Park Music

[Matt A]

They might be waiting for all the planned IMAscore tracks to be added to the parks before they release a CD

[L7123456]

Very happy to hear that IMAscore are doing a lot more of the soundtracks at Thorpe. From what I have heard of them so far, they are very good! I thoroughly look forward to hearing the rest of them when they are released.

Surely this has to mean we are getting a CD/official online release of the news soundtracks and existing ones (Big Top, DBGT).. Please Thorpe!

[StevenVig]

Not happy about the change I'll be honest. If Lost City & Nemesis Inferno themes are replaced, those are significant 'audible' pieces of history gone, it will be a great shame. Personally I am not a huge fan of IMAScore, the only track I enjoy is DBGT, but most of their compositions sound the same. 

 

WWTP should not be getting changed, so I've been told. So hopefully not to worry. I cannot think of any way they could pull off the Amity theme. 

[WWTPRadio]

Oh Steven. 

[ProudToServe]

9 hours ago, StevenVig said:

Not happy about the change I'll be honest. If Lost City & Nemesis Inferno themes are replaced, those are significant 'audible' pieces of history gone, it will be a great shame. Personally I am not a huge fan of IMAScore, the only track I enjoy is DBGT, but most of their compositions sound the same. 

 

WWTP should not be getting changed, so I've been told. So hopefully not to worry. I cannot think of any way they could pull off the Amity theme. 

Someone doesn't like change.

[Marc]

10 hours ago, StevenVig said:

Not happy about the change I'll be honest. If Lost City & Nemesis Inferno themes are replaced, those are significant 'audible' pieces of history gone, it will be a great shame. Personally I am not a huge fan of IMAScore, the only track I enjoy is DBGT, but most of their compositions sound the same. 

 

WWTP should not be getting changed, so I've been told. So hopefully not to worry. I cannot think of any way they could pull off the Amity theme. 

 

I agree with you that colossus / inferno are both fantastic bits of music - but I don't agree they couldn't be replaced with something better - things can always be improved upon!

[SteveJ]

Things can always be improved upon but homogenising the park's music to entirely IMA score (which is just a company favoured by parks, not some kind of musical divinity that instantly improves everything they touch, like they are often treated) will start to really deconstruct the rides' identity. Whose to say the soundtracks didn't have an enormous amount of effort put into them in the first place?

 

The entrance theme previously used was well known but suited an older version of the area, and didn't nearly gel as well. So I can easily see why music was replaced there.

 

Nemesis Inferno however, which actually has a very surprisngly well written theme, really sonically good, unique and a big part of the ride's identity  - the idea that you can just "upgrade" it with the latest flavour of the day is something that has happened time and again with parks, it doesn't work. That just fiddles around with the ride's identity. Crispin Merrel (who also did Hex) wrote the Inferno music, and with its original sound system and set up, it sounded ace. No need to change it.

 

It would be throwing away something special for the sake of the latest theme park fad. It needs a new sound system, not more easy money for IMAscore and their popular 'brand' of soundtrack.

 

You just know IMA score would produce overblown swelling orchestral stabs and with no melody, stick some jungly sounds on it and amplify it to sound flash on YouTube. Because that's what theyre good at and always askd to do by UK parks for some reason. Do we really want the whole park to sound like that?

 

If theyre going to change the music, change the whole ride theme too.

[Stuntman707]

I do like all of the current soundtracks for each rollercoaster across the park. I wouldn't want any of them to change. I don't mind the music for the areas of the park being changed however. Also it would be nice if they fixed / upgraded the speakers constantly cutting out around Inferno. I'm sure they could hide some Bose acoustic wave cannons in the bushes! (Or disguise them as drainpipes)

I really can't fault IMAscore though, I've liked everything ive heard from them. The Smiler soundtrack they did was amazing, always great to hear the full-length version while in X-Sector. Thorpe is giving out a great island vibe this year with the new entrance facelift and music.

[StevenVig]

11 hours ago, Stuntman707 said:

I'm sure they could hide some Bose acoustic wave cannons in the bushes! (Or disguise them as drainpipes)

 

The Bose Acoustic Wave Cannons were discontinued a very long time ago, so they wouldn't be able to get any more, sadly. 

[WWTPRadio]

Oh Steven.

[SteveJ]

The Bose bass cannons used to fascinate me.. Theyre pretty much pointless because you can get an excellent bass sound using high end speakers, without the need for enormous ceiling mounted 'cannon' sub woofers. They're such an odd unique system.

I'm sure there was a reason Tussauds liked to use them for a couple years, and the bass did originally sound very cool in Inferno. But they're way over the top for what they do!

[Marc]

Am a fan of all the 90s music added to the X playlist this year! 

[waffa]

19 hours ago, Wumbamillio said:

 

Nemesis Inferno however, which actually has a very surprisngly well written theme, really sonically good, unique and a big part of the ride's identity  - the idea that you can just "upgrade" it with the latest flavour of the day is something that has happened time and again with parks, it doesn't work. That just fiddles around with the ride's identity. Crispin Merrel (who also did Hex) wrote the Inferno music, and with its original sound system and set up, it sounded ace. No need to change it.

 

 

99% sure it was Ian Habgood - amazing theme though!

[SteveJ]

I seem to be convinced it was Merrell but could be wrong and can't find it on either his or Ian Habgood's websites now.

I forgot how good and inventive Ian Habgood's music was too. I just said his entrance theme for Thorpe wouldnt gel with the nature of the park today, but listening to it again after a long time, it's so much more of a characteristic and individual track than the IMAscore one. Great attraction music composer.

[WWTPRadio]

It was neither folks, that's why neither are credited for it. 

