I was looking for laser sound effects and stumbled upon a few with names like ‘autobot laser fire’ and ‘decepticon laser blast’. I though, “hmmmmm…. perhaps there’s a source to all that?” And so, I set out, looking for an archive of ripped Transformers sounds. I wound up at TFcog, where I found a huge .zip of 332 mp3 files. Lasers! Explosions! Metal clanks and clunks! Sounds of transformation. Light sabers?
[audio:http://b-knox.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Primes-blaster.mp3|titles=Primes blaster]After I donloaded that, I checked out the homepage where there was some news. The latest update? “.:Lots More G1 Music Added!:.” 67 tracks 156mb 90min of Transformers original cartoon music. The project seems to be mostly curated by a person that goes by Grimbot. I can only imagine, and contemplated doing, that Grimbot watched endless episodes, cataloging the themes, and putting together chunks without voices or sound effects. You do hear sound effects now and then, but I must commend this effort! This is some great work by a true OCD warrior! KUDOS!!
I tried to pick the three most memorable themes to share —
[audio:http://b-knox.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Factories-are-busy.mp3|titles=Factories are Busy] [audio:http://b-knox.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Plan.mp3|titles=Plan] [audio:http://b-knox.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Survival.mp3|titles=Survival]Man, this stuff is such a rush . . .
Although we know Vince DiCola did the score for the movie, the tv series’ music seems uncredited. I would guess that Sunbow and Marvel opted for production music licenses as some of the music was shared with G.I. Joe (same production companies). But it has got me thinking about other classic cartoon background scores I would like to have : He-Man and Thundercats.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe had Shuki Levy and Haim Saban for composers. Those are huge names for kid show music; think Inspector Gadget and Power Rangers. But, besides the open and closing themes, mostly unavailable.
ThunderCats was scored by Bernard Hoffer and there is presently an online petition to have the soundtrack released on CD. Warner Brothers offered a $14,000 price to find the original tapes on their archival shelves. But, according to this forum thread, ‘[a] cue list Bernard sent Sonia along with the tracks’ suggests some civilians have copies. There are a few tracks here but they are direct recordings from the show with voices and sounds and the quality isn’t good either.
TFcog is a great example of a classic fan site. Except for the forum, it feels like 100% manually updated html with frames. Does this put them under the radar or is TFG1 worth ignoring? Damn, that new movie sucked. =(
Filed under — Other People's Music
Tags —
80's, cartoon, culture, he-man, soundtrack, thundercats, transformers
Robert Walsh is the person who composed the original score for the Transformers Generation 1 Cartoon Series
http://www.screenmusic.com/ScreenMusic_International/Composer_Robert_J._Walsh.html
Is there a way to earn money by composing music scores? Yes, you can set up your own website and offer your free sheet music to the world! Here you have some tips on how to start!
why is the version on here so clean and sounds longer then the ones I downloaded did you mix it yourself and uploaded it or did you just link to it
Yes, I wrote and produced just about all the music for the Transformers series, starting in 1983. Also GI Joe, My Little Pony, Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock,and all the other Marvel series and movies up until 1989, when Marvel folded. I was the in-house composer at Marvel Animation during that period. I did not write the main titles to Transformers or My Little Pony, or GI Joe.
Any questions, I can be reached at robjwalsh@aol.com. Still writing and producing, and about to complete some exciting releases for Hasbro, including the original scores from Transformers, GI Joe, Jem, and My Little Pony in collector’s edition boxed sets. These will be released on the Sony Records label. Also the original score from Revenge of the Ninja, on Varese Sarabande Records.
Thank you for sharing that music. When I grew up watching the episodes I didn’t know if anyone knew of the background music. All I would ever find is the opening theme song. I would love to buy CDs somehow with all the music on it.