law & order theme song

[surfjunkie]

i like the show- especially the first half w/ Jerry Orbach- before the court stuff starts. mike post wrote the opening theme, which i like. there's really no music in the show except that tune. here's the thing: it uses samples/synthesized instruments, including clarinet, guitar and slap bass. the sounds are [b]awful[/b]. esp the clarinet, which plays a well-writen line that crosses the break (a real clarinet sounds very different in different registers) and a couple of guitar riffs that don't work for the same reason. i think even non-musicians can tell they're fake. the show's been around for awhile, but i'm sure mr. post had the resources to use studio musicians. even if they had zero budget the first season, couldn't they have rerecorded it after that? thoughts? opinions? This message has been edited by wager47 on 10-16-2001 at 04:15 AM

[b_3guy]

[quote]Originally posted by wager47: [b] mike post wrote the opening theme, which i like. [/b][/quote] If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I've always liked it. They have changed it slightly over the years, mostly different, maybe improved sounds. In the early to mid years, they used to have a snare in the 4th measure do hits on the 2, 3, & 4 beats. This only happened the once in the theme. I thought that was cool.

[fantasticsound]

I like the original theme. And yes, I was never fooled into thinking the guitar, etc. were real instruments. Still, it worked for me. I like that snare part, too. Hadn't noticed it was absent. The new shows are very good, but I could do without the lame spin off themes. The concept was great, use a different take on the same theme to symbolize the differences in the shows. In practice, the new themes don't cut it. They remind me of the 3 million ripoffs of "Chariot's of Fire" theme that populated library music (and the airwaves) for years after the movie theme's success. Close, but no cigar! ------------------ Neil [b]Reality[/b]: [i]A few moments of lucidity surrounded by insanity.[/i]

[jgourd]

Pick up Mike's album "Inventions from the Thin Blue Line". This CD has the longer, better mix of "Law & Order" and a few other cops show themes he did.

[Mark Zeger]

Also loved Post's "Rockford Files" Theme. Post gets demerits for the insipid DX7 EP driven "Doogie Howser" theme. We could practically have a thread of "favorite cop/detective TV show themes". Other faves were the themes from "Barney Miller" (if only for the opening bass lick), "Hill Street Blues" (another Mike Post gem), and the Sammy Davis Jr. classic "Baretta".

[surfjunkie]

okay, we're getting somewhere with this. so: at some point in the 80's, keyboard emulations of acoustic instruments got reached a realistic-ish (!) level, and mike post (& others) decided that he could pump out theme songs without hiring studio guys. i use synths & samplers myself, so i'm hardly knocking that. point: he definitely was not using "synth sounds", he was trying to emulate real instruments. but i can't let this one go. he put some work into it (guitar pitchbend, etc), but even union musicians (bass/guitar, clarinet) could have done that session for (let's see....1990 rates...) cheap. i think that if the instruments were real, the tune would have stood out as a (greater) work of art. imagine if the A-team or Magnum PI had used synth gutar! i'm humming the hill st blues theme right now (thanks mzeger, that's a great one too), but i can't remember if it was all synths or not. maybe he formed his working methods well before L&O, and it was obvious that the way he recorded it was the right way. grrr!! i have to mute the tv every time the theme comes on! i'll rerecord the clarinet, guitar & bass for free, mr post! if you're here, leave a post ( [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] ). i like the tune, and i like other mike post stuff. if i didn't i wouldn't care. a selected mike post tube-ography, from soundtrackcollector.com. (some of these were co-composed)   the Andy Williams Show       the Six Million Dollar Man   Captain America     Knight Rider   the Rockford Files    the White Shadow   Coach of the Year     the Greatest American Hero   Hill Street Blues   Magnum P.I.     the A-team   Hardcastle and McCormick     Hunter     Riptide     L.A. Law     Wiseguy     Murphy's Law     Doogie Howser M.D.     Law & Order     Blossom     the Commish    Silk Stalkings     NYPD Blue   he also produced & arranged mason williams' "classical gas"

[jgourd]

You wanna know something really scary? Dave Gruisin composed "Gidget" :-)

[fantasticsound]

[quote]Originally posted by wager47: [b]...imagine if the A-team or Magnum PI had used synth gutar!...[/b][/quote] Funny you should mention this one... When they released "TV's Greatest Hits", several of the theme songs were deemed proper to rerecord, rather than use a copy of the original. Among those rerecorded were, "WKRP In Cinncinati," and, "Magnum P.I." The redo's SUCKED. lifeless, poorly played, and in particular, the guitar part in, "Magnum" was played as stiff as a board! It sounded like a real guitar, but the feel was as quantized as can be. Yuck! "WKRP," was more sterile than a surgical suite! Two of my favorites hacked to pieces. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img] ------------------ Neil [b]Reality[/b]: [i]A few moments of lucidity surrounded by insanity.[/i]