Ryan Leach : Music for Animation

This is part of a regular series of “Weekly Links” postings. On most Fridays I post links to stories and articles that I find interesting. Though I try to keep them mostly animation, music, or entertainment industry related I will also share the occasional link that I find useful or helpful in other ways. I hope you enjoy and please feel free to leave a comment about any of the links you’ve checked out.

Gather ’round for another small set of interesting or entertaining links for the week of September 25th.

• I discovered an interesting article from Film Music Magazine titled “The New Editors: When Composers Stop Composing”. Personally I have a tough time avoiding the “looping” rut, it’s just so easy and convenient to drop down drum loops or even to just hit L and repeat music you’ve already written. The result tends to be stiff and tiresome. I intend to figure out how exactly to break out of that “looping” rut and write a tutorial for Audiotuts with the results. The New Editors: When Composers Stop Composing
• This preview from Kentaro Sato for an orchestration book he may or may not write is fantastic. Hands down the best guide on how to orchestrate I’ve ever read. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing I have always looked for but never found. I was extremely disapointed with all of my instrumentation and orchestration classes in college. I feel like I learned the range of the flute 15 times but never actually learned anything about when or why to use it. If you write music, you MUST read this. Orchestration by Kentaro Sato
• They Might Be Giants have come out with yet another kids album. I used to be offended when I said I liked TMBG and people asked “Aren’t they a kids band?”. Now, they actually are. And I am sad. Here Comes Science

This is the 10th post in a series on Cartoon Theme Songs. The second Thursday of each month I examine a popular cartoon TV theme song and discuss what about it does and does not work.

The theme from the 1967 series Spiderman is one of the most well known cartoon themes in the world, and for good reason. Not only is the tune catchy but the lyrics do a great job summarizing the story and telling you something about the characte. The chord progression is a basic standard blues progression, which proves yet again how useful the blues progression can be. It’s the same 3 chords we’ve heard a million times but we’re not bored by it at all because it has a perfect balance of tension and release.

• A catchy hook on the name of the show, which they say twice in a row just in case you missed it
• A secondary hook on “Look out!” “Hey there!” “Tune in!”, which keeps it interesting through to the end of the verse
• Uses the character’s slogan “Friendly neighborhood Spiderman”
• Solid form: Intro A A Bridge A Coda. In only one minute they have a perfectly complete song with a beginning, middle, and end
• Both men and women singing the theme in octaves

As has been proven by the various covers other people have done of the the song, the “swingin’ 60s” style doesn’t ruin it. The theme stands up just as well without the “boogie” going on behind it.

This is part of a regular series of “Weekly Links” postings. On most Fridays I post links to stories and articles that I find interesting. Though I try to keep them mostly animation, music, or entertainment industry related I will also share the occasional link that I find useful or helpful in other ways. I hope you enjoy and please feel free to leave a comment about any of the links you’ve checked out.

It’s been a while since the last weekly links so there’s a lot to share this time!

• What Happens When You Don’t Give to Prayer Hour starring Pastor Shepherd, title character of the feature film I recently scored
• Cartoon Brew has posted a review of Walt and El Grupo
• Waking Sleeping Beauty is a documentary about the Disney Renaissance of the late 80s and 90s
• I haven’t seen 9 yet but it looks visually amazing
• My latest tutorial has been published at Audiotuts, 7 Ways to Use and Edit MIDI Velocity
• Man vs. Debt gives us Tyler Durden’s Guide to Personal Finance
• And lastly a hilarious promo for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in which Bill Hader interviews himself

This is the 9th post in a series on Cartoon Theme Songs. On the occasional Thursday I examine a popular cartoon TV theme song and discuss what about it does and does not work.

I’ll be the first to admit that, being that I was four years old when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first aired in 1987, I’m a but biased towards this theme. But nostalgia aside, it really does have a lot of great things going for it.

• There’s a catchy hook on the name of the show (which they say twelve times!)
• A simple but clear explanation of the basic story (“They’re the world’s most fearsome fighting team”) and who the main characters are (They completely define each turtle in only a few words. “Raphael is cool but rude, Michelangelo is a party dude”)
• They use multiple singers, which I think always helps. A different twist for the other themes we’ve looked at so far, there are sections of the song that are sung solo, with the backup singers only giving support. This is pretty typical of an 80s theme; Ducktales and Chip n Dale do the same thing.
• They begin and end with a catchphrase “Heroes in a half-shell, turtle power!”)

The only drawback is the style, which the elecronic drums, electric guitars, and synths all really scream 80s. Again, I might be biased, but I don’t think that hurts this theme as much as it could because the song is so functionally and catchy.