He just said he didn't use the full string orchestra for this piece.
Btw although I am the first to get excited by trailers, there's still a chance the real score sounds nothing like it. Unless we can confirm Warsaw in a trailer and Sagisu posting a session in Warsaw that matches the time and date of the trailer, it can be very different.

The best recent example is the new Pokemon movie. Would you have expected a true symphonic film score based on this trailer? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQXZHJt0ltg

Or Doraemon, trailer and score totally different (we suspected scheduling issues).

Last year Naoki Sato's DESTINY had various pieces by Sato for the trailers, including a homage to Hook but none of those ended up in the final score.

It's still more likely that a piece by the composer from the score is used for a Anime/Game/Live-Action trailer but there are many exceptions.

Perhaps we should take after Tango's advice and judge it when it airs or when the soundtrack drops. It does maybe confirm he won't use a big orchestra in a hall for this one but aside from that we know nothing other than he has a string ensemble and maybe goes the Akame/Girl who summons the stars route. The anime is also not quite what I was expecting... can we give him maybe something with more gravitas like Kenshin or Katanagatari, thanks.


@FatherDougal: Our official one is not too shabby either, its a piece by Haydn btw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t3Vmo_EM8Y
But the one we have now is more broad and covers several centuries... and boy is our history complicated compared to a country like France, which btw has an anthem about jumping on our throats... but that's okay ;)

Guess who just discovered Masamichi Amano?

Never too late.

Relaxation Music Vol 4: Endless Tide
Tomoyuki Asakawa


(https://mega.nz/#!oRoAFIiL!EAarC0uvYMCinUMFxDY8GllrvGXI8cTE-C3yvkboKiE)
FLAC


I don't quite remember if this was posted or requested before, but it's never a harm to post more of Asakawa's blessing of a music.

Despite what the title might suggest as "relaxing", don't be fooled, this is Tomoyuki Asakawa who we're talking about in a more "impressionistic" flair, making allusions to Debussy's La Mer while providing lovely serenade pieces that reminds me of Angela Morley's Watership Down (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sflMCThgSRs&list=PLr57HjexWW-skCin0GYietgaviDeBNing&index=2), whose also been influenced by Debussy's chamber pieces as well. Using only harp, piano (both played by him), flute and cello, Asakawa's musical sensibilities still remain intact and it shows how even at his most bare-bones form, he manages to sound so classically rich with a joyous passion in what he does. It's still pretty suiting music for a calm Sunday to read and study. :)




@Jehanne Darc: Not gonna lie, show looks like utter garbage and I wish Iwasaki could tackle better projects (had he not been shooting himself on the foot during all these years) that could merge respectfully and better with his ideas like it did with Katanagatari or Gatchaman. At this point, I wouldn't mind hearing something like Ben-To just to hear him do something different than what are we to expect here.

It does seem Segodon is largely inspired by Horner. Track 14 shows some similarity to Titanic, 28 is 100% Braveheart, 29 is based on Horner's 4-note danger motif, and 32 might be one of Horner's newer scores (I'm thinking Black Gold, Le Dernier Loup, or The Karate Kid.) The chord progression in 32 is so familiar that I've used it myself on occasion. Track 15 is very nice and might be more Hisaishi's Princess Mononoke than Horner. Overall, pretty nice score.

He just said he didn't use the full string orchestra for this piece.Iwasaki rarely ever uses a full string ensemble, so this is nothing new. Either those violins are not actually violins, or the as you say the trailer music isn't actually what's going to be in the show.

Regardless, hearing him say about what he doesn't have makes me nervous, because in his case that could mean anything from "I decided to go full Journey to the Center of the Earth like Herrmann with a bizarre orchestral setup" or the more likely scenario of "I have literally no budget like in Black Apple and Lord of Vermillion, back to those electronics and dozens of vocalists with Tsuneo Imahori playing guitar!" And yes this show looks terrible, and if it weren't for the upcoming City Hunter movie I too would think that Iwasaki's online rants finally caught up with his career.

@Endless Tide:

Thanks for the share pensquawk, I remember hearing this on Youtube before. It's lovely but not really new, since it was released back in 1992 and when Asakawa was still very active as a composer. It sounds like a lot of the ideas for the Asian Highway, which Asakawa composed a year later, originated from here.

Is Battle Royale around in FLAC? Cuz RED has a 100 percent rip of the first one and I can share if there's interest.

Since I recently posted the wonderful "Dry Your Tears, Afrika", here's a brand new rendition (among other pieces) conducted by the Maestro himself! Haven't heard it yet, but this is no opportunity to be missed!



WCRB Classical Radio Boston are not providing on-demand streams at the moment.
So here is the full two hour broadcast stream from the concert (at the original broadcast rate of 192 kbps)



�JOHN WILLIAMS� FILM NIGHT�
August 11, 2018, Boston, MA
The Boston Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Andris Nelsons and JOHN WILLIAMS

CONCERT PROGRAM

Andris Nelsons conducting
�Theme from The Sea Hawk (Korngold)
�Suite from A Place in the Sun (Waxman)
�Excerpts from Psycho (Herrmann)
�Theme from North by Northwest (Herrmann)
�Theme from Laura (Raskin)
�Excerpts from Sunset Boulevard (Waxman)
�Suite from On the Waterfront (Bernstein)
(celebrating the centennial of Leonard Bernstein�s birth)

INTERMISSION

John Williams conducting
�Superman March
�Excerpts from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
�Call of the Champions (*)
�Dry Your Tears, Afrika, from Amistad (*)
�Four selections from Star Wars
Duel of the Fates from The Phantom Menace (*)
The Rebellion is Reborn from The Last Jedi
Han Solo and the Princess from The Empire Strikes Back
Main Title

(*) Featuring the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Chorus]




Thread 226023

Please remember to leave your thanks in the original thread!

The Seahawk... not quite my tempo... but the rest more than makes up for that. Even with the maestro himself. We must treasure him as long as we are able...

@pensquawk: Thanks for the new Asakawa!

@Ponyo: I doubt the links work anymore so go ahead.



And only six weeks left: http://picosong.com/w4z6x/

Links for what, the two BY shared here in FLAC? Haven't checked. RED had it but it's one french version. It's still good anyway

Correction: Herr Salat's links (bless his soul) are still up:

Battle Royale

Thread 57893

Battle Royale 2

Thread 57893



Pretty low on my list of Amano scores I listen to (for reasons in the descriptions) but exceptionally good classical film scores nonetheless.

Man I ought to download everything Herr Salat shared. But everytime I try my HDD weeps insanely. So much music so little space.

I also do want to go through your collections, have the same issue but I've already went through a couple. however I do prefer having the original albums entirely..

Battle Royale 1 and 2, I like it because it's so so so epic and grand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmVIxvPtCJ8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vql7t2RZNNs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5bPOmTIQCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftUCktslvNs

Why didn't they ever bother to release this on blu-ray?


Wonky google translate so beware.



On May 5th and 6th, the "Bahamut GENESIS Orchestra Concert of Shintoism" was held at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall � Takemitsu Memorial. Here we will deliver the performance of the evening performance on the 6th, which is a thousand a day.

What surprised me when I got into the hall was that size. Although this work had become one of the features from the stage of recording a theater companion on the TV series, the number of chairs lined up on this day's stand was more than 70 seats. In addition, 16 people are added to the chorus group, even a classical concert can not readily see the luxurious stage. In addition to directing it, Ikihiro Pond who handled the composition of this work. Furthermore, a huge screen is prepared on the stage, and it is a preference to enjoy music along with the work image. The host of the concert served Hiroaki Hirata who appeared in the work as Lovarey and Risa Shimizu who appeared in the role of Armira.



The first show was the song "Rage of Bahamut" which can be said as a signboard of the work . Strings and Horn corps raise a groan with majestic chorus. In this work, at the time of TV broadcasting, a method called film scoring was adopted to make music according to the screen. Compared to the existing method, while making it possible to produce more in line with the intention of the musician, the hardship from music production to recording increases many times. It is a group of musicians who got over 12 episodes. This song was played with the length as it was recorded on the soundtrack, and showed the awesomeness that the image will also fit there, from the beginning. Even after that, it was expanded along the flow of the main part, and in the concert, Hirata narrates the synopsis of the story every time several songs are made up, and the audience will be able to get back into music while dancing in memories by playing back the story You can do. Songs played by big organization in the best circumstances will hear more precisely up to every single sound. Especially for percussion instruments, a stronger sound approached than when listening with a theater, and I could taste the music of this work again when I saw the hit repeatedly. The "Seeing Things" that takes place in the scenes surrounded by zombies makes the sound of the bus vibrantly eerie and tense, making it a completely new viewing experience. In the battle scenes such as "Instant Death" and "Raid" Kimono bravely played the main line and accompanied the string. The audience holds sweat in their hands and listens to it. On the way there is a scene where the moderator talks to the pond, and there is a comment that there is the first opening "happy" there. Over 90 songs were played, and all of them were featured in secret stories that Sato Keiichi, the director of the work, named it.



Starting from 'Sip of Passion' in the latter half of the work, Fabaro and Armira took a dance in a bar scene . This song is said to be the first song created in this work. Like acoustic image, we showed acoustic guitar and caj�n, and flamenco-like music by crap. The main job of Ota Oshii who sang this ethnic song was a violinist, and this lyric told the surprising secret story every time ad lib. "Visions of Mother" of the scene where Charios XIII who was poisoned by poison in the midst of seeing the illusion of mother resonates delicately and dubiously and dazzles the strings. As "Ancient Forest Dragon" has the theme of Dragon, it also gives the impression like the fantasy royal road and nobleness by the brass pipe. From here, the music for the final story takes intensive concentration one after another, and the concert goes toward the climax. In "Favaro", the chorus team is a big success, listening to the operetta's powerfulness, the strings and the horn with the regulation hurried . "God Killer" is a short but dramatic song that develops one after another, percussion and bass sounds a heavy sound, Horn bravely mellows melody. "Chorus of Despair" is beautiful viola, the harmony of the chorus and brass went further to the music. And at the end of the main volume Risa Shimizu appeared, the ending theme "Promised Land". This song was originally a very difficult song that the pond had made in the past, and Shimizu attached lyrics to it. On this day back with a luxurious full orchestra, I was listening carefully to innocent Armira 's voice with a long version with outstanding singing ability unique to vocal music. It was greeted with a huge applause and showed several songs in the encore, All - last closes the final songs of the three performances once again with the powerful "Rage of Bahamut" .



Finally, Director Sato Keiichi got up and handed the bouquet to the conductor, and the impression of the trumpet of the stage sounded. Then the letter of the decision of the second phase production of "Bahamut GENESIS of the Shogun" attached to the line drawings of Fabaro and Caesar was on the screen. From the venue, thunder clapping flew away, and the voices of the faint fans were heard. Sato said powerfully, "Let's do our best!", The pond responded "I will write a new song again and I will have a concert again", and I will leave the stage with a big big applause.

Concert program:

Act 1

1. Rage of Bahamut
2. A Friendly Chase
3. A Threat
4. Holy Angels
5. Ready to Kill
6. Seeing Things
7. The Horse and I
8. Morning in Ysmenport
9. Instant Death
10 The Swordsman and Magic and Betrayal
11. Orleans Knights
12. Heavenly Music
13. #06 M11
14. No Fooling Around!
15. Raid
16. Timeless Friendship
17. Good Morning Anatae
18. Preview

Second Act

19. Sip of Passion
20 Bahamut & Amira
21. Memories of the Cocoon
22. Visions of Mother
23. Ancient Forest Dragon
24. Investiture
25. An Existential Threat
26. Favaro
27. God Killer
28. Michael's Heart
29. Azazel Strikes Back
30. Chorus of Despair
31. Last Choice
32. Wings of Hope
33. Thinking of Amira
34. The Journey's End
35. Promised Land
Encore
36. Encounters
37. Escape by Night
38. Rage of Bahamut

� Cygames / MAPPA / Bahamut of Shintoism GENESIS



In other news, looks like Kentaro Sato has finalized his project:



Suikoden II, Fire Emblem Echoes, Star Fox 64 [Symphonic Stories] (http://www.vgm-classics.org/03-CurrentProjects-main-e.html)

The projects will be recorded in Budapest with a full symphony orchestra and choir (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZQevqTG5rc). The length depends on the stretch goals it seems. More in the link.

It's interesting these campaigns/projects are also oriented towards a Japanese audience.

Not even a day goes by and its almost at 10% with over a month to go. Hopefully they can expand to cover the entire Fire Emblem series.

Holy crap. Apparently I discovered that Kohei Tanaka composed the FM Towns version of Wizardry V Heart of the Maelstrom back in 1990.
The orchestral score itself is 100% Tanaka with lush themes of adventure and life. What do you think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBJR31n75gQ

!!!!!!

You just made history.

This predates Fun Kabuki-Den by three years, is a 20 minute orchestral Fantasy suite ala Bastard and thus, ladies and gentlemen, the oldest orchestral video game score thus far and the most likely candidate to be the first orchestral video game score ever recorded. The original game Wizardry V was technically released in 1988 so this could have been recorded even before the 90s! Kohei Tanaka, more of a legend with each passing year and yet another historic accomplishment for the thread. Why we love it all.




Kohei Tanaka, the Legend
Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom (FM Towns)
Tokyo Studio Orchestra



Download (https://mega.nz/#!m2oXSTIR!VFIiBiyywqb96qU064k52cLN9L71odkQJAdrzy0NTnU)

Sample (http://picosong.com/w4HPF/)


But it doesn't end with Tanaka, lots of Japanese game scores from that era (early 90s), especially for PC-Engine, sometimes had live-recorded orchestral pieces/scores. This is fantasy, how about SciFi. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEmKzAJK_EI&t=3s)

The music from the game you linked is from Takanori Arisawa. No wonder the style was familiar to me.

Did Wizardry V have a OST CD release, or is that a rip from the game? Did any of these scores get a release and how weird they'd be to obtain and rip?

Only the Kentaro Haneda score was released. This is a gamerip (that has been floating around since forever but I never payed any attention to it). About GFY2, yeah the soundtrack is basically the outtakes from Sailor Moon, lots of delicious E-Guitars, soaring saxes and drumkit action, typical for the era. The piece from the opening: http://picosong.com/w4H2S/

Relaxation Music Vol 4: Endless Tide
Tomoyuki Asakawa


(https://mega.nz/#!oRoAFIiL!EAarC0uvYMCinUMFxDY8GllrvGXI8cTE-C3yvkboKiE)
FLAC


I don't quite remember if this was posted or requested before, but it's never a harm to post more of Asakawa's blessing of a music.

Despite what the title might suggest as "relaxing", don't be fooled, this is Tomoyuki Asakawa who we're talking about in a more "impressionistic" flair, making allusions to Debussy's La Mer while providing lovely serenade pieces that reminds me of Angela Morley's Watership Down (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sflMCThgSRs&list=PLr57HjexWW-skCin0GYietgaviDeBNing&index=2), whose also been influenced by Debussy's chamber pieces as well. Using only harp, piano (both played by him), flute and cello, Asakawa's musical sensibilities still remain intact and it shows how even at his most bare-bones form, he manages to sound so classically rich with a joyous passion in what he does. It's still pretty suiting music for a calm Sunday to read and study. :)




@Jehanne Darc: Not gonna lie, show looks like utter garbage and I wish Iwasaki could tackle better projects (had he not been shooting himself on the foot during all these years) that could merge respectfully and better with his ideas like it did with Katanagatari or Gatchaman. At this point, I wouldn't mind hearing something like Ben-To just to hear him do something different than what are we to expect here.

Thank you

---------- Post added at 01:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:35 AM ----------


Just to say that both Sugiyama albums (Audio Symphony 1 & 2) turned up safely today. I will post some samples tonight, and the albums in their entirety in a week.

TT

Have you got this albums?

[FONT=Century Gothic]Kohei Tanaka, the Legend
Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom (FM Towns)
Tokyo Studio Orchestra

This is great. It has a very 80s feel to it.

Takayuki Hattori - GTO

Download (https://mega.nz/#!cLwAAaDY!jOb6VzJEfzwYuAuynarfoesyCMp6jTFI7cWnWfwyx9k)
This score is not completely orchestral but then it is from the 90s. The first track is lovely and it has some other highlights as well. Good mix of orchestra with synths and some electric guitar. This recently appeared on a site I frequent and I hadn't heard it before so I thought I would share especially because I didn't see it on VGMDB.

Just to say that both Sugiyama albums (Audio Symphony 1 & 2) turned up safely today. I will post some samples tonight, and the albums in their entirety in a week.

TT

Have you got this two albums?

Have you got this two albums?Instead of asking every other post like a mindless drone, can you pay attention to what actually goes on in this thread and realize that Tango is gone indefinitely?

Zipper: let's not assume anything too firmly, my friend. We can all freely come and go based on our own disponibility and priorities. Sometimes you just feel it when the time is right for taking a break, and sometimes you know the moment is ripe for getting involved again. It's really about listening to yourself.



Sirus: what a good surprise! The funny thing is I started watching this exact show like 2-3 months ago. I haven't went past episode 2 (yet) due to lack of time, though. I initially wanted to see it because of the LOVELY Nanako Matsushima who stars in it. She was in the first Ring movie, and not only was she beautiful and talented in it, but what really stroke me was her voice. Oh that voice! The voice of an angel.

Anyway, now it's pretty cool to have the score too. Thanks a lot, buddy!



And since you posted a TV show score, that gives me the idea of doing the same with one of my favorite ones. Hint: It's a funny show set in medieval times featuring a lot of songs. (You should have guessed by now)

Coming soon!

At least based on the tags it suggests this is from the movie not the TV show but I don't have a lot of information and there isn't much info on VGMDB. Either way hope you enjoy! Looking forward to hearing the score you mentioned if it is what I think it is.

Jinrui Tanjo Original Soundtrack Vol.1 & 2
Music by Takashi Ohmama & Shu Kanematsu with Tomoo Nagai, Oswald Kouame and Shunichi Ihara

Format: 320K MP3
File Size: 227.6 MB
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QQF2wcp5GuVIq21wtPzJAnNrgI8CPdDw
Man, Jinrui Tanjo is really something. Very close to rival to No Game No Life Zero for me but the year's not over yet.

Hoho, a new NHK score, which certainly means some really good music for our enjoyment, thanks a lot, ladatree!




Alan Menken
Galavant Complete Collection
2017 - MP3 320




https://www4.*****.com/v/z35slS9o/file.html
***** = zippyshare


I discovered the TV show Galavant only a few months ago. Before that I vaguely heard of it but never had the opportunity to try it. When the latter finally arrived, and I started listening to the main theme, it was *instant love*. Really, it was one of those moments when you feel and even know that something is for you, and that you'll spend some good time together for a while. That main theme is simply some of the most joyful, exciting and pleasurable music I've heard in my life. It features a kind of motivic repetition (comparable to the famous Fifth Symphony) that makes it both extremely memorable and open, flexible to many variations.

That's not so much of a surprise considering that the music is credited to eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken (with the help of Christopher Lennertz), who really outdone himself and probably achieved here one of the best works in his career. Here are some of Menken's thoughts on Galavant:


I just loved the premise, a swashbuckling hero gone to seed. [...] I was intrigued by the immediate gratification of television, and also just the form. The level of accessibility that’s required is even greater than in film or theater. [...] It's sort of a combination of a Broadway musical-theater form combined with album rock. From a Michael Jackson kind of song to a classical piece, a skiffle song, a cabaret song … anything goes, so long as it’s appropriate and it works.

The show is also a real blast, with talented, often hilarious actors, a lot of good, silly comedy, and a very enjoyable medieval / fairytale setting (for which I'm a sucker). Overall it's an impressive success on many levels, and certainly will become a classic over time. Totally recommended if you have the opportunity to watch it.

Enjoy!



https://i.imgur.com/6aB2Wp9.gif

Have anyone this awesome soundtrack from Isao Tomita?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA24915BABCA3A05A
Here is a list with four tracks that I found

I found it!: https://mega.nz/#F!1a5mGYBJ!4bR7OgFL6f-AXtZ7yUli8A

Thanks for Galavant! How much of it is songs? Are they easily identifiable with the track titles so I could skip to the score?

Thanks for Jinrui Tanjo -- it is really fab.

Thanks for Jinrui Tanjo -- it is really fab.

I'm enjoying it quite a bit as well though creating my custom playlist to remove the more tribal bits.
EDIT: My playlist suggestion is 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23 (all from disc 1) I don't much care for disc 2. This gives you the best of the orchestral and thematic portions while still retaining two of the vocal tracks.

"We're gonna have to kill you if you sing the freakin' song..." Such a fun show, thanks for the share arthierr!

Glad you like it, enjoy!


Sirus: it's pretty much only songs. I also tend to skip songs generally, but THESE songs, not only the music is great, but the lyrics are hilarious! Totally worth listening on both fronts.

I've watched a few episodes of the show so I know generally the sort of songs they are. That is the sort of thing I would need to listen to on its own though not while doing something else, and that is something I rarely do. I was hoping he would have written some great underscore in between the songs.

Really long interview with Akira Miyagawa, composer of Yamato 2199 and its sequels:

http://ourstarblazers.com/vault/277a/

A very informative read to say the least, and strangely enough Hattori's name pops up a couple times too.

Notable excerpt:


Miyagawa: Now we can freely pile up musical instruments using a synthesizer and the sound is similar, like we�ve �mixed all the colors.� I think it has the aspect of making the melody difficult to understand. But I think when a bold melody is actually applied, they just say, �I don�t need that.�

In film music, much of it is mainly chiseled out with rhythm only, �dun! dun! dun!�, bass-heavy growls of �zoon,� with the occasional different instrument thrown in. One of the reasons is that the visual information is clear, and I think that to a large extent visual information provides all the information in the movie.

Interviewer: Does it become noisy if you insist on sounds?

Miyagawa: Yes, you don�t need a melody, you just need a feeling of music in the air.

Interviewer: Is it supposed to be �abstract�?

Miyagawa: You could say that it becomes abstract, but perhaps it�s the extreme abstractness of the melody that embodies the atmosphere that makes it abstract. That�s an extremely difficult question, but I think there are plenty of examples where you�re buried in information and you�re told �We don�t need a melody, just give us atmosphere, please. But, since I�ve not worked with many directors like that, I can only imagine that. (Laughs)

So, as a result, it may be that you get the balance of information from a melody that can�t be sung. The main theme of Francis Ford Copolla�s Godfather is very famous, isn�t it? It�s used in many places, and the person who hears it can freely make a leap with that image. When that happens, the image darkens and blurs, and there�s something about the details of the subject of the shot that you lose.

In older films, I guess the audience had to flip a switch on their imagination. Although records had a crackling noise at first, you can flip a switch on your imagination with that. �The sound you hear is the diamond needle scratching the polyvinyl chloride, but it sounds genuine.� (Laughs)

The sound on a CD is really clear, and the �thing itself� comes out to be transmitted. The structure and receiving system of the brain are different, and I think making full use of your imagination was a way to enjoy old movies and analog records. My argument is that it�s normal for half of imagination to be made by the producer and the other half by the recipient. I can�t prove it, but when I work on Yamato I respect the music a lot and the staff all listens to it, and we try to make the music talk. In that sense, I think Yamato may be one of the last strongholds.

Thank you for that. And thanks for all the recent shares.
I always wondered about the relation between the Hattori "clan" and the Miyagawa family.

Speaking of Yamato, anybody got this? Was it ever shared here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2sxF3-PwUw&t=22s
https://vgmdb.net/album/4406

Another request:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjJI9rgV42s&index=1&list=PLo9xCUZTz2BsNrsKrf9GuU6XR7We7xPHd
https://vgmdb.net/album/28460


In other news, the new Fafner FINALLY was announced for 2019 and the new Saint Seiya will air in December, no composer announced yet. Hopefully Kantai Season 2 next.

Nier Orchestra Preview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=arnSp1v9Z7U&t=79m52s). It's interesting this was all recorded domestically.

An excerpt whats on the "special disc" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=arnSp1v9Z7U&t=41m28s).

Oh and I forgot to mention Tomoyuki Asakawa arranged a piece for it (for harp) ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2sxF3-PwUw&t=22s
https://vgmdb.net/album/4406

I've not heard of Bob Sakuma before so I did what I usually do and pop the name in Youtube to see what I can find. Found this which is pretty decent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAUBoQKHEzs

It's a kind of theme and variations on the Sakura folk song which incidentally ends up sounding like Goldsmith's Star Trek theme in some places (8:40).

Speaking of Wizardry... I have longed for a good quality version of Wizardry Gaiden Five Ordeals. It had some good tracks and one in particular from Mitsuhiro Kaneda. Alas all I have been able to find are very poor quality rips :(.

@streich: check out his two Yu Yu Hakusho symphonic albums:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T6k0RRFneI

That's pretty neat. A lot of the harmonies are Copland-esque. It sounds like the composer was more interested in writing a symphony or ballet than scoring an anime.

My Law of Ueki Bluray came today so a quick reminder that Akifumi Tada is underrated.
I still think Ueki was his best soundtrack and I wish it all was it all released but the chances of that are below zero. :(

My Law of Ueki Bluray came today so a quick reminder that Akifumi Tada is underrated.
I still think Ueki was his best soundtrack and I wish it all was it all released but the chances of that are below zero. :(

Loved that show but I don't remember the music all that much many years later, in part from a lack of release.

Guys, which are your favorite Romantic-Comedy scores? I know it's a genre in which there's not much development in it's music in itself, a lot of cliches and all that; but I'm wondering if there's something remarkable out there :)
Cheers

I am really liking the music in Master of Ragnarok. Lots of epic fight with some nice beats for flavour I like it. The show is aggravating but at least it�s more entertaining than Isekai Smartphone.
And Cells at Work! is out tomorrow and am looking forward to that.

World Seeker is sounding good.

http://youtu.be/AskARzPaCLc

@Lynryd: What an oddly specific question. That's not an insult, but it's curious because it gives me an excuse to talk about a soundtrack I've been meaning to bring up on here for a while, so thank you for that.

I'll admit that I haven't watched that many romantic comedies (I think I've watched about... three? And I'm pretty sure the last time I watched one beforehand was The Proposal back in 2009), but there is one that I'm oddly fond of: Nuestros Amantes (or "Our Lovers"). It's a Spanish romantic comedy that came out a couple of years ago; it's an alright film, but the thing I love the most about it is its soundtrack, composed by the fairly prolific Roque Ba�os. Ba�os can be pretty inconsistent, with some his work reminding me of the best qualities of Martin O'Donnell and Joe Hisaishi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b8ji7dew60), while his work for American films being just another wall of noise (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwZXl37EYns).

However, I really like his work on Nuestros Amantes. It's a generally laidback score, but I have a love for the laidback, especially when it comes to a mix of strings and guitar. One of my favourite things is that there's a recurring motif which is rearranged over the course of the film in different keys with different instruments, changing the mood from relaxing (https://youtu.be/_CwucMqFwfQ) to melancholic (https://youtu.be/V1vFc8zBZoc) to a faint hint of tragedy (https://youtu.be/DOEIgf25E5I) in order to suit the film's various emotional beats.

