Station Announcement Music Search

[mr. sparkle]

[quote="GuyJean"]:D It's always worth it.. It's the journey, my friend.. Not the destination. ]
Heh, absolutely right. Charles, I hope you keep fiddlin' around. I think that writing a composition in GB is very satisfying. You can incorporate your guitar into a GB comp and play along with your own tune. Have you ever tried it? It's fun as hell. You got some sick sounds from the simulated amps and filters. I, myself, really enjoy arranging horns and strings. Percussion is fun too. I don't overly rely on loops, I customize a lot of parts.

I have a few noodlings that I've completed with my laptop band, "Butterbrothers". Check out my tunes on:

http://www.myspace.com/butterbrothers.

My next musical posting, I hope, will be my Tokyo Chime laden composition entitled, "Ueno".

Ya'll are gonna love it.

[Charles]

Heh, absolutely right. Charles, I hope you keep fiddlin' around. I think that writing a composition in GB is very satisfying. You can incorporate your guitar into a GB comp and play along with your own tune. Have you ever tried it? It's fun as hell. You got some sick sounds from the simulated amps and filters. I, myself, really enjoy arranging horns and strings. Percussion is fun too. I don't overly rely on loops, I customize a lot of parts.

You know, I actually went down to the local music store to see what it would cost for a midi drum pad and a few lessons. I figured that even my amateurish drum licks would be better than repetitive loops. But the hardware was way too expensive. For that kind of money, I could hire a professional drummer to lay down tracks for hours and hours.
I haven't done much fiddling with recording my own music yet because I only recently got a machine with an audio input. My old dual-1ghz G4 didn't have an audio in jack. Now I started fiddling around and I discovered I need to practice my guitar more, I've lost my chops. I broke a finger a couple of years ago and stopped playing for a while, I'm just getting back into it.

[mr. sparkle]

You know, I actually went down to the local music store to see what it would cost for a midi drum pad and a few lessons. I figured that even my amateurish drum licks would be better than repetitive loops. But the hardware was way too expensive. For that kind of money, I could hire a professional drummer to lay down tracks for hours and hours.

Don't get a drum pad, just get a cheap MIDI > USB keyboard. M-Audio has one for $99 at CompUSA.

I haven't done much fiddling with recording my own music yet because I only recently got a machine with an audio input. My old dual-1ghz G4 didn't have an audio in jack.

You could've worked around that with a Griffin iMic. It's USB to Stereo Mini for mics. It has an adapter for 1/4" as well so you can plug your axe right into the iMic.

Now I started fiddling around and I discovered I need to practice my guitar more, I've lost my chops. I broke a finger a couple of years ago and stopped playing for a while, I'm just getting back into it.

At least check out jamming with GarageBand. To make your own drum riffs, you can tap 'em out on the keyboard. It's really easy.

[Charles]

Don't get a drum pad, just get a cheap MIDI > USB keyboard. M-Audio has one for $99 at CompUSA.

Aw, what's the fun in that? I want to beat on something with sticks. I took some taiko lessons when I was in Japan, there's nothing quite like pounding on a real drum. You can't learn to drum by tapping on a key.

You could've worked around that with a Griffin iMic. It's USB to Stereo Mini for mics. It has an adapter for 1/4" as well so you can plug your axe right into the iMic.

I was kinda waiting for Apple's "Asteroid" box, but it was never released. I was considering retrofitting my Les Paul with one of the Roland guitar midi pickups, but I tried one in Akihabara and it was totally impossible to play.

[IkemenTommy]

Suidobashi station to implement the Yomiuri Giants melody... (more in Japanese)

[IkemenTommy]

Amazing 10 min clip
[YT]iW_0zOR_bdM[/YT]

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Train tunes not music to everyone's ears

It's a vaguely familiar tune, but as you cram onto a train at JR Takadanobaba Station on the Yamanote Line in central Tokyo, you can't quite recall where you've heard it before. Then it hits you: It's the theme from "Tetsuwan Atom," aka "Astro Boy," Osamu Tezuka's famed animation superhero. The electronic chime is just one of many familiar refrains that have replaced buzzers signaling train departures at East Japan Railway Co. stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Tunes ranging from popular children's songs like "Yuyake Koyake," to J-pop tunes such as Yumi Matsutoya's "Ame no Station" (Station on a rainy day). They can be heard at 26 stations in Tokyo and nearby Saitama and Chiba prefectures. To some, the muzak is affectionately referred to as eki-melo (station melodies). For others, the song choice is a mystery (why "Astro Boy" of all anime tunes?). Still others have complained the door-closing tunes lack a note of urgency, unlike blaring buzzers.

First introduced at Shinjuku and Shibuya stations in 1989--two years after privatization of the Japanese National Railways--the tunes were meant to add a "softer touch" to rail hubs. According to JR East officials, they were the brainchild of a new employee. The stationmaster chooses the tune based on whether it represents the station and surrounding community, and how it gels with train departure announcements. In Tezuka's comic book, Takadanobaba was the location of the "Ministry of Science," workplace of Professor Ochanomizu, Astro Boy's adopted father. So it was a no-brainer. (Ochanomizu Station on the JR Chuo Line plays a different tune.) Niiza Station also uses "Tetsuwan Atom." The city of Niiza, Saitama Prefecture, named Astro Boy, or "Atom" as he is known in Japan, as an honorary citizen in 2003 because the city is home to a studio run by Tezuka Productions Co. Another anime character whose theme song is a station tune is the star of "Himitsu no Akko-chan" (Akko-chan's Secret). Ome Station on the Ome Line in western Tokyo chose that song because a museum devoted to Akko's creator, Fujio Akatsuka, is situated nearby.

