DBZ BOG CZ Edition

THIS IS A NON-PROFIT FAN-BASED SOUNDTRACK/SCORE EDIT (parody-remix) DRAGON BALL and DRAGON BALL Z are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV and Akira Toriyama. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods is distributed by Toei Company, Ltd. and 20th Century Fox. Please support the official release.

The music used for this project was created by BRUCE FAULCONER & FAULCONER PRODUCTIONS: JULIUS DOBOS, BUDD GUIN, BEN KASPAREK, SCOTT MORGAN & MIKE SMITH. The music was featured in the original FUNimation dub of Dragon Ball Z.
Special thanks to:

* Yuriko Mori, Takeshi Ike, Kōhei Tanaka & Hiroki Takahashi for "Makafushigi Adventure!"

* Shuki Levy & Kussa Mahehi(Haim Saban) for "Main Title" & "End Title" ("Rock the Dragon")

* Yukinojō Mori, Chiho Kiyo’oka, Kenji Yamamoto & Hironobu Kageyama for "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" - Live performace by Hironobu Kageyama & Masaaki Endoh

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods – CZ Edition is a soundtrack/score edit project I decided to do after watching a few clips on YouTube of people adding in music from the Faulconer Productions (Bruce Faulconer, Julius Dobos, Budd Guin, Ben Kasparek, Scott Morgan & Mike Smith) soundtrack/score of FUNimation’s Dragon Ball Z dub to the first DBZ movie in ages, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. The music many of us grew up with in the late 90’s and early 00’s. I thought, “It’d be really cool if someone did this in the highest quality…and right…for the *entire movie*. That would be so freaking cool, especially for us fans that grew up with that dub.” So, I did. And then some.

**Before I say anything else, I want to make it clear:** I am a fan of both scores, both dubs, Japanese and English, the show’s original Japanese score, the show’s FUNimation produced score, the movie’s original score, everything. This is **NOT** meant to start another war in the comments about which score or soundtrack is better. I did this as a fun project because there’s always demand (nostalgia-driven, yes) from a lot of people who grew up with this music while experiencing the series for the first time on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block or the subsequent DVD releases. I didn’t do this in spite of the original score or in disregard for it; I did it so that all of us that grew up with this style of Dragon Ball Z can re-experience it again through this movie with *another version* of BoG. A re-scored version that caters to American (and even global) fans of Dragon Ball Z that started watching it when Cartoon Network’s Toonami block was first airing FUNimation’s original dub of the series, when the Dragon Ball Z and anime phenomenon spread in America.

There are fun bits I added for the all-around Dragon Ball fan, this isn’t just a Faulconer Productions edition…it “is”, but it’s slightly more than that. If you’re even more *”classic old-school dub”* you’ll be pleased to see that I added the *true original dub’s*, the Ocean Dub’s, theme song: "Main Title" & "End Title"…better known as "Rock the Dragon" into this edit (because nothing screams DBZ nostalgia for me, and probably you, like hearing “Rock the Dragon”). I also paid homage to the original Japanese score with "Makafushigi Adventure!" in a bright and funny way throughout the movie. And once again if you love the original Japanese score -and honestly if you’re a Dragon Ball fan in general-, you’re going to love the credits, I had fun with what I inserted in there (it syncs up perfectly with the end).

So please, sit down and watch, enjoy and share. I’ve put many hours and nights into this, play it loud! If you have headphones and like to watch with those, please do and blast it! If the response for this goes well and there’s demand I might consider making a ‘CZ Edition’ (aka Faulconer Productions soundtrack/score edit) for *Resurrection ‘F’* and eventually even the new series *Dragon Ball Super*. Speaking of, HOW CRAZY IS IT THAT WE’RE GETTING NEW MOVIES AND A NEW SERIES OF DRAGON BALL IN 2015 GUYS?! It’s pretty crazy.

**Now for some trivia and cool information:**

* If there’s any FUNi popo’s (Mr. Popo’s) reading this, [yes I do own and have purchased the movie. This personal project I created is from content I purchased.](http://imgur.com/400B5gw) For everyone else, if you haven’t done so already, **please** support the official release and buy it after seeing this non-profit fan-based soundtrack/score edit of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods known as Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods – CZ Edition. More sales=more new Dragon Ball Z content. Once again, in the legendary words of Team Four Star, please support the official release.

* All the soundtrack/score replacement music (Faulconer Productions tracks and “Rock the Dragon”), barring one which I’ll mention next, is of the highest quality and taken from the CDs. The highest audio quality possible: FLAC. Editing software, like the one I used (Premiere Pro) doesn’t accept some file types like .flac files, so I had to convert them all to WAV: the next best thing and preferred standard for large high quality audio files. Practically indistinguishable to the human ear when compared to FLAC. So, these are the highest possible versions to have of these songs, couldn’t do it any other way. It had to be perfect and of the highest quality possible.