In fact, the first cue in the soundtrack is used very well at the beginning at the film, with melodies progressing, keys changing, and instruments being introduced as the conversation between the two leads develops. It may seem standard, but it's one of those little but very crucial things that would otherwise rob a scene of a particular quality that can only be found when the music accentuates and complements the film-making in the same way that camera angles, lighting, editing, set design, or any other aspect of the medium can.

It's a soundtrack that helped me through the last couple of months in 2017, when I was feeling very nervous about being in a new college course and generally feeling unwell about a bunch of things, and I hope that maybe it'll do something similar for anyone who decides to check it out. I don't know if there's a link to a rip on this forum (I could do that myself if a physical copy's cheap enough), but I can at least link to a YouTube playlist. I hope you enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80Oa-X2zarY&list=OLAK5uy_miro_9nPo348GGPFD4OEAv8dkvOv-X43c&index=1

@Lynyrd: My top 5 off the top of my head

Naoki Sato - Priceless
Alan Silvestri - Father of the Bride
Patrick Doyle - Much Ado about Nothing
Yoshihisa Hirano - Ouran Highschool
Toshihiko Sahashi - Fantastic Deer-Man



@xrockerboy: World Seeker will be fun for sure, but I doubt it will top Planet With, it depends how big the game is and how much music he recorded, I hear not just one studio recording from the various trailers so its safe to assume he had multiple sessions.

And interesting fact: Kohei Tanaka not only wrote the first fully orchestral game score used in a game but lived through the entire development of orchestral video game music and may be the ONLY 8-bit composer that made the transition from various soundchips to symphonic/orchestral game work. Not to mention, from 2017 onwards he made a remarkable comeback:

- 1 Movie (unreleased)
- 3 TV anime
- 3 Games
- 2 Concerts
- 1 Stageplay

He is quite the superstar.


The new trailer for Shenmue III also shows promise. I imagine all the old staff returns and Hayato Matsuo will arrange again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ta_Oi51hso


@ladatree: I really like Cells at Work the more the show progressed. Here's what one can expect (also a fan of Naoki Sato I hear): Kenichiro Suehiro Demo Tape ~ Orcherstral Adventure (http://picosong.com/w5YJW/)

He also composed a whole new score for the Re:Zero project: https://vgmdb.net/album/79687

@Vinphonic: Seconded on hoping Matsuo come back for Shenmue III. His work on Shenmue is what got me into his music, and into listening to his surprisingly good score to the Les Mis�rables while playing The Witcher 3 last year (this one was a particular favourite from Shenmue - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-DjwXUoao_g). I don't know what else he's been up to since, but I'd love to see him come back. (And Takenobu Mitsuyoshi; it'll never stop being funny how some of the series' most iconic music was done by the man known for this - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2_zAxPqKa8Y)

Guys, which are your favorite Romantic-Comedy scores? I know it's a genre in which there's not much development in it's music in itself, a lot of cliches and all that; but I'm wondering if there's something remarkable out there :)
Cheers


What an interesting question, and as Frdougall noted, quite specific, but really thougt-provoking, too. Here's my take on it, and before starting, let's quickly remind what a "romcom" is: basically, it's a plot based on the separation of true lovers (or potential ones) who must then overcome various obstacles to be (re-)united at the end.

You know, like the time I saw that waifu on a japanese site and couldn't afford to buy her (obstacle part), then I worked my ass off to win enough and finally managed to buy her (overcoming part). Now we're finally happy together (happy ending part... yes, lots of them)! YES, DADDY IS COMING AFTER SENDING THIS POST, SAKURA! AND MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR NINJA COSTUME ON! Oops, sorry, where was I? Oh, romcoms...



Based on this very general premise, I tried to isolate a few movies or shows which score made a very good impression on me. So, in no particular order:

- Galavant:
OH, What a wonderful coincidence! It's been just posted in the previous page! This one really is one of my very favorites, with an exceptional main theme plus many other standout pieces, it has become one of my musical staples over the last weeks. But interestingly enough, Galavant is actually inspired from previous movies that have similar universes and plots, such as...

- Shrek:
Indeed, it's also a romcom at its core before being a silly animation movie. I love the romantic theme here, very graceful, elegant and memorable.

- Robin Hood: Men in Tights:
Yep, another romcom hidden behind a big wacky, parodic, adventure movie (and also there's a scene in Shrek that kinda references this movie, you know which scene it is, right? ;)). This movie features an EXCEPTIONALLY beautiful love theme by the highly talented Hummie Mann.



Robin Hood: Men in Tights - Marian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUq_pBxd9CI

Here's the pop song version performed by Cathy Dennis & Lance Ellington:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1K7kva33Os

And just because I can't resist posting this silly scene (but with great music) where Robin woos Marian opera-style:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRIgKTFczas

@arthierr: I personally would prefer a romcom called Girls in Tights...

:awsm:

In seriousness, that was cute, a different time for sure... (hope you survive the night, knowing you frenchmen ;D)




Ah, Suheiro's samples are up. You call it a "Cells at Work Main Theme", I call it Home Alone 3 ;)

And don't think I didn't catch you stealing JNH's submarine theme from Disney's Atlantis, you naughty boy :D


And remember kids, Badminton is serious business: http://picosong.com/w5eUx/


Also if someone wants to share Cells at Work and Penguin Highway (sounds like a job for you pensquawk, btw, isn't that your dream movie? :D), go ahead, I'm broke right now on soundtracks (unless your name is 田中 公平).

Does anyone feel like Yuuki Hayashi get better budgets than most composers or is it just my imagination?

Does anyone feel like Yuuki Hayashi get better budgets than most composers or is it just my imagination?You can check his ensemble sizes for each soundtrack on VGMDB:

https://vgmdb.net/artist/13860

For the most part, his budgets seems pretty average. No Warsaw or Japan Philharmonic here.

Meanwhile: https://www.instagram.com/p/BliPFurAOtL/?taken-by=myokoyama




Yoshihisa Hirano
Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head
Score Selection / Studio Orchestra



Sample (http://picosong.com/w5c2w)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!LzBV3ShY!s-1gZ7DMS8YDvEJaejv-9Ior9wjb86saSk7B0FyUV10)


If you want to buy it, the score is available here (https://ototoy.jp/_/default/p/117577), you can actually pay with paypal.

My favorite romantic comedy score is Randy Edelman's score for Leap Year. Some fantastic themes and one that really gets to me. It never leaves my various players.

EDIT: Thanks for sharing a new Hirano score. Interesting how it is arranged with the big epic tracks at the beginning. I ended up removing tracks 14-17 from my playlist. Not my style.

Let's just say the playlist could grow ;) Hirano announced the movie on his website so its safe to assume he wrote new music for it. The twist is this movie has a tie in with Shinkalion so MAYBE Hirano will adapt Watanabe's themes.
This TV series unfortunately was cut short. Usually, with over 50 episodes, at least two orchestral sessions are ensured, just like Kaoru Wada recently shared a new orchestral session (full orchestra) for Puzzle X Dragon with 20 new recorded pieces (he's very proud of).

Speaking about Watanabe, not only Kota Yokoseki, but his classmate might land a gig thanks to Watanabe someday soon. If you ever wonder where our favorites are when they are absent from scoring, most likely they are teaching and tutoring the next generation.

http://picosong.com/w5FbV/ (conducted by Watanabe)


And even more music from the new wave:

23 year old composer Ryunosuke Kasai, freshly graduated and now working as a new arranger for JAGMO and Active NEETS:

"Music for the Sea" for Orchestra, Op.21-1. Weighing Anchor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc3VbVf-bUI)
Suite for Studio Orchestra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1POE8TI_X0)

Both courtesy of nextday.

That's wonderful. Music for the Sea is the most impressive from what I saw on his page. It is also interesting the sorts of Japanese orchestral music you find once you start going on Youtube for it.

Damn, he also orchestrated/assisted (maybe even did a little ghostwritting) with Hanebado and Revue Starlight in parts, so he's already in the biz.
His idols are Mahler and Korngold...

The sea piece is quite nice, but rather than Korngold, it reminds me a bit more of Steiner's style of melody, and even a bit of his usual mickey-mousing tendencies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgF-rcHcPqE

Guys (Arthierr, FrDougal9000, Sirusjr, Vinphonic) Thank you for the suggested Romantic Comedy scores. Beautiful music indeed. This thread is awesome. Cheers!

Told you I would do it (http://picosong.com/w5jB4/)

Told you I would do it (http://picosong.com/w5jB4/)

This reminds me of one of those US television football themes, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxNGMvNIvP8

Hey guys, I bought a rare music album that's from the obscure 1998 drama, Itabashi Madams. It's composed by none other than the awesome Toshihiko Sahashi. It's entirely orchestral in nature. In my opinion, this was around the time Sahashi was getting better as a composer, with the signature style and substance he's known for. Here's one of the tracks if you would like to listen to it.

http://picosong.com/w5gCC

Uhm, a new Sahashi score I haven't heard yet, let me think about it for a millisec... YES PLEASE!


@streich: Right on the money, in an interview about the score below, Matsuo explicitly stated they wanted a "sportive action score" with lots of energy:




Hayato Matsuo
Keijo!!!!!!!! HiP WHiP GiRL
Studio Orchestra



Sample (http://picosong.com/w5gHD/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!DvQAhSLY!aq6dL2vbJw9-gU20xZ4JQiXAjH0THKpRPDJ1AA2GRII)

Took me a while but if they won't do it you gotta make one yourself. I found out the dub audio track is a lot better to isolate than the Japanese so I've worked with that. Some pieces are even so devoid of SFX that its almost soundtrack quality. As you can imagine the battle tracks are full of sfx but its still far more listenable than Hellsing.

Hayato Matsuo doesn't disappoint. It's surprisingly more classical in the tournament/action aspect than his Captain Tsubasa which has far more whimsical and romantic pieces but also much more delicious horn play and since its over 50 episodes another session imminent. By cheer volume Captain Tsubasa might have even more of this delicious 80s style but I feel he was also really excited to work on this project (shame it tanked, but soundtracks usually are released regardless of popularity, so its a chain of unfortunate circumstances).

Since Matsuo (buddy of Hitoshi Sakimoto) is a keyboardplayer from the 80s and 90s, you definitely hear it in this score.

You know, if this anime season did not have a handjob with a classical waltz, I maybe more perplexed how a fanservice/sport show ends up with glorious fanfares, whimsical woodwind play, delicious 80s synth hybrid and energetic orchestral action, but you get it by now, Japan is weird and makes fabulous scores for the most unlikely things, more news at eleven:




As for your question, Father Dougal, he's done this, Captain Tsubasa (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUK4zTkcz1U) and Drifters aka Star Wars (https://vimeo.com/220013734) and a little bit on Endride recently.
There's a second season of Drifters in the works and I imagine since the whole lot from IMAGINE is far more active these days, he will most likely stay for now.

I love Hayato Matsuo so much. The guy is a true *symphonist*, and composes some of the most wonderful media music I've heard coming from Japan. Such an immense talent and potential, but way underutilized (when some others get projects after projects to produce turds after turds, *sigh*).

Thanks for this one! Some good pieces here, fun and very lively. You really had an excellent idea to make a rip, kudos! And not only the sfx aren't really a problem, but they even oddly enhance the music by adding some dynamism and liveliness to it, especially in the action pieces.

I can't but notice those very "interesting" cue titles, such as: "Tit Twister", "Butt Tornado", and "Lightning fast bottoms". I think they should have added more: what about "Chest Tempest", "Bust Burst" or "Bottom Windstorm"? By the way, a "Bottom Windstorm" is a real thing, it's what usually happens after a giant mexican meal (that and a "Backside landslide").

And I love that tit-guy in the picture. Here's someone who's litterally a "giant boob"! No dude, I didn't insult you, I just called you! You must be so happy that everybody wants to suck you.

Well there is a "Bust to Bust Attack" and a couple more since the series is Jojo's Bizarre Adventure with Mr. Tits (whose budget ran out after like five episodes).


I'm waiting now over ten years and no Hellsing soundtrack box... wow... then I found out some important staff members from Hellsing have died so it will probably never get released. It's one of the best scores Japan has to offer for sure, a shame a quarter of it couldn't be performed by Warsaw and had to make due with a small studio ensemble, including important thematic material, the other quarter of released material has some audio fuckup and the other quarter (of the best bits) had to be ripped from the blurays with SFX.

At least Drifters makes up for that last quarter.

"The Hell shall sing" (actually the proper translation) is just one of those amazing projects that don't come around often: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBxI2udn5vk

And for gravitas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhthZMPDoxI (one of the best ed in anime history)

Matsuo himself said how much he loves to give gravitas to silly shows and especially loves to write dark gothic stuff, so Hellsing (and Drifters to an extend) was his dream project.

I would know a few projects that would fit him like a glove but I imagine none of those will end up with him as composer.

That said, dream collaborations do happen sometimes. This season it's Planet With (actually some really amusing classic movie references in the show). I love show and score. I hope Tanaka returns for all the other Satoshi Mizukami Anime projects.

Actually, speaking of collaborations, that reminds of something I've been thinking about doing a lot lately. It's not quite related to the subject of orchestral music, but it's something I want to do with the members of this thread. But it requires a bit of a story before I explain what it is I want to do, so if you could indulge me for a minute...

Last Christmas, I ended up listening to a Christmas album put together back in 2011 by the gaming website Destructoid (some of you might know of Jim Sterling, of the Jimquisition webseries? He used to work as a reviews editor on the site) - https://jonathanholmesandfriends.bandcamp.com/album/the-2nd-annual-destructoid-christmas-album. I wasn't feeling particularly great at the time, due to a bunch of stuff that was going on in my head at the time, but listening to that album helped me get through it. Not only that, but the songs ended up making that time feel a bit more special.

Maybe it's because of the heart that people put into the songs, be it in quality of arrangements like Dale North's White Christmas or Samit Sakar's melancholic but peaceful The Christmas Song, the vocals of Jesse Cortez's relaxing cover of Merry Christmas Darling or Jonathan Holmes' sweet rendition of Christmastime Is Here, or even hilarious contributions like the enjoyably dumb Holmes/Ponce take on Christmas in Hollis or Jim Sterling's hilariously dark original Mommy's Not Moving. Maybe it's the fact that I'm familiar with these writers' work that gives the album a more personal feeling. Maybe it's something that I can't explain, but it made a strong impression on me all the same.

I wanted to do something similar, but all I could do was release a free album full of various songs I'd done that year but couldn't figure out what to do with. I want to do something better this time, and I want to get other people involved.

I want to do a Christmas album, but with a particular twist. I want to do an album with contributions from people who I've become acquainted with in various forums over the years.

I want to do this because I've come to regard the posters on said forums, and even just particular threads like this one, as something of an extended family. No, we may not know each other's real names, or even our faces. But I do think about and care for them as if they were friends I know personally, and have even been influenced in certain positive directions by conversing with them. As I've said before, this thread is one of the big reasons I decided to do a music course at a local college, to get better at understanding and writing music.

I also want to get people from several forums involved because I think it would be pretty cool to have contributions from a bunch of different places. Maybe there's a couple of names that you'll recognize, or maybe you had no idea that I even went to a forum you used to go to yourself. Plus, I want to find a way to show how much some of these places mean to me, and to acknowledge that through a fun Christmas album would be a heck of a way to do that.

The only plan I have for this album to is put it up around Christmas for free; I don't intend to sell this for money. When I do that, I'll post links to it on here (and in keeping with the spirit of this forum, I'll even include a link to MEGA/Mediafire for those that don't like dealing with Bandcamp).

If you're interested in taking part, and/or you have any questions about this, you can PM me if you want. (If you want to reply in this thread, you're good to do that too!) And if you want some rules, here you go:


1. Anything goes. If you want to do an original song, feel free to do so. But if you want to do a cover, you're free to do that too. As long as it's Christmas related, you're good to go.

2. Do whatever you want for the arrangement. If you want to arrange it for a particular instrument, get a bunch of people to play it, or even just record yourself singing to a karaoke track: that's all good.

3. That also includes the genre. This is a thread about orchestral music, but feel free to arrange the song in whatever genre you like.

4. Have fun! If you've only got a crappy mic to record it or limited software, that'll do just fine. If you want to record a single take of it, go ahead. If you want to record yourself singing in the bath, be my guest! This is about having a good time and coming together to play music for Christmas.

5. The latest date your song would need to be in for is the 18th of December 2018. No times or anything; as long as it's the 18th wherever you live, that'll do the job!

I don't really know how this'll turn out (this is the first place I've mentioned it), but it should hopefully be a good time. I'll contribute a couple of songs myself, so that everyone can join in.

If you're not up for doing it, or you feel you won't have the time, that's okay. This isn't an order: just an overly long, overly sentimental suggestion and nothing more. You're good to do whatever you want, just so long as you're okay.

To anyone who decides to indulge me on this, thank you so much. Otherwise, thanks for reading, and have a good day.

---

Also, that breast. (Shudders so much it registers on the Richter scale)

Some in here might be interested in Intrada's latest Kickstarter in which they are attempting to finance the latest in their string of re-recording scores. This time it is Dial M for Murder. They also plan to have William T. Stromberg conduct. If this is successful they plan to try this model for multiple other recordings.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/129145902/dial-m-for-murder-film-score-recording?ref=created_projects

Frdougal: sounds like great fun! Much luck in your project!




Sirus: this is absolutely the way to go for people with the project of saving good old scores from oblivion.

Some of us might remember the very "dramatic", sometimes over-emotional events following the posting of the Ron Jones box set in this very forum years ago (if you don't, read the relevant thread at the FSM board). Some people got very angry that the box set they JUST released was almost immediately pirated, thus threatening the rentability of this particular project, and the very viability of similar projects in the future. This was of course a perfectly legitimate and understandable concern.

But one of the main reasons of the complaints being: "I won't make money out of it" brings the important question of the funding of such very specific niche-releases aiming at a very small group of enthusiasts. Do you get into this kind of project to make money, even a little? Should making money be your main ojective, or even a concern?

The answer, to me, is obviously no. This market is way too small, specific, and specialized to be significantly profitable. You should even expect and be ready to LOSE some money sometimes. And who can generally afford that? Rich folks, of course, people who are financially very comfortable and ready to sacrifice a little part of their wealth for a greater good, in this case: the salvation of great film scores. This is called being a Patron of the Arts, and such people have existed since art exists.

And the fact is that there are a lot of very wealthy, filthy, obscenely rich people out there. They have so much money that they almost don't know what to do with it. Sometimes they just do crazy shit, like this:


Reminiscent of the funny show Schitt's Creek, we have:


Kim Basinger's $20 Million Town
If we had to crown the queen of extravagant celebrity purchases, the honor would go to Kim Basinger. The actress passed on castles and decided to buy an entire town in Georgia for $20 million back in 1989. She could have bought an island in Barbados or a lifetime supply of Cool Ranch Doritos. But no, she went with Braselton, GA.


Well, at least the hat flew back in economy, so this guy does have some *little* decency:


Bono's $1,700 Plane Ticket for His Hat
Pop quiz: what would you do if you went on vacation and accidentally left your favorite hat at home? Would you A) find another hat and go on with your life, B) have it shipped overnight by Fed-Ex, or C) spend $1,700 to have it delivered on an airplane? If you're U2 frontman Bono, the logical answer is "C." Yes, he actually did that. Because he could.

http://www.zimbio.com/Most+Outrageous+Celebrity+Purchases


And very recently in the news:


NYC�s richest couple buys $40M mansion on a whim
https://nypost.com/2018/08/28/nycs-richest-couple-buys-40m-mansion-on-a-whim/

So now, imagine that the guy who bought that mansion for $40M (because reasons), *instead* of doing this highly sensible and reasonable purchase, donated the same amount of money for the restoration of old scores. Since the Intrada project is set to $45 000, it makes it roughly the 1/1000 of $40M, right? So if we consider that an average score restoration / re-recording is about $40 000, it means that about a THOUSAND scores could be released! I'm pretty sure there aren't that many good scores to be released in the first place!

My point is, instead of trying to make money out of the release of rare / old scores, instead of considering this as a business, which is likely to be eventually a dead-end, it would be much better to use an "art patronizing" system to achieve this noble objective, and Kickstarter indeed is one of the best venues for this. One essential condition to respect, though, is to spread the news about those projects as thoroughly as possible, especially towards wealthy people interested in music and / or movies, to unsure that the highest number of potential backers can be reached.

This is why your post is praiseworthy since it does exactly this, my friend, keep up the good work! :)

disregard

So completely unrelated to the current discussion, but...

The new Dragon Quest game just has awful music implementation. The main gripe I have is that the Symphonic Suite came out MONTHS before the game and yet it still wasn't used. Instead we get this cringe-worthy synth garbage.
For the first time in years, I have turned off the audio in a JRPG. All they had to do was do the EXACT same thing they did with DQ VIII. I wrote them to beg for a patch to include the symphonic version. It will most likely be in vain but who knows maybe someone there will care.

Also... would love to see Vinphonic make some vids or arranged collections of Dragon Quest music. I actually like the Tokyo re-recordings but some of those London Phil originals are sublime.

Trust me, there's legal reasons it had to be done this way, and its not a pleasant topic (with Sugiyama being the way he is). I just want one final Dragon Quest XII Symphonic Suite and then let the man have his well earned rest and Matsuo take over, but I feel XI can also count as a worthy finale with the callback to Dragon Quest III and ending it all with Back to the Future. Up to VIII I vastly prefer the London recordings. Also the Japanese version doesn't have voice acting which works far better for the music, keep that in mind. As far as I am concerned, all localizations are just interpretations of the original work, NOT accurate experiences. It's why I watch or play anything in its original language/version if possible. Dragon Quest VIII and XI don't have any voice acting or orchestral music. That's how they are intended to be played, its incredibly old-fashioned, traditional and uncompromising to a fault. That said I also dearly wished there was at least an option to switch on/off the orchestral music and voice option. The only way around it is to chop up the symphonic suite into overworld, combat and town bits and play them manually from your playstation controller or wait for a music mod for the pc version.


@arthierr: When even the founder of FSM is struggeling to get together meager funds for a little SciFi project with Ron Jones and Tadlow massivly struggles for funds for new projects... you know it's not a business. By realistic expectation and data, even getting 500 people will be difficult. I personally long for many rerecordings of the Golden Era but with the same level of spirit and musicianship which would mean it has to be recorded by some the best studio musicians in the world at the least... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saa98l0yDYQ (Mickey-Mousing at its best)
As passionate as Tadlow's rerecordings are, they can't beat old rerecordings before the 2000s. We don't even have an Arthur Fiedler or Erich Kunzel anymore, unfortunately.


On the subject of crowdfunding, Gensou Suikoden II Orchestral Album is at 70% with 20 days to go. So at least that project will get going. Kentaro Sato also visited the recent JAGMO Suikoden concert with some of his classical friends:
The most striking thing for me was the majority of Suikoden fans are female. It is like 10:1 or 15:1 ratio. And of course, unlike USA which is basically a country of donation and pledge opportunities everywhere, Japan does not have that culture. Since this crowd-funding is new to most of them and VGMC being a new "foreign" company, they were naturally a bit scared to dive into this area. But they also expressed that, of course, it is nice to have full orchestral CDs, they are fine to buy CDs of smaller instrumentation, like quartet etc. So, I promised them if the crowd-funding this time around is not successful, I will personally invest to a smaller project so that VGMC will get products to distribute without crowd-funding.

By the way, the concert was incredible, and well-made for fans. But also it gave me ideas of what I should not do for the recording project.
I invited to some non-gamer classical musicians to the concert, and they have all expressed that they were very unsatisfied by the music. This was unfortunately understandable given the fact that each piece got like 1min of playing time. For example, Suikoden II music (in 4 movements) got about 60min of playing time. Within that 60min, the arranger included like 50 pieces of music. So, it is like listening to a OST with each track got 1 loop, abruptly ends and onto the next one. Comparing to the well-made classical suites like Tchaikovsky or even modern Harry Potter or Star Wars suites by Williams, I had to admit that the arrangements at the concerts were made too much for fans.

Interestingly, all admits that within 5 titles of the series, Suikoden 1 and 2 were best in musical materials. One of musicians said to me that she got an impression that the composer of 1, and the composer of 2 understood what the classical music was, not knowing that the composer is the same.

It sucks they aren't doing an orchestral soundtrack for DQXI but like most games lately that means I'll play with my own music if I can't stand the synth. I even played with my own music for parts of Ni No Kuni 2 because I couldn't stand a certain town music and also while doing other less story-focused tasks. I find classical music works well for that sort of thing, especially Rachmaninov. Thankfully I can use Spotify easily on my PS4 to put on custom music. Works out fine.

Trust me, there's legal reasons it had to be done this way, and its not a pleasant topic (with Sugiyama being the way he is).Makes you wonder how Wagner's career would have went if he was still alive in this current political climate.

His twitter account would have been suspended at the very least ;) Speaking of which, why does Souhei Kano have so much poor luck? The one director you bet on, who respects you and gives you opportunities to work, had one of the most colossal flops in anime history considering how much was put into Fractale, so no one appreciates your music, then he made it so no one sane will hire him for anything (which means no one will hire Kano either), and now he is burning every remaining bridge and the hand that feeds him in spectacular fashion (in a very unjapanese way). Hopefully Kano's score for Twilight gets out regardless. That poor soul.

On the other side, since the grand Hollywood Bowl with John Williams is starting soon, its quite sad that the only great composer we have left is now on a franchise that is beginning to tank because, get this, a billion dollar corporation does not have any competent people on board that know classical drama, literature, music or filmmaking. Filmmaking in general across the board has become so incompetent that Williams can't save the next one no matter how hard he will try. One final great (or at least dramatically solid) movie with a (consequently) great Williams score, is that too much to ask for? It's been so long since Azkaban. War Horse, Force Awakens and BFG were good, even Last Jedi has its moments, but they are no classics. Not to mention they are nowhere near as structually impressive as his premillenial work with the way films are made and edited nowadays. A character journey from Binary Sunset to Battle of Yavin, a lost art. Still, just one final great one has to be possible I think... but then there's Indy 5... of course it will not happen. Sorry to be a bit grumpy but I made the mistake to listen to Episode IV-VI again... nonetheless I think this year's Hollywood bowl will be quite the spectacle.

Btw, Japanese composers really love this particular score from the master (historically ironic): Midway(1976) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8yY4IkICmg&list=PLMVEDfwN7FViubI_r-8fHjO5a1LsXt5A1&index=5)

How many of y'all have seen the source material of your fave scores and actually enjoy them?

Since the topic of the Suikoden 2 orchestral album is discussed, people should now about it more:



Suikoden II: an orchestral CD
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vgmclassics/suikoden-ii-an-orchestral-cd-2cd-0

Please support the project!




Ah , it takes me back almost 20 years ago. I've got so many great memories of these games, memories of pure pleasure, blissful evasion, and hectic adventures.

Full disclosure: I generally don't like japanese RPGs. I find them cartoonish, tacky, visually lurid, musically too eclectic or downright inappropriate, with weird settings and ridiculous characters (the same goes for many animes, IMO). I'm much more into the more mature, serious and coherent approach of western RPGs.

Suikoden, from this point of view, was a lot less like your typical JRPG, and by various aspects closer to western RPGs (without being totally devoid of weirdness, because hey, it's from Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun and Used Panties Dispensers). Suikoden 2 in particular was such an amazing accomplishment:

The visuals: probably the most beautiful, lovely old-school 2D graphics I've seen at that time.

The story and setting: wonderful, complex (but not bloated), coherent and credible; with various twists and genuinely moving scenes, and a huge number of interesting characters with their own unique design and backstory.

The music: AH, THE MUSIC! Now that was something! The very talented Miki Higashino wrote an exceptional score that has now become a classic - the best proof of this is the very fact that there's currently a project of orchestral adaptation! There were so many great, beautiful and unforgettable themes, such musical diversity (but WITHOUT going over the top like other JRPGs, no electric guitars or techno-trance beats here - EXCEPT for one very specific piece, totally on purpose ;)). Even without scores of such quality Suikoden 1 and 2 would be excellent games, but I think it's really their stellar scores that make these games EXCEPTIONAL, with still a lot of fans to this day.

I suddenly have the urge of starting (yet) another playthrough...

How many of y'all have seen the source material of your fave scores and actually enjoy them?Quite often actually, and a lot of film scores I like I enjoy more in the context of the film than on independent listening. With anime it's a mixed bag because the scores aren't usually written to picture or the other way around, so the music has to be strong enough to stand on its own.

On a somewhat related note, I recently watched this dumb pet dog movie that Asakawa scored for that I'm not even sure had a soundtrack release. The movie itself is thoroughly average, and the score on its own isn't anything that I would call top-tier Asakawa.

But man, this scene with the two dogs just running and frolicking with each other while Asakawa's achingly nostalgic music gradually swells in the background was simply gorgeous:

https://youtu.be/-8fh5MgUk6I?t=2m35s

It's the type of thing we would never get in Hollywood nowadays, nevermind from a dumb dog film.

Anyone happen to have the Soundtrack to "Sin: The Movie" by Masamichi Amano from 2000 in FLAC?
Thank you.

https://media1.tenor.com/images/a8ef9a5b5d97548340f72409a0dea9db/tenor.gif?itemid=5350973


Seriously, dude, that was freakin' adorable. Totally kawaii, no, totally ASAKAWAII !! The music is delightful, very reminiscent of Taku Iwasaki's score for Binchou-Tan (which is a gorgeous OST that I highly recommend).



MastaMist: first I'd like to apologize for last time if I've been a little too harsh. I sometimes give this impression to some people but it's really only "tough love", I'm hard on them only to make them face their flaws and mistakes so they can change, evolve and become better. Sometimes this brutal treatment can make them feel offended and angry (understandably), but in the long run: it works. So no hard feelings. Peace! :)

Then, to answer your question: in the case of scores from games or animes, I very rarely know the original product. It's much more the case for movie scores since most of movies are about 90 / 120-minute long, which I can usually afford to spend nowadays. The most recent examples of me enjoying both a score and its original material must be: Galavant, Oblivion and Skyrim (yeah, I know, a little late), and Fieldrunners 2 (a very addictive tower defense game with some cool orchestral-ish background music).



And to complete my previous post, I like to post these already existing orchestral adaptations of Suikoden's music:

First let's listen to the ORIGINAL opening of Suikoden 2:


Suikoden II - Opening Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K7x7JVm-zE


Here's a very well-done suite. It's technically competent, but the choice of themes is arguable, since many much better ones have been left out.


Symphonic Gamers Orchestra - Suikoden II Suite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Euvjo3JbsCo


A couple more of really good ones:


Big in Japan concert - Suikoden – Into a World of Illusions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx5J99WD8GI


Big in Japan concert - Suikoden 2 – Opening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shyaLXRWBf4


And last but not least, the exquisite arrangement of "Beautiful Morning" by Kentaro Haneda:


Suikoden Kentaro Haneda Special - Beautiful Morning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO6KNNi9uNM

The music is delightful, very reminiscent of Taku Iwasaki's score for Binchou-Tan (which is a gorgeous OST that I highly recommend).Haha, you're telling me. I hold Iwasaki in very high regard (which can be attested to by how many times I mention him in this thread), and likewise consider Binchou-Tan one of his best works. Just a wonderful score. I never thought about comparing it directly to this, but I can see why you mentioned it, especially since they both use the theremin/ondes martenot to create that wistful whistling sound.

One of my favorite cues in Binchou-Tan is the first minute of "Dream" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybj9qEJxAAk)- Iwasaki writes something that could have came straight out of a brooding suspense score like Herrmann's Vertigo or Sisters and uses it as a cute nurturing piece of warmth. Only Iwasaki could pull off such a strange feat.

Quite often actually, and a lot of film scores I like I enjoy more in the context of the film than on independent listening. With anime it's a mixed bag because the scores aren't usually written to picture or the other way around, so the music has to be strong enough to stand on its own.

On a somewhat related note, I recently watched this dumb pet dog movie that Asakawa scored for that I'm not even sure had a soundtrack release. The movie itself is thoroughly average, and the score on its own isn't anything that I would call top-tier Asakawa.

But man, this scene with the two dogs just running and frolicking with each other while Asakawa's achingly nostalgic music gradually swells in the background was simply gorgeous:

https://youtu.be/-8fh5MgUk6I?t=2m35s

It's the type of thing we would never get in Hollywood nowadays, nevermind from a dumb dog film.

That sure is some old-school orchestral canoodling. The first bit sounds like something out of a Kanno cm track, and then it turns all lush and hanna-barbera-y. Asakawa reminds me of Higuchi, he has such a classic sound that always sticks out so strongly in most contexts.

Well, good job arthierr, its 100% funded now. :)

In Sato we trust. A small nitpick: for a supposed big fan of Yamashita, you should have searched more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65AsTCkkLp8 :D

Going offtopic:

I also don't agree that much with your assessment of JRPGs vs WRPGs because thats too generalizing for me and a bit too much coming from the 2000s. A lot has changed since then. The Renaissance of the JRPG genre that started with Demon's Souls for example (from a western perspective).

All I see with Suikoden art is "typical" anime&manga art style of the era, albeit in a certain style that Fumi Ishikawa likes to draw. What separtates that from games like ArcTheLad (or even Langrisser) is really just the artstyle ;)

I imagine by typical RPGs you mean these:



But then, these are also JRPGs:



Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Ni no Kuni, Lost Odyssesy, Dragon Quest, Ogre, FFTactics, Vagrant Story, early FF and Fire Emblem, Valkyria Chronicles, Dragon's Crown, Nier Automata, Odin's Sphere and Persona 5 are either full of classical art or inspired by classical western fantasy with coherent (even exemplary) design, unique and consistent artstyle, good music and most importantly great gameplay mechanics. There's a light to the dark, the worst possible offender in recent memory being FFXV: Boyband adventure. I would rather say I love many games from the genre rather than the genre itself. Some are not as stupid as they look btw:

Nier: Automata's Uplifting Existentialism (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehM1m5-TG5g)

I for one think the days of the 90s and early 2000s (Planescape Torment, Ultima, Gothic, Kotor 2, System Shock, Bioshock, Legacy of Kain etc.) are long gone and most WRPGs are now terribly written, unsatisfying gameplay wise and incredibly homogenized and dumbed down compared to previous decades, because now the business mirrors modern Hollywood, congratulations. However, Witcher 3 (which isn't even that satisfying or original gameplay wise), Pillars of Eternity and Kingdom Come still keep my interest going. More of those please.



As for anime... a bit too generalizing as well. From Perfect Blue and Ghost in the Shell which are milestones in cinema to Yamato 2202, Gundam Origin, Love is like After the Rain and Lupin: Part V which are good old classy entertainment to softcore porn and incredibly specific fetish exploration... its a pretty vast landscape to sum up with pink haired girls in ridiculous settings with ridiculous plots. A film like Maquia or Liz or Penguin Highway has little to do with what anime is percieved to be yet tons of such movies and series have been made, but no one watches or appreciates them (enough), like Princess and the Pilot (go watch it!).

That is not to say there's nothing to enjoy in cute anime girl shows with ridiculous settings/plots (some are really well made and heartwarming, I adore ARIA, Quiet Country Cafe, Nichijou, Binchou-tan etc.). The thing about the medium is you really can't judge a show by its cover most of the time. Anime like Girls und Panzer (and Planet With) are really made for an older audience, with veteran staff members on board and generally has fans of all age groups. Probably why its the biggest cultural phenomenon in the anime world right now. But I admit if you do not enjoy the cultural differences of that entertainment world, it can be difficult to appreciate.

From the shows per season I scan for good music, I would be lying if theres more than three that interest me at all, let alone are interesting enough that I watch them (music only). But from these few shows and movies each year I have a consistent stream of quality content to enjoy, thankfully. I like certain aspects of shows of course, this season I like the animation of Hanebado, the stageplays of Revue Starlight which have some impressive setpieces, or the classic game references in High Score Girl, but not something I would watch again. I only really watch Planet With, partially because a show with Tanaka's music deserves a shot and because its incredibly well made, the CGI is bearable and even shows potential, the budget has not run out after five episodes, which is impressive, like Evergarden, and its really charming in parts with classic movie and anime references (mostly noir and scifi) for old farts, some really good directing and the usual anime tropes are approached with class and good fun, even the quintessential "nonsense plot".



As for your question MastaMist, with films I enjoy them in general. With games and anime... it can be difficult. Space Brothers is a great synergy but Aquarion or SEED Destiny... oh lord, not at all. Katamari and HanaKiSou likewise... not a fan.

Oh snap, Oban Star Racer's Blu-Ray will include a soundtrack with all 85 cues Iwasaki wrote for the show if enough orders are placed in. The old soundtrack only came with 20.

https://twitter.com/EiffelSavin/status/1036338068633124865

In 1991, a CD was released for Urusei Yatsura's 10th Anniverasry featuring orchestrated rendition of OPs and EDs of the anime. They are gorgeous. Only a pity it's got dialogues all over..

Who do you think arranged it? I can't find any info

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqvo97Q1-BY

WE DID IT!!! WHOOHOO!!
YOU'RE AWESOME, GUYS! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SUPPORTING THE SUIKODEN ORCHESTRAL PROJECT!



If we can do that, we can do ANYTHING! How about a kickstarter to re-create Suikoden 2 on a modern 3D game engine? Can you imagine exploring those wonderful places and lands, meeting those great characters (now fully voiced), and battling those monsters and armies in gorgeous HD and full 3D graphics?

Actually, this is an idea I had since I first played Suikoden 2 (again, almost 20 years ago). I very strongly envision this game in a classy, sumptuous 3D environment to explore freely. Here are a few screenshots (from The Witcher 3) that are close from my ideas:





















Vinphonic: You're obviously a much better connoisseur of RPGs and animes than I am, so I certainly won't attempt to go toe-to-toe with you on these subjects (it would be like starting a music theory discussion with Streich, or a Iwasaki discussion with Zipper, or a crappy movies discussion with Mike Myers: a world-renowned expert in the genre).

But, as "I don't like", "I find them" and "IMO" in my post suggest: it's all very subjective. I'm not trying to boldly declaim some universal truths here, I'm just modestly expressing my very personal assesment of the topic, based on my limited experience of it (and I'm perfectly aware that I might be objectively wrong). Otherwise, I would have said: "japanese RPGs / animes are terrible. Because they are cartoonish, tacky, etc." So I'm already perfectly aware of the limited validity and possible over-generalization of these particular opinions of mine!

So, to put my opinion differently: based on my personal experience and sensibilty, I think JRPGs and animes are [see my previous post].

(FYI, I did write a rather long reply after your last post, but then you made various edits to it, and now my reply isn't necessary anymore, sigh... So please, next time try to take the time to make all your needed edits FIRST, and THEN post your reply. That would so much more convenient! ;))



And HO-LY-SHIT, there's 1) a Suikoden arrangement I didn't know, 2) Kousuke "geeknius" Yamashita arranged it, 3) it's indeed the best one I've heard, and moreover 4) YOU uploaded it on Youtube?! Let's quickly add it to the list!



Genso Suikoden ~ Into a World of Illusions
Arranged and orchestrated by Kosuke Yamashita
Performed by Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65AsTCkkLp8

Apologies if its a bit overly preachy and not thought out as well as I would have liked, with consciously good-willing as I intended, I also realised I posted an earlier draft I wasn't happy with so apologies with raising points that were unnecessary. Of course I know what you mean but I nonetheless thought it appropiate to go a little more in detail what I think of that assessment, partially because its kinda related since a lot of good/great scores come out of these media and partially because people might appreciate some little knowledge. I've got some people interested in both after a little back and forth who previously had no interest in either subject afterall ;) Rest assured I only mean it in good faith. I will give you that you ARE right with your assessment to a certain extend and degree.

I will drop a little more relevant news: Many JRPGs of the past now have HD/remakes in the works and even a game series like Shenmue or Streets of Rage got sequels announced. I think chances are high for a survival of the franchise. Maybe they will even go the crowdfunding route like Shenmue, which got its goal in like a couple of hours. Maybe the future for good art in entertainment (games/films/anime/music) is a patron based system as you suggested. We shall see how Japan adapts to that because as Sato said, most passionate fans are over there but yet not as familiar with crowdfunding as we are. I think that will change over time.

But one thing to worry about is that remakes of these games often come with a change in artstyle, Radiant Historia, the new Grandia or the new Langrisser replacing the original art (some might say for the worst). At least they should have an option to choose between the new art and the old.

I'm still baffled:

http://www.theicecave.org/damage_control/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/radianthistoriarayniecomparison.pnghttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7jkH_DVAAA016n.jpg

Granted, the original illustrators are either (semi-)retired or too busy working on other projects (Satoshi Urushihara) but common... Oh well, at least Noriyuki Iwadare is working on something again and will compose new music.

That said, there's positive examples of course, Fire Emblem: Echoes for example having superior art to the original version, kind of like Suikoden and Ogre more classical inspired. Hidari is currently one of my most favorite illustrators and I hope more game (or even anime) directors hire him. He worked on Fractale's art including the soundtrack cover. I really love how much personality (or lack thereof) a single change in artist/illustrator brings to a project.



(FYI, it was only a few years ago that this thread didn't operate with lightning speed and replies were daily... I thought I still had time.... btw maybe you can put all of that (beautiful) landscape into spoilers, for aesthetics ;))


@Zipper: Well that is most excellent. I think its one of Iwasaki's most accomplished efforts and there's a certain degree of enthusiasm noticeable. Let's hope they can make the Blu-Rays.


And only three weeks left!: http://picosong.com/w5H7d/

So did Sahashi's opera ever make its debut last month?



And what did Hirano do to deserve this?

https://twitter.com/cilvanis/status/1035953453766529024

Just an update on that orchestra piece... I am now in the recording phase :). Also, since I can't contain myself, here is an early mix of one of my Hamauzu string works. We are re-recording the bits where there are some intonation issues.

https://soundcloud.com/josh-barron/nocturne-for-string-quartet-from-legend-of-legacy-alpha-mix/s-YNqVK

@Ponyo: Maybe Mitsuo Hagita?

@Zipper: It did premier. If it gets released... who knows.

@Josh: Looking forward to it!

Who? I have no idea. Tried my best getting info but the closest you could get would be scans and I've found none. It's still a good piece.

@Zipper: It did premier. If it gets released... who knows.I was hoping the premiere would be uploaded online. I recall that happened to some of Sahashi's concert pieces and arrangements.

Well, its Anne of Green Gables. There's a chance it gets a commercial release. But I would say its in the same boat right now as the Macross Frontier concert. Could be released but might as well end up like Sahashi's stage productions.

EDIT: Okay, we just talked about Oban Star Racers and the recent Ulysses pv has a piece that very much reminds me of it, at least he has not just strings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=99&v=1mGNFt7EOk4&t=1m18s

Iwasaki back with his 2000 style? Find out in a few weeks.

DQ11 is out today. The synth is awful to my tastes. I can't bear the midi when it's very obvious the songs have very symphonic intentions. Not to mention they intentionally use the cheapest of MIDIs. Apparently because the Japanese prefer it that way for nostalgia.

Since it came out in PC I'm hoping for mods that change the music to symphonic. If the 3DS versions could, why not the PC?

It's the Unreal Engine, you have to get it on PC if you can. Akira Toriyama's art in 4k and 60fps... not to mention music mods ;)
Yes, I must admit, this time around it should have been high time to switch to the symphony orchestra for XI in Japan. There's certainly a disconnect between visuals and sounds that makes me not want to play it until a music mod comes out. Sugiyama has total rights on the music, not Square Enix, so its probably on him... or its blind devotion to nostalgia... or they want to release the proper music as a paid DLC...

Anyway... I will take a look at the file structure soon/tomorrow. Unreal engine games are usually really easy to mod, so if it can be replaced easily it should only take a few minutes.

the recent Ulysses pv has a piece that very much reminds me of itTalk about a coincidence.

Still, how does such a crappy low-budget light novel adaptation made by a no-name studio manage to give Iwasaki more of a budget than a movie from BONES? The anime industry is full of questionable things.

It's probably got to do with the rights, more less. Either they have to pay too much, and they don't find it necessary, or nobody would buy the DLC, who knows the reasons. But I'm sure it's big. For every western version of DQ there's the orchestral version and this one doesn't have it, though it keeps the English voice over.

Also yes, while I do want to get it in PC, you forget my PC has a GTX 750 Ti... not to mention in PS4 I do have the experience downstairs in a 4K TV.

---------- Post added at 02:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:55 PM ----------

I'd gladly pay for a orchestral DLC. Even if it was 9,99 euros. I can't stand the MIDI in a modern looking game. With music that is so very obviously built around an orchestra. In games of 20 years ago, fine. But in 2018? No.

You know Tango is gone when no one points out a recent Tokusatsu score... oh well, what I do for my music (christ, this series is proof the 80s will never go away over there). Anyway... about Zi-O... it's about time! (ha... I'm sorry):

http://picosong.com/w57Re/

Looking forward to the soundtrack and movie score. I think we can now be a bit more optimistic about his return (and being the composer for the next Saint Seiya) ;)

He went away and never shared the Tamagotchi CD!

If only he were here...

It really is a shame that Tango has left. Much as he could be a prickly personality and overly assertive of his pessimistic opinions, he was incredibly knowledgeable and smart. Heck, if you got him talking about something he loved, he really knew how to gush.

I hope he's doing ok.

At any rate, more Sahashi in the world will always be a good thing. Really hoping that opera of his gets released.

Tango is not a kid. There's no reason for anyone to feel upset or responsible that he left. Personally, I felt that his behavior got very erratic towards the end as he lashed out at everyone and he was likely just looking for a decisive excuse to leave. He had transformed from an often critical but insightful contributor into a cynical curmudgeon. At that point, Tango as we knew him was dead. I hope the current one finds peace with himself, because I doubt it's the music that had caused his attitude to change so much.

No doubt he would have massacred that most recent Hirano score if he was still here.

I don't know, despite the "modern" (really just using modern tools, nothing more) approach, which Sahashi, Yamashita and Hattori demonstrated can be switched on/off if they feel like it, I doubt you could be that negative anymore in a year were Tanaka, Wada, Yamashita, Sahashi, Oshima, Amano/Sagisu, Miyazaki, Watanabe and Iwasaki wrote big orchestral scores like in the 2000s and a whole brigade of newcomers made promising work.

Kentaro Sato explicitly expressed he will not arrange his albums like Japanese game concert music Tango disapproves of and will go in a direction he would have liked and for a project he was pessimistic about getting funded which is now nearing 200% completion, which means a full album of Dissidia012 quality from classical inspired game music.

Pretty much all composers we love are active, have projects and/or are going vintage style... with composer now entering the industry who have freaking Korngold as a role model... I imagine he would be not so gloomy anymore... at the very least it would be hard to argue against my enthusiasm this time :D

I would even take a bet Hirano's next Project could be modern tools free. Even a few good John Williams scores are still waiting, maybe Orville season 2 will step it up a notch and hey, Ron Jones is at least conducting an orchestra for a SciFi project again. So much to look forward to... you're right, it can't be because of music.


On Zi-O: Christ, it sounds like something out of his Fatal Fury crossed with his Super Monster Battle. If its the usual ratio like Sentai AND 50% synth/filler and 50% orchestral score, not to mention HE USES VOICES and Kamen Rider is no stranger to opera, I would say chances are high for another Aria and a pretty good score, like he just never left. I usually don't follow Tokusatsu (though Akiba Ranger was the right mix of goofy and self-aware and so embracing of anime tropes it was fun to watch), but Kamen Rider being musically superior to Sentai? How often does that happen?


Unfortunately, DQXI has up to date file encryption (this is a Japanese release, so wtf?) so no music mod anytime soon. BUT I've made a custom soundtrack which I will share shorty. It's arranged from all Dragon Quest symphonic albums, including some jingles.[/url]

Akira Senju's Tetsujin 28 is quite nice, though I am not familiar with his stuff. The only thing I tried otherwise was Valvrave years ago and I thought it was boring.
I got both CDs for like $3 each so I think it was worth the price though I probably woulda downloaded them otherwise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4d_dr_ZM6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTI4yQrfnfA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWAD6gAyuXk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukfDc1xI2ow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D91oKky_Zic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8EyMzCnkYg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iYIE-5XStQ
Don't really go-out of my way to listen to stuff like this but it's quite lovely.

Also anything by Anchor Records (UZCL) seems to get released early on OTOTOY, so Shinkalion might be out in like a week and a half.

And a nice discovery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML251hx84y4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFMgtq-7BW0
Great, more stuff to get.

And it's out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SyVyKgXa6c

Ah yes this thread is also about sharing music, sorry, I forgot:



Kenichiro Suehiro & MAYUKO
Cells at Work
Score Selection
Tokyo Studio Orchestra



Sample (http://picosong.com/w5vgG/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!a6ABxQIL!jiuPFF4tRALfQW-vyBxHZUV1gVF9TegLZ9tW8PkKyTY)


Well, what can I say, play a game and find the reference, Duel of the Fates was easy :D



4Gamers:


Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
Custom Soundtrack for the travelers



Sample (http://picosong.com/w5vJm/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!3qo0yI6I!ts6kqwUjSpNOsT862ouacgDyk4RQmXIf6ak_LVJ4YnE)

It's structured as follows: Castle ~ Field ~ Cave_Mystery ~ Dungeon ~ Evil_Stronghold ~ Town ~ Village etc. with each having its unique battle and boss track.
It's pretty easy to make your custom playlist with these files... maybe 20~30 Tracks for each stage of the journey which should be incredibly easy to switch between in any media player, given the nature of RPGs. It will do until I can implement that into the game files (if they don't loop).
Just mute the ingame music (which removes even cutscene music, good!).

I also avoid 99% of game critics (aside from a dozen I very much trust 100%), but this was pretty funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iTbUGItU0s



@ladatree: A comprehensive overview about his body of work you can find here (FMA Brotherhood is his most popular work I would say): Thread 219649

Oh how it could be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlPW8IBUWmo

Tango is not a kid. There's no reason for anyone to feel upset or responsible that he left. Personally, I felt that his behavior got very erratic towards the end as he lashed out at everyone and he was likely just looking for a decisive excuse to leave. He had transformed from an often critical but insightful contributor into a cynical curmudgeon. At that point, Tango as we knew him was dead. I hope the current one finds peace with himself, because I doubt it's the music that had caused his attitude to change so much.

No doubt he would have massacred that most recent Hirano score if he was still here.

This is total idle speculation on my part, but I definitely got the sense that something happened in Tango's personal life in the last year or two that turned him so bitter, because it certainly wasn't the music. Go back in this thread to 2015 and see him wax rhapsodical about how glorious Oshima's Snow White with the Red Hair score is, or any time he wrote about Fractale's score and compare it to any of his posts from the last year. It's like night and day. It's like a switch flipped at some point and all of a sudden every single score coming out of Japan was another piece in a doom and gloom narrative he spun for himself.


...I doubt you could be that negative anymore in a year were Tanaka, Wada, Yamashita, Sahashi, Oshima, Amano/Sagisu, Miyazaki, Watanabe and Iwasaki wrote big orchestral scores like in the 2000s and a whole brigade of newcomers made promising work.

...

Pretty much all composers we love are active, have projects and/or are going vintage style... with composer now entering the industry who have freaking Korngold as a role model... I imagine he would be not so gloomy anymore... at the very least it would be hard to argue against my enthusiasm this time :D

You say that, but you tried to show him again and again and he simply refused to listen. If anything, he only got more belligerent the more enthusiasm you displayed. If the scores you brought forth met all his criteria, he'd make up new reasons why those scores don't count or are inferior to the composer's previous works, and also the newcomers are all actually terrible anyway. Simply put, he liked his narrative that Japanese orchestral music is dying, and no amount of evidence was going to change his mind, short of Souhei Kano scoring a 52-episode mecha series with the Warsaw Philharmonic.

Whatever the case might have been why it did unfortunately end with his departure, and so close to the reunion with old friends, I hope he's alright and at least happier than he was at the time of his departure. I said it before, he gave us much and his back and forth with me certainly was not unproductive and even sometimes reaffirmed my opinions or let me search deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole (let it sink in how much good/great music we discovered just in the past few months, and there could be dozens of undiscovered gems still lying in wait). Almost the very first thing he did in this thread was making a big statement of leaving it so I thought he might return for the anniversary (even under a new username) but alas that wasn't the case. I certainly miss the good side of him from a couple of years back and I imagine that side was of great signifigance why the thread did grow to the point conversations happen now daily (it also helped me getting REALLY good at writing super fast :D).

But you know me, I'm not one to lose hope that easily... and the thread will go on anyways.

I'm curious, if you use this custom soundtrack do you only put on battle music for the big fights? It seems switching back and forth for every fight would get to be a huge pain. I'm also talking about using this for PS4, so it is more cumbersome to try and switch things. Thanks for arranging the items by subject matter though.

This is total idle speculation on my part, but I definitely got the sense that something happened in Tango's personal life in the last year or two that turned him so bitter, because it certainly wasn't the music.Yeah, that's what I was getting at. I'd go even further and say that Tango had reached that point in his life where things had gone sour, and so he had to resort to clinging to his nostalgia or the "good old days". That's why the only things he liked were from when he was younger. Everything else new was rubbish because it was new. Essentially, he had become the dreaded personification of that 30-year-old boomer meme.


Vinphonic, I don't know if Tango will ever recover himself to go back on these forums. If anything, I expect him to go to some place that fits with his current attitude like VSL and whine with the actual boomers about "the evils of current music and society". Your enthusiasm is admirable, but in Tango's case, I don't think anything you do can change his mind unless you accept his new pessimistic doctrine.

