Park Music

[TPC]

Has anyone got a recording of this new soundtrack?

[SteveJ]

On 31/07/2017 at 10:08 PM, BaronC. said:

>People moan that there's an American announcement for a coaster with a story set in Britain.

 

>People don't moan that a coaster with a story set in a theme park has a station themed to a church.

 

Good to see consistency in people's logic... 

 

I've probably moaned about the dumbness of The Swarm's entire theme before. It's not worth thinking about because there's nothing to it, as if one person wrote the script about "devastation at a theme park", another wanted to throw old vehicles everywhere because they were the cheapest big theming they could get, and another said "Wouldn't it be cool to set the station in a destroyed church like the end of the world". And then the quantity surveyor came along and sucked the budget out of everything, so none of it was very interesting or fun anyway.

...The new Colossus music sounds much better produced than the dated production on the original, but the retained Ian Habgood theme is still the best part. It's not a bad job and will hopefully make the area feel more engaging for guests, but IMAscore continue to sell UK parks the same thing over and over. Nothing beats a proper theme and not their pre-edited overproduced style, in my opinion. At the end of the day, it's a tarmac path with a dirty coaster on top, the music doesn't change that unfortunately.

[Marc]

Colossus is the latest to see work - has its new theme playing which seems to be a longer version of whats been around Lost City the past few weeks - sounded good and also great to hear l the big bose 802's fixed (near rush, under the first drop, at the entrence and the one near the snack shop) and sounding good - a few of those I've not heard work for years! The queue had a couple of quiet spots (looks like during some works some speakers had been almost completely covered in dirt) which I'm sure will be sorted!

 

Also I know it was mentioned a few weeks ago about Amitys WWTP - this is playing much louder now around the area.

[Mattgwise]

Had a listen of the Colossus soundtrack yesterday and personally I prefer the old one. It is too slow paced, echoey, overplays the island melody and it just sounded blander. Shame as I love the island soundtrack. Who knows it may grow on me.

 

I guess Nemesis Inferno will be next so made the most of listening to that yesterday, even if it did keep cutting out.

 

Yes, noticed yesterday, Tidal Wave area of Amity was much louder than before, a big improvement.

 

As Marc said, it is good to still be noticing dead zones and speakers that haven't worked for a long time getting sorted out, so good job to the team:)

 

 

 

[Marhelorpe]

Heard it yesterday too and like Matt, I'm not a fan of this new audio playing around Colossus either. It simply doesn't suit the ride, but it does however work very well with all the flats.

 

The dominating and intimidating feel Colossus once had is now gone and this change has made it lose some of it's character in all honesty, especially with the tingly, high note sections of the track (couldn't think of a better explanation) and the overuse of the island's new theme eliminates any originality.

 

It should stay just for use around all of Lost City's flats as it works great there, not the world's first 10 looping coaster.

 

Sorry Thorpe, but this to me was a wrong decision to make. Please bring back what it was before.

 

Also, some things will age worse than the paint work on Colossus, this tweet being one of them:

 

 

Here are snippets of those sections I am referring to:

 

Clip 1.mp3

Clip 2.mp3

[HermanTheGerman]

What's with going round everywhere replacing older tracks with more modern, homogenous pieces? Its not that broken idea of "we're bigger now, we can do better" again is it? Some of the nicest bits about Thorpe Park was the sound design and atmosphere around Colossus and Inferno. Why ruin something that was perfectly fine in the first place? Is it just so you can brag to the enthusiasts about having IMAscore everywhere?

 

I'm all for improving audio where necessary. Why not? But replacing well-suited tracks with cut and paste IMAscore formula is not a good move... Clearly music at theme parks is still gravely misunderstood. 

[JoshC.]

Replacing Colossus' audio was always going to upset some people, partly because of nostalgic reasons.  And people are always adverse to change, especially when it's something so big and iconic. 

 

As I've said, the new track feels like an evolution, not something completely new.  I think it works well and the idea of using the island sound across the park is a neat touch.  The new track is a lot longer too, which I think is important - repetitive tracks will drain away and be ignored after a couple of repeats. 

