Revisiting the BBC Select theme

Please be gentle with me as I wasn't sure where to post this; I'm not even certain whether audio endeavours such as this are appreciated. I'll just have to suffer the brick-bats and (hopefully) constructive criticism!

Long story short, I spent a few hours the other night trying to replicate the BBC Select music, adored by me for many years but probably only ever heard by a handful of curious viewers, as I've never been able to find a good quality copy of it. You'll all know it though, of course. Anyway, halfway through the session, it occured to me how much potential this piece has for David Lowe-esque renovation, giving it a new lease of life as - perhaps - a breakfast news theme, in far-away markets where they still value "signature" tunes...



That's the result of my six hour session, obviously still a work in progress, much effort required to lose the Bontempi organ cheapness and jarring crash into the contemporary version. I just wanted to share it as I'm really quite pleased with it The last thing I want to do is desecrate a piece of music I love so much, but does anyone else hear the potential? (Thanks for reading!)

Very good! Always nice to have audio mocks, and having tried a few myself I appreciate how time consuming they can be!

Only tip I can think of for you as a newcomer is that you can embed the video onto this page by clicking the "Video, YouTube, Vimeo & Audio" then pasting the link.

Thanks for the tip, fixed now hopefully. Incidentally, I'm a newcomer in terms of daring finally to post something, but I've been lurking around here for eons!

Aside from seeking more realistic sounding instrumentation, don't give up on the transition. Your attempt to mix a pseudo-classical piece heavy on acoustic, deep rich instruments with a more modern, flatter, electronic beat/dance track reminded me greatly of Terra Firma's track "The Adventures Of..." as featured on Transcendental Euphoria mixed by Dave Pearce, CD2, track 1. See if you can take inspiration from it.

A couple of things strike me as I'm listening to this and reminded of the old BBC Select theme.

1. There was a certain epicness in the theme, mainly due to the use of brass instrumentation, but also in the composition itself. That epicness is not present in your version, partially due to the lack of realistic sounding instrumentation, (not your fault, part of the problem with GarageBand unfotunately) but also due to the added contemporary elements taking away from the fanfare style of the original.

2. Related to that, is the fact that I felt you significantly changed the heart and soul of the music by making the changes you did, and whilst I didn't feel they detracted from the quality of the work, which I feel is good, I do feel that the changes made it a very different piece, and not in the best way. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.

Overall, I would rate this 2.5/5. Better than poor, but not quite respectable.

Purely my own thoughts, take them or leave them.

Thanks to everyone who's taken the time to listen and comment, it's much appreciated. I was probably a bit premature in posting such an early version, albeit with the caveat that it was very much a cheap-sounding proof of concept knocked up in a hurry. Caught up in the moment, I wanted to share it! Having spent six hours messing around with such an obscure yet brilliant piece, I'm left with a maddeningly addictive earworm (my perhaps ill-judged techno twist notwithstanding).

I'll continue to work on the orchestral section to make it more fully-rounded whilst respecting the nuances and subtleties of the original, though I doubt an amateur such as I will ever really do it justice. I still maintain a "jazzed-up" contemporary treatment (done right) of this "catchy" tune (if I may be so vulgar) would be in demand, for the right broadcaster, for the right show. What a pity that such a memorable and pleasing, tone-setting prestige piece remains virtually unheard.

Given the BBC's current penchant for recycling 90s pres, I wouldn't be too surprised to hear that music come up as a placeholder on BBC Parliament one day....