an haters I think Faulconer does some nice soundtrack too.

I completely agree. I find that there's a nice chunk of Faulconer themes that I legitimately enjoy. Usually, the tracks that I can't stand are often those pointless background ones where nothing is happening (they usually play when someone's casually talking or when the characters are doing something random). But when it comes to character themes and battle music, I generally enjoy the music. Is it Dragon Ball? Well... it's certainly 1999-2001 Funimation Dragon Ball. I can't imagine watching the dub without them; they're not "epic" to match the Japanese version, though. But still, stand-alone, I enjoy them.

[Kakacarrottop]

I personally think Sumitomo sounds a bit more like a sort of early 2000s cartoon score in a similar vein to Invader Zim more than a style like Faulconer's or Kikuchi's.

I think the score that sort of meets in the middle for me is probably Ron Wasserman's score; it often had an intense, synthy sound like Faulconer's did, but it could have the more subtle orchestral sound too, like Kikuchi's. It is probably more comparable to Faulconer than Kikuchi, but given how wildly different the styles of Faulconer and Kikuchi are, it's kind of hard to find any kind of middleground between them. One thing that came to mind for me was the Anitunes score(The one for the Westwood dub composed by Tom Keenlyside, John Mitchell, and David Iris); it's got quite the mix of styles, with some synth rock in there, some more orchestral-sounding stuff, some straight-up rock, etc., but the actual sound of the music, and the way it was mixed ends up giving it a sort of... Low-fi sound, if that makes any sense? Like, even when the music itself is actually fairly intense in terms of what the actual composition is, it ends up having a very atmospheric sound from the fact it's usually played quite quietly, and from the way the instruments don't sound all that intense. If you played the Anitunes Dragon Ball Z opening theme on a guitar with a Metallica-type sound to it, the song would probably sound like slow metal, but they sort of went the opposite approach when putting the song together...
Anyway, the point I'm going for is that the way it ends up turning out, the Anitunes score ends up being a rather low-intensity-feeling, atmospheric soundtrack when you're watching the show, but it has some moments where it dials things up and can sound a lot more heavy, going into some proper rock -- or sometimes synth rock -- territory, so you could argue the Anitunes score is half-way between the two... But, I feel like the actual music itself probably wouldn't give that vibe so much if you listened to it on its own, since a good bit of the vibe there comes from the fact the music is often quite quietly played in comparison to the voices and SFX, so in terms of actually how the music sounds, I think Wasserman is the one who comes closest to being an even mixture of the two styles.

I think Wasserman is closer to Sumitomo than Kikuchi. When I hear Sumitomo's music, I am usually reminded of that generic stuff you'd find as background music in American reality shows. A comparison to Wasserman makes sense, since he himself went on to compose background music for a lot of crumby reality tv shows, like Basketball Wives. In the non-action scenes, I definitely get a bit of a "generic reality show music" vibe from Wasserman's dbz score.

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

I personally think Sumitomo sounds a bit more like a sort of early 2000s cartoon score in a similar vein to Invader Zim more than a style like Faulconer's or Kikuchi's.

I think the score that sort of meets in the middle for me is probably Ron Wasserman's score; it often had an intense, synthy sound like Faulconer's did, but it could have the more subtle orchestral sound too, like Kikuchi's. It is probably more comparable to Faulconer than Kikuchi, but given how wildly different the styles of Faulconer and Kikuchi are, it's kind of hard to find any kind of middleground between them. One thing that came to mind for me was the Anitunes score(The one for the Westwood dub composed by Tom Keenlyside, John Mitchell, and David Iris); it's got quite the mix of styles, with some synth rock in there, some more orchestral-sounding stuff, some straight-up rock, etc., but the actual sound of the music, and the way it was mixed ends up giving it a sort of... Low-fi sound, if that makes any sense? Like, even when the music itself is actually fairly intense in terms of what the actual composition is, it ends up having a very atmospheric sound from the fact it's usually played quite quietly, and from the way the instruments don't sound all that intense. If you played the Anitunes Dragon Ball Z opening theme on a guitar with a Metallica-type sound to it, the song would probably sound like slow metal, but they sort of went the opposite approach when putting the song together...
Anyway, the point I'm going for is that the way it ends up turning out, the Anitunes score ends up being a rather low-intensity-feeling, atmospheric soundtrack when you're watching the show, but it has some moments where it dials things up and can sound a lot more heavy, going into some proper rock -- or sometimes synth rock -- territory, so you could argue the Anitunes score is half-way between the two... But, I feel like the actual music itself probably wouldn't give that vibe so much if you listened to it on its own, since a good bit of the vibe there comes from the fact the music is often quite quietly played in comparison to the voices and SFX, so in terms of actually how the music sounds, I think Wasserman is the one who comes closest to being an even mixture of the two styles.

I don't feel the Power Rangers theme having a Dragon Ball feeling for me hehehe ^^ I am too much of a Toku fan for seeing a DB feel.

When I hear Faulconner or Kikushi I have this DB vibe not with Ron Wasserman where the tune are too much engraved with spandex and Tommy Oliver.

I'm still looking for someone who made a Dragonballesque song.

[Robo4900]

I don't feel the Power Rangers theme having a Dragon Ball feeling for me hehehe ^^ I am too much of a Toku fan for seeing a DB feel.

I mean, the Power Rangers theme was very clearly not a piece of Dragon Ball score... Wasserman used some pretty rockin' tracks in his Z score, but the MMPR theme would've been just a bit out of flavour for what he was going for in the Dragon Ball score.

When I hear Faulconner or Kikushi I have this DB vibe not with Ron Wasserman where the tune are too much engraved with spandex and Tommy Oliver.

Funny you'd say Faulconer gives you a DB vibe, but not Wasserman. I find the exact opposite. No accounting for taste, I suppose.

I'm still looking for someone who made a Dragonballesque song.

Try this.

That aside, given how fundamentally different Faulconer and Kikuchi's music is, and the fact Faulconer kind of based his style on Wasserman's score and yet you don't consider that to have a Dragon Ball feel, I have no idea how you'd find any music that sounds Dragon Ball-esque.

[90sDBZ]

Not sure if it counts but Yamamoto's Budokai game series OST feels like a nice blend of both styles, and is well liked by Faulconer fans like myself and Kikuchi fans too. Come to think of it the DB Fighterz OST is pretty similar too.

[Bebi Hatchiyack]

Funny you'd say Faulconer gives you a DB vibe, but not Wasserman. I find the exact opposite. No accounting for taste, I suppose.

That aside, given how fundamentally different Faulconer and Kikuchi's music is, and the fact Faulconer kind of based his style on Wasserman's score and yet you don't consider that to have a Dragon Ball feel, I have no idea how you'd find any music that sounds Dragon Ball-esque.

It's just that I have engraved in my mind Wasserman with PR lol

And nice one I never know that the Trunks goes SSJ before frieza theme was from an actual group the more you know.

To be frank and honest I was looking for soundstracks that feel Dragonball without being use into any property for fit my original character theme I love Trance music in general but I never find a Trance music soundstrack that makes me feel like watching an episode of Dragon Ball.