Originally Posted by The Moonlit Door
Well that's brilliant to have a dialogue with Glynn himself.
|
I agree. He's a great guy and a great musician. I've had the pleasure of listening to some of his latest work and it's just magnificent. He always takes the time to talk to me and help me with whatever I'm working on too. In fact, I'm heading to England for two weeks this coming Wednesday, and Dom has agreed to let me come by his studio for a visit. It should be terrific!
Originally Posted by The Moonlit Door
Yeah, it's got much more mystery about it than some synthesized versions. They tend to drain all that a bit, but you've managed to keep it in this and all of the other ones here.
|
Thanks very much!
Originally Posted by The Moonlit Door
If the tinny sound of that theme could be toned right down, it would sound so much better, because underneath that it's mysterious and quirky and potentially a really good theme. There was a theme on Whomix a year or two ago blending all the official TV themes together and the version on that sounded completely different. It was much lower and fatter and it sounded amazing. If only someone could do that with the whole thing.
|
It's nothing special really... he just lowered the pitch down five semitones to the pitch of the original Derbyshire theme. I quickly replicated what he did to it, and you can hear what the whole thing would sound like
here.
Originally Posted by The Moonlit Door
Yes, some of the sounds are extremely close to what he did. Actually, is it true he only had a few days to produce his version of the theme?
|
I heard the same rumor, and I asked him about it. This is what he told me:
|
Originally Posted by Dominic Glynn
Forgive me if I have forgotten many of the details - it was twenty years ago (my god can that be right??). As I can remember, John Nathan-Turner had already commissioned me to write the incidentals for episodes 1 - 4 and the offer of re-doing the theme came right at the last moment. The theme was needed before the incidental music (so it could be dubbed on to the episodes as they were edited) so it was t he first thing I worked on. I had very little equipment. I had got the job on the basis of some demo cassettes I had sent in to JNT, but I didn't have the gear to do a professional job. I had to rush out and buy my 8-track tape machine and mixer and get the theme recorded and mixed within the week (a little more than four days!).
I think the main difference with many other versions of the theme is that it was actually played by hand onto tape. The original versions were created using tape loops and oscillators, while later versions used sequencers and computers. My version was created without sequencing of any kind. Thanks for your comments on the finished piece!
|