Electronic music in star trek

[M'rk son of Mogh]

I want to see some Romulan synthesizers, or some Klingon drum machines. Maybe even some Bajoran vocoders. Is anyone else with me?

Like TNG's "Suddenly Human", Jono was listening to what you describe, I think.

And the bar in "Unification" had some weird sounding synthesizer played by that 4 armed chick.

 

[Joshua Howard]

To be honest, the TNG crew came across as a boring bunch of twats. No TV, no drinking... their fun was going to piano concerts or poetry recitals. Dear god... no wonder they needed a counselor.

Roudy music and substance abuse is left out of Star Trek endorsed society because it conflicts with the prevailing message of evolved thought, self-control, logical conduct, etc.. You either understand and accept that, or you don't; but either way, the music and culture portrayed in Star Trek was chosen for a reason.

The Voyage Home and First Contact each deal with primative human culture. If you have a problem with this, chances are the idea of Vulcan logic is also offensive.

In real life, there are two strains of folks; the well-dressed ones who you see coming out of Opera and Symphonic halls at 9 PM, and the roudies who you see going into bars and night clubs at roughly the same time a few blocks over. I personally have a problem with anyone who considers refined living boring.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

In real life, there are two strains of folks; the well-dressed ones who you see coming out of Opera and Symphonic halls at 9 PM, and the roudies who you see going into bars and night clubs at roughly the same time a few blocks over.

No.

In real life, there are an infinite number of strains of people.

 

[SFRabid]

"I'll tell you what classical music is, for those of you who don't know. Classical music is this music that was written by a bunch of dead people a long time ago. And it's formula music, the same as top forty music is formula music. In order to have a piece be classical, it has to conform to academic standards that were the current norms of that day and age ...

That statement is about as correct as Zappa is "still cool and hip."

Classical, jazz, painting, etc... Throughout history the artists who stand out are the ones who are highly trained and skilled, then push the limit with those talents. Beethoven was certainly not accepted during his prime. Just like today, people of his time were listening to formula music. That is not the music that survived. Sadly, most electronic music will be forgotten because most of it is created by people who are limited to "point and click with a mouse" and cannot explore music by playing an instrument. A filter is not an instrument. Buying a bunch of Acid loops and putting them together in Live does not make one a musician or a composer.

 

[AntonyF]

I was never a fan of these kind of anachronism in Trek. That obsession of the Trek characters with the 20th century... I think it's very unrealistic.

Agreed... it's sucha 'nod' to the viewers.

I'd have preferred 21st century, or 22nd. I.e. they can be 'retro', but not be so obvious. i.e. Paris starting an old Ford truck. Pulease.

 

[jazzstick]

"I'll tell you what classical music is, for those of you who don't know. Classical music is this music that was written by a bunch of dead people a long time ago. And it's formula music, the same as top forty music is formula music. In order to have a piece be classical, it has to conform to academic standards that were the current norms of that day and age ...

That statement is about as correct as Zappa is "still cool and hip."

Classical, jazz, painting, etc... Throughout history the artists who stand out are the ones who are highly trained and skilled, then push the limit with those talents. Beethoven was certainly not accepted during his prime. Just like today, people of his time were listening to formula music. That is not the music that survived. Sadly, most electronic music will be forgotten because most of it is created by people who are limited to "point and click with a mouse" and cannot explore music by playing an instrument. A filter is not an instrument. Buying a bunch of Acid loops and putting them together in Live does not make one a musician or a composer.

So if one follows this line of thinking people who have monster chops are the ones that make the best music huh? I have another word for that....its called masturbation! The people who push the music envelope are the ones who use their skill, influences and taste to make their own music and be themselves! Music is a form of personal expression, not gymnastics! No one would compare say Miles Davis in trumpet skill to say Diz. If that was the case Miles would fail, but Miles had his own sound, and vision and that changed music, not that fact that he could play a million notes in the upper trumpet regisiter! Zappa is the same exact way!

By the way Zappa is still cool and hip, because he was Zappa, not some jerk off who can play flight of the bubble-bee on his or her instrument! That shit gets old real fast!

 

[jazzstick]

To be honest, the TNG crew came across as a boring bunch of twats. No TV, no drinking... their fun was going to piano concerts or poetry recitals. Dear god... no wonder they needed a counselor.

Roudy music and substance abuse is left out of Star Trek endorsed society because it conflicts with the prevailing message of evolved thought, self-control, logical conduct, etc.. You either understand and accept that, or you don't; but either way, the music and culture portrayed in Star Trek was chosen for a reason.