Nah, I don't think that's entirely true, he also expressed some love for new music now and then, I did understand were he's coming from, remember he's a classical music critic (and composer), and was maybe frustrated his absolutely favorite composers didn't work or were not writing in a style he likes. Not to mention Hollywood falling on its face. Imagine that. It doesn't excuse the rest but I understand his perspective in parts.

I think its best to let it rest for now, if he wants to come back he will eventually, hopefully in good health and with a happier outlook (there are not many places like this one out there, if at all) but if he doesn't want it then that's that. I just let it be known, not all Bridges are burned yet... well that certainly was a lot of words for an offside remark of mine :p


@Sirusjr

I'm playing on pc with a ps4 controller, so the double thumbstick buttons left and right are used for next/previous track and the PS button is used for pause/continue. Mediaplayer is set on repeat single tracks and it's smooth as butter, and takes not even a sec to switch from field to battle and back but I've been doing that for years so its not as cumbersome. On the PS4 it should be possible with the normal media player as well, it takes a little bit longer to switch but I'm used to it so it doesn't brake the flow (though its more cumbersome than playing with steam + PS4 controller).

I've made playlists for the opening act, first adventure and will make the rest as I go along. Heck, even the opening movie mutes the music if you turn it off. I had the biggest sight of relief when I used "Intro", "Menu", "Opening_Movie" and "Village_01" as the starting track. As soon as Sugiyama's pastorial music with a symphony orchestra graced my ears with the visuals, I knew it was worth it. I could not play without that!
Maybe it also makes sense to asign the numbers of Towns, Villages and Dungeons to regions like "Grassland", "Snow", "Desert", "Fire" and "Mountains". I think I will do that. A music mod is unlikely at this stage anyway.

This looks like it has some potential. Even though it's all synth so far, we get an idea of the general musical direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qgpce5iyQU

A good old sci-fi swashbuckler about space fishing. Composer is Asami Tachibana. Let's see how well she does when not being in the position of a Sawano clone.

Vinphonic, it almost feels like you're the woman who can't leave an abusive ex or something. Remember Tangotreats was the person who made another one of the most loved contributors here, nextday, leave. And yet almost no one mentions him. But tango is mentioned way more. Of course if he had more of a huge personality and was known for this stuff he'd be remembered the most. But nextday I miss a lot, too.

Vinphonic, it almost feels like you're the woman who can't leave an abusive ex or something.

Alright, no. Stop. STOP. You've gone too far.

I hate that I have to come in at this time, because I feel like I'm deliberately singling you out whenever this happens. That's not at all what I intend, and I genuinely apologise if that's how it comes across regardless. But to compare a forum poster to an abusive ex, or another forum poster to a victim of abuse?! I can't think of a worse comparison to make, when the severity of those two things is so far apart that I'd think it was a dark joke before a serious point being made.

I don't like talking about or assuming the intentions of people when they're not there, because I find that mean-spirited and unfair on them when they're not around to speak for themselves. I know some of y'all don't like Tango or how he acted more recently (you're more than welcome to do so), but this whole line of wondering what 'happened to him' made me uncomfortable from the start. And with the above comparison being made, I think it's best that we drop it. No, I'm not a moderater, but this isn't going to end well if we keep going in this direction.

Tango has expressed to me that he would prefer that you not continue to discuss his choice to leave the thread and return to ordinary thread topics. He is alive and well and never coming back to posting here. Plenty of other things to discuss like we used to.

More than happy to oblige, and I'll do so by getting onto a topic that I've been thinking about a bit: MIDI orchestral music in modern games. This is continuing from some of the reaction surrounding the fact that Dragon Quest XI has stuck with MIDI music, even in the western release. I think it was Ponyo that said something along the lines of MIDI orchestras being unacceptable in this day and age (if someone else said it, my apologies for the mix-up and I'll change the name as soon as I can), and it got me to thinking about it. It's been generally accepted that many of the greatest soundtracks in gaming come from games that, for one reason or another, had to resort to synthesized music. Your Final Fantasies, your Legend of Zeldas, your Yses (is there a plural for Ys? Weird), and countless other examples. In fact, it could be argued that the particular samples used led to unique sounding instruments/games that can't be replicated with an orchestra. For example, while I like the idea of the original Tomb Raider music being rearranged for an orchestra, I'm still gonna have a soft spot for those very 90s synth strings.

So my question is this: do you think synthesized orchestras are acceptable in modern games, and do you know of any modern games with great MIDI orchestras? While I appreciate and understand the appeal behind having a live orchestra play your music, I find it to be a bit of weird double standard to decide that MIDI music shouldn't be used when many of the best soundtracks are MIDI music. Maybe I've just got the wrong idea, but I'm legitimately curious to know what y'all think.

He is alive and well and never coming back to posting here.I guess I'll speak to him directly then since he's still browsing.

So Tango, contrary to what you've said, you haven't actually left. Do you really think silent treatment will make things any better? You are grown man and should speak for yourself. If you want people to stop talking about you, you should come here say it yourself. And then you can continue the silent treatment if you want. But to hide behind other posters like some kind of lord, using them as your vassals to spread your message, it's as if we aren't good enough to receive your words directly. That's just inexcusably arrogant on your part.

If you don't want to hear anyone gushing about newer scores, then why are you still here? Honest question, no malice on my part.

@Ponyo: I don't mention him because he's safe and sound but right now really busy with other things and vgmdb is keeping him busy enough. He will return someday here but currently life's got in the way. If not, rest assured anything he finds gets mention by me. As far as contributions go, you haven't lost anything. I will share it.


@Zipper: No, its not arrogance I feel. Best let the matter rest. I'm just glad he's safe and sound (thats all I wanted to know) and that's that. Originally, it was just a thoughtless remark how no one here is apparently into Tokusatsu enough and thus no mention of an orchestral Sahashi score despite being almost a week out there. I only caught it by accident that "oh yeah, Zi-O is out". It wasn't anything more than that, not a plea for returning. You're being a bit too agressive when this thread moved along just fine the last months. Frankly, I have had enough Drama for a lifetime.

Regarding Space Fishing: I'm not holding my breath but it could be a nice surprise if it has a real orchestra. There's one or two moments in Franxx that show promise. The season is jampacked already but the more the merrier.



I'm having a blast with Dragon Quest XI so far, especially if you consider how far we've come. I've turned the voice acting off as well. I feel that is another part they could have modernized in the original Japanese version... oh well... at least I have my prefered Sugiyama sound. Comfy weeks await.


@FatherDougal: I take no issue if a composer wants to pay homage to a certain era of game music with a game that fits (like Shovel Knight) or if he has no budget or other limitations and thus is forced to use low quality samples. Composers of the 8 and 16-Bit era had to work around technical limitations... the answer being melody, melody AND MELODY. Listen to Kohei Tanaka's game music, its music crying out for a real orchestra, just like Haneda's Wizardry or Sugiyama's Dragon Quest, because they were written that way.

You could taker the End Credits of Bounty Sword and give it to a copyist and a studio orchestra and you wouldn't need to make any changes. It's a complete orchestral composition.

But a game that looks like a Fairy Tale book with a series that ALREADY has a whole catalogue of symphonic orchestral cues, its pretty much asinine to not choose the work made by 80 real humans breathing life and warmth into the notes over stale midi programming. Especially in a game that is build on being warm and hand-crafted. I strongly suspect its because of licensing issues with Sugiyama but no matter the case its an unfortunate situation because the game is shaping up to be quite popular in the west, if it had all these symphonic cues as the soundtrack (which are in many cases note for note from the midi compositions) it could have made us a great service.
As it stands you have people complaining endlessly about the music. On its own its fine game music, but why would I listen and have people forced to listen to that music when real recorded orchestral cues, an infinitely superior version of that music exists. A real shame. People need to be exposed to THE POWER OF THE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxWPhX4zueI) (0:51 is my favorite musical moment in anything Dragon Quest)

So the theme for Zi-o is indian music?

So my question is this: do you think synthesized orchestras are acceptable in modern games, and do you know of any modern games with great MIDI orchestras? While I appreciate and understand the appeal behind having a live orchestra play your music, I find it to be a bit of weird double standard to decide that MIDI music shouldn't be used when many of the best soundtracks are MIDI music. Maybe I've just got the wrong idea, but I'm legitimately curious to know what y'all think.
I don't care if the music is MIDI, as long as it is good music it's fine by me.

Question: is the main theme from Cells at Work based on John Williams's Holiday Flight from Home Alone which is based on Tchaikovsky's Russian Dance from The Nutcracker?

As my old friend James told me the other day: never say never.

And then he went on drinking his martini and banging a supermodel while driving his Aston Martin into a erupting volcano. Yes, he's THAT good at multitasking.


You know, sometimes, in certain groups or communities, it's not unusual nor useless to have someone who's a sort of gadfly or perturbator. Someone who has this pesky habit of regularly criticizing, teasing, provoking, agitating - people, things or ideas. Past the obviously irritating aspect of it, this kind of behavior actually makes the place MORE interesting because you have this annoying little voice which insists on bringing up some inconvenient truths and thought-provoking counter-opinions. It's that little pinch of salt, that grain of sand in the machine which eventually makes the place more lively, refreshing, and entertaining - even if it sometimes DOES seriously get in your nerves, no doubt about that. At times it can be totally wrong, or way too partial, but it's never fully devoid of interest, in its own way.


Let me illustrate with some classic fictional examples of similar characters:


Dr. House


Equipped with a dry and acerbic sense of humor, House is enigmatic and conceals many facets of his personality with a veneer of sarcasm. He appears and sometimes himself claims to be narcissistic (although he also shows many signs of self-contempt which would be impossible for an actual narcissist) and appears to have a disdain for most people, leading some to label him "a misanthrope."... Despite his cynicism, he does seem to care about his colleagues to a certain extent and while considering them "idiots" is able to sometimes put aside his pride and apologize when he has offended them in a particularly sardonic fashion. House uses his flippancy to conceal his affection toward his colleagues, and denies it to the extent that he himself sometimes forgets it... In one episode, his best friend Dr. Wilson states that House could have Asperger's Syndrome, but later tells House that he only wishes he had Asperger's so he could get away with more in life.

http://house.wikia.com/wiki/Gregory_House



Grumpy


True to his name, Grumpy lives out his days with a sour deposition. Throughout most of the film, he portrays negative, and even antagonistic traits, such as being overly rude, condescending... Aside from this, he is perhaps the most capable and competent of the dwarfs. Perhaps for this reason, he seems to resent Doc's position as leader, often doubting Doc's capabilities. He is also notably annoyed by Dopey's antics, Bashful's shyness and Sneezy's nasal explosions. Though stubborn, he has a compassionate heart as any, though he rarely admits this. He's also shown to be quite intelligent... While opinionated, and typically against change, Grumpy's mindset and views are shown to be able to change for the better, though the process for doing so proves to be lengthy.

Character information
Personality: Grumpy, short-tempered, brave, rebellious, caring, sarcastic, rude, good-hearted, cross critical, gruff, suspicious, easily disgusted, grouchy, opposed to change, paranoid, bossy, serious, moaner

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Grumpy



Grouchy Smurf


Grouchy Smurf is the misanthropic grouch of the Smurf village. His catchphrase is "I hate (something somebody else mentions)" yet it is shown during the show that he is a good observer and notices kindness in others even if he is not playing active role in an event. Even though Grouchy Smurf portrays a role of a moaner within the group, he mostly wishes others to be happy and successful in order to get out of a problematic situation. In the movie, his grouchiness is implied to be from insecurity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Smurfs_characters






Can you see some patterns here? Obviously, despite their flaws, these characters bring an awful lot to the story they belong to. We can go as far as saying that being this way is their purpose and one of the main reasons they're so loved.

Sleep on this. Good night.

I do really miss nextday's presence here as well. He always seemed to be ahead of the game when it came to upcoming releases and also had access to a lot of information that we otherwise wouldn't have. I do hope he finds it in his heart to come back here at some point.

I know you all want this topic to be over, and so do I but I believe I have to mention this because it's, in this case perjudicial to me and my image. I believe Dougal (and possibly anyone else) misunderstood my comparison of Tango to an abusive ex. My comparison wasn't saying he's an abusive ex or person, no. What I meant to express is how Tango had been an awful person lately, with almost no remorse (and given to his message through other person here it doesn't seem like he's changed at all) but yet it feels Vinphonic still "loves" him in a way or wants to come back to him even if he was awful. That's my point, not saying that he's an abusive person or an ex.

Nonetheless this is over for me. Vinphonic I do agree and like your idea about substituing MIDI music for DQ11. I didn't know Steam player was that good. I'd appreciate it if you later assembled a nice compilation and tell us how to use it so we can enjoy that, too.

And just like that... Gunbuster 3 was announced. Man, new Tanaka scores pretty much nonstop until 2022, oh yeah :D


@Ponyo: You don't need Steam player, any media player will do. You just need a program "DS4Windows" and a bluetooth adapter. Then connect your PS4 controller to your pc, and edit the commands for the buttons in DS4. After a while of getting the hang of it you can do it subconciously and switch music pretty fast, even ten tracks apart (its just another game button you press to not disconncet yourself from the game). You need a media player with "smooth" transitions though.

I think I will make playlists for every region in the game and will assign the numbers to regions and make playlist for each. I use "encounter_with_enemies" and "flying_01" for story moments. Since its a traditional RPG, you even have all the time in the world to switch music. A music mod would be preferable but this is enough for me to have a blast. I would suggest a playlist that makes sense like: Intro/menu - camp - field/battle/boss - dungeon/battle/boss - evil_stromghold/battle/boss - village/church/requiem - town - imperial_capital - casino/shop - minigame - special battle. Something like that.

@streich: I see you catched the first Williams piece right away, good, good, now catch the next one (if you can) :D

Oh, don't worry, I'm very familiar with DS4Windows and DS4 in PC alright. I've had a Red DS4 for my PC gaming since 2015, it's a nifty controller imo. And I personally love seeing the DS4 button prompts. Just I didn't know that method you pointed out.

@streich: I see you catched the first Williams piece right away, good, good, now catch the next one (if you can) :D
I'll listen again this weekend and see what I can find. I did notice "Battle of retreat" might have a reference to Chrono Trigger's Boss Battle 2 which keeps in line with my theory that Re:Zero referenced that OST.

A few more remarks on the subject of Tango before moving on. He has contributed SO MUCH to the thread, and since the VERY beginning, so a bit more respect and gratitude isn't too much, is it?



The problem with people who get angry and start scolding him and trying to "correct" him (which is a perfectly natural reaction) is that they try to make a unique, uncommon, convoluted but also fascinatingly-shaped peg fit into a perfectly square slot: it won't work, even if you press it like crazy, even when you hammer it insistently. And if you force it too hardly, what happens?

*CRACK*

This uniquely-shaped peg breaks, which is exactly what happened last time and led to his departure. It was too much pression and not enough comprehension.

The right way to treat him is to acknowledge his particularities, his singular personality and ways, and then to adapt as much as possible YOUR behavior to his. Because he's someone who deserves some efforts from you. He's not just some random asshole on the Internet, he's someone incredibly smart, cultured and generous (when he decides to be) who has a huge positive potential.

I also regret Nextday's departure (even though I didn't meet him / her? personally, but I recently caught up with the thread and I really do admire his contributions), but if I may just point out a mistake he did (and that Vinphonic did, and that *I* also did): it's to get caught into a heated one-on-one discussion with Tango and not withdrawing from it before it gets ugly. Which is VERY likely to happen at some point, because that's just how his mind works.

The problem with Tangos is that they come without instruction manual, so here are some simple guidelines to help you deal with them:

If they say something scathing, provocative or downright offensive:

Wrong reactions:
- starting and trying to "win" a debate
- making a long, detailed post to justify yourself
- getting angry, complaining and scolding
- leaving the thread

Right reactions:
- take it lightly, not (too) personally
- DO NOT try to one-up them at this game
- laugh it out (not by mocking, but by finding the funny side of their remarks) and move on


Example 1:
"Hey, it's Tango doing his Tango thing again! Haha, yeah, maybe he's kinda right in some way. But I'd rather not admit it because I'm too proud and I've got better things to do anyway, so let's just move on."

Example 2:
Read this thread: HEADHUNTER OST - Richard Jacques (for symphonic lovers)
Thread 63699

Look at my final answer to him, which closed the discussion in a light-hearted, funny and peaceful manner: RIGHT reaction.



Message from Doc to Grumpy: come back home, buddy. ;)






Edit: if he didn't post his last message directly but rather through Sirus, I'm not sure it's mainly because or arrogance or contempt. I'd say it's probably more because of insecurity and to protect from potential harsh replies. And when you look at some of the recent replies, his choice seem very understandable!

@streich: I see you catched the first Williams piece right away, good, good, now catch the next one (if you can) :D

Is the other one Harry Gregson Williams/John Powell's Antz (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD2t3SCbDvI)? I hear it scattered throughout the whole (http://picosong.com/wLnsP/) soundtrack. It would make sense since it revolves around the same theme of "the everyday life of hard-working beings trying to keep their sh*t together".


Also if someone wants to share Cells at Work and Penguin Highway (sounds like a job for you pensquawk, btw, isn't that your dream movie? :D), go ahead, I'm broke right now on soundtracks (unless your name is 田中 公平).

Oh you, how can you assume such blasphemy through my profile picture ;)

In all seriousness, I'm broke as well but I DO have it, not through my own means unfortunately (I can post it unless you already have it as well). It's lovely and I wouldn't mind if Abe becomes part of the new roster of composers for anime films (I'd much rather prefer him than the likes of Muramatsu to be perfectly honest).


And just like that... Gunbuster 3 was announced. Man, new Tanaka scores pretty much nonstop until 2022, oh yeah :D


Now those news, definitely made my day! I wouldn't care any less if it ends up being a cash grab, but please I hope to god the quality of it's music stay intact, unlike *cough*Eureka Seven*cough*. GB is one of my favorite scores of all time, so it would be a shame if it downfalls in it's third installment.

Well, decade old affairs don't seem to go away that easily, fine, I'll add a thing before moving on as well. I did not converse to gain supperiority. I already addressed it, I'm positive as can be because I really am relieved by the cross-generational body of composers working RIGHT NOW that give me basically everything I could want, from Naotora to Drifters to Planet With. I'm beyond happy to have a world to retreat from all the bullshit of our times, in entertainment and everything else and it keeps giving me joy. I just want to share that joy, thats what I'm about. I never was about conflict and rightousness and questioned myself many times. Granted, ultimately my approach did fail but at least I tried. I'm not sorry for responding the way I did. But you are right with your responses.

That said, I'm also not a fan of the recent aggressiveness when everything was already said and done, the rest is just unnecessary. Nextday will come back someday, maybe Tango will come back someday. I even urged they reconcile. I cant do anymore than that. Until that time comes, move along and enjoy the music.


@pensquawk:

Go ahead, by all means. I just had this urge you might be a fan ;)

Powell is also in, but there's another piece you have to catch... if you can. Come on guys, I can't drop more hints.

As for Muramatsu, he can be alright: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmfNiAWQxpc

Very well then:


Penguin Highway OST
Umitaro Abe

(https://mega.nz/#!kFojABLR!H5ttY9jronggBbTDGaZOYdi5tRUF2abNIJEd_gCd7pU)

Sample 1 (http://picosong.com/wLn9S/) - Sample 2 (http://picosong.com/wLn9B/)
(MP3)

Not to diss Muramatsu at all, it's just the trademark similarities he shares with Yokoyama that are not my cup of tea. This is the first time I hear of Abe even if he's been in the film scene back then. But given what I've heard in his first animated score, he instantly won me over. I like the predominant usage of soaring trumpets and marching band aspect that conveys a silly jolly but emotional score all around, I have yet to see the movie though. I think he's right next there in my list of "chill composers" such as Mina Kubota and Choro Club. Enjoy!

So has anyone in this thread figured out how to get custom music to play on PS4 DQXI ? It appears to block Spotify and USB player music. I am shocked that they would disable this. Basically I have to use music on my computer behind me on headphones while the game audio is on speakers? WHAT?

Thanks for sharing it here. It's easy listening, jolly and Hisaishi/Fujisawa-esque.


@Sirusjr:

Damn... I feel you. Not many PS4 games do that! Thank god I purchased it on pc. I would laugh my ass off if the switch version has the symphonic suites. I'm definitely getting Valkyria Chronicles 4 for pc now.

It wouldn't bother me so much if I hadn't gotten used to using my own music during NNK2 or Witcher 3. Worked just fine for those games.

I can't find a good image to post for this, but I would like to contribute to this thread by posting the full soundtrack of the 1998 J-Drama, Itabashi Madams. This is composed by Toshihiko Sahashi. All tracks are entirely orchestral. As much as I like to talk about how wonderful, beautiful, and lively this score is, I think Vinphonic can explain and describe it better than me.

https://mega.nz/#F!rz5zlbYY!f1VeosrAWbYdVQUROefwlg

This is the only picture I could find since you gave it to me for my consideration.

Long story short: It's GREAT!

If you are familiar with his music then you will hear A LOT of later scores in this one, especially his TV drama scores like Fantastic Deer-Man. The heroism in this score is also similar to Cyber Formula.
This is Ultraman Powerd Sahashi, right before Ultraman Gaia, right at the doorstep to his golden years/his era/when he grew a beard...



The orchestra is not as big as Blue Stinger or Fatal Fury but he rocks the house with his studio ensemble. This is very much another Ultraman score.
It's romantic, lyrical, bold, leitmotif-driven and glorious. Pieces like "Oh My God" are so typical of his baroque style, and btw, his indian/eastern instrument touch for Zi-O makes sense since he produced a lot of esotheric and solo albums in his absense in that style.

But back to Madams, this firecracker just appeared out of nowhere. Another gem BladeLight brought to our attention.
A negative about the score would be it does not end as strong as it begins, which is unfortunately typical of many J-Drama scores.

"Under the Starlight" is also a curious piece, because, this is pure speculation, but didn't a lot of Sahashi's cues in the 90s have this curious resemblance to Oshima cues? They even worked on certain projects together... (Were they getting it on or why do they sound so similar in parts?)

Finally, let me just say "Words of the Heart" is among my most favorite Sahashi cues and absolutely concert worthy, so go get it now!


I must admit how regrettful it is that Sahashi has no interest in social media because Sagisu and Tanaka demonstrated it can be valuable. Seeing him constantly praising "Maestro" Amano and how proud he is of his work paints a very different light on things we just assumed. I believe Amano is very content working with him.

Speaking to that lack of social media presence, I've been thinking a lot lately about how little we know about many of our favorite composers as individual people. Specifically, I've been thinking about Sahashi's unprecedented irregular appearances in the anime scene for the past decade.

It just doesn't make any sense to me that a composer with 20+ years of experience in the industry and dozens of connections with directors and producers would suddenly stop getting job offers while other composers of comparable skill like Oshima, Iwasaki, and Tanaka have continued to get steady work. I have to assume in this instance that Sahashi's semi-departure is a personal choice, either because he lost interest in working in anime around 2010-2011 and has been turning down job offers, or is simply consumed with other projects. But of course, I don't know, because I don't really know what Sahashi is thinking or working on at any given time.

Social media would at least give us more insight into the composer's mindset. Hell, I think Iwasaki's Twitter, with as much controversy as he's caused with it, has given us a much better idea of who he is and how he works than any single composition or interview of his.

It isn't that hard to imagine. Consider the numerous Hollywood composers who suddenly stopped showing up in projects because they didn't want to compromise what they consider music to do what producers wanted. I doubt it is that different with Sahashi.

Jeez, lots of stuff happening while I was gone for the day.

@Tango's situation:
I agree, there is no point in speaking for him, or dwelling too much on what his intentions were/are anymore. He's still browsing this thread and, if he wants, he can come here and tell all of us. But the mere act of silently watching this thread already says a lot about how he feels.

@Pengun Highway:
Thanks pensquawk! I assume that your username and interest in this soundtrack have nothing to do with one another. :P Rather than Joe Hisaishi, I was reminded more of Yuji Ohno's Nichijou. I would put this lightyears ahead of Muramatsu and Chloro Club's work. Abe really knows what he's doing with the orchestra, even if it does jump into those usual anime slice-of-life cliches a bit too much. He's a promising new talent, and I hope his next work leaves him more room to express his musical voice.

@Sahashi's social media and hiatus:
Sahashi does have a Facebook, but rarely ever uses. Last I heard, he also became a music professor at Tokyo U some years ago (correct me if I'm wrong). That might explain why he has been less active in recent years along with Akira Senju, and why both men are now more focused on concert hall works.

It's always interesting to see composers interact with each other on social media. The other day, Asakawa and Oshima were having another long conversation with each other on Facebook, discussing the usefulness of overdubbing and samplers. To summarize in the most simplistic manner, Oshima was encouraging Asakawa to start recording his harp music as samples so that they could be sent to orchestras around the world to be overdubbed, but Asakawa politely refused and said that he enjoyed going to studios and physically speaking with other composers and musicians and personally disliked the idea of samples being used, especially for the harp. Says a lot about their mentalities as composers, and gives a bit more insight about why Asakawa may have slowed down his composing career in this current digital environment. Most of us already correctly assumed this, but to hear it from the composer himself is invaluable.

@EmperorMattXV
I'm glad Iwasaki has a Twitter and Facebook to vent and take out his frustrations with the world and everyone in it. Without it, I think he would have torpedoed his career, most likely in the middle of giving a violent outburst to some staff member or musician in-person. Have you seen that behind the scenes video of him for Agito? Iwasaki did not look like he was on good terms with either the director or conductor to say the least.

@SirusJr: Nah, I don't think that is the case with Sahashi. Japanese entertainment is NOT the Hollywood studio system, thank the gods. Its mostly a net of mass and niche markets overlapping. You just need to find a director who values you (Yoshihiro Ike and Keiichi Sato) and you can write pretty much whatever you want, as long as you follow the guidelines by the director.




In a sense, Sahashi NEVER was truely gone because he DID appear with new singles/releases on itunes, his name appeared on stage and theater productions and you can find snippets of videos of him in the recording studio for various pop artists. So either he needed a break from full time media composing (maybe for university or personal duties like Zipper mentioned) or he is now back to score for old friends because they begged him to return. Either way, we still hear his voice, either trying new things (FMP:IV, some dislike) or back with familiar style (Kantai, Zi-o, Seint Seiya (?)).
Either way, good to have him back.

It's certainly strange from the perspective that it seemed in the late 2000s and early 2010s Tanaka was going to slowly disappear and retire, just like Sahashi until recently... and then bam!!!! His most prolific period yet (in just two years): GD2 , New Salesman, Onihei, One Piece: New World, Endride, Shin Sakura Taisen, Planet With (and three possible other projects by the same team if they keep continuity in the staff), One Piece: World Seeker, One Piece: Sound Banquet, Sakura Taisen Opera Project, Sakura Taisen: Hot-Blooded Tide, Gunbuster 3, Gravity Daze 3 (just speculation, but the series is a passion project), numerous pop singles.. all in close proximity.


From Tanaka's Blog:


This year the animation industry sent me many new projects. I was also in charge of the music of "Planet with" this summer. In my career I have composed over 10,000 bgm pieces and a few songs.
Among the many pieces and songs, what do you think is the piece or song that I particularly remember?
The correct answer is "everything! All my pieces and songs are like my own children so I can not answer "What is the most impressive song?" I can not answer the question.

But my memory is vivid about the times I created them. Even for works of decades ago. I think that I can talk with considerable precision about them.
Everyone on all the media! Before I go out of focus and forget about all my songs, come listen to my interviews and talks (I think he refers to the fact he appears in cafes and bars in Tokyo to talk with fans about his music).

I've done various types of compositions over the years and I approach projects with a certain mindset after the direction is clear:

# Adventure such as "One Piece"
# Robots such as "Dai-Gaurd '" and "Gaogaigar" "Planet With"
# Japanese style like "Sakura Wars" and "Tengai Makyo"
# Beautiful melodies like "Oh My goddess" and "Esper Mami"
# Low age group animation like "Kaitetsu Zorori" and "Tamagotchi"
# Live actions such as "Flashman" and "Metalder" (but I don't do them anymore)
# A strange system (translation is wonky) such as "Laughing Rumen" or "Nurarihyon"
# Megumi game system (translation is wonky) such as "Gravity Days" and "End of Eve Eternity"
# Mysteries like "Hyouka" and "Gad Guard"


I'm able to produce music of any genre and I am daily steady (I think this refers to writing new music daily like good old Jonny does).
I'm able to respond to any request. Whatever anime or game music you need: "as you wish".

Did you all know The Laughing Salesman had a OST CD last year?

https://www.amazon.co.jp/Columbia-Sound-Treasure-%E3%80%8C%E7%AC%91%E3%82%A5%E3%81%9B%E3%81%87%E3%8 2%8B%E3%81%99%E3%81%BE%E3%82%93%E3%80%8D%E3%82%AA% E3%83%AA%E3%82%B8%E3%83%8A%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%82 %B5%E3%82%A6%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E 3%83%83%E3%82%AF-%E7%94%B0%E4%B8%AD%E5%85%AC%E5%B9%B3/dp/B072PCH3BB

Hellsing: OVA 20th Anniversary Deluxe Steel Limited Edition (I-X) was announced. Please for the love of god, please!!!! (I guess this is the final chance of either a last bonus cd or a complete soundtrack release. Unfortunately none are listed on the website so far). It's out Nov, 28.

I hear the obvious Duel of the Fates and Superman references, so I'm wondering if "Yes Sir!" is a reference to The Lost World.


but there's another piece you have to catch... if you can.
Schindler's List?

There's also Beethoven ;)





Joe Hisaishi/Mamoru Fujisawa
TBS Drama: In This Corner of the World
Tokyo Studio Orchestra



Sample (https://picosong.com/wLYFz/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!znYEXaZK!ED2N4t2aBYqGIxPfX-O6FiE44XJjoWmJql6i5vwRnxE)


This is really a film score, rather than TV score and the Main Theme is a variation of Spirted Away. One of his gentlier scores and a great companion piece to NNK2, but there's also Fujisawa popping up, especially at the end, and it closes with one of his trademark songs. It's very lovely. Not his best ever but a great listen to relax. The other parts are an expansion of NNK2.

This is probably the best reason possible to let them continue live-action adaptions of books/manga/games/anime, even if you personally NOPE at Fullmetal Alchemist or Death Note (the Japanese adaption, the netflix version is worse than Zippers video), because the composer roulette will be rolled twice, increasing the chance of one of your favorites to be assigned to a project (In this case Hisaishi after kotringo, who did a nice lovely score, but this is something else of course). Attack on Titan is another example. The very same IP gets either full symphonic tour de force concert pieces... or electronic and rock bombast with modern Hollywood cliches turned up to elven. All it takes is a different composer, just like it takes a single change in illustrator to totally change the drama of a scene/level as well as your perception of an anime/game's artstyle, "feel" and atmosphere. That's why Japan puts so much value in these professions, up to the very extreme (see Sugiyama)... because they're smart.

Enjoy

Speaking of Hisaishi, I'm surprised no one has shared his new Castle in the Sky arrangement with Chad Cannon yet. Some of you were pretty enthusiastic for it.




Track list
01 Symphonic Suite "Castle in the Sky" : Doves and the Boy ~ The Girl Who Fell from the Sky 3:52
02 Symphonic Suite "Castle in the Sky" : A Street Brawl ~ The Chase ~ Floating with the Crystal 4:22
03 Symphonic Suite "Castle in the Sky" : Memories of Gondoa 1:27
04 Symphonic Suite "Castle in the Sky" : The Crisis ~ Disheartened Pazu 2:28
05 Symphonic Suite "Castle in the Sky" : Robot Soldier ~ Resurrection - Rescue ~ 2:34
06 Symphonic Suite "Castle in the Sky" : Gran'ma Dola 2:32
07 Symphonic Suite "Castle in the Sky" : The Castle of Time 3:13
08 Symphonic Suite "Castle in the Sky" : Innocent 2:36
09 Symphonic Suite "Castle in the Sky" : The Eternal Tree of Life 3:39
10 ASIAN SYMPHONY : I. Dawn of Asia 5:04
11 ASIAN SYMPHONY : II. Hurly-Burly 3:25
12 ASIAN SYMPHONY : III. Monkey Forest 5:43
13 ASIAN SYMPHONY : IV. Absolution 5:48
14 ASIAN SYMPHONY : V. Asian Crisis 6:36

Conducted by Joe Hisaishi
Performed by New Japan Philharmonic World Dream Orchestra, Yasushi Toyoshima (Concertmaster)
Solo Piano by Joe Hisaishi (Track-08)

FLAC

https://www.adrive.com/public/gK9CBg/Joe%20Hisaishi%20-%20Symphonic%20Suite%20''Castle%20in%20the%20Sky'' %20ASIAN%20Symphony.rar

Cannon wrote a blog entry about his work with Hisaishi and this suite too:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/chad-cannon/summer-with-joe-hisaishi/10155950725409640/

Don't forget his Beethoven interpretations. For information this is a proper studio/hall recording of the live concert I shared in my 2017 in Concert. I still am undecided which I prefer more.



Well, this sounds familiar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAYeIor4lfQ

Finally, let me just say "Words of the Heart" is among my most favorite Sahashi cues and absolutely concert worthy, so go get it now!


Yes, "Words of the Heart," is now one of mine too. I like these adagio statements of superhero type themes. "Words of the Heart" is in that category, similar to Toshiuki Watanabe's End Credits to SPACE TRAVELERS, or Satoru Kousaki's "Galactic Pretty Boy" from STAR DRIVER. There are many other great examples. Thanks to the uploader of this terrific score!

So this is what Iwasaki meant by "no strings". A stroh violin. Definitely the first time I've seen one being used.

:small

He also said he finished recording music for Ulysses a day ago, which thankfully confirms that the trailer fluff was just a placeholder. It supposedly "won't be a conventional medieval score" according to his words. We'll see.

Well, according to Iwasaki its a cool anime, so it gets cool music... you know him.

"If you dare to not use an orchestra and tie down, you will be able to squeeze your neck brilliantly... he is already going to collapse with lack of oxygen"

Never change, Taku.

You can never tell if he's joking that they forced an orchestra on him "fine, here's that crap" (writes Herrmann pastiche and opera), only to record another session with artists he likes to hang out with or if he's just trolling. Either case its always a surprise bag with his projects. I doubt that Oban-esque piece was stock-music (like the rest). They probably had multiple sessions. He said it was a very long composing process and he wrote enough music for a two-cour show. Remember the anime was already previewed at conventions.

Oh, how interesting! Have you noticed the sweater he's wearing? Back in 2010, I posted this:


That's not a secret. Japanese people are extremely fond of orchestral music, I mean western style orchestral music. A lot of animes, dramas and game scores are at least partially orchestral. An incredible number of symphonic concerts are held every year, mostly classical, but also from game or anime scores. It's just part of their culture, which seems to be less an less the case in the US, and maybe also in Europe.

Now here's an illustration of Japan's adoration for orchestral music: in my lovely city of Nantes (http://philippehermange.free.fr/nantes/nantes.htm), there's each year a very succesful musical event named la "Folle Journ�e de Nantes". It's the biggest classical music event in France, and one of the biggest in Europe. It's a series of concerts dedicated to one composer each year. Here are some links:


la Folle Journ�e de Nantes
http://www.follejournee.fr/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Folle_Journ�e





Well, this festival had so much success in its original country, that it's been exported to another one. Which one? You guessed it right: Japan (but there are projects for other countries too).


La Folle Journee au Japon
http://www.lfj.jp/lfj_2010e/
http://www.japantravelinfo.com/news/news_item.php?newsid=284
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fq20080425a1.html





So, now in 2018, how is "La Folle Journ�e au Japon" doing? Here's a translated version of a french article about it:


The Mad Day in the excitement of Tokyo

Xavier Renard , the 12/05/2017 at 18h01

The thirteenth edition of the Mad Day in Japan ended in Tokyo after two more stops in the land of the rising sun, in Niigata and Biwako. With 600,000 spectators, more than 190 paying concerts and as many free events, it has become over the years the biggest Japanese festival, all styles of music combined.

Tokyo, from our special envoy

On the eve of the traditional Golden Week , three consecutive bank holidays in early May, the area around Marunouchi, a banal business district in Tokyo's Chiyoda district, seems transfigured. Thanks to the 13th edition of La Folle Journ�e, the musical event created in 1995 by Ren� Martin in Nantes, then imported to Lisbon, Bilbao, Rio, Warsaw, Yekaterinburg and Japan ...

In the main lobby of the Tokyo International Forum congress center, an elegant glass-and-steel liner, endless queues can be seen in the early morning in front of the ticket office. The last places of the 200 concerts, lasting 45 minutes, are offered during these three days of festival.

Meanwhile, a long parade of foodtrucks has invested the outside forecourt. The cooks begin to simmer their takeaway, while the first festival-goers fill the terraces under a morning sun.

The guest artists split the crowd under the admiring glances of music lovers. Upon arrival, the pianist Boris Berezovsky, one of the icons of the festival, scribbled in front of a lift his first autographs in a contagious frenzy. The Russian lends himself briefly to the game of selfies, however succeeding in shunning to repeat the plays of Grieg, Hindemith and Ravel who will compose his first recital.

His friend J�r�me Dariel, one of the two luthiers of the festival, observes the scene, hilarious: "This is a small summary of the spirit of the Mad Day in Japan. People have an infinite respect for the musicians, but Boris, who has been participating in the festival since the beginning, is the big manitou. "

As for the 23rd edition of the event, held in Nantes last February, the Japanese public will vibrate around the theme of dance, magnified by the participation of famous Japanese musicians (Makoto Ozone, Kyoko Takezawa ...) and great international virtuosos such as pianists Anne Queff�lec, Alexei Volodin, Matan Porat and R�mi Geniet, violinist Tedi Papavrami, accordionist Richard Galliano or percussionist Simone Rubino, whom the French public will soon discover during the musical feast at the barn of Meslay ( Indre-et-Loire).

The public gallops from room to room, glutinously strolling between very different sound universes, from the slow passacaglia to the fast tempo of the mazurkas, from the Latin American habanera to the taikos, these huge Japanese drums suspended in the Buddhist temples, and up to the sweet and feverish melodies of Piazzolla. In this frenetic choreography, comings and goings continue to the kiosk, the nerve center of the festival, where traditional dance formations take place, as well as the many conservatories and music schools of Tokyo.
Concerts also for children

Families are particularly pampered. The concerts offered to toddlers - which fill every morning the large room of 5,000 seats - are a spectacle in itself. By performing on stage for the inaugural concert, the instrumentalists of the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Dmitri Liss, gave their amused eyes to this unusual public in strollers, performing a concerto of chirps and sobs. that the power of Tchaikovsky's music will intermittently succeed in smothering.

By partnering with Masahide Kajimoto's artist agency, Ren� Martin managed to secure the festival model for the greatest number of people in the Land of the Rising Sun. Heir to Jean Vilar's philosophy of popular arts sharing, he aspires only to desacralize classical music and to " create the public of tomorrow".

In Japan, the choice of the calendar and this central place, near the station, is not fortuitous. While the most fortunate go abroad or in their second home during the Golden Week , the Folle Day can thus touch the young, the middle and popular classes of Tokyo and its suburbs, music lovers or profane: "All those who can not afford to go to the big halls where the price of seats is very high, " says Ren� Martin, who practices attractive prices," equivalent to a movie theater ".



---------------------------------------------
Tokyo, the world capital of classical

We must go back 150 years to find the source of the extraordinary craze of the Japanese for classical music. In 1879, eager to open his country to the world, Emperor Meiji made the teaching of Western music compulsory in primary and secondary schools.

Many concert halls were built in the 1960s for unprecedented economic prosperity. Tokyo and its suburbs have ten large auditoriums with more than 2,000 seats, renowned for their beautiful acoustics, where perform the best soloists in the world.

https://www.la-croix.com/Culture/Musique/Folle-Journee-leffervescence-Tokyo-2017-05-12-1200846717

Looks like they're doing pretty well! I find it wonderful that a wide range of the population can access classical music through this type of popular, low-priced or free, non-elitist event. Plus people get to see and meet musicians up close, like Iwasaki in the picture. Isn't that great? Well, you know where to go next may...



LA FOLLE JOURN�E TOKYO
Official website (in japanese)
https://www.lfj.jp/lfj_2018/

Remember the anime was already previewed at conventions.I remember hearing that they showed the first episode and it was only 70% finished, with lots of still images and some missing sounds and music. So I guess the only way we can know for sure is when the first episode actually airs. But of course, this is Iwasaki. It's dangerous to have any expectations.

And I know this is kind of a minor thing you mentioned, but I don't consider Iwasaki's orchestral stuff to be anything like Herrmann pastiches. Rather, I think the core foundation of his musical style was heavily influenced by Herrmann (and Zimmer to a lesser extent). It's very easy to spot Herrmann pastiches (see any Brian DePalma film), but there aren't many other composers whom I can think of that actually have Herrmann integrated into their musical language. Elfman does as well, and generally he sounds nothing like Iwasaki (though there is occasionally some overlap (https://youtu.be/dtJThSHz_q8?t=2m44s)). The strange thing is that Iwasaki has never once mentioned Herrmann or his influence in his music -anywhere-, but then again, Oshima has never said a word about Rozsa, Asakawa has never brought up Korngold, and so on. It's very rare when a Japanese composer actually brings up an influence of theirs that they actually sound like (i.e. Harumi Fuuki and her love of Horner). Believe it or not, Sawano says his biggest influence was Joe Hisaishi(!?) of all people.


Looks like they're doing pretty well! I find it wonderful that a wide range of the population can access classical music through this type of popular, low-priced or free, non-elitist event. Plus people get to see and meet musicians up close, like Iwasaki in the picture. Isn't that great? Well, you know where to go next may...Pretty neat stuff! Though that musician is not Iwasaki, he is probably one of the participants at the event.

Any possibility of this in FLAC format, please? Mp3's sound so bad I won't touch them.

Thanks in advance!

From the creator and director of Girls und Panzer and Shirobako comes his next genius move.

After long round tables about the design of new cute girls for Girls und Panzer: Das Finale (they happen, a room full of 50 year olds fighting like uncivilized politicians in congress who is best girl), he made an offside joke, "should have made Girls and Planes too at this rate"... well he made it into a reality:



If he/they has/have any goddamn sense, theres only one person for the job, your old pal that helped make your series print money and sell thousands of concert tickets... and the man who is very experienced in writing about planes AND cute girls. He's also a friend of Tsutomu Mizushima and worked on many projects together with him, right now working on Das Finale and his Shirobako movie. I will be shocked if he's not part of the staff:





Shiro Hamaguchi
The Princess and the Pilot
Studio Orchestra / Proper Rip



Sample (https://picosong.com/wL5pa/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!izA11KIb!ihCzTpP87HD9OH9u72EyOea1DmKtcasz-2ZPot2VjCA)

The last one I did a few years ago was horrible, here's a proper Blu-Ray rip of one of Hamaguchi's very best. His theme of flight lifts you right off the ground and his romantic theme warms your heart.
And just for the sake of it, I'm posting it again: P&P Finale (https://vimeo.com/215996472). I repeat, the people who worked on this are still out there working, from Yamato 2202 to even Girls und Panzer and they keep getting to realize their projects. They even made a statement about their ways in the recent Lupin episode (23).

Very nice, Vin. How did this not get a proper cd release?!

If he/they has/have any goddamn sense, theres only one person for the job, your old pal that helped make your series print money and sell thousands of concert tickets... and the man who is very experienced in writing about planes AND cute girls. He's also a friend of Tsutomu Mizushima and worked on many projects together with him, right now working on Das Finale and his Shirobako movie. I will be shocked if he's not part of the staff:https://youtu.be/Q-TB-Y3L4AQ

音楽：浜口史郎

https://78.media.tumblr.com/8f5eec2af74cc27233303dd6c0cad186/tumblr_mo05yrJtha1r76lino1_400.gif

A new Sahashi, and now a new Hamaguchi?! What's going on here? Is it X-mas (or non-denominational holiday, please don't yell at me!) already?




More than happy to oblige, and I'll do so by getting onto a topic that I've been thinking about a bit: MIDI orchestral music in modern games. This is continuing from some of the reaction surrounding the fact that Dragon Quest XI has stuck with MIDI music, even in the western release. I think it was Ponyo that said something along the lines of MIDI orchestras being unacceptable in this day and age (if someone else said it, my apologies for the mix-up and I'll change the name as soon as I can), and it got me to thinking about it. It's been generally accepted that many of the greatest soundtracks in gaming come from games that, for one reason or another, had to resort to synthesized music. Your Final Fantasies, your Legend of Zeldas, your Yses (is there a plural for Ys? Weird), and countless other examples. In fact, it could be argued that the particular samples used led to unique sounding instruments/games that can't be replicated with an orchestra. For example, while I like the idea of the original Tomb Raider music being rearranged for an orchestra, I'm still gonna have a soft spot for those very 90s synth strings.

So my question is this: do you think synthesized orchestras are acceptable in modern games, and do you know of any modern games with great MIDI orchestras? While I appreciate and understand the appeal behind having a live orchestra play your music, I find it to be a bit of weird double standard to decide that MIDI music shouldn't be used when many of the best soundtracks are MIDI music. Maybe I've just got the wrong idea, but I'm legitimately curious to know what y'all think.

First and foremost, we must keep in mind that a live orchestra score is considerably more expensive than a digital (fake) one. Having established this, the consequences are fairly obvious:

- A handful of big-budget, ambitious games each year will be lucky enough to get a full or nearly full live orchestra score (think Lair, Headhunter, games scored by Dynamedion, etc.)

- The vast majority of other games will have a virtual orchestra / instruments score. Which is usually fine, since virtual orchestras nowadays tend to reach quite a high level of quality (even if there are exceptions, like Dragon Quest XI that uses a low-quality, probably free or antiquated library). Occasionally some of these games will get a few of their most important pieces (such as the opening, key cinematics, end credits, etc.) recorded with a real orchestra (as in Skyrim), for an extra oomph.

- Sometimes, some smart composers will manage to negotiate the hiring of a few live players on top of a virtual orchestra (Motoi Sakuraba did this a few times with success). The result can be surprisingly good and realistic, to the point of being nearly indistinguishable from a 100% live performance, if done correctly. To me, this seems by far like the best compromise and the most efficient approach to game scoring. You get the best of both worlds for an affordable, reasonable price. What's not to like?

Have any of you listened to the Nier Orchestral Albums that came out? They are sublime!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isgz4UB6zTY

Hopefully someone uploads them to MEGA :).

Gestalt & Replicant - https://mega.nz/#!zjZwwaib!8VQIJtsBXHetB6TGm5Q-Pixf5WXg9m9DOMZDqEelgl0(source (https://hikarinoakariost.info/nier-gestalt-replicant-orchestral-arrangement-album/))
Automata - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JafarI5UwbQ-N0Pmu_9ghoO24C8a93LM/view (source (https://hikarinoakariost.info/nierautomata-orchestral-arrangement-album/))

Automata Mega link not working for me at the moment.

@cornblitz: There's actually a few really good anime scores that never were released. Actually, I'm working on another one ;)


@Zipper: What can I say. Sometimes I amaze myself :D

It's also far earlier than I expected....
Wherever Mizushima is, there will be Hamaguchi. Good thing he admits he's fully booked, so if he has full control over a project, you know who he will hire as composer, just like Keiichi Sato will always hire Ike, who also scores a show by him in winter.


@Nier: I did a full album arrangement from my box that arrived, including even full arrangements not on the set, like Sachiko Miyano's organ piece. Everything properly tagged. In total two hours of domestically recorded symphony orchestra and choir for what was originally supposed to be just another small cult game. If Japan can produce EVERYTHING themselves (which must be even cheaper than Prague because why else do it) I expect more albums like this one in the future.




Kosuke Yamashita, Sachiko Miyano, Mariam Abounnasr, Daisuke Shinoda, Daisuke Kadowaki, Tomomichi Takeoka, Tomoyuki Asakawa
NieR: Gestalt & Replicant & Automata [Orchestral Arrangements]
Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus



Sample (https://picosong.com/wLXcp/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!Cngn2AQJ!Y4zS_Xe1lttoK2OKgE58pvE1tkVLGtvxgc6SKMqakDc)

A minor complaint, the horns are a bit too far in the mix for my taste. Otherwise, I'm only really disappointed by "Beautiful Song" because Mr. Yamashita, you should have done an operatic boss piece... what's with the shakes, man... (still good) but Dark Colossus makes up for it. Oh boy do I love the second half. A little bit of his classical SciFi self emerging. Mariam Abounnasr is also really good. A bit of "Mitsuda-ism" shining through but enough voice that I really want her on a solo project with a big orchestra.

NieR: Orchestral Albums [Recording Session] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH5tcYRHe_M)

A couple of misses but if you remember what the original scores were like, especially how the Automata score was "constructed" then they did a lot here with the material to make it a classical album. I especially like the smaller arrangements, the brass chorale and string pieces. Also, in a way, this is the biggest MONACA score ever, especially Keigo Hiashi's pieces give us a glimpse how a big budget orchestra score from them would sound like nowadays. Not to mention it has a relaxing harp piece by Asakawa (isn't this his first arrangement credit in ten years?!), hopefully he at least appears as an arranger again someday.

My favorite arrangement so far is "The Tower". Daisuke Shinoda (That one guy without glasses) arranged a chunk of the albums and they are full of interesting textures, especially in Alien Manifestation.

Speaking of Monaca, their next project: GARO: Uzusumizakura (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg_jcqvd_4I&t=10s)

So this is a bit of a weird deviation, but I figured that it might be of some interest to folks on this thread. I'm currently frequenting a Discord dedicated to looking at the world of animation, and the various things produced in it, and one of the members there was talking about an idea for a film they've been working on for a while. It's a film inspired by the concept seen in films such as Fantasia and Allegro Non Troppo: an animated anthology where each segment is based around a piece of classical music.

Their plan is to have nine segments, and they already have six planned out so far. However, they don't know what to do for the other three, and while the project really does interest me, I sadly don't know enough classical music to suggest anything. So, I've decided to it up on here and see y'all think, if that's okay. I imagine a good number of you are fans of classical music, and might be able to provide ideas for music to use. They have no problem with ideas for segments if people want to suggest them, but they'd ideally prefer the music to be suggested first.

If nothing else, it might get the ol' noodle going on abstract concepts based around classical music, which can be just as fun in its own right. For the rest of this post, I'm going to list the segments that the member already has in mind along with their general ideas, just to give you something to work from. If you take part, thank you so much for that. But if not, that's fair enough. Thanks for reading and have a great day!


The Fantasia Project (codename) Segments and Structure

"First up, we have Vivaldi's Concerto for 2 Trumpets: 3rd Movement. This segment will be a huge reference to the Toccata and Fugue segment of the first Fantasia, but I'm thinking to amplify its 'abstractory'. It may all be done in CGI."

SEGMENT 2 IS CURRENTLY UNDECIDED

"The third segment will be using Beethoven's Symphony No. 9: 2nd Movement. This segment will tell the story of a little LMS Jinty making a treacherous journey from London to a small rural village to deliver supplies in WW2 Britain. On its way it will be encountering Nazi bombers, keen on blowing it to smithereens."

"The 4th segment might ring a few bells to the Rite of Spring segment from Fantasia, but it was all purely unintentional as it was originally not going to be used in this project, but out of all the segments i had for that project, i liked it the best. The music will be Gustav Holst's The Planets, more specifically, movement 5: Saturn. It tells the story of how dinosaurs went from lizard-like behemoths, to things more fit for flight: birds."

"Segment 5 will be an intermission, and will use Strauss' Egyptian March."

SEGMENT 6 IS CURRENTLY UNDECIDED

"For Segment 7, the music will be Mozart's Piano Sonata in F major: 3rd Movement, and will tell the story of 2 city folks and their cats who, unbeknownst to them, have fallen in love with each other, and pretty soon, their owners fall in love with each other thanks to their cats dragging them along to see the other."

SEGMENT 8 IS CURRENTLY UNDECIDED

"Segment 9 will use Jean Sibelius' The Swan of Tuonela. I haven't thought of much for this segment, as what I originally had planned for it was nothing more than what Fantasia's Clair De Lune segment was, but with swans instead of egrets."

---

Ideas considered:

-A segment based on The Emperor's Nightingale
-A segment with a visual style based on the Croatian short film "Cow on the Moon"
-A segment based on the Biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, with an early Dreamworks style to it (with The Prince of Egypt being a direct inspiration)

These NieR orchestral albums are really astounding. Great find! Thanks for sharing.

I think its safe to say every Japanese Video game of moderate sucess ever will get an orchestral album/concert at this point.

Super Mario Orchestra Concert was held yesterday, a CD is very likely and Star Fox 64 is getting an orchestral concert as well. Zelda Orchestral concert will be an annual afair and 2018 will get a Cd release too (focus on Breath of the Wild this year). Tales Of Orchestra 2018 is also around the corner... more Goldsmith easter eggs? Stay tuned!

Also, Gensou Suikoden II gets an official orchestral concert (not the JAGMO one) in November. Cd release very likely.

The Anime concert scene is also slowly getting the gears in motion: Key Visual Novel Animation Orchestra Concert will get a CD release, and since the Macross Frontier concert is also part of "Anime Symphony", a cd is now much more likely. The only question at this point: Who has enough money to buy them all?

Not to mention it has a relaxing harp piece by Asakawa (isn't this his first arrangement credit in ten years?!), hopefully he at least appears as an arranger again someday.Speaking of which... I finally found Asakawa's Devilman. It was hiding right under our noses in the past decade.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4230070

Skip to 24:00. That's when Asakawa enters, in full gothic glory, and takes over the rest of the soundtrack (except for that little segment from 26:30 to 28:50).

I'm not going to say anything long-winded. It's Asakawa, it's excellent, but also completely different from his usual Golden Age sound, being a bit closer to his early days of Station with a darker tone. For a guy who says he doesn't want to write "Devil music", he's awfully good at it. But this is so much more than that. Those last 6 minutes alone (despite sounding a bit too close to ET's finale in some parts) are worthy of purchasing the entire album to listen to in full stereo glory over that horrible decade-old nicovideo compressed sound (though maybe that's just because I don't have premium).

It should also be said that maybe I'm giving Asakawa too much credit here and maybe Masahiro Kawasaki deserves more of the recognition. But this sounds almost nothing like Gaia Gear.

Frdougal: I think generally what you want for this kind of project is some classical music that has a real cinematic quality to it, something kinetic, dynamic and lively (not necessarily with a fast tempo, slow is good too as long as it evokes change, evolution, transformation and provokes some real, deep emotions). So the best choices would probably be in the Romantic repertoire, and perhaps more precisely in ballet music. I personally would love to see a screen version of Smetana’s gorgeous tone poem "The Moldau".



About the movie/ game orchestral concerts, I have to introduce this excellent, detailed database which lists upcoming concerts of this type near you. A great way to find one if you live nearby. Make sure to check it often so you don't miss one!



Movies In Concert - film music live in concert
http://www.moviesinconcert.nl/index.php?page=concertlist


One thing you immediately notice is how MANY of them there are! That's just incredible how popular these types of events have increasingly become over the years. At a time when many orchestras with a "traditional" repertoire tend to have financial troubles, as shown in the following article, it seems pop culture orchestral concerts are becoming a new way of bringing in the money by reaching a younger, more popular audience - as well as familiarizing this audience to the beauties of orchestral music so that one day it naturally evolves towards more "serious" classical works.


It’s Official: Many Orchestras Are Now Charities
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/arts/music/its-official-many-orchestras-are-now-charities.html



And thank you very much for the new Yamashita! It looks amazing, more comments after listening.

Those lucky Dutch get not one but two Junkie-XL concerts.

Found Ryuichi Sakamoto's project with Daisuke Shinoda:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR6hDNeB6yc


Mostly by the same people that made Arashi no Yoru ni (Stormy Wolf). I think this will be great. Shinoda was also recently at Victor Studio for an orchestra session for an upcoming anime as arranger. He's slowly getting there.

EDIT: The anime in question is "Million Arthur" this October by Go Shiina





@arthierr: This is neat! http://www.moviesinconcert.nl/index.php?page=view&id=23654 (funny, The Moldau was also my suggestion for a shortfilm about flowing water, one of my favorite pieces of classical music. Of course Tanaka arranged a violin version for it, so that made him one of my favorites instantly).



Oh yeah! I would say this month is MONACA month :D




Satoru Kosaki, Ryuichi Takada, Keigo Hoashi
Fate/EXTRA ~ Last Encore [Act I]
Studio Orchestra and Chorus / Score Selection



Ryuichi Takada's Dracula (https://picosong.com/wLEA5/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!TuJnhC5b!RrNp1lj04agQ5Y5s00XptJt_ngjgLoDg0Fd3Kubivno)

Second soundtrack is out in november but this is fortunately substantial on its own to share. This is an arrangement from the orchstral files. I tagged everything. Just be sure to leave a thanks and rep to the original uploader, Kharaxel (http://forums.ffshrine.org/member.php?u=86763).

This is proof good music can come from anywhere, even the most unlikely projects (maybe I need to point out what you hear is because of the success of a porn game). This is very much good old MONACA from Star Driver, just more mature (less bravado, more introspective). Their love for film music is very evident here, of course my favorite being a variation on Mina's Theme from Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, a tribute to Wojciech Kilar, one of my favorite love themes in a film. The film also gets a recommendation (also influenced certain elements of Bloodborne), one of the last to be solely made with practical effects (miniatures, paintings, camera and lightning tricks). A film from a forgotten era of Hollywood movies but at least Ryuichi Takada remembers some good movies and music ;)

This score is labeled "produced by Satoru Kosaki" so whenever you see his name solo on a project it just means he produced the music. Ryuichi Takada and Keigo Hoashi are not far away where his name is. I really hope they land more fantasy and scifi projects in the future. Ryuichi Takada just needs some gravitas prestige project and he would really soar.

The second soundtrack should have all the music from the final act, there's areally good swashbuckling piece and some really good heroic pieces still missing. It's Fate so it will be out soon.

A small anectode if you want to have fun. Type in "Nero Claudius" in google... This makes any history professor baffled (I know some stories :D). I also really like her anime design, the anime art in general tbh, with the whole arthouse vibe. Shame thats about the only reason to watch it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, what you now hear is exclusive for your ears.

How to put it, where to begin... there's a certain anime next season I'm now really hyped about.


After listening to Shiro Sagisu's Songbooks I was not once disappointed to not hear Warsaw because, I will say it now, Sagisu is one of the true Kings of Pop and still rocking it: https://picosong.com/wLKyb/


Now before I post why I'm beyond excited for the new Amano score, here's what is most likely the style of the OP or an insert track in Gridman:




Silver Jaguar Theme (https://picosong.com/wLKkU/)

Silver Jaguar is an (unaired) pilot of a Tokusatsu series from the late 70s, so why was new music recorded for it and released in 2018??? And by Sagisu no less... Maybe its because he just so happens to work on an upcoming anime series that is going to be a huge tribute and "revival" of Tokusatsu: Gridman.



If you noticed, the Tokusatsu genre is slowly rising in the anime medium again, with the Ultraman "revival" coming in 2019, as well as Saint Seiya in full force. And now we have Gridman not three weeks away which is in itself heavily inspired by an old Tokusatsu show from the 90s (Sagisu even wrote music for).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DhwB6tJU8AEv1mS.jpghttps://pbs.twimg.com/media/DnYeylmWsAYEVBV.jpg

Now, after you listened to that Silver Jagurar theme and thought "wow, that's a nostalgic and smashing pop song, how can this possibly get better?..."

and here enters Amano with the freaking Star Wars Main Title:

Silver Jaguar - Warsaw Ver. (https://picosong.com/wLKk7/)

This track is titled a "Tokusatsu Tribute"... you know who also scored music recently in Warsaw for a "Tokusatsu" show? That's right, Amano! And what even is this, maybe an outtake from the session or rather even "part" of the upcoming Gridman score?! :D

It will be decided in about two weeks I guess, until then, my bet for the big Ultraman anime composer is either on Sahashi or Sagisu/Amano at this point... totsugeki!







In other news, World Seeker might have the entire orchestral score in the trailers at this rate, but at least we know now World Seeker will have a substantial story mode so it will be Anime score and Game score in one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zew9SEAn1G0

Tanaka also announced some more Pop collabrations and orchestral songs he's written. I hope they will appear on the net. One of his recent ones were he is also the vocalist, truely the King baby: https://picosong.com/wLKe5

I recall some crazy mastering issues including severe clipping that prevented me from enjoying NiER music. Are these different recordings from the original soundtracks? The music never grabbed me and I am constantly surprised at the hype behind them. I don't know if it is the mastering, the mix, or simply the orchestration that doesn't work for me.

I don't know if it is the mastering, the mix, or simply the orchestration that doesn't work for me.It's because it has no personality or individuality. It's the same as those bland j-pop orchestral remixes. But for some people, I guess that's what they want to hear.

Why do the MONACA guys need to rely on different orchestrators to make this, why didn't they just reorchestrate the soundtrack themselves? Then at least there would be something carried over from the original game soundtrack.

It's stupidly funny and extremly amazing :) But where did you get this Silver Jaguar Theme and its Warsaw version? It's an album or something else? I'm really interested to find it, thanks a lot for this sharing.

It's my favorite aspect of Japanese music that hasn't change since I first got interested. A random new album appeared on Japanese iTunes with Tanaka's name on it (a song collection from various media). Tanaka's pop piece is also from that album. I didn't think much of it but then appeared a pop piece by Sagisu "this is nice" and 30 seconds into the sample... HOLY SHIT! STAR WARSAW!

(Just like how I discovered Deadstorm Pirates)

Originally the two pieces were part of the same track... it's like Sagisu and Amano are married at this point. I have them in FLAC: https://mega.nz/#!DmJQxCSY!9eK6KuHJqZ0438y8hC6McWYgW1WDn_4dd2AUfA-1A4Q
(only cost me 500 yen so peanuts).



@SirusJr: This is a completely new album and sounds in many ways almost nothing like the original scores except the melodies (though I also think the original scores are not MONACA at their best).

@Zipper: First, had any luck with finding the cd for Devilman yet? Thats some impressive music by Mr. Asakawa.

Second, the answer to your question is very simple: Scheduling. MONACA is a very busy company, Ryuichi Takada and Keigo Hoashi are very much busy with other projects. Then you have to account for that they hired A-league arrrangers because they wanted it to be the best it can be, just like the Haruhi Movie had Matsuo and Hamaguchi. They are too humble to think themselves better than the old guard and let them take over. I personally feel they are very capable these days of arranging their own music but there's no shame in hiring an orchestrator. I also hear plenty of personality, I hear Yamashita and others very clearly (but since you don't think much of Yamashita, I imagine that is the reason for not enjoying it).

To make a pretty much electronic hybrid score into a classical album THAT WORKS (for me) is no easy task. I really appreciate certain pieces, others not so much but overall its impressive. I also don't get the "bland pop" statement. I very much am of the opinion Miku Symphony 2017 for example is dope, charming and in parts incredible for a pop orchestral album and everything else but bland (Souhei Kano's orchestration alone elevate it from anything generic). Not every orchestral piece needs to be Gurrelieder. It's just good classical silly fun. No shame in loving that, Tanaka, Sahashi, Iwasaski and Akifumi Tada are very much Vocaloid enthusiast and if they love it I have no objection. Nier on the other hand really goes out there in ambition and I think it succeeds as a classical album. At least I got my money's worth ;)


@arthierr: Suikoden II Orchestral Project finished with over 200% funding, so it will range from 45~60 minutes and will be recorded in January by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. Kentaro Sato will arrange and produce everything. Release is scheduled to be in april.

It's my favorite aspect of Japanese music that hasn't change since I first got interested. A random new album appeared on Japanese iTunes with Tanaka's name on it (a song collection from various media). Tanaka's pop piece is also from that album. I didn't think much of it but then appeared a pop piece by Sagisu "this is nice" and 30 seconds into the sample... HOLY SHIT! STAR WARSAW!

(Just like how I discovered Deadstorm Pirates)

Originally the two pieces were part of the same track... it's like Sagisu and Amano are married at this point. I have them in FLAC: https://mega.nz/#!DmJQxCSY!9eK6KuHJqZ0438y8hC6McWYgW1WDn_4dd2AUfA-1A4Q
(only cost me 500 yen so peanuts).

Wow! Thank you for this link!

I can never tell if these parodies are supposed to be parodies. I'm reminded of those Orchestral Game Concerts that referenced Williams for no real reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyi00uG8Or4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDEULAkYhEA

Didn't Sagisu plagiarize Williams's theme from E.T. for something back in the 90s?

runescape orchestral collection 2cd came out of nowhere and is on spotify.james hannigan is on board.havent heard it yet but could be fun.

After over a decade of really diving into the Japanese scoring world, there's just one answer I have found: Because they love Williams!

The first piece was arranged by Keiichi Oku who loves Williams and the second one by Toshiyuki Watanabe who REALLY loves Williams. Amano naturally is a classic Hollywood music nerd so of course he loves Williams. Over the years my perspective changed from "stealing = bad" to "love for the music = paying tribute". No other way to rationalize it. I'm still a bit disappointed by Horner lifting entire pages instead of rewritting them in his style because he totally could have done it. Not to mention this Star Wars Main Title IS unquestionably Amano 100%. In truth, Amano doesn't need to quote anything and it would be stellar music regardless (see his concert works) yet he still does it ALL THE TIME. No one could question his chops and he probably has all the time in the world now, protected by Sagisu and not overworking himself, so the only logical answer is because he loves it (probably what the answer to the eternal Kanno question is). He does it the same way classical composers love(d) to quote Beethoven, Mozart, Tchiakovsky, Stravinsky or Ravel. Out of love for the music and to keep it alive (I hope).

Coincidentally, classic Hollywood film composers like Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and Alan Silvestri are MUSICAL GODS in Japan, their pictures sitting in galleries alongside the classical greats and their music is general repertoire in music education. From the 80s to this anime season, Williams is now part of their music culture the same way Ravel is... and boy oh boy do they love Ravel and Debussy.


Nowadays I just learned to stop worrying about plagiarism and love all these references...


@Sagisu: Maybe Nadia? Evangelion was John Barry.

runescape orchestral collection 2cd came out of nowhere and is on spotify.james hannigan is on board.havent heard it yet but could be fun.

Yes, it is good fun. Nothing exceptional but it does contain some beautiful, quite listenable tunes. I enjoyed listening to it in the background.

(Do you visit the VGM download links section, sometimes? You should. ;))




I can never tell if these parodies are supposed to be parodies. I'm reminded of those Orchestral Game Concerts that referenced Williams for no real reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyi00uG8Or4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDEULAkYhEA

Didn't Sagisu plagiarize Williams's theme from E.T. for something back in the 90s?

Not very surprising here given Amano is kind of a serial plagiarist. Nevertheless, I find Silver Jaguar very, very enjoyable! As usual, the sound of the Warsaw is tremendously HUGE, massive and imposing, as a REAL symphony orchestra (i.e. one with balls) should!




@arthierr: This is neat! http://www.moviesinconcert.nl/index.php?page=view&id=23654 (funny, The Moldau was also my suggestion for a shortfilm about flowing water, one of my favorite pieces of classical music. Of course Tanaka arranged a violin version for it, so that made him one of my favorites instantly).

We're in luck, the french concert has been recorded and uploaded by some generous enthusiasts:


Dragon Ball Symphonic Adventure
Sinfonia Pop Orchestra
2017.05.06 - Grand Rex de Paris

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5lbb64

Another version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWtPs0pXCbI&index=2&list=PL196xceWokWqQ-rH1fQqu8kmXYWXAJ4PR


The arrangements are very straight versions of the original pieces, so if you liked the original DB and DBZ scores, you'll like what you hear here. Sure, they could have gone the extra mile and made some really original and creative arrangements (which is what orchestra versions call for), but apparently they chose to stick to something simple, familiar and not too fancy, certainly to please the fans - and it works, given their ecstatic reactions.

Btw, seeing these videos (especially the youtube one), I genuinely FELT a sense of extraordinary enthusiasm, some sheer excitement and electricity in the air. Those guys attending the concert have such an incredible amount of fun being there that it totally becomes communicative!

For those of you out there who bought DQXI for steam, an orchestral mod is in progress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l5HjGBjZIM

https://steamcommunity.com/app/742120/discussions/0/1739968490573373255/

I still keep my playlist because I like to have different field and dungeon music for different regions, still, what a world of difference it makes!
But Voice acting doesn't fit, especially when it totally changes the perception of characters that have a totally different personality in Japanese (and the Japanese version doesn't even have voice acting).


@Dragonball: Its not quite what I expected tbh. It's a Pop Orchestra concert so I'm lenient to crowd cheering and the music was never really anything complex but I expected something more from a "Symphonic Adventure". Still nice to hear Kikuchi getting any sort of tribute.



And look at that, Fullmetal Alchemist and Victory Gundam in concert: http://www.csc2018.jp/

"A new premium concert series where all composers who have worked on numerous animation music gather together"

Orchestra is Tokyo New City Orchestra.

First concert focuses on Yuki Kajiura, Go Shiina and Akira Senju.


There's a similar concert for games of course called "gametakt" and Hideki Sakamoto has a rather fascinating new teaser for an upcoming project coming up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QioR4e703RA

Ah, Fantastic Adventure of Yohko, here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgf9cs4O1yE

Maybe Sagisu and Amano were meant for each other afterall.

Speaking of Shiro Sagisu and plagiarism (even though there's a strong probability that these are intentional):


Enters the mighty DARSH BADDER (he's the cousin of the other much more famous guy):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtaadmzm07w&list=PLh8bjjh3qKZ7MB2NAXIF9oCBeaOYbTays&index=9


And now here's the incredible ARIZONA BONES:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mECApV2PRt0&index=16&list=PLh8bjjh3qKZ7MB2NAXIF9oCBeaOYbTays


Say hello to the amazing DUKE EARTHWALKER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAV59CslYvE&index=17&list=PLh8bjjh3qKZ7MB2NAXIF9oCBeaOYbTays


Make room for the terrific BRYCE LEEK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE9Kgll8gMU&list=PLh8bjjh3qKZ7MB2NAXIF9oCBeaOYbTays&index=18


RUN! The dinosaurs from the CRETACEOUS PARK are on the loose:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_JyF82iHjk&index=19&list=PLh8bjjh3qKZ7MB2NAXIF9oCBeaOYbTays

Previews for Hiroshi Takaki’s SENJUSHI: https://noble.marv.jp/anime/package/01/

@arthierr: Such a classic. I have not listened to it in years so props to you (and your track titles).

Damn, I hope there's more than this soundtrack because that one's missing quite a lot of the action tracks. I also notice a "short version" for the tracks so I hope a soundtrack gets announced. But its Takaki with Princess Precure on steroids.

In similar spirit, here's a goodie. Another newcomer I really want to see developing, and of course its relevant because Superman appears :D




Rei Ishizuka (IMAGINE)
KING OF PRISM
Studio Orchestra



Sample (https://picosong.com/wLH26)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!Orh3gaZb!iEcbPsZmE9xBAu2c5e1fscyZvalRLYMJbWXlLUTPEEw)


This is mah boi Ishizuka's first real orchestral solo project and he shows so much promise. Of course we can't have an orchestral debut score without Holst but that's a given. He's done insanely fun pop hybrids before for Pripara and a couple of catchy tracks for the recent Pokemon movie but here he really shows what he's made of, almost Golden Age fanfares and Sahashi-esque soprano with beat orchestral action tracks and Shinji Miyazaki action flair. The only downside is that the orchestra sounds quite thin but that's about the only negative thing I can say about it. He will be scoring a TV series for this movie next year so I have my eye on that.


And Here's PriPara, his Debut score, its heaps of bouncy fun with even some funk, he's got the chops. It also has the Dallas theme on steroids.



PriPara
Score Selection



Sample (https://picosong.com/wLHuG)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!z7ZknKTZ!X0FzWx69IV-yYrirkc76JAYxMETZqRzcVhQTpKJbXAI)


He's obviously inspired by Sahashi, Williams and Takaki. Forget about Go Sakabe or Megumi Ohashi, he's the one who I feel is no one hit wonder. Time will tell but mark my words, look out when he's got his first big project. Just another one of IMAGINE's many talents.


Roll on Senjushi/Noble Musketeers.



It would also be remiss of me to not mention and welcome all the newcomers from this anime season, so here's a toast to them, this little video is not even all there is but nonetheless gives a hint at a trend within a trend. Music on its own is long-since enough to carry an anime scene for some time now but recently they also put the good-old class into the ending, almost all shows this season with an orchestral score (even the cheap idol show) finishes with a rousing orchestral finish while the credits roll. Of course nothing matches the Finale of Puzzle X Dragon but these composers are very young and just starting out. Have a listen:


Anime: Orchestral Scores of Summer 2018 [Newcomers] (https://vimeo.com/291322849)

Does anyone know what Yoko Kanno is up to these days?

I liked the arrangements of that Dragon Ball concert.. I'd buy it if there was a CD of it. Sadly there won't.

It's a Pop Orchestra concert so I'm lenient to crowd cheering

This is a very interesting point. I saw similar opinions (and some quite vocal ones) various times, not only here but also in other places. For diverse reasons, some people seem to be quite annoyed with the cheering, applauses and other noisy expressions of enthusiasm during music events featuring an orchestra. So I'd like to take a moment to adress this issue.

I can totally understand such concern when it applies to CLASSICAL concerts, which are generally posh, high-class, relatively formal events, where a certain etiquette and decorum have to be respected, and even a proper clothing style is tacitly required (both for the musicians and the audience): it's rather unusual to see musicians in overalls and fanny-packs, and audience members in shorts and floppy slippers, right? Or what about the conductor in jogger with drop crotch and sneakers, or the diva in miniskirt and tank top? (The last one would be awesome, though)

Moreover, the frequently more complex and serious nature of classical music requires a higher level of listening attention from the audience, as well as some important focus from the musicians. This obviously makes noisy, boisterous behaviors unacceptably distracting and disrupting. Tip: if someone next to you starts to cheer loudly, here's a very easy and effective solution: punch him right in the head, very hard. If done correctly, this will cause an instant blackout that will allow you and others to peacefully listen to the concert. Official recommendation of the AAAAA (American Association Against Annoying A**holes) - also incidentally the noise they make when you punch them.

But is rowdy cheerfulness so much of a concern when it comes to orchestral concerts that 1) feature music from POP CULTURE (movies, animes, games, etc.), and 2) overtly aim at a mostly young and popular audience (typically fans, but also anyone who wants to enjoy some "light" orchestral music).

Personally, I think it's not a concern or a problem at all. There's really nothing wrong with expressing his love and enthusiasm in a lively, rambunctious way at a popular music (orchestral) concert because that's what you do at such events. Just like you would in a rock, country or any other pop music genre concert. Can you imagine a ABBA concert with people just sitting there silently and discreetly applauding between songs? How desperately dull and awkward would that be? So if it would be like this for ABBA, why would it be any different for Final Fantasy?

And the fact that there's an orchestra involved doesn't change anything to this because here, a symphony orchestra is just a tool, a mean that serves a simple purpose: having some fun listening to some bigger, classier version of your favorite show / game's music. In the end, we must keep in mind that popular concerts are first and foremost about fun and entertainment, about having some great time enjoying the music in communion with other fans, not about meditating on the transcendency of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

To put it simply: it's not the type of ensemble used in a concert that determines the appropriate behavior; it's mainly the type of music and the type of audience that determines it.

Examples:

1) Symphony orchestra playing Pokemon music = cheering


Pok�mon: Symphonic Evolutions at Madison Square Garden (NYC) Full Concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubV4ppUNXF8
Another version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CldT2NjWxf8



2) Jazz ensemble playing Mozart = no cheering


MOZART MEETS JAZZ - Nova Phil. vs. Paul Joseph Quartet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTgvh7moqQM



3) Symphony orchestra playing Star Wars = cheering


Star Wars In Concert (HD) - Opening Fanfare - Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, NH - 11/12/09
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAUVaBFtjfc



4) Metal band performing Mozart = no cheering


Metal Mozart 40 th symphony 11/19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKmrwo4wiT4

I would say it depends on the type of concert. If it has screen projection and the conductor or event holder encourages the audience to clap, cheer or join in, it's very much a pop concert I have no issue with.


What I have an issue with is this:


But is rowdy cheerfulness so much of a concern when it comes to orchestral concerts that 1) feature music from POP CULTURE (movies, animes, games, etc.) the rest I can get behind.

It depends. I wouldn't want cheering for a Final Fantasy concert tbh:

FFVII - Main Theme (Tour de Japon) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88_PGUa69aE)

Star Wars and dozens of other examples can be for cheering but the MUSIC should best be listened to in silence, same with a plenthora of "pop culture scores". I always like it when cheering and audiences going nuts is reserved for encores where that is encouraged.

Star Wars in the Concert hall = no cheering

Star Wars at a pop concert event = cheering

Or an Oshima concert with music from FMA, I want no cheering for that. And I would punch someone who would ruin the climax of Aerith's Theme.
Dragon Ball on the other hand or Sahashi and Tanaka scores where they really jam with smashing guitar solos, of course I would have no issue with cheering.

Like for this Megaman arrangement: Megaman (VGL) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F_1U6EiC7M)

But the same subject can be approached differently: Megaman (Score) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdVpJfXXoFI)

The sampe principle can even be applied to the two scores I shared above. For the core of King of Prism I would want no cheering if it would be performed in concert but for the core of PriPara, the audience can go nuts for all I care.

As with all things, context.

However, for a special aura and a certain magic it is perferable that certain soul stirring music is best enjoyed with proper etiquette on certain occasions, more to honor the music with its importance rather than self-image (and that music can very well come from an anime, game or movie).

On that note Japanese pop orchestral concerts like Symphonic Gamers having a totally silent audience. In fact, cheering would ruin one of my favorite pop arrangements: Super Mario Medley (JAGMO) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUQTID__NX4)

Japanese concert etiquette which was rigorously hammered down in young peoples heads, has the positive effect that you can very much rip these concerts and have almost album quality.

Funny because I had this very Megaman piece (the Video Games Live one) in mind when I wrote that post. Having been a lover of the early Megaman games and their music, I'm also in love with that arrangement, and if I attented an event where it's performed I would cheer loudly without hesitation!

Also I absolutely love that other Megaman piece you posted. I didn't know it, and IT'S FREAKING GORGEOUS! A new classic for me!

You raise some interesting points in your response, some I agree with, some not quite, and some that stray a little too far from my initial point, therefore I won't tackle them due to lack of time. Instead I'll just re-formulate the initial question my post tried to answer:



Is it okay to cheer at a pop culture orchestral concert?

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: yes, it is.

Even longer answer: read my previous post.



After that, as you say, it's all about context indeed. Each concert is a unique setting with multiple parameters involved (type of audience, type of original media, type of arrangement, type of place, type of planet alignment, etc.), so in the end the appropriate behavior at that concert is the overall result of the particular value of each parameter.



Yes, because that would imply the music written for "pop culture" (what that means is a whole other topic, but lets jst say music written for screens for now) is somehow inferior to the classical concert hall and deserves less respect and attention, an opinion I (and this thread) oppose. Mozart would fart in that general direction ;).

I'm not sure to fully understand here (the writing looks very rushed, take your time, buddy), but if you mean that I consider the orchestral music from pop culture inferior and less respectable than the orchestral music from the classical repertoire, then it's absolutely NOT what I said, nor what I believe! I was rather talking about the distinction between two "worlds": popular culture / elitist culture, the masses / the establishment, low-brow / high-brow, light music / serious music, etc. These separations exists, in art and in society, whether one likes it or not, and I just mentioned some of them to develop my argument, without further intentions.

Ah, I didn't quite catch that, sorry. I merely meant the implication was in the room, I've done some cleanup.

If you have not listened / watched the SCORE game concert before you're in for a treat. They NAILED (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrpWBgB6oz8) the Hyrule Field from Ocarina of Time and the performance of Aria Di Mezzo Carattere (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGl4FqUeFS0) was sublime. The concert also has some of the best camera work I have ever seen for an orchestral concert, who needs screen projection when you have skilled craftsmen behind the scenes.

EDIT:

@cornblitz: Since Naotora she's done some commercials, wrote some pop singles and may or may not work on an upcoming anime project for 2019.


