You want to know more about the system, or how the music is compiled? For the latter, there are different groups within Disney that compile the BGMs, depending on whether its used in a park or resort. Based on my experience, sometimes there seems to be a lot of thought into the selections that are included in the loop and, at times, not so much. A lot of times, there is dead space between each track, with no fades or edits incorporated. A BGM shouldn't have any dead space, each selection should seamlessly transition into the next. A great example of this is the
Caribbean Plaza loop. This loop, using cues from the three Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks, plus one unreleased song, is highly edited and the transitions are great. It's really an excellent loop. I think most of the loops used in the parks are more carefully planned and executed.
The resorts on the other hand, well, sometimes it seems someone just slaps a few tracks together and the loop is done. Sometimes the loop is assembled in alphabetical order, with dead space between each track. The loops used at Wilderness Lodge and the Animal Kingdom Lodge are good examples of this. I don't know why the loops are compiled this way, but someone I know has speculated the loops may have been designed to be played on shuffle mode, which, if correct, the actual sequence would become irrelevant. I don't know if this is true, but there have been several changes to the loops at these two locations and the music has never played on shuffle before.
Sometimes the creator of the loop only uses one or a small amount of source CDs. A good example of this is the Polynesian Christmas BGM. It's one CD (that is impossible to find) that is played from start to finish. I wouldn't say a lot of thought went into making that one. :lol:
The length of the BGMs is another inconsistent phenomenon, with no standard length utilized. As an example, if you're lounging by the pool at the Polynesian, you'll hear the main loop that's used almost everywhere at the resort, with a run time of 52:59. So if you're at the pool for a while, you'll hear the loop repeat, maybe multiple times. Instead, if you went over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and hung out by the pool, you'll hear a loop than runs over 3 1/2 hours, with 63 selections. Even better, if you listen to the loop at the Uzima Pool at Jambo House, you'll hear the music just as you would listening to the CDs the music is sourced from. However, walk over to the Samawati Springs Pool at Kidani Village, and you'll hear the same loop, except this one has bird/insect sounds mixed in.
Feel like spending time over at Pioneer Hall and listening to the loop there? Well, be prepared to sit around for 5 1/2 hours. You can hear 115 selections of Blue Grass. Walk a few feet to the Marina, and you can hear another long loop. I haven't finished this one yet, but there's at least 4 hours of music, with over 103 selections. Is there really a need for 5 1/2 hours of music at Pioneer Hall. Other than myself, who spent countless hours trying to record this stuff, who's hanging around Pioneer Hall that long?
Next, we can talk about the delivery of the BGMs. I don't have any details on how, technically, the music is delivered around property. Sometimes, I think the music plays from CDs or electronic media stored on-site, and, sometimes, the music is transmitted from another location (e.g., in the Magic Kingdom, DACS). I get different stories from the resorts, so perhaps there is not one unified system in place.
What amazes me is how many times I notice an issue with delivery. For example, sometimes I go over to Big Thunder Mountain and the normal exterior BGM is playing. However, on occasion, I've also heard the Frontierland BGM being used in this location. :veryconfu You would think once the audio is loaded, someone would just flip the switch to turn it on, but it doesn't appear to work this way. Why these two loops, as an example, switch from time to time is unknown.
I've made several recordings of the exterior music used at the Seas with Nemo and Friends. Normally the loop runs 57:46. However, on one of my trips, I recorded a different loop, this one running 22:19. I only came across the shorter loop once, and I think it's the interior loop, but I haven't confirmed this yet.
Sometimes the delivery system is messed up and the music "skips." Head over to Adventureland and listen to the music playing on the bridge. The last song in the loop has a major skip and its been like this for a number of years. Then head over to the Marina at Fort Wilderness. You can listen to 4+ hours of music that skips a lot (it's very annoying).
Recording the Pioneer Hall loop was a very frustrating experience for me. If you want to check out the progression of this project, you can read about my adventures
here, discussing some issues with delivery. For another example like this, this time the Port Orleans BGM, and with some mention of Pioneer Hall, go
here.
I really enjoy recording and compiling information about the music at WDW. However, there are times, like the two examples with Pioneer Hall and Port Orleans, that I just wanted to smash my recorder and go home. I don't know why stuff like this happens, but the audio definitely has its moments. :lol:
