• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

The Alton Towers Music, Video and Other Multimedia Thread

Today I played one of the best ever tracks the park ever had in my opinion. It was the theme tune in Towers Street from 2008. For me, this is memories! It will always remind me of visits in the early days. The second track titled Towers Street Waltz is fantastic too, and to me has hints of the end of the day. Both tracks are fantasticly and I’m gutted it was ever removed. If anyone wants a copy in MP3, let me know, as it is one track that has been hard to come across online.


From: https://youtu.be/zZ73Yc1XLAY
 
Actually, I can't even tell if it's digital or real XD, I don't see why you'd do that in a trailer or a documentary apart from a quick laugh. TBH, it'd look really appropriate for the ride, no joke.
 
Trooper Looper said:
I just noticed in Euro Theme Park archives HH Documentary trailer, one of the portraits behind JW. I can't XD
Screenshot_20230205-141254_YouTube.jpg

Screenshot_20230205-140924_YouTube.jpg
That's some brilliant editing!! I thought it was genuine for a second there!
Click to expand...
That was my expression when speculation started about the possible Nemesis track colour.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Trooper Looper said:
I just noticed in Euro Theme Park archives HH Documentary trailer, one of the portraits behind JW. I can't XD

Screenshot_20230205-141254_YouTube.jpg

Screenshot_20230205-140924_YouTube.jpg
That's some brilliant editing!! I thought it was genuine for a second there!
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, am I missing something here? If that is edited, who is it meant to be?
 
Ah, I've not seen that before & was wondering who it was supposed to be.

Fellow 90s kids may remember that Steve Johnson later went on to host Terror Towers, a Crystal Maze rip-off set in a haunted house. Eight year old me thought it was great.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Does anybody know what specific instrument/model Graham smart used back in the 90s for the parks?
Click to expand...

Graham didn't really use a specific synthesizer for his sounds (aside from sometimes using his Roland D-550 like in Black Hole's main track). Rather he used a hardware sampler (AKAI S1000 to be extract, though he'd later on own newer models) and loaded various audio CDs that had each sound laid out individually, and he'd manually map them to custom presets. Graham's three big sources for sounds were the factory library floppy disks for his AKAI S1000 (These were all pre-mapped patches), which were the source for many of his famous sounds, such as the Towers Street flute and french horns, the Vampire choir and the strings used in Nemesis and Terror Tomb. The second was the Prosonus series, which were a collection of high quality individual orchestral recordings produced back in the late 80s (and still sound pretty dang good if I say so meself). He'd mainly use them for percussion, effects and occasional strings and brass. Finally is the Sampler Library produced by sound effects company Sound Ideas also in the late 80s, which he mainly used for woodwind sounds, such as the clarinets, oboes and bassoons heard in Haunted House and Toyland Tours, as well as his famous Banjo sound. The library itself was also heavily used by Nintendo composers in games like Super Mario 64 (In fact the banjo heard in the Slider theme from Mario 64 is the exact same banjo sounds that Graham uses, in addition to various other fun Graham/Nintendo sound connections).

Of course he did use a few live instruments that he performed himself, such as the organ in Vampire, as well as I imagine other sounds such as the guitar in Black Hole, the tuba in Toyland Tours (minus the effects) and a few vocal sounds. There's also a few other audio CDs that he sourced his sounds from, though that is basically the gist of his most famous sounds.
 
SWSmiler said:
Graham didn't really use a specific synthesizer for his sounds (aside from sometimes using his Roland D-550 like in Black Hole's main track). Rather he used a hardware sampler (AKAI S1000 to be extract, though he'd later on own newer models) and loaded various audio CDs that had each sound laid out individually, and he'd manually map them to custom presets. Graham's three big sources for sounds were the factory library floppy disks for his AKAI S1000 (These were all pre-mapped patches), which were the source for many of his famous sounds, such as the Towers Street flute and french horns, the Vampire choir and the strings used in Nemesis and Terror Tomb. The second was the Prosonus series, which were a collection of high quality individual orchestral recordings produced back in the late 80s (and still sound pretty dang good if I say so meself). He'd mainly use them for percussion, effects and occasional strings and brass. Finally is the Sampler Library produced by sound effects company Sound Ideas also in the late 80s, which he mainly used for woodwind sounds, such as the clarinets, oboes and bassoons heard in Haunted House and Toyland Tours, as well as his famous Banjo sound. The library itself was also heavily used by Nintendo composers in games like Super Mario 64 (In fact the banjo heard in the Slider theme from Mario 64 is the exact same banjo sounds that Graham uses, in addition to various other fun Graham/Nintendo sound connections).

Of course he did use a few live instruments that he performed himself, such as the organ in Vampire, as well as I imagine other sounds such as the guitar in Black Hole, the tuba in Toyland Tours (minus the effects) and a few vocal sounds. There's also a few other audio CDs that he sourced his sounds from, though that is basically the gist of his most famous sounds.
Click to expand...
This is some brilliant Information here, thank you!!! I never knew Graham and many other famous Composer like Ian Habgood used sound libraries for their scores. You learn something new everyday.

I think it's a shame that theme park Composers like IMAscore and many others don't really make music like Graham did as I think his are really memorable and unique, but with the other soundtracks nowadays really blend in with one another, or they sound quite typical for their areas and don't really stick out. Now that you mentioned Grahams Banjo piece from his Towers Street theme and SM64s slide soundtrack, gosh the near identical similarities are clear as day now!
 