Planet With has ended, with one of Tanaka's greatest cues to close a show, straight out of Gunbuster/Diebuster. Very soon... and what a crazy year its been for Wada. He became a game composer (Brave Frontier 2, which even got a concert), wrote a baller orchestral score for anime (Puzzdra), conducted an anime concert about his music (Princess Tutu classical concert, which may or may not be included in the Princess Tutu complete soundtrack box released later this year), held a film music concert, traveled to Eastern Europe and China for a game recording (TBA), arranged for various composers (Kingdom Hearts etc) and even wrote new concert works. He scores season 2 of Saiban this anime season, but the pvs have no new music so far.


Still, Brave Frontier 2 is a nostalgia flash, like an RPG from the late 90s: Good old title themes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOAj1bcjf6g&list=PLL36eVi0cSDZx1cwHNYXKisQXvFRhN6PB) / Good old Overworld themes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBEoO1FEP6M&list=PLL36eVi0cSDZx1cwHNYXKisQXvFRhN6PB&index=9) / Good old battle themes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NypoyQoqW7E) / Good old boss themes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN8ejmAS6ME&index=40&list=PLL36eVi0cSDZx1cwHNYXKisQXvFRhN6PB) / Good old Wada (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCCu1pwDQmY&index=22&list=PLL36eVi0cSDZx1cwHNYXKisQXvFRhN6PB)

American Journey - Winter Olympics 2002 - John Williams



http://www.rapidspread.com/file.jsp?id=euinyjyxpw

Track listing

1. Call Of The Champions (05:00)
The Official Theme Of The 2002 Olympic Winter Games
2. American Journey: Immigration and Building (05:39)
3. American Journey: The Country at War (03:22)
4. American Journey: Popular Entertainment (02:30)
5. American Journey: Sports and Celebrities (02:37)
6. American Journey: Civil Rights and The Woman's Movement (03:27)
7. American Journey: Technology and Flight (07:10)
8. Song for World Peace (04:42)
9. Jubilee 350 (03:44)
10. The Mission Theme (03:30)
Theme for NBC News
11. For New York (03:03)
Variations on Themes of Leonard Bernstein
12. Sound The Bells! (02:50)
13. Hymn To New England (03:11)
14. Celebrate Discovery (03:49)
15. Summon The Heroes (06:16)
for Tim Morrison

Total Duration: 01:00:50

pLease reupload

Kohei Tanaka
Planet With
Tokyo Studio Orchestra



Sample (https://picosong.com/wLWNA/)

Download (https://mega.nz/#!2mgQFYDB!z0aw7j8BVMcFPUsThTCy0vVGqdtdAisUVoHGyCapgK8)

Thanks! Even if this soundtrack is nothing new for him, Tanaka is still in joyous top form at the age of 64.

As for Devilman, no, that Nico video was the only full version of that soundtrack online I could find. Doesn't seem too expensive or hard to find though, so maybe one day I'll jump on it. Asakawa also broke his no software creed and recently just got his hands on Pro Tools and is reveling in it. Whatever it takes to get him working as a composer again I suppose.

Thank you VERY much, Vinphonic!
Kohei Tanaka's music always puts a smile on my face. Such a thrill of a ride this score was.

It's like a fusion of his previous works, Diebuster and Overman King Gainer.

Glad to be of assistance, anything for my darling:


He's just the best


There's also some One Piece and some leftovers from Gravity Daze 2. This is how you rock the house. He has not even grey hair but still shows everyone how to jam, orchestra on or off. The show also was quite good, I always love that for Super Robots punching each other the message was forgiveness, and that final scene with Tanaka's evolution of love cue... just perfectly executed. I only wish it was 24 episodes long. Imagine the score we could have had. Tanaka needs to land a gig about a +24 episodes project asap. I hope among the plenty of new anime projects he has in the works one has even 50. I look forward to the other entries in this series and I hope Tanaka stays on board. Can't wait for Gunbuster 3.



God, I just noticed how many orchestral anime scores there are this year, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some and/or can not confirm yet how many shows in fall will end up having one but just count all these:




God I love anime (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd27DCqZUrI)

Where's OST 2 god-damn-it!

Thanks for the response RE NieR. Even with the first few songs it is a huge improvement both because of new recordings and proper mastering. So this is worth diving into even for people who couldn't stand the original music.

why didnt anybody ever noticed that Killer Clowns From Outer Space Reimagined was already released and even on cd and cheap? full orchestral scifi comedyactionhorror from the 80s now with a budget

My senses weren't off about Master of Ragnarok. Show is shit but an awesome debut from Kota and the Main Theme is lovely.
And at 24 too that still surprises me.

John Williams
American Journey
2002 - MP3 256





Bonus album:

John Williams
The Sound of Glory
1996 - MP3 192

https://img.discogs.com/N0L6NguC5gKR2hv0zB-c40QVt-M=/fit-in/500x500/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():qualit y(90)/discogs-images/R-5164404-1386254014-9755.jpeg.jpg


DOWNLOAD
https://www44.*****.com/v/WXQQ4Anj/file.html
***** = zippyshare



If you have a LOSSLESS version of any of these great albums, posting it here would be immensely appreciated!
Thank you very much in advance!





And as usual, thanks a lot to the amazing Vinphonic for his new uploads! They should call you "The Machine"!

Working day and night to bring a smile to peoples faces :D


In seriousness, not as much work as it seems. Compared to previous years, I'm very relaxed and just enjoy sharing stuff and some good company. It's not like I do this all alone anyway ;)



So have even more goodies and a curious case: On the same day a score by master and student has dropped. Toshiyuki Watanabe's Shinkalion and Kota Yokoseki's Ragnarok. What I find amazing is that Raganrok has on one bonus CD of four a more substantial amount of orchestral music than Shinkalion and is also better musically, as ladatree pointed out, by a very young composer, a complete rookie, and yet fully professional.

First, listen to Shinkalion, which still has 12 baller minutes of 80s kickassery (the rest is outtakes from Space Brothers and Majestic Prince):



Shinkalion: Suite (Watanabe) (https://vimeo.com/292237393)


And here comes the student:




The Master of Ragnarok: Suite (Yokoseki) (https://vimeo.com/292238143)


This is just Part I of IV so there's more delicious music waiting. Unfortunately, the other four parts will not be so easily available because buying a bluray for the music cd is expensive. You have to thank ladatree again for going out of his way to provide the music to our ears. Such a shame its resticted to bonus cd and from a show few care about (with good reason). Oh well, Zetsuen no Tempest still has no release so its not the greatest injustice in the world and eventually all will be availabe including that rousing finish from the last episode. It's really an amazing debut if you consider the ressources he gets when even Watanabe didn't employ a full orchestra for Shinkalion. I'm getting some Naoki Sato and Yamashita (no coincidence) vibes at certain cues.

In any case Prof. Watanabe has done good behind the scenes, as I'm certain most of my darlings constantly have done. And that's not even his most promising student entering the buisness.

Newcomers like Yokoseki are very much a product of the efforts of our favorites, more specifcially of a certain music course at Senzoku Gakuen:




I'm first and foremost an educator these days. In 2010, I became a professor of music and sound design at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music.
I teach the techniques of composition and arrangement for pop songs and soundtracks as a project director at the music and sound design course.
My motto is "giving energy to warm gentle minds and positive feelings that people carry on through their music." Music should inspire the soul and that's what I teach. I shall keep producing and teach music to give courage and hopes to people in the world, music that sings to the heart.

- Prof. Toshiyuki Watanabe



Music has been inherited while changing with the history since human beings have existed. How to adapt over 2000 years of music history with current technology? The spread of technology has been remarkable, now it is time to create music and images by anyone even if using a personal computer. What should young people do in such times? I think the most important thing is "to learn from history, in our case music history". In order to produce new things, we must learn from old things. Otherwise we can't strive to our fullest potential. I'm glad to be given the opportunity to work as an educator. My mission is to be a good guide when everyone is about to get lost in learning!

- Prof. Keiichi Oku



In recent years, I feel the thought is becoming more familiar that anyone can now work as a composer when in the past it was only a few professional people. I see it as a very favorable thing and I think that the base of various opportunities is spreading to everyone. But because we live in such times, learning that matches this development is an absolute necessity. In this music / sound design course, there are many curriculums that meet the needs of those times but never at the expense of musical history. In addition, I think it is important for students how to approach this course and how to spend time in college life. This course can offer you great opportunities if you want to work in professional environments. It is a course full of great possibilities towards future dreams.

- Prof. Kosuke Yamashita


"This is a place where you can do what you want to do / a place where dreams come true". Many interactions with other courses are offered, as well as performance systems, as well as voluntary projects with ballet and classical music courses. It is a very blessed environment to learn practical acoustic and orchestral composition and arrangement with current technology. Also, teachers who support you are nearby. The connection obtained in the student life becomes an important property after graduation. Please embrace the things you want to do in your chest and search for the musician you want to be.

Holy crap, Vin!

Did I read right, someone said there's a Star Fox concert coming up sometime? Is it the Kickstarter one by that japanese/american composer/arranger? Cuz I don't have much hopes on that.

But I'd die for a Star Fox concert. As said before, that saga's music roots lie in space opera so it'd be GLORIOUS to hear a FULL album of arranges of it. God, Assault was fantastic. I WANT AN OFFICIAL COMPLETE.

Been listening to Sakimoto's amazing Valkyria Chronicles 4 soundtrack, and... WHY OH WHY CAN'T HE GET A FULL ORCHESTRA?????!!!!!

I want to take a moment and appreciate how brilliant the soundtrack for Simoun is. My personal favorite track in the series is "Auriga of the Wide Open Sky".

It starts off as typical action music, but when it gets to the 0:47 mark, it's genius. I think this track alone showcases Sahashi's knowledge in music of the Baroque period, like Johann Sebastian Bach. I recommend listening to it with headphones for clarity and to appreciate how much effort and life he put into these tracks.

https://picosong.com/w23jx/

Simoun is one of Sahashi's very best. Absolutely brilliant stuff, with plenty of great highlights. And don't forget the Mozart homage! All that for a weird anime with cute gals...

I would love to re-up it, but I don't have it in full. If someone else could re-up a full version it would be greatly appreciated!




Did I read right, someone said there's a Star Fox concert coming up sometime? Is it the Kickstarter one by that japanese/american composer/arranger? Cuz I don't have much hopes on that.

But I'd die for a Star Fox concert. As said before, that saga's music roots lie in space opera so it'd be GLORIOUS to hear a FULL album of arranges of it. God, Assault was fantastic. I WANT AN OFFICIAL COMPLETE.

Funny, I just searched "Star Fox concert" and the very first result at the top is a Youtube video called "Star Fox ~ Concert Suite", uploaded by a certain fellow named "Vinphonic".

I don't know who that guy is, but he sure uploads some pretty neat stuff! Ah, if only we had someone like this in this thread!



Star Fox ~ Concert Suite
Composed by Hajime Hirasawa
Arranged by Kosuke Onozaki / Remastered by Vinphonic
Performed by Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyOHn0sUh6E

I guess it's fitting I ask this now, since this is on the topic of space operas. I've recently started playing Lego Star Wars III, which seems to be a pretty good game so far, but I genuinely cannot stand the music. In fact, my history with Star Wars/Lego franchise video games is closely tied to my general dislike of John Williams' music and anything directly inspired by it. See, Williams' music is often scored to picture and is meant to be listened to as you're watching the film. It's a part of the film-making in the same way that lighting or cinematography or editing; it can work on its own, but it's intended to be experienced within the greater context of the film itself.

However, I've never watched the vast majority of films scored by Williams, and have only really experienced his music through licensed games that just recycle that music. But that creates a big problem: video games (especially with levels that take) usually need tunes that repeat after a while to create a general mood - this is the antithesis of Williams' music, and what that results in is a very short cue that vaguely fits the level's theme/content, but doesn't have meaningful to impact and loops very blatantly every few seconds. This is why I actively cannot stand John Williams' music, and it means that I can never play any game with his music without trying to find something else to listen to.

So, I'm here to ask for any recommendations of music I could listen to while playing Lego Star Wars III that isn't by John Williams (or by anyone who writes music in that same style). I don't really have any ideas of my own, though the first part of DOG FIGHTER track from Macross (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH6ZiySBy_wdid stand out to me enough that I'd probably go with music in that style. If anyone could help me out here, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.

No, really, I'd pay for a Star Fox album concert. I need that in my ears right now.

If only ;)

arthierr:

Don't forget Vangelis.

You could actually make the case it IS his very best. If I want to listen to some Sahashi, that's the first score that springs to mind, followed by Steel Angel Kurumi and then Gundam Seed/Destiny.


All that for a weird anime with cute lesbians...

This is important!



I don't know what Sahashi had for breakfast when he began composing for it or if he was secrectly so into yuri it "inspired" him enough to compose perhaps his best score (to date) but its one of those scores that's just PERFECT, a flawless victory, a homerun and everything that makes up Sahashi's style. He has never topped it since. He could have retired right after and it would have been the perfect conclusion of his career. It marks the end of his glory years (for anime at least).


Actually a good reason to highlight one of the greatest anime scores ever written and one anime project where he handled everything from OP/ED to bgm:



Toshihiko Sahashi
SIMOUN
Tokyo Studio Orchestra



Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03sa3V8lIw8&index=7&list=PLAY2aAj333CqUpkrxNsXr-dMREWwLYDr5)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!Gv4RGJZT!hA_QeWHxUZV_2xSpZA9y8KAA9_v5D7SphGb8XCc-MXE)


A masterpiece. It has everything. A homage to Mozart, beautiful Latin and folk inspired dances, a Vangelis homage, late romantic pastoral orchestral pieces and classical waltzes. Two major themes dominate the score: A feisty and eccentric theme, most prominent in the Tango and a romantic and regal theme, most prominent in the classical waltz. The fusion of synth, sax and orchestra is just out of this world.

In addition it has my favorite action cues of his (shame they aren't used in full in the show itself), it certainly helps you know its him on the drumkit. And if there's one person that can make a drumkit sound more epic than 24 Taiko Drums, its Sahashi. "Wings upon Wings" is a perfect dramatic action cue, full of great energy and reminds me of Code Geass in parts. "For the Benefit of the Future" has a great soaring moment at 1:25 (never used in the show) that adds a great deal of gravitas. Love it.

Much has been said about the opening act which is a giant Mozart Homage. Its certainly interesting that most Japanese composers list Ravel or Takemitsu as their major influences but Sahashi is the one really infavor of the "really old" stuff, Baroque and early classical. In that regard he is closer to Hirano than anyone else.

Not to say he does not have inspiration beyond that, Tchaikovsky for example, pops up occasionally.

"History teaches us" is his most accomplished waltz with the implementation of sax that feels very Shosty. "Departure" is perhaps his best dramatic cue he has written. A departure into battle that is both tragic and heroic, a great piece of music equal to any great film cue.

Not to mention his memorable themes, both for the opening and ending he composed and for the two principal themes in the score itself, recieving an utterly glorious reprise at the end. Sahashi has trademark string ostinati he likes to double with winds (which he got from Johnny), and here it is just as glorious as the finale of the Fantastic Deer-Man and 8 Ultra Brothers.

The use of sax is absolutely sublime, Sahashi has never sounded better than in pieces like "The Courage to See Tomorrow", "The Promised Morning" and "Dreams Written in the Sky".

In the end, how would I classify it? Its romantic, classical, baroque, film, dance and a little rock. At this point in time where Japan is fully set on making Anime and Games a new genre of "classical" music, I can only say its Anime and Game music at this point.

In short, a masterpiece of the genre.


I'm also pretty sure the music is so pure and good because the show is as well, its not dumb schlock to please retards, its profound and beautiful without ANY cynicism at all, like good anime still are. It's genuine love that made this, granted its cheap in parts but only because they have no money at all. I you actually look at the avearge anime budget you have to really salute them how much gets spend on the music.




Now, lets hear Oshima's take on the yuri theme. (Did I mention Haikara Part 2 releases in October already and Gridman and Ulysses already have soundtrack announcements before they even start airing... no? My bad!)

i am massively enjoying henry jackmans the predator.much much more entertaining than debney inspiration-free predators.great heroic theme.

---------- Post added at 04:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:10 AM ----------

[/COLOR]
I guess it's fitting I ask this now, since this is on the topic of space operas. I've recently started playing Lego Star Wars III, which seems to be a pretty good game so far, but I genuinely cannot stand the music. In fact, my history with Star Wars/Lego franchise video games is closely tied to my general dislike of John Williams' music and anything directly inspired by it. See, Williams' music is often scored to picture and is meant to be listened to as you're watching the film. It's a part of the film-making in the same way that lighting or cinematography or editing; it can work on its own, but it's intended to be experienced within the greater context of the film itself.

However, I've never watched the vast majority of films scored by Williams, and have only really experienced his music through licensed games that just recycle that music. But that creates a big problem: video games (especially with levels that take) usually need tunes that repeat after a while to create a general mood - this is the antithesis of Williams' music, and what that results in is a very short cue that vaguely fits the level's theme/content, but doesn't have meaningful to impact and loops very blatantly every few seconds. This is why I actively cannot stand John Williams' music, and it means that I can never play any game with his music without trying to find something else to listen to.

So, I'm here to ask for any recommendations of music I could listen to while playing Lego Star Wars III that isn't by John Williams (or by anyone who writes music in that same style). I don't really have any ideas of my own, though the first part of DOG FIGHTER track from Macross (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH6ZiySBy_wdid stand out to me enough that I'd probably go with music in that style. If anyone could help me out here, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.
kid icarus/Palutenas mirror and the two gravity daze scores have you covered

Hi, sorry, i'm looking for Oshima's Tenchijin. Anyone have all three osts?

Thanks for The Master of Ragnarok, Vinphonic. Absolute gem. Do you have these albums?

Someone posted a Valkyria Chronicles 4 game-rip elsewhere on the forums, here (Thread 226827).

Ah, wonderful, now more people get a chance to listen to Simoun. Good job, mate! (and nice review)



On the topic of Space Opera game music, hohoho, it gives me a great opportunity to talk about something really worthwhile.

Big post coming later tonight...

Iwasaki and Kenji Kawai will be hosting a talk show/lecture at Waseda University (home of Yoko Kanno) this November:

http://wask.minibird.jp/2018itkk/

I had no idea these two even knew each other. Just goes to show how tight-knit the Japanese composer community is.

I've worked on the gamerip for VC4 and here's Hitoshi Sakimoto's latest game score. Good thing it was released for PC. The rep and credit goes to Andrees (http://forums.ffshrine.org/member.php?u=251745), who ripped the game files. This is as good as it gets from a gamerip. As said before by Josh, a shame he had no budget for live players for this one:



Hitoshi Sakimoto
Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Eastern Front
Synth Orchestra



Sample (https://picosong.com/w2cZz/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!biZEiIhD!VpHa7cbb22N-TV5y0sXfqo4E0ApxkyWJ6kkak1pIpFg)

This is everything original written for the game, even including Hitoshi Sakimoto's arrangement of the Minstrel Boy and the True Ending score cue. As far as soundtracks in the Valkyria Chronicles series go this is the most consistent and "filmic" of his game scores. The Main Theme is quite catchy and mostly played on horns, with even a reprise that is supposed to mimic a descant horn I believe. His version of the Minstrel Boy is quite lovely, originally I assumed he would build his score on that iconic Irish tune but alas it never happened: Sacrifice (The Minstrel Boy) (https://picosong.com/w2cKA/). The Valkyria tracks are also a highlight, for me superior to the Valkyria tracks of previous series: Valkyria's Tears (https://picosong.com/w2cKh/). If this was performed by the Tokyo Symphony in its entirety like that unfinished mess that was Azure Revolution we would have a winner here, the music is obviously written with a symphony orchestra in mind and I'm pretty sure at least a couple of tracks were supposed to be recorded live but somehow (scheduling or other issues) prevented it. But its better sample-wise than his earlier game works and he's still so good at writing catchy tunes: Playing in the fields (https://picosong.com/w2cKJ/).

SEGA remains as ever a baffling company but at least they got Tanaka a new Sakura Wars franchise so I shouldn't be too grumpy over here.

Brian Tyler is working on "Lost Ark" (a South Korean MMORPG). It's pretty generic from the sound of things (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8nPV67EndU&t=1m04s), but that's still miles above what he usually writes; he's been basically unlistenable the past few years. If he could work off of the muse he had for Lego Universe that'd be great.

Hitoshi Sakimoto
Valkyria Chronicles 4 - Eastern Front
Synth Orchestra




Good work. Music flows better this way than in those raw game-rips. Proper track titles are also always nice to have.

Curious about the "Synth Orchestra" used here. Some of those string segments sound too good to fit that description.

i am massively enjoying henry jackmans the predator.much much more entertaining than debney inspiration-free predators.great heroic theme.

Just listened to it and I am shocked Jackman can write like this. I never usually enjoy his music and this took me back to those nice 90s sci-fi scores by David Arnold, Poledouris, and Silvestri.

@skelly: Wait, you're telling me this piece was done by Tyler?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRc0U91xE9M


If so then I all I got from Brian in the video was "I was dead inside until I got to score for some Asian MMO".

Brian Tyler is working on "Lost Ark" (a South Korean MMORPG). It's pretty generic from the sound of things (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8nPV67EndU&t=1m04s), but that's still miles above what he usually writes; he's been basically unlistenable the past few years. If he could work off of the muse he had for Lego Universe that'd be great.

I'm surprised, too. Considering they're hyping that they got a hollywood composer I hope a OST release happens.

@skelly: Wait, you're telling me this piece was done by Tyler?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRc0U91xE9M

Wow, I guess it must be! This is much better than the piece they used in the behind-the-scenes video. Now I'm actually looking forward to this! :)
(Weird though that that video is from 2016... did Tyler record it that long ago? Is this actually some sort of trailer music?)

I initially intended to make a massive post on this subject, but since I spent much more time than expected in preparation and research for it, I've decided to post the whole thing in several parts.

So today, let's start with the subject of Space Opera game music, as some recommendations have been requested. Personally I'm not a huge expert in recent video games, but if I had to make a recommendation, it would think without hesitation to the classic scores of the Wing Commander 3 and 4 games (and to a lesser extent to the 5th one, Wing Commander Prophecy, which features some darker, less melodic music).

There's really something very special about these scores. Even after years of listening to all kinds of film and game music, these scores continue to stand out as really exceptional and highly memorable. When you listen to them, they sound like your quintessential Space Music, since they so accurately capture the elegance, grandeur and majesty of this setting. I remember back in the days I used to play these games (like, 15 years ago), at times the music was so beautiful and classy that I just cut the volume of the SFX so I could better listen to it! This happens rarely enough to be mentioned - I usually tend to cut the music in games because of repetitiveness, inappropriateness or various other reasons.

Now, as a matter of fact the in-game music of WC 3 was in midi (the cinematics had pre-recorded music). The in-game music of WC 4 was entirely pre-recorded, but with a low quality sampler that didn't do justice to the excellency of the score. Therefore it wasn't easy to get good quality versions of these scores. But fortunately, a nice fellow named Locke managed to properly extract most (all?) in-game midis of WC 3! They're mostly the ones floating around since years on the Internet.

Here you can download them. Get the midi pack at the bottom of the list:


Wing Commander 3 midi pack
https://www.wcnews.com/news/update/11183


And since you now have the music in general midi format, what does it mean? It means that you can play them using your *own* sound libraries! (using the appropriate program, of course, such as the powerful SynthFont 2)

Here's an example of what you can make:


George Oldziey - Strike
https://picosong.com/w2fSE/


This piece from WC 3 is my own rendition of a midi file you can find in the midi pack above. I just made a brand new recording of it using my own custom-made soundfont, which is a mish-mash of many soundfonts that you can (mostly) freely find over the Internet. I made this unique soundfont by choosing my favorite instruments, combining them, and CONSIDERABLY editing and fine-tuning them to fit my tastes. The result is what you can hear in this piece. I personally don't find it too shabby! It's far from perfect, but considering the size of the whole soundfont (about 60 MB), it's pretty decent, I think.



I'd like to take this opportunity to give an homage to the remarkably talented composer of these great scores: George Oldziey.


George Oldziey
http://www.oldzieymusic.com/




In the next part of this series of posts, I'll talk about the composer and a special Wing Commander project.

To be continued...

Why didn't they just get Silvestri to do the music. Or better yet, why doesn't Silvestri have a composer credit for this on imdb? There are like 3 "additonal music by" credits, but the majority of the score is Silvestri. Something is fishy, like they wanted the themes but for contractual reasons can't admit the music is by Silvestri.

I don't really have any ideas of my own, though the first part of DOG FIGHTER track from Macross (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH6ZiySBy_wdid stand out to me enough that I'd probably go with music in that style. If anyone could help me out here, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.Well, the majority of the 1984 Macross soundtrack is very typical of the 70s/80s trend of light orchestra/jazz/funk+drumkit. Maybe just look at more of John Barry's works?

My favorite piece (the second half) -ever- written in that style is not actually from John Barry, but Joseph Koo:

https://youtu.be/9xHYlOIFl2g?t=1m49s


And just for fun, I can guarantee you Sahashi, Tanaka, and Haneda listened to this soundtrack growing up:

https://youtu.be/BI7g8xfQ04A?t=17m23s
https://youtu.be/BI7g8xfQ04A?t=36m25s

@arthierr: Nice idea!


Speaking of Macross, its fantasy cousin appeared:



Yusuke Shirato
LOST SONG
The Orchestral Score, performed by Toshihiro Takai's Orchestra and the Voice Cast



Sample (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-l_zzjXVng&t=5s)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!zuAD1IyQ!bhfeVK63Ylv-r9o27Fa6KYCJ8ODUlvi4BaHlwPbqVXs)

What a debut from a newcomer. The score is a highly classical musical with much leitmotif writing. The Main Theme appears in a lot of subtle and bold variations and gets woven into a duet of two themes for the finale.
A chunk of it was recorded in a hall, the rest in a studio. The songs are really good.

You have to commend them for doing something special and not the generic pop. Revue Starlight had some really neat cues in similar fashion but this plays a league above. I very much like these new "musical animations" as they call them.

Song of destruction (CV: Yuki Tamura) (https://picosong.com/w2fdN/)


But the orchestral score is also quite nice. A certain influental Japanese composer of orchestra and pop was no doubt an influence for "Fantasy Macross".

The lion in heaven (https://picosong.com/w2fdp/) / Final Battle (https://picosong.com/w2frR/)

The energy and writing style shows again much promise from a newcomer, albeit a veteran pop composer. The Lost Song franchise is not over yet. A new project was announced and I wouldn't mind if this turned into a new Macross popularity wise.


Enjoy!


This week is just cranking out goodies.

Wow, I guess it must be! This is much better than the piece they used in the behind-the-scenes video. Now I'm actually looking forward to this! :)
(Weird though that that video is from 2016... did Tyler record it that long ago? Is this actually some sort of trailer music?)

