Dragon Ball BGM: Orchestral or Not?

Sebastian (SB) · Post by **Sebastian (SB)** » Wed May 10, 2006 12:05 pm

This is more of a Dragon Ball related question, but more specifically, directed toward the music done by Shunsuke Kikuchi for the Dragon Ball & DragonBall Z anime series. I know this might appear to be a or is a dumb question, but is the actual DB/DBZ BGM orchestral?, I'm, at times, often left under the impression that's it's not. I love his BGM, but it often times sounds a little too bizzare (but in a good way) for orchestral music. Opinions, please.

kvon · Post by **kvon** » Wed May 10, 2006 1:17 pm

From most of the BGM I heard, I'm pretty sure that the trumpets, piano, and strings are real. What puzzled me was the bass. Is that real? Or is it just bad audio? This applies to most other percussion-related sounds, such as chimes, cymbles, glockenspiels. I also think that they don't sound real, but I might be wrong. If you listen to "Funky Kame Sen'nin", the timpani used in that track is definitely real. Now, if you ask me if it's orchestral, nah. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's lacking lower strings. I would call it more like original scores, not orchestral. For it to be called orchestral, they must have at least a full string section.

Sebastian (SB) · Post by **Sebastian (SB)** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:22 pm

kvon wrote:From most of the BGM I heard, I'm pretty sure that the trumpets, piano, and strings are real. What puzzled me was the bass. Is that real? Or is it just bad audio? This applies to most other percussion-related sounds, such as chimes, cymbles, glockenspiels. I also think that they don't sound real, but I might be wrong. If you listen to "Funky Kame Sen'nin", the timpani used in that track is definitely real. Now, if you ask me if it's orchestral, nah. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's lacking lower strings. I would call it more like original scores, not orchestral. For it to be called orchestral, they must have at least a full string section.

I pretty much agree with you there the bass in general, at times, is what just gives it a bizzare feeling, which I why I begin to question if the music is orchestral or not & correct if I'm wrong but during the Cell arc, specifically, where Cell is looking for Jinzoningen No.18 there's this BGM piece that they use a lot & this particular BGM piece had this sort of......I don't know how to explain, but there was this part done by the bass that just kinda felt bizzare, but somewhat fitting for that arc .

The reason I bring up this question is because I have read that some people consider DB/DBZ's BGM orchestral, but I beg to differ for just pieces. In the end, I just don't know what to categorize the BGM, but I guess "original scores" is just fine.

kenisu3000 · Post by **kenisu3000** » Thu May 11, 2006 8:18 pm

Sebastian (SB) wrote: I pretty much agree with you there the bass in general, at times, is what just gives it a bizzare feeling, which I why I begin to question if the music is orchestral or not & correct if I'm wrong but during the Cell arc, specifically, where Cell is looking for Jinzoningen No.18 there's this BGM piece that they use a lot & this particular BGM piece had this sort of......I don't know how to explain, but there was this part done by the bass that just kinda felt bizzare, but somewhat fitting for that arc .

Can you explain the scene in detail? The curiosity has me.

Sebastian (SB) wrote:The reason I bring up this question is because I have read that some people consider DB/DBZ's BGM orchestral, but I beg to differ for just pieces. In the end, I just don't know what to categorize the BGM, but I guess "original scores" is just fine.

Yeah, it does seem to be a little heavy on the horns and drums, and not enough of the strings, so it may not be a FULL orchestra, but I still consider it an orchestra, expecially compared to the fully synthesized dub soundtrack by Bruce Faulconer.

Sebastian (SB) · Post by **Sebastian (SB)** » Thu May 11, 2006 8:59 pm

kenisu3000 wrote: Can you explain the scene in detail? The curiosity has me.

Well the particular piece I was talking about is used quite heavily in the Cell arc so I guess I can't really remember where it was used, but it corelates to my Perfect Cell FUNi DVD Box Set. I remember it being used a lot in some episodes. I also might be wrong in that piece using a bass, hearing it again it sounds like a piano. Like I said, I can't really explain the piece, nor I'm good at telling the differences in some instruments.

kenisu3000 wrote: Yeah, it does seem to be a little heavy on the horns and drums, and not enough of the strings, so it may not be a FULL orchestra, but I still consider it an orchestra, expecially compared to the fully synthesized dub soundtrack by Bruce Faulconer

Yeah, I pretty much agree with you there. I'm pretty two-sided when comes to labeling Shunsuke Kikuchi's music especially in the Dragon Ball Z anime. I consider to be original & orchestral, to some extent. It's pretty unique if anything.