The Voyage Home and First Contact each deal with primative human culture. If you have a problem with this, chances are the idea of Vulcan logic is also offensive.

In real life, there are two strains of folks; the well-dressed ones who you see coming out of Opera and Symphonic halls at 9 PM, and the roudies who you see going into bars and night clubs at roughly the same time a few blocks over. I personally have a problem with anyone who considers refined living boring.

STUFFED SHIRT!

 

[T'Girl]

We did get to hear some Vulcan music, during Amok Time. I believe that just to T'Pau's left, off camera, there was a full brass band. the overly loud music you heard while Kirk and Spock were fighting wasn't the episode's sound track, it was actual music being played in the Vulcan arena. This is the sole reason that Kirk didn't kick Spock's ass, he was distracted!

 

[omnirad]

Though I agree that music that sounds contemporary and tries to be 'futuristic' usually doesn't work, I wish the producers tried harder to mix things up a bit.
Tuvok being a Jaco Pastorius fan, and jammin' on an electric bass guitar in the mess hall, would have been infinitely more interesting than Harry Kim playing the clarinet to an empty bridge...

 

[SFRabid]

So if one follows this line of thinking people who have monster chops are the ones that make the best music huh?

If all else is equal, well, yes. Take two people with equal in all other areas, but only one of them was dedicated enough to practice and raise the talent skill, I would bet that is the one that makes better music.

I have another word for that....its called masturbation!

Strange. I have no idea how that relates, unless you already had that on your mind.

The people who push the music envelope are the ones who use their skill, influences and taste to make their own music and be themselves!

Isn't that what I said about Beethoven?

Music is a form of personal expression, not gymnastics! No one would compare say Miles Davis in trumpet skill to say Diz. If that was the case Miles would fail, but Miles had his own sound, and vision and that changed music, not that fact that he could play a million notes in the upper trumpet regisiter! Zappa is the same exact way!

I listen to both Miles and Dizzy and I would never say Miles is not talented or that Dizzy plays like a machine. Now IMHO Wynton Marsalis plays like a lifeless machine, void of imagination or expression. I would listen to Zappa before I would listen to Wynton, but I would never mention him in comparison to Miles or Dizzy.

By the way Zappa is still cool and hip, because he was Zappa, not some jerk off who can play flight of the bubble-bee on his or her instrument! That shit gets old real fast!

I would bet that Zappa can play Flight of the Bumble-Bee. I would like to hear what he says about many of the current electronic music releases. Take Flight of the Bumble-Bee, remove any dynamics or timing varances, and you have what a lot of people are getting out of their sequencers. Mechanical timing and velocity set to 120 on every note.

Jazz musician to electronic musician: "I play trumpet and percussion. What do you play?"

ELectronic musician: "I play arpeggiator and filter."

 

[SpaceBrotha]

In real life, there are two strains of folks; the well-dressed ones who you see coming out of Opera and Symphonic halls at 9 PM, and the roudies who you see going into bars and night clubs at roughly the same time a few blocks over. I personally have a problem with anyone who considers refined living boring.

You really think of life as that black and white? What a primitive way of thinking. Highly illogical.

 

[jazzstick]

So if one follows this line of thinking people who have monster chops are the ones that make the best music huh?

If all else is equal, well, yes. Take two people with equal in all other areas, but only one of them was dedicated enough to practice and raise the talent skill, I would bet that is the one that makes better music.

I have another word for that....its called masturbation!

Strange. I have no idea how that relates, unless you already had that on your mind.



Isn't that what I said about Beethoven?

Music is a form of personal expression, not gymnastics! No one would compare say Miles Davis in trumpet skill to say Diz. If that was the case Miles would fail, but Miles had his own sound, and vision and that changed music, not that fact that he could play a million notes in the upper trumpet regisiter! Zappa is the same exact way!

I listen to both Miles and Dizzy and I would never say Miles is not talented or that Dizzy plays like a machine. Now IMHO Wynton Marsalis plays like a lifeless machine, void of imagination or expression. I would listen to Zappa before I would listen to Wynton, but I would never mention him in comparison to Miles or Dizzy.

By the way Zappa is still cool and hip, because he was Zappa, not some jerk off who can play flight of the bubble-bee on his or her instrument! That shit gets old real fast!

I would bet that Zappa can play Flight of the Bumble-Bee. I would like to hear what he says about many of the current electronic music releases. Take Flight of the Bumble-Bee, remove any dynamics or timing varances, and you have what a lot of people are getting out of their sequencers. Mechanical timing and velocity set to 120 on every note.

Jazz musician to electronic musician: "I play trumpet and percussion. What do you play?"

