Marhelorpe Posted October 16, 2017 Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 5 hours ago, StevenVig said: The whole point of the 'Island Theme' is that it is supposed to be identifiable, it was designed to be used across the resort. It has grown on me a lot, I was skeptical at first. If you go to CWoA, you will hear in most areas, their own identifiable hook if you will. Alton also has one, and was probably the first out of the three to do this, but they used In The Hall of The Mountain Kings, which is not original, but it works for them. By all means, establishing an identity for the park with this new tune is great and it's good to see it finally get one just like Alton and Chessington do and I fully support the idea. But the problem is at the present stage, it is being used too much across their attractions and is in some ways detracting originality and character from each area/ride whilst simultaneously making it more repetitive to listen to, especially compared to what was played previously for each of them. The way Alton and Chessington do it is the right approach. Most of the time they place their themes amongst the rest of the track in a subtle way that is not too noticeable for listeners but it's still there regardless. That way, each area still retains it's character and originality without another melody dominating or overshadowing the rest of the music. This is why the entrance is the perfect place to use it several times since most people only pass through the gates once at the start/end of the day and don't queue potentially hours listening to the same track over and over again. For Thorpe however, not only is their version played countless times at the entrance, but X now uses it as it's main theme, Colossus now shares the same audio with all of Lost City, Shark Hotel I swear is nothing but this tune and The Jungle's audio features it at least 5 times on the same loop I'm sure over and over again. When you are standing or queuing in these areas for a while hearing this everywhere you go across the park in the same day, it can get quite repetitive. Sure, all the new audio tracks might be statistically longer in length and sound better, but does that mean they are all less repetitive as a result? In the case for Lost City and Colossus, it clearly isn't. If each attraction/area which has undergone changes this year only plays the tune on loop at very most just once or maybe twice very similarly to how Galactica, Spinball and Smiler do it and fill the rest of the loop with new and original audio, that would've worked much better. Make it's use subtle, not obvious. SteveJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted October 16, 2017 Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 To the every day guest who visits once or twice a year it will be subtle, many of the tracks are alot longer than the previous ones too (The Lost City track for example) which previously played a portion of the Colossus music which cant have been no longer than 5 minutes, the new one must be at least 15 minutes, if anything making it if anything less repetitive. Same works for X, the music lasts about as long as your ride will be on it, most visitors to the park will ride it no more than 3/4 times a year (total guess at the numbers here!). WWTPRadio and StevenVig 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marhelorpe Posted October 16, 2017 Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 See, I disagree with that. Playing the same tune or segment multiple times on several attractions and areas does not excuse for a longer track. If anything, a longer track should provide an opportunity for the composer to create lots of new, original, innovative and unique audio, which we have thankfully for the most part been seeing over the last few months across the park. But at the same time, that does not mean the same 30-40 seconds should be used at least 4 times for Lost City, 5 times for The Jungle, endless repeating for X, constantly for Shark Hotel and several times for the others. It doesn't matter whether a guest has visited the park once or 10 times in a year, there should be a strong sense of variety and originality across all areas for them to appreciate and enjoy, but this move is straying away from that objective slightly. It seems to me that whilst this new audio is finally giving the park an identity, it is in return causing each attraction to begin losing their individual one at the same time. By the way, if this is all coming across as though I hate all the new audio, it isn't. In fact, I think the majority of it sounds excellent in comparison to what it was before, especially for the entrance, dome and Jungle areas of the park! But I believe it's important to point out and hope the park do not lose sight and forget the importance of each ride/area standing out from the rest with it's own character and identity. Seeing Lost City and Colossus merge together back in August with the same audio was when it started to become a problem and I fear The Jungle's track at some point will replace Inferno next given they share similar themes and proximity to each other. SteveJ and Martin Doyle 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted October 16, 2017 Report Share Posted October 16, 2017 Have to disagree with you on X - previously rides on X would be a bit of a "gamble", some rides you'd have a great track to ride along with, other times a not so great one, would really make a difference to the ride - it