The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM


s8ntmark

Member
HELP! Tower of Terror Queue music question!!

Im collecting together the the 20 Tracks of music from the queue of Tower of Terror and I need help. Being the obsessive purist (and Idiotic completist) that I am I want to know what ORDER the tracks play in during their cycle.

Does anyone know??

Is anyone as hoplessly obsessed as myself?? Your help would be most appreciated.

Thank YOU!! :D
 

BoogaFrito

New Member
Tower of Terror Queue Tracklist?

Anyone have a list of the music from the Tower of Terror queue? I noticed the Disney Music Loops site is still AWOL! :D

Thanks for any help!
 

ToTnut

Member
Re: Tower of Terror Queue Tracklist?

We'll Meet Again - Vera Lynn
When the Sun Sets Down South - Nobles Singers
Inside - Fats Waller
Jungle Drums - Sidney Bechet Ken Burns
There's A House - Henry Allen
Sleepy Time Gal - Glenn Miller
Benny Berigan - Can't Get Started
Mood Indigo - Duke Ellington
Wishing (Will Make it So) - Vera Lynn
Uptown Blues - Jimmy Lunceford
Remember - Red Norvo
Dear Old Southland - Noble Sissle
Jeep's Blues - Johnny Hodges
Pyramid - Johnny Hodges
Deep Purple - Helen Forrest & Artie Shaw
Another World - Johnny Hodges
Alabamy Home - Duke Ellington
Delta Mood - Cootie Williams

Hope this is helpful. You can listen to all these tracks at towerofterror.org. :)
 

Horizons

Playlist Author
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

Let's try this again...

The exterior BGM for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is one of my favorite loops at WDW. It's one that I listen to at least a few times each week. There is a reconstruction of the loop in general circulation that runs 63:09. Based on a comparison to my recording, which runs 60:44, the reconstruction is not accurate. Several of the tracks are not the versions used in the loop. In addition, what makes the loop, to me at least, is the "far away" sound (reverb I believe) the music has. This sound is not duplicated in the reconstruction. I have also seen two "complete" collections of the tracks in circulation. But, like the reconstruction, a lot of the tracks are not accurate.

Here is the playlist without artist information.

01 - There's a House for Sale in Harlem
02 - Jungle Drums
03 - Sleepy Time Gal
04 - I Can't Get Started
05 - Mood Indigo
06 - Wishing (Will Make it So)
07 - Uptown Blues
08 - Remember
09 - Dear Old Southland
10 - Jeep's Blues
11 - Pyramid
12 - Deep Purple
13 - Jitterbug's Lullaby
14 - I'm in Another World
15 - We'll Meet Again
16 - When the Sun Sets Down South
17 - Delta Mood
18 - Alabamy Home
19 - There's No Two Ways About It
20 - Inside (This Heart of Mine)
 

Magic Music

Administrator
Playlist Author
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

Long before this message thread was started, I was thinking this was a job for our resident Sequoia wizard, Randy Thornton. The man massages music files for a living.

I was planning to ask Randy if he wouldn't mind listening to a specific track from the induction recording, and then compare that to its unaltered original (it would have to be a track that we know for sure is correct), to see if he could determine exactly what was done to create that eerie "otherworldly" sound.

I think it goes beyond adding some reverb. And, even if it is just reverb, anyone who has played with some of these tools knows that there are a zillion different adjustments, specialized plugins, etc., for reverb alone.

It's like walking into a frame shop and telling them that you want "white" mats. They'll point to a rack with about 2 feet worth of "white" samples. There are hundreds of variations.

I am confident, though, that Randy can come up with an answer that's pretty darned close.

So, there is my suck-up-to-Randy message for the day! ;)
 

almandot

Member
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

You should post a sample clip of the effect and the same sample clip of its original =P

When doing a video of Tower of Terror a couple years ago I wanted to do that effect and played with reverb.. I wasn't trying to simulate anything from the ride, I didn't have a copy of a recording with the sound effect, so this isn't an attempt to be accurate to how the ride does it.. But nonetheless in the video it starts off looking at the tower from far away and it movies progressively closer as I'm going through the queue.

ToTVid.m4a
 

Horizons

Playlist Author
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

Not a fan of LOST

Love Groundhog Day

Used to watch The Twilight Zone, but haven't seen an episode in years
 

DavidG

Member
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

Right... so, as I was saying, I remember reading an interview with Greg Meader in which he explained the reverb effect. Now, what's curious is that I was almost certain that it was on this site, but there's no trace of that interview anywhere. So, either my memory's not what it used to be, or it was taken down for some reason, or that particular page has been sent to... well, you know what zone.
 

