Unused Gold theme
 

Does anyone remember the unused version of the Murray Gold theme? The one that circulated around before the premiere of "Rose," and made it out to radio stations and even a few official BBC trailers for the new series? It was a lot more powerful, and a fair bit darker (and more electronic) than the one they ended up going with. It also contained no Derbyshire bassline, unlike current versions.

I rediscovered the file on my hard drive the other day, and it's always been a dream of mine to hear a more complete version of that theme, so today I tried my hand at making one myself. This is my attempt at a proper, full-length version of the unused Murray Gold theme... complete with booming drums, dark electronic basslines, and a Derbyshire melody that stands on its own with no orchestral backing (yay).

Before you ask, this mix is not based on Fool's Gold, and it was started completely from scratch just today. I did take one element from Fool's Gold (the funky electronic didjeridoo as I like to call it) because it's present in both the unused and final versions of the theme, and I'm very happy with the sound I already have for that. Other than that, this is all new.

Hope you all enjoy it!

Click here to listen to my recreation of the unused Murray Gold theme.

I haven't had the chance to listen to your version yet Danny, but, IIRC, I didn't really like the original. The first part of the theme was barely recognisable as the Doctor Who theme, and like you said, had no bassline. As a piece of music it was good, but as the "Who" theme, no.

I liked it because it was darker, and more electronic than the one we got. (I feel we were robbed in both regards with the current theme.)

I may do a second version with the Derbyshire bassline, but I didn't say it had no bassline. It had a heavy electronic bassline, which I quite like the feel of.

Well it wouldn't exactly work as anything else! The melody line is from the original Derbyshire theme... :P

I like it, but your version sounds slightly springier than the Gold version. But true, I liked the darker version a lot more too, it's just so much deeper and really fit in well with the trailers. But maybe I think it could have possibly been decided that it was too dark for the actual series.

Hmm... I don't know if I agree that it sounds springier exactly. What do you mean?

Ooh, I love this! Very well done, Danny! :D

Thank you very much, Dalek! Glad someone's enjoying it. ;)

I like it, really good recreation Danny.

The bassline sounds a bit punchier, slightly crunchier than the original. But don't get me wrong, I like it.

Thank you very much for your comments, MickJo. :D

Well, I wanted a good clear bassline in it, so I guess you could call that my own addition. There are actually something like five basslines in this mix, lol.

That'll be what really draws the bassline out.

They all do different things. A couple of them combine to make the main bassline you hear, but one or two in the background just add to the atmosphere of the mix behind the main instruments.

You mean like the bassoon bassline of the original Derbyshire theme?

Um... the what? There is no bassoon bassline on the original Derbyshire theme. Are you referring to the second layer? The deep organ-like swoops underneath the main bassline layer? Because those are no small part of the theme! I'd go so far as to say they account for around 60% of the sound of the Derbyshire bassline.

Delia Derbyshire herself said that they were bassoon. I should know, I've watched the documentary 10 dozen times.

Nope, sorry. I know exactly what you're referring to -- Delia Derbyshire said that Ron Grainer thought that a bass bassoon would be used to cover that section in his original imaginings of the theme -- before it was done radiophonically instead. That just gave a general idea of the sound required. Please go back to the documentary and listen more carefully. No part of the original Derbyshire theme was done using an actual orchestral instrument. It saddens me to know you didn't realize that, Ben.

Ron Grainer fully knew that the theme would be made radiophonically, and gave those instrument names as a guideline to the timbre of sound he wanted, not what instrument to go out and sample. Delia Derbyshire was recalling the music that she was given by Ron Grainer to work with, not saying what she sampled to make the second layer.

Ah, that makes more sense. It sort of distresses me not knowing about that, I've always thought I was pretty knowlegable about the theme (although no where near as knowlegable as Danny), so I was thinking, could there be a way for you to pose me a bunch of questions about the original theme so that I can test me knowledge?

If Danny was that knowledgable about medical/biological sciences, we'd have had a cure for cancer years ago. :P

Nope, we'd be living completely without deseases or illnesses.

Great job! :) I like the bassline you used.
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I'd say more but I'm really terrible at commenting. x_x

Keep up the great work!(A standard post end for when I comment on something great.)

It's possible that Pete and I could arrange something like that for you.

So very true. :P

Thanks very much. :)

That would be very much appreciated.