This was a suite I put together awhile ago from the Lost Ark cues that I found on Youtube... and now I'm wondering if any of this is actually by Tyler. It doesn't sound like him -- too good, really -- but one of the themes here bears a slight similarity to what I'm hearing in the new piece.

http://picosong.com/wFLXY

Actually, I don't know why you are assuming that the video is from 2016. You can see the sheet music on a stand with a date for the recording session of April 2018. In that case, this earlier music probably isn't by Tyler.

You evidently have a sharper eye than I do! Can't say I'm surprised though, it would have been astonishing if Tyler had actually written something like that.

There's a few moments in Lego Universe were a classical mind is trying to escape the claws of modern Hollywood but if a piece like Bon Voyage is the best he can do with a "creative explosion", unrestricted and the worlds most expensive ressources, I'm still holding the opinion he makes a better hair stylist than composer and all that is tremendous waste when it should have been Kevin Kaska waving the baton. If it turns out he wrote or was involved with the old pieces in previous sessions then I will change my opinion of course. Let's wait for an official release.


Continuing with my point from a few days ago, about the efforts of our favorites to keep the torch lit, here's part 2:




Tsukasa Usui, Chiang Chun Dian, Kazuha Oka, Mai Taira, Junko Nakajima
Music Design Symphonic Orchestra
Senzoku Gakuen New Philharmonic Orchestra / conducted by Toshiyuki Watanabe, Keiichi Oku & Kosuke Yamashita



Sample (https://picosong.com/w2L2S/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!rqoy3Kwa!7Cuaxko6j_JaYREq7Ih55b0H7JXOtqtQvYmtE_h6IYo)

Held at Madea Hall at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music on 08.01.2018

This is very much the next generation of Japanese media composers in its infancy. The concert was moderated and produced by the Music Design Director Toshiyuki Watanabe and featured together with an "Electronic Carnival" which was a hologram of Hatsune Miku dancing with orchestral hybrid mixes and some pop ballads with a drumkit that was not mixed well. I've omitted all that for the main course, concert pieces by students of the Music Design course, just so you can get an impression of what it is Prof. Watanabe, Prof. Oku and Prof. Yamashita are teaching their students (also Yamashita fights barehanded).

The highlight for me is Junko Nakajima's ATLANTIS, such a delicate and sweet lady but such a bold musical voice. The only weird thing about it is the inclusion of synth choir. Nonethless its fitting for a swords and sandals epic and considering one of Watanabe's students, Kota Yokoseki just wrote something of the sort, I guess its just a matter of time before we see her name on a new project.

It's also nice to see who's best buds with who in the Japanese scoring community, truely a fabulous trio:



Enjoy!

joe kraemer continues his 90s actionthillermusic from rogue nation in his tvshowscore comrade detective.on spotify and pretty good.

Part 3 of passing the torch, in places you might not expect, prepare for an onslaught of eastern scales and melody upon melody:




Tsubasa Ito & Ryunosuke Kasai
Touhou Orchestral Suites
TOHO Philharmonic Orchestra



Sample (https://picosong.com/w2mX7/)
Download (https://mega.nz/#!LvAgHChD!CzEBIyhvJ5fXA0IoXD347M-NTR2Q7LP6jz89Z7bCh2Y)


Orchestral Suites (2015-2018)

I. Perfect Cherry Blossom (Track 1~6)
II. Imperishable Night (Track 7~11)
III. Immaterial and Missing Power (Track 12~14)
IV. Flower Phantasmagoria (Track 15~19)
V. Mountain of Faith (Track 20~29)
VI. Subterranean Animism (Track 30~36)

Encore

The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil (Track 37~40)


Original Music composed by ZUN (Junya Ota)
Music arranged and orchestrated by Tsubasa Ito and Ryunosuke Kasai
Vocals performed by "senya"


Performed by "TOHO Philharmonic Orchestra"
Strings: Yuma Ito Strings
Winds: 1 Flute, 1 Oboe, 1 Clarinet, 1 Bassoon
Brass: 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, 1 Tuba
Percussion: 1 Timpani, 1 Bass Drum, 1 Piano, 1 Snare, 1 Cymbals


Recorded at Victor 302 Studio

Published by Symphonic Active NEETs at Comiket




RECORDING SESSION (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fip_RtYGfTY&t=4m04s)

Tokyo Active NEETs (of which Symphonic Active NEETs is a subsidary) is an indipendent label of anime and game nerds that perform music in rock, jazz or orchestral style. Focus is on subcultural phenomenon's like Touhou and Kantai Collection.
The orchestral CDs can only be aquired at fan event and anime & manga mega convention "Comiket" (Kohei Tanaka is a regular visitor). It's pretty much a subcultural thing that becomes more and more popular worldwide with each passing year, so much it won't even be stopped for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. Symphonic Active NEETs aquired great talent and a regular performing orchestra through serious dedication and even goes on performance tours in Japan. All the regulars you see in the recording video are performing.




ZUN (real name Junya Ota / 太田順也) is the sole member of Team Shanghai Alice, responsible for creating the Touhou doujin shmup franchise. He did all the main programming, scriptwriting, art, and music composition for the core games. He is also respectively known as 'Kannushi' among his fans, a name he has sometimes use to refer to himself. ZUN has not only worked on the Touhou series but on other doujin games as well with Amusement Makers, and was employed by the Taito Corporation. His music has sparked somewhat of a phenomenon which continues to grow strong to this day with fan arrangements from over hundreds of groups.




Ludwig Van Beethoven X Touhou (arr. Ryunosuke Kaisai) (https://picosong.com/w2mYE)




Mr. Ryunosuke "My favorite composer is Mahler" Kasai studied at Tokyo University of Music and majored in composition and is currently working as an arranger for JAGMO, Active Neets and anime composers. He studied under Kosuke Yamashita, Reijiro Koroku and Shigeaki Saegusa. His recent orchestral work: Weighing Anchor for Orchestra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc3VbVf-bUI)

He recently worked as an orchestrator for the anime shows Hanebado (https://picosong.com/w5eUx/) and Revue Starlight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLH6arii4sE) which will get released very soon. He gave the music a very special touch and he is also part of this upcoming release of the Genso Suikoden franchise: Genso Suikoden I-V: Orchestral Box (performed by JApanese Game Music Orchestra) (https://vgmdb.net/album/80865)

I predict his first real solo orchestral project will rock the house.


On a very warm note, Saegusa, Koruku and Katsuhisa Hattori are still in the studio recording or arranging new music, but most of the time for students. They rather want to stay educators these days but if some old franchise gets a special celebration they might grace us again:

Recording and directing with musical legend Katsuhisa Hattori (https://vt.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_pf7d66Jxw61tssxuc.mp4)

How does Kato get his hands on so many orchestrators vastly more talented as composers than he is?

Here's a music track from 1991 anime Agedama, if you're curious about what Toshihiko Sahashi's first work sounds like. https://picosong.com/w2uDL/

It has a lot of prototypes and outtakes of his later, more well-known works.

I still enjoy the soundtrack for what it is, just don't expect it to be The Big O, Gundam Seed, or Simoun.

Awesome thread, thank you all!

You're very welcome :)


@Zipper: The better question. Why does Masaru Yokoyama get all these recordings?

- Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
- Filmorchester Babelsberg
- London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices

Want to know what one of these recordings was for:



Sample (https://picosong.com/w2SR8/)

At this point, nothing surprises me anymore.

Vinphonic: seriously, dude, the quality of your last posts is jaw-dropping. At this point I think a doping control should be considered... ;)



Now, here's the follow-up of the topic I started in my last post.

Since the music of Wing Commander 3-4-5 are so stellar (pun intended), highly symphonic in nature, and so much adored by the fans (and others too), it seems pretty logic that an orchestral adaptation becomes seriously considered, at some point or another. This is exactly what happened in 2014 (i.e. exactly 20 years after the release of WC3 in 1994) with this project:


The Wing Commander Orchestral Project CD

http://www.oldzieymusic.com/wingcommanderCD.html#supportWingCommanderProject
https://vgmdb.net/album/62639

You can buy the CD or a digital copy at the composer's own label:
https://squareup.com/market/casa-karen-concert-series/


This project has been completed thanks to the many contributions of devoted fans through kickstarter. As you can hear in the samples, the orchestral adaptation is really well done and sounds like what the music was meant to be from the very beginning. With additional choral parts and woodwinds orchestrations, the score finally gets the sumptuous treatment it deserves!

Here's a video following the recording of the music. Make sure to watch it! Because there are quite some generous portions of music to be heard, as well as a funny scene at the end! (Who here can understand what they're talking about? I sure can! I'm from the same generation and experienced the same things!)


The Making of The Wing Commander Orchestral Recording

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4OsjTqU4w8


It should be mentioned that following the success of the first Orchestral Project CD, a new kickstarter has been launched for a Volume 2, but it didn't reach its objective and has been canceled. (Asking for $35,000 for only a period of 31 days seemed rather risky...)



Now, for those of you who want to listen to more music from the composer, I'd like to recommend these:


Shaiya OST



The orchestral score of an asian MMORPG. Plenty of excellent highlights to be heard! Don't miss it!

From the author:

A lot of it is influenced by the Wing Commander music I've previously composed. Actually, I thought it might be fun for you all to try to guess which Wing Commander pieces influenced which Shaiya pieces. Check it out! BTW, the coolest thing is that it's all LIVE ORCHESTRA and CHOIR!!! Something I tried for years to get Origin to support. It was recorded at the Clint Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. just a few week ago. Enjoy!


You can get a MP3 pack here:
https://www.wcnews.com/chatzone/threads/george-oldzieys-shaiya-album-released-may-24-2008.27700/

But a much more COMPLETE version is free to listen here:
https://soundcloud.com/mmomusic/sets/shaiya



Ultima 9 OST

You can download or directly listen to the official soundtrack and a gamerip here:
http://ultima9.ultimacodex.com/the-ultima-9-soundtrack/

Why does Masaru Yokoyama get all these recordings?

- Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
- Filmorchester Babelsberg
- London Symphony Orchestra and London VoicesIn August he went to Vietnam too... I don't think I've seen even Yoko Kanno abuse international recording travel budgets to this level.

He said in the one interview he recently linked on his FB that he enjoys going outside of Japan because the domestic studios don't have much dynamic range. Which is true, but neither does his music. Even the LSO and Abbey Road can't fix that.

I guess one explanation is that he's fluent in English, so his international connections are better than most other Japanese composers.

John Williams
American Journey
2002 - MP3 256





Bonus album:

John Williams
The Sound of Glory
1996 - MP3 192

https://img.discogs.com/N0L6NguC5gKR2hv0zB-c40QVt-M=/fit-in/500x500/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():qualit y(90)/discogs-images/R-5164404-1386254014-9755.jpeg.jpg


DOWNLOAD
https://www44.*****.com/v/WXQQ4Anj/file.html
***** = zippyshare



If you have a LOSSLESS version of any of these great albums, posting it here would be immensely appreciated!
Thank you very much in advance!

This might have been solved already, but I didn't saw any answer, not very active lately in the forum.
Why bother uploading them when they can be found somewhere else, right?
So get American Journey here https://3ost.ru/7821-an-american-journey.html
The Sound Of Glory I only have it in mp3 320 kbps. But it is exactly the same program that was presented under the name "Summon the heroes" in USA. Don't understand why they changed the name for Europe. And I get that in FLAC, so please let me know if you still need it , arthierr, and I 'll try to upload the other one later.

I 'll try to upload the other one later.
I just saw that Kooke's version is still up, so get it there: Thread 162296

I can't help it arthy, music is one hell of a drug ;)



GRIDMAN!!!!



Sample (https://picosong.com/w26UM/) / Soundtrack (https://vgmdb.net/album/80930)

I'll take a new Giant Robo album. In any case this needs a continuation and a movie.


Ulysses: Jeanne d`Arc to Renkin no Kishi



Sample (https://picosong.com/w2QGR/) / Soundtrack (https://vgmdb.net/album/80542)

Woodwind pieces straight out of Black Butler, marching pieces out of his 2000 work (Oban, Yakitake, Uncharted Waters), Gregorian chant moment and this gorgeous violin and piano dance which is straight out of Bungou Stray Dogs. The soundtrack has even two discs, chances are very high for Opera and an orchestral score in his 2000 style. Its a must listen regardless.


Bloom Into You



Sample (https://picosong.com/w2b3Y/) / Soundtrack (https://vgmdb.net/album/81114)

Nothing groundbreaking because its certainly missing ANY dramatic stakes but very pleasant Oshima. Still, a purely romantic and piano heavy score is quite a nice change of pace compared to Haikara Part 2 were she is scoring a War & Peace story (release in a few weeks). Perhaps a few pieces in Adiantum Blue style would be nice.

The best part: Gridman, Ulyssess and Bloom into You have soundtrack releases on the same day (Dec, 19). It will be a jolly christmas.

Coincidentaly, new projects were announced on her website, including a mysterious game project tba. And something special, even more Oshima:



Tighten your seatbelts, everyone. The ride is about to start:



To the Sky (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS5g90HnaDs)

Now imagine what her Augustus Symphony sounds like...


Not anymore :)

Augustus: Suite for Orchestra and Chorus (Excerpts) (https://picosong.com/w2bn5/)

Both courtesy of nextday.

Jackbrain: thank you very much for the heads-up, kind sir! As I said, it's indeed IMMENSELY appreciated!. These albums are classics, so the best sound qualty is totally justified, here.

For those having problems downloading "American Journey", you must copy and paste the text in *red* beneath the post ("temporary user" and the random PW provided) into the login box. Then you'll be able to see the download link.





Here's a music track from 1991 anime Agedama, if you're curious about what Toshihiko Sahashi's first work sounds like. https://picosong.com/w2uDL/

It has a lot of prototypes and outtakes of his later, more well-known works.

I still enjoy the soundtrack for what it is, just don't expect it to be The Big O, Gundam Seed, or Simoun.
Ah, yes, the lighter, funnier side of Sahashi is also something I greatly enjoy! This piece reminds me of his Akazukin Chacha scores, which are full of the same kind of energy and humour. If it's possible for you, could you please upload the whole thing when you have a moment?




Oh, and I LOVE this "To the Sky" piece. Oshima still have it, obviously. The orchestrations are gorgeous, with this combination of whimsical woodwinds (those piccolos!) and bold, noble brasses. Also to be noted, the extensive use of the triangle, which is quite unusual in a piece from 2018! Don't even bother trying to hear some of it in a modern Hollywood score (except maybe a Williams one).

And to quote the wise words of Joel Hammond:

Trigonometry matters a lot. There are triangles in everything.

Pizzas. Triangles. Not the shape, the musical instrument.

Ace attorney season 2 has electric guitar. Has Wada-san ever used that?

Was the Sound Euphonium 2 soundtracks ever posted? https://vgmdb.net/product/3444

(I just realized there are more than the first Omoide soundtrack: two movie soundtracks and a second season ost)

Speaking of that, was Kikuchi's Abarenbou Shougun ost ever posted in any quality? Seems to be on youtube, but nowhere else? It's catchy ... isn't it?

[Kikuchi did DB and DBZ among other things ...]

So both Iwasaki and Suehirou are tackling medieval fantasy series at the same time? Iwasaki has Ulysses and Suehiro has Goblin Slayer. It'll be interesting to compare their approaches as the season goes on, but right now Suehiro isn't doing too hot. His ending theme for GS was surprising though, far better than anything used in the episode. There may be some potential ahead.

https://picosong.com/w2AZe/

Speaking of surprises, Ulysses went above my expectations so far, show and music. Iwasaki is not pulling out his usual gimmicks (though I did hear an e-guitar once), and seems to just be going back to solid orchestral writing. Also, the second time he's ever used a counter tenor since Black Cat. Will be interesting to see how he approaches the battle scenes in later episodes. One thing I must give Iwasaki big props for is his ability to write markedly different scores for shows with similar premises and settings- so far nothing about Ulysses is too reminiscent of Akame.

I actually agree, penny pincher Iwasaki seems to be doing pretty swell with his current budget to produce an unexpected solid score. I was fully expecting this to have a usual bombastic and overblown tone, but instead we got a more mature side than what Akame ga Kill presented. And is that gregorian chanting I'm hearing? Call me interested! Though I'm starting to get a little exhausted by the constant quote pieces to Debussy and Ravel, we get it Iwasaki, you were classically trained and the piece is gorgeous, but can you give it a rest for a couple of more projects? That's of course just a minor complaint because the rest is just some good stuff.

In other news, don't be really surprised by this, but the new "musical direction" that the new series of Doctor Who has taken a south... for the worst.

I wouldn't call Akame immature, just more of the usual "Iwasaki 50 genres potpourri" that we're used to hearing from him in the past decade, with Akame being more uneven in its overall blend than say Gurren Lagann or Katanagatari. But the orchestral pieces in Akame are what I consider to the very best of Iwasaki's career so far, which is saying something. And this piece alone might be his magnum opus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r4RNSwiHls

It may be asking for too much, but I really hope Iwasaki can give us something of this level again in Ulysses.

.In other news, don't be really surprised by this, but the new "musical direction" that the new series of Doctor Who has taken a south... for the worst.

In what way has it gotten worse? I've not watched that much Doctor Who (of any era; not just the recent stuff), but I do remember asking about the music before and hearing that the newer stuff wasn't too great, to put it lightly. So I'm curious to know how it seems to be even worse than before.

In what way has it gotten worse? I've not watched that much Doctor Who (of any era; not just the recent stuff), but I do remember asking about the music before and hearing that the newer stuff wasn't too great, to put it lightly. So I'm curious to know how it seems to be even worse than before.
Season 1-10: full symphony orchestra, melodic writing
Season 11 (current): ambient electronic noise with no melody, a total of 3 live instruments (1 cello, 1 guitar, 1 horn)

Why did this happen? The previous composer and producer quit after season 10. Their replacements decided they wanted to take the show in a "modern" direction. :-(

Ace attorney season 2 has electric guitar. Has Wada-san ever used that?

I don't recall him using one either, but this year is a first for many things Wada related. I think some fun cues await.


@Zipper: Expected a bit more from Goblin Slayer tbh (a disappointment so far) but these days its no problem if a dud appears and I'm looking forward to the new ReZero quasi movie score of his which is coming up soon. I also second Akame is more "mature" than it initially appears and I agree it has some of his most accomplished pieces but some of it was a little cheesy with the Dark Knight chanting and its no Kenshin or Katanagatari.




More scores from Fall 2018 I will buy/check (if it is available):


Space Battleship Tiramisu & Zwei



Sample (https://picosong.com/w2Kgy/) / Soundtrack (maybe Bonus CD)

This is such a promising debut from a classically trained newcomer Junpei Ishige.

Here's the full Main Title (he's got that powerful melodic gene of the likes of Kan Sawada): Space Battleship Tiramisu: Space Century (Main Title) (https://picosong.com/w2KgV/)


Radiant



Sample (https://picosong.com/w2Kje/) / Sountrack (TBA)

Masato Coda continues with the Yoko Kanno references and it will probably be a biggerer and betterer Knight's & Magic, considering the length. He continues to be on a roll and I'm looking forward to his Konosuba movie.


Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet



Sample (https://picosong.com/w2KjM/) / Soundtrack (TBA)

Masaru Yokoyama with a symphonic ensemble is surprisingly pleasant. Considering he did alright with a huge orchestra before and even wrote a professional and nice Overture for an NHK Work there might be a surprise or two on the soundtrack.


As for the rest, Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru!, Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san, Golden Kamuy S2 and Conception are very pleasant, with a real ensemble present. Maybe a surprise or two on the soundtracks.


The last bunch of new fall anime are out in two weeks. A couple more series I will check. From the continuations of this years kids shows that still need soundtracks, there's also some really good things to note.



Captain Tsubasa's new recording session for the second half, its Matsuo we know and love: Sample (https://picosong.com/w2Biw/)
Hopefully, plenty more where that came from, no soundtrack announced yet.

Puzzdra continues to be Wada on steroids, depending how many episodes there are there might even be a third session: Sample (https://picosong.com/w2BWp)
No soundtrack announced yet, hopefully together with Puzzle X Dragon Chross.

Inazuma Orion had a new session and its seemless with Inazuma Ares: Sample (https://picosong.com/w2Bpd/)
I guess one big soundtrack box is on the horizon.




Ah, yes, the lighter, funnier side of Sahashi is also something I greatly enjoy! This piece reminds me of his Akazukin Chacha scores, which are full of the same kind of energy and humour. If it's possible for you, could you please upload the whole thing when you have a moment?

I second that! Speaking of Sahashi, if you want a glimpse at him in the studio (unfortunately not when he recorded Up to Now, one of my favorite cues of his), here is a video of the recording session for Full Metal Panic:



LINK (https://vimeo.com/293943752)


@DoctorWho:

Well, I have to confess, I never got what's so great about that franchise, both music and show, its just not my cup of tea. But especially Murray Gold's scores did little to change that. I liked a few pieces but overall this is nowhere near Star Trek, Thunderbirds or any Tokusatsu franchise in terms of musicality.


Last but not least:


I have not had time to do a proper Masterclass of late, but I recently finished 5 episodes of a Japanese kid's show

Like clockwork... Whenever Junya Okabe or Koichi Sakamoto have a new project (director of Gokaiger and other Tokusatsu series and movies) I guess there's a chance he's involved. Who knows, perhaps one day he will have the budget for a real ensemble.

Awesome thread!

I really like Tanaka, Sahashi, Watanabe, Oshima, Yamashita, Matsuo, Hamaguchi, Sato, Sawada, Iwasaki, Koroku... but I don't know many others composers.

Please, which is your opinion about Hiroyuki Sawano's music? Which are his more better soundtracks?

Thanks in advance

That Sahashi FMP video is fantastic, but oh my god he really does look, sound, and move like a man in his mid-70s. Did becoming a college professor sap out all his vitality?


@Zipper: I also second Akame is more "mature" than it initially appears and I agree it has some of his most accomplished pieces but some of it was a little cheesy with the Dark Knight chanting and its no Kenshin or Katanagatari.Akame had Dark Knight, but Katanagatari had Bourne (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2XAqHpsFko). So the RC elements aren't to blame here. The male choir pieces in Akame were rather exceptional- they took the drum loops from Dark Knight but everything else, as usual with Iwasaki's RC interpretations, is high quality (with the exception of Qualidea Code, which might as well be Batman vs. Superman Pt 2). Iwasaki isn't the type of person to mindlessly slap on choir unless it had a desired effect, something that so many in Hollywood can't even grasp, even those more experienced like Don Davis. Hearing Suehiro's attempt at it in Goblin Slayer isn't doing him any favors either. I would take more Iwasaki RC pieces over that weird middle eastern ethnic music and hard rock that made up the other 75% of Akame, to which he may have taken a bit too much influence from Takanashi. And that mediocre whole is what overshadowed the rest of Akame's high quality pieces.

I would also say that Iwasaki's most mature score so far is not Kenshin or Katanagatari or even Agito, but Black Butler II. Kenshin I used a lot of repetitive elements and synth due to budgetary constraints, Kenshin II was a bit too reliant on Zimmer and occasional Horner tropes, Katanagatari was itself quite a potpourri, and Agito was a big baton-waving contest between Iwasaki and a Warsaw conductor for no real reason other than ego. But Black Butler II was cohesive and solid throughout with almost no filler and gimmicks, something that is rarely said about any Iwasaki soundtrack.

---------- Post added at 04:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:43 PM ----------


Please, which is your opinion about Hiroyuki Sawano's music? Which are his more better soundtracks? If you search the thread, you will get a good idea of how many people here feel about his music. Spoiler alert: it's not very complimentary.

That being said, I enjoyed Unicorn. And there are some parts of it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K608GmTCOq8) that make me think Sawano is actually a very competent composer hiding underneath that hundred layers of Hollywood percussion and electronic noises. But he hasn't done anything remotely similar to Unicorn or Cyber Formula in almost a decade (amazing how time flies), and has been wallowing in the same pool of mediocrity and repetitiveness since Attack on Titan.

In what way has it gotten worse? I've not watched that much Doctor Who (of any era; not just the recent stuff), but I do remember asking about the music before and hearing that the newer stuff wasn't too great, to put it lightly. So I'm curious to know how it seems to be even worse than before.

Murray Gold composed all of the music for the new (2005-onwards) version of the show until the current season (for which he was replaced), and like with most composers, some people like his work and some don't.

Speaking for myself, I find his work to mostly be quite good for a modern Western television show (which is not to say that it's as good as great classic television music, high-quality anime music, etc - but not at all bad to my ears), and actually tends to have memorable melodies, which is something a lot of modern Western television music doesn't. I'm quite fond of several of his themes, especially the ones that I have links to Youtube videos to below.

The Impossible Girl (Clara's Theme) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruq0e2qmIi8)

Vale Decem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAeu7_jRySA)

Martha's Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I46VKOE1mEU)

Amy's Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIyaIGeLm60)

The Doctor's Theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkStjQC_APw)

Probably Gold's most well-known theme is "I am the Doctor", which I have mixed feelings about. I personally find it rather overrated, and it has a somewhat Zimmerish sound to it, but it does at least have a decently memorable melody to it, which is more than I can say about many Western television themes these days.

I am the Doctor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwvyRnyzGo4)

Awesome thread!
I really like Tanaka, Sahashi, Watanabe, Oshima, Yamashita, Matsuo, Hamaguchi, Sato, Sawada, Iwasaki, Koroku... but I don't know many others composers.
Please, which is your opinion about Hiroyuki Sawano's music? Which are his more better soundtracks?
Thanks in advance

If you were to ask me, his best soundtracks are Kill la Kill, Blue Exorcist (and Movie. KOHTA YAMAMOTO was the star of Kyoto Saga), Aldnoah.Zero, Nanatsu no Taizai (though it�s got more variety now) there are probably others but I can�t remember them or really listened to pre-Sengoku Basara / Unicorn. Though I never got past the first soundtrack for Unicorn for some reason.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7dF4Sgk48a4 [Still the best though]
He seems to have focused on Song writing for now, which I think isn�t a bad thing because he�s a damn good song writer (Seraph of the End X.U anyone?) Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 don�t remember anything about the first one and Narrative which I don�t know what to expect for that.

I watched No Game, No Life Zero tonight, and what the fuck? I love the soundtrack even more now.

I do not understand the appeal of Fujisawa in the slightest. What is it that you guys like about him?

Well I�m not good with words so it may take a while to explain (though Revue Starlight�ll be out next week so that might give me some rejuvenation)
I�ll admit I can�t get into Keiji Inai. I could for Heavy Object or BTOOOM!! But aside from that I can�t, I mean Dungeon Girl was good but aside from the Argonaut song I don�t really remember any or listen to the rest. (Worked better in the show for me) And I found most of Magical Girl Site uninteresting?? He did some good help on Hakyu Hoshin Engin or Tokyo Ravens. But yeah I dunno, I just can�t.

And I get the feeling that Kenta dude will debut next year, he was the programmer on Planet With and somehow based on that I think that�ll happen.