That was my reaction as well. But to my own suprise, I already found myself whistling the theme several times today. 8[
The music on Star Trek Discovery
- Thread starter Scotty
- Start date
That was my reaction as well. But to my own suprise, I already found myself whistling the theme several times today. 8[
The problem with the S1 TNG music is that it sounded too much like what people called "Yanni-ish" music. I've been following electronic music since I got the Cosmos soundtrack in 1980, and I own several synths, including the D-50. And even THEN I thought the use of synths was horribly out of place. It felt cheesy. Sure, everyone and their mother was buying a D-50 or an M1 at the time, but HOW it was used was more important.
As for the Orville theme - meh. Reminded me of the theme to Starfox.
As for the Orville theme - meh. Reminded me of the theme to Starfox.
That's a rather odd characterization of Ron Jones's scores (and get your facts straight, at least -- Jones did only about half the scores in the first three and a half seasons of TNG, with Dennis McCarthy's mostly orchestral scores being the other half). I think Yanni's music was of the soft, slow style that was generally called New Age, and the TNG composer who was most connected with the New Age style was Jay Chattaway, who didn't become a regular TNG composer until Jones left. (I had a college professor in the '90s who liked to play New Age CDs over the lecture hall PA before class, and there was one day where I recognized the music as Jay Chattaway's work just from the stylistic elements it had in common with his Trek scores.)
If anything, what defines Ron Jones's work is the fact that it can't be pinned down to a single musical style. Rather, it's an eclectic, experimental synthesis of many different styles, both traditional and contemporary. He used a lot of electronics in his Trek scores, but he also did fantastic orchestral work there and on other shows like DuckTales and the 1988 Superman animated series. Don't forget, he did one of TNG's most admired scores, for "The Best of Both Worlds."
Well, the synths just don't hold up. They were horribly uninspiring and didn't meld well with the show.
That's a matter of opinion. I did think Jones sometimes relied a bit too much on synths in his earlier TNG scores, and I did prefer it when he went full orchestral because he was so good at it, but I think he created a distinctive sound with the synths he used, and it often worked well.
Are you kidding? That's one of my favorite Jones motifs. It's gorgeous. I do prefer its orchestral arrangement toward the end of the episode ("The Blast"), but I don't mind the electronics here.
Jones was homaging Goldsmith's "Ilia's Theme" a lot in the "Datalore" score. And really, what makes more sense than using electronic music for a story about androids?
Well, you can have timeless synth music. Look at anything Jarre or Vangelis did. Instead of using D-50 presets (you can hear DigitalNativeDance in those clips above), maybe he should have learned to program the thing, or use an OB-X or an Emu-II for the sounds. Hell, an SH-101 or a Polysix might have been better (maybe a Mono/Poly). But D-50 presets? No. I love my D-50 but I've long since gotten rid of the presets and replaced them with my own creations. It's not a difficult machine to learn and program.
My guess is that the D-50 was the new shiny and they probably wanted to use it to make something distinct. Well, they did, and it didn't work IMO. The only D-50 sound that worked for me was the first patch you hear in the TNG theme that plays the TOS theme (D-50 Glass Voices).
And I want to be clear - it's the patches I don't like, not the construction of the music itself.
My guess is that the D-50 was the new shiny and they probably wanted to use it to make something distinct. Well, they did, and it didn't work IMO. The only D-50 sound that worked for me was the first patch you hear in the TNG theme that plays the TOS theme (D-50 Glass Voices).
And I want to be clear - it's the patches I don't like, not the construction of the music itself.
What's wrong with being a product of its time? The violin was cutting-edge in 1530. The piano was cutting-edge in 1700. The saxophone was cutting-edge in 1841. How does it make sense to say that music using 500-year-old instruments is timeless but music using 30-year-old instruments is hopelessly dated?
I don't see how D-50 presets can be "timeless" when Jarre and Vangelis and TD and other artists to this day sound fresh and unique, and their albums predate TNG by at least 10 years. Even the soundtrack to Tron by Wendy Carlos sounds 100x better. The problem was using the D-50 presets. Had someone spent some time making something better, then the music would be amazing. But instead you get that goofy new-age vibe from it.
I don't mean to sound unkind, but you seem to be the only one bothered by the use of these supposed presets...
