Let's do something about the falling quality of the dubs (NOT voice actor related)

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poke07

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[If you don't wish to read my rant, simply skip down to the e-mail addresses of who you should contact if you are unhappy with anything relating to sound or music of the Pokemon Dub]

I have been a long time Pokemon fan (Since season 1), and a loyal poster/reader of the Anime Section of the Bulbagarden Forums since the end of Battle Frontier/Diamond and Pearl.

While the switch from 4Kids to PUSA took some getting used to (to say the least), by the later episodes of Diamond and Pearl, it is safe to say that there were many good things going on with the dub. Over half of the pieces kept were Japanese. PUSA did a good job alternating between newly composed dub BGM while retaining some great tracks from the original 4Kids dub as well. To my knowledge, nobody even was thinking about the audio mixing because it was perfect.

Being a musician myself, I definitely think audio and music can make or break a show. While almost everyone is in agreement that Japanese BGM is the best, by now, I can confidently say that if Dub music HAD to be kept, pretty much everyone would prefer the 4Kids music to PUSA's new music. It has hardly any followable melodies, or excitement. It is very generic. As I like to call it , "stream of consciousness" music. The music PUSA composed at the beginning of D&P was ok, but the new music they are using in Battle Dimension is unacceptable. Sorry, but when Ash is battling a gym leader, I really DON'T want to hear electronica guitar music :) The new music simply doesn't fit the personality of Pokemon. As if the music wasn't bad enough, they now take the good Japanese music and lower the volume! It gets to be annoying because they also seem to quiet the music down considerably while characters are talking...as if we couldn't hear them talking over the music.

At the end of D+P we were talking about how nearly 10 pieces of Japanese BGM were kept. Now we are averaging at what seems like 5 pieces. If you are going to take away more Japanese BGM, at least use good DUB BGM!!

Anyhow, not including voice acting, or video, the general "audio" of the show has plummeted. Anybody who is interested in acting on this issue should contact the following e-mail addresses:


[email protected] (General PUSA e-mail address)

[email protected] (Head of Audio Services, Music, Mixing etc.)

[email protected] (Anime Dub Producer)

If you write to these people and get a reply, please post it here! If you get the same reply as a previous poster, simply say "same reply." In ADDITION to sending individual e-mails, I think sending a group e-mail could go a long way, as I don't think we have tried this yet. Please include your name in a reply to this thread (and your location if you wish) if you wanted to be listed in an e-mail that will sent to these addresses...including a comment.

Please do NOT talk about voice actors in this thread!

Thanks, and for the few who feel as strongly as I do about the audio...I think we can make a difference!!
 
At the end of D+P we were talking about how nearly 10 pieces of Japanese BGM were kept. Now we are averaging at what seems like 5 pieces. If you are going to take away more Japanese BGM, at least use good DUB BGM!!'
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Actually the average is exactly 6, which is slightly higher than what it was in Diamond & Pearl. For all the episodes that would keep 10-12 pieces of music, several episodes would only keep three or four, like the Golduck episode, or the episode where Dawn captures Pachirisu. In fact, the episode with Gary and J only kept four pieces of music, and that was near the end of season 10.

The music PUSA composed at the beginning of D&P was ok, but the new music they are using in Battle Dimension is unacceptable.
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Most of the "stream of consciousness" music was composed during seasons 9 and 10, so I'm not sure why you're only noticing it now.

Also, I'd say the new music that PUSA has been composing for Battle Dimension is a significant improvement over the other seasons. Compare the music in say, the battle between Ash and Gary at the end of Battle Frontier, to the double battle of Ash and Dawn against James and Gardenia.

I'm hoping that eventually this "stream of consciousness" music will be done away with, and all of the PUSA music will be these longer tracks. That said I'd rather they just use all of the original music. (NO WAY to using 4Kids music. Yes, some of it was good, but the Japanese soundtrack is much better and it's completely ridiculous to pine for the 4Kids music instead)
 
The problem with the music is, from my POV, that those bastards over at DuArt/PUSA always lowers the volume on the japanese bgm so you can't fcking hear it!

Also, this "low music" problem is DuArt's fault. They clearly don't know how to handle the show yet.

I've tried to mail Tim over at duart but i got an autoreply that he's on vacation. gonna try later again.

