Ron Jones' firing was an omen.

[JediKnightButler]

Music for the most part in Star Trek was it's least endearing quality. Even some of the scores in the original series were annoying. The worst culprit of this was DS9, where I can't remember a single score from that series I liked. Maybe The Visitor Score, but most of it was annoying background noise.

The score used in Way of the Warrior during the battle scene seemed to have been lifted in part from part of the Star Trek:Generations ("Outgunned") score. But, yeah, I don't remember much of DS9's score to be that memorable other than maybe the Pilot Episode ("Passage Terminated", "Space Cucumbers"). There's a Best of Star Trek CD (Vol. 2) that does have Nana Visitor singing "Fever" from His Way though. ;-)

 

[MakeshiftPython]

I think the logic of Berman's reasoning works better for DS9 than it did for TNG. As said earlier, the composers were told to keep the music vague enough so that there would be no heroic or villainous themes associated with the characters when actions are taken, thus viewers can never tell if the hero is really doing the right thing or if the villain is really supposed to be a bad guy. Music as vague and ominous works great for episodes like "Duet" and "In the Pale Moonlight". It adds to that shades of gray viewpoint the show embraced. It's only rousing for certain moments like the end of the pilot when the fanfare appropriately plays coinciding with Sisko finally moving on his with life with enthusiasm, and that final shot with the three starships arriving, signaling that the station has now reached its prime as a hub for all cultures around that sector.

 

[GalaxyX]

Jones did score "The Best of Both Worlds".

They even do a nod to the cliffhanger in the Family Guy episode "Stewie Kills Lois".

How about this at 0:30?

Star Trek: First Contact Teaser Trailer

Yeah, we never liked Ron Jones' music, so we put it on the teaser trailer for our TNG movie.

That trailer was super cool. Why didn't we get THAT movie?

There's a logic to Rick Berman's decision to be sure. But I don't think many fans agreed with him.

I also don't think very much of TNG's music (regardless of composer) comes close to TOS, including Ron Moore's. And a big part of this is the wimpy tone. The profusion of synthesizers in TV scoring in the mid 80s really cheapens things, and besides subbing real performers with unconvincing synth pads, you got a lot of new-agey chimes and tinkling Doogie Howser tones. To my modern ears, that stuff sounds like fingernails on the chalkboard.

I listened through the entire Ron Moore boxed set and a lot of it sounds like Moore noodled the score on his keyboard (with the aforementioned doogie howser tones) and then had the live musicians fill it out by playing over the melody. But you're still left with this cloying Casio-like xylophone/string combo sound running through almost every single track, including action scenes that are supposed to have some balls to them.

The culprits were the Yamaha DX7 (famous for the Doogie Houser Tine Electric Piano) and the Roland D-50, famous for that "Fantasia" bell string sound (example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPOjcvnMg6c)

The one on Doogie Houser is weak, that DX7 could do way beefier sounds than that, for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW-iI0zsNeg

And the D50 had just been released by Roland in 1987, and every composer had a hard on for it at the time because it could do those bell string sounds so well.

Personally I loved them and saw no issues with them being used alongside more traditional instruments.

No one complains that classic movies like Forbidden Planet practically have no musical score other than a bunch of electronic bleeps and bloops throughout the entire movie.

I think it's unfair to attack TNG for it's use of synths, considering that the 80's was a synthmania era (Most 80's productions HEAVILY relied on analog synths like the Roland Juno 106, the Roland Jupiter, and the Yamaha DX7 and its variants) and Ron Jones balanced the synthy parts with the live orchestral parts much better than most other series were doing it.

For me the biggest problem with post S3 Trek music is that it became the exact same string sounds with the exact same melodies and chord progressions! This is what, to me, makes it boring.

I think the logic of Berman's reasoning works better for DS9 than it did for TNG. As said earlier, the composers were told to keep the music vague enough so that there would be no heroic or villainous themes associated with the characters when actions are taken, thus viewers can never tell if the hero is really doing the right thing or if the villain is really supposed to be a bad guy. Music as vague and ominous works great for episodes like "Duet" and "In the Pale Moonlight". It adds to that shades of gray viewpoint the show embraced. It's only rousing for certain moments like the end of the pilot when the fanfare appropriately plays coinciding with Sisko finally moving on his with life with enthusiasm, and that final shot with the three starships arriving, signaling that the station has now reached its prime as a hub for all cultures around that sector.

I can see on the surface that could make sense, but really you should bring out issues like that with your composer and see if he can better match his style to what is needed for that particular scene. Firing the composer and getting another one who does the same chord progressions with the same string and frenchhorn sounds over and over was not the right step.

