Park Music

[ProudToServe]

2 hours ago, Martin.C said:

 

But I agree, after hearing Big Top's theme properly, it sounds superb! One of the best tunes I've heard IMAscore make after Helix and Galactica. 

  All you need now is the maze.

[JoshC.]

On 13/01/2018 at 2:38 PM, pluk said:

- Unfortunately I don't like the actual theme they have running through it, sounds kind of childish somehow, like it would fit in better at Chessington. It doesn't have much sense of drama, as a melody, and worst of all it's very forgettable.

 

I must admit that I did find it a bit forgettable at the start of the season.  I liked it, but it isn't perhaps as easily memorized to hum along to and such after one listening (like older Thorpe soundtracks, ITHOMK, etc).

 

But that's why I like the fact they've got the theme running through large parts of the park.  You recognise it, which creates that parkwide link, and then it seems to slowly seep in and become memorable.  Whether it's intentional or not I don't know, but it really works well as subtly becoming memorable, rather than a 'listen once and it always sticks' piece.

 

 

As for the CD, it's fab, I really enjoy it, and it's good to see UK Merlin doing this after many years of fans wanting it.  A nice touch (which many IMA score CDs do not have) is how it has a little booklet saying where each track is from s little about the thought process and design of the audio.

[WWTPRadio]

5 hours ago, BaronC. said:

I must admit that I did find it a bit forgettable at the start of the season.  I liked it, but it isn't perhaps as easily memorized to hum along to and such after one listening (like older Thorpe soundtracks, ITHOMK, etc).

 

But that's why I like the fact they've got the theme running through large parts of the park.  You recognise it, which creates that parkwide link, and then it seems to slowly seep in and become memorable.  Whether it's intentional or not I don't know, but it really works well as subtly becoming memorable, rather than a 'listen once and it always sticks' piece.

 

 

As for the CD, it's fab, I really enjoy it, and it's good to see UK Merlin doing this after many years of fans wanting it.  A nice touch (which many IMA score CDs do not have) is how it has a little booklet saying where each track is from s little about the thought process and design of the audio.

Glad you like the booklet.

 

The main theme (which went through quite a lot of change and scrutiny) will always be subjective up against ITHOTMK - an instantly recognisable peice of music. What’s nice, however, is that ITHOTMK is not and will never be solely Alton Towers’ theme music. It’s a peice of historical, classical music which will forever feature in film and television. 

 

The new Thorpe Park theme however, is only that. It doesn’t exist elsewhere and now dominates the park audio as a short phrase that sticks in your head and stays with you, and can be tailored to the different styles of the park. 

 

I’ve always felt you should be able to sing the name of the brand or product to its theme tune. So now when you listen to  the theme, sing ‘let’s go to Thorpe Park’ in the second and fourth set of 4 bars! It works! Now try and fit Alton Towers into ITHOTMK!  ?

[StevenVig]

20 hours ago, WWTPRadio said:

So now when you listen to  the theme, sing ‘let’s go to Thorpe Park’ in the second and fourth set of 4 bars! It works!

Oh WWTPRadio 

 

Never catch me doing that 

[Coaster]

After listening to the CD my opinion remains the same, the new motif is great and works well, but in the cases where the old ride themes have been "copied and pasted" the IMAScore versions don't have a patch on the originals.

 

I hope Inferno's theme stays as the original, it's brilliant!

[JohnnyRocket]

Been one of them "lurkers" on here since 2006 (!) but wanted to say, love the new park music. Sounded great on park, love the CD.

 

BUT... the removal of the Colossus music is a big loss to the park. Truly iconic, its replacement is far too wishy-washy. Felt it didn't work on park - any intimidation and drama the original had has gone. Works perfectly well as area music around the flat rides but not strong enough as the coaster's theme track. Strange decision..! I just hope the track isn't extended to Vortex which was still using its modified Colossus theme it's been using since 2002. Fits Vortex as perfectly as it does Colossus. 

 

Really hope the park listens and reverts the Colossus theme back, while utilising the new version as part of the wider Lost City area music as the majority seem to suggest, but we'll see!

 

The new Nemesis Inferno track on the other hand is very good! It's essentially the same but extended/embellished. The original track was great, but was always far too short for the queue line.

[JoshC.]

Ooh, another thing I forgot to mention..

 

On the 'An Island Like No Other' track (which I believe specifically plays on the bridge?), there's a nice mix of all the sounds of the island.  There's a nice section after The Swarm noise which is surely perfect for Swarm - hope that this year new music for Swarm is on the cards, and that it ends up being a longer version of what we can hear there! 