And, I usually watch the raw version over the dub version just because of the music. thats how bad it is.

/complain mode off
 
If this ends up being another SOVA, I might as well shoot myself. >_>
 
another problem is the echoing voices, particurarly when the pokemon comes out of their balls.. its just so annoying.
 
You guys seem to be forgetting the target audience of Pokemon. Did you give a crap about BGM before you were teenagers? Neither does the majority of Pokemon's audience! When the children who watch the show complain, then maybe they'll change it.

For the record, I do agree with the original poster.
 
True, that's the main thing. I didn't care that DBZ's Dub BGM sucked ass, I just wanted to see cool fights. Kids just want to see Ash battle people, they don't care whether the music is too low or it doesn't fit. When kids start saying something, then it'll change. But I do agree about the quality of the music, DuArt must not be very good at mixing music and voices.
 
I honestly could care less about the music. If it ends up fitting the scene, good for them. If not, I just moan and move on with my life. I don't send E-Mails to force them to keep the original music.

Not to mention that you people should be at least thankful they're keeping the original music at all. I can understand if they sunk to a 4Kids level where all that was in terms of original music was Team Rocket's theme and the instrumental of Advance Adventure, but they're keeping a lot more. They may not have all of it, but they have enough to keep me at least happy that they're aware of our side of the fandom.


Yeah, complaining about it like a dumbass week after week isn't going to make them change it.
 
Casual_Furi said:
You guys seem to be forgetting the target audience of Pokemon. Did you give a crap about BGM before you were teenagers? Neither does the majority of Pokemon's audience! When the children who watch the show complain, then maybe they'll change it.

For the record, I do agree with the original poster.
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Heh, when I was looking at Pokemon when i was little, I didn't know it was from Japan until I got older, much less care about BGM.

That being said, I think you have to give DuArt a chance just like the VA's. I mean, they weren't exactly good in the beginning, but to most people they are now. Same with this new recording company, give them time
 
Woho, see what I found, from the ending credits of DP 65:

vlcsnap274208aw3.png


So know, who is it that's responsible for:
1. Replacing the japanese tracks
2. Lowering the volume on the japanese tracks that are left.

Is it the "Sound supervisor", or is it the "Mixer"?

http://www.duart.com/site_soundstaff.htm here's the direct email to these persons:
Carmen Borgia / [email protected] (already stated I know)
or
Kevin Wilson / [email protected]

Just need to know who to mail :p
 
Casual_Furi said:
You guys seem to be forgetting the target audience of Pokemon. Did you give a crap about BGM before you were teenagers? Neither does the majority of Pokemon's audience!
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Actually when I first saw Pokemon (I think I was 10) I only liked music from cartoons and anime and that lasted up until High School (Well it was a community college but the point is I didn't start listening to other music until I was about 12).
 
Gaiash said:
Actually when I first saw Pokemon (I think I was 10) I only liked music from cartoons and anime and that lasted up until High School (Well it was a community college but the point is I didn't start listening to other music until I was about 12).
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So do you represent the majority?
 
Casual_Furi said:
You guys seem to be forgetting the target audience of Pokemon. Did you give a crap about BGM before you were teenagers? Neither does the majority of Pokemon's audience! When the children who watch the show complain, then maybe they'll change it.
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While we're at it, let's stop posting on this message board.

Pokemon USA has full rights to this music, they have no problem using all/most of it in the movies/specials or even episodes like "Dawn's Early Night," so would it really be that big of a deal to do that in the rest of the series? Kids are not going to change the channel if they hear 3 seconds of silence, Jesus Christ.
 
Yash said:
Kids are not going to change the channel if they hear 3 seconds of silence
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PUSA has been keeping silence in some episodes (I'm not going to name them... Except for one). Sometimes it's very brief, other times it lasts more than 10 seconds, and also more than 1-10 minute(s) - most noticeable one was from the Buizel capture episode which was, in fact, longer than it was in the Japanese version.
 
To reply to an earlier post, yes I am aware that there is a similar thread.

Let's use that thread to discuss the importance of background music and our views and opinions on it.

This thread is only for people who care strongly enough to try to do something about it and would be willing to send e-mails, post their replies, and possibly help write a group e-mail.
 
Please note: The thread is from 18 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
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