Children's songs are another favorite. Shinagawa Station, for example, pipes in "Tetsudo Shoka," a kid's song featuring station names. Yet, its lyrics start off mentioning Shinbashi Station, not Shinagawa Station, raising the obvious question--why Shinagawa? According to JR officials, while Japan's first commercial railway officially started service between Shinbashi and Yokohama in October 1872, six months earlier, temporary runs were conducted between Shinagawa and Yokohama, justifying the argument "Shinagawa was the starting point for the country's railway system." Komagome Station on the Yamanote Line chose "Sakura," another popular children's song, for its chime in tribute to the fact that the surrounding area was once called Someimura, reputedly the home of somei yoshino cherry trees. Musashi Koganei Station on the Chuo Line uses the same tune to remind passengers of nearby Koganei Park, a popular spot for cherry-blossom viewing.

Movie themes have a role to play, too. Kamata Station on the Keihin Tohoku Line, which once served a major motion picture studio, plays the theme from the 1982 comedy film, "Kamata Koshinkyoku" (Kamata March). Even those commuters at Ebisu Station on the Yamanote Line who have never seen the 1949 film "The Third Man" starring Orson Welles will recognize its zither theme song, which was featured in a TV commercial for beer. Nishi-Tachikawa Station is perhaps the only station that boasts a pop song by a singer of mega hits. Matsutoya, whose nickname is Yuming, reportedly based her "Ame no Station" on this local stop on the Ome Line.

Yet, not every tune considered is music to everyone's ears. In 2001, Chigasaki Station on the Tokaido Line received a request to use a tune by the popular rock band Southern All Stars for its chime. The band's charismatic leader Keisuke Kuwata hails from the same Kanagawa Prefecture city. But, says an official at JR East's Yokohama office, which oversees the station, the idea was nixed because of "the possibility that even if some people think it's a good idea, others may think a different tune would be more appropriate." Meanwhile, about five years ago, one station in Tokyo decided to switch back to the traditional buzzer, presumably after a resident complained that the electronic tune lacked a note of urgency, a JR East official said. "We try to take into consideration whether a song is appropriate to announce the departure of a train, and what local people would like to hear," a spokesman for JR East said.

[Charles]

Meanwhile, about five years ago, one station in Tokyo decided to switch back to the traditional buzzer, presumably after a resident complained that the electronic tune lacked a note of urgency, a JR East official said.

It's true. I used a few train tones for my cell phone ringtones, but they just don't send me grabbing for my phone. So I switched to a very strange synthesized ringtone that sounds like an old 1980s AT&T Merlin desk phone. That definitely grabs my attention. I used to work in a very busy office with a Merlin system, so whenever I hear that sound, my first thought is, "I wonder how many people I have in the hold queue?"

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Keikyu Line melodies CD hit with commuters

A CD containing 30 melodies played when trains call at stations on the Keihin Kyuko Line has sold more than 10,000 copies in the six weeks since its release. The melodies, dubbed Ekimelo, seem to have become popular not only among railway fans, but among regular commuters for whom the music is familiar. The CD, "Keikyu Ekimelody Original," was released March 18, priced at 1,500 yen. Tokyo-based Keihin Electric Express Railway Co. which operates the line, began running melodies selected by the public, including "Ue o Muite Aruko," popularly known as "Sukiyaki," and "Yume de Aetara," (If I could meet you in my dreams), at 17 stations last year. The CD also contains noises of trains negotiating curves and the start-up sound of a German control gear that resembles the musical scale, starting from do, as selling points.

Its distributor, Universal Music LLC in Tokyo, originally planned to offer just 700 copies targeting railway fans. However, the company began to increase production when the CD sold out at many stores and became a hot seller on the Internet as well. Keihin Kyuko also has installed devices at the 17 stations at which passengers can download Ekimelo for a limited period. A 61-year-old clerk at a kiosk at Shinagawa Station said that beyond railway fans, older women are buying the CD, and in many cases, parents are asked by their children to purchase a copy. Kiyotaka Watabe, 43, who is in charge of CD planning at Universal Music, was amazed by the hot seller, saying: "I [first] considered it to be a private railroad's CD with limited appeal. I didn't expect it to sell so well." He said some of the interest may be dure to an increase in younger and female railway fans these days.

The first Ekimelo CD to see large-scale sales was one released in March 2004 by Teichiku Entertainment Inc. featuring departure melodies used by East Japan Railway Co. ("JR Higashi Nihon Ekihacchaku Melody Original Ongen shu"), which has sold 50,000 copies to date. The second version has sold more than 40,000 copies. A staff member at the distributor said the purchasers usually have been people who listen to the melodies played at station platforms and feel a close connection with the station. Ekimelo also are very popular among visually impaired people. Susumu Sawada, principal of Tokyo Metropolitan Bunkyo School for the Blind, said: "Ekimelo seem to have a healing effect on many students."