I was going to mention Oblivion, I'd bet that M83 would probably have better availability than Daft Punk.
Scoring the new Star Trek series
- Thread starter Mudd
- Start date
I was going to mention Oblivion, I'd bet that M83 would probably have better availability than Daft Punk.
At the very least, new Trek could recycle themes from older Trek.
Good points. I think they probably won't have a long opening theme, but might have a good tune for the end credits (as ENT did). And since they won't have to cram into 40 minutes (at least on "first run"), they can take a bit of time. Let's hope they do.
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I'd give it 7/9
I'd love to score the new Trek in the old TOS style. I don't actually mean that I'd make it sound like the 1960s, but I would compose a leitmotif for each character and for the ship itself along the lines of Courage and Steiner. The romance of George Duning and Joe Mullendore, and the brash unison melodies of Jerry Fried. Sol Kaplan's scores embodied all of those elements. TNG did away with that, at Rick Berman's insistence not because the composers didn't want to write that way. In fact, Ron Jones was eventually sacked for writing too much "music" and not sticking to the sonic wallpaper that Berman liked.
Anyway, I've had a hard time finding directors today that like the old school film music that I believe is dramatically appropriate in most cases. Somehow, modern film makers think that a melodic score is dated sounding. John Williams still gets away with it but most other composers working in film just agree to be micromanaged by the director.
It was the scores for TOS that got me interested in composing music for picture in the first place, and I'm grateful to Vic Mignogna for giving me the opportunity to score Star Trek Continues.
That said, I think the new Trek producers should at least take a meeting with me. I will say that I think one reason they are doing CBS streaming instead of broadcast, is so they can possibly pay the "alternative media" scales to SAG talent, and produce the music non-union, without an AFM contract. I won't be surprised if they shoot in BC or somewhere outside LA, and score the music like the later BSG with electronics mixed with some wind and percussion overdubs. Keep in mind that the TOS score rarely had more than thirty musicians, much less than TNG or even Family Guy.
Dig this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Ahf49fYbg
And this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ivcCTB0YFw
Anyway, I've had a hard time finding directors today that like the old school film music that I believe is dramatically appropriate in most cases. Somehow, modern film makers think that a melodic score is dated sounding. John Williams still gets away with it but most other composers working in film just agree to be micromanaged by the director.
It was the scores for TOS that got me interested in composing music for picture in the first place, and I'm grateful to Vic Mignogna for giving me the opportunity to score Star Trek Continues.
That said, I think the new Trek producers should at least take a meeting with me. I will say that I think one reason they are doing CBS streaming instead of broadcast, is so they can possibly pay the "alternative media" scales to SAG talent, and produce the music non-union, without an AFM contract. I won't be surprised if they shoot in BC or somewhere outside LA, and score the music like the later BSG with electronics mixed with some wind and percussion overdubs. Keep in mind that the TOS score rarely had more than thirty musicians, much less than TNG or even Family Guy.
Dig this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Ahf49fYbg
And this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ivcCTB0YFw
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For the opening credits, this would be my preference. Get right to the content of the show.
When I watch a recording of a show, I skip over the credits unless there's a scene playing.
For the opening credits-I would use only the titles of the series, and the episode.
Dive into the content of the episode right away.
Dive into the content of the episode right away.
What about Ramin Djawadi?
He's known for his sci-fi/fantasy soundtracks (namely Game of Thrones!), and will be scoring HBO's new sci-fi series, Westworld. I think he's one of the best composers today.
Some highlights:
Game of Thrones - "Main Title"
Game of Thrones - "Rains of Castamere"
Iron Man - "Driving With The Top Down"
Pacific Rim - "Pacific Rim"
He's known for his sci-fi/fantasy soundtracks (namely Game of Thrones!), and will be scoring HBO's new sci-fi series, Westworld. I think he's one of the best composers today.
Some highlights:
Game of Thrones - "Main Title"
Game of Thrones - "Rains of Castamere"
Iron Man - "Driving With The Top Down"
Pacific Rim - "Pacific Rim"
Actually going back TOS style would be something new again these days. And Not Herbert's done a great job with STC, so wouldn't mind him getting a shot at it!
Of course it depends on what the tone of the rest of the production is. Epic Electronic Space music could work too
Of course it depends on what the tone of the rest of the production is. Epic Electronic Space music could work too
Thanks for your vote of confidence.
I must say that the danger of scoring Trek, or any film/TV, is that there's a trap in using any musical style or instrumentation that is very "current" and trendy. Think of the score for "Chariots of Fire" or "Beverly Hills Cop". You can listen to a few measures of those scores and tell what year they where written. On the other hand, traditional 19th and 20th Century classical type music is timeless really. The score for Star Trek: the Motion Picture, as an example, was composed and recorded in 1979, but it doesn't sound dated in any way. Many TOS scores could also be written today without sounding dated. "Doomsday Machine", by Sol Kaplan, sounds as fresh as any recent John Williams score and the only reason it may seem a tad old fashioned is because the orchestra was small with only 27 players. The actual orchestra breakdown is this:
5 woodwind
4 French horns
4 trumpets
3 trombones
tuba
piano
2 percussion
4 cello
1 bass
If that score were recorded for a big budget feature, there could be between 80 and 100 players. I big string section for major films could be as large as 24 violins, 10 viola, 8 celli, 6 basses. TOS scores were often done without violins so they could have more power from the brass.
BTW, "Metamorphosis", by George Duning, is an other score that holds up today without sounding dated. Again that was recorded using a very small string section but did include 6 violins. Because of that, there are only 3 French Horns and no other brass. If re-orchestrated for a larger orchestra, that score could work with contemporary feature film.
