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Old 2011-08-30, 13:49   Link #43
Arabesque
Licensed Hunter-a-holic
 
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
They say a good background music isn't going to come up to the forefront and distract people. But it needs to be there, somewhere.
That's dependent on the strength of score itself though. A more noticeable and better composed track is going to attract your attention, but a more low key one isn't.

The music is there, but since it doesn't attract attention to itself, it goes by unnoticed unless you pay attention to it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
And if I'm not paying attention, whose fault is it? It's their job to get my attention. I can pick any random anime from, I don't know, say my top 30 anime where I paid attention to the audio usage. I don't think that's the problem. Do I happen to only watch shows with good soundtracks? *shrugs*
Your going to have to give me some examples here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
See, this is not a complaint I usually use for the majority of anime. I'm generally not very critical of these things unless I don't feel it's there.
Fair enough, though gut feelings can turn out to be just that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
Music placement is everything though;
I disagree. Music placement is only a significant part of the process. Everything is centered around the actual OST.

Let me give you an example, The World God Only Knows anime. It has a fantastic OST, and the audio management is pretty fitting (though it improves by the second season, finally reaches a high point by the mid way point) but no matter how well it's used, the fact that there isn't a single track that can be described as comedic in nature cripples the show, to the point where there are comedy sketches with no BGM at all, in between dramatic scenes filled with different BGM.

The usage is important (e.g. Blood-C has some pretty great usage of it's BGM, while Fractale has some of the most hideous music placement I've heard all year long, and both had great OST) but unless the OST itself is well made (and fitting for the show) then it wont matter how well it's used.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
I don't care about the tunes by themselves. Umineko anime had great songs but they weren't always used right.
The Umineko Anime only used a single track throughout the show tho
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
Well, how about less memorable music? I'm actually watching an episode (what was it? The end of the Einshi arc where it became really notable.
I'm not inclined to set through Einshi's story arc for a second time, but I noted while watching that ''even the audio manager sounded like he wanted to go home'' which was the only time I ever had that sort of criticism towards the show previous episodes so ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
I hated .hack sign, but I'll be damned if I said the music there wasn't anything short of awesome. So I'm not going out of my way to make this criticism; I certainly liked watching HSI enough to not make unwarranted criticism of it, nor would I bother trying to convince myself this show is bad or anything.

It started in episode 3. Yes, I know it's one of the weaker ones, but most notably during the car chase scene. Now, people can go on about how crap that episode was, but it could have at least been humorous. But the BGM didn't help at all. That's an example of a missed opportunity to set the mood.
We are starting to venture into a different topic here, so I'll try and not go off on a tangent.

When I said that you were trying to convince yourself that the ''filler'' episodes had less music, I wasn't saying that you were actively to go out of your way to make it seem like there were faults with the show on more technical levels, but that your dislike for these episodes made them seem like they had lower amount of music in them.

Now maybe you don't like the actual tracks used during episode 3, since it was more humorous than usual. The episode itself was more humorous than the past two episodes, I'll admit. I thought it was fitting usage of the score and helped to highlight how lighthearted the episode was, but you thought that it could've been more toned down so not to appear as being too comedic. I don't agree with that since I think that the BGM should match the tone of the scenes, but I still think that's a fair critique. I disagree that it ruined the mood since I think it fit perfectly with the mood of the episode, but I'll agree it did not fit with the tone the series gave off in the past two episodes.

Does that mean it's the fault of the BGM? In my eyes, no.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
And yes, I know that YnS is a pretty high standard, but I'm just using that as an example of it done right. Otherwise I'm just comparing to thin air, and nobody wants that. Didn't I already say that before?

I'm not saying "It's not as good as Yosuga no Sora, it's shit". I'm saying it could be more like in that vein to be considered good.
Alright, that was poor usage on my part. My mistake. But I personally rate OST's from a wide range between ''Excellent'' and ''Horrible'', so for me ''good'' comes as being well above average with lot's of recognizable tones and pieces, where I'd place the HSI music now, while YnS is at ''great'', which means that it's all around memorable and at best emotion invoking, hence why I thought it was unfair to compare them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
Well, tell me then. What kind of atmosphere does Hana Saku Iroha set up? Because I have nothing.
A very upbeat one. There is dramatic and comedic spikes, but it maintains a very ongoing and positive tone throughout.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
True Tears, at least I could feel the emotional tension between the characters. It set itself up as a dramatic romantic drama. It's not the most complex of things, but hey I could watch it and be like hey I'm on the stage of this show.

TT doesn't have the most awesome soundtrack either. But it works. Noe's theme? A character defining song that outlines her personality perfectly. Sono Mama no Boku de? One of the most appropriate inserts to sum the mood? Hey, I remember these things existed and the scenes associated with them. That is what works. That is quality use of sound.
It could be because those scenes struck a chord with you, and thus thanks to their effective usage of the music during those scenes, you managed to connect and remember them more.

That, and Hanasaku doesn't have scenes of the same magnitude and effect on the viewer as True Tears had. It certainly tries, but what it does well is when it doesn't go big with the climax of it's arcs (since it's not really all that suited to have such things).
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