[SteveJ]

It was by Douglas Whates apparently, a successful classical composer and also a bassist. Funny because the bass was such a memorable part of Inferno, before the dispatch sequence got fiddled around with and the speakers broken. It was great fun when it set off.
 

[WWTPRadio]

Good work Wumbamillio. I had almost convinced myself it was composed by Steven Vig.

[Coaster]

I think it'd be a huge shame to lose some of the better themes in the park, I'm all for progression but there's absolutely no point in replacing entertaining quality themes with processed corporate music.

 

Colossus and Inferno in particular have an identity with the current music.

[OlivusPrime]

While I think area themes can be treated slightly differently, I think music themes for individual rides are much like movie compositions, in that they shouldn't be permanently removed/replaced. Sure, shuffle it around for special events and overlays, and maybe even create remixes/rerecordings of the original music, but a music theme that has been associated with a ride since its inception shouldn't be replaced simply to make the park seem more robotically homogeneous.

[waffa]

23 minutes ago, Wumbamillio said:

It was by Douglas Whates apparently, a successful classical composer and also a bassist. Funny because the bass was such a memorable part of Inferno, before the dispatch sequence got fiddled around with and the speakers broken. It was great fun when it set off.
 

 

hmmmm I'm still not sure, the piece sounds very Ian Habgood. The real trumpet throughout sounds like the one he puts in a lot of his tracks. Douglas seems to write for real ensembles rather than orchestral VST's

Wouldn't be surprised if Douglas was initially commissioned but ultimately they went with Ian as they sometimes pool a few composers and get them to pitch.

[SteveJ]

Thats also true. Id agree it sounds most Ian Habgoody but cant recall it now and the only trace I can find of anyone being commisioned to do Inferno is from this Douglas guy. But anyway you get the idea, the existing piece was very well produced by a talented composer and sounded really effective for the ride.

 

so saying "things can always be improved" when something is already very good often leads to arbitrary fiddling about, Id say the sound system needs redoing and thats improvement enough. It would sound fantastic

[Marc]

Im not sure why you think the speakers are broken? They all seem to work fine - the main difference between the original inferno and its theme now is the safety warning as you dispatch and the ambiance played when it used to be silent between dispatches. If anything else has changed please feel free to correct me!

 

like I said - I agree with everyone the tracks are very good both on Colossus and Inferno - but refusing to evolve due to nostalgia is silly. Also complaining about something what hasn't happened (even though there are hints it may) without hearing the actual replacement is mad - imascore are clearly pros at what they do - the majority of people like what they do any if anyone was to be able to beat what we have now it would be imascore IMO.

[OlivusPrime]

 

8 hours ago, Marc said:

I agree with everyone the tracks are very good both on Colossus and Inferno - but refusing to evolve due to nostalgia is silly.

 

(For me, at least) it's less about nostalgia and more about a ride's identity as a piece of work. Like I said, I wouldn't not change John Williams' Star Wars score out of nostalgia, but rather out of acknowledgment that it's one of the collaborative elements that makes the work what it is.

 

9 hours ago, Marc said:

Also complaining about something what hasn't happened (even though there are hints it may) without hearing the actual replacement is mad

 

Hey, it's early in the season, making assumptions is why we're here!

[SteveJ]

Ride identity is nothing to do with nostalgia. Just to make it clear - I'm not sentimental about this music, get rid of it and fiddle around with it if you want,  but havnt we seen this over and over at Thorpe Park? It just turns the music into a subjective commodity to change at the will of whoever's running the park at the time, and not part of any real experience or attraction identity anymore.

 

Like OlivusPrime says, you would be very destructive to go and swap out music in a film. These things work together to build quite a lot of the experience, without people necessarily realising just how much difference music makes - fiddle around with it and all a sudden it becomes just a commodity that can be flip flopped according to opinions. The same way Merlin seem to treat lighting, FX, scenic colours and everything.

 

IMA score's music has been possibly the least original theme park music Ive heard for most their UK attractions. I believe they've mostly become so popular with parks and fans alike because they have a brand and a high production sound, otherwise I doubt they'd have done so well based on their product alone. Not that they are bad at all, they are excellent at producing music, but they know exactly how to get that superficial overblown 'trailer music' sound which park operators clearly love, despite the fact it fits these parks so poorly in my opinion and is really quite gimmicky. They've done better and they've done many different styles, but clearly they're being asked for the same product over and over from the UK parks.

So the idea that the whole park can be 'upgraded' with IMAscore is completely impulsive and naive I think. "Acoustic theming" ha ha, oh dear oh dear.

 

 

In regard to the speakers, not sure Ive heard the prominent pulsing bass for many years. The entrance also sounds thin compared to how it used to I'm sure. But I could be thinking of a while back when the sound system was bodged. Either way, all that would need to make the ride sound afresh is to improve the sound system and ensure it is the best it can be.


We've been through about 5 similar 'music rebrands' at Alton Towers in the last 20 years too. It seems to be what new management teams do first to give the impression they're revolutionising the parks. And a new slogan too. I think it can be done a right way and a deconstructive, naive way.

[Marc]

TBF I don't think we've seen a great deal of "fiddling" at Thorpe - much of the music on the rides is mostly what they opened with - a few changes here and there mind. Of course lots was changed when the park decided to go down the chart music route but thank god they've stared to go down the more themed music route again.

 

Maybe nostalgia was the wrong word - as I've said im a big fan of the themes at the park, as I was of the old entrance music - but I also think things can always be bettered too - for example the new stuff Imascore have done for the entrance / dome fits in very well with the new "island" theme.

 

I heard what I assume is a new end of day track today (attached some videos) actually reminds me of the old one in some ways. I'm personally a fan of imascore - I think they've created some very good tracks for the merlin parks and look forward to seeing what more they can do.

IMG_2118.MOV

IMG_2119.MOV

IMG_2120.MOV