 

[MakeshiftPython]

It wasn't gonna happen that way, as Jones said there were certain factors that may have contributed to his letting go. He was giving what he was asked for by Berman and co, but for whatever reason they were just never satisfied, or as Berman once said something along the lines of Jones being a good composer but "not in the same ballpark" as McCarthy or Chattaway. Jones also said that had he not been let go, he would have likely left on his own accord as he was never going to do the kind of stuff Berman asked for. Jones was going to leave either way, it was just that Berman beat him to the punch.

 

[SPCTRE]

Jones did score "The Best of Both Worlds".

My favorite episode soundtrack in all of TNG.

 

[GalaxyX]

It wasn't gonna happen that way, as Jones said there were certain factors that may have contributed to his letting go. He was giving what he was asked for by Berman and co, but for whatever reason they were just never satisfied, or as Berman once said something along the lines of Jones being a good composer but "not in the same ballpark" as McCarthy or Chattaway. Jones also said that had he not been let go, he would have likely left on his own accord as he was never going to do the kind of stuff Berman asked for. Jones was going to leave either way, it was just that Berman beat him to the punch.

Too bad, because he was doing great. I don't hate the later wallpaper, but it did reduce the quality of the storytelling by a bit.

Jones did score "The Best of Both Worlds".

My favorite episode soundtrack in all of TNG.

It's such a simple piece too, a perfectly blended combination of a trumpet fanfare and synth choir sound. A perfect example of the synth sound phenomenally enhancing the standard orchestral sound.

 

[DS9forever]

Music for the most part in Star Trek was it's least endearing quality. Even some of the scores in the original series were annoying. The worst culprit of this was DS9, where I can't remember a single score from that series I liked. Maybe The Visitor Score, but most of it was annoying background noise.

The score used in Way of the Warrior during the battle scene seemed to have been lifted in part from part of the Star Trek:Generations ("Outgunned") score. But, yeah, I don't remember much of DS9's score to be that memorable other than maybe the Pilot Episode ("Passage Terminated", "Space Cucumbers"). There's a Best of Star Trek CD (Vol. 2) that does have Nana Visitor singing "Fever" from His Way though. ;-)

The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Collection released by La-La Land has a lot of great scores from DS9:

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine_Collection

 

[Jonesy]

That's exactly why I hated the sonic wallpaper. I was always focusing on how awful it was.

Agreed.

I don't mean any disrespect for those who like the early season music, but my sig other and I were practically laughing at how over the top the music cues were (particularly right before the commercial breaks) when we have gone through the show again on Blu-Ray. I actually agree with (and I don't often agree with a lot of Berman's Trek decisions) Berman's perspective on Ron's music.

To be fair to Ron though, a lot of the first seasons episodes range from bland to terrible, and I suppose that it's fair to say that the music overdramatized lame writing.

 

[Mudd]

Yes, there is.
And it's a very nice audio/visual moment/shot where nothing exciting happens and you are still hooked.

MEANING there are no sound effects for Spock touching the screen, and the horn "blats" only very roughly and coincidentally line up with two of the gestures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaVIIoRKBlk#t=221

So long as you think you are right.

Just watched it - he's right. You're mistaken.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

That's exactly why I hated the sonic wallpaper. I was always focusing on how awful it was.

Agreed.

I love it when people say that they agree with me, but based on everything else you said in that post, I feel that I must clarify (just to be sure there was no misunderstanding there, with respect to what I meant): Ron Jones' music for TNG ≠ "the sonic wallpaper."

 

[Salinga]

YT channel with Ron Jones OST:
https://www.youtube.com/user/doublestar87/videos

 

[Sci]

The idea that music can't drive and elevate a scene is pretty absurd. Rick Berman should take a look at Murray Gold's work on Doctor Who to see how much a great score can enhance an already-solid scene. (Examples that come to mind right off the bat: The "mind meld" scene in "The Girl in the Fireplace;" the final separation in "Doomsday;" the final ten minutes of "Utopia;" the virtual symphony that underpinned "The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords;" Wilf's goodbye to the Doctor in "Journey's End;" the role of "Vale Decem" in the finale of "The End of Time, Part Two;" the entire score to "The Eleventh Hour".... I could go on.)

 

[JRoss]

Ron Jones must be the Murray Gold of Star Trek.

EDIT: LOL, I posted this without reading Sci's post above me. I did not mean to agree with Sci. I've never heard of anyone supporting Murray Gold before. He's pretty much the most rubbish composer on TV today, and I was for once agreeing with Rick Berman that a score shouldn't be self-aggrandizing. Until the start of this latest season, which has been fair so far, Murray's work has been to simply interject those same seven notes, bum-bum-bum BUM-BUM-BA-BUM at increasing volume to the point where it drowns out dialog and makes the audience not care about the on-screen action.