 

But I guess the issue is that because it's no better than the old track, people will question if it's necessary. 

[Mattgwise]

3 hours ago, BaronC. said:

 The new track is a lot longer too, which I think is important - repetitive tracks will drain away and be ignored after a couple of repeats.

The overall track is longer but I find this much more repetitive than the old one. The old track consisted of completely different sounding parts ranging from slow, upbeat and tense bits. This new one essentially repeats one aspect of the old theme many times, throws in the island theme and then just sounds slow and samey for the rest.

[Matt A]

Now that a lot of the park has had it's music replaced by the Island Theme, does anywhere still play chart music or does everywhere have it's own soundtrack now? I remember the beach and flying fish always had chart music so I'm assuming it's changed there now.

[JoshC.]

7 minutes ago, EpicSmatty said:

Now that a lot of the park has had it's music replaced by the Island Theme, does anywhere still play chart music or does everywhere have it's own soundtrack now? I remember the beach and flying fish always had chart music so I'm assuming it's changed there now.

I believe the only places that play non-Thorpe music are X's queue line and Fin's (and of course Ministry of Sound nights).

[SteveJ]

I remember Colossus being built, but I never took the Colossus music to heart or feel any sense of nostalgia about the music or ride, in fact I found the way it sounded annoying in parts due to the slightly thin production sound. I think (from what I've heard) the reproduced Ian Habgood parts sound like an improvement on the style.

 

However the rest is forgetable and the idea of having a "leitmotif" (theme please, this is a theme park not Bernard Herrmann! ) can be a bit on the nose because Thorpe Park is pretty small and unthemed anyway. The original Ian Habgood composition had great pace, great dynamic, very engaging and not repetitive. It sounded more characteristic and melodic, which is why it stuck. A typical IMAscore track is never like this - they can do loud punchy industrial and whimsical orchestra, but it always feels like an impression of something else (and overblown in my opinion).

 

Unfortunately changing the music is ALWAYS what new PR or marketing departments do when they take on a new park. "Hey we need to modernise 'the brand', how can we do this? Oh we have no real budget? Just replace all the music with our own idea of what's right then". Last time it was chart music, then it got undone. At Legoland it happened and now it plays both the old AND new tracks one after the other, Chessington had their awful 'Call To Adventure' that quickly died a death, at Alton Towers it's another hodge podge of time periods.

[Mattgwise]

1 hour ago, EpicSmatty said:

I remember the beach and flying fish always had chart music so I'm assuming it's changed there now.

Beach and Flying Fish has been playing Tidal Wave loop of WWTP radio I believe since last year.

[Quorn]

Today was my first visit since the update to the lost city soundtrack, and despite my initial feelings of 'nothing can improve that music' and 'I'm never visiting any Merlin park ever again', the new music seems to breathe new life into the area and makes it feel much more alive. It seemed refreshed and lively compared to past experiences. Colossus on the other hand...

[Mattgwise]

44 minutes ago, louis_cullen said:

Today was my first visit since the update to the lost city soundtrack, and despite my initial feelings of 'nothing can improve that music' and 'I'm never visiting any Merlin park ever again', the new music seems to breathe new life into the area and makes it feel much more alive. It seemed refreshed and lively compared to past experiences. Colossus on the other hand...

Yes agreed, it is great for the lost city area, but not great for Colossus. That area should have been left untouched with the original Colossus theme.

[Zappomatic]

On 01/08/2017 at 2:31 PM, MattyMoo said:

Details details...!

 

Are the queue line TV's working again does anyone know? Be a shame for all that production of a rolling news channel - which was genuinely impressive - go to waste.

They were working when I visited the weekend before last.

[SteveJ]

Quote

Be a shame for all that production of a rolling news channel - which was genuinely impressive - go to waste.

I can't wait for the videos to be removed completely. I think it's the most boring, unentertaining preshow video I've ever seen and conjures up no atmosphere. Just badly acted cliches on a loop, to distract you from the fact you're waiting for an overhyped coaster on a patch of tarmac and what from some angles looks like a church (if you squint!)

