#59 - COMPOSERS OF ENGLISH DUB OF DRAGONBALL Z/Faulconer Productions Interview

Mike Smith, Scott Morgan & Julius Dobos composed a majority of the English Dub of Dragonball Z produced by Funimation(Yes, Bruce Faulconer is not the main composer and composed less than 1% of the score.) These 3 have now formed a band called SSJ and perform live versions of the DBZ Soundtrack across America.
Mike Smith handled over 70% of the soundtrack from the Ginyu Saga all the way to halfway through the Buu Saga, highlight tracks from him include Vegetas Themes, Goku SSJ, Perfect Cell Theme, Hyperbolic Time Chamber, The Dragon Theme and more....
Scott Morgan worked on the show from the episode Fighting Power One Million until the end of the Otherworld Tournament and a majority of the guitar work on the show was handled by him but he fully composed the Garlic Jr Saga and his highlights include Androids 17,18,19 & 20, Imperfect Cell Theme, Destruction Theme, Pikkons Theme and more....
Julius Dobos started work on the show from the Otherworld Tournament and stayed until the very end of the series so he composed a majority of the Buu Saga, his highlights include the SSJ3 Theme, Super Buu, Buu Is Fighting, Mystic Gohan and more....
SSJ BAND
KZbin - kzbin.info/door/xXJ...
FACEBOOK - / ssj-598921027132860
JULIUS DOBOS/FORGOTTEN FUTURE
JULIUS DOBOS WEBSITE - www.juliusdobos.com/?fbclid=I...
FORGOTTEN FUTURE WEBSITE- forgottenfuturemusic.com/?fbc...
KZbin - / juliusdobos
INSTAGRAM - @forgottenfutureofficial
SCOTT MORGAN
WEBSITE - morganstudios.com/?fbclid=IwAR...
KZbin - / morganstudios
fbclid=IwAR1w0In1ezyFtvu32JLqNrdIsqjmft9qorBFecJ8Cjz91BjSkNA3W_DYBAM
#brucefaulconer #dbzmusic #faulconerproductions
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
01:11 - Sampler/Samples Mike Used When He First Worked On DBZ
02:38 - Directions/Script From Funimation
04:19 - How The Guys Scored Music To The Episodes
06:28 - How The Guys Go About Composing/Time Constraints On DBZ
09:23 - Recording Sounds As SFX/Violin SFX Being Used In DBZ
11:31 - Keeping The Music Seamless Between All 3 Composers
14:45 - How Much Time They Had To Work On Each Episode
17:36 - Vegeta’s Hells Bells & Super Saiyan Themes
19:16 - Mike Only Realised Recently How Iconic His Themes Are
19:57 - Scott Thought People Hated The Score Until He Went On KZbin
21:08 - Super Saiyan 3 Theme/Drum Loops
25:25 - Julius Approached DBZ As Just Another Job/Core Importance Of Scoring
26:44 - Scott Morgan Foresaw The Big Themes Popping Off
28:29 - Ben Kasparek The Music Editor/Save The World Episode Ben Got It Perfect
30:14 - Episodic Trunks Theme/ How The Destruction Theme Came About
33:05 - Ginyu Voice Actors Worked On DBZ Movies Music
33:36 - Recording Destruction Theme So Loud
35:11 - Pikkons Theme
36:22 - Phillip Glass
36:52 - How Mike Wrote Buu/Cell & Frieza Themes
38:16 - Buu’s Themes
41:34 - Challenge Of Scoring To Reaction Shots
42:39 - Scott Doing The Ultimate Perfect Cells Theme
43:38 - Imperfect Cell Theme
44:54 - Experimenting With The Non Big Themes
46:30 - Great Saiyaman Theme
47:17 - Space Room Theme
48:12 - Final Atonement/Serious Suspense Theme
48:55 - Coycoy88 & Other Fans Releasing Unreleased DBZ Music Through Editing Audio
52:25 - SSJ Band Performing Live Covers Of DBZ Music/How Live Gigs Came About
57:34 - Rehearsals Before Live Gigs
58:35 - Scott Has Been Mainly Doing Engineering Work Since 2005
59:35 - Scott Wrote Music For Roland & Microsoft
1:00:29 - Julius’ Forgotten Future Work
1:01:05 - Julius’ Work After DBZ
1:02:44 - Julius’ Interactive Forgotten Future Show
1:03:32 - Mike Smith Loved The Time Constraints On DBZ
1:04:27 - Julius Didn’t Like Composing 24/7 On DBZ/Julius’ Work On You Dont Mess With Zohan Film
1:05:59 - Not Writing By Committee On DBZ/John Carpenter
1:06:51 - You Have To Diversify To Earn Money In The Music Industry/Automated Mixing & Mastering
1:10:14 - Where To Follow Mike Smith, Scott Morgan, Julius Dobos & SSJ Band
1:12:09 - SSJ Live Performance Clip