[A-Kid]

I really like most of the tracks. They are fine in their own right (the Big Top and X were fantastic!), but some of them don't work on park. Colossus' track is awful and is a big identity loss to the ride having it. It just repeats the same bit over and over when there were at least 5 different tracks merged from Habgood they could have used. Lost city is fine as they just need some form of consistency in that area. Inferno will be fine as the sole structure of the track is still there. But they need to fix the zone as it was playing Angry Birds around the loop area and the 802 down there is missing. Angry Birds doesn't need music beyond Dodgems/4D as it clashes too much.  

Swarm needs just... something less boring. And in the station as its dull. The new-ish "nothing can stop the swarm" needs to burn on dispatch. I see nothing wrong with them having YMAS playing a 10 second clip for the dispatch, a bit like Outlaw Run does with The Big Country. There are 2 tracks one on dispatch, one when it parks and then a looping ambience it seems. So as long as it fits that timeframe it will be fine.

Canada Creek needs its playlist back. Period. Pre-2010 playlist or new country. I guess they don't want to draw attention to the area too much, but its dead along that path and its a big area of the park tbh.

WWTP Tidal must stay around just tidal. It looks lazy just extending it out over the beach without actually re-theming the beach. I guess they only moved it to ditch the un-themed Top-40 radio. It just stuck. It's not Amity. Its a track that is focused on one ride only. It's dumb having it on DC and Fish when they have that Atlantis styling surroundings. As they are going with this Island theme, which to me says beachy/tropical/water/relaxing sort of vibes, surely the one area you'd stick that is the actual beach? Maybe even a 2 hour playlist of beach songs with some watery effects and maybe one or two IMA tracks? It nees to be different from the dome area but on that same theme.

Stealth's "Plaza Zone" needs fixing as the whole thing is broken (as well as half the queue). That consists of the 2 speakers in (were in) the truck, the one by the bunker and the one by photos. Nowhere near as loud as it should be. The operator can also be heard by Teacups if you use the Station/Offload/Waiting Zones.

On a positive note I actually think the stuff on the bridge and dome work well. Its really loud in the dome so maybe that could be knocked down a bit. It feels positive as you walk over.

[ProudToServe]

On 20/01/2018 at 2:43 PM, A-Kid said:

Stealth's "Plaza Zone" needs fixing as the whole thing is broken 

 

On a positive note I actually think the stuff on the bridge and dome work well. Its really loud in the dome so maybe that could be knocked down a bit. It feels positive as you walk over.

I wouldn't say the whole of the plaza is broken... and as for the dome audio level. That fluctuates daily, usually down to who's deciding what level is loud and quiet, as that can differ between people easily.

[A-Kid]

The plaza zone consists of what I mentioned before. The "entrance" zone consists of 4 green speakers and the 2 802's ether side by teacups which works, but has notable microphone issues as mentioned. They don't cover the plaza effectively at all. You pretty much can't hear the music by the photo unit. One thing I always liked about Stealth's area is how loud it was. It was massively overpowering and had such a pumped atmosphere. You don't get that currently.

They do seem to change the audio level depending on how busy it is. The dome doesn't bother me that much, but it just feels a little too much for that area sometimes.

[Marc]

1 hour ago, A-Kid said:

The plaza zone consists of what I mentioned before. The "entrance" zone consists of 4 green speakers and the 2 802's ether side by teacups which works, but has notable microphone issues as mentioned. They don't cover the plaza effectively at all. You pretty much can't hear the music by the photo unit. One thing I always liked about Stealth's area is how loud it was. It was massively overpowering and had such a pumped atmosphere. You don't get that currently.

They do seem to change the audio level depending on how busy it is. The dome doesn't bother me that much, but it just feels a little too much for that area sometimes.

Think there’s a speaker behind the shop isn’t there which used to cover the area near the photo unit?

[TP-Fan]

7 minutes ago, Marc said:

Think there’s a speaker behind the shop isn’t there which used to cover the area near the photo unit?

There definitely used to be a speaker there, but I think it was removed sometime in early 2017.

I remember in summer 2016 the area sounded great. This was the last time that all the original 802s in the plaza were used. Since then the 2 speakers on the truck, the speaker next to the photo unit and the speaker near the entrance to the sunken garden are all disused/broken or removed.

[Mattgwise]

There have also been lots of "dead" areas that have returned over the last year so hopefully they have done some work over closed season with other quiet/dead  areas. It is probably in their best interest to have it working what with the focus on the new soundtrack and most of it being put in place by the end of last season. 

[Marhelorpe]

I too noticed last year on nearly every visit more and more areas were being worked on and gradually fixed which was great to see, especially with Rush's queue speakers finally and the loads scattered around Colossus. But there are still some in a few areas which could do with maintenance this winter, namely the ones used on the bridge from admissions to the dome as a couple sounded as though they were damaged by water and didn't sound quite right.