* The one song and part of the score that I couldn’t obtain and go from FLAC to WAV was “Great Saiyaman’s Theme” and its variations. Unfortunately, it was never released to us and doesn’t exist on any CD. The only thing I could do is scour the internet and YouTube for the best rip and edit of it a fan somewhere was able to do, and after searching for a while, I found the best one. The highest quality possible I could find and in the end it blends in with the rest of the movie and you could never tell it was the oddball out...unless I told you just now.

* Another bit that I had to do what I just mentioned above for was the beginning of the track “Vegeta - Super Saiyan” when Vegeta has his big iconic **”mmMYY BULMAAAaa”** moment after Beerus pimp slaps Bulma. The opening piano bit of the song isn’t in the official version of the song for whatever reason…so I had to scour the internet again for the highest quality rip of that song, insert that small section into the sequence, cut and slice off where my high quality FLAC>WAV file of the song starts at, and then merge the two into a perfect transition.

* Speaking of that scene, this whole project is from the inspiration of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdEbG49_Zkc - This video was precisely my inspiration. I incorporated this idea into the movie, with some changes like the song that leads into it; it's literally perfect and shouldn't be changed for something like this. Kudos to the person that created that. So because of this and a couple other videos I saw is why I made this. Like I said earlier: I thought, “It’d be really cool if someone did this in the highest quality…and right…for the *entire movie*. That would be so freaking cool, especially for us fans that grew up with that dub.” Yep, 10 year old me would be ecstatic right now.

* The only scene in the movie that has a music piece and ISN’T replaced is the entrance and small cuts to Bulma’s birthday party where that guitar-y harmonica-y feel good song plays. It’s the only piece that was too loud on both audio tracks (which I’ll describe below) and impossible to get rid of without also getting rid of the background chatter, conversations and noises of the party, which I thought was necessary...and they are. I would have to mute the whole scene which would be…terrible. So that’s the only song that isn’t removed, but it isn’t really part of the score right…? It’s just the birthday band she hired playing the music, it doesn’t count! At least in my head that makes sense. Ha.

* While ALL the scenes that had a part of the score playing in this movie are replaced, except for the one I mentioned above, I also inserted songs into silent parts of the movie. Not all, no way, but some. There were quite a lot of silent parts in this movie, a whole lot. I took full advantage of that opportunity in the way that made the most sense, without overdoing it.

* My use of the original *Dragon Ball* theme song, "Makafushigi Adventure!”, is taken straight from “Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure” for the Game Boy Advance. Nothing screams and entices more old-school feels than the Dragon Ball song...*in 8-bit form*. Lol. Another fun fact, I ripped this song back when I was a kid from the game, as a high quality .wav file. I’ve had it all these years and it’s fitting that I made use of it for this, (probably) my first audio rip being used all these years later, most likely over a decade later.

* Characters like Beerus weren’t around when Faulconer Productions made their music…so what can I do about that? I had to find a character theme that fit for whenever Beerus got absolutely raged or entered his whole death bomb doomsday bit…and nothing was more fitting for Beerus the God of **Destruction** than the song titled…”Destruction.”

* “Pan’s Song” was used for Goku’s kid-like proposition to Beerus and for Videl’s announcement of, well, Pan. I used it for Goku because it fit the mood (it was the only song I could find that had some innocence and fit the context) and because that’s the lightheartedness Goku has that in turn he gave to Pan, he is her grandfather after all. So it seemed fitting the song would play for both Goku the new grandfather acting like a polite child and Videl’s announcement of Pan the new granddaughter. It also synced up perfectly with practically no editing or trimming needed from start to finish, that piano roll before he transforms rolls by *perfectly*.

* I decided to go for the regular and original “SSJ Transformation” theme song as the Super Saiyan God theme. Nothing else seemed fitting and nothing else made sense. It’s also great because as this new variation of the Super Saiyan form is introduced, it’s almost as if we’re taking it *back to the start* once more. “SSJ Transformation” is more of the Super Saiyan national anthem to me and stands for the *idea* of transforming into a Super Saiyan, regardless of the variation. So it was fitting that the song that first played when Goku first turned Super Saiyan years ago is the song being played when Goku turns Super Saiyan *God* years later.

