Music The Background Music Thread

[Shift]

In movie 20's case, thankfully the 5.1 tracks have nearly all the voices and sound effects in the center track and analogous between the English and Japanese DVD/BR sets. If one is inclined to, it's a simple matter to swap one out for the other and watch the dub with the proper music (aside from the opening battle that features the announcer in all the sound channels, but that's the only issue). It certainly makes it a lot more tolerable (but nothing can be done about the awful TR jokes).

 

[JapaneseVersionFan22]

Honestly, I think I'm most excited for Everyone's Story because maybe, just maybe, there's a chance we might get some re-arrangements of some of unreleased music from Movie 2.

So many good pieces from that movie! Baffling how so little of it was released


It's always nice to get more information about these types of things. Goldberg seems very friendly, too, and is clearly just doing his job.

I hope it would include a battle theme that played in the Japanese versions of The Mystery is History( Ash and Ritchie vs Cassidy and Butch), A Parent Trapped (Ash and Ritchie vs Cassidy and Butch before adult Lugia is captured), A Promise is a Promise (when Dr. Namba pushes the emergency button, resulting in Cassidy and Butch battlibg the group, then the Cassidy and Butch batte theme is played again when Ash and Ritchie battle Dr. Namba again). I would even be more happier when it includes Misty's Japanese farewell music.

 

[Zakichio]

there were two tweets too

View: https://twitter.com/edgoldfarbmusic/status/966730622696800256

Ed Goldfarb's such an interesting guy. His music's amazing, too.

Although, actually, all Pokemon maestros are amazing.

 

[Cookiefication]

I hope it would include a battle theme that played in the Japanese versions of The Mystery is History( Ash and Ritchie vs Cassidy and Butch), A Parent Trapped (Ash and Ritchie vs Cassidy and Butch before adult Lugia is captured), A Promise is a Promise (when Dr. Namba pushes the emergency button, resulting in Cassidy and Butch battlibg the group, then the Cassidy and Butch batte theme is played again when Ash and Ritchie battle Dr. Namba again). I would even be more happier when it includes Misty's Japanese farewell music.

Not quite sure which battle theme that is as I haven't seen the Japanese version of those episodes...

Personally, I'd hope for a new version of the theme that plays during the snow-boat-sled (..?) scenes, and the theme that plays when the the fortress falls. You can hear the first one during the first part of May vs Zoey ("Strategy with a Smile") and the second one during Bulbasaur vs Dusclops ("Pace - The Final Frontier") in either versions.

(...Well then! As I was typing this out and getting distracted to Pokemon music, I actually found a pretty darn good quality rip of that first track, from the intro to the 5th movie. Would still totally love to have it actually released though...)
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUF-IMFAjVU&list=PLF867EBBCD26F38E5&index=15

 

[JapaneseVersionFan22]

Not quite sure which battle theme that is as I haven't seen the Japanese version of those episodes...

Personally, I'd hope for a new version of the theme that plays during the snow-boat-sled (..?) scenes, and the theme that plays when the the fortress falls. You can hear the first one during the first part of May vs Zoey ("Strategy with a Smile") and the second one during Bulbasaur vs Dusclops ("Pace - The Final Frontier") in either versions.

(...Well then! As I was typing this out and getting distracted to Pokemon music, I actually found a pretty darn good quality rip of that first track, from the intro to the 5th movie. Would still totally love to have it actually released though...)
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUF-IMFAjVU&list=PLF867EBBCD26F38E5&index=15

The theme that plays when the fortress falls is the battle theme that plays in the Japanese versions of the episodes I'be mentioned.

 

[Maya the Cat]

Not sure if it's sub or dub music, but what's the name of the track that plays in the beginning of "An Old Family Blend" during the narration?

 

[Cookiefication]

Not sure if it's sub or dub music, but what's the name of the track that plays in the beginning of "An Old Family Blend" during the narration?

It's actually a TPCi track. One of the nicer DP dub pieces if you ask me.

As a side note, I decided to just skim through that episode while I was at it, and man... I definitely miss how silence (no BG music) became a regular thing back during the DP dub era. That episode had a pretty significant amount of it.

 

[Zakichio]

Why is it everyone always glosses over the fact that Ed Goldfarb has legit respect for Shinji Miyazaki's music (something even his predecessor didn't have)?