Magic Music

Administrator
Playlist Author
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

DavidG said:
I remember reading an interview with Greg Meader in which he explained the reverb effect.
Yes, thanks for that lead! We were about to e-mail Jeff Bridges and that would have got us nowhere.

DavidG said:
Now, what's curious is that I was almost certain that it was on this site, but there's no trace of that interview anywhere.
Hmmm. [topic=3704]Bill must be the site owner[/topic]. :p

DavidG said:
So, either my memory's not what it used to be, or it was taken down for some reason, or that particular page has been sent to...
Yes, my friend! You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, The Twilight Zone!
 
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

I was at The Park yesterday (nothing worse that being in a meeting at Disneyland stuck in a conference room with the Sounds of Disneyland reminding you that your close, but no cigar). Anyway, while heading out, I remembered the discussion on the effect used for the Tower of Terror queue. I had noticed it many times before, but it had been a while so I popped into the park to refresh my memory. Please excuse me for actually not going to WDI and asking directly, but so many of the "illusions" of the park have been revealed to me (and I know as part of my job, they will continue to be), that I have a practice of NOT finding out how things work until I have to. I appreciate the genius on how things were accomplished, but a little magic is taken away once you know exactly how it all works.

Here's my theory:
I believe that they used only the "echo return" for this effect. When you want to add reverb to something, you have several ways to apply it to the recording — you can assign it to the entire mixer track, the object itself within the Digital Workstation, or you can send the audio out of the board and through an outboard reverb and have the outboard reverb come back into the board via the AUX Sends and Returns. What that means is on channels 1 & 2 you have the source audio and on channels 3 & 4 you have the return from the reverb (just the reverb itself). With this technique, you can actually control the reverb throughout the piece. A use of this would be to pull down the reverb in a classical piece when its a small section of the orchestra (so they don't sound like they're in a men's washroom) and to push in more reverb when the full orchestra is in play. Now when you just listen to the reverb return, it sounds distant and a bit eerie as there is no "dry" source and all you're hearing is the reverb — a completely different sound then drenching the source with verb. I first had to deal with this in "The Enchanted Tiki Room" track for the Disneyland set. The music bed had the echo return of the vocals mixed in to the music bed. The actual vocals weren't there, but the echo return was (this also explains why some felt there was too much verb on the track. But I had no choice as it was printed within the music. The best I could do was diminish the effect as much as possible).

In short, I surmise that WDI used a "Room" filter on the reverb (a Room sound has a shorter decay and less of a stereotypical reverb sound) and only used the returns to achieve this very effective, well effect.

Well, that's my theory anyway.

I know I promised you all Episode III of The Why Series, and I haven't forgotten. I've just been too busy to sit down and write the thing. I really do hope to get to it sooner rather than later.

Have a great 4th!

Randy Thornton
 

Magic Music

Administrator
Playlist Author
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

Randy Thornton said:
I surmise that WDI used a "Room" filter on the reverb (a Room sound has a shorter decay and less of a stereotypical reverb sound) and only used the returns to achieve this very effective, well effect.

Well, that's my theory anyway.
Excellent theory! I hadn't thought about using only the returns.

I just tried a quick test and it sounds pretty darned good. :)

Of course, without knowing WDI's actual settings for decay, pre-delay, diffusion, perception, room dimensions, dry vs wet ratio, etc., we're still screwed as far as getting anything as close to exact as my fellow DPMWJs will demand. :D

Thanks, Randy! A happy 4th to you and yours!
 
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

Jay said:
Of course, without knowing WDI's actual settings for decay, pre-delay, diffusion, perception, room dimensions, dry vs wet ratio, etc., we're still screwed as far as getting anything as close to exact as my fellow DPMWJs will demand. :D
Very true. All those settings will play an important part in reproducing the effect.

May I ask what DPMWJs stands for? I tried to figure it out, and I'm sure I'll feel rather dumb once I do find out, but I just can't make heads or tails of it.

Many thanks,
Randy
 
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

Brilliant!

But I'm not judging. ;)

Randy
 

almandot

Member
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

heh, indirectly answered a question i'd been wondering for a while though. :D

Edit: And wait a second, you were at the parks yesterday.. I think I saw you while I was waiting for the parade.. were you the one running out of golden dream's exit and right back into line holding an induction mic 3 or 4 times?
 

Horizons

Playlist Author
Re: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - Exterior BGM Playlist

Thanks for the information. Whoever put the loop together, with the effects, did a great job. The music and overall sound fits the attraction very well. Is the DCA version the same loop?

A question for Randy: Do you know if the Tower of Terror track on the OA is the full cue, or was it cut from something longer? I was told the OA track is the exit music as you walk out of the elevator. I can't tell for sure because of the crowd noise, but the exit music seems to be longer than the track on OA.

By the way, I'm not part of the DPMWJ club like the rest of these clowns.
 

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