Oh Yes...

I'm also pretty tired of Villa-Lobos and Honegger. The actual sounds of the show or equipment are far more interesting for me. I usually turn the soundtrack off and enjoy the neat modeling.

pqe

Its the looping

that gets me.  I understand people want to use royalty free music and all, but the same 8 or 16 bars over and over again get old...quickly.  But, as you say, the trains are the main focus, so the music is just something so its not a silent movie.

PLEASE...NO MUSIC!!!!!

That is one of the things i hate about train videos. PLEASE...NO MUSIC!!!!!

I want to hear the sounds of the decoder in the loco, or the wheels on the rail.

I would accept Bela Fleck and the Flecktones "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" as the soundtrack of a slow moving steam loco though.

Bela Fleck!

I prefer the music ...

... to the on board sounds of little trains.  The 'clicketty-clack' of the little wheels on the track doesn't really sound right to me either.  A little bluegrass music helps disguise the poor quality of the model train's sounds (not to mention the 'chatter' from faceless voices somewhere off-scene).  Some folks dub in real train sounds, and that is pretty cool ... but an awful lot of work I am thinking.

I Promise!

If I ever do a video of my layout I'll use "O Fortuna" for the intro!

George

Dear Red, When I edited up

Dear Red,

When I edited up a DVD of my 2003 visit to the Olympic Peninsular in WA, USA, I used a variety of electronic tracks from my then-fave artists. Not a banjo or guitar in sight. Makes for some interesting edit points, and on the occasions I re-watch it, both the sights and sounds take me back...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

PS I suspect the banjo holdover is due to the inherrent "historic" (read "romanticised") link between the clickety-clack rhythm of the wheels and the related blues musical development from the 20s/30s/40s...

Which version?

Dear George,

Which version???...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Version???

That last one put visions of steamers high-balling it in my head!  

Say What!!! Banjo's rock

I love banjos - period.  And fiddles. 

However, in a railroad video, I would prefer no music.  I like the sound of the bells and whistles and chuggs.

Just my 2 cents worth.

BTW - for the record I can't play anything.  My wife plays/taught piano, my daughter is a professional violinist/teacher and my son can play the cello and guitar.  I'm not even allowed to play the stereo without supervision.

"Which version"

"Which version" indeed...

As for jazz...

Many jazz musicians had sections that were trained to imitate trains...Gerry Mulligan even recorded a song called K4 Pacific

My vote is Pat Methany - Last

My vote is Pat Methany - Last Train Home... although it is more evocative of a Soo Line mixed train across the North Dakota prairie than Missabe Ore Haulers.

Music and trains...

...a discussion that's right in my wheelhouse! I'm a trombonist myself. Tried learning banjo but just couldn't do it - my fingers don't move fast enough, and the idea of sometimes moving your hand downward on the neck to get a higher note was so counter-intuitive to me that my brain nearly exploded.

I admit my guilt. I've made a few videos that found their way to Youtube, and you'll hear the stylings of either Ricky Skaggs or Tommy Dorsey, or dubbed-in railroad noise, when you watch. If I ever do any more, they'll just have the ambient room noise as audio (which would be a football game on the tv and the random chatterings of my 8-year-old boy).

Jim

Ohhh please me too on the NO MUSIC

NO MUSIC with the train videos. I usually close it if I hear music, and move on to other videos.

I've used Mozart...

Mozart for my model railroad videos. Mostly cause I'm shooting and there always the guy in the background talking loud cause everyone in the room is deaf...   Prototype videos just get diesels and flange squeal...

Dear MRHers, For quick

Dear MRHers,

For quick intros and outros and 30-90 sec promos,
"SuperNova" by "Aurora" (B-side to "Sleeping satellite") is a track which just keeps on giving...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

the TSO version wins hands

the TSO version wins hands down.

I remember the layout tour

I remember the layout tour 'video' that Alan did for Rob Spangler using a bunch of stills. He had this goofy background music playing while he flipped through the photo's. Funniest thing I ever saw.  Well done Alan ! AND it was a pretty darn good illustration of the layout. Loved it!

Randy

Australia's "The Ghan" passenger train promo

Dear MRHers,

It's a kinda new take on the "railroad blues", but check this tourism promo for "The Ghan" passenger train, and it's end-points Adelaide and Darwin. The wheel/rail "clack" rhythm is the underpinning for the entire track
(Note the resampling of other sounds as well, horn blasts, turnout changes, etc)...

IMHO the TVC 30sec version is a nicer, tighter, "more catchy" version, (I personally pref it),
but the Extended version here gets the point accross...

Happy Modeling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Age of Steam

There were a number of railroad themed song on that album - The Age of Steam. Great "tracks" every one!

Alan Keller's video of Jim Providenza's Santa Cruz Northern open and closes with a track by Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker's pianoless quartet. Seems Alan was a trumpet player and a Chet Baker fan.

Me? I played baritone sax in high school. Fortunately (for the musical world) I haven't touched a sax in over 20 years!

George

"can't we put some time into choice of sound track too?"

 I think the best soundtracks I've heard on model train videos are the one's Al Mayo adds on his youtube videos. They are always something I'd enjoy listening to anyway even without a video. For real train videos I only want to hear the actual train sounds at the time the video was shot even if it's just wheel clatter and flange squeals......DaveBranum

Keep the music in the period of the train

I think music can add to a video when done well.  One of my pet peeves though is when the music doesn't fit the period of the model at all.  Yes, we do seem to get a lot of bluegrass or big band music.  I was recently watching a video of a prototype railroad in the seventies, and the music was big band of the forties.  Say what?  How does that go together?  I think it would've been cooler to have popular music of the correct era playing, if you have to have it. Steam engine hauling coal in Appalachia?  Sure, bluegrass fits.  Passenger train leaving Chicago in the early fifties?  Big band swing works.  Penn Central bouncing around on the tracks in 1978?  I think we need something from the era.  I'm sure one of the reasons we get a lot of bluegrass and jazz is that it is easier to find instrumentals, vocals can be distracting as background music.  Maybe Boston's Foreplay behind that PC would've worked.  

Randy (keyboard player) 

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