was always abit inconsistent, along with that the lights now syncing up with the music means you'll get the same experience no matter when you ride. And its the same for all rides, they all have their own themes which are exactly the same every ride and as long as the musics good i dont see an issue with that sort of consistency. I think changing the Colossus music was always going to split opinion - ive not noticed it to be repetitive but again things like this are all down to personal taste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mega-Lite Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 Martin has nailed it in my opinion. The audio references to the main themes used at Chessie and Alton are subtle and in cases it took me a while to pick up on it (Smiler and Chessie 2010 Halloween loop). At Thorpe in my opinion it's too in your face. I found myself saying "not this again" a few times on park. Martin Doyle, Cal, Marhelorpe and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlivusPrime Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 To be honest, after visiting the park for the first time in a while a few weeks back, I can't identify this new Island theme, and I'm the kind of person who usually pays a lot of attention to audio. That being said, I didn't spend too much time in the flat ride area of Lost City or the central part of the Jungle, which apparently are the areas that implement it most. If anything this new audio should be kept as area music, replacing tracks that are so identifiable with certain rides and have been for so long is a bad idea. SteveJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerfuffle Posted October 17, 2017 Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 On 10/16/2017 at 10:46 AM, StevenVig said: The whole point of the 'Island Theme' is that it is supposed to be identifiable, it was designed to be used across the resort. It has grown on me a lot, I was skeptical at first. If you go to CWoA, you will hear in most areas, their own identifiable hook if you will. Alton also has one, and was probably the first out of the three to do this, but they used In The Hall of The Mountain Kings, which is not original, but it works for them. Exactly. It's the park's main melody for the theme if you will so of course it'll be repeated across the park, just in different styles to fit the themes. Off topic but this was also achieved in Planet Coaster with the game's main theme tune being used in different themed music, fitting different themes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenVig Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 The park have uploaded a lovely little montage video to mark the end of the 2017 season, and it contains a great mix of different area tracks and ride sound effects. WWTPRadio 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWTPRadio Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 5 minutes ago, StevenVig said: The park have uploaded a lovely little montage video to mark the end of the 2017 season, and it contains a great mix of different area tracks and ride sound effects. Anyone arriving at the park before opening for the past few weeks would have enjoyed the new countdown video with this audio which takes you up until the gates open StevenVig and JoshC. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenVig Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 Just now, WWTPRadio said: Anyone arriving at the park before opening for the past few weeks would have enjoyed the new countdown video with this audio which takes you up until the gates open Thank You WWTPRadio, I did not know this! Glad it was used on a daily basis recently then ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 They also had a special "end of season" music loop which played at 4PM yesterday, made up of the track above, the entrance music and X music! Similar for the end of Fright Nights - that Big Top music sounds great played across the whole park! WWTPRadio 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyMoo Posted November 2, 2017 Report Share Posted November 2, 2017 Any significance in 2018 going dark red/bloody at the end? #enthusiastthoughts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted November 15, 2017 Report Share Posted November 15, 2017 Short clip of the music which played at closing time on last day of season - as said same as the start of day track, sounded good! Matt A and Olistjj 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted November 28, 2017 Report Share Posted November 28, 2017 Great video! I'm a big fan of when parks do video production well and are creative with it. All too often such parks in the UK make do with staff filming on their mobile phones and having a go at iMovie! Great idea to use the screen like that too. As for the music, I think we're currently in a phase after quite a few years of decline that themed music has become important again, which is great. But it means many have raced ahead a bit overzealously and blowing their own trumpet (PUN) thinking how clever they are using "leitmotifs" and all that. Homogenising the sounds of most UK parks as IMAscore or putting music on every single path possible (not talking specifically about Thorpe) seem to be a part of the current novelty too? When it settles down I think it would be better. Lots of modern big exciting sound recently, which is fine but not so much the talent & uniqueness behind it, often a bit 'box-ticking', probably why peoples reactions are quite mixed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 Imascore have released a Thorpe CD! https://www.thorpeparkmania.co.uk/news/12-12-2017/IMAscore+release+Thorpe+Park+CD Link to buy: http://shop.imascore.com/product/thorpe-park-resort-soundtrack/ Marhelorpe, JoshC. and Mattgwise 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoelAllen Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 Wow! That’s great to hear. I love Thorpe’s new soundtracks so this is great news for me. I may get it, I guess it depends... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L7123456 Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 The Big Top sounds AMAZING!!! All this waiting and we finally got a release Marhelorpe 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJ Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 There's nothing wrong with hardcore fans enjoying the music at home if they like it that much, but selling soundtracks for merchandising can often lead to the kind of OTT music being produced to sound good on headphones and not so much as part of an experience. I think we've already started to see this creep into UK parks, eg DBGT where the music already sounds like just some trailer music played through a queueline tannoy as if "Insert dramatic music here" was written on the plans. Like I say nothing wrong with selling it if hardcore fans want it. It's often done in other parks. But it NEEDs consideration and restraint. I worry that if Merlin see £££s then thats it, all park soundtrakcs can be streamed or sold online and then people will be hearing it more on YouTube than they do in person at the park! Which totally takes away the unique effect of the experience. Their recently left head of show services seemed to have the right motivation that its the sound systems and effect of the music on park that matters the most. So I hope that doesn't get neglected in favour of selling it as a commodity. CharlieN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenVig Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 This is IMAScore selling the music, not Merlin. So Merlin make no profit from it. Though it will be interesting to see if it will be physically sold on Park. Also, did Nemesis Inferno have a new soundtrack this season or is the included track for next season? ? My copy has been pre-ordered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWOAFan Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 This is AMAZING!!! Hopefully Merlin will see how profitable the CD's are from IMAscore and start to release their on older soundtrack CD's throughout the attractions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlesberg Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 I’m very glad that theme park soundtracks are becoming much more recognised as in the past they didn’t appear to be too big a deal. That’s probably because enthusiasts were the only people that really cared about them (and the majority of theme park visitors are GP). Now all they need to do is release full orchestral scores Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whatever Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 As a fan of Thorpe's past music, I have very mixed feelings about this CD and the new music as a whole... I feel like they're patting themselves on the head and going ah yes.... leitmotifs.... we are such intellectuals... beat that disney. In general, I FAR preferred the old main thorpe theme, as barely recognised as it was. It was used in this promo video a few years back: Much preferred it to the electric pop beat we have now. It sounded a lot more Intelligent, as if the park was fun but took itself more seriously -and more British (these new soundtracks sound very manufactured and American) I was sad to see the OG Colossus and now the OG Inferno tracks go, but I think they've done an alright job with the new ones and I'm very very glad that they're similar to their predecessors. It's a bit stupid that they've essentially paid IMAScore to redo something that was already great and didn't need fixing. Does anyone also know if this CD will be available on iTunes, Amazon music and the like? My household have converted to digital music pretty much and I don't know if there are even any surviving CD players in the house. Sorry that this post is a bit of a shambles gramatically. SteveJ and OlivusPrime 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Themeparkwizard Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 21 minutes ago, Whatever said: Does anyone also know if this CD will be available on iTunes, Amazon music and the like? My household have converted to digital music pretty much and I don't know if there are even any surviving CD players in the house. Sorry that this post is a bit of a shambles gramatically. I Think The CD Will Have A Digital Download Available Whatever 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benin Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 Glad I've got my Colossos and Scream CD tbh... Shame some of the more iconic tracks will forever be left to dodgy MP3 downloads... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 Inferno still has its original track - the inferno music on the cd sounds like The Jungle sound track (Inferno shop / pizza pasta / I’m a celeb when it’s closed!) No idea if they will release a digital version though sorry! Whatever 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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