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Why do some English dubs replace the BGM and sound effects?




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epicwizard



Joined: 03 Jul 2014
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 10:47 pm Reply with quote
For an example, the recent English dub of Doraemon replaces all the Japanese background music with a new score and I think the sound effects are replaced as well. Is it done in order to make the dub more appealing to its target audience? I have no idea and it's really baffling to me! Mad

[EDIT: Made your thread title a little less long-winded. -TK]
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 20, 2014 11:26 pm Reply with quote
Because it costs less for the licensing and probably makes the shows more accessible for American kids. That demographic could probably care less about the original artistic integrity, anyway.
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epicwizard



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PostPosted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:42 pm Reply with quote
Tony K. wrote:
Because it costs less for the licensing and probably makes the shows more accessible for American kids. That demographic could probably care less about the original artistic integrity, anyway.

Hmm, seems logical. Though it's pretty unfortunate how most English dubs of kids anime to this day still suffer through this, while the other international dubs get to retain the Japanese BGM and sound effects. It seems like the only time the other international dubs replace the BGM and sound effects is if the dubbers use the English dub as the source of their dub.
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leatherhead333



Joined: 15 Aug 2013
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:46 pm Reply with quote
Truth be told I actually enjoy some of the new music that comes with english dubs sometimes. Sad thing is that since not many people care about the score so they hardly ever get released Crying or Very sad

DBZ was the only one people literally flooded the American composer with requests to release the ost that i can remember.
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 7:22 pm Reply with quote
I know in some cases at least the licenser is actually not sent the original BGM and sound effects, causing them to really have no choice but replace them. I've heard this was the case for Dominion: Tank Police, which is an older show so it may not happen as frequently now.
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Bango



Joined: 06 Jul 2013
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 23, 2014 10:17 pm Reply with quote
I always wondered if the english release of New DTP had that awesome song or not.

Anyway, I remember back with AnimEigo's english release of the Ah My Goddess OVA how they added a few sounds (or maybe I just couldn't hear them in my crappy nth generation fansub tape) that really improved the scenes, like the sound of bird scattering in the climax.
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Gina Szanboti



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PostPosted: Thu Jul 24, 2014 10:54 pm Reply with quote
The original BGM for Rave Master was terrific, but the dub chopped up and rearranged the anime so badly for censorship purposes that it was probably much easier to just replace the music too.

Monster's BGM was not only replaced for many scenes, but original music was shuffled off to different scenes, and this was apparently done in Japan for the international market (afaik, only Japan and Korea got the original soundtrack). I have never heard a satisfactory explanation as to why. Except for the 3 American songs and the vocals on the first ED, I don't think rights were the issue, since only one composer is credited for the music.

How I wish there was a Japanese BD release of Monster with English subs. I'd import that in a heartbeat.
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epicwizard



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PostPosted: Fri Jul 25, 2014 2:12 pm Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
The original BGM for Rave Master was terrific, but the dub chopped up and rearranged the anime so badly for censorship purposes that it was probably much easier to just replace the music too.

Monster's BGM was not only replaced for many scenes, but original music was shuffled off to different scenes, and this was apparently done in Japan for the international market (afaik, only Japan and Korea got the original soundtrack). I have never heard a satisfactory explanation as to why. Except for the 3 American songs and the vocals on the first ED, I don't think rights were the issue, since only one composer is credited for the music.

How I wish there was a Japanese BD release of Monster with English subs. I'd import that in a heartbeat.


The Japanese felt the need to replace the BGM in Monster for the international releases? Why would they do that!? Replacing the BGM is just an insult to the original composer!
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wizard55



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PostPosted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 8:20 pm Reply with quote
I'm also curious why they always do this. SO they ALWAYS have to pay seperate costs for the music? It can never be licensed all in one?
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 10:27 pm Reply with quote
wizard55 wrote:
I'm also curious why they always do this. SO they ALWAYS have to pay seperate costs for the music? It can never be licensed all in one?

Replacing the music is extremely rare, and yes, some songs (usually those with vocals) are not owned by the company the US distributor licenses the anime from and thus they either have to negotiate a separate deal for those tracks with someone else or replace or do without them. The musical artist/record company can also refuse to sell or ask more the distributor here is willing to dish out. Hence why Duran Duran's "Girls on Film" is not the opening to the Funimation's Speed Grapher release and why Oasis's "Falling Down" is not the regular opening for Eden of the East.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 7:53 am Reply with quote
Well, I certainly understand why "Be My Baby" was not included in episode fifteen of the Viz release of Monster. It might have cost more to license that song than to license the entire show Very Happy

The forty-five seconds of "Be My Baby" used in the movie Dirty Dancing cost the producers $75,000. See http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/movies/be-my-baby-a-hit-single-with-staying-power.html for the story of this persistent classic.

Of course that doesn't hold a candle to the $250,000 the producers of Mad Men paid to include "Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles in one episode of that show: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mad-men-paid-250k-for-beatles-song-20120508
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epicwizard



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PostPosted: Mon Sep 15, 2014 10:03 pm Reply with quote
yuna49 wrote:
Of course that doesn't hold a candle to the $250,000 the producers of Mad Men paid to include "Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles in one episode of that show
$250,000!? Shocked

I just don't understand why it costs so much just to use a song in a film or a TV show.
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Kruszer



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PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 5:52 pm Reply with quote
epicwizard wrote:
yuna49 wrote:
Of course that doesn't hold a candle to the $250,000 the producers of Mad Men paid to include "Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles in one episode of that show
$250,000!? Shocked

I just don't understand why it costs so much just to use a song in a film or a TV show.


The record company takes their cut and the rest goes to the band/artist in the form of royalties I'd imagine, so there are two parties to pay off in these deals. But yeah, mostly it's just 'cause they're greedy bastards.
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