Question regarding Bruce Faulconer's music on orange sets

[TonyTheTiger]

Did anybody else really like the Shuki Levy score? Maybe I just liked Power Rangers a little too much, but I've always been a fan of that score (and the Ocean dub in general).

I always liked Shuki Levy. He's done a hell of a lot more than Power Rangers and DBZ. If there was a cheesy but catchy theme song back in the 80s and early 90s there's a good chance he had something to do with it. His music, whether appropriate or not for DBZ, certainly was not bad in the least.

[Kid Buu]

Did anybody else really like the Shuki Levy score? Maybe I just liked Power Rangers a little too much, but I've always been a fan of that score (and the Ocean dub in general).

I loved it, always been a fan of the Ocean Dub.

[Codarik]

So what in your opinion is better, Faulconer or Johnson?

For me I would say Faulconer, Johnson's music for episodes 1-67 was in my opinion kind of boring, though I think his music used in the movies he has done was excellent.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

Did anybody else really like the Shuki Levy score? Maybe I just liked Power Rangers a little too much, but I've always been a fan of that score (and the Ocean dub in general).

It always seemed like random droning to me, and this is coming from someone who enjoys the Faulconer score every once in a while.

See, I could never stand the Faulconer score. Well, maybe when I first started getting into the series in junior high, but I quickly switched over to the manga, so I don't have any fond memories of that score. Yeah, the Super Saiyan 3 theme is fucking awesome I admit, but mostly, the Faulconer score sounds like circus music...

[Kid Buu]

Did anybody else really like the Shuki Levy score? Maybe I just liked Power Rangers a little too much, but I've always been a fan of that score (and the Ocean dub in general).

It always seemed like random droning to me, and this is coming from someone who enjoys the Faulconer score every once in a while.

the Faulconer score sounds like circus music...

*Cue in Android 19 theme*

That theme and character still gives me creeps.

[Soul]

Synthesizers over a full Orchestral Score?
...No.
Even Chris Sabat openly admits he disliked the Faulconer score. (On Facebook).

[TonyTheTiger]

Synthesizers over a full Orchestral Score?
...No.
Even Chris Sabat openly admits he disliked the Faulconer score. (On Facebook).

I don't get that. For a group of people who produced the show over a decade now all of a sudden all the stuff they did is crap? I'm not going to call anybody a liar but this sounds an awful lot like revisionist history by FUNi ever since Kai and the Dragon Boxes became the new hot shit. "Look, guys. I always hated what we were doing for all those years. Trust me."

[JulieYBM]

Synthesizers over a full Orchestral Score?
...No.
Even Chris Sabat openly admits he disliked the Faulconer score. (On Facebook).

I don't get that. For a group of people who produced the show over a decade now all of a sudden all the stuff they did is crap? I'm not going to call anybody a liar but this sounds an awful lot like revisionist history by FUNi ever since Kai and the Dragon Boxes became the new hot shit. "Look, guys. I always hated what we were doing for all those years. Trust me."

Well, it is a lot easier to say this stuff now that the man in charge of making them is no longer their boss.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

Synthesizers over a full Orchestral Score?
...No.
Even Chris Sabat openly admits he disliked the Faulconer score. (On Facebook).

I don't get that. For a group of people who produced the show over a decade now all of a sudden all the stuff they did is crap? I'm not going to call anybody a liar but this sounds an awful lot like revisionist history by FUNi ever since Kai and the Dragon Boxes became the new hot shit. "Look, guys. I always hated what we were doing for all those years. Trust me."

Sabat and Schemmel didn't have anything to do with all of that, though. Wasn't it that Barry Watson fellow? In any case, before they started producing the Kai dub, all they had to push was the old DBZ dub. Why would they openly bash it back then? Now that the new, vastly superior dub is being produced, obviously they're going to talk about the faults of the old dub.

[Soul]

Well in terms of if Sabat's opinion on it actually "Honest", it's really a "Believe what you will" type of thing and I'd at least like to think he doesn't prefer the US Broadcast music.

Though yeah.. as well all know: A lot of those changes made to the dub were no doubt under guidance of Barry Watson.
Speaking of, bet he regrets leaving FUNimation now. Aha

[OutlawTorn]

Did anybody else really like the Shuki Levy score? Maybe I just liked Power Rangers a little too much, but I've always been a fan of that score (and the Ocean dub in general).

I definitely preferred it over the Faulconer score but, to be honest, I prefer the Kikuchi score over either of them. What little of Johnson score I heard (I listened to a bit of it before switching over to the Kikuchi score and never looked back), I liked more than Faulconer.

One of the things I really hated about the Faulconer score was how vastly different arrangements would drone out depending who was focused on screen at the time and, with all of the cuts, you could have clips of half a dozen character themes in the span of a minute.