So trust me when I say, that hip and trendy go out-of-style quickly, and classic shit will still be relevant 50 years on. Another great example of this would be the film scores of Bernard Herrmann. Go check out the score to "North by Northwest" or "Vertigo". They still sound modern.
Gene Roddenberry told Sandy Courage, when scoring "The Cage", that he didn't want to hear any "bleeps and bloops" or other kinds of "space music" but good, old fashioned movie music. Courage didn't completely adhere to this, as he used electric organ in "The Cage" and "Man Trap". In fact, he also used electric violin in "Man Trap" and the main tittle theme music. Roddenberry had the theme re-recorded early in the first season with a different orchestration. I believe that either Fred Steiner or Sol Kaplan did the newer arrangement that lasted the rest of season 1.
I must say that, as much as I love Courages work for TOS, he wrote the most dated sounding music other than Joe Mullendore's score for "Conscience of the King" which sounds almost Film Noire at times.
Duning wrote the most modern TOS scores with few electronics other than some organ in "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" and "the Empath". Oddly enough, Duning was the oldest of all the TOS composers.
Okay, sorry I went on a bit too much with this but, as you can tell, I'm pretty geeky about Trek scores.
It's hard to say which sounds will date and which won't. Jerry Goldsmith used some rather clunky sounding electronica with his orchestral scores. OTOH, while you can date them to a period, I'd say Vangelis's two big scores are pretty timeless. The score for Soderbergh's film of Solaris was a terrific combo of classic strings and rather eerie chiming sounds (don't know if they used bells or synth samples).
And of course you can date orchestral scores by the external influences they incorporate.
The most notable instance of the "timeless" orchestral score is Star Wars, which achieved this quality first by avoiding unusual instrumentation, and second by being a pastiche of highlights from the history of classical music. This way the listener may be impressed, but they'll never be startled. Nothing wrong with this; it's a great score. But it did result in this style being set in stone as the science fiction sound (I recall someone calling an orchestral anime score "Star Trek music" simply because it was Romantic orchestral).
Which is rather away from the point I meant to make! Some electronic sounds are good and have qualities I think will last, so avoiding them on principle is self-defeating.
EDIT: I just went on youtube to check the Solaris OST, which I hadn't heard in a while. There's actually a strong minimalist influence, Glass and Nyman. Hadn't consciously noticed that before. Sounds great with a good subwoofer, but I haven't heard it that way since the cinema...
And of course you can date orchestral scores by the external influences they incorporate.
The most notable instance of the "timeless" orchestral score is Star Wars, which achieved this quality first by avoiding unusual instrumentation, and second by being a pastiche of highlights from the history of classical music. This way the listener may be impressed, but they'll never be startled. Nothing wrong with this; it's a great score. But it did result in this style being set in stone as the science fiction sound (I recall someone calling an orchestral anime score "Star Trek music" simply because it was Romantic orchestral).
Which is rather away from the point I meant to make! Some electronic sounds are good and have qualities I think will last, so avoiding them on principle is self-defeating.
EDIT: I just went on youtube to check the Solaris OST, which I hadn't heard in a while. There's actually a strong minimalist influence, Glass and Nyman. Hadn't consciously noticed that before. Sounds great with a good subwoofer, but I haven't heard it that way since the cinema...
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Fred Steiner did the re-arrangement of the theme in season one.
We can speculate as to why the theme was re-arranged and re-recorded by Steiner, but there's no archival evidence indicating who directed Steiner to do this, what direction (if any) he was given, or even what episodes used the electric violin theme vs. the cello theme in the original broadcast of season one.
Mention of Star Wars made me think about the distinction between theme music and in universe music.
There was the orchestral/classical style music, and then there was the catina music. The catina music had a funky vibe, in strong contrast to the theme music.
Variety is the spice of life.
Actually, in universe you could have quite a variety. Different cultures, different individuals, may have their own preferences.
The TOS syndicated episodes had the Courage orchestration for the first few episodes aired. Man Trap through Mudd's Women or something like that. The electric violin had a sort of erie sound. Paramount had new prints made in the late 1980s and the also, standardized the main title sequence with both music and picture. Remember that the first few episodes featured a "created by Gene Roddenberry" card in the opening which was removed when the music changed as well. Roddenberry got the credit back for the opening of seasons 2 & 3.
I have to assume that it was Gene who ordered the change in the orchestration. I can't find it on the internet but the original arrangement is on the TOS soundtrack collection.
Wait! I found it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IyJ3uoDMsg#t=89 All the main title variations.
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Roddenberry's "created by" credit had to be moved to the end titles because of an issue with the Director's Guild of America that came up just prior to the premiere of the series. That's why the first few episodes have the "created by" credit -- there was no time to change it, as they had already been delivered. Contractually, they should have eliminated the upfront "created by" credit for the rebroadcast of every season one episode, but this hasn't always happened. The issue was resolved in season two by bringing the writing and directing cards up to the top of the show rather than the end.
(This is what the papers at UCLA say, mind you, not what is claimed in those recent self-published books about the making of the original Star Trek that shall not be named, mind you.)
I agree that this is plausible, but ultimately unverified, which is why it can only be speculation. I'd like to know what Wilbur Hatch and Bob Jusman thought about the electric violin version, not to mention NBC and the higher ups at Desilu (if they had any opinion at all). Alas, I've found no documentation about the issue, or even an interview done after the fact.
Complicating matters is a memo from Roddeberry to Hatch in which he said he disliked the score to The Man Trap, but liked the theme.
Wait a minute? Are you saying that the new books (by MC) aren't accurate?
No. Those books are entirely inaccurate and riddled with lazy errors, poor scholarship, and just plain misinformation.
Harvey's research, by comparison, is much more trustworthy and worth reading over at Star Trek Fact Check.
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