* At *some* point I run out of material to use. There's only a certain number of tracks that fit certain themes and don't go all over the place, and then you're left with no choice but to break out of the mold...*a little bit*, unfortunately. Remember there's not an infinite number of albums Faulconer Productions released...so while I don't do stupid things like placing Super Buu's Theme when Beerus is fighting, expect there to be something else in place there, as there was no Beerus back then. There are just some themes that scream iconic and resonate to you, one of those is Super Buu's Theme. You cannot listen to that and *not* think of Super Buu, lol. That's why it's bittersweet that you can't use these iconic songs for anything but those characters, it sucks but at the same time it just makes sense. Believe me; the songs that fit certain moods when people aren't fighting are few and hiding in the albums. There's a lot to choose from but hardly what you're looking for to fit the new visual material, especially as you're trying to not use iconic characters' themes. I simply can't put a Majin Buu song (with his famous jingling melody) during something that doesn't involve Majin Buu. It's...not right and doesn't make sense, *especially* to DBZ fans and our ears. It's a tough job to do, that's for sure. I found myself searching through all the songs so, so much for things that *fit* the mood and make sense without stepping on the boundary of popular characters' themes. Believe it or not, it was hard to find songs for certain scenes; the moods I needed to accompany had a scarce number of songs available that made sense in a new context.

* ~~Addressing that right away…let’s talk about the use of “A Little Help from a Friend” when Goku arrives on Earth. Popularly known to fans as “Piccolo’s Theme” and while Piccolo is the *first* one to say something as Goku arrives, which coincidentally is pretty cool, that’s all he has to do with this song being used in this movie. I was going more for the title of the song being the focal point and the perspective rather than the character association with Piccolo. Like I just mentioned above, there was nothing else that could fill that moment of desperation and relief when there’s “a friend arriving to help”, I found nothing. As was the case with “Pan’s Song” during Goku’s childish offer, nothing else fit the bill for the arrival of Goku to help than this iconic Dragon Ball Z song.~~ Scratch that, as I was typing this (typing this on the 8th) I reconsidered. Breaking news live fun fact edition indeed, I just found the perfect replacement, “Goku Recovers.” Gonna encode another version for like the 20th time. Your song is still yours, Piccolo.

* If you haven’t noticed yet or haven’t watched yet, this is the extended uncut edition. So if this is your first time seeing the *entire extended movie* have fun, and afterwards, once again: please support the official release and buy it.

* **“How’d you do it?”** Very, very, very long process. I ripped streams from my *Battle of Gods* Blu-ray, video and audio. This is extremely important because of the Blu-ray’s feature of having 5.1 surround sound audio. With that comes more than one audio track. There’s the main audio track, an audio track with isolated vocals, a Japanese vocals track, and so on. Ideally, those first 2 tracks I mentioned should be played at the same time if you’re listening to the FUNimation dub. The score is on the main track and is also heard very quietly on the isolated vocals track. Long story short, when the real main score would kick in I had to mute it and raise the volume of the quieter isolated vocals track (at the exact moment, same frame, barring some exceptions due to a sound situation) and add the replacement, until the main score ended and then I turned the main one back on while lowering the isolated vocals track back down. Constantly, over and over. Then there are random background sounds that would ruin the scene if you turned one back on too soon due to Foley noise discrepancies with the volume shifts of the tracks. So I’d have to slightly extend a song track a little bit more to cover that sometimes, gradually raise the other audio track sometimes, or both. Some tracks are too long, some too short, they have to end just right at the right frame, or fade out just right at the right frame. Yep, frames, frames and more frames. I went through so many frames. Constant volume changes with frames matching up, key frames (so many keyframes, I added so many keyframes), an editor’s nightmare- but I still had fun lol. There’s so much more to explain that I had to do…but this is as much as I’ll explain at the moment. You can imagine. Fellow editors understand.

[Here are some pictures of some sections of the movie in Premiere Pro and then the final picture is of the entire thing zoomed out. Yup. In the words of Goten: *“…so awesome…”*](http://imgur.com/a/UdVzp)

* **“Some added songs are a little louder than the rest…a tad bit louder…why?”** Those few scenes had the original score playing in the background louder than usual and were harder to mask. It’s what we have to deal with when there’s no *true* isolated vocals track and only one that plays the score quieter. Most of the time in those few scenes the tracks blend in and you barely notice them unless you really crank up the volume and listen for it.

* This was my first time using Premiere Pro.

* **“CZ…? What’s that?”** My initials and sometimes nickname. And it’s pretty cool that the Dragon Ball “Z” can be put into my name for the title logo, so that was a big plus.

* **”Will you do this for the new movie? For the new series?”** If this gets popular and the demand is there…yes. The only thing that I need, as you all now know, is for the Blu-ray to be available and have 5.1 surround sound and multiple audio tracks(which they all do, I think). This will make *Resurrection ‘F’* very likely to receive a “CZ Edition” once that hits stores but for *Dragon Ball Super*…we’ll have to wait until the dub is released here…on Blu-ray. No other way around it.

If anyone has any other questions outside of what you just read feel free to ask and I’ll try to get to them. I hope you all enjoy it. And afterwards, like I said, please support the official release.