That's not good direction, whether or not Faulconer had anything to do with that aspect. Overall, it provides way too much of a distraction over the dialogue and disrupts the flow. Call Johnson's score boring if you will, but I can't recall a frenetic jumbled mess of a score in those episodes.

[Gaffer Tape]

I certainly preferred the Levy score to Faulconer's. I can't really speak for the later seasons (as I stopped watching them out of the constant pain it caused me), but when season 2 led into season 3 (on Z-Day '99!) both the voices and the music were a horrendous step down. And neither seemed to improve to me in season four. While there was a bit more varied of a composition, most of the grating music I can think of comes from season four. So Levy's score was nothing to write home about, but I enjoyed it more.

[Perfect]

I prefer Faulconer's score, second to the Original.

[Cipher]

So what in your opinion is better, Faulconer or Johnson?

Faulconer, hands down. It is the only replacement score I've ever tolerated. I'm sure nostalgia's a factor, but there's also the fact that it has distinct tracks, themes, and an identifiable style. I think the fact that it's pretty squarely loved or despised by most fans attests to the fact that it has a very distinct quality.

Johnson's isn't bad by any means, but it's just generic Saturday morning fair, from what I've heard of it. Instantly forgettable.

[TonyTheTiger]

Faulconer's music itself isn't the problem for me. If I have a problem it's usually over the fact that the music doesn't know when to shut the fuck up. His score rarely ever gives you the chance to catch your breath, even when the composition of the scene obviously calls for it. Even so, nothing in his score ever really caught my interest. It was always just "yeah, that's music." While it doesn't make my ears bleed I've always been incredibly indifferent about it. Though to be perfectly honest, even Kikuchi's score never struck me as holy crap amazing. It's good and charming when it needs to be but by the time I was exposed to it in the early to mid 90s I've already seen cartoons with much better music.

The times where the "Kikuchi score" shines is often when there are insert songs, adaptations of main themes, or even dead silence. The atmospheric stuff is good but never drew my attention away from the scene itself. Though maybe that's really the point of atmospheric music. Faulconer basically hit you with a Tex Avery hammer whenever Vegeta walked on screen.

[GizmoKSX]

Faulconer's music itself isn't the problem for me. If I have a problem it's usually over the fact that the music doesn't know when to shut the fuck up.

Totally agreed. Faulconer deserves credit for the sheer volume of material he wrote for DBZ, and there are a few tunes I still dig. But this is an anime that lifts many of its most iconic moments directly from the manga. When static images are enough to get the point across, the music doesn't have to "Mickey Mouse" the action.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Faulconer's music itself isn't the problem for me. If I have a problem it's usually over the fact that the music doesn't know when to shut the fuck up. His score rarely ever gives you the chance to catch your breath, even when the composition of the scene obviously calls for it.

This. Faulconer Production's score would have been so much better if it just added silence once in a while.

[BluezaBladeNZ]

I personally cannot stand Faulconer's score, there'd be times where I give it another chance but I just turn it off after 5 mins. Out of all the dub scores, Skuki Levy's my favourite though I wish more songs were released and Nathan Johnson's is alright. But when it comes to Z, I always have it to Kikuchi's score.

I definitely agree with that Faulconer's should of had some moments of silence.

[cRookie_Monster]

Totally agreed. Faulconer deserves credit for the sheer volume of material he wrote for DBZ,

Not really...


"Faulconer Productions Music" maybe.


Sabat and the cast had nothing to do with the music choices. I remember them complaining about the music trying to follow the action too much at the cast parties I went to. I also remember Evan complainging about that. Hell I remember complaining about that XD. Some of it was just an over emphasis at the studio on making lots of "hits". Other parts was us trying to follow the maddening directions we used to get from Funimation. If we had actually put in every mood change they askd for, OMG it would have been 20x times worse. As Bruce has stated in interviews already, Funimation wanted wall to wall music, we delivered.

[Cipher]

Sabat and the cast had nothing to do with the music choices. I remember them complaining about the music trying to follow the action too much at the cast parties I went to. I also remember Evan complainging about that. Hell I remember complaining about that XD. Some of it was just an over emphasis at the studio on making lots of "hits". Other parts was us trying to follow the maddening directions we used to get from Funimation. If we had actually put in every mood change they askd for, OMG it would have been 20x times worse. As Bruce has stated in interviews already, Funimation wanted wall to wall music, we delivered.

I don't think anyone assumed you guys were cramming in the music by choice. We know we were just doing your jobs. Neat tidbit about Sabat though.

But yeah, while I still dig that soundtrack and it's the only replacement I've ever enjoyed, I think it's pretty inarguable that it would have been better if it were more sparse. In fact, on the occasions that I do get nostalgic and try to watch an episode with the Faulconer score, the ridiculous amount of action-music sync is usually what prevents me from finishing it.