[MattyMoo]

Heyyyy - I like the Swarm! Whether the preshow isn't perhaps that impressive - you can't deny that the Swarm island is pretty damn impressive looking theming wise - it puts the most of the "island like no other" to shame really.

[Marhelorpe]

Visited yesterday and noticed the entrance audio has been extended in length by almost double now I believe to about 30 minutes and consists of many of the ride/area themes remixed together, noticeably in the order they opened for the first time.

Some used their new music such as DBGT and Colossus (ugh), some existing ones like Nemesis Inferno, but also some new unheard ones which sounded as though they belonged with Old Town, Storm Surge and Amity Cove. Could these be changing soon?

Also, a pre-recorded announcement has been added to the entrance asking you to present your tickets at the turnstiles, though I'm certain it's manually used and hasn't been merged into the music.

[SteveJ]

On 11/08/2017 at 11:35 AM, MattyMoo said:

Heyyyy - I like the Swarm! Whether the preshow isn't perhaps that impressive - you can't deny that the Swarm island is pretty damn impressive looking theming wise - it puts the most of the "island like no other" to shame really.

I've always felt it was really underwhelming, a flat square pavement with 'bits n bobs' parked on it. A very blocky, bland  'church' which is a less atmospheric station than Colossus or nemesis Inferno - and they were pretty simple steel-box jobs to begin with.

 

The ambulance upended is cool because it's not just a token vehicle parked behind a fence, and the joke telephone box I suppose. The plane is featureless and looks like it's been carefully lowered into place, on a little mound of earth they scraped from the trench they dug for the track. The billboard pretty much sums it up.

 

There's nothing iconic about the place and only looks 'devastated' in the most boring interpretation of what could've been. It's all very 'average', so I guess it is the perfect theme for the coaster! It has the kind of formulaic theming that would probably please UK enthusiasts these days, but not grab the imagination of anybody else - and unlike others it doesn't have a good enough coaster at its core to make up for it this time.

[JoshC.]

I like the new bridge music - real nice mix of different sounds from across the park, and music that could fit in areas of the park too.  I really like the Ghost Train remix it has!

[Whatever]

As much as I enjoy this new Colossus music and like that they've somewhat kept most of the original tune, one new melody sounds almost completely ripped off of 'Rue's Farewell' from the Hunger Games franchise. As soon as I walked into the Lost City, I was immediately reminded of it. 

 

 

[Themeparkwizard]

I Recently Visited The Park And Managed To Get Some Snippets Of The New Mix Added Into The Entrance! For Now I'll Be Sending The Track That Would Be For Old Town.

By The Way, The File Name Isn't The Tracks Official Name, I Just Called It That xD

 

Thorpe_Park_x_IMAscore-_Tugboats_And_Traps.m4a

[Charlesberg]

In all honesty, I actually quite like the fact that most of the music has changed.

 

For example, I have heard the Lost City and Rumba's soundtrack enough times to a point where it has become tedious. The original LC theme just reminds me of recent bad memories on Colossus.

 

Personally, I think the new Rumba theme is very atmospheric. And from a musicians point of view, I think it has a more adventurous feel than the old theme and is more fit for a ride in 'The Jungle' (probably why they changed it).

 

I do also love the new island soundtrack. Like I said with Rumba, it gives a much greater sense of adventure and escapism.

[Kerfuffle]

Random thought but every time I hear the main melody from the entrance music, I can't help that IMAscore had a little inspiration from another project of theirs. Does sound very similar

(Nothing wrong with it though. Seriously this is my favourite track from IMA)

[Themeparkwizard]

On 31/08/2017 at 0:53 PM, Terry Terry said:

 

 

Personally, I think the new Rumba theme is very atmospheric. And from a musicians point of view, I think it has a more adventurous feel than the old theme and is more fit for a ride in 'The Jungle' (probably why they changed it).

 

I do also love the new island soundtrack. Like I said with Rumba, it gives a much greater sense of adventure and escapism.

I Honesly Think The Same, The New Rumba Rapids Music Really Makes It Fit Into The Jungle, And I'd Love For The Soundtrack To Be Played Around The Rest Of The Area (Not Around Inferno, But Yeah)