 

[ii kanji]

Why is it everyone always glosses over the fact that Ed Goldfarb has legit respect for Shinji Miyazaki's music (something even his predecessor didn't have)?

Props to the man for being a consummate professional...
...but to answer your question...
I don't think the majority of people give a hoot about him or his professionalism when they are too busy rolling their eyes at the nonsensical total rescoring of the dub.

 

[kantoskies]

It's hard to praise him saying a few nice things on Twitter about Shinji Miyazaki's music when his entire work completely disrespects it.

 

[Zakichio]

Props to the man for being a consummate professional...
...but to answer your question...
I don't think the majority of people give a hoot about him or his professionalism when they are too busy rolling their eyes at the nonsensical total rescoring of the dub.

It's hard to praise him saying a few nice things on Twitter about Shinji Miyazaki's music when his entire work completely disrespects it.

Even still, the fact that it's his job to come up with a new soundtrack to the show (a soundtrack which, by the way, has a dedicated fandom) doesn't make him a monster. Nobody here said he is, but they sure seem to act like it. I mean, even the ousted Ryu Taylor (whose vendetta against the Japanese music compelled him to make the ridiculous ultimatum of skipping M21 if it doesn't gain a dub soundtrack) doesn't deny Miyazaki deserves respect. (My apologies for bringing up an infamous figure.)

And besides, remember how angry these boards got at John Loeffler for actually blatantly disrespecting the Japanese music? (Not trying to reopen old injuries, mind you)

In general, nobody can really say objectively that one soundtrack must be preferred over the other.

 

[ii kanji]

Even still, the fact that it's his job to come up with a new soundtrack to the show doesn't make him a monster. Nobody here said he is, but they sure seem to act like it.

Honestly? I think you're mistaking apathy for something else. I don't recall seeing any posts villainising Goldfarb the man (which I agree would be unnecessary and horrible).

However, if people dislike his music, or the fact that Miyazaki's score is being replaced, then I'd say fair play that they want to voice their concerns. As long as people haven't been antagonising or harassing him personally, are comments on a sub-specialised Pokeani forum really going to bother him? Doubt it.

 

[Nicolas721]

I've come to respect him after that statement, but I still think that he would be better in a different series. It's TPCi and its editors' fault that everything has to be replaced, even silences, and that many pieces are overused, but it was his job to sound familiar to Loeffer.

 

[Pkmndub]

Actually, I realized this just a little while ago, that the guy who we should be blaming, if we blame anyone at all, is Kenji Okubo. He is the CEO of TPCi and also is credited under "Executive Producer" in the credits. An Executive Producer is listed as someone who "usually supervises the creative content and the financial aspects of a production."
Kenji is the one making the budget, and he's the one that's been deciding that this piece of music should be bought and not this piece.
I don't know what the deal is with TPCi, but either it's not making enough money for the budget to include JP music, or he thinks the money can go to better uses (as most kids wouldn't care about it, so why include it in the budget?). It could even be the popular theory that they can charge more for their own music to other dubbing companies in Europe like SDI Media.
That's just all I can think of when it comes to this issue

 

[kantoskies]

What affects TPCi's budget for dubbing the anime? Do game sales affect it?

Did the profits decrease in season 3 leading 4Kids to replace more music starting in season 4? Did TPCi make a boatload of money in season 13, allowing them to keep roughly 90% of the original BGM in season 14, only to go back down the following year? Do the movies go off of a different rule? What caused 4Kids to start keeping the movie soundtracks starting with the Celebi movie only for TPCi to randomly stop starting with the Diancie movie?

It's just confusing how inconsistent TPCi has been. 4Kids made *some* sense on a large-scale trend level, the first three years kept roughly 70% of the BGM before slowly decreasing to around 30% by the eighth year. I don't know the exact logistics but I know 4Kids had financial troubles, and perhaps after the "Pokemania" of the 90s ended and merchandise sales declined in the west someone somewhere decided the production of the anime dub needed to be more cost-efficient, hence the increase of dub music revenue? That wouldn't explain why the same year the tv series started increasing the amount of dub music was also the year where the films started keeping the original soundtracks.