[@KIWITALKZ]

TIMESTAMPS 01:11 - Sampler/Samples Mike Used When He First Worked On DBZ 02:38 - Directions/Script From Funimation 04:19 - How The Guys Scored Music To The Episodes 06:28 - How The Guys Go About Composing/Time Constraints On DBZ 09:23 - Recording Sounds As SFX/Violin SFX Being Used In DBZ 11:31 - Keeping The Music Seamless Between All 3 Composers 14:45 - How Much Time They Had To Work On Each Episode 17:36 - Vegeta’s Hells Bells & Super Saiyan Themes 19:16 - Mike Only Realised Recently How Iconic His Themes Are 19:57 - Scott Thought People Hated The Score Until He Went On KZbin 21:08 - Super Saiyan 3 Theme/Drum Loops 25:25 - Julius Approached DBZ As Just Another Job/Core Importance Of Scoring 26:44 - Scott Morgan Foresaw The Big Themes Popping Off 28:29 - Ben Kasparek The Music Editor/Save The World Episode Ben Got It Perfect 30:14 - Episodic Trunks Theme/ How The Destruction Theme Came About 33:05 - Ginyu Voice Actors Worked On DBZ Movies Music 33:36 - Recording Destruction Theme So Loud 35:11 - Pikkons Theme 36:22 - Phillip Glass 36:52 - How Mike Wrote Buu/Cell & Frieza Themes 38:16 - Buu’s Themes 41:34 - Challenge Of Scoring To Reaction Shots 42:39 - Scott Doing The Ultimate Perfect Cells Theme 43:38 - Imperfect Cell Theme 44:54 - Experimenting With The Non Big Themes 46:30 - Great Saiyaman Theme 47:17 - Space Room Theme 48:12 - Final Atonement/Serious Suspense Theme 48:55 - Coycoy88 & Other Fans Releasing Unreleased DBZ Music Through Editing Audio 52:25 - SSJ Band Performing Live Covers Of DBZ Music/How Live Gigs Came About 57:34 - Rehearsals Before Live Gigs 58:35 - Scott Has Been Mainly Doing Engineering Work Since 2005 59:35 - Scott Wrote Music For Roland & Microsoft 1:00:29 - Julius’ Forgotten Future Work 1:01:05 - Julius’ Work After DBZ 1:02:44 - Julius’ Interactive Forgotten Future Show 1:03:32 - Mike Smith Loved The Time Constraints On DBZ 1:04:27 - Julius Didn’t Like Composing 24/7 On DBZ/Julius’ Work On You Dont Mess With Zohan Film 1:05:59 - Not Writing By Committee On DBZ/John Carpenter 1:06:51 - You Have To Diversify To Earn Money In The Music Industry/Automated Mixing & Mastering 1:10:14 - Where To Follow Mike Smith, Scott Morgan, Julius Dobos & SSJ Band 1:12:09 - SSJ Live Performance Clip

[@Morganstudios]

Hey! It turned out great! Thanks for having us!! Loads of fun :)

[@DBRestored]

You guys scored my entire childhood lol, love your work. Seriously, it's incredible to see this interview and hear about your experiences working on the show.

[@victorsamsung2921]

@@DBRestored If they say so ...

[@Zordon007]

The True Legends of DBZ . Created soundtracks that cant be matched and made DBZ even better. TAKE MY ENERGY!

[@TheDanInDanger]

Mike Smith is a legend, so happy to see him recognized

[@kakarotjr5676]

These 3 made my childhood,still bumping to the Faulconer music to this day! Amazing interview!

[@robin1418]

If anyone here hasn't checked out Julius' "Forgotten Future W1" album, you are missing out on an absolute masterpiece of the psybient genre. It's incredible.

[@WhiteWeaseI]

Pikkon's theme is one of my all time favorite tracks of the american score. Radiates big "This dude is mysterious and cool, but also has the moves to back it up." energy.

