Murray's Music II, Electric Boogaloo

Apr 06, 2010 21:25

Some of you may be aware that for the past five years the main composer for most of the music heard in Doctor Who has been a man named Murray Gold. Some may also be aware that the music in 'The Eleventh Hour' sounded a bit different to the music heard during most of Russell T Davies' tenure.

This is not because Steven Moffat has replaced Gold. Gold is still writing the music and in fact did the new arrangement of the theme music (which I suspect will turn out to be a bit Marmite). Indeed, it's probably a good thing that Gold is still on the show, because he's actually a very good composer--though not to the level of a Kajiura Yuki or Ennio Morricone. He's a bit more like Edward Elgar--he does big bombastic orchestral pieces very well but doesn't really venture into many other waters.

The difference is in the sound mixing, rather. Sound mixing is important, because it governs how loud any given piece of background music is and whether or not it's as loud as or louder than any other noises in the scene, like voices or whatever foley may be present. If it is as loud as or louder than these things, it can make the scene hard to follow, simply because it's hard to hear it.

Here is an example of what I consider to be poorly-mixed background music, from 'Doomsday':

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You probably know how the exchange goes in this scene ('I love you'/'Quite right, to; and I suppose', and so on), at least if you're a Doctor Who fan, because in the three and a half years (!) since 'Doomsday' aired this has been one of the most discussed and argued-over scenes in the show's history, which is saying a lot. But the first time I saw the scene--in which, since it's meant to be a tear jerker, the characters and their emotions should be paramount--I misheard 'Quite right too; and I suppose' as--not making this up--'gelatin, adipose' (clairvoyant perception of 'Partners in Crime', perhaps?) because THE MUSIC. WAS TOO. LOUD. LIKE SCREAMING. OVER. THE DOCTOR. AND ROSE.

Murray's music for this and other scenes probably made at least some use of dynamic range compression or DRC. DRC isn't one of the great sins of music like your AutoTune or your generic idol singers who aren't Nana Mizuki, but it can be pretty infuriating, partly because it orginiated as a way to make certain types of classical music easier to hear but later became just a way to make Red Hot Chili Peppers albums louder. Rarely is it ever used to make anything softer.

This piece, from 'The Eleventh Hour', is notable in its non-use of DRC.

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Note how the volume changes! This isn't to say that loud music can NEVER work, because it can. Take these scenes from Kara no Kyoukai.

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The difference here? The music waited until Shiki was finished talking. In fact, things in general don't make much noise in Rakkyo, unless they're people talking or getting stabbed. Even opening and closing a refrigerator is totally silent in this universe.

ETA: I've been informed that Elgar was in fact able to do smaller, simpler pieces and do them well; he just didn't do it very often. Sorry, Sir Edward!

commentary and criticism, doctor who, music

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