Tag: music

Wait…you tell me that it’s evolution??

I came across this really interesting article about the accent of the Beatles, and about the impact of accent on music in general: https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2018/02/06/accent-beatles-music-vocals-american-english/ The original article about the speech changes present in Beatles music argues that evolving into a new genre was matched with changes in pronunciation and other speech features. Accent, of course, … Continue reading “Wait…you tell me that it’s evolution??”

I came across this really interesting article about the accent of the Beatles, and about the impact of accent on music in general: https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2018/02/06/accent-beatles-music-vocals-american-english/

The original article about the speech changes present in Beatles music argues that evolving into a new genre was matched with changes in pronunciation and other speech features. Accent, of course, is an important feature of all kinds of speech performances and tells us a lot about the speaker. We don’t typically think of singers modifying their accents like actors to produce certain effects, but of course they do. For a more recent example, think early vs current Taylor Swift.

We have a ton of Beatles-related films in the library, but I’d like to highlight this streaming video of the Beatles arriving in New York: https://catalog.wrlc.org/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=16851678

Every Frame a Painting looks at the surprisingly unmemorable state of modern film soundtracks

Every Frame a Painting continues to be one of the best online film criticism video series. Usually the channel looks at editing and composition, but this time, creator Tony Zhou turned his sights to a very difficult film question: why are modern film soundtracks so uninspiring? Zhou puts forward a cohesive argument, with the Marvel … Continue reading “Every Frame a Painting looks at the surprisingly unmemorable state of modern film soundtracks”

Every Frame a Painting continues to be one of the best online film criticism video series. Usually the channel looks at editing and composition, but this time, creator Tony Zhou turned his sights to a very difficult film question: why are modern film soundtracks so uninspiring?

Zhou puts forward a cohesive argument, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe as its focus. Over the last twenty years, movie soundtracks have become background music that matches rather than sets the mood of what’s happening on-screen. That’s not inherently good or bad, but it’s less memorable than the fanfares and character themes from older blockbusters.

The video spends much of its time addressing a bigger concern, the use of “temp music” in editing. During production, films are often scored with placeholder music from other composers, frequently soundtracks from other movies. Increasingly, rather than starting from scratch, filmmakers ask composers to match the placeholder music, resulting in a soundtracks gradually sounding identical and borrowing the same generic structure and composition.

Speaking unobjectively, we hope that turns around. We understand why tone-setting scores have become popular, but Alan Silvestri’s Back to the Future music is far more lovable than his work on The Avengers.

RIP James Horner

We’re shocked and saddened by news of the untimely death of James Horner, Academy Award-winning composer of classic soundtracks for films including Apollo 13, Titanic, Braveheart, The New World, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Horner was a world-class composer whose works are among the best in film; he was still an active … Continue reading “RIP James Horner”

We’re shocked and saddened by news of the untimely death of James Horner, Academy Award-winning composer of classic soundtracks for films including Apollo 13, Titanic, Braveheart, The New World, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Horner was a world-class composer whose works are among the best in film; he was still an active composer and enhanced every movie he scored. His death is a significant loss to the medium.

Listen to his contributions to any of his films below for a reminder of the enormous talent we’ve lost.

Apollo 13 – HU DVD 529
Aliens – HU DVD 886
Glory – HU DVD 1171
Testament – HU DVD 1665
The New World – HU DVD 1963
The Name of the Rose – HU DVD 2106
Titanic – HU DVD 2290 
Apocalypto – HU DVD 4052
Braveheart – HU DVD 4787
Troy – HU DVD 6200 
Avatar – HU DVD 7045
An American Tail – HU DVD 7796
Hocus Pocus – HU DVD 7852
The Pelican Brief – HU DVD 7936

All the King’s Men – HU DVD 3662
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – HU DVD 9732
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock – HU DVD 9733
The Mask of Zorro – HU DVD 10750 

DMS Help: Free Music for your Video Projects

Need some music for a film project? Finding your production budget a bit short? No problem. Just visit musopen.com and solve your problem. Musopen is an online repository of free, royalty-free, public domain music. It’s mostly classical pieces performed by university orchestras, but by and large the quality is excellent. All you need to do … Continue reading “DMS Help: Free Music for your Video Projects”

Need some music for a film project? Finding your production budget a bit short?

No problem. Just visit musopen.com and solve your problem. Musopen is an online repository of free, royalty-free, public domain music. It’s mostly classical pieces performed by university orchestras, but by and large the quality is excellent.

All you need to do is create an account and log in to download the mp3s.

The J Marimba Ponies

I couldn’t resist noting this guilty pleasure – my favorite piece of streaming video from the last couple of weeks. The Ponies perform the Sabre Dance. For those old enough to remember, this piece of music, composed by Aram Khachaturian, was used on the Ed Sullivan show to accompany spinning plate acts and more recently … Continue reading “The J Marimba Ponies”

I couldn’t resist noting this guilty pleasure – my favorite piece of streaming video from the last couple of weeks. The Ponies perform the Sabre Dance. For those old enough to remember, this piece of music, composed by Aram Khachaturian, was used on the Ed Sullivan show to accompany spinning plate acts and more recently has found its way into an episode of the Simpsons and segments of Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

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