[@ColbertAwesome]

These three legends rock

[@warren010h]

These guys are legends! The legends behind the soundtrack we all love and that shaped our childhoods. 😊

[@samkatawazi2274]

Bruce Faulconer, Scott Morgan, Mike Smith and Julius Dobos are absolute legends. Nuff said!

[@Jaxar1]

Some of my favorite music from the show is in the first episodes Faulconer Proudctions did: "Ginyu Assault" "Incredible Force" "Frieza Approaches" "Goku is Ginyu and Ginyu is Goku" and "Gohan! Defeat Your Dad!" ...and I have Mike Smith to thank for that! Love Pikkon's Theme, Scott! and of course SSJ3 Theme, Julius! Well done, gentlemen.

[@kakarotjr5676]

My favorites has to be Vegeta vs Frieza,Frieza Ginyu Beat,Frieza vs Spirit Bomb,Goku vs Ginyu.

[@IGY6Brah]

I hope those 3 know how legendary they are

[@ArkansasGamer]

These men saved my life through their music. Thank you all.

[@kvin9210]

All of them are legends

[@rtspacer_hd]

Great stuff, I like listening to some of the unreleased episodes (that Coycoy rips somehow) with SRS wow effects turned on. 228, 230 and 235 are just three of my favorites. Their music was where I first heard sounds/drum sets changing sides in my headphones, still to this day don't really hear music like what they did on Z anywhere else. Inspires me to create music of my own, but I've been without what I need to share it in the same quality they can share theirs. Fantastic podcast!

[@venomromulus]

Love the insight! I love learning about the soundtrack of my childhood!

[@jazzyemi]

Great interview! 💓

[@SSJerry]

4:32 He used the website planetnamek! That's so cool

[@adambenk0]

Pikon's theme for me is the peak of your production in DBZ OST. There are just so many layers that work together so well + the tempo is just perfect for fast paced combat. It worked so well in the Goku vs Vegeta fight in the Buu saga.

[@tamerahardy]

I wish other streaming services would include the music they created. It’s so hard finding DBZ under Faulconer productions legally!!😮

[@gespenst1329]

It can only be included on home video releases since Funimation had a falling out with the man in court. So he has to get royalties any time it's streamed or on the air.

[@villadsk8]

Cant thank Them enough for what they did for dragonball and my childhood. Awesome guys and an awesome interview

[@samkatawazi2274]

I would love for them to come back and entirely compose Dragon Ball (the original series), DBZ's Saiyan Saga and first part of Namek Saga and Dragon Ball Super. Especially DBZ movies 1-13, Battle of Gods, Resurrection F and Super Broly! Please

[@herbmaaster]

i was looking to come back to this interview last year and i just checked back in after the Ben interview. these guys are fucking legends and i'd die for them so everyone lets continue to celebrate sick synth music dragonball and the victory of earth vs majin buu and whoever poses a threat to the good vibrations of the universe

[@herbmaaster]

kings walking, owe a lot to these folk

[@kingnick6260]

Amazing interview, thanks for putting this together! Great to know the faces behind my most nostalgic, iconic theme "Goku's SSJ transformation"

[@haydenstrait9438]

great episode, mang!

[@aquamidideluxe5079]

This is awesome. Thanks for this great in depth interview. Great questions and topics!

[@Stopskii3]

Great interview, guys. Always love hearing from the SSJ!

[@DBRestored]

Hey guys, huge fan of your work. Carried your tracks around with me on disc-man, then mp3 player, then smartphone since I was 10-years-old (now 31). I have recently started feeding your samples into AI software in order to produce new Faulconer team style tracks for a re-score I'm working on. It's amazing how technology changes with time - to think I used to carry a disc-man around with me to listen to your brilliant tracks, and now I'm getting AI to give me even more of what I love using your samples all these years later. I've also managed to finally figure out to remove the Japanese score from the Z episodes without sacrificing the integrity of the SFX. To my knowledge, I'm the first to use AI to help achieve this. (After knowing how many of my fan-edit brothers have struggled with this issue over the years, I'd love anyone who wants my full guide on overcoming this obstacle to feel free to contact me! Sharing is caring). Unlike Kai, which has minimal bleed between audio channels, Z has always been hard to re-score, with every attempt so far, including the most popular of the current fan-edits, having to sacrifice most of the SFX while extracting what they want to keep. We live in a world where AI (and some other workarounds) are finally allowing me, after so many decades of thinking about it, to re-score seasons 1 & 2 of Z with your great tracks. Thank you guys for more-or-less scoring my childhood lol

[@robertadams3925]

Would be interested to know more about your workflow. I did the inverted left/right side trick 15 years ago but couldnt pull it off, trying to isolate dialogue from scenes without music and effects, trying to create my own bespoke score for years while making my own music. Would be interested to hear your ai workflow too!