 

As for the Dome's audio, the inside sounded fine near the screen, but across where Fin's is, it was almost inaudible in this area. If this could be resolved and the speakers outside around the perimeter of the Dome facing Vortex could be amped up a bit in volume, that would be great.

[ProudToServe]

3 hours ago, A-Kid said:

The plaza zone consists of what I mentioned before. The "entrance" zone consists of 4 green speakers and the 2 802's ether side by teacups which works, but has notable microphone issues as mentioned. They don't cover the plaza effectively at all. You pretty much can't hear the music by the photo unit. One thing I always liked about Stealth's area is how loud it was. It was massively overpowering and had such a pumped atmosphere. You don't get that currently.

They do seem to change the audio level depending on how busy it is. The dome doesn't bother me that much, but it just feels a little too much for that area sometimes.

Theres actually currently 4 black speakers as well as the 4 Bose Freespace 360 mkll speakers. From what I remember, only 1 of the 4 black speakers don't work by the bunker. Never know, the subs could return... 

[A-Kid]

The subs were buggered. I had to clean them and the surrounding area under the launch last year. They had mushrooms growing through them  I have a map of the 50 speakers on Stealth of what works/doesn't. Hopefully I can get that to them when it gets focused on eventually.

[ProudToServe]

2 hours ago, A-Kid said:

The subs were buggered. I had to clean them and the surrounding area under the launch last year. They had mushrooms growing through them  I have a map of the 50 speakers on Stealth of what works/doesn't. Hopefully I can get that to them when it gets focused on eventually.

Buggered? like drivers gone, amp, cabling or they just don't produce any sound? I'm sure they'll be able to work out which ones work and don't anyway... I mean, just because 5 speakers don't work doesn't mean they are all broken  

[Marc]

On the subject of Stealths audio does anyone know the reasons behind the launch announcement / sound effect only playing out one side of the stations speakers? Back when it first opened definitely used to play both sides!

[WWTPRadio]

Yes Marc - an unfortunate lack of care, attention, time and money.

[MChappy]

Love the new CD can’t get it out of my car! Stumbled upon the Rangers CD on Google Play... https://play.google.com/music/m/B7cad7vk2xf6ldvgfweccrwuyp4?t=Thorpe_Park_Rangers__Nostalgia

[TPC]

I've listened to the cd now and some tracks are alright, but when they are amazing they seriously are amazing. There definitely seemed to be less of the main theme than I expected but was some of the music shortened? Personally, I would have preferred a bit more of the original inferno and Colossus theme tunes.

[WWTPRadio]

On 29/01/2018 at 4:48 PM, TPC said:

I've listened to the cd now and some tracks are alright, but when they are amazing they seriously are amazing. There definitely seemed to be less of the main theme than I expected but was some of the music shortened? Personally, I would have preferred a bit more of the original inferno and Colossus theme tunes.

Yes the full length versions of many of these tracks are up to half an hour in length. Particularly the Colossus and Nemesis tracks which play in their respective areas. 

[James]

On 1/30/2018 at 6:13 PM, WWTPRadio said:

Yes the full length versions of many of these tracks are up to half an hour in length. Particularly the Colossus and Nemesis tracks which play in their respective areas. 

I can't help but feel like the CD is a bit of a con / rip-off then. Doesn't particularly fill me with hope for if they ever get round to an Alton Towers CD then seeing as most of their tracks appear to be somewhere between 30 and 70 minutes long. 

[WWTPRadio]

21 hours ago, James said:

I can't help but feel like the CD is a bit of a con / rip-off then. Doesn't particularly fill me with hope for if they ever get round to an Alton Towers CD then seeing as most of their tracks appear to be somewhere between 30 and 70 minutes long. 

What an odd comment. The CD was released because fans really wanted the music - and so far Thorpe have been the only UK park to do it, based on lots of guest feedback. The music was designed to be enjoyed on park and as part of the island atmosphere, which is why the park has always been so keen to remove any  recordings etc from the likes of YouTube. But a CD is something so many people wanted and gives fans the ability to listen to the music, while looking forward to hearing it all at the park in all its full length glory. 

 

Still, you can’t please everyone - there’s always someone who moans because they want a CD per track ... I’m sorry if it doesn’t fill you with confidence. This has become one of IMAScore’s best selling CDs!

[TPC]

I love the soundtracks but still an quite annoyed it's not at all the full versions. The main reason I bought the CD was to listen to the full tracks, rather than listen to a shorter version. A pop singers CD would contain all of every song, rather than just the chorus, so why should a theme park cd be any different?