Trooper Looper said:
I think it's a shame that theme park Composers like IMAscore and many others don't really make music like Graham did as I think his are really memorable and unique, but with the other soundtracks nowadays really blend in with one another, or they sound quite typical for their areas and don't really stick out. Now that you mentioned Grahams Banjo piece from his Towers Street theme and SM64s slide soundtrack, gosh the near identical similarities are clear as day now!
Click to expand...
I agree. IMAScore's music all sound quite similar to each other. Graham Smart's music was different to that, and I feel that more effort was put into his music than IMAScore's. The sheer layering of the Nemesis soundtrack is amazing.
 
SWSmiler said:
Graham didn't really use a specific synthesizer for his sounds (aside from sometimes using his Roland D-550 like in Black Hole's main track). Rather he used a hardware sampler (AKAI S1000 to be extract, though he'd later on own newer models) and loaded various audio CDs that had each sound laid out individually, and he'd manually map them to custom presets. Graham's three big sources for sounds were the factory library floppy disks for his AKAI S1000 (These were all pre-mapped patches), which were the source for many of his famous sounds, such as the Towers Street flute and french horns, the Vampire choir and the strings used in Nemesis and Terror Tomb. The second was the Prosonus series, which were a collection of high quality individual orchestral recordings produced back in the late 80s (and still sound pretty dang good if I say so meself). He'd mainly use them for percussion, effects and occasional strings and brass. Finally is the Sampler Library produced by sound effects company Sound Ideas also in the late 80s, which he mainly used for woodwind sounds, such as the clarinets, oboes and bassoons heard in Haunted House and Toyland Tours, as well as his famous Banjo sound. The library itself was also heavily used by Nintendo composers in games like Super Mario 64 (In fact the banjo heard in the Slider theme from Mario 64 is the exact same banjo sounds that Graham uses, in addition to various other fun Graham/Nintendo sound connections).

Of course he did use a few live instruments that he performed himself, such as the organ in Vampire, as well as I imagine other sounds such as the guitar in Black Hole, the tuba in Toyland Tours (minus the effects) and a few vocal sounds. There's also a few other audio CDs that he sourced his sounds from, though that is basically the gist of his most famous sounds.
Click to expand...
Double post, but can I ask you how on earth you found this great information?
 
zeock said:
Double post, but can I ask you how on earth you found this great information?
Click to expand...

Most of it was my own research, mainly involving listening through various old sound libraries from around the time and finding any that match up, as well as assistance from a couple friends of mine, and that email I received from Graham after contacting him and posted in this thread a couple years back which confirmed some of his equipment that helped me narrow some possibilities down.
 
SWSmiler said:
Most of it was my own research, mainly involving listening through various old sound libraries from around the time and finding any that match up, as well as assistance from a couple friends of mine, and that email I received from Graham after contacting him and posted in this thread a couple years back which confirmed some of his equipment that helped me narrow some possibilities down.
Click to expand...
Waitwaitwaitwait.... He's still alive!!? If he's not comprising Alton Manors soundtrack, we'll riot!! (jk)

On a more legit note though, I wonder what his thoughts are on how his Theme Park music is regarded as some of the best ever made and how even though he hasn't made any since terror tomb he's still fondly remembered by many from the ones he made.
 
Last edited:
Just surfing the net having a reminisce and come across the Nemesis soundtrack on Youtube - Gosh the music brings back so so many memories of walking into Forbidden Valley for the first time over two decades ago, the anticipation, the nerves, excitement, it was such an epic and dark sound.

I really don't think Graham Smart receives enough credit for the success of Nemesis as a whole, yes you could say why would he..he didn't design the ride, but the piece of music he composed managed to fit so perfectly with the the mystery and devastation of Nemesis.

I would love to read more about him if anyone can nod me in the right direction?

Lastly, one absolute favourite part of the track is at 21:00 , aside from the main dramatic part that we all know to love.


From: https://youtu.be/trfDn2QOLjM?t=1260
 
This is rather excellent I must say. Uploaded last night. Prepare for plenty of behind the scenes porn galore. 1 hour of my life absolutely not wasted. Nice to see John Wardley walking around the ride and in the upper gallows of the building, taking about the attraction. This video was a real treat for me. Really well done.

 
SMT_ said:
Just surfing the net having a reminisce and come across the Nemesis soundtrack on Youtube - Gosh the music brings back so so many memories of walking into Forbidden Valley for the first time over two decades ago, the anticipation, the nerves, excitement, it was such an epic and dark sound.

I really don't think Graham Smart receives enough credit for the success of Nemesis as a whole, yes you could say why would he..he didn't design the ride, but the piece of music he composed managed to fit so perfectly with the the mystery and devastation of Nemesis.

I would love to read more about him if anyone can nod me in the right direction?

Lastly, one absolute favourite part of the track is at 21:00 , aside from the main dramatic part that we all know to love.


From: https://youtu.be/trfDn2QOLjM?t=1260
Click to expand...

This is such a legendary track and I love it. The bit at 21:00 is great, and so is the bit that follows within the next minute or so. Whatever happens to Nemesis, if this track is still used, great. If not then what a mistake.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top