[@AJjames0317]

Insane vid!

[@MakingGainz]

Great show

[@Shoku429]

I love destruction

[@andrewweber9930]

Hell yeah brothers

[@aquamidideluxe5079]

32:13 Actually, there's a little something to what Mike is saying here. Dale Kelly and Andy Baylor recorded a remix of their DBZ TV special theme with rapped lyrics which they were lobbying to be the DBZ's new theme song in America. You can find it if you look up "Dragon Ball Z Movie theme remix with lyrics". It's...really something.

[@xxGhostfreak11]

Get these guys for dbz kakarot for additional dlc 3 please a lot of us fans would pay for dlc for these guys and falcouner

[@nonsensicalrants1703]

I wonder if theyve released their specific sound fonts used in dbz, or even sheet music?

[@DJMONKEYFINGAZ]

👊🐉

[@MN-zl5dq]

"My little band?!?"

[@samkatawazi2274]

So no disrespect, does anyone think Bruce Faulconer is a fraud??

[@KIWITALKZ]

Yes is he, unfortunately in the industry this often happens where a composer takes credit for other peoples work. Bruce did compose some stuff though like Ginyu Transformation, Gurus Theme, Cell Jr Themes etc.

[@samkatawazi2274]

@@KIWITALKZ I'm sure Bruce made a mistake of taking credit for himself, but I'm sure he and Morgan / Smith / Dobos will make peace and called it Saiyan Z Faulconer Team. That's what I'm hoping. With credits give their names respectfully which score which whose name credited

[@KIWITALKZ]

Although I admire your optimism, I wouldn't count on it Sam. Bruce did not make a mistake even all these years later he is still trying to take credit for their work, plus all three of these guys have moved onto other pursuits.

[@samkatawazi2274]

@@KIWITALKZ Still, I would love for Scott, Mike and Julius to come and compose Dragon Ball franchise again. It would be a blast

[@gespenst1329]

Without any doubt. And no, the circumstances that led to them coming on are no longer in place, and it’s all for the better. They will never be a part of the series (or any other anime) again.

[@gespenst1329]

Apparently Faulconer made some threats to sue Mr. Morgan for speaking about the synthesizers they used at one time. Meanwhile Kenji Yamamoto just dumped his entire sound equipment list in the CD booklets of his game soundtrack releases.

[@TheAnimatedGamer]

I mean Yamamoto took half his stuff from original music anyways lol

[@gespenst1329]

@@TheAnimatedGamer Yea he chose something interesting to dump to throw off attention from having to reveal his many sources for music that he ripped off over 20 years. (I'd say that the plagiarism count is surely more than "half", especially since anything he did that's said to be "original" isn't even noteworthy :p)

[@Moiz009]

What do you mean about dump? Can you provide more context on that Yamamoto comment you made? Im not familiar at all with music production or synthesizers so couldn’t piece the 2 things together. I know he got caught for plagiarizing Dbz games music?

[@gespenst1329]

@@Moiz009 So he was basically the only guy working on DB game soundtracks that got to have his projects released/sold on CD. And in the accompanying booklets & packaging art, alongside credits for musicians, lyrics & liner notes (where applicable), Yamamoto would always have one extra section included where he lists all his sound equipment (like synths) in specific detail that goes beyond the usual session musician credits anywhere (brand and model name, etc). A far cry from Faulconer who wanted to keep that sort of information under wraps during the same time period. If you want to see what I mean, visit a site where the scans are hosted.

[@Moiz009]

@@gespenst1329 oh I see. Thanks for the explanation. Do you think based on him including the information in the CDs, maybe his intent wasn’t to plagiarize and he shouldn’t have been cancelled?

[@okolo22000]

Where’s Bud Gwynn?

[@gespenst1329]

The fact that Funimation chose a guy who had no real history and had to use 3 ghostwriters with a low budget setup that sounded like Video Game music & other Saturday Morning cartoon material (and their eventual split from the IP) shows you just how cheap the company was at the time. People need to understand that there’s _no way_ they (or Faulconer) can ever return to new show projects, games, etc It’s the reason they haven’t gone near anime since.