ELectronic musician: "I play arpeggiator and filter."

Sorry but you have missed the entire point! Read a little deeper there champ! I don't remember calling Miles or Diz un-talented!

 

[SpaceBrotha]

Take Flight of the Bumble-Bee, remove any dynamics or timing varances, and you have what a lot of people are getting out of their sequencers. Mechanical timing and velocity set to 120 on every note.

If this is what you really think then you are confusing dance music with all forms of electronic music.

Also I hope your signature is supposed to be funny because of how incorrect it is. As in the joke is on everyone who reads it and gets annoyed because Vista is an operating system not a BIOS. If so good job.

 

[SFRabid]

Sorry but you have missed the entire point! Read a little deeper there champ! I don't remember calling Miles or Diz un-talented!

No one would compare say Miles Davis in trumpet skill to say Diz. If that was the case Miles would fail, ...

No, you did not say Miles was un-talented, you just said he was not in the same league as Dizzy when it comes to skill. Is that the point I missed? I thought I covered the rest of it pretty well.

 

[SFRabid]

Take Flight of the Bumble-Bee, remove any dynamics or timing varances, and you have what a lot of people are getting out of their sequencers. Mechanical timing and velocity set to 120 on every note.

If this is what you really think then you are confusing dance music with all forms of electronic music.

Unfortunately dance music is at least 95 percent of th electronic music that is being released.

Also I hope your signature is supposed to be funny because of how incorrect it is. As in the joke is on everyone who reads it and gets annoyed because Vista is an operating system not a BIOS. If so good job.

Edited. Feel better now?

 

[barnaclelapse]

It never really bothered me, although some Dylan would have been kind of cool.

 

[PhasersOnStun]

So if one follows this line of thinking people who have monster chops are the ones that make the best music huh? I have another word for that....its called masturbation! The people who push the music envelope are the ones who use their skill, influences and taste to make their own music and be themselves!

I sure hope you're right, because I resemble that remark! My industrial/hard rock band Ember After has some strong players but I certainly wouldn't consider any of us virtuosos with monster chops...nevertheless, some people do seem to think the music we make to have some value.

I would agree with the comments about pop/electronic music sounding dated. I think the main reason for this has to do with the instrumentation. Forget about virtuosity—if I wrote a "cue" for a movie that consisted of two dissonant violins, it will sound like the music crafted anywhere from hundreds of years ago to today. If I play the same cue playing two dissonant synthesizer voices, it will sound recent. And if those synthesizers I used were 80s synths that then went out of favor in the 1990s, it will sound rooted in a specific decade.

Interestingly, my wife and I just commented to each other on that—we recently watched the movie 2010, filmed in 1984, and its rather cheesy 80s synth soundtrack stuck out like a sore thumb. It would have been fare better served by a classical soundtrack.

I think the best way to modern music is the way Bear McCreary does in the BSG soundtrack, where he uses everything from electric violins, sitars, and guitars, to ethnic instruments, full ensembles, etc. It sounds "out of any era" in that it's creating unique tones that don't necessarily ring out as "pop music" or "ethnic music" or "classical music" or whatever. But even though it's instantly familiar as contemporary music, it sounds very "sci fi" at the same time.

 

[SFRabid]

I think the best way to modern music is the way Bear McCreary does in the BSG soundtrack, where he uses everything from electric violins, sitars, and guitars, to ethnic instruments, full ensembles, etc. It sounds "out of any era" in that it's creating unique tones that don't necessarily ring out as "pop music" or "ethnic music" or "classical music" or whatever. But even though it's instantly familiar as contemporary music, it sounds very "sci fi" at the same time.

I also like that type of soundtrack. I remember when it seemed that every TV show had a soundtrack done with wave sequences. Korgs were selling big at that time. When you mix new tech with old tech and throw in a buch of acoustical instruments it is really hard to date the sound.

But you know, I guess you could technically call a lot of the classical sounding sound tracks electronic since most of it is now done using a bank of computers with GigaStudio or Kontakt.

 

[Kegg]

Interestingly, my wife and I just commented to each other on that—we recently watched the movie 2010, filmed in 1984, and its rather cheesy 80s synth soundtrack stuck out like a sore thumb. It would have been fare better served by a classical soundtrack.

Indeed, but generally my point just about source music, stuff people actually listen or perform in the future. Using contemporary pop music as the actual soundtrack of the show/movie is another matter, there's no conceptual problem with "Faith of the Heart" as ENT's title theme, for instance.

I'd still prefer classical - even and maybe especially of the modern, eclectic variety McCreary has - but that's simply a matter of personal taste and all that.