As for TPCi, I know the decision to dub the show in-house starting with the 9th season was due to costs, maybe that affected BGM as well? Season 14 just really throws me off. I know season 13 definitely increased the amount of original BGM but season 14 shot way up to 90%, with the first 5 episodes having no dub music at all outside of eyecatches/openings/closings (and unlike the first 2 episodes of seasons 17 and 20, I don't think they were "sneak peak" versions that later got re-scored). Why the sudden increase, especially when it only lasted a year? Maybe finances were good during the Diamond&Pearl days and they thought they could get by without the dub music pulling in extra revenue, but realized that wasn't feasible so with season 15 onwards they go back to replacing most of the score?

That was way longer and more ramble-y than I intended but I'm honestly just really confused by the whole thing.

 

[Gabo2oo]

(and unlike the first 2 episodes of seasons 17 and 20, I don't think they were "sneak peak" versions that later got re-scored).

They weren't, but that made me realize yet another confusing thing. Why did they replace the BGM for the final version of the first XY episodes if they were allowed to use the original music on a worldwide scale for the sneak peak?

 

[Pkmndub]

@Gabo2oo I believe for the preview they got discounts, or agreed to maybe rent the music for a limited amount of time, before it became full price again, and that's why they made a rescored version later?
@kantoskies I think the DP theory is plausible, where they had enough money leftover or were making enough from the show to keep lots of the Japanese music, but as seasons went on the budget needed to change.

What makes me so confused is the fact that TPC treats TPCi like a different company. The fact that the Japanese company charges the American one for royalties really is the real mystery to me. Obviously, Pokemon Korea and Pokemon Asia get special treatment, or else they wouldn't get rid of the music or even add their own text to scenes.

 

[JapaneseVersionFan22]

What affects TPCi's budget for dubbing the anime? Do game sales affect it?

Did the profits decrease in season 3 leading 4Kids to replace more music starting in season 4? Did TPCi make a boatload of money in season 13, allowing them to keep roughly 90% of the original BGM in season 14, only to go back down the following year? Do the movies go off of a different rule? What caused 4Kids to start keeping the movie soundtracks starting with the Celebi movie only for TPCi to randomly stop starting with the Diancie movie?

It's just confusing how inconsistent TPCi has been. 4Kids made *some* sense on a large-scale trend level, the first three years kept roughly 70% of the BGM before slowly decreasing to around 30% by the eighth year. I don't know the exact logistics but I know 4Kids had financial troubles, and perhaps after the "Pokemania" of the 90s ended and merchandise sales declined in the west someone somewhere decided the production of the anime dub needed to be more cost-efficient, hence the increase of dub music revenue? That wouldn't explain why the same year the tv series started increasing the amount of dub music was also the year where the films started keeping the original soundtracks.

As for TPCi, I know the decision to dub the show in-house starting with the 9th season was due to costs, maybe that affected BGM as well? Season 14 just really throws me off. I know season 13 definitely increased the amount of original BGM but season 14 shot way up to 90%, with the first 5 episodes having no dub music at all outside of eyecatches/openings/closings (and unlike the first 2 episodes of seasons 17 and 20, I don't think they were "sneak peak" versions that later got re-scored). Why the sudden increase, especially when it only lasted a year? Maybe finances were good during the Diamond&Pearl days and they thought they could get by without the dub music pulling in extra revenue, but realized that wasn't feasible so with season 15 onwards they go back to replacing most of the score?

That was way longer and more ramble-y than I intended but I'm honestly just really confused by the whole thing.

If ever TPCI really forced Ed Goldfarb to make the dub music more kiddie, then just replacing a lot of Japanese music might not be enough for them.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

What makes me so confused is the fact that TPC treats TPCi like a different company. The fact that the Japanese company charges the American one for royalties really is the real mystery to me. Obviously, Pokemon Korea and Pokemon Asia get special treatment, or else they wouldn't get rid of the music or even add their own text to scenes.

Pokemon anime is property of Shopro and TV Tokyo, Pokemon Company have no rights to it other than being a sponsor of the show.

 

[Cookiefication]

The idea that TPCi was slowly doing better financially during DP then experimenting with the first season with BW is definitely interesting, and I hadn't thought about that. The fact that the dub change was even due to budget in the first place could lend it some credibility, too. Things were bright, with that upward trend throughout DP until BW S2... Then it just literally did the exact opposite.

They weren't, but that made me realize yet another confusing thing. Why did they replace the BGM for the final version of the first XY episodes if they were allowed to use the original music on a worldwide scale for the sneak peak?

I just assumed that the sneak peeks kept the music because they were broadcast early, and dub music hadn't been made for them yet.