Regular readers know of my affinity for soundtracks in the studio background while working away on creating another cartoon. There are folks on YouTube making some truly impressive compilations - longplaying amalgamations from many composer's pieces to blockbuster franchises. This is something akin to DJs whose remixes can earn more accolades and devotees than the originating artists (see Zimmer's "Dark Knight" and "Man Of Steel," and this "Avengers" medley too). I have mixed feelings about this since, unless a license was purchased to ensure some proper remittance and all due credit, technically it's also in violation of copyright, and the artist is ripped off. They were/are also handsomely compensated by the corporate media giants who hire them to deliver another commercially profitable venture, and these studios are in a symbiotic relationship with such fan-based efforts like artistic remoras. Or maybe artis-ticks?
But if you want the best for raw inspiration and to get those creative juices flowing, always go straight to the source material- for example I've been undergoing a classic John Williams renaissance of sorts, and have recently added another excellent backing track to studio classroom dramatic entrances (Thanos, Vader, Magneto and Voldemort still occupying the top slots) - not to mention what with the way 2020 wound up, it's also quite often been my go-to for a wake-up track if not theme music for the daily disaster.
For additional fun, try to swim upstream to find the classical composers Williams ripped off for each specific piece of cinema score. I'm the furthest thing from an expert, but I am married to a classical musician, and Williams' penchant for lifting whole passages complete and barely disguising others is a bit of a wry joke or source of outrage depending on the purity of the observer's convictions. Most classical repertoire is in the public domain, and there are only so many notes... Also, human nature being more or less unchanged and unchanging, what worked in 18-whatever will still work today.
ReplyDeleteIt is something of a side-eye moment when I stumble across a strain or passage that distinctly echoes recognizable hooks used in contemporary scores. And you nailed it with the observation from the perspective of professional performer with a more critical, discerning eye (cartoonists are pretty bad also). Popular culture resembles a ruminant's multi-chambered stomach in how elements are continually chewed, partially barfed up again as commercial cud, masticated some more, digested and passed on a fertilizer for the next crop of artists.
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