Serra Instrument
swissagent
SwitzerlandPosts: 17MI6 Agent
Hello everybody, I was wondering what Instrument that was Mr. Serra used for example in "Goldeneye" or "the 5th Element", it sounds similar to a submarine scope, you can hear it very often. I hope you know which instrument I mean.
Comments
I know what you mean. He used it a lot in the scores he wrote for Luc Besson. Unfortunately, my main interest is film, not music, so I couldn't tell you what it is. GE was the last film Serra scored that I actually like. I'm not really aware of what he's being doing since.
Poor guy, the score gets a bum rap, it's quite good in my opinion. So what if it isn't John Barry's orchestra? Do you know (to me) how old it gets after awhile? Don't get me wrong, I love Barry's work on the Bond series, but many of his songs are kind of "background music"-ish and have a "where have I heard this before?" feeling while all the one-off composers have a distinct style which makes their scores unique.
Martin - 70s Pop
Hamlisch - Synthesizer
Conti - Disco
Kamen - Boring
Serra - Industrial
I rank Martin, Hamlisch, Conti and Serra's scores above many of Barry's, because many are tedious sounding. His best are definitely OHMSS, DAF, MR, AVTAK and TLD. That's not saying Barry's others aren't "bad" but they lack the uniqueness of the aformentioned ones.
So everyone who liked Eric Serra's GE, please raise their hands and raise them high, because we are one of few. I think it all boils down to personal taste once again.
I wasn't knocking Serra at all. I like his score for GE. I love his work with Luc Besson even more. It's just he seems to have dropped out of the picture in the last few years.
I'm sorry John Drake, I was referring to Barbel and Bill Tanner (who seem to loathe and despise the score
I finally figured out what the original instrument is: It`s a tambourine, just pitch down and played a little bit slower, so now the mysterie is solved
I liked his score for Goldeneye, specially the track "Goldeneye Overture", it just gives a good old and cold sovjet union feeling. It just fits the movie and honestly, I couldn`t imagine the score for goldeneye done by David arnold, it would`ve sound to modern.
Greetings from Switzerland
A bit strong... Dislike might be closer to the mark.
I was.
Oh, I think I'm fairly comfortable with "loathe and despise". But knocking Serra I'm also comfortable with
Fair enough.
I am just about to make a track similar to the style of serra and I wanted to ask if his Synthesised instruments are protected somehow, I created this synthesised tambourine on my own now I wanted to know if this "instrument" and ohters are protected.
Hope you can help me...
Greets
Would you guys like to hear the it ? And since we are talking about Bond music, how much need I to change the bond rythm and melodie not to get problems ?
greets
Firstly, I'm assuming you mean the "James Bond Theme" itself.
If by rhythm you mean the vamp (the rising & falling four-note figure which plays through most of the Bond Theme), then this doesn't need to change much. It's possible to find this figure in many other works (eg, an earlier Barry arrangement called "Poor Me" a.o. as well as many non-Bond/Barry pieces) as has been pointed out by no less than Burt Rhodes- specifically mentioning "The Continental"- and some fairly minor tinkering should keep matters clear and distinct while sounding suitably Bondian.
As for the actual melody itself, things are much less simple. This would have to be changed more comprehensively to avoid unwanted correspondence with Mr. Norman's frequently busy legal representatives. Many composers for film and TV have over the last forty-five years spun variations on the Bond Theme to suggest its presence without technically quoting from it (and thus sharing their profits with Mr. Norman). For examples of this, watch "The Cannonball Run" or "The Return Of The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and study the music played when the characters played by Roger Moore and George Lazenby appear. Note (pun not intended) how the music implies the Theme without coming right out with it.
Hope this helps!
No, I mean the classic Alfred